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She met his gaze, chin raised. She’d been afraid of this moment from the beginning, knew that at some point one of them would challenge her. The fact that it was Turk was hardly surprising. She wasn’t suited for this, had never been good with people to start with. The house of cards she’d constructed by forming her little “army” had always felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine as she stared into Turk’s eyes. They were light blue, and too pretty for a boy, she thought nonsensically; funny she’d never noticed before.
    After a beat, Turk stepped back. Without a word, Zeke righted the chair; the front legs landed back on the concrete floor with a thump.
    “Give me a Taser,” Noa said.
    Zeke met her eyes questioningly. Then he stepped forward and handed her one.
    “How’d you like this today?” Noa asked, waving it in a slow circle. “Did it hurt?”
    The guy shrugged, though for the first time she caught a glimmer of fear in his eyes. “It tickled.”
    “Yeah? Guess I should crank up the power, then.” As she turned the knob, he swallowed hard. Noa continued, “You don’t have a heart condition, do you? Because there was a warning on the box. . . . What did it say again?”
    “Maximum of five milliamps on people,” Zeke chimed in. “We had it set for three today. I think you’re only supposed to go above that for large animals.”
    “He is pretty big,” Noa said thoughtfully.
    “Sure,” Zeke said. “I bet he’ll be fine.”
    Noa held it in front of his face and said, “Last chance.”
    The guy tried to rear away from the tip of the Taser. Noa pressed it up against his chest and cocked her head to the side.
    “Ready?” she asked. “One . . . two . . .”
    “We were driving him to south San Francisco.” The words tumbled out in a rush. “There was a truck waiting for him.”
    “Just Teo?” Noa asked. “Or were you supposed to get others?”
    “Three more,” he said. “Two in Oakland and another in San Francisco. But he was first on the list.”
    “What are the other names?”
    “I’ll give you them, I swear,” the guy said. “I’ll tell you anything. But you gotta promise me something.”
    “What?” Noa asked, narrowing her eyes.
    “Let me go somewhere outside the city. Just give me a little cash, enough to disappear for a while.”
    Turk snorted. “Yeah, I bet you’d like that. So you can run back and tell them all about us.”
    The guy shook his head and scoffed. “Smarten up, you little punk. They already know all about you. Mark Toledo, street name Turk. Mom was a junkie hooker, Dad was a pimp. Landed in foster care when you were two because she hadn’t fed you for a week and the neighbors complained that you and your sister wouldn’t stop screaming.”
    Turk looked like he’d been struck. Seeing it, the guy recovered some of his bravado and eyed the rest of them. “Crystal Moore. Trailer trash from Modesto. Mommy’s boyfriend got a little too friendly one night, so you ran away. And there’s little Danny Cepeda. Those cigarette burns healed up yet?”
    The circle widened as kids backed away.
    “Stop it,” Noa said in a low voice.
    “And you.” The guy turned to her with a sneer. “The golden goose. Oh, they know all about you and your little ‘army.’ You really think you can beat them? You can barely take care of yourselves. You’re just a bunch of whiny little brats that the rest of the world could give a shit about. In the end, you’re all going to end up back on their tables. Just wait and—”
    He suddenly went spastic, eyes wide, spittle flying from his mouth. Noa jumped back as sparks flew off the end of the Taser. But her hands were empty; Zeke had taken the stun gun and activated it.
    “And you were worried he wouldn’t talk,” Zeke said, avoiding her eyes. “Turns out he won’t shut up.”
    The guy had slumped over in the chair, unconscious. His chest rose and fell, so he wasn’t