that said, If I’m doing it for you, I can handle anything.
Robert appreciated the sentiment. “I want you to promise me something, though. When you do this, do it quick, like removing a Band-Aid. Just make one decisive move and get it over with, okay?”
“You got it.” Tonya stared at him, wanting to say something to her husband, but the appropriate words escaped her. “Are you ready?”
“Not really.” He laughed through gritted teeth, “but I have a feeling I could never be ready.”
She grinned, admiring his courageous sense of humor. “I think this will be easier if we did it on the flat ground. That way, I’ll be able to anchor your upper leg with my body weight.”
Robert closed his eyes as his wife lifted his swollen limb off of the bench and lowered it to the cabin’s dirt floor. He winced as she placed it on the hard ground, but the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as he had expected. “So far, so good.”
Tonya leaned forward and gently kissed her husband on his forehead. After whispering soft words of encouragement, she turned away from him, resting her weight on his left knee, anchoring his upper leg in place. Without stopping to think, she leaned toward his broken limb and grabbed his foot. Then, with a quick burst, she rotated his foot to the left. The violent twist filled the cabin with a series of sounds—first the grotesque snap of his leg as his bones shifted back into place, then the heart-stopping shriek of a man in agony.
It was a sound that would be repeated by several prisoners in the coming days.
CHAPTER 18
THE last thing on Payne’s mind was dinner, but Greene insisted that they stop for something to eat. They had to, he said. His stomach demanded it. As a compromise, Payne pulled into the first drive-through he could find and ordered several ham and cheese po’boys, a local specialty.
“So,” said Payne as they waited for their food, “where to next?”
Greene thought about it for several seconds. “The first thing we’re gonna have to do is talk to some of my boys from the Quarter. They’d be more aware of things on the street than me.”
“What kind of things?” Jones asked.
“Everything. If it happens in the city, they’ll know about it. They’ll be able to fill you in on the tattoo you’re looking for. Plus, if you’re lucky, they might be able to tell you something about the kidnapping. Of course, since that didn’t happen down here, details might be limited.”
Payne considered Greene’s words carefully. “Will your friends be willing to talk to us?”
Greene shrugged. “That’s something I don’t know. Most of the time, they’re pretty receptive about helping me, but in your case, I don’t know. You have two things working against you.”
“And those are?”
“You’re white, and you’re from the North. Some people down here don’t take kindly to those two things.”
Payne nodded. “I can understand that, and I figured as much. But at the same time, I have two things that will help my cause.”
“Like what?” Greene asked.
“First of all, I have you guys on my side, and since both of you are black, that might help us with some of the bigger racists we come across.”
“That’s true, but it might not be enough.”
“And secondly,” he said as he laid a thick wad of cash on the dashboard, “I’m willing to spend my entire fortune if it helps get Ariane back.”
Greene eyed the stack of bills that sat before him and grinned. “You know, I think you’ll get along with my boys just fine!”
“I had a feeling I would.”
“But before we go anywhere, there are still a few ground rules I’m gonna have to insist on before we meet my people.”
Payne scooped up his money and nodded. “I’m listening.”
“This is my hometown, the place I’ve chosen to live for the rest of my life. So I don’t want you doing anything that’s going to hurt me after you guys leave. That means I don’t want you roughing up any of my contacts, and I don’t want you making me look bad in any way. I have a reputation to uphold in this city, and I don’t want it tarnished. Okay?”
Payne and Jones agreed to his conditions.
“And finally, if I’m going to help you out, you need to promise me one more thing: absolutely no police involvement of any kind.”
“Why not?” Jones asked, slightly suspicious.
“The people that we’ll be dealing with aren’t exactly friends of the law, and