Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 451: Shoehorn

Chapter 451: Shoehorn
SHING! SHING! SHING!
He was spending time sharpening his scalpel from his torture kit as he waited for the stockbroker to wake up. After getting picked up by his people they had left the Iron Boar district and came back to the Cerberus facility.
Jace had handed off the communication devices so Solisa could crack them open and figure out what their contents were. He could have hacked them himself but he figured he might as well spread out the tasks in case it proved to be somewhat difficult. As it was he would have his hands full tracking to ’hack’ the people for their information.
Unfortunately most of the gangsters he had arrested had been very forthcoming. So he did not get a chance to bloody his tools on them. Even the bear beastman was very forward and offered up the stockbroker without a second fault. They only knew this stockbroker by name but they knew that about a dozen other stockbrokers were also using the storage unit for illicit dealings.
So now he was here sharpening and double checking all of his tools as he waited for the stockbroker to wake up. Fortunately he did not have to wait much longer as the stockbroker soon began stirring. Just at the perfect time too as Jace was cleaning the blood off of one of his tools.
"Ha! Holy-! What the devils is this-! Hey you-! Where am I?" The stockbroker yelled in a panic and then gulped as he noticed the large cleaver that Jace was cleaning. The white cloth he was using to clean the blade was already covered in blood. "On second thought, I think I can get home on my own. I won’t even say anything about what happened or anything I saw so if you could just..." The man trailed off nervously, clearly hoping that on some slim chance that Jace would agree.
Jace finished cleaning his clever taking his time before putting it back with the other tools drawing the stockbroker’s attention to the tools. "Zackary Lessi Shoehorn, you are the third son of a shoe-owning magnate. He makes boots, running shoes, sport shoes, all sorts of shoes. But as the third son you exploited your status and was kicked out on your ass where you eventually picked up your more... negative habits."
Jace picked up a syringe with some liquid in it. "Fortunately for me you are a nanohuman and more durable than most. Even if you do have a nasty addiction to Roze Dust. Anyways, eventually you figured out how to make enough money to feed your addition and became a stockbroker. You are not necessarily gifted but you found a way to make it work by slowly leaching off your clients."
"How-" Mister Shoehorn’s eyes went wide. "Wha- why? What do you want?" He finally found his voice after a few minutes of being completely thrown off. "How do you know all that about me?"
"Because you were not as discreet as you expected. But I could care less about you stealing money for the moment. I am more interested in that storage unit and who else runs it with you?" Jace informed him as he moved forward with the syringe getting ready to stick it into Shoehorn’s arm.
"What? No!" The man shook his head. "Forget it! I am not telling you shit-ow! What the devils are you doing?’ He asked abruptly as Jace stuck the syringe in his arm. He was currently cuffed to a metal chair.
"I am injecting you with the contents of this syringe. This particular combination does not have a name. But it will stimulate your Roze addiction. Basically pushing you right into withdrawal symptoms, almost as if you were going cold turkey." Jace explained as he finished the injection. "Now we wait a minute until you start talking."
Mister Shoehorn scoffed as he shook his head. "Forget it. I owe you nothing. Not to mention torture is illegal. I do not care who you are-"
"Do you mean like how smuggling, illegal narcotics, bribing officials, or embezzlement are all crimes as well?" Jace asked with a chuckle. "Because I can guarantee that any police or other officials would have far more interest in your activities than they would mine."
"You bastard. I told you I am not telling you anything. No matter what! Now let me out of this chair. My father may not care about me but I know a number of people high in both the government and the military!" Shoehorn began panicking as Jace clearly did not care about his threat. He continued to threaten and yell at him for almost a full minute.
"Now in about 3...2...1." Jace mumbled out just as Shoehorn’ hands began shaking in his seat. He could see as sweat began to bead on his head and hear as the man began stumbling and mixing up his words.
"Wha- to meh you bath mard?!?" Mister Shoehorn demanded to know as Jace watched as his eyes turned red. He then began spasming and Jace sighed as he recognized signs of his withdrawal symptoms. He grabbed another syringe and stabbed it into his leg, quickly injecting the contents and causing Shoehorn to stop spasming.
"I told you, I triggered your withdrawal symptoms." Jace told him as he pulled out the now empty second syringe. "That second one was something to help your nanosystem repair your body. Of course it will still be incredibly painful so try not to pass out." Jace told him in excitement, it had been awhile since he had been able to torture a drug addict.
There was a whimper and then Shoehorn began crying, "... am sorry..."
Jace could barely hear the man’s whispered words. "Can you speak up?"
Shoehorn began crying louder and spoke into the air revealing his bloodshot eyes that he could probably barely see out of. "I am sorry, I will tell you everything I know. There are a dozen other people who use that storage unit at my company. But we are not the only ones other companies use the lowborns for all their illegal dealings."
"Names, Shoehorn." Jace told him, "as soon as I get all the names I think you have then I will help you so the pain stops." Jace explained with a sigh.
Shoehorn nodded his head and immediately began naming off a bunch of names. Jace had to look them up at the same time to confirm they were real people. Jace frowned as the names started at a few other stockbrokers before slowly changing into people like the CEO of his company. Then he listed a few names that were clients of his stock trading company.
After the names of his own group he started volunteering names of other individuals outside of his company that own a storage unit or location with illegal goods. Jace waited until he stopped volunteering information.
"Is that enough? Can you- gah! Can you make the pain stop?" At least Shoehorn was speaking in complete sentences now. One of his legs was constantly shaking. But Jace still needed a few things secure while the man was feeling so generous.
"Who owns what in that storage unit?" Jace asked, getting an initial groan in response.
"We all owned a bit of everything. The weapons we planned to sell on the black market. But the umm... other stuff was owned by a few of my fellow stockbrokers. They have some... desires." He was nervously talking around the other stuff he found in the storage unit, which consisted of drugs and illegal pornagraphic content.
"Okay... what about that lead lined metal crate?" Jace asked as he marked down what Shoehorn said. He should have enough to march into the building and arrest a number of individuals. But he really wanted to get to the guy that was selling radioactive rods of material.
"My boss! The CEO! He said he could market it to a few disgruntled people. Apparently it has all sorts of uses, including illegal genetic experimentation, or experimenting with a new power generator!" Shoehorn volunteered quickly. "Now stop the pain wahhhaahhh!!!!" The man started crying and Jace rolled his eyes as he grabbed another larger syringe and walked over. Stabbing it right into Shoehorn’s neck.
Shoehorn’s body relaxed before he suddenly fell unconscious as the contents of the syringe took effect. Jace sighed as he dialed up the High Priestess. There were a few rings before she answered.
"What do you have for me, Major Jace?" The High Priestess asked.
"Quite a bit. But if you want I can move in and finish this up. Unless you want us to stop here with the seller?" Jace asked before he began explaining all the information he collected.
He finished a few minutes later and the High Priestess made a clicking noise over the line. "We will sit on it for now. Continue with your plan to snatch up all of the buyers. I will make sure that the individuals in question do not leave the colony station. Now I believe you have somewhere to be. Vana should have started already."