26. Fox #2
I hauled his body out of the trunk, brushing the spiders aside. I didn’t understand why he was squirming so much. They were adorable little creatures, and it wasn’t like they would actually kill him. Though the furry little guys were a little terrifying with their beady eyes.
“Alright, out we go,” I said, hauling his shaking body toward the shipping container.
Once inside, I hooked him up to an electric hoist and headed back to close up the car. On my way in, I shut the door behind us and flipped on the work light.
The man squinted at the bright light shining right in his eyes. “Oops. Is that too bright? Let me move it for you.”
I adjusted it so it wasn’t shining right at his face. After all, I was a nice guy, and I wanted his time with me to be at ease. For a while, anyway.
“Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?”
The man scowled at me, his eyes bruised from where he had struggled, and I punched him. I regretted it, but there was nothing I could do about it. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
“Au contraire. You don’t know who you’re meddling with.” I grinned widely at him. “Did you see what I just did?”
“You repeated my words,” he spat.
“Yes, but I did it with flair. It adds a little something, don’t you think?”
The man dangled precariously from the hoist, but he didn’t truly look scared. More angry and constipated than actual fear. That was going to have to change.
“Well, I assume that you’d like to get on with things. No point in just hanging around, am I right?”
Again, I grinned at him, but the man just scowled in return. “Man, someone is a little cranky tonight.”
“I will cut you and boil you to pieces,” he spat.
I was more than a little surprised by the venom in his voice. Usually, they begged for mercy. It was refreshing, to say the least.
“Oh, we’ll get to the boiling later. It happens to be a specialty of mine. But first, I thought I would give you the opportunity to tell me what I need to know.”
Walking over to the bench, I grabbed a bag of Funyuns and peeled it open, popping one of the treats in my mouth.
“Now, usually, I go straight for the fear factor, you know? But I thought this time around, I would give you the opportunity to tell me what I need before I get to the whole vat of acid. It’s kind of messy, and honestly, as much as I love watching a man boil to death, this setup is not my usual way of doing things. Funyun?”
I held the bag out to him, but he just snarled in response. It was quite rude.
“You know, you could just say you don’t want one.”
“Why would I want a Funyun?” he snarled.
Frowning, I stared down into the bag. “Well, they’re tasty.
There’s really nothing else like them out there.
And I always find that working on an empty stomach is a bad thing.
Now, I’ve never been in your position, other than the few times I’ve tested my own experiments, but I would assume that some comfort food right now would be a happy experience. ”
I held the bag out to him, then laughed when I realized he couldn’t reach into the bag while his hands were bound. “I’m sorry. How inconsiderate of me. Let me get that for you.”
I snatched one of my precious Funyuns from the bag and held it out to him, but he refused to open his mouth. That was just rude. I started pressing it against his lips until he finally yielded and popped his mouth open. But the moment it touched his tongue, he spat it out.
Now I saw red.
“You know, I came in here with the intention of making this a fun time for all. And instead, you spit out my proffered treats. How is that being respectful?”
“Go fuck yourself,” he snapped.
I rolled my eyes in disgust. Man, this guy was just full of piss and vinegar today. “Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
“I woke up with a psychopath in my bed! How did you even get in?”
“Well, it all had to do with my dashing good looks and charming personality. The ladies just can’t deny me.”
“I’ll fucking kill you,” he snapped.
I tried to keep a straight face. I really did, but this man was just too funny. “Okay,” I mocked. “Now, I think since this isn’t going according to plan, we should just move things along. What’s your name?”
“Go fuck yourself!”
Such a typical response. “I see you’re going to attempt to play hardball. It’s admirable. I admit it. I really do appreciate what you’re doing, but your friends aren’t going to care because I’m going to kill them as well.”
“What friends?” he barked out a laugh.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I not tell you what I was after? How thoughtless of me,” I grinned. “Your shadow friends. I mean, I would have gone for a cooler name. You know, something that really sparks fear in my enemy’s eyes. You know, get them right in the heart. Like…The Funyun Phantom.”
I grinned at the title. It really was perfection. “It combines two of my favorite things. Funyuns and musicals. Granted, it would be great if I could somehow work in shawarma, but The Funyuns-Shawarma Phantom would probably be overkill.
“And while I really do love so many different musicals, the Phantom really represents something inside me that I just can’t shake. And I don’t think calling myself a Jet would be correct either. I am cool and I am crazy, but it’s not as terrifying—if you know what I mean.”
When he didn’t answer, I continued. “You know, I was actually coming up with an idea for my own musical. I based it on my life. I thought I would start it off with a young child witnessing a murder. That would really bring out the darkness, just as I planned. And it would be about this man and his love for Funyuns. Of course, I would have to change a few of the details. Maybe the main character would have black hair instead of my dirty blonde hair. Ooh, and I bet I could change his name. Fox is such a cool name, but I don’t want to give away the story, you know?
Maybe I could go with Hound or … You know, I can work that out later. ”
I hadn’t realized I was pacing until I stopped and wondered why he wasn’t getting into my fantastic new musical.
“Do you not like the idea?”
His eyes twitched in anger, but he said nothing. Clearly, this man was not a friend of the theater.
“Well, since you’re so unenthusiastic about my ideas, I guess the torture shall commence. But first, I would like to know who I’m dealing with.”
I strode toward him and grabbed his wallet from his trousers, grinning when he let out a muffled groan. “Oh, relax. I don’t swing that way.”
I flipped his wallet open and studied his license. “Very interesting. You know, this picture really doesn’t do you justice. And those plugs really haven’t grown in well. Maybe consider a good rug. I’m just saying, if you want to be convincing.”
