2
Botching the Job
Manu is surprised to wake up.
That he’s bound to a chair in an empty basement, single bulb sputtering overhead — that’s not so much a surprise. Jaantzen hasn’t killed him, so this is definitely the sort of place he’d find himself.
The floor around him is covered in tarps, a bad sign. But he’s still dressed, and he’s not gagged, so . . . Manu scents the possibility of negotiation in the air.
Footsteps behind him, two pairs. “I’ll answer anything you want,” he says, conversational. Let’s start off on the right foot here. Let’s be helpful.
“Giving up so easily?” He’s been studying that voice for weeks: Willem Jaantzen.
Manu shrugs. “Nothing to give up,” he said. “I ain’t got nobody to protect.”
“Working on your own, then,” Jaantzen says.
“I don’t like working with
