Page 30 of Wired Target

Sophie needed him and nothing but holding her would do.

19

Day 6

Pierre Raveaux stood beside the razor wire-topped gate at the metal warehouse he’d rented on the outskirts of Paris.Located in a seedy area on the outskirts of the city, sandwiched between a couple of decaying brick factory buildings, the corner was deserted.Wan yellow security lights lit the battered cobblestone street; Raveaux had made sure they pointed outward, away from the building.

Right on time, the plain white transport van he’d secured drove up to the gate with Rab at the wheel.Raveaux rolled the chain-link barrier open, and the vehicle drove in.He then shut it, securing the entry with a heavy chain and padlock.

He didn’t want anyone to interrupt what was going on inside the warehouse.

Rab had jumped out of the driver’s seat and pulled the lever on the rollaway door of the warehouse building; it lifted, and he moved quickly to drive inside.

Raveaux followed at a slower pace, steeling himself for what he had to do.

Enrique Mendoza was an evil man.He was responsible for an ungodly number of deaths.He didn’t deserve to live, if justice were as simple as an eye for an eye.

But Raveaux wasn’t in the habit of torturing people; he wasn’t looking forward to what must be done now.Thankfully, his ninja companions from the Yam Khûmk?n seemed to have no such scruples.

Raveaux pulled the lever that lowered the door; it rattled down with a machine-gun sound and gave an echoing boom as its heavy lip hit the concrete floor.

Mendoza, hooded with a black bag, cringed and cried out as Sam, Rab’s partner, wrestled him out of the van.

“What is this about?”Mendoza demanded in French; his voice muffled by the hood.“Do you know who you’re dealing with?You’ve made a grave mistake.”

Rab cocked his head toward the chair; Raveaux gave a brief nod, and Sam dragged the reluctant man toward the piece of furniture nailed to a square of heavy plywood.Beside it, on an overturned white paint bucket, a large marine boat battery was attached to a wire with a pair of clamps on the end.A single floodlight on a long cord dangled down to make a small, intense circle of light over the chair.

Raveaux stood in the darkness outside of the circle of light.He slid on a headset with a voice distorting microphone; Mendoza had met him socially not that long ago, and his voice could not be recognized.

“This is your last chance!”Mendoza yelled.“If you let me go now, I’ll forget this happened.I’ll let you go, no harm done.Don’t be a fool!”

Sam put Mendoza in the chair.The man struggled, and Sam clouted him alongside the head as Rab secured him with ropes behind the chair back and at the ankles.

Rab finally withdrew the hood covering Mendoza’s head, and the man gasped.“Whoareyou?”

Both Thai men wore their usual all-blackgiwith matching face masks; Raveaux approved of their identical, anonymously threatening appearances.The two ninjas melted back into the shadows to stand out of visible range, behind Raveaux.

Raveaux studied Mendoza as he sat bound on the chair, squinting into the darkness that surrounded his pool of illumination.The once dapper procurer of murder for hire turned his head and spotted the battery and clamps; sweat sprang out on his forehead, gleaming under the harsh lights.“I know you’re out there,” he said.“What do you want?I’m known to be reasonable.Bargain with me.Violence is beneath civilized men.”

“If you were a civilized man, you wouldn’t be in the line of work you are.”The voice distorter added a layer of menace to Raveaux’s words.

“I own Kaleidoscope Tastemakers.We advise the choices of people in need of guidance regarding the more gracious things in life.”

“Enough of the bull, Mendoza.That’s not all your company does.”

Mendoza digested that for a beat, then regrouped.“Do you represent a disgruntled client?I can make that right.Name a name; I’ll eliminate them.No extra charge.”

“We appreciate the offer, but it’s one of your assets we want.Pim Wat.Give us her new name and location.”

The beads of sweat on Mendoza’s forehead increased in size, coalesced, and ran down his face in a sudden burst.“She’ll kill me if I tell you.”

“And we’ll kill you after we make you suffer,” Raveaux said.“Living a little longer is always the better choice.”He nodded to his companions.

Rab and Sam moved on swift and silent feet out of the darkness, and Mendoza shrieked in terror as Rab seized the man’s expensive, tailored shirt and ripped it open in a single yank, sending mother-of-pearl buttons flying.Sam picked up the clamps, knocking them against each other so that sparks flew.

“No!No!”Mendoza writhed and yanked at his bonds.“I’ll tell you, but you must kill her when you find her.She can’t be left alive, she’s too dangerous!”

“We don’t plan to let her get away,” Raveaux said.“Help us, and we’ll deal with her permanently.”

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