The Darkest Day

FIFTY

On the other side of the door was a dark room full of cardboard boxes and piled junk. A dim glow of moonlight shone through a window. The man with blond hair moaned as Victor dragged him by his ankles through the doorway and deposited him in an unceremonious heap while Raven performed a quick recon.

Victor searched through the man’s pockets while he breathed with a high-pitched wheeze because his nose was crushed flat. He found a wallet, spare ammunition, a radio, a cell phone and the suppressed Ruger in black leather shoulder rigging. Victor took everything and dropped it on the floor out of the man’s reach.

He held up the wallet for the man to see. ‘Personal effects? That’s such a basic error. I guess you must be part of the B team, Mr Sean Pachulski.’

The man’s eyes began to focus as his senses returned. His gaze flicked between Victor and Raven. Despite the obvious pain and his captive status he was angry and defiant beyond bravado. This was a warrior.

‘Fuck you,’ Pachulski shouted.

He was somewhere in his forties, face aged further by sun, alcohol and tobacco. Gold glinted at his neck and around his left ring finger. Tattoos and scars covered his thick arms. He had a Bronx accent.

Victor brought a finger to his lips. ‘Shh.’

The man growled, ‘I’m gonna kill you.’

‘Of course you are.’

He tried to stand to deliver on his promise, but his right shoulder was useless — dislocated or suffering from a torn rotator cuff. He couldn’t get himself upright with only one arm. The more he tried, the more he cried out in pain.

‘Have you finished?’ Victor asked.

Pachulski stared, nostrils flaring in rage and frustration.

Raven returned and said, ‘It’s clear. We’re alone.’

Victor nodded and looked down at the warrior. ‘Did you hear that?’

The man said nothing.

‘Do you understand what that means for you?’

‘I’m gonna fucking kill you,’ Pachulski hissed.

He rolled back on to his front and tried to stand. For all his determination, he had neither the strength nor coordination to do so with only the use of a single arm.

‘I respect your will,’ Victor said, ‘if not your distorted sense of reality. You couldn’t kill me with two hands, a gun and backup. Now you can’t even stand.’

‘You’re a dead man.’

‘Empirical evidence states otherwise.’

The rage became acceptance. He stared. ‘Shut up and kill me, you fuck.’

Victor said, ‘All in good time.’

Raven gestured for him to hurry. Victor gestured to say that he had it under control.

‘Your shoulder looks painful,’ Victor said.

‘I’ve had paper cuts that hurt more,’ Pachulski growled. ‘You’re a pussy.’

‘I need some answers.’

‘Go fuck yourself.’

Victor said, ‘I’m not a vindictive type but try not to swear and I assure you this will go a lot easier.’

The man sneered. ‘You think you can torture me and I’ll talk? Fuck you. Fuck you. FUCK. YOU.’

There was no false confidence, but defiance and self-belief wrapped up in fury. A powerful combination. This was a man who would not be broken without considerable effort. Any pain would fuel that anger and solidify the defiance. It might be hours before his will cracked. Victor considered for a moment.

‘I believe you when you say that, Mr Pachulski. I don’t think pain is going to make you tell me what I need to know.’

‘You’d better fucking believe it.’

Victor said, ‘But pain can be an emotional as well as a physical response. What other emotions are there? Fear? That’s no good; I can’t scare you. Love? What do you love most in this world?’

The man named Pachulski hesitated, not knowing how to answer; confused or wary of some trap or manipulation attempt.

‘I said: what do you love most in this world?’

Still, the man gave no answer. His eyes narrowed, suspicious and growing nervous.

‘It’s not a trick question,’ Victor assured.

Victor held open the wallet so Pachulski could see the contents, in particular a photograph behind clear plastic.

The man stared. Swallowed.

Victor said, ‘Is this what you love most in this world?’

Pachulski said nothing. He didn’t blink.

Victor said, ‘You have a beautiful family, Sean. May I call you Sean?’ He didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Your two girls look just like their mother.’

Anger and pain left the man’s face, replaced by fear.

‘You’re a bit broader now than in this picture. A couple of years old, is it? That would make your girls… Seven and eight? Something like that. The little one looks like she’s trouble. I can see the mischief in her grin.’

The man tried, but failed, to stop his eyes welling.

Victor took out a credit card, examined it for a second, then held it up for the man to see. Victor did the same with the driver’s licence. He tapped the printed address.

‘This is exactly why you don’t take personal effects with you on a job, Sean. And this is exactly why I have no one in my life. Are you going to tell me what I need to know?’

Tears streamed from Pachulski’s eyes, flowing over his temples and into his hair.

‘You don’t live that far from here,’ Victor said. ‘In fact I was close to your address earlier today. I think I can be there in about twenty minutes.’ He looked to Raven. ‘What do you think?’

She said, ‘The roads will be clearer now, so maybe fifteen.’

Pachulski’s eyes were as red as his bloody nose.

‘I can have your two girls on the radio within half an hour,’ Victor continued, ‘begging Daddy to save them. Will you be brave enough to tell them you can’t?’

The man wailed.

‘Tell me everything I need to know and when I walk out of here I won’t make a detour.’

Finally, Pachulski spoke between sobs: ‘How do I know you’ll keep your word?’

Victor said, ‘The only thing you can know for certain, whether or not you tell me what I want to know, is that I will kill you. There’s nothing you can do to stop that happening. It’s not personal, Sean, but you work for people trying to kill me. I haven’t stayed alive this long by showing my enemies mercy. ’ Raven glanced at him. ‘So, you’re dead. Like I said, a certainty. But if you don’t tell me who sent you then I won’t kill you until after I’ve made that detour we talked about.’

Pachulski blinked the tears from his eyes, swallowed, and said, ‘I’ll talk. I’ll talk.’

‘Good,’ Victor said.

Raven said, ‘Where’s Halleck?’

Pachulski said, ‘I don’t know, I swear.’

‘Then where are you guys based? Where’s your HQ?’

‘Brooklyn,’ Pachulski answered. ‘Floyd Bennett Field.’

‘What’s that?’ Victor asked.

‘It’s a disused airfield,’ Raven explained. ‘I know where it is.’

Victor said, ‘How many of you are there?’

‘We had twenty-four,’ the man said. ‘I’m not sure how many are left now. I’m sorry, I —’

Raven said, ‘Where’s the bomb? Where’s the C4?’

His mouth hovered open. ‘What bomb? I don’t know anything about a bomb.’

‘Why did Halleck base you guys at an airfield?’

‘Waiting for a delivery,’ Pachulski said.

‘Details,’ Raven demanded.

His words came out fast and frantic: ‘That’s all I know, I swear. Halleck is having something delivered. I don’t know what. I’m a foot soldier, that’s all. I don’t know anything else. If I did I would tell you. I swear.’

‘I believe you,’ Victor said. ‘Relax.’

‘So you won’t hurt my family now?’

Victor said, ‘I don’t need to any more, do I?’ and broke Pachulski’s neck.