“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Someone who has a few questions.”
His lips curled into a grimace. “Questions? From a hunter? All of you guys are the same. Catch first, ask questions second.”
I wasn’t about to tell him I didn’t actually have an official order to catch him. It would keep me out of trouble and him out of the chair back at the office if he made this easy for both of us.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, I had a few drinks at the bar, so I’m feeling generous with my time. So maybe questions first today.”
He charged forward. I roundhouse kicked him in the ear.
“Or maybe questions second if you want to keep coming at me.”
He grumbled and stumbled to the side, shaking his head, finger in his ear. Maybe I popped something important? Good.
“Look, I don’t want to run anymore, and I don’t think you want my size six boot in your face again, so maybe we work together on this?”
He snorted. Why was it always so hard for men to admit when they were defeated? Like every guy I’d ever dated who dumped me for being stronger and faster and smarter than him.
Not that many of my male targets went down easily.
He studied me, no doubt eyeing my height and my shiny nails and coming to the same conclusion they all did. That I was weak.
I moved before he could take off in the opposite direction. I grabbed the back of his collar and slammed him to the ground. He had some weight on me but not much.
I stood over him and stared down into his grimy face. “You want to try that one more time.” I put both hands on my hips and glared up at him. “Okay, here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to give me an answer. If you don’t answer, I’m going to hit you very hard. If you do answer, then we just move on to the next question sans violence?”
He coughed and sat up on the concrete, his fingers scraped and bleeding from his not-so-graceful landing.
I started with the main question. “Do you work for the Black Mage?”
His chin jerked up, and he met my eyes in a hard stare. “Why are you asking about the Black Mage?”
I smacked him hard upside the head, on the same ear I’d kicked him in. “Do I need to go over the rules of this arrangement again? I ask the questions. You answer.”
Leaves rustled against the trash cans near the building while I gave him a minute to think about my proposition. I needed him to get me to the Black Mage. He was the closest lead to the Black Mage I’d come to, in years.
Although, what kind of mage would let me catch and interrogate him without even a glimpse of magic to fight back?
I gave his shoulder a little pat. “Ready to answer the question or do I need to ask it again?”
He shifted and I braced for an attack, but he just tucked his head and rolled over to push himself off the concrete.
“The Black Mage,” I prompted.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard, hunter, but no one who works for the Black Mage is ever going to talk about it. You should know that by now if you are hunting individuals who work for him.”
I reached out and he blocked my slap. I smiled and smacked the other side of his head with my other hand. He grunted and I chuckled; they always underestimated me.
“Alright since you don’t grasp the rules of this game, I’m going to make it easy for you.”
Before he could react, I wrapped an arm around his neck, using his torso and my small frame to spin behind him. He slumped against me. Blood chokes were always the quickest and most effective way to knock out a target if they let me close enough.
I climbed off him. Ugh. I needed a shower from touching him. I whipped out a few zip ties and hog tied him on this belly. Then I fished my phone from my jacket and hit the speed dial.
When the line clicked over, I said, “I need a pickup.”
I checked the street signs, relayed my location, and hung up.