Hurt me?” Jack said. “Maybe. Maybe not. How about you tell these guys to back off and the two of us have a go at it? Or don’t you have the balls?”
“Oh! Balls! Yes, balls. I’ve got balls, Jack. Big, brassy ones.”
Cluzet charged forward, whipping out a spring-loaded blade. He flicked it open and pressed its razor-sharp edge against Jack’s left cheek just below the eye.
Jack didn’t flinch.
Cluzet grinned, then slashed down, slicing the plastic cuffs binding Jack’s wrists without touching his flesh.
“Better?”
Cluzet reholstered his blade as Jack flexed his numb hands, tingling as the blood flowed back into them.
“And don’t worry yourself about my balls, Jack. I think Liliana will quite enjoy them after I get through with her—”
Jack shouted and lunged at Cluzet, but Cluzet’s men yanked him back at the last second.
Cluzet grinned. “Oh, Jack. I’ve hit a nerve!”
Cluzet’s men laughed.
“How frustrated you must feel,” Cluzet said, stabbing the air with the pry bar. “Here you are, a rich, young American, obviously strong and, I would guess, possessing some level of combat skills, judging by the way you attacked my man Hult. And yet here you stand, helpless as a mewling kitten, your woman locked in a barrel, and your privileged life in the palm”—he tapped his palm with the pry bar for emphasis—“of my hand. There’s nothing anyone can do for you. Only me.” He laughed at his own joke. “I guess that makes me your savior now, eh, Jack?”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“What do I want? I want to atone for my sins.”
Jack frowned with confusion. “You’re mixing up your metaphors, Ace.”
“Come over here. I want to show you a little trick.”
Cluzet nodded at his two men. They kept a firm grip on Jack as they walked him over to the barrel.
The French paratrooper held up the pry bar. “Here, watch how I do this—are you paying attention, Jack? It’s very important.”
“I’m watching.”
“Good. Now, see here.”
Cluzet laid the claw of the pry bar against the release clamp that held the lid in place by a metal band.
“See this? The clamp is far too tight to be opened with a human hand. It’s a chemical barrel—no spills allowed, yes? So all we do is put the claw right here and—”
The release clamp popped open, the metal band slackened, and Cluzet pulled the lid off.
“Why, hello, there, beautiful. Did you miss me?”
Liliana spit like a cobra into his smirking face.
Jack stiffened. Her hair was matted with blood, as was her upper lip from her broken nose, purpled and twisted out of joint. Her eyes, however, were still bright with defiance. “Lil!” Jack charged forward again to help her, but the two thugs held him tight. Jack struggled, but in his weakened condition he couldn’t free himself.
“Jack—”
Liliana was cut off in mid-sentence as Cluzet slammed the barrel lid back into place and clamped it shut. Her muffled, angry curses were punctuated by her fists pounding on the lid.
“Quite a fighter, that one,” Cluzet said, wiping her spit off his face.
“You must be one hell of a coward to beat up an unarmed woman. Or maybe you just have mommy issues?”
Jack’s head snapped sideways at the force of Cluzet’s backhand. He raised the pry bar high over his head to drop a killing blow onto Jack’s skull, but hesitated.
“Oh, Jack. I must say, nicely played. It’s been a long time since I lost my temper.” Cluzet grinned again. “You amuse me. Now, it seems to me you asked me a question—What the fuck do I want?”
Cluzet returned to pacing. “On the one hand, the thing I really want is to watch my friend Hult kick you to death. Now, that would be very entertaining. On the other hand, there are people who are very interested in you and don’t want to see you harmed. But the truth is, I don’t give a shit about them. If I let you live, it will be because I desire it. The question is, what would give me the most pleasure?”
“Is this the point where I’m supposed to beg for mercy? Cuz that ain’t happening.”
“Not even for Liliana?”
Jack darkened. “I’m worth more to you alive than dead.”
“But is she?”
“Whatever deal we strike, she’s part of the bargain, or else no deal, and that means no money for you.”
“Yes, without question she is part of the deal. And you’re right, you would be worth quite a bit of money to your rich senator friend, I’m sure. And in exchange for not killing you, he must agree to not come hunting after us. I believe your friend John Clark has already made such an arrangement on your behalf.”
It was Jack’s turn to smile. You’re Iron Syndicate. How else could Cluzet know about the deal Clark cut with the Czech last year? “I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”
“Excellent. Now come over here.” Cluzet nodded toward the rail.
Jack stepped over to the rail as instructed, Cluzet’s men close at hand. He looked over the side. The ship was making an easy nine knots or so, judging by its small, luminous wake in the coal-black water.
“Are you a strong swimmer, Jack?”
“Good enough.”
“But here’s the problem. That water is five degrees Celsius. Even a strong swimmer can’t last more than ten minutes at that temperature. Your muscles would seize up, you’d start to feel numb, and your waterlogged clothes would begin to weigh you down. It’s also quite likely a jump from this high up will knock the breath out of you, and you’ll wind up dying with a belly full of seawater before you make your first stroke.”
“Or I could die of boredom listening to you run your pie hole all night.”
The German lunged toward Jack with a cocked fist, but one look from Cluzet stopped him in his tracks.
“You are worth quite a bit of money to me, so perhaps we will make our deal. But I need a promise from you first—that you won’t try to escape before we reach port, so that I can turn you over to Senator Hendley at a place and time of my choosing. So don’t even think about jumping overboard. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’m not an idiot. Why would I do that?”
Cluzet frowned. “Yes, that would be stupid, wouldn’t it?”
“What about Liliana?”
“Oh, yes. Poor Liliana. We mustn’t forget about her.”
Cluzet marched over to her barrel and laid the pry bar on the lid. He stopped and glanced up at Jack with a puzzled look on his face.
“Liliana can live, too. But first you must choose.”
Cluzet tossed the pry bar to Jack in a high arc like a baton.
As the pry bar reached its apogee, Cluzet turned and shoved Liliana’s barrel over the side, her fading screams echoing inside.