The man scowled at me, but didn’t say a word. He was really sticking by this whole not-talking thing. I pulled out my phone and dialed Rae, ready to get to work.
“Fox, what did you find?”
“A man by the name of Arthur Brennan. I’ll send you a photo.”
“Are you tailing him?”
“Well, I was. But then he stopped at a hotel, and I really didn’t want to sleep in the car.”
“Fox,” she sighed. “Please tell me you aren’t still at the hotel.”
That made me laugh. “Seriously? What kind of psychopath do you take me for? No, I climbed into bed with him and watched a musical while I waited for him to wake up. Oklahoma wasn’t on.”
“That’s sad.”
“I know. You’re taking care of my girl, right?”
“She’s taking care of herself. Don’t worry about her.”
“Good,” I grinned, proud that she was holding it together. “Alright, get me what you can and let me know.”
“Sure thing. And Fox?”
“Yep!”
“Try not to boil him before we get the information we need.”
That struck me as funny. “How did you know I was going to boil him?”
“Because it’s your signature move. Seriously, if the police ever catch on to you, they’ll always know when you have a fresh kill.”
I scoffed at the ridiculousness that anyone could ever catch me. I was too good. “Yeah, like I would ever leave enough evidence for anyone to catch me.”
“It’s been known to happen to great men.”
“Well, that’ll be the day.”
I hung up and pocketed my phone. “Now, where were we?”
He didn’t answer. Not even a peep. I thought maybe he would want to chat before we got started, but he just stared at me. Like he was bored. It was insulting.
“Would you like me to bring the spiders back in? I can do that if it would help you loosen up. You’re way too…blah.”
“Blah? You have me hoisted up like a turkey!”
I cocked my head, studying the way he was dangling. “No. This is definitely not how I would string up a turkey. I think you have them mistaken with cows. Or maybe deer, though I never kill animals unnecessarily. I reserve my killing for people. I find that killing animals only makes me queasy.
“Though, if I’m in the wilderness and feel a little snacky, I’ve been known to take out a squirrel or two. A little gamey, not very much meat, but when you need sustenance…”
I shrugged, but again, got nothing from the man. I really didn’t get it. It was like he didn’t want to talk to me.
“Well, then I guess we should get this show on the road. I was going to have a little bit of chatting time, but since you don’t feel the need to talk to me, we can do this another way.”
I grabbed the fork jack and hauled the pallet with the vat over to where he hung.
After getting that in position, I installed the mirrors around the outside, pointing them down toward the base of the vat.
I wanted to be sure that he could see his skin peeling from his body and his bones melting as I lowered him inside.
When I glanced at him, he still didn’t look all that intimidated, but when I started adding the acid to the vat, the first signs of fear streaked across his face. With every second that passed, sweat coated his skin, finally drawing a reaction from him.
“I see you’re finally getting a better idea of how this is going to happen. I have to say, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the reaction I wanted. It would be such a waste to just drop you inside and not enjoy any of it.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” he whispered.
I grinned broadly at him, my chest puffing out with pride at the compliment. “Why, thank you! It’s nice to see someone appreciates me for who I am.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
I barked out a laugh, tossing back my head in glee.
“Well, obviously . Though if my friend FNG were here, he would say the correct adverb would be clearly . I beg to differ. Obviously means that it was so clear to you that I’m crazy.
While clearly could be misconstrued to mean something else entirely. ”
“What?” he snapped.
I pulled my knife, cutting the shoes from his feet and letting them drop into the acid.
“Well, not everyone understands the basic differences between clearly and obviously. It’s actually quite a point of contention in our group.
Then again, it wasn’t me who started it.
It was actually between Dash and FNG. Those two are a bunch of characters.
But you’ve been watching us, so I bet you already know that. ”
I studied his pajamas, wondering if I should cut them from his body or let them boil off along with his skin.
It was a tough one because sometimes the fear of seeing the fabric boil away was enough to make a man talk.
But then he really didn’t get to see his skin slough off if he was covered in material.
It was definitely a conundrum.
My phone rang before I could make a final decision. “Ah, that will be Rae. She’s just getting some information on you.” I slid my finger across the screen and put it on speakerphone. “Rae, my darling. What do you have for me?”
“Well, he’s definitely on the list with the others. It seems he handles the finances for the Shadow Government. We need their accounts.”
“Accounts, you say?”
“Easiest way to dismantle them,” she said happily.
“Well, I can definitely do that. Hey, do you know that he doesn’t seem to like musicals?”
“Fox, many people don’t. Try not to take it personally.”
“Well, that’s a tad hard when he doesn’t like Funyuns either.”
“Call me when you have something,” she said without a simple goodbye.
I shoved the phone in my pants pocket and flipped my knife in my hand, decision made.
“Now, I’m not saying I’m going to enjoy this, but I’m going to enjoy this.
What I need are account numbers. You heard the lass.
So, you can either hand them over now and I’ll drop you in the vat with no fanfare, or you can make this long and drawn out, and I’ll slowly lower you into it until all your bones melt and your skin is floating around in the water.
“Personally, I would fight it, but that’s the psycho in me. I really don’t want to sway your opinion one way or the other.”
I sat back and crossed my arms, waiting for him to make up his mind. He would probably hold out like the others, wondering if I would really go through with it, but they all gave in eventually. The pain became unbearable, and they eventually gave up everything.
When he didn’t say anything, I let the Phantom take over as a grin spread across my face. “Difficult way, it is then.”