The Barbarian King

Chapter 50

"Then you don't get paid," he said. "Because you didn't build it right. "

The guy went quiet again. Wondering if the employer was joking.

"You spot the flaw in my logic?" the employer asked. "The way you're figuring it right now, it's in your interest just to si

t there on your a*s all night, then tomorrow you say to me no sir, I couldn't get out of there, no sir, not at all. "

The carpenter laughed a short nervous laugh.

"That's how I was thinking," he said.

"So what you need is an incentive," the employer said. "Understand? To make sure you try real hard to get out. "

The carpenter glanced up at the blanked-off second-story corner. When he glanced back down, there was a dull black automatic in the employer's hand.

"There's a sack in the truck," the employer said. "Go get it, OK?"

The carpenter just looked around, astonished. The employer pointed the g*n at his head.

"Get the sack," he said quietly.

There was nothing in the pickup bed. There was a burlap sack on the passenger seat. Wrapped into a package maybe a foot and a half long. It was heavy. Felt like reaching into a freezer at the market and pulling out a side of pig.

"Open it up," the employer called. "Take a look. "

The carpenter peeled back the burlap. First thing he saw was a finger. Icy white, because the blood had drained. Yellow workman's calluses standing out, big and obvious.

"I'm going to put you in the room now," the employer called to him. "You don't get out by morning, I'm going to do that to you, OK? With your own damn saw, because mine went dull doing those. "