Page 97 of Shadow Blind

Wolf turned his attention to the arms dealer’s mistress. “Check her pockets.”

She’d had one gun. Perhaps she had another.

“Nothing but lipstick,” Samuel said.

One Bird finished bandaging Wolf’s wound and repacked his med-kit. As the healer left the room, Wolf walked around the bed. The right pillow had the imprint of a head on it. So did the left. He tossed both pillows to the floor and collected the guns beneath them. The comforter joined the pillows on the floor. No guns under it. But the smell of sex grew stronger.

With the bed devoid of weapons, Wolf returned to Kuznetsov. The Russian’s eyes were clearer and getting more hostile now.

“We’re good down here, in case anyone was wondering,” Mackenzie growled over the comm. “You find the target?”

Wolf already knew his downstairs crew was unharmed. O’Neill would have warned him otherwise. Although, Wolf frowned, perhaps not. That was the disadvantage of having the jie'van on his crew. Even though he was linked to the Neealaho, he rarely used it.

“We have our mark,” Wolf confirmed quietly.

“The butcher or the weapon?” Cosky asked immediately.

“The butcher.” Wolf studied their captive, who’d rolled over onto his back. He hadn’t reacted to his nickname. Frowning, he glanced toward the woman. Neither had she.

“Take all captives to the living room,” Wolf said into his comm.

With their hostages in one place, it would take fewer men to guard them. The rest of his warriors would tear this place apart. They’d collect all the hard drives and electronic devices. If the weapon had been sold, they needed information on its buyers.

Wolf sent a silent plea to the elder gods that the doomsday device was still on the premises and not headed off to be deployed against an unsuspecting population.

Aggress Two, update. Wolf sent the request through the Neealaho.

All guards are secure, Tomas responded.

Wolf relaxed. They had time to attend to their captive, then. He turned back to the bed. The woman had finally stopped her phlegmy crying and sat huddled with her dog against the wall.

From the awareness in the Russian’s eyes, his body had absorbed most of the vapor. What was left would not react with the truth serum. It was time to get their answers.

“I tell you nothing,” Kuznetsov suddenly said. “You not break me. I take…” he frowned slightly, his gaze turning vague, then shrugged. “Instruction to guard mind.”

Interesting. Their captive obviously knew they’d come looking for information and expected them to beat the answers out of him. But torture was messy, sweaty, and protracted work. The Shadow Mountain truth serum would provide answers within minutes.

“Samuel, prepare the syringe.” Wolf took a step toward their captive, ready to hold him still while his Caetanee injected the serum.

The woman started a sobbing ramble. Her thin, pitchy voice hovered on the edge of hysterics. “Please don’t hurt me. Or Muffin.” Her voice rose even higher. “Take everything, if you want…” her voice broke as the sobs escaped. “But don’t hurt Muffy. There’s jewelry and cash in the safe. You can have it all…” She sobbed harder, her face white and terrified. “Just don’t…don’t hurt us.”

Muffy whined and twisted in her arms, frantically licking her wet cheeks. Kuznetsov turned his head and glared at her. He said something thick and guttural in Russian.

He told her not to tell us anything, Samuel said through the Neealaho.

Wolf’s eyebrows rose. The woman hadn’t included Kuznetsov in her pleas for safety. Nor had the Russian demanded they leave her alone. There was no loyalty between the pair. This would make interrogating her easier. The fact she’d already volunteered the information about the safe was a good sign. She could be useful.

“Where is this safe?” Wolf asked, his voice mild. No need to terrify her further.

Her sobs escalated, as did Muffin’s licking. “In…in…the closet over there.” She nodded toward the closet they’d pulled her from. “Beneath…the floor.”

“You know the combination?”

Kuznetsov shouted something to her in Russian.

Samuel shrugged. He tells her to shut up.

“Don’t shout at me!” the woman screamed back, shooting Kuznetsov a blind, terrified look. “They have guns! They’re going to kill us!”

---