You are a little man with no power. You will regret ever coming here.

Two.

Dont you dare!

Three.

Ed broke Nassars pinky at the second knuckle. He did it quickly, with very little effort. Luke heard the crunch, just before Nassar screamed. The pinky bent out sideways. There was something almost obscene about the angle.

Luke put his hand under Nassars chin and tilted his head up. Nassars teeth were gritted. His face was flushed and his breath came in gasps. But his eyes were hard.

That was just the pinky, Luke said. The next one is the thumb. Thumbs hurt a lot more than pinkies. Thumbs are more important, too.

You are animals. I will tell you nothing.

Luke glanced at Ed. Eds face was hard. He shrugged and broke the thumb. This time it made a loud cracking sound.

Luke stood up and let the man shriek for a moment. The sound was ear-splitting. He could hear it echoing through the apartment, like something from a horror movie. Maybe they should find a hand towel in the kitchen to use as a gag.

He paced the room. He didnt enjoy this sort of thing. It was torture, he understood that. But the mans fingers would heal. If a dirty bomb went off on a subway train, many people would die. The survivors would get sick. No one would ever heal. Weighing the two, the mans fingers and dead people on a train, the decision was easy.

Nassar was crying now. Clear mucus ran from one of his nostrils. He was breathing crazily. It sounded like huh-huh-huh-huh.

Look at me, Luke said.

The man did as he was told. His eyes were no longer hard.

I see the thumb got your attention. So well take the left thumb next. After that, well start on the teeth. Ed?

Ed moved around to the mans left.

Kahlil Gibran, Nassar gasped.

Whats that? I didnt hear you.

Kahlil underscore Gibran. Its the password.

Like the author? Luke said.

Yes.

And what is it to work with love? Ed said, quoting Gibran.

Luke smiled. It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your own heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. We have that on our kitchen wall at home. I love that stuff. I guess were just three incurable romantics here.

Luke went to the computer and ran his finger across the touchpad. The password box came up. He typed in the words.

Kahlil_Gibran

The desktop screen appeared. The wallpaper was a photo of snow-capped mountains, with yellow and green meadows in the foreground.

Looks like were in business. Thanks, Ali.

Luke slipped an external hard drive he had gotten from Swann out of the thigh pocket of his cargo pants. He plugged it into a USB port. The external drive had huge capacity. It should easily swallow this mans entire computer. They could worry later about breaking any encryption.