Page 39 of Healing Creek
“I don’t fucking know anything!” The scream was ugly and laced with an edge of panic.
Creek grabbed the man’s arm, pulling it taut. He shoved one foot up to the edge of the seat and Patel’s thigh, pinning the chair against the wall.
“If you pull my arm off, I’ll bleed to death and die,” Patel warned.
“Computer,” Creek called. “Connect me to the engine room.”
“Connection open,” came the crisp, clear voice.
“Engine room?”
“Officer MacVay, here.”
“Officer, send up an arc welder to interrogation room one.”
“Uh…okay. We’ll have that to you, uh, momentarily.”
“Computer, close connection.”
The arm Creek was still holding had started to shake.
“I think that should seal it up nicely. Buy me some time to question you.”
He pulled, slow and steady.
Patel’s breathing accelerated.
A small jerk and the shoulder dislocated. Patel screamed.
And then he started talking.
Five minutes later, Creek left the interrogation room and found three Arena Dogs in the hall and one burly human nervously tapping an arc welder with one foot.
“Don’t think we’ll need that,” he said to the man. To Mercury he said, “You might want to send the medic up. I dislocated his shoulder.”
“You got what you wanted?”
“Contact codes and meet point, though the meet is long overdue so I’m not sure how much good it’ll do us.”
“We’ll see what we can do. You don’t think he has any other information?”
Creek wondered if Mercury meant information about Grace. “Unlikely.”
“All right,” said Mercury.
“I’m going to go check on Grace.”
The other men waved him off. They’d take care of any further questions for Patel. It was good to have others to rely on. He strode down the hall, both eager and reluctant to see Grace again.
The moment he stepped through the door to his room he heard her in his shower. The room she’d been assigned only had one of those cramped ulight showers. He was glad he’d chosen one of the more luxurious suites. The smell of cleanser and water and her body combined to stir his blood. His cock filled, but she was clean and he was still sweaty and carrying Patel’s stench on him. He stood uncertain, staring at the door to the bathroom as it slid open. Her face lit up when she saw him. She wore only a soft white towel wrapped around her damp body. Her legs were slender and bare. The towel hid most of her curves, but her breasts made an inviting swell at the top of the cloth.
“Did things go poorly with Patel,” she asked.
He’d been scowling, he realized. “No. It went well enough. He gave me the meet location and the com code.”
“But you don’t think it will do us any good.” Her face was neutral when she spoke the words, but she had to be disappointed.
“I don’t. But Mercury will check it out for us.”
