Paradise Burns by J. P. Sumner Page B

very powerful mob boss, and he will do absolutely
whatever it takes to get that land back. If you didn’t learn that about him
when you were dealing with him, you’re dumber than you look.’
    ‘He has no idea who he’s dealing with!’
    I sighed.
    ‘I know he doesn’t, the guy’s a fucking
idiot,’ I agreed, which seemed to take Jackson by surprise a little. ‘But I don’t
really care. I know who I’m dealing with, and that’s what matters.
Pellaggio is going to pay me a hundred grand to kill you if you don’t sell him
the land. He’d rather I didn’t have to, but he understands it’ll probably be
necessary.’
    Ted laughed. Which I thought was a
little strange, given the circumstances.
    ‘I’ll give you quarter of a million
dollars to let me go right now, and I’ll pretend this never happened.’
    ‘While I have no doubt you can afford
such a generous offer, I don’t get why you’re saying it like you’re doing me a favor?
    He leant forward as much as he could,
which wasn’t much.
    ‘You say you know who you’re dealing
with, but you really don’t. You’re nothing but a low-life hired gun who’s in
way over his head, and you’re going to die whatever happens here.’
    While I knew he was completely wrong, and
could forgive his cavalier attitude given he clearly had no clue who I was, I believed
that he believed what he said. However, his unjustified bravado was
starting to annoy me.
    I sighed.
    ‘Ted, tell me why GlobaTech Industries have
such an interest in a plot of land in the middle of the Nevada desert?’
    ‘Screw you,’ he said, pausing after each
word for added effect.
    He was starting to gain confidence,
which is quite strange, given his current predicament. Normally, you’d make
sure any hostage had zero confidence at all times, to minimize any risk. But
there was no risk here, and I was curious about his reaction, so I thought I’d
let it play out a bit longer.
    ‘Okay, let’s try something else,’ I
gestured to the woman next to him. ‘Who’s she?’
    ‘She’s my personal bodyguard.’
    I looked at her. She was observing the
situation with a curious detachment. She remained silent.
    ‘You’re being protected by a girl?
Jesus, Teddy, is that not emasculating at all to you?’
    The woman huffed in disgust at me, which
I didn’t acknowledge. I simply smiled back at her, causing her to roll her eyes
and look away. Jackson said nothing, although he clearly wanted to. I was
trying to goad him into giving me information, and he probably knew it. Not the
oldest trick in the book, but it’s certainly in the first few chapters.
    ‘Not your standard security detail, I’m
sure you’d agree,’ I continued, turning back to Jackson. ‘So who is she?’
    He looked at me with impatient, defiant
eyes, maintaining his silence. Okay, time to take his confidence away again.
    In one swift movement, I stood up and
used my free hand to throw the table in front of me across the room. This
spontaneous, violent act took Jackson by surprise. As he gasped in shock, I
shot him in his other foot. This caused him to scream and black out.
    ‘Oh, Teddy,’ I said. ‘That’s just
embarrassing.’

 
    THIRTEEN
     
    Despite the
commotion, our mystery woman remained silent. I turned my attention to her now.
Shooting Jackson in his other foot had taken her by surprise as well, and
prompted her to start thinking of her own well-being. I watched as she assessed
her situation, tried her restraints, had a quick look around the room and came
to the realization that right now, she had no move. She looked at me and
relaxed again in her chair.
    ‘I can’t believe you hit a woman,’ she
said. She wasn’t annoyed - well, not any more than anyone else would be after
they’d been elbowed in the face. I think she was just toying with me.
    ‘Yeah, sorry about that,’ I said. ‘Actually,
I’m not - you had a gun on me, so you deserved everything you got.’
    ‘I only had a gun you because you