I said, “Bain, Luther was squeezing my ass.”
Luther wasn’t amused and said, “Shut your fucking mouth, sir.”
“You’re supposed to pat, not squeeze.”
I felt a heavy boot smashing into my right rib cage as Luther shouted, “Asshole!”
Madox warned Luther, “Don’t ever do that without my permission.”
After I caught my breath, I couldn’t resist pointing out, “Not that well disciplined, Bain.”
Madox said, “Shut up.” He informed me, “I really don’t like your sarcasm.” He snapped, “Roll over!”
I needed to roll over without exposing the BearBanger on the carpet under my stomach. So, instead of doing a simple sideways roll, I made a pretense of being in pain from the kick in the ribs and did a passable imitation of a beached whale flopping around so that I wound up in the same place on the carpet with the BearBanger under my back.
I could see Madox now, standing near my feet, and Carl standing near Kate, pointing the shotgun at her.
Luther was off to my right side, holding the wand, which he was slapping into his hand, as though it were a billy club that he was thinking about swinging at my head.
The other security guy, Derek, was someplace I couldn’t see from where I was lying, but I figured he’d repositioned himself behind my head with his M16 pointing down at me.
The only good news here was that Madox, for some reason, hadn’t just opened fire.
He seemed to sense what I was thinking and said to me, “If you’re wondering why I’m taking all this time and trouble with you two, the answer is I need some information from you. Also, I don’t want blood on this Persian carpet.”
Both those reasons sounded good.
Madox instructed, “Take off your belt.”
I unbuckled it, pulled it through the loops, and tossed it aside.
He said to Derek, “Shackle him,” and Derek ordered, “Raise your legs.”
I raised my legs, and Derek slapped the ankle bracelets on and locked them in place. I was surprised how heavy they were, and I dropped my legs, causing the shackles to rattle.
Luther pulled the pen out of my shirt pocket, then passed the wand over me. My zipper also set it off, so Luther stuck the wand down my pants and said, “No brass balls, Colonel.”
Everyone got a little chuckle out of that, except me and Kate.
It occurred to me that I’d pissed off everyone in this room-maybe including Kate-and that though they’d been mostly professional so far, it could get very personal very quickly. So I thought, for my wife’s sake, I should try to keep my mouth shut.
I looked over at Kate, who was lying about ten feet from me, also on her back, and also wearing shackles. We made eye contact, and I said to her, “It’s going to be okay when they get here.”
“I know.”
Of course, it wasn’t a matter of “when” but a matter of “if.”
Madox barked, “Shut up. Speak only when spoken to.” He said to Luther, “Frisk him again.”
Luther did a rough frisk, going so far as to stick his thumb in my testicles, then said, “Clean.”
Madox moved to the bar and started going through our jackets, credentials, shoes, and belts, then he dumped the contents of Kate’s handbag on the bar and rummaged through the items. He said to us, “I count six fully loaded magazines. Did you think you were going to have a firefight?”
The other three idiots laughed.
I couldn’t resist saying, “Fuck you.”
Madox informed me, “That’s what your friend Harry kept saying. Fuck you. Fuck you. Do you have anything intelligent to say?”
“Yeah. You’re still under arrest.”
He thought that was funny and said, “So are you.”
Madox was still going through our things on the bar, and I saw him take the batteries out of our cell phones, then examine my pen. He still hadn’t found Kate’s BearBanger, so I hoped she still had it.
Madox said, “Well, here’s Detective Muller’s credential case. John, why do you have that?”
“To give it to his family.”
“I see. And who’s going to give your badge to your family after you’re dead?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“You wish it was.”
He had our notebooks now, and I knew he couldn’t read my notes because no one, myself included, can read my handwriting. But he said to Kate, whose handwriting is very neat, “I see you have a logical mind. Rare for a woman.”
She replied, of course, “Fuck you.”
He ignored that as he flipped through her notebook. “Kate, does anyone know you’re here?”
“Just the FBI and the state police, who are on their way.”
“If there was anything like that happening at state police headquarters, I’d know about it.”
That was not what we wanted to hear.
He asked me, “John, what do they know at 26 Fed?”
“Everything.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then don’t ask.”
“You were seen speaking to Harry, Friday afternoon as you both got on the elevator at 26 Fed. What did you speak about?”
I really didn’t want to hear that Bain Madox had a source inside 26 Federal Plaza.
“John?”
“We didn’t talk business.”
“All right… I’m a little pressed for time, John, so we can continue this later.”
“Later is good.”
“But I’m not going to be so nice later.”
“You’re not so nice now, Bain.”
He laughed and said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet, pal.”
I advised him, “Go fuck yourself.”
He was standing directly over me now, with those hawk eyes staring down at me like he was in flight and he’d spotted an injured animal on the ground.
He said to me, “There are two kinds of interrogations. I don’t know about you, John, but I actually prefer the kind without blood and broken bones, and screams for mercy.” He turned from me and said, “Kate? How about you?”
She didn’t reply.
He continued on that subject. “Also, there are two ways to go through the wood chipper-dead or alive.” He informed us, “Putyov went through dead because that was just a killing of convenience. But you two piss me off. However, if you cooperate, I’ll give you my word of honor that you’ll have a quick, merciful death by a gunshot to the head before you go through the wood chipper and become bear food. Okay? Deal? John? Kate?”
I couldn’t quite see what was in that deal for me, but to buy a little time, I said, “Deal.”
“Good.” Madox said, “All right, you asked to see my ELF transmitter. So, I’ll show it to you.”
“Actually,” I said, “I’ll just take those lists of your houseguests and staff, and we’ll be on our way.”
“John, this is not funny.”
It was Madox speaking, but it could just as well have been Kate.
I could see and hear all four men moving around the room, then Madox said, “Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Corey, you can stand now. Hands on your heads.”
I began to sit up and grimaced from the pain in my ribs, which was not imaginary anymore. I put my hand behind my back to push up, palmed the BearBanger, and stuck it in the back of my tightie whities, then got to my feet. So far, so good.
I turned toward Kate, who was standing and looking at me. I said to her, “You’re going to have to bear up later.”
She nodded.
Madox reminded me, “Shut up.” He glanced at his watch, then said to Carl, “Let’s move out.”
Carl ordered, “Follow me. Ten-foot intervals.”
Carl headed toward the open doors of the card room, and Madox said to us, “Move. Hands on your heads.”
We followed Carl.
I had never walked in shackles, and even though there was some slack in the chain, it wasn’t easy to put one foot in front of the other, and I found myself shuffling, like the men on the chain gang. Plus, the metal was already chafing my bare ankles.
Also, my beltless pants were dropping, and I had to hitch them up a few times, which caused Luther to shout, “Hands on your head!”