“We’re going to teach the art of retrieval and then how to actually use a garrote. Of course, you won’t be working with an actual garrote,” Preacher continued. “We don’t want anyone to accidentally kill Benito—er, someone.”
Lucia laughed and nudged her brother with her hip. “Your reputation has preceded you, little brother.”
“Drop your hand casually down to your side so that just your fingertips rest on the top of the seam of your jeans. You have to do this by feel. There will be a couple of stitches open. You have to be able to feel that with the pads of your fingers. Just rub back and forth until you feel it. Once you feel it on one side, do the same on the other with your opposite hand. Switch back and forth between sides until you’re confident you can find those open stitches fast with either hand,” Preacher instructed.
The four teens spent some time going back and forth feeling for the stitches. It was much harder than it sounded. A swipe over the top of a seam with the pad of one’s finger didn’t always allow for distinguishing at a quick feel the absence of a thread. One had to be very sensitive. It took the teens longer than they expected and they really had to slow down, concentrate, feel and then learn to do the same on the side they weren’t as strong on.
“You have to build up both sides of your body. You can’t just rely on being right-handed or left-handed. You don’t know when you might be pinned down on your strong side. Or shot on that side. You always have to be prepared to use either hand,” Lana said. “Once you get a feel for the absence of the stitches, you have to very gently use two fingers to push in and stroke upward. The ring is very small, but it’s there and will slide through that hole. It has to twist as it comes through. You have to find the trick to move it with that pushing in and sliding upward and then twisting in one motion. You should feel the ring with the pads of your fingers.”
“Retrieving that ring is the most difficult part,” Reaper added. “It takes patience. No one does it the first time.”
“No one even feels it first time,” Maestro added. “The idea is you have to practice over the next two weeks until you get it. When you come back, we’ll expect that you can do it. You’ll also need to be able to rethread the garrote back into the seam.”
Benito let out a snort of derision. “Lucia can do that.”
Instantly Maestro spun around and took a menacing step toward him. “Why would Lucia do that for you? Are you incapable of doing it for yourself?”
“No.” Benito drew himself up. “She’s a girl.”
“So you’re telling us that threading a garrote into your clothing is beneath you? That women are somehow a lower status than men?” Maestro took another step toward him and he wasn’t alone. Preacher and Reaper formed a solid wall with Maestro.
“What makes you think you’re so damn much better than a woman? Because you have a fuckin’ penis hangin’ between your legs?” Reaper demanded. “We’re one family. Torpedo Ink. Not one of us is better than the next. We treat our women with respect. Alena or Lana can take out an enemy with the same skill as any one of the brothers.”
“You don’t get that, Benito, you’re not worth much to Torpedo Ink,” Maestro snapped. “We’re a family. We don’t put one member down. We don’t make them less. We never make them feel less. You need to be able to thread a garrote into your own fuckin’ jeans just like Lucia has to be able to load her own gun. Essentially, it’s the same thing. But don’t you ever make the mistake of thinking you’re more than a woman, because you aren’t.”
Benito nodded his head several times. “I’m sorry, Maestro. I tease my sister all time. I don’t mean it. I really don’t. I used to, but Max says the same as you, that we’re equal, and never to think that way, so I don’t.”
“Then stop teasing that way,” Maestro counseled. “If you tease that way, you might start thinking that way again.”
Benito nodded again. “I hear you.”
“Keep practicing, everyone,” Lana said. “We’ve only got a few more minutes so let’s get on to the actual way a garrote is used. It isn’t as easy as it looks in the movies. There’s a bit of a trick to it, especially if there’s a height difference. We’re going to use just some thin tubing so I can show you how it works, and you can practice with your partner. They’ll sit in the grass in front of you.”