Mr. Dark 4 (Tamed #4)(24)

The hokey singing got the point across, and Pressman grimaced slightly in the dim light. "Fuck, Snowman, I thought you were a hitman, not a torturer. You could just introduce yourself instead of the goddamn Disney tunes. By the way, you know Sal is looking for you."

"I'm sure. It's one of the reasons I'm back in town, actually. Sal and I have unfinished business. He took away the only damn thing I've loved in my life, you know." It was a play, but I hoped it worked. I wanted the Confederation wondering if I was Marcus Smiley, and the more deception I could give them, the better. "Yeah, Sal and I have a date in the future for sure."

"So what's that got to do with me?" Pressman said, frustrated. I could see him testing his bonds, but there was no way he was getting out. I couldn't have pulled those bonds free, and I was stronger and better trained in escapes than he was. "I'm just an operative. I had nothing to do with you or that hospital girl you were caught with."

"No, but you did stumble by bad luck into my business. You see, I happen to work with your latest seduction, Tabitha Williams. We all have to have day jobs, you know. Very few of us can get by just working our night shift work. By the way, nice gig with the HVAC. You and your folks must get plenty of loot that way. You bringing your little brother into the business as well? Your wife too, that's a full house of hearts, quite a strong hand."

My implied threat was clear, and I knew that when Tabby heard this point she'd feel like she'd been stabbed in the heart herself. "Leave my kid brother and wife out of this, Snowman. I'm asking you. He's innocent for the most part, he just thinks I'm in an open relationship sort of thing, and my wife.... man, my wife's retired. She's six months pregnant for Christ's sake."

"Really? I got a different impression listening to you on the phone earlier. Should I go to your home at...... 3457 Hampstead Lane and check it out myself? Or maybe go visit your little brother at your parents' house?" I'd pulled his wallet while he was out, and had read his driver's license. It was standard procedure in things like this.

"FUCK! No, man, shit! I'm not lying to you, okay? Yes my wife is pregnant, and she's out of the game. Hell, I was going to get out too once I was done with this redhead, just use the money I could get from Marcus Smiley to set up my dad's business. Drain Smiley dry, and have a good retirement nest egg for my folks. Have a nice one for me too, really. Mike would be set up to take the whole HVAC thing if he wanted, above board. This place actually does clear a good profit you know."

"After you get rid of the plasma torches and safe cracking devices, of course," I said dryly. "Okay, let's just say I believe you. Still, I work with Miss Williams. In fact, she introduced me to the girl that Sal had killed, did you know that? She's the only thing I have left of the girl I loved. No, you probably didn't know any of that, that sort of thing doesn't get out too often. But Tabitha, she's off limits. I thought I had made that clear to the Confederation when I took out that night club. But it seems like Sal needs another lesson in that regard."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Pressman said, desperation in his voice. "Listen, Sal didn't know who I was going after! He just knew I asked permission to try and get to Marcus Smiley. Hell, he probably thought I was going to try for Smiley's purple haired hottie, Warbird. It was my original plan, but when Tabby came by, I just went with my gut. I figured I could get her to get me in some other way, and who knew, maybe I could drain a few other clients as well. She is a financial advisor, after all. I swear to God man, I didn't know she was on any sort of protected list, I didn't know who she was. She was just another short term pump and dump, that's all."

"I see," I said, tapping the button to my recorder again, stopping the recording. I had what I needed. "Still Knave, you seriously f*cked up. Now, I'm not the sort to be overly vindictive, despite my reputation. So I'm not going to kill you."

I could hear the relief in Pressman's voice as he exhaled, followed by a quizzical tilt of his head. "If you're not going to kill me, then what?"

"Well, you've got a job I want you to do," I said. "You're going to go to Sal, and tell him everything we talked about tonight. Tell him that Tabby Williams is protected, plain and simple. Next time she gets messed with, I kill five Confederation soldiers for every scratch on her body. If any of Owen Lynch's men mess with her, I kill five Confederation men and five of Lynch's men, so make sure the message is passed along."

"Okay, okay, I can do that," Pressman said, nodding like an eager puppy. He was just glad he was going to survive the night. I could understand the sentiment. He had a few things going for him. First off, my reputation was never as being always a killer. I had let victims go before. I was an enforcer, a person who applied force, not just a killer.

"I'm not finished," I said, pulling out my dart gun from my coat again. "Next thing is, you are going to retire. In fact, I'm retiring you tonight. Hold still, this might sting a bit otherwise."

I shot Pressman in the chest with the dart before he could ask what I meant. The dart was much larger in dose than the first one, a special concoction that was based a bit on LSD, a bit on the drugs used in chemical castration, and a few other darker items that I wasn't sure were in the list of drugs any pharmacist or doctor in the city knew about. I saw Pressman's head roll back and forth as the hallucinogenics started to take effect, and I pulled the last item from my jacket, a carefully prepared and designed mp3 player with headphones that I taped in. I then injected another syringe of the mix into his right thigh, just to make sure there was enough to do what I wanted. I hit the play button on the player, and walked out, locking the door and closing the security grate behind me.