“Okay, so we’re going to play a little game here,” he said. “It’s called the history game. I’ll ask you a question about American history, and you answer it. Ready? Here goes. What were the Confederates?”

Cole closed his eyes.

Big Daddy pulled the trigger.

Click.

Cole’s entire body jerked, almost as if a bullet had gone through his head.

“Where are you right now, Cole?”

“Nowhere.”

Big Daddy nodded. “Nowhere, that’s right. You’re not in American custody, are you? Or anyone’s custody?”

Cole shook his head. “No.”

“You could just die and no one would ever know, couldn’t you?”

Cole nodded. His entire body was shaking now. “Yes.”

Big Daddy placed the gun against Cole’s head again.

“So what were the Confederates?”

“You son of a bitch!” Cole shouted. But he made no move to stand up or defend himself. Tears began to stream down his face.

Big Daddy didn’t seem excited or even all that interested. He calmly pulled the trigger again.

Click.

Cole made a moaning sound.

“It’s coming, Cole. It’s going to be in there. I’ve already pulled that trigger twice. The odds are going south for you. The next chamber has the round, I can feel it. For the last time, what were the Confederates?”

He put the muzzle to Cole’s temple. “Here it comes. What were the—”

“Traitors!” Cole screamed. “They were traitors!”

“Traitors, what?” Big Daddy said.

“Traitors, sir,” Cole said. He took a deep breath.

“You dumb bastard. If you were in the United States Marine Corps like you claim, what in God’s name are you doing with the flag of traitors on your chest?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know… sir.”

Big Daddy’s shoulders slumped, as though he was a teacher dealing with a particularly frustrating student. He looked through the glass wall at the observers and sighed. He shrugged.

“It’s like pulling teeth sometimes. You know that? We’re not even going to get into what the Nazis were. We don’t have time for that lesson today.”

The gun disappeared into wherever it had come from—a magic trick in reverse.

“Good job, Cole,” Big Daddy said. “The Confederates were indeed traitors to America. They were the defenders of chattel slavery. They fought against the American military, and they invaded sovereign American territory. The American military defeated them, and humiliated them, and slaughtered them, in a victory for the United States of America, and for everything that is good and decent and right.”

He smacked Cole across the top of the head again. Cole barely moved this time. He was resigned to this, Luke realized. In just a few days, Cronin had made this big, fierce killer resigned to this mistreatment.

Big Daddy paused for a moment. “And what are you?” he said.