The panting McCormick shakes his head to clear it and looks at me wide-eyed and pale-skinned. Two seconds of silence later he is screaming again as the room glows violet.

“Clearly you do not understand Mr. McCormick. I-” Wait. I lean back in my chair thinking. Why does that name sound familiar? Then it hits me.

[Jo. McCormick as in McCormick Acquisitions & Mergers? The law firm?]

Oh. Searching. I apologize for not checking that. . .

Shaking my head I lean forward and ask again slowly. “Where are Atkinson and my wife?” The security chief just stares at me.

McCormick A&M’s managing partner is one Cecil McCormick, the eldest brother of Security Chief Frederick McCormick. There are two additional brothers, one died along with Cecil in your attack, and the other lives on another continent as a medico. I will search for further connections as you continue your interrogation. . .

“The problem, Franklin McCormick, brother of two deceased brothers—whom I also killed by the way—is that you are a lowly human which means your feeble body will die if I turn up the sparks even a little more. Your pathetic black heart will give out. So here is how this will work.”

I drop a darkness bubble on him. His whole body begins shuddering and he strains against the beast leather straps I have wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

I release black of blackness and just as he lets out a breath of relief, I give him a one-second burst of electricity. Then I place him back in sensory deprivation, then another spark. I repeat that cycle four more times before I don’t throw darkness on him after the collar shocks him. He is panting quickly and I see tears dripping down his face. That makes me furious. I touch his cheek on a tear track and send a drop of life Magica to his heart.

My snarling voice is all he hears outside of his own gasping breaths. “My wife might be crying now. You haven’t earned those tears Mr. McCormick.” Then I give him another three doses of deprivation and shock followed by another healing to his heart.

“Where? Are? They?” The air vibrates with my rage.

Slaves. The commodity that Atkinson uses to pay McCormick is a future slave. The Special takes them, women only apparently, and provides them to Franklin McCormick for disposition through the firm’s connections. . .

The room is once again filled with azure as I scream so loud that all the loose objects in the room rattle. “WHERE IS MY WIFE?!”

I apparently pushed mana into my voice because I can see blood dripping from McCormick’s ears. His head wobbles and he begins to cry in earnest. He answers me through his blubbering. “Boxes. In boxes.” A wracking sob exits his shaking body and continues, “They get sent to a facility my family owns.”

“I might just have to wipe your family from the face of this planet. . . or what’s left of your family anyway. Which boxes and in which cell?”

The medico brother, a Lincoln McCormick, appears to have gone out of his way to separate himself from his family. Prior to their deaths, he had posted rather vociferous criticisms of the family law firm’s tactics. He also refused to return home for the funerals. Prior to his departure to the other side of the globe, it appears Lincoln submitted a single complaint reporting nefarious activity of the firm and his family to the Sea Saddle City authorities. His report was considered a family dispute and dismissed without investigation. . .

I can’t tell, but I have to imagine my smile is a little off when I say, “Oh! Well, it looks like your family has a single decent humanoid. I think I might like this Lincoln. I will attempt to arrange a meeting. Maybe I’ll hire him and he will heal the slaves the rest of your family trades in LIKE CATTLE.”

Once again I scream out the mana-filled words and Franklin’s head wobbles like he is losing his center of balance. I heal him with a quick touch.

I will work to set up a meeting with Lincoln McCormick in the future. . .

Taking another deep breath, I continue in a lower volume, “Answer my question. Which boxes and in which cells will I find my wife and your partner in corruption, kidnapping, and slavery?” I consider Judging him but the thought passes quickly as I figure he isn’t worth the long cooldown; I might want to save it for someone else. Or maybe what remains of a family. We’ll see.

“I don’t know.”

“Liar.” Then the security chief experiences another three rounds of darkness, lightning, and healing.

“Stop. Please.” I can barely make his words out through the gasping and sniveling. “I really don’t know. You have to look at the shipping manifests. Whichever ones go to my family’s building in district 3.”

Searching. . .

[Didn’t we find some not-so-good material on the district 3 representative while with Michael and Michelle’s family?]

Indeed. Facility details found. This building is owned by McCormick Holdings, an investment firm owned and operated by the family. Carlisle McCormick, grandfather of the four brothers, is the founder and current chancellor. He also happens to be a major shareholder of MagiTech, Inc. A MagiTech subsidiary is managing the facility and Winston Harrison, the 3rd district representative in the city parliament, owns the land upon which the facility sits. Little more data can be gathered without a direct connection. . .

I look at Franklin McCormick and think. A minute later I say to him, “Turns out it is your lucky day Mr. McCormick. You aren’t dying yet. You are potentially still useful. Tell me. Was anyone else in this prison in on it or did you do everyone on your own?”

Watching him closely for deception, I see he is about to lie based on his fighting a mouth movement and the dilation of his eyes, but let it come. “The director. She helped.”

Searching. . .

I nod. “So the director has been a pain in your ass for some reason and you just tried to get rid of her using me. Clever. Now that I know you worked alone, tell me the real reason you want her taken out.”

Director Catarina Sholten has been responsible for this facility for only two years. She has received as many complementary as complaint notices in regards to her strict management and inflexibility in regards to documentation, tracking of prisoners and material, employee qualifications, etc. Overall, it appears she has a stick up her ass and that forced the security chief no end in frustration in keeping his side business effective and a secret. . .

“You know what? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. If you hate her, I like her. Alright. Here is how you are going to help me get to my wife. . .”