Cole’s gaze snapped to Tucker. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tucker shook his head once.
Tucker holstered his weapon and made a show of placing his gloved hands on a bamboo knife block and slowly sliding it out from its position on one of the kitchen counters. He moved it over to the center island and first removed a Santoku knife. It was about seven inches and decently made. He knew that really good ones could go for a grand and upward.
Wordlessly he laid it on the island counter in plain view of Vane. The man’s eyes tracked it the entire time. Next Tucker pulled out a paring knife. “I once saw a man remove another man’s ears with one of these. Bloody and impressive.” And true. It had been on an undercover job and the man on the receiving end of the handiwork had deserved it, so Tucker hadn’t lost any sleep over it.
Next he slid out a nine-inch steel sharpener. Long, cylindrical, and in the right—or wrong—hands, it could be used as an effective, painful weapon.
Cole laughed, the sound pure evil and, if Tucker hadn’t known him, a little terrifying. “I can think of a perfect place to shove that.”
“What the hell do you guys want with me?” Vane asked, his voice and entire body shaking, clearly understanding Cole’s intent. The man’s reaction was pathetic.
Tucker knew that once upon a time the half-naked man in front of them had wanted to be part of their elite group. Max had denied him. Now it was clear why. He’d have failed the training. The truth was, pretty much everyone caved under torture, but this asshole wasn’t even trying to fake being brave. He was letting his fear win. Pathetic.
Instead of answering, Tucker took the steel sharpener and held the dull edge against one finger while holding the handled end in his other hand. He didn’t bother looking at Vane, just eyed the cutlery with interest. “Yesterday morning Cole and I kidnapped a woman.” Now he met the dirty DEA agent’s gaze.
It was full of fear and loathing. Vane didn’t speak, though, just stared and shook. God, the shaking was going to make Tucker nauseated.
“She had no training against men like us and was still braver than you.” The truth was in Tucker’s eyes, he knew.
During his years of training he’d learned various interrogation techniques. Torture sometimes worked, but it was a fifty-fifty thing. The human brain reached a point where you’d confess to anything to make the pain stop. Forming a bond with the subject also worked well, but that took a lot of time in most cases. Time was the one thing they didn’t have. Today Tucker was going to go with the truth. Lay everything out and give Vane his options. None were particularly good, but there were always lesser degrees of consequences. “You’re fucking weak. You know it. I know it. It’s why Max passed you up time and again and why you keep getting passed up for promotions.”
Vane’s jaw tightened, his dark eyes flaring with rage, but he didn’t respond.
“Some things I could understand, like, say, taking a few kickbacks, looking the other way for a contact. That’s no big deal.” Complete bullshit, but the words would hopefully serve his purpose. Make Vane think that they were on the same basic, criminal level. “It’s not like we get paid enough to deal with what we do on a continual basis. Especially for you. You’ve got two female bosses above you and I know that’s gotta burn.”
Vane’s lips pulled into a thin line and Tucker saw agreement in his gaze. As if he simply couldn’t hide how he felt.
Yeah, pathetic. This guy never would have lasted undercover. He’d have been dead within a week.
“But working with a man like Thad Hillenbrand against your own people?” At this point they only had a financial connection and he needed to push it.
Vane swallowed hard.
“Yeah, we know about you and Hillenbrand.”
“Who?” he rasped out, feigning ignorance.
Tucker’s lips pulled into a thin line. “Come on. Even if you’re going to deny working with the guy, don’t deny you know his name. Thad Hillenbrand of H-Brand Security?”
Vane shrugged, the action jerky. He flicked a glance at Cole, who was still standing next to him, arms crossed over his chest as he glared down. Cole was looking at the guy as if he wanted to slice his head off and was seriously thinking about doing it.
“I’ve heard the name,” Vane said.
“And?” Tucker prodded, setting down the sharpener and picking up the paring knife.
Vane stiffened, his back going ramrod straight as his gaze landed on the blade. “And what? What the hell do you guys want from me?” Vane’s voice rose now. If he started screaming they might have to gag him. Wouldn’t do for the neighbors to hear.
“I’m going to give you one chance to be honest with us.”
“But I really hope you’re not,” Cole growled, leaning down close to Vane as he spoke. “Each time you lie, I’m going to make you bleed. And I’m going to like it.”
Tucker cleared his throat, drawing Vane’s attention back to him. They needed him scared, but not too scared to talk. And off his game, which he clearly was.
“We know you’ve been working with him and we know he’s behind the missing drone.”
The truth flared in Vane’s eyes for just an instant. Good. They were on the right track.
“We know he sent guys after me, Cole, Brooks, and Kane. And we know he had Max killed.” Tucker had to bite back his rage at the thought of Max. Damn it, he hadn’t even been able to contact Mary, to see how she was doing with all this. God, she probably thought they were all traitors. Tucker shelved that thought, reminding himself they’d be able to see her once they’d found Max’s killer. “And we know you’re working for him.”
When Vane started to protest, Tucker moved lightning fast, covering the distance between them in seconds until he was crouching down in front of Vane. He slammed the knife down on the chair, right between the man’s splayed thighs, through the edge of the towel and dangerously close to the guy’s junk.
Vane jumped, shouting in alarm as he tried to scoot back. There was nowhere to go.
Tucker tamped down the rage boiling inside him. “This isn’t going to be a case of good cop, bad cop. You will get no reprieve from us if you lie. So I’m going to remind you again. Do. Not. Lie.” Tucker didn’t move, remaining where he was, up in Vane’s face. He could judge the dilation of his eyes better in this position anyway.
“So, where was I . . . ? Right, that fucker you work with tried to have us killed. That’s something none of my boys take kindly to.” He kept the edge in his voice, was barely restraining himself being so damn close to Vane, knowing he could have had a hand in Max’s death or even sending the hitter after him and Karen. He had to completely block out thoughts of her or he was going to lose it.
“I didn’t know he was going to kill Max,” Vane whispered.
A complete and utter fucking lie. Tucker saw it in his face. For a moment he contemplated letting it go, but he couldn’t. Instead he sighed. “What did I tell you?”
Tucker didn’t have to move or even signal to Cole. Cole slammed his blade right through Vane’s hand, between the metacarpals.