Page 51 of A Captive Situation

“Dad, there’s a hit on Jake.” Sweat poured down Crispin’s face. He needed to blink a few times as some of it went over his eyes. His voicewas raspy, strained. “Who put it there? I gotta know. I gotta ... He’s in the city, Dad. Are we in danger? What’s going on?”

My cousin truly sucked at being an actor.

“Why?” His dad’s voice dipped low. Also hoarse. “The fuck are you asking this shit? What are you playing at? You know we don’t give a shit about that kid.”

Kid. I stopped being a kid when he put a gun in my hands when I was twelve. When he told me I needed to learn how to kill a man. My dad found out two years later what Uncle Toby had me doing, shooting men for him, but the damage was done. I had already been turned into an executioner by then.

That was when my dad stepped away from the family business. It was the first rift among the brothers.

Maybe that was the beginning of the end for the Worthing Mafia.

“... he’s going to be taken out and you need to just shut your fat fucking mouth until then. You hear me?” He didn’t wait, bellowing, “You hear me? You answer me, boy!”

I pulled the phone away from my cousin. The frustration that had been rising in me began to morph into a calmness. It was somewhat nice. Serene. It was a dead feeling of calm.

I continued listening as my uncle confirmed every single one of my suspicions. He was saying, spewing into the phone, “Calling me and asking me about family business. You don’t fucking do that. You know better.”

I sighed audibly before speaking, in a low voice. “Uncle Toby.”

Crispin was bugging out at me, his eyes bulging. I didn’t want to hear whatever he was going to say so I shoved tape back over his mouth. He tried yelling through it.

I took the phone and walked away, noting how quiet it was now.

“Who put the contract on me, Uncle Toby?” I went over, bending to pick up a knife that I’d stripped from Penn earlier. I twirled it in my hand. “You can answer me in the next five seconds, but I’ll let youknow, every minute you waste my time will cost you. I’ll start stripping inches of skin off one of your boys.”

Crispin went pale again. I didn’t think he had any more color in him. As I neared him, he tried jerking the chair away from me. It started to tip back, but I stopped it with my foot and slammed him back down.

“Jacob.”

I had to smile. He sounded so cautious now. “This is karmic. Isn’t it, Uncle?” I flicked the knife in my hand, letting it spin in circles on my palm. “You were the one who turned me into a killer. Now here I am. Using some of those skills on your own boys. That is, unless you stop wasting my time and give me the name I need. What are you going to do, Uncle Toby?”

I leaned forward, pressing the edge of the blade to Crispin’s leg.

He went so still, only barely breathing.

I forgot the power that filled you in these types of interrogations. I forgot the adrenaline. It was addicting.

“You got my son?” he asked, quietly.

“I got both of them. They’re alive.” I kicked at Crispin’s chair, enjoying the wave of fear that rolled from him. “For now.”

“What’s this he’s saying? Someone’s trying to kill you?” He tried to sound casual.

I grunted. “Wrong move, Uncle.” I tore Crispin’s pants, ripping them until there was a good chunk of skin exposed, and I put the knife to it.

My cousin began screaming. It was muffled by the tape, but it was loud.

I moved the phone back to my mouth, speaking as Crispin continued screaming, “You hear that, Uncle? You should be able to guess what comes next, since you’re the one who taught me the five main steps of torture.”

“Jesus Christ! Stop, Jacob. Stop. Please ...”

I stared at the phone. That was different. I had never heard my uncle beg.

I liked it. I wanted to hear more.

“You know”—I pulled the knife away, straightening up. Maybe we’d go down this one road first—“I got to thinking about the logistics of when the board appointed me head of the family. You said it yourself. You still think of me as a kid, but you’re forgetting what I was before we left. Aren’t you? You’re forgetting the reason I left in the first place. Justin’s gone now.”

He was quiet again.

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