Zarek didn’t move the sword an inch. The edge stayed under the man’s jaw, riding the faint pulse in his neck.
"Vance," the engineer said through cracked, bloody lips. His eyes weren’t on the blade. They had drifted past Zarek’s shoulder to the stripped shelves of the supply depot, visible through the open doorway.
"You cleared that whole depot. You’ve got food."
Zarek watched his trembling hands and shallow breathing. Vance was barely holding himself together. Hunger and thirst had done most of the work for him.
"You’re very interested in my inventory."
"Two days without a drop." Vance’s voice had dropped to a dry whisper.
"I’ve been chewing damp paper towels from the sink behind this desk. I don’t care about your sword, kid. Cut my throat if you want. But if you want to walk out of this district alive, you need somebody who knows which doors still unlock when the grid is down."
Elsa had stayed at the threshold with her feet planted wide, her left arm clamped against her ribs. The dried blood on her sleeve had gone stiff, but the pry bar in her right hand was steady.
"Zarek, he’s starving," she said quietly. "A desperate man will say whatever gets him a bottle of water. He’ll tell you the basement leads to paradise if it gets him fed."
Vance let out a weak laugh and leaned his head back against the dented desk. "Smart girl. Now ask him if he knows where the gas shutoff is for the kitchens above us. Ask him what happens when the fire on four reaches the propane lines in fifteen minutes."
Zarek asked nothing. He pressed the edge in a hair deeper until a bead of red welled at the man’s collar.
"I ask the questions. You answer them. If I like the answer, you drink."
Vance swallowed against the steel and made himself slow his breathing.
"What happens when the fire reaches the propane lines?"
"The tanks could rupture. If the fire reaches them, this whole section could go up with it. Fifteen minutes, maybe less, if the flames keep spreading."
"And the tunnel?"
"Behind this office. It connects to the municipal drainage network beneath West Boulevard. The electronic lock is dead, but there’s a manual override. I can show you how to open it."
Zarek glanced at Elsa, then back at Vance.
"You’re going to show us that manual override yourself. If the route doesn’t work, you’ll explain why."
Zarek studied Vance for another moment.
"How many ways out of this building?"
"Three that I know of."
"How many are still usable?"
Vance hesitated.
"Two. Maybe one."
Zarek’s smile widened slightly. "Wrong answer."
Vance’s expression tightened. "What?"
"You should’ve said you didn’t know. A man who guesses about escape routes gets people killed."
Vance studied him for a moment before letting out a dry laugh.
"Fine. I’ve personally checked one route. I can’t guarantee the others are still usable."
"Much better."
Zarek lowered the sword and summoned a bottle of water and a ration block from his System Space. He tossed both to Vance.
Vance caught them with trembling hands and drank greedily. After several gulps, he forced himself to stop and breathe.
"Eat half. The rest comes when we’re through that door."
Vance tore open the foil, broke the ration block in two, and ate with his eyes shut. Hunger had reduced him to something almost desperate.
Elsa came back to Zarek’s side and kept her voice low. "You’re feeding him. What happens when he gets his strength back?"
"Then I’ll deal with him."
"And you trust him?"
"I don’t need to trust him. I need him to be useful."
"And when he’s no longer useful?"
Zarek glanced at Vance. "Then the deal is over."
Elsa looked at him for a moment before turning away. He wasn’t offering Vance friendship or even a fair chance. He was giving the man just enough to keep him working.
Vance wiped the crumbs from his fingers and glanced at the remaining half.
"You’re really holding the rest hostage?"
"Think of it as motivation."
"You really are a piece of work, kid."
"Yet you’re still working for me."
Vance gave him a tired, humorless laugh and tucked the remaining ration away. Elsa watched them in silence. Zarek hadn’t needed to threaten him again. The food had done the job.
"All right." Vance wiped his bloody mouth on his sleeve and used the desk to pull himself upright. His legs shook beneath him, but he stayed on his feet.
"There’s something else you ought to hear before we leave."
Zarek crossed his arms. He looked relaxed. His eyes weren’t. "Go."
"The manager. Sterling. When the sky went purple and the screaming started upstairs, he didn’t run for the street. He locked himself in the vault under the executive office, on the mezzanine."
Zarek said nothing and let the silence run.
"He kept weapons and medical supplies in that vault. Firearms, armor, enough equipment to outfit a small group. I know how to reach it."
Elsa frowned. "The mezzanine’s right under the fire. That whole floor must be burning."
"Not the vault." Vance looked straight at Zarek.
"Reinforced steel. The vault has its own fire suppression system, and I have the override code for the outer door. Sterling gave it to me when we serviced the ventilation."
Zarek stepped closer. "You want me to go back up into a burning building for a vault."
"I want a trade," Vance said. "Get me out of this district, and I’ll give you the vault code."
Zarek glanced at the hazard-striped door.
"Show me the way out first. If your information is worth the trouble, I’ll hear you out about the vault."
Vance grinned, revealing his stained teeth.
Firearms. Armor. Medical supplies.
Zarek’s attention sharpened.
His sword forced him to fight at close range, where one mistake could leave him bleeding on the floor. A firearm would let him kill from a distance, and armor could give him room to make mistakes without immediately paying for them.
The medical supplies mattered just as much. Elsa’s arm still needed treatment, and he wasn’t about to let an injury weaken one of his investments when he could do something about it.
medical supplies. If Vance was telling the truth, the vault was worth the risk.
And Sterling had locked himself inside instead of taking his precious stockpile and escaping. Either the man had been too frightened to leave, or something had prevented him from doing so.
Zarek wanted to know which.
He glanced at Vance. The engineer had offered him the vault’s override code in exchange for being taken out of the district.
Useful information, a possible escape route, and a cache of weapons.
Not bad for a man he’d found counting in a locked room.
Of course, agreeing to the deal didn’t mean Zarek intended to honor every part of it.
First, he’d get them out of the hotel. Then he’d decide what Vance was worth.
"Deal."
Zarek turned toward the door. A weapons cache was worth investigating. Whether Vance lived long enough to see it was another matter.