American who has blundered where he does not belong. But this is not my decision to make.”
Loving heard the blip that told him a cell phone was being activated.
“He is awake.”
The cell phone snapped shut.
“Prepare yourself, American. Angela told me you sought a meeting with the General. Your wish is about to be granted. You will not enjoy it.”
All at once, the light flashed on from an overhead fluorescent hanging fixture. Loving winced and closed his eyes-he had not realized they were open. Even with his eyes closed, the light seemed blinding.
When he finally managed to open his eyes a crack, the General was standing directly before him.
The first thing Loving couldn’t help but notice was that the man was short, almost little-person short. It was hard to judge when he stood so close, but Loving suspected that he was not even five feet tall. And yet he stood erect, with military bearing, in some sort of uniform, his hands behind his back, a billy club clutched between them.
Napoleonic complex, big-time.
“This is the General, Mr. Loving.”
Loving’s head twitched.
“Oh yes, we know who you are.”
Loving grunted. “Flattered.”
Almost the instant he spoke, the General whipped his right arm around and clubbed Loving on the side of the neck. He wanted to cry out at the sudden blow, but he was determined to not give the bastard the satisfaction.
“You will speak when you are spoken to, and only when you are spoken to. You will answer all questions. If you do not, you will be punished. Severely.”
What, Loving wondered, you gonna lock me up in one of your safe houses and sell my sexual favors for fifty bucks a pop? But he decided it probably wouldn’t be prudent to say that.
The General hovered over him, his club poised. “Why did you break into my house?”
Despite the sad shape his brains were in, Loving tried to determine his best course of action. His natural inclination was to be a smart aleck, but again, he sensed that might not be the best way to handle a would-be Hitler like the General. He remembered reading somewhere-possibly in an issue of Maxim -that the first rule of surviving a torture interrogation was to answer the questions without conveying any information of value.
“I was lookin’ for you,” Loving said, his voice hoarse and gravelly. He still couldn’t focus; the room seemed to be swirling around him.
“And why did you look for me? Why do you even know that I exist?”
“Hey, you’re famous. In certain circles.”
“Who told you about me? Who gave you the address to my house?”
“Your pal, Emil.”
Emil stepped into the light. “It isn’t true, General. I would never tell him anything. I did not even speak to him.”
“Your ace assassin kept the address in his pants,” Loving sneered.
The club swung again, this time bashing against the side of Loving’s head.
“I did not ask you a question,” the General intoned. “You will only speak when I ask you a question.”
Loving’s head was swimming. He was still tap dancing on the edge of consciousness. “You hit me with that damn thing again…I won’t be able to answer anythin’.”
The General laughed, loud and obnoxiously. “You think you have been hurt? You do not know the meaning of what it is to be hurt! We can hurt you so badly, you will never recover. We can make it go on for days!”
Even if he were a pip-squeak, Loving didn’t doubt the General could deliver on his threat. He’d noticed that people were always more effective when they were doing something they enjoyed.
The General grabbed Loving by the hair and pulled his head backward as far as it would go. “Tell me what you know about my business! And who have you told?”
“I know everything. I’ve told everyone!”
“Have you told the senator?”
Despite the numbness creeping through his body, Loving felt a cold chill race down his spine. “What senator?”
“Your boss, Mr. Loving. The one who thinks he can get anything he wants by invoking God, Abraham Lincoln, and the United States of America!”
“What would you know about it?”
“I know far more about the Senate than you can imagine. How do you think I’ve managed to stay clear of government interference for so long?” He jerked Loving’s head back again. “Tell me what I want to know! Who have you told about my business?”
Loving closed his eyes, bracing himself for what he knew would follow. He didn’t want to do it. But he had no choice. If he knew Loving was connected to Ben, he couldn’t even dance around the truth. Couldn’t even give the man a hint. “Are you in business? You look like some kinda military officer. Thought you worked at the Pentagon, maybe.”
The General threw his head forward in disgust. He raised his club into the air, then stopped himself. “No,” he growled through clenched teeth. “That is not nearly enough for such as you.” He turned. “Emil. Bring me the instrument.”
Loving didn’t like the sound of that at all.
A moment later, the General stood before him again, holding a long cylindrical black wand. Being from the Southwest, unfortunately, Loving knew that wasn’t made for doing magic tricks. It was an electric cattle prod.
“You’ll tell me what I want to know,” the General said, doing his best to maintain an even tone. “You’ll tell me now.”
“I already told you. I don’t know nothin’. There’s nothin’ to tell.”
The General touched the cattle prod to Loving’s exposed gut. Thousands of volts of electricity shot through his body, cauterizing open wounds. He could prevent himself from crying out, but he couldn’t stop his body from wrenching back and forth, heaving, twisting like a snake in a vise.
“Tell me,” the General said quietly.
“I don’t have any answers for you,” Loving said, when he had regained the power of speech.
This time, the General placed the prod against his left nipple. The electricity radiated through his soft tissue. He lurched forward, as much as possible while strapped to the chair. He began spasming uncontrollably, his body jerking one way then the other. The juice flooded his brain, confusing him, making it difficult to think, difficult to do anything except experience the intense agony from which there was no escape.
“How long do you wish this to go on, American? Answer!”
Loving wasn’t even sure he could speak, but he was certain there was nothing he could say that would appease this sadistic bastard, not without putting others in immediate danger.
“Don’t…know…nothin’,” he managed, with great effort. “Told…no one.”
The General placed the cattle prod against his genitals.
He couldn’t help himself. This time he screamed. Screamed so loudly, the sound was deafening to himself. His body twisted with such intensity that for a moment he thought he might actually wrench himself loose, but of course that was a delusion, a wishful thought. The screaming and the crying continued as his body spasmed uncontrollably. The General jabbed him with the prod again and again and again until finally, blissfully, he was enveloped in darkness once more.
42
