The next morning, a knock on the door almost made Salvador jump in place. … Who the hell knocks on a door? … The answer came before he could answer the knock, as the door opened to reveal Kay.
“Anything for me?”
The man looked at her. … Her reaction the previous night had been … good enough, but could she take some actual work? Time to test it. “Yes. Come with me”. He got up and led her to the basement while he explained. “The guys found one of the fugitives from yesterday. I need you to figure out where the others are.”
She smiled. “Any red lines?”
He looked at her confused.
“... what exactly can I do to make him talk?”
Salvador laughed. “Follow my orders.”
The small cell greeted them with a stench of rotten piss and … God knows what else. The fugitive started crying as soon as he saw them. Salvador grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, laughing. “You shouldn’t have let that bitch escape if you didn’t want this. Besides, we haven’t even started yet.”
The man kept crying.
“Kay. Break his legs," he said, dropping him back to the floor.
She looked at him, slightly surprised, and steeled herself before stomping on the man's knees, bending them far past their natural angle. The man promptly passed out amidst screams.
“Wake him up.”
“Will take a while, you know.”
Salvador sighed. “Yes. Call me when he’s awake. Can you whistle?”
Kay shepherd-whistled as an answer.
“Good. You know how to call.”
She spent the next 15 minutes with the man, cursing at herself for not having … any kind of chemical to help the process. But this wasn’t the States, this wasn’t Russia, this was the ass of the world. The place where you go when there’s nowhere else to go. And it meant not having the … resources of the civilized places, she thought while she kept shaking the man.
Finally, he came back. But upon seeing her face, the ugly scar, he froze in place. Kay ignored it as she got up, and, as told, whistled loudly.
Salvador promptly came back. “So, can we keep working?” He looked at the man for a second. “Okay, you’re back to the land of the living, I see. Now. If you wish to continue in it, do tell us. Where are the others?”
The man looked at him before looking down. “I swear I don’t know, we each went in one direction, please, please--”
Kay sat in front of him. “Nice try. But you’re lying. Now, look at me.” She softly lifted the man’s chin, forcing him to look into her eyes. “You don’t want to get hurt, do you?”
The poor soul shook his head.
“Then do tell. Where are they.”
“I swear I don’t know, please….”
Kay smiled as her hand rested on the man’s knee. “Want me to help you remember?” Suddenly she shifted her weight, putting most of it on the man’s bent-back knee. The man, in response, screamed his lungs out. Kay simply looked at him with a smile the whole time. Then, silence -- promptly broken by her. “So? Memory any better?”
“Please…. Please….”
“Well, then. Let me tell you what’s going to happen. I’ll keep going ‘till you break. And believe me, you will. You will tell me where they are -- that much I can guarantee. What happens before then, that’s up to you. Will you go through hell and then some… for nothing?” She accentuated her words by resting her hand on the man’s other knee.
The man looked down and cried.
“Do it,” said Salvador, out of the blue.
“Patience, boss. I know what I’m doing.”
Salvador wasn’t having it. This was a test for her, after all. He pulled a gun and placed it against her temple. “I said do it.”
Kay sighed. “You want results? … or just to hurt him?”
“I want you to follow orders.”
She laughed in response. “You should have started there, man,” she said, shifting her weight again, placing it all on the man’s broken knee.
The poor soul started screaming again -- then he passed out.
Kay got up and confronted Salvador. “... and that’s what you get when you force it.”
He smiled. “I didn’t think you’d do it. Got to admit, I’m… impressed so far.”
She shrugged. “I’ve done far worse. I just need to know what you want. … I’m used to people wanting results, you see.”
Salvador kept his smile up. “Well, the guys will take care of this idiot. Now, I have received a call, they’ve caught a thief at the Mayorga plantation. … I need you to go there and follow our procedures.”
“Gotcha, boss.”
