Page 55 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
Nothing.
Kostya punched him. The sound of his nose breaking was muffled by the wind. “Tell me, how many are with you in the tank?”
Still no answer.
“Are you right or left-handed?” Kostya asked.
No answer.
“I’m going to assume right-handed.”
Kostya moved lower on the tank driver’s body, keeping one knee on his left arm, then peeled his right arm up off the ground and lifted it high in the air.
He yanked back the man’s pinky and ring fingers until they snapped. That time, his scream could be heard over the wind. He panted in pain.
“How many are still in the tank?” Kostya asked again.
When he started to form the word ‘fuck’ in Russian, Kostya squeezed his two broken fingers together, grinding his broken bones. The tank driver howled.
“No one,” he yelled. “No one. Just me.”
“And in the Vityaz?”
The tank driver glared up at him.
“You have three more fingers on this hand. But I’m going for your thumb. It’s going to be pretty goddamn hard to jack off without your thumb working, now isn’t it?”
“Seven people in the Vityaz,” he bit out. “But only three are security.”
“Dima! What’s taking you so long?” a man shouted from the Vityaz. “What’s going on?”
Kostya crunched Dima’s broken fingers in even a tighter grip. “Tell them there’s a problem with the tank and you had to pull over.”
“What problem?”
“I don’t give a shit, if you don’t want both of your thumbs broken, think of something.”
“Pavel, I have to refuel. I need ten more minutes,” Dima yelled loudly.
“Wait a minute, what’s that in front of you? Do I see other vehicles? I’m coming out.”
“Great, I could use the help,” Dima shouted back. “It’s about goddamn time you did some actual work.”
There was a long pause.
“Is that another vehicle?”
“There was an accident at the lab. They’re rushing the wounded to a hospital in St. Petersburg. I’ve investigated. We need to let them by. Come out into the cold and see for yourself.”
“No. No. There’s no need.”
Dima rolled his eyes back to Kostya. “See, nobody likes work. Are you going to kill me?” The man didn’t seem scared, only curious.
“Linc, duct tape,” Kostya said into the comm system. He knew damn good and well that there wasn’t a chance in hell that he hadn’t taken some with him when he left the labs.
Linc popped out of the tank hatch and came over to Kostya like a shot. “What’s the plan?”
Kostya yanked Dima closer to him with his broken fingers, then pulled two of the Semtex grenades out of his hand. “Do you know what these are?”
