Power and Empire

Palmetto nodded. At this point, he hadn’t figured out exactly what Clark’s game was. He decided wrong, and guessed a member of the competition. “Everyone’s always looking for a Magdalena.” His confidence was returning since Clark hadn’t killed him yet. “I gave her mother five grand. She has two other daughters, though. I’m happy to put you in touch—”

Clark pressed the business end of the screwdriver against Palmetto’s thigh and leaned in, feeling the satisfying scrape as the flathead nicked his femur.

The man yowled in pain and surprise, but Clark hit him before he could form words — GI Joe smacking a Ken doll.

Clark grimaced. “Geeze,” he said, showing mock concern. “You’re gonna want to have that looked at. I’m thinking Parrot might have had a few STDs.”

Palmetto swayed like he might pass out.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Clark left the screwdriver buried in the leg, but nudged the handle toward the centerline, using it like a lever.

Palmetto’s eyes lit up and he lurched, kicking his foot as if shocked.

“Felt that, did you?” Clark said. “That’s what we call your common peroneal nerve. We should stay away from that. It hurts like a son of a bitch.”

Palmetto clenched his jaw and nodded quickly.

“Where is Magdalena now?”

“Z… Z… Zambrano,” he said. “I heard he won her at auction.”

“Isn’t he the boss?”

“Yesss,” Palmetto said, biting his lip. His eyelids fluttered. “I… I think he bought her as a present for Chen.”

Clark moved the screwdriver involuntarily at that, scraping bone again.

“Stooooopppp!”

Both girls looked up and then just as quickly turned away.

“Why give a present to Chen?”

“She’s… his girlfriend.”

“Chen’s male.”

“N… Not Vincent,” Palmetto said, hyperventilating now. “Lily, his sister. Like I told you, she… she’s Zambrano’s partner. Brings triad money and muscle into the cartel.”

Clark withdrew the screwdriver. So Vincent Chen had a sister. This was all beginning to make sense — not complete sense, but at least the pieces were starting to fall into place. Lily Chen would possess information on her brother and his business dealings that would help Ding and the others. That was plenty enough reason to hunt her down. Clark shot a glance at the two girls, one of them branded and raped, the other having only narrowly avoided the same fate. He’d never admit it, not even to himself, but he didn’t need another reason.

“Let’s have the password for your computer,” he said.

Palmetto clenched his eyes shut, pressing tears through the lashes. “It’s… unlocked.”

“I’m working with geniuses here,” Clark said.

He used Dorian’s cell phone to call the Fort Worth Police Department Vice Section and requested an e-mail address to which he could make a video confession. He’d made enough Skype calls to his wife and grandson that it was a fairly simple matter to put through a video call — even for him.

Jo and the other girl listened to their music, eyes closed.

Clark stood just off camera with the bloody screwdriver as Dorian Palmetto began to spill his guts to the female detective with the Fort Worth Police Department. He couldn’t help grinning behind the black balaclava. Vengeance shouldn’t feel this good. But it did.

He looked at his watch. The coppers would be tracing the computer’s IP address and should be here in short order.

Time to make a call.

48

Yukiko’s GSM listening device had been completely silent for the last hour and a half. Jack Ryan, Jr., leaned back in the loveseat with both hands behind his head. The Japanese woman sat beside him, gazing forward in a thousand-yard stare, deep in thought. Chavez snored softly a few feet away. Adara and Midas were sacked out on the unmade bed.

“You okay?” Jack asked. He didn’t whisper; that would have woken everyone in the room. Instead, he kept his voice low and unthreatening.

Yuki nodded. “I am. Thank you for asking.”

“Maybe we should wake one of them,” Jack said. “Give you a break.”

“Let them sleep,” Yuki said. “I am not tired.”

“I know what you mean.” Jack found himself wanting to talk to this woman. She smelled good. That was something he hadn’t paid attention to in a long time. He paused for a beat, then asked, “How long have you been on the job?”

“Awhile,” she said. What else could she say? Jack’s answer would have been just as ambiguous, and he felt stupid for asking such a pointed question.

If she was angry, she didn’t show it. “My father was… on the job, as you say. I grew up not knowing what he did for some time, only that his job took him away a great deal.”

Jack could understand that, but he just gave her what he hoped was a sympathetic smile.