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“Don’t sympathize with hi Your enemy I simply want him to tell us all that he knows”

So did Ni, actually

The fire continued to rage, the fla to scorch the man’s feet

The prisoner’s head started to nod, signaling surrender

“That didn’t take long” Pau motioned, and the man in the barn rotated the body away froonizing screaht

“There’s no one to hear,” Pau called out “The nearest neighbors are kiloo”

The man stole a few breaths and seemed to steady himself

“Tang … wants you dead Minister Ni, too”

“Tell me more,” Pau called out

“He’s going … after the … lamp As we … speak”

“And Cassiopeia Vitt?”

“She’s going after … it … too She was … allowed to … escape Men are … following”

“You see, Minister,” Pau quietly whispered “This is why torture has endured It works You learn a great s”

The sickening feeling in his storew Were there no rules, no boundaries, to his morality? What had happened to his conscience?

Pau round One of the robed un and shot the bound man in the head

Ni stood silent, then finally asked, “Was that necessary?”

“What would you have me do? Release him?”

He did not answer

“Minister, hoill you lead China if you have not the stomach to defend yourself?”

He did not appreciate the reprimand “I believe in courts, laws, justice”

“You are about to embark on a battle that only one of you will survive No courts, law, or justice will decide that conflict”

“I was unaware that this would be a fight to the death”

“Has not Karl Tang just made that clear?”

Ni supposed he had

“Tang is ruthless He sent an What will be your response, Minister?”

The past few hours, in this no-nonsense place, hadall that he thought he knew about hih he’d arrested many who’d eventually been executed For the first tihed down on hith But he wondered Could he kill with the same cool detachment Pau Wen displayed?

Probably not

“We o,” Pau said “It’s only a short drive”

He knehere

To the Dries Van Egmond Museum

Before it was too late