Sign of the Cross

Crippling acts that would scar him for the rest of his life.

And that was the reaction Payne was hoping for.

Back when he was training for the MANIACs, he learned one of the most effective ways to get information from a prisoner wasn’t through torture but rather the foreshadowing of torture — the act of planting a psychological seed in someone’s head, then waiting for panic to set in. If done right, some people would literally piss their pants long before they were touched. Of course mere threats wouldn’t work on everyone. But Payne figured anyone who traveled with a bodyguard would crack quicker than Humpty Dumpty in a mosh pit.

‘Hey, Dick,’ he said, ‘you’ve read my personnel file, right? So I’m sure you realize I’m fully capable of making a Dick-kabob. You know that, don’t you?’

Manzak grimaced and nodded his head.

‘Very good! Now all you have to do is keep answering my questions, and there’s a chance I’ll let you live. However, if I get the sense that you’re lying to me or you choose to remain silent, I’m going to show you the Vietnam stick trick. Understood?’

He nodded again.

‘OK, let’s start with some easy ones. You know, just to help you get into the flow of the game… How’d you know that we had Boyd?’

‘Your car. We put a sensor under the Ferrari. We were able to follow that.’

‘Bullshit!’ Payne threw a savage punch into his kidney. ‘Remember what I said about lying? Now tell me how you found us.’

Manzak gasped for air, yet somehow managed to answer. ‘I just did.’

‘No way! Even if you tracked the car, there’s no way you could’ve known we had Boyd. How’d you know we had him?’

‘The airport… we had a man at the airport… When we saw your beacon there, we had him investigate… just to make sure you weren’t leaving the country… He went outside and saw the girl… That’s when he notified us… from the airport… I swear!’

Payne was tempted to smile — Manzak had broken easier than an antique teacup — but he knew it would ruin the mood. For this to work, he had to maintain the austere glare of an executioner.

So he said, ‘Where else did you have men? Were you following us the entire time?’

‘There wasn’t a need. The beacon did it for us. We just followed you from afar.’

‘Dick, Dick, Dick. I find that so hard to believe.’ He took the chunk of wood and pressed it against Manzak’s neck. ‘You didn’t, for instance, have someone in Orvieto?’

‘No,’ he cried, ‘I didn’t have anyone in Orvieto. That’s the last place Boyd would be!’

‘Man, I’m so disappointed in you. I wanted to christen this stick on an important question. But if you keep lying, I’m gonna have to use it now.’

‘I’m not lying!’ he shrieked. ‘I swear to God I’m not!’

‘So your men weren’t in Orvieto?’

‘No!’

‘And you had nothing to do with Barnes’s death?’

‘Who the hell is Barnes?’

‘Donald Barnes, the American who was killed yesterday in Saint Patrick’s Well. Ring a bell?’

‘Yesterday? I swear I had nothing to do with that. That wouldn’t make sense. The police presence in Orvieto was already too high. Why would I want to bring more?’

It was an interesting question, one that Payne wanted to examine at length. However, he knew the Milanese police were probably on their way, meaning if he didn’t hustle, he wouldn’t have a chance to get to the information he really cared about.

‘So, who do you work for? And don’t say the CIA, because I know that’s bullshit!’

Manzak remained silent, so Payne slammed his elbow into the back of his head. It was his way of helping him reconsider. ‘Don’t make me ask you again! Who do you work for?’

‘I’ll never tell,’ he screamed in Italian. ‘Ever!’

Payne grinned in victory, even though he had no idea what he’d shouted. The truth was, his choice of language revealed a lot. ‘So, is that your native tongue? It sure sounded natural to me.’

Manzak realized his mistake and tried to wriggle free. Payne stifled his movement by slamming his face into the ground with another blow from his elbow.

‘I’m getting bored with this, Dick. I think it’s time for you to make a decision that’s gonna affect our session. Is it time for the truth or the twig? You decide.’

Once again Manzak refused to speak, and in Payne’s mind, that was the wrong answer. Grabbing the back of his head, he slammed it into the ground repeatedly, accenting every word with violence. ‘The… truth… or… the… twig?’

Blood gushed from Manzak’s forehead, yet Payne felt no pity for him. He’d tried to kill Jones and Maria with a car bomb and would’ve murdered Payne as well. So in his mind, he wasn’t doing anything immoral. ‘What’s it gonna be, Dick? Tell me now! Who are you working for?’

‘I don’t care what you do. I won’t tell!’

Payne shook his head. ‘You dumb bastard. This could’ve been so easy. All you had to do was answer my questions, and I would’ve let you go. But not now. Now you have to suffer.’

‘No!’ he shouted back. ‘It is you that will suffer when you ultimately discover the truth! I promise you, my pain will be temporary. But yours will last forever.’

Payne considered his words for a moment. Then showed him what he could do with a stick.

When Payne climbed into the chopper, he looked like a butcher at the end of a long shift. Blood covered his hands and face and leaked from the bulge in his shirt pocket. Jones said nothing, focusing his attention on the nearby power lines and the flashing lights that filled the ground below. Eventually, once they were out of danger, Jones turned toward Payne. ‘Stick trick?’

‘Yeah,’ he answered into the chopper’s headset. ‘Molotov Cockpit?’

Jones laughed. ‘How could you tell?’

‘You’re missing a shirt.’

‘Very observant of you… Speaking of shirts, what’s in your pocket?’

Payne shrugged. ‘Souvenirs.’

‘Of what?’

‘Their identities. Manzak wouldn’t tell me his name, so I borrowed some fingers.’

‘You mean the stick trick didn’t work?’

‘Actually, it worked too well. The bastard kept passing out on me.’

‘That’s been known to happen… So, how’d you leave him?’

‘Just like Otto.’

‘Otto? Who’s Otto?’

‘Oh, that was Buckner’s real name. He was Manzak’s bodyguard.’

‘Buckner was his bodyguard?’

Payne nodded. ‘And get this, he spoke with a German accent.’

‘Otto spoke? I didn’t know he could.’

‘Well, he can’t anymore.’

Jones smiled. ‘OK, funny man, any suggestions on where to go next?’

‘What are our choices?’

He checked the fuel gauge. ‘I’d say Switzerland or possibly Austria. We can’t risk farther.’

Payne clicked the button on his headset and talked to Boyd in the chopper’s backseat. ‘Hey Doc, any suggestions on where we should land?’

Boyd discussed things with Maria for several seconds before answering. ‘There’s a lovely research facility in Kusendorf that might be able to aid our cause.’

Payne glanced at Jones. ‘What do you think?’

‘What do I think? I think we’d be crazy to fly right there. The odds are pretty good we’re being tracked by