The Clarity of Cold Steel

“TO HELL with what he says.” Nikunj lets fly and his knife juts stuttering in the wooden target. Maybe a couple centimeters off dead center. The stucco walls of Red Fort rise high all around the courtyard.

“Shee-it…” Brooklyn just shakes his head in wonder. “How do you do that every time?”

“Practice…” Nikunj takes aim again.

“Uh—” I wave a hand at the two of them. “Hello? Chirag said I’ll be tops for this Brahmin’s liver if we just take a powder.”

Nikunj spits. “Don’t care.” He lets fly again to similar results.

“Fantastic.” I throw up my hands. “I’m a dead man.”

Nikunj fixes me with one eye. “You believe him?” Throws. Thunk. Off dead center by an inch or so. Nikunj glowers, walks over, wrenches his blades out one by one.

I start to pace.

“He’s fucked you a couple times now, ain’t he?” Brooklyn ventures, picking up his own knife. He pulls his hand back to throw. Nikunj watches intently. Brooklyn’s arm flashes forward and his blade hits dead center but clangs off.

“Starting to lose count,” I admit, kicking a rock.

“Too much rotation.” Nikunj bends over and picks up Brooklyn’s blade. “Don’t flip your wrist at the end.” Then to me. “Why this sudden change? What’s his angle?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Too much heat on the kid?” Brooklyn offers.

Nikunj nods. “And how do we know there is even a Brahmin liver earmarked for you?”

“How do we know there is even a Brahmin liver earmarked for you?”

“Read about the accident in the paper,” I say. “It’s legit.”

“Best lies have a kernel of truth.”

“Well, maybe I’m just hoping.”

“Still don’t mean this cat’s gonna give you the goods,” Brooklyn says.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“For once, I’m an optimist and you two bastards are dropping the hammer?” I say. “Assholes.”

“Don’t try to make this about you,” Nikunj warns.

“I brought you bastards in on this.”

“And I gave my word to the kid’s mother I’d find her son, no matter the outcome.”

“Even if it means I’m a dead man?”

“We’ll get you another liver.” Nikunj throws, hits dead center.

“And if we can’t?”

“We’ll get you more pills.”

“They’re gone. Market’s gone fallow. Even Chirag’s out.”

“So he says.”

“I’ve got broken glass in my bloody liver.” I say it because that’s what it feels like.

“We’ve all got problems, brother.” He lays a hand on my shoulder. “And I’m not abandoning you. We’ll find a way.”

“A way? The way we need to find is up. So how’s any of the three of us gonna get topside?”

“First things first. Simple intel. Either of you even cased the train station?”

Brooklyn and I just stare. “No.”

“Well, let’s start there.”