False Horizon - Alex Archer [66]
“Why keep me?”
“We have our reasons.”
Tuk sighed. “Well, now you’ve got me. Are you going to let Annja and Mike go?”
“I’m afraid things have progressed beyond us being able to do that now.”
“Why?”
“Your cell phone for one. Who is the man you are speaking with on the other end of the line?”
“None of your business.”
“Tsk, tsk, Tuk, that’s no way to treat your friends.”
Tuk sniffed. “Friends…right.”
“We need to know. We must ensure the secret is still safe. Does he know where you are?”
Tuk frowned. “I don’t even know where I am. How would I be able to communicate anything to him?”
“All right.”
Tuk rubbed his hand. “So how long are you going to keep me here?”
“Just a little while more.”
“My friends aren’t going to stand for this. Once they see that I’ve gone, they’re going to start asking questions.”
“Yes, Annja is already being somewhat troublesome.”
Tuk smiled. You have no idea what she’s capable of, he thought. “Oh, really?”
“Indeed. And we have another problem.”
“Good.”
“Don’t be like that, Tuk. This can all go so much smoother if you simply cooperate and answer our questions. If you do that for us, we’ll make sure your time with us is relatively comfortable. And painless.”
“You’re going to torture me if I don’t talk? How refreshingly original.”
“Torture tends not to work that well. The results are usually mixed. Unpredictable, even. But there are other alternatives.”
Tuk frowned. “I’m not answering any more of your questions.”
“Where is Mike?”
Tuk looked back at the one-way Plexiglas. “You lost him?” He couldn’t help it and a smile broke out across his face. “That’s fantastic. You guys must be so proud of yourselves.”
“Tuk, this isn’t helping us.”
“You are absolutely correct. It’s not helping you. And you can bet there’s more where that came from.”
Another voice spoke now but it wasn’t directed at Tuk. “This is getting us nowhere. I told you he wouldn’t cooperate.”
Guge’s voice broke into a different language. Tuk frowned. Mandarin Chinese. He heard the tones and had spent enough time around some of the Chinese transplants in Katmandu that he knew how the language sounded even if he didn’t understand a word.
The conversation continued for several minutes and sounded quite heated. Tuk leaned back against the wall with a smug look on his face. Good, he thought, let them get annoyed with me.
“Tuk.”
“What?”
“My comrade here thinks we would be better served if we simply started making you as uncomfortable as possible right now. He thinks I am wasting my time trying to talk to you like a civilized human being.”
“Maybe you are.”
“Don’t say that, Tuk. Things can grow truly unpleasant here. You have no idea how enterprising some of my colleagues can be. And I mean that in the worst possible way.”
Tuk sighed. “I’m done helping you. Until I get some answers, I’m not saying a thing.”
“Where is Mike, Tuk?”
“I don’t know. And that’s an honest answer. Seriously. I will give that one to you for no charge.”
“Where is he?”
Tuk patted the stone walls of his cell. “You guys are about as thick as this wall, aren’t you? I just told you the truth. I don’t know where he is. The last I saw of him was right after Annja spoke to him and he went off in a huff about something. I don’t know anything else.”
Guge and his colleague exchanged another battery of Chinese conversation. Back and forth for a minute this time and then, finally, Guge’s voice came back on.
“All right, Tuk. That’s fine for now. We will see if your story checks out. If I were you, I’d spend my time praying that it does.”
“Really?”
“Oh, most definitely. Because if we find out you’ve been lying to us, there’s going to be little I can do to stop my colleagues from exerting themselves upon you in a most terrible fashion.”
Tuk bunched his knees up and leaned his head back against the wall. “I have nothing to hide. I’ve told you the truth.”
“Let us hope so.”
“How soon can I get out of here?”
“I told you. When we are finished. Not a moment before that time.”
“And then you’ll let me go?”
There was a pause. “We never said anything about letting