Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(54)

Marcus directed his false anger around the circle of Shades. “I ask you to bring him in for questions and this is what you do?”

“Fuck, sorry, boss.”

“Cut him down. For fuck’s sake. Now.”

The men scrambled to bring a chair and loosen the ropes that held the man suspended from a few exposed ceiling pipes.

“Give him some water.”

Marcus sat in the chair that was provided for him and continued to study the traitor.

“Take that fucking thing off.” He nodded at the blindfold. “Gods, this isn’t an interrogation. This how you treat my employees?”

A Shade handed Marcus a bottle of water and the boss waited until the blindfold was cut away.

The man before him was breathing heavily, trembling with relief. As soon as the filthy scrap of cloth was gone, Marcus leaned forward, filling the snitch’s vision.

“Here.” Marcus handed over the water bottle, and rested his forearms on his knees, studying the snitch.

“T–t-thank you,” the traitor said. “I thought I was a dead man.”

“Marty, right?”

The man nodded.

“I’m Marcus Ubeli.”

“Yessir, I know you, Mr. Ubeli.” The man took a sloppy swig of water, holding the bottle with shaking hands.

Marcus smiled. “I remember you. You took that gun shipment up to Eyrie, when the suits were putting in checkpoints at the weigh in stations up and down 95.”

“Yeah, yeah, that was me.”

“You took back roads around all the points, and when a local cop stopped you at two am, you told him you were looking for a place that was open so you could take a dump.”

“Right, that’s it,” the man guffawed half-heartedly, his beady eyes darting around the room at the silent circle of Shades.

“That was good thinking.” Marcus raised a finger and shook it at Marty. “Real good.”

“Thank you, sir. Can I ask—”

“No muss, no fuss, no questions asked,” Marcus cut him off, and the man fell silent. Bingo, Marcus thought. “So what happened to my shipment?”

“Your shipment?”

“Yes, Marty, all the goods that go in the back of your truck belong to me. I’m ultimately responsible for them, so if there’s a break in the chain, I need to know about it.”

“Uh…I told them, sir, and they didn’t believe me. Someone took it.”

“Someone? Do you know who?”

“No, fuck, I’d tell you if I could,” the man’s voice strained with sincerity, and he never broke eye contact. A sure sign he was lying. “They wore masks.”

“Of course,” Marcus motioned towards his water bottle. “You need another of those?”

“What?” the man stared at it like it had sprouted from his hand, then took another swig. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”

“Marty, I hope you don’t mind if I keep you here, talk to you some more. See, I have to figure out where this shipment got to, so I can go and retrieve it. I need your help to do that. You willing to help me?”

“Of course, yeah.” The man wiped his mouth, but couldn’t stop his eyes shifting around the stone-faced enforcers surrounding him and Marcus.

“It may take a while. You want me to get a message to someone who’s waiting up for you? A woman or something?”

“Uh, no, my wife, she’s used to my late hours.”

“Alright.” Marcus glanced around the circle of waiting men. One Shade, looming over Marty’s right shoulder, cracked his knuckles, massaging his beefy hands. With a subtle shake of Marcus’s head, the thug backed down.

Interrogation of a suspect couldn’t be done with force. The man would give false information, would say anything to stop the pain. Manipulation led to much more reliable information. Befriend someone, and they will tell you what you want.

Every time.

“Thanks for helping me out, Marty. I appreciate it. And I have a beautiful woman waiting for me in my bed, so I’m sufficiently motivated to finish this.”

A chuckle ran around the circle and even Marty’s features relaxed.

“So here’s the thing that I don’t understand,” Marcus leaned forward in his chair. “Why didn’t they kill you? I mean, that’s what I would do. Shoot the driver, take the goods, dump the body.”

Marty mopped the sweat from his forehead. “Uh, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know. Lucky break for you, though. Seeing as you’re breathing and not dead in a ditch.”

“Look, I ran over something, drove a mile and the rig, she was pulling weird, so I stopped to check it out. The car came out of nowhere and these men jumped out waving guns. They had me outnumbered.”

“Of course.” Marcus closed his eyes. “How many men?”

“Don’t know how many, saw two waving guns, another on the other side, maybe two in the back. They got me out and on my knees and told me not to move. Thank the gods your guys were looking out for me.”

“Why were you on the back road and not the Ape?” Marcus mentioned the Appian Way, the main artery out of New Olympus.

“Thought I knew a quicker route.”

“Even though your orders were to meet up at the abandoned rest stop on the Ape? I’m told you went ten miles out of your way for this shortcut.”