Page 2 of Throwing Fire

His eyes widen before he looks away. “You’re not Snow.”

“I am, actually.” Well, as much as anyone is. “And I’m the one who decides how long you’re gonna live, and how much pain you’re gonna be in before you die.”

Reg doesn’t bother with any protestations, which at least saves time. “I’ll tell you anythin’ you want to know, man.”

“Who hired you to kill Kez?”

He’s not going to tell me, not the truth anyway. But sometimes a lie is just as revealing.

“I don’t know. Chaz took the meet. He never saw a face.”

“Who set up the meet?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know.” He shakes his head and lets out a noise that’s just short of a sob. “You killed them both, you fucker.”

I put down my rendang and chopsticks and take another knife out my wrist sheath. Let it catch the light before I use the razor edge to slice off the tip of Reg’s nose.

He screams, high and thin. Bucks wildly against the restraints strapping him to the chair. All he manages is to knock the chair over and bang his head on the permacrete floor. I circle him slowly, right the chair, then resume my position and take another few bites ofrendang while he bleeds and curses. Let the pain soak in, soften him up.

When it seems like the pain has done its job, I say, “Focus, Reg. Your brothers are dead. Nothin’ you can do for them now. But you determine how bad the next few minutes of your life get. I only need your mouth working. Your eyes, your ears, your dick. Those are all expendable. Got it?”

He sobs harshly, spitting blood out of his mouth. But he finally nods.

“Let’s try again. Who hired you to kill Kez?”

“I don’t know,” he burbles. “I swear, I don’t know.”

“Who set up the meet?”

“Jaxon. His name’s Jaxon.”

That’s an answer I believe. The name rings a bell, but I can’t place it, so I move on to my real question.

“How’d you know Kez has a regular run to Hemos?”

He hangs his head and refuses to meet my eyes.

I sigh. Set down the food and pick up my knife again. I take his left ear this time, since he’s got his head down and his eyes are at a bad angle.

I flick blood off my blade, set it down on the table, and resume eating while Reg screams and thrashes.

“Your dick’s next, Reg,” I say when he finally settles down. “How’d you know?”

“There’s a runner in her crew. Duncan somethin’. Jaxon’s been getting information from him,” Reg sobs.

“Has he, now?” I ask, but it’s just to give me time to think. Kez will be hurt by Duncan’s betrayal. I never liked the bastard – he had designs on my kitten – but I don’t want to upset Kez. Might be best if Dunk just disappears.

Reg nods and blows through the blood sheeting over his mouth and chin.

“Well, Reg, I think we’re about done here.” I scrape mychopsticks around in the empty container and set it down. “You’re outta food and I’m outta questions.”

I don’t need to ask him what he was planning to do to Kez before they killed her. I already know the answer to that one.

Reg’s eyes widen again. “Wait! No! Ask me anything. Anything! I’ll tell you, I swear?—”

I don’t give him time to finish. He jerks, once, when I slam my punch blade down through his collar and into his heart. But only once, and then he’s still. Mouth open. Eyes wide. Caught in the moment of disbelief that his life is over. The fastest kill I was taught. No point in dragging it out any further. Although SAWL taught me how to apply pressure to get answers, torture’s not my bag.

I pull out my knife, clean and sheath it. Then the one from Thumb’s eye. Rumor didn’t lie. There’s just a smooth socket under the patch. Wonder why he didn’t have it regenned. Maybe he felt the same way about it that I feel about my scars: they’re just my life’s history, carved into my skin. Nothing to be ashamed of.