53

Sometimes Marcus considered his eidetic memory to be a wonderful blessing. Other times, he considered it to be a terrible curse. This was one of the latter. From a Discovery Channel special he had watched while bored one Sunday afternoon, he remembered quite a bit about scorpions. He knew that the Arizona bark scorpion was the largest variety of the arachnid in North America. It was also the most venomous. But even a mature specimen wouldn’t be able to kill him, unless he had some sort of allergic reaction or oversensitivity to the venom. Still, he didn’t much relish the idea of enduring a scorpion’s sting, or any of the sickness that accompanied it. Perhaps if he kept his leg loose and didn’t tense the muscle, the alien-looking creature wouldn’t see him as a threat.

 Yazzie said, “I think he’s taking a liking to you.”

 “I’m glad because I think he’s adorable. Do I get to keep him? I mean after we’re done with the whole torture thing. I’d like to name him Harvey, if that’s okay with you.”

 This drew a chuckle from the tribal police captain, then with incredible speed, Yazzie snatched the Colt Peacemaker from his side and clinked the barrel hard against the Mason jar, agitating the massive scorpion. Harvey reared back his tail and twitched, readying a venomous strike, while Marcus prepared himself to accept the attack.

After a few seconds, when the strike didn’t come, Officer Pitka stepped forward and, in a shaking voice, said, “Sir, we can’t do this. He’s a federal agent. And we’re supposed to be cops.”

 Yazzie barely reacted. He didn’t show any signs of anger or yell at his subordinate. Instead, he calmly said, “Ernie, why don’t you go outside and get on the radio. Inform Mr. Canyon that we have Agent Williams here in custody and that we’re questioning him now in regard to the location of the truck.”

 Pitka started to say more, but Yazzie stopped him by spinning the Colt Peacemaker on his finger like a gunslinger from the Old West. As he slid the gun back into its holster, Yazzie said, “Now, Officer Pitka.”

 The scared young man caught Marcus’s eye as if to say that he was sorry, but then he rushed from the room, closing the door behind him.

 The young and naïve Officer Pitka had no way of knowing it, but Marcus didn’t want him in the room. He knew that his chances with one opponent would always be higher than facing down two, even if one was a hesitant participant.

 With Pitka gone, Marcus focused his attention back on the scorpion. The agitated arachnid was still reared back and ready to strike, and so Marcus kept his leg relaxed and maintained a calm heart rate. There was a time when being in proximity to such a creature would have truly frightened him. But ever since his days in his father’s dungeon beneath Leavenworth, Kansas, Marcus couldn’t bring himself to be afraid of much of anything. It wasn’t even close to the extremes that his brother had experienced, but he’d definitely undergone a stark desensitization.

Light filtered in from the hallway as the young officer exited, giving Marcus a better look at their surroundings. They were in some sort of basement storage room. The walls were cinderblock and two-by-fours. Shelves, occupied by totes labeled in masking tape and marker, lined the inner walls. He noticed one that read, “Christmas,” and another “Easter.”

 Yazzie said, “Did you know that scorpions are fiercely territorial and cannibalistic? It’s quite common for them to devour their mates and offspring.”

 Marcus replied, “If only your mother would’ve learned from their example and did the world a favor.”

 Yazzie leaned close and whispered, “When I was a boy, I lit my mother on fire and watched her burn. I’ve always felt a kinship with animals like this one. Scientists believe that their cannibalistic ways developed because they are faced with many instances when resources are scarce and the only route to survival is to consume their own species. But this has also allowed the scorpion to hold the distinction of being the world’s oldest surviving land animal. They’ve remained virtually unchanged for the last one hundred million years. Specimens preserved in amber thirty million years ago look exactly like this guy here. There’s something amazing and perfect about that. Something we could learn from.”

 Marcus said, “If you feel such a kinship with this creepy critter, why isn’t he crawling around on your leg?”

 “You and your partner certainly are hard men. There’s no denying that. But everyone has a breaking point, Agent Williams. Everyone has a weakness.”

“You may be right, Captain, but you ain’t got what it takes to get me there. I’ve been tortured by the best, and you ain’t got shit on my father. So you might as well give this up.”

 Yazzie shrugged. “Perhaps, but I think I’ll stick with it a bit longer just to be sure.” Once again retrieving the switchblade knife from his boot, Yazzie sliced a line of blood across Marcus’s exposed thigh, just above the spot where the glass jar held the massive scorpion. Marcus winced involuntarily, but didn’t give Yazzie any more satisfaction than that.

 The police captain continued, “Scorpions are burrowing creatures. I’ve witnessed many times what rodents can do when chewing through and burrowing into human flesh, but I’ve always wondered if a scorpion, with a little prodding, would do the same and dig its way down inside of a person. Why don’t we conduct a little experiment and find out?”