Tommy curled over himself and couldn't produce words.
"How much of it did you suppress? The trafficking. The abductions. The bribery. And what cover did you run specifically for this place?"
Tommy's jaw clamped shut. Whatever number of people were involved in this, it was large enough to make him accept the pain rather than speak.
"I have ways of making you cooperate that we haven't explored yet."
Raphael grabbed him by the hair, picked up the toolbox, and dragged him toward the room's interior.
He looked at the two women on the bed.
"Go. Wait outside. You won't be forced to come back here. You'll have your freedom soon."
They looked at each other. They gathered the sheets, and left the way people leave when they've been moving toward an exit for a long time and someone finally opened it.
Raphael closed the door.
The narrowing gap between door and frame took the light with it.
---
