Free The Scioneer by Peter Bouvier

that to have you back in your
rat-cage.’
    ‘Is that
all?’ Lek asked, his eyes fixed on the gun. ‘Half a million? A
measly five hundred thou, when I could offer you the keys to the
whole city….’
    ‘Shut up
shithead. Just get up,’ Delić sounded almost bored as he pulled a
pair of mistress cuffs out of his raincoat.
    Lek
slowly got to his feet. ‘All I’m saying is, I can give you more
than Pechev is offering...’
    ‘Right.
You can give me more than half a million cred. You couldn’t make
that much in a lifetime...’
    ‘Like I
said Delić, the keys to
the city…’
    ‘Don’t tell him
anything!’ Crystal blurted out, and both men turned and looked at
her, each as surprised as the other.
    ‘And why
would you know anything about anything, sugar tits?’ said
Delić.
    ‘Whatever
you tell him Lek, you’re only getting yourself in deeper!’ she
cried.
    ‘No, no,
no. You’ve got me all wrong.’ Delić began, a smile playing on his
lips. He gestured for Lek to sit down again, and turned to Crystal.
‘It’s not like that at all. Not. At. All. I work for Mister Pechev,
see? So does your fella here. Only, unlike me, he seems to have
forgotten that fact. Temporarily, eh Lek? I’m here to help him
remember,’ Delić placed the gun on the table, put the cuffs back
into his pocket, and withdrew an old-fashioned clasp-knife. ‘But I
have to say, I am interested in
hearing whatever it is you have to tell me, Lekky…’ he said,
sitting down in the chair opposite and opening the
blade.
    Lek had
to think fast. The words spilled out of his mouth before his reasoning was fully
formed.
    ‘All I’m
saying is this: I can give you access to more than 500
grand.’
    ‘Keep talking,’
Delić said, his interest piqued.
    ‘OK, OK,’
Lek took a deep breath, feigning resignation, ‘let’s say,
hypothetically speaking of course, that there was…’ he shook his
head and bit his bottom lip as though the confession were being
dragged out of him, ‘…a book.’
    ‘A book?’ Delić
looked amused. He’s probably never read one in his life, thought
Lek.
    ‘Let’s
say that this book contained all the formulae, all the methodology,
the very recipes if you will, for producing all our best sellers –
Tiburon, Equinox, Gorillamine, Chillax, Torox,
Tigranol…’
    ‘Stop
there. No way, dickhead,’ Delić laughed, ‘You must think I fucking
came down with the last shower. Do I look like an idiot? A fucking ‘recipe
book’?’
    ‘That’s what I
said.’
    ‘OK, wise
guy, hypodermically speaking or whatever, are you trying to tell me
you wrote all that shit down?’
    ‘Yes,
Delić I wrote all that shit down.’ Lek spoke the words like he had
a bad taste in his mouth. It was a stellar performance.
    ‘I’m
still not buying it,’ said Delić, but his body language said
otherwise. He leaned forward in his chair and waited for Lek to
continue.
    ‘Now, a
book like that would be worth millions, wouldn’t it?’
    ‘Maybe.
In the right hands, I suppose. Maybe. Where is it anyway?’
    ‘Well, I
can’t tell you that.’
    Delić
licked his lips and blinked slowly. He was thinking hard.
Eventually he said, ‘Yes you can,’ and he lightly ran the blade of
the clasp-knife across the newspaper without once taking his eyes
from Lek’s. He licked his thumb and when he touched the page with
it, the freshly cut strip of paper came away easily. ‘Yes you
will.’
    ‘If you
kill me, you’ll never find it,’ said Lek. The fear in his voice was
genuine now, even if his words were a lie.
    ‘That’s
true. But there’s always her,’ Delić replied nonchalantly, and he stood and walked over to
where Crystal crouched in the corner, her beautiful eyes now wild
with terror. She screamed Lek’s name as Delić bent over and touched
her face with the knife. ‘It would be such a shame to spoil these
looks….’
    ‘Lek!’
Crystal screamed again, trying not to move.
    ‘Alright!
Alright. Just… leave her alone, for