Page 56 of Storm Warning

“No thanks, dude. I have a lady friend I’d much rather bite than you. Ah well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about those consequences.” He glanced at Riley and lifted his chin.

She turned to Andre and raised an eyebrow. Did he want to play the intimidation game with the prisoner as well?

Andre’s lips curved, and his eyes glittered.

Guess he wanted to play after all. She motioned for him to chime in with Elias.

Andre bent and whispered in the man’s right ear. “I’m one consequence you’ll face if you don’t tell us what we want to know.”

A rusty chuckle. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be.” Andre gripped the man’s shoulder and dug into the muscle.

The man grunted and tightened his muscles.

Time for Riley to go to work. She took her place behind the man and rested her hand lightly on his left shoulder. “Refusing to answer questions is dangerous. Are you sure you want to do it this way?”

He laughed. “Really, guys? You’re turning a chick loose on me? Oh, I’m terrified now.”

Riley adjusted her grip, and seconds later the man was screaming at the top of his lungs, his body bowed and muscles knotted. After a minute, she loosened her grip but kept a low level of pain running through his body. “Tell me your name and the pain stops. That’s all you have to do. It’s so simple.”

“Told you. John Brown.”

She glanced at Iona and signaled for her to run this guy’s prints through the Fortress database system, then bore down hard on the nerves between the neck and shoulder.

The intruder’s body bowed away from the chair as he screamed with his hands fisted and his legs jerking to get away from the pain. It was fruitless, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

When tears streamed down his cheeks and Iona had taken his prints and uploaded them to their database, Riley eased up. “Did you know that if I continue to compress the nerves in this area for too long, the damage becomes permanent and you’ll forever feel the nerve pain and be unable to use your hand? It’s excruciating, isn’t it? Don’t do this to yourself, my friend. The result isn’t worth mistaken loyalty to someone who will let you take the fall for him.”

“You don’t know him.” The man shuddered over and over as pain ricocheted through his body. “He’ll kill me if I talk.”

“He has to get to you first,” Andre said.

“It means instant death because he doesn’t accept failure.”

“How would he know you failed?”

“Oh, come on. He’ll know when I don’t show up with her.”

And there it was.

Andre’s grip on the man’s shoulder tightened. “You should be more worried about me.”

The man stilled. “Why?”

“The woman you’re after is mine, and I protect what’s mine by any means necessary. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The guy swallowed hard as he gave a slight nod.

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

Iona looked up from her phone. “Meet Joe Rutland, a lowlife for hire. He’ll do anything for a buck, including kidnapping and assault. He’s an equal opportunity thug.”

“Who is your target, Joe?” Riley asked.

He shook his head.

She sighed. “Why do they always choose the hard way?” Riley nodded at Andre, who bore down hard on Joe’s shoulder. When she signaled him to back off a minute later, good old Joe was sobbing. “You can stop the pain at any time. Just tell me the name of your target.”