Below The Surface (In the Spotlight #8)

Chapter 1

CASEY

I tug my mask over my face and make sure I can still see through the mesh screens over my eyes. I hate the way my breath warms up my face, but it can’t be helped.

Father Bill Thomas Langer struggles in the chair I strapped him into.

His usually immaculately pressed suit is rumpled.

His perfectly coifed dark hair? I ran my fingers through to mess it all up.

Had to destroy the image of perfection. He follows me with his ice-blue eyes.

The muzzle keeps him from being able to bite me, but he can still talk.

That’s how I like it. I love hearing them beg.

“Please. I can pay you. Whatever you want. Just let me go! I haven’t done anything!” Bill thrashes, but my leather straps and zip ties keep him in place. He probably lost circulation in his fingers and toes. If not, he will and I’ll have to wake them back up.

“Anything! I’m a priest, for crying out loud! I help people.”

I snort, and he growls. This grown man actually growls at me.

My cameras aren’t running yet, so I ask, “Do you know someone by the name of Allen Rager?”

Bill’s brows scrunch.

“Don’t worry, you probably forgot all about him. It would have been about twenty years ago?”

“N—no. The name doesn’t ring a bell.” Sweat beads on his top lip.

“Maybe you know Linda Callihan?”

Bill swallows as I put my ear piece in. His eyes dart around the room and he goes back to struggling.

“Where the hell am I?”

“Hell. Exactly. For you at least.” I flick on the lights, and he hisses as he looks away. “There are others. Avery. Patrick. Emily.”

Each name makes him shake his head. “Not me! They’re lying.”

I walk up to him and pull his dress shirt hard enough for the buttons to pop open. “Every one of them told me how you violated them. And every singled one told me about this birthmark.” I drag a blade around it, barely grazing his skin, but it’s enough to make him piss himself.

“No. I’ve repented. The Lord has forgiven me for my sinful youth.”

I grab the grill of the muzzle and yank his attention to me. “That didn’t help the kids you raped.” It takes everything in me not to gut him like a pig before I even start the livestream.

“They asked for it!”

I snarl and jab my knife into his arm. “Let me tell you how tonight is going to work.” I force him to look at the half a dozen big screens in front of us.

I point out the half a dozen cameras setup around the room to get every angle.

“Once the livestream starts, my lovely viewers are going to dictate how you’re tortured.

Then you die. Pray they say I can just shoot you in the head.

Otherwise, you’ll be in agony until death takes you.

Understand?” I flick the knife in his arm.

Bill spits, but it gets stuck in the grill of his muzzle.

I grin, but he can’t see it.

“Coward! Show me your fucking face!”

“Gladly.” I lift my mask, my grin still wide.

“You!”

“Me.” I give him the sweetest, most innocent look I can muster.

“Sorry Daddy, I’ve been bad.” I bite my bottom lip and look at him through my lashes.

“Oh, wait. It’s forgive me Father, for I have sinned, isn’t it?

” I lean in and smooth down the collar of his suit jacket.

“I didn’t grow up Catholic. I did grow up in a cult, though.

One where people like you got away with, well, what you do.

” I flick the knife again, getting satisfaction at the pain flashing across his face.

“Where they worshiped children as the leaders of a new world, but only if they allowed the elders to teach them.” I turn the knife.

“I’m sure you can imagine what the elders taught. Obedience. Discipline.”

A crackle comes over my ear piece. “You can start when you’re ready. Everything’s secure.” Kendra’s in the other room, keeping surveillance.

“Roger that,” I respond as I rip the knife from Bill’s arm. “Ready to make your debut?” I pat the top of his head and drop my mask back over my face. I grab a pair of gloves and slide my tray of torture devices into view.

Bill goes back to struggling again. “You won’t get away with this. Someone will come looking for me.”

“Unless you have tracking in your clothes, no one will find you. Your vehicle has been dealt with and I’ve been scrubbed from the bar’s video feed.” I turn to him. “You’re scum, and no one is going to mourn your death.”

“The church!”

“Has been sent a thumb drive of your transgressions. Your body will be found in a few weeks, mostly decomposed and that’s if it floats back to the surface. Personally, I’m hoping a shark eats you.”

“You’re sick!”

“What? Sharks are so fucking cool.” My voice might be a bit too giddy.

“Casey, get on with it,” Kendra’s voice has too much of a laugh in it for the situation.

I take a deep breath and bounce on my toes a few times as I shake out my hands.

“Sorry. I love the ocean, and sharks are some of my favorites.”

“Fuck you!” Bill spits the words.

“I do plan on getting fucked after this.”

Kendra laughs from her spot in the room next door. “You’re impossible Casey.”

“I know. I know.” I lean forward and hit the button on the laptop to start the livestream. “Hello my lovely little freaks.” The voice modulator jumbles my voice enough that no one will ever know what I really sound like.

Chats fly in and I read them all. Right now they’re all just greeting me, Nightmare. All while Bill struggles.

“As you can see behind me, I have our special guest. Father Bill Thomas Lager. Several viewers reached out to me with their stories from their childhood. I did a bit of investigating myself and took up the cause.” I upload the encrypted documents.

“As you can see, he deserves his punishment.” I walk behind Bill and hold his head towards the screen as I whisper in his ear. “Watch as they decide your fate.”

I drag my knife down his arm as I walk back around him to address our audience again.

“If you’re new to my feed, I’m Nightmare and I’m your weekly torture host. While our special guests are abominations who rape or traffic, I never commit sexual violence myself.

So the hard limits are anything to do with genitalia.

Everything else is fair game. While you’re thinking about ways to torture Billy, also think of how you’d like to see him die.

Because at the end of the session, we’ll have one less pedo on the streets. ”

“You are so theatrical,” Kendra says.

“That’s why they love me,” I say back. “Now, lovely viewers, what can I get started for you?”