Page 47 of The 9th Man

“Come here,” he said. “I need to tell you something. Between you and me.”

Persik hesitated, then drew closer. Luke leaned in like he was about to whisper, then headbutted the idiot square in the brow, driving Persik back in stunned pain.

“You son of a—”

Persik charged and landed a fist into Luke’s jaw. He’d expected retaliation, but it still hurt. As did the second punch into his gut. But he’d managed to tighten his abs in anticipation.

“You both are going to die real slow,” Persik spit out, rubbing his forehead.

“Where I come from we have a saying. The hen shouldn’t cackle before she lays the egg.”

Persik stayed back, out of range. “Where did you put the contents of Stein’s storage locker? And I’m not talking about what you left behind in the car. We found that junk. What else was there?”

“Who says there was anything else?” he tried.

“You fought awful hard for nothing.”

Good point. “We FedExed it to CIA headquarters.”

Persik chuckled. “If only you knew the irony in that smart-ass comment.”

Interesting. A clue as to who was pulling the strings?

The man Persik had dispatched to check on the others returned and whispered to his boss. Then Persik asked, “Where are the two men you killed?”

“Assuming they didn’t get hung up on rocks, they’re probably halfway to Luxembourg City by now.”

Persik gestured to the guards. “We’ll start on him first. Maybe watching the process will make Ms. Stein more cooperative.”

20

LUKE WAS LED AROUND THE REAR OF A PARKED RANGE ROVER INSIDEthe hangar. Light bled in through a series of windows high on the walls filtered by the dirt and grime on the panes. Propped between a pair of crates was a thick board. Several five-gallon buckets of water and a towel sat on the floor. Now he knew what Persik had meant byprocess. His stomach rose into his throat. He’d seen this kind of crap before in Afghanistan inside locales that weren’t listed on maps. Places people and governments never talked about.

Waterboarding.

Just friggin’ great.

Before the practice was banned Luke had undergone a milder version of it during Ranger SERE training. Survival Evasion Resistance Escape. The four basics that every soldier had hammered into their head. Which had included being strapped to a board, his face covered by a tautly drawn towel, while water was poured down his gullet. While it lasted a mere sixty seconds, the experience had pushed him close to the breaking point. Its terror bypassed toughness of character, strength of body, and dedication of mind, and latched onto the most primitive part of the brain that will do anything to survive.

Anything.

He supposed it was a favorite tactic around the world for its simplicity. Not much was needed in the way of tools to cause someone an enormous amount of agony. He saw Jillian, on the ground, her hands zip-cuffed to the Range Rover’s bumper. She struggled to rise. One of Persik’s men planted a boot to her ribs and shoved her down.

That made five men inside the hangar.

He saw no sign of the rifle case, which suggested it was still safe in their hiding place. Which Persik apparently did not know. Why else would either of them still be alive?

“You hurt?” he asked Jillian.

She shook her head. “You?”

“Couldn’t be better. Whatever they ask, just tell the truth.”

“You’re not serious.”

“Just do it. It’s not worth lying.”

“Good advice,” Persik said. “Before we get started, do either of you want to tell me exactly what you found in that storage locker?”