Read Subject Seven for Free Online Page A

the man wouldn’t be able to breathe again without major surgery. He doubted anyone in the place knew how to save a loser with a ruined airway.
    The man started fidgeting. He leaned in closer and whispered in his ear. “Sit down, or I’ll kill you here and now.” In the distance a ball struck pins with a resounding crash and a couple of kids made victory noises. He looked at the woman watching them both and his grin grew another notch wider. “Trust me, she isn’t worth dying over.”
    The woman with him looked furious, but the man wised up and backed down. Seven dropped the man, nodded and began to move on.
    And then the woman got dumber. She charged him from behind. He could hear her footsteps, the sound of several people taking in a shocked breath and her voice starting into a scream.
    Before she could finish the five steps to reach him, he’d turned around and taken in the situation. She was holding a beer bottle in her hand and had it back behind her and ready to bash in his skull. Her arm was already in motion, but it seemed to take forever for her to get her arm around.
    He had plenty of time to grab her wrist before the bottle could swing into his skull. She let out a startled squeak as his fingers closed over her arm and he flexed, pushing her backward.
    â€œSit down.” His eyes looked into hers and he saw it, the fear that grew as she studied his face. It was a lovely thing.
    â€œI. You. What you said . . .” Her voice faded down as she spoke, no longer certain.
    â€œWas rude of me. Get over it.” He let go of her arm. It paid to know how people’s minds worked. He’d been studying people ever since he first woke up.
    Clarkson hadn’t moved. Seven opened his phone and hit the redial button again, watching his target.
    Clarkson picked up the phone when it started ringing and checked the caller ID.
    He reached out and caught Clarkson’s hand in his grip, squeezing the fingers hard enough to pin the hand around the cell.
    â€œHey, what the hell?” Clarkson’s voice was nervous, shaky.
    He leaned down and looked at the man. His other hand held his phone up and he killed the attempted call. The cell in the man’s hand stopped ringing at the same time, and he grinned as he watched Clarkson realize exactly who he was dealing with.
    â€œDaniel Clarkson.” His voice was a purr as he leaned in closer still. “Have I mentioned how much it pisses me off to be left hanging?”
    â€œI didn’t know you were here.” The man licked his lips, and the worried expression on his face was enough to wrinkle his brow below the wide bald spot at the top of his head. He looked like an accountant, which was what he had been once upon a time.
    â€œYou would have if you answered the phone.”
    â€œI could get in a lot of trouble if the wrong people found out about this.”
    â€œI don’t care. That’s why I agreed to pay you fifty thousand dollars.”
    â€œYou can keep the money. I don’t need it that badly. I can’t take this chance.”
    Seven kept his cool despite the rage that rushed through him. This was a matter that had to be handled the right way if he wished to avoid losing the information he needed. “Here’s the deal, Daniel. I give you the money in this bag, and you tell me what I need to know.” He squeezed harder on the captured fingers and saw Clarkson wince. “Or I beat the information out of you. Like I did with Marty Hanson. You remember Marty, don’t you? He was tough to convince. I had to break four fingers before he started talking to me.”
    Clarkson’s eyes flew wide and he opened his mouth, ready to say something before he closed it again, the words apparently forgotten. Before the man could try to speak a second time, Seven leaned in closer, so close that he could smell the sweat and aftershave that tainted the man’s shirt.
    â€œThink it over carefully.