Free Rush: A MacKenzie Family Novella (The MacKenzie Family) by Robin Covington Page A

the plastic wrist restraints on him. “Good boy. Now, you’re going to stop trying to get away and you’re not going to yell for help. You got me? If you do, then I will put this gun back into your loud piehole and blow your tiny brain all over the wallpaper. Are we good? You can nod again.”
    Paulo paused for a moment, considering his options, but when Rush pushed the gun in a little deeper and his eyes welled up with tears when he gagged on it, the nod came quickly.
    “Good boy. Now sit.” Rush motioned toward the chair and Brant shoved him down in it. The man’s robe flopped open, revealing his flaccid, uncut cock to everyone in the room. “Dude, fix your junk. Nobody wants to see that.”
    Paulo squirmed his lower body, moving his legs to force the fabric to cover himself. When he looked up at Rush, who’d sat down on the coffee table in front of him, he spat out a number of curses in Italian. Rush knew enough to catch every other word.
    “Shut the fuck up, Paulo. I don’t even know what you’re saying and I don’t care.” He leaned in close, making sure his prisoner could see his gun at all times. “My friends and I are here to discuss where Figueroa has the girl stashed.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man sputtered, trying his best to keep the tremor out of his voice. Rush gave him kudos for the effort. It wasn’t easy to maintain your dignity when you were outnumbered. But he just couldn’t deal with the lying. He stood, grabbed Paulo’s face, and shoved his gun back inside his mouth. Rush ignored Livvy’s gasp and plowed forward.
    “I don't have time to go through this whole song and dance. You want to pretend you don’t know and I’m going to have to spend hours getting you to tell me, and the only result will be that you will tell me and then spend days in the hospital while they repair the damage I will do to your face and your mouth and the internal organs you can spare. Believe me, I know how to do it all and I know how to keep a man alive and in as much pain as he can stand without passing out.” He leaned in close and made sure Paulo saw only him in his line of sight. “So, why don’t you keep your teeth and your spleen and tell me?”
    He removed the gun and Paulo spat at him. Rush jumped back out of range but backhanded his prisoner at the same time. Blood poured from Paulo’s nose and he groaned in pain.
    Rush grabbed his face and forced him to look at him. “Listen, you slimy motherfucker. If you don’t tell me where she is being held, I deposit you at Figueroa’s doorstep and tell him that you offered the details on the Linchky deal to me for a price.”
    Rush really had no idea the full extent of the deal, but it had been one of the most recent dealings Elena had found on the hard drive between Hickman, Figueroa, and Guzzi. The widening of Paulo’s eyes and his immediate sniveling and crying told him he’d hit pay dirt.
    “He’ll kill me if you do that,” Paulo whined, his body shaking with his terror. Rush didn’t blame him. Figueroa was not a nice guy to his friends, and his enemies were constantly disappearing. Rumors were that he had a guy on payroll who did nothing but make sure you begged for death at the end.
    “Well, then tell me where the girl is and he’ll never find out from me that you told. I’ll get her back and make sure there’s no connection between us.”
    Yeah, he was making a deal with a minion of the devil but his soul was already beyond saving, so what did it matter? Brant wasn’t happy. He could tell by the shadow on his expression but that’s why he’d brought him in. To do the dirtiest of the dirty work. At the end of all this, MacKenzie would have enough to send to whatever authority they wanted and make the world a better place.
    Paulo stared at him and Rush could almost see the little hamsters in his head running at breakneck speed. He waited, knowing the silence would help raise Paulo’s panic and bring him