Wiping at his eye, he hands me his cell phone. On the screen is a picture of Charlie in her underwear, gagged, her wrists and ankles duct-taped to a metal chair. Her head is hanging down, her beautiful hair curtained over her face. The picture is grainy but I can see the marks on her body. I also see Herkimer next to her, leering at the camera, a blade in his hand.

“What’s he going to do to her?” I say.

“What do you think?”

I can’t bring myself to say the words.

“Unless I bring you in,” Jagjeet says, “he’s going to do exactly what you think.”

I squeeze shut my eyes. Against the image, against the truth, against everything.

“You should have let me kill him,” Jagjeet says.

“So now what? You’re going to turn me over to Azar?”

“I would if Charlie wanted. But she does not want to live without you.”

“So what do you need me for?”

We’ve been going in circles around the neighborhood. Jagjeet pulls the cab over, not far from where I failed to propose to Charlie, slides the Plexiglas window open and stares at me as if I’m thick.

“I’m just muscle. I don’t know anything about alarm systems or electronics or surveillance or anything. I need your expertise to help get her out.”

“Me?”

“You’re a pulse. You know all about security.”

“Not really. Not in a useful way.”

“What?”

“I don’t know anything about alarm systems or electronics or anything. Nothing. Nada. I can’t pick a lock. I tried to break into Schermer’s apartment and I couldn’t get past the garage door.”

“But you’re a pulse.”

“Right. I keep people out. That doesn’t mean I can get in.”

When I punched him at Charlie’s he hardly moved a muscle but he recoils from this news as if struck in the head with a shovel. His expression swallows itself, then gags. The lights go out in his eyes, but seconds later they flash back on like searchlights.

“I know who can help,” he says, throwing the car in gear. “I know where to go.”

“You still haven’t given me a reason to help her.”

Cutting up Throop, he again he looks at me in the mirror like I’m stupid.

“Because you love her.”

He thinks I can’t argue with this. He’s right. I hate Charlie but I love her, and I have nothing to live for except keeping her safe. If I can save Charlie, I will. If I can die while saving her, even better.

Kong’s Price

Kong’s Price