Page 117 of Storm Warning

Nathan lied. Her hands fisted. That jerk just flat-out lied to Andre.

“Who did you really plan to call, Berkley?”

For a man who’d been running his mouth in the past few minutes, he suddenly went silent. Confirmation of Andre’s suspicion that Berkley intended to play them.

“Now you’re closing your mouth?” Elias snorted. “Come on, man. You’re too late. You already gave yourself away. Berkley, you’ve been out of the game too long. It’s catching up with you. Do yourself a favor and spare yourself the pain and suffering that’s ahead. Tell my friend what he wants to know.”

That’s when Nathan tried to turn the tables on them. He turned his face toward Riley. “We used to be friends. How could you let them do this to me? Aren’t you going to do something?”

“I did.”

“What?”

She smiled. “I set up the tools they’ll need. My friends are excellent at what they do, Nathan, and they aren’t soft or lazy, and their skills aren’t rusty.”

“If I’m supposed to be impressed by that, I’m not. After all my years of experience, this is nothing.”

Andre shook his head and stepped up to rest his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “I’d rethink my position on that if I were you.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You’ll spend the next few hours in excruciating pain.”

Nathan snorted.

Elias shook his head. “Believe him. My friend doesn’t lie. How about a live demonstration?” He flicked a glance at Andre, who covered Nathan’s mouth and compressed nerves between the neck and shoulder. The pain was so horrific that most people screamed, cried, or both in less than a minute. Nathan was in the last category.

Looking at her former friend undergoing extreme interrogation bothered Riley on a deep level until she turned away and retrieved her laptop.

Sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar where she could see what was happening if she wanted to look, Riley woke her laptop and went back to the search for Ludlow andBrown. Even though Andre believed all her kidnapping attempts were because of Nathan, she wasn’t so sure they hadn’t missed something. Her gut said something else was going on, and Echo and Artemis had missed it. Better to know where those two men were to make plans if they came after both groups.

The muffled screaming and sobbing went on for three minutes. Yes, Riley had timed it. So sue her for failing to distance herself far enough. At least she had made a little more headway in the search for the two convicts, and she didn’t like what she found.

Elias folded his arms across his chest. “See what I mean, Berkley?” The tone of his voice showed a sunny disposition that wasn’t Elias at all.

Nathan gave a slight nod as he sucked in large quantities of air.

“That’s good. So, ready to talk now?”

Nathan’s gaze flicked up to Riley’s again.

She smiled and shifted her gaze back to her computer screen.

Elias clapped his hands together once, making a loud popping sound. “Pay attention, Berkley.”

Her old boss jumped despite his wrists and ankles being secured to the chair.

“Let me explain the rules. We’re going to have a chat. All you have to do to survive is tell us what we want to know. Simple, right?”

Nathan glowered at them, hatred in his eyes. “You really think I’ll tell you anything?”

Elias moved closer to the prisoner. “By the time we’re finished with you, you’ll be begging to tell us everything we want to know plus some.”

He sneered. “You have a lot of misplaced faith in your abilities, buddy. I train people to interrogate others. I know all the tricks in the book to keep from spilling my guts.”

“Based on what we’ve seen so far, we’re not impressed.” Andre clamped his hand over Nathan’s mouth and went back to work.

Long minutes later, Nathan’s head hung low, and he uttered soft moans constantly even after Andre released his hold and stepped back.