Page 42 of Koroleva

"Of course, he won't like it. What man likes to be left hanging and having to eat alone at a restaurant? And even less so if he's the one who pays you at the end of the month." I clicked my tongue and shook my head, placing my hands over hers that clung to the chair's armrests. "If you don't want to be late, I suggest you start telling us where the coke is."

"I don't know." I blew directly into her eyes to make them shut.

"That's not a good answer. Nor was it a good idea to try and screw over my new family. Nobody steals from a Koroleva," I lowered my voice without breaking eye contact, "nor a Capulet. You would do well to remember that now our families are in this together, so our power is much greater." She pursed her thin lips. I looked at my wristwatch and then at her. "Your boss doesn't want to eat alone, and I'm in a bit of a hurry, so... either you give me something that can allow me to untie you and let you go, or I'm not going to waste time. I told my husband that between women we understand each other better, it's a matter of sisterhood."

"I have nothing to say," she muttered, falling silent.

"Too bad, Chin Lu. I really had my hopes up for you. Maybe you need a little incentive to change your mind."

"I don't sell out," she replied quickly.

"Look, we agree there. Don't worry, I wasn't thinking of offering you money. I have other much more effective methods and I'm convinced I can make you change your mind. I'm very good at negotiating."

I went to my bag and placed it on a somewhat decrepit high table. The wood was rotten and riddled with woodworm.

I opened the zipper and pulled out a leather case that housed some of my best tools.

I could smell Wang's nerves mixed with the stench of the surroundings. I took out some long needles, thicker than those used in traditional Chinese medicine, ready for piercing.

I positioned one against the bulb hanging from the ceiling, so our guest could see it well, and ran it over my tongue like a fakir. The clatter of the woman's teeth made me smile. Looking at her right hand and without wasting time, I drove it in viciously.

The scream she emitted delighted my eardrums.

"Does it hurt?" I had just pierced the ulnar nerve, which runs from the elbow to the hand. "I'm glad," I whispered sweetly.

Nerves are the "telephone connection" of the body. They transmit messages between the brain, the receiver, and the rest. I wanted my message to be loud and clear. Either Chin Lu cooperated, or I was going to become her worst nightmare.

The Chinese believe that energy flows through the meridian points of the body. One fucking imbalance, and diseases come knocking. The disease afflicting the Chinese woman had a name and surname. Nikita Koroleva could be a lethal disease.

I repeated the operation with the left hand while the right one still hadn't recovered. My hand didn't tremble; if there was one thing I hated, it was not being taken seriously and having my time wasted.

As soon as I heard the second exclamation, I smiled. One of those humorless smiles, more of a warning, which is what that first prick had been.

I went back to the bag to pull out two much thicker needles. Almost could be said to be a pair of thin nails for which I would need a hammer.

I had never seen Asian eyes open so wide.

"No, no, no, no," she pleaded.

"No?" she moved her head from side to side. "That word is a bit dubious. Remember, I'm not looking for a negative response, but for information. Anything to say that might be useful to me?"

She swallowed hard as she saw the first aimed at the median nerve.

"If I talk, I'm dead."

"And if you don't, you are too." I brought the sharp steel tip close and pressed. "Nothing to add?" I lifted the hammer and let it fall on the head.

It pierced skin, flesh, and nerve until it drilled into the wood.

Her scream was much sharper than the previous ones. Some liquid moistened the skin of my shoe, not blood, but a terrified sphincter.

"I hate it when they pee on my feet," I spat. I showed her the second sharp object to make clear my next move.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! But I want to negotiate with you." I lowered my hand.

"That sounds much better, Miss Wang. Let's negotiate."

When I stepped out of the cell, Romeo looked at me differently, his eyes bright and a question at the back of his pupils that I couldn't quite figure out.

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