Chapter Thirty Six
Pain seared in the ball of my shoulders, sockets stretched raw as the weight of my body dragged on them.
Heavy. Excruciating. Like my arms were being ripped from my body.
It jolted me awake, my eyes searching the dark, unable to focus.
Not a shadow, not a patch of light, just pure black.
My head swam. My jaw ached, radiating outwards like a slow reaching ripple.
And, fuck, I was cold. I was naked. Stark bollock naked.
A shiver wracked my body, and I rocked, my weight balanced on my knees.
The ground was cold against my knees, seeping into my bones, crawling into my skin like frostbite, biting, until I couldn’t tell if I was shivering or just breaking apart.
My head hung low, my chin near my chest, every breath ghosting out in a cloud around me.
Somewhere above, the world kept moving. Muffled bass lines, the thump of boots on floorboards, laughter, distant, drunk, alive.
The music made the silence worse, like life was happening just a few feet above my head and I’d already been buried.
The air was thick with the smell of old beer and damp wood, the tang of metal from the pipes running overhead.
I could taste it, bitter on my tongue, mixing with the copper of blood.
I struggled onto my feet, taking the weight off my shoulders. Grey light filtered in from little rectangular windows that sat high in the walls. I tested the ropes once. Twice. Useless. They creaked, held firm. My wrists burned from where they’d chafed against my skin.
Minutes went by. Hours. I couldn’t fucking tell. But I was really fucking cold, and my body was shaking so hard I thought I was having a fit. The light in the room changed. It grew lighter, casting shadows into the blackness.
Metal kegs were piled to one side. Another load lined up against a wall, wires weaving their way down to them.
And now there was a soft hiss, a faint rattle of couplings.
One. Two. Three. More. Pints. Above me, someone was pouring pints.
It was like they knew I was down here, just hanging around, taunting me with the sound of alcohol while I literally froze my balls off.
More time passed. My back ached from standing.
My whole body ached from shivering. I was going to get frostbite.
Probably going to start at the end of my fucking dick too.
People moved upstairs. On and off all day, yet no one came down here.
The floorboards creaked, and there were voices.
But no one came. I’d tried to count the number, but I couldn’t get a good hit, the voices too muffled this far underneath them.
My mind wandered to Jazz. When I’d seen that gun pointing at her head, my entire world slowed, like someone had switched it to slow motion, and I was moving through treacle.
I didn’t know who he was or what side he was on.
And then, for a moment, when Jazz spoke to him, and they knew each other, I felt a sense of relief.
Just for a few seconds. Her head snapped back when he shot her.
I hadn’t seen the gun he’d pulled from somewhere on his thigh.
Not until she fell backwards. I froze. And stared.
Doing nothing. Watching as her eyes closed.
My stomach plummeting down a black hole.
Mindlessly, I searched for blood. The slightest trickle ran down her neck, and even then, I couldn’t move.
“She’s asleep. Not dead.” He’d rumbled, not a hint of regret in his voice; it was as cold as the blue-green of his eyes.
And then the butt of the gun came crashing down towards me.
A door creaked. Movement. I stood up, straightening my back, straining my eyes in the shadows.
Footsteps. Multiple footsteps getting closer.
Lights snapped on around me. Sudden blinding brightness.
And now the damp cellar felt like an interrogation room, and if what I knew about Indie and his vice president was true, they had lots of experience interrogating people.
I watched the room fill up. Indie with the grey hair.
The long-haired Fury. And next to him, almost the same size of half a mountain, was the auburn-haired, heavily tattooed and overly pierced Reap.
Behind him were the twins. Five of them.
But no Demon. Maybe there was a chance I’d still be alive at the end of it.
The punch hit me hard in the stomach. No introductions. No, how’d you dos. Then another, sinking into my flesh. I would have doubled over, sure my stomach had just been ruptured, but the ropes kept me in place.
Fury stepped back, pulling his long hair back into a ponytail on the top of his head and fastening it with a tie.
He meant business now. And I didn’t think he was about to give me a blowjob.
The next blow was to my face. Left hook, right hook.
Left hook again, but this one landed in my mouth, the flesh of my lip popping.
I hung dazed, my head dropping, watching blood drip onto the grey dirty concrete below.
Indie put a hand on the man’s shoulder, saying nothing, and Fury stepped back.
“Fury’s not finished with you yet, sonna. But for now, I’ve got questions.”
“Fire away.” My words were muffled, blood running into my mouth. I spat on the floor at my feet, Indie’s eyes trailing down to the big gob of red and then up to me.
“We will get the rest of you.”
I looked at him, knowing he meant my brothers, but saying nothing.
“They’ve scattered now. We burnt down your clubhouse. That was fun. Don’t know who didn’t get out in time, but he screamed like a tortured woman right till the very end. The neighbours would have thought we were barbecuing pork; the smell was delicious.”
I stared into his eyes, willing my mind to be still, desperately keeping my expression neutral.
“For now, though, Fury will take out his revenge on you. Piece by piece. Well, when you’ve finished answering my questions.”
I tipped my head, beckoning for him to continue.
“Who else are the Hand patching over?”
My laugh, half wheeze, half chuckle, cut the atmosphere. “Pass.”
Indie looked behind him, and the big, long-haired man stepped forward, swivelling slightly before driving his fist into my ribs. The force drove the air from my lungs, dropping me to my knees, the rope yanking my arms up towards the ceiling like I had wings.
“They’re patching you guys over though?”
“Pass,” I repeated.
The fist connected with my left cheek, snapping my head sharply to the right. Indie exhaled slowly.
“The Frostbite Rally. Who tipped you off?”
“Pass.”
My head snapped the other way.
“Gonna need something harder, lads. Chaos, pass that bit of scaffolding over there.”
A pause and then metal scraping concrete. I glanced up, watching the metal pole dragging across the floor. Hands yanked me back to my feet.
“Who went after Demon? Was it Rats?”
I sighed. This fucker wasn’t taking the hint. “Pass.”
I closed my eyes. The bar hit me hard in the left thigh, taking my legs out from underneath me, my thigh instantly numb like I’d been chopped in half. I would have fallen face first. Instead, my weight fell on the ropes and my shoulders.
I gasped for air, my body not working, my lungs heaving.
“I’ll never sell Rats’ secrets, Indie.”
“You know they want you dead?”
I nodded. I knew the consequences the minute I left the clubhouse for the warehouse that night. I might as well have signed my death warrant then. The tattoos on my arms engraved the words, ‘Rats forever, till I die.’ It wasn’t some motto of a ghetto kid. It was our vow.
“Then why didn’t you cut her free and then run?” Indie asked, his voice just that bit softer.
“Because she wouldn’t have got far. Grim wanted her.” Feet shifted somewhere in the crowd behind the Kings’ President and second in command. “He was taking her back to the States. That fate would have been worse than death for Jazz.”
The metal bar crashed into my side, and this time I shouted out, pain erupting everywhere.
“Keep my sister’s name out of your mouth.”
“Alright, Will,” Indie cautioned, a couple of sniggers hissing somewhere else.
Didn’t seem the time to mention it wasn’t her name he should be pissed about.
“What you smiling for, Rat?” Fury spat.
“You’ve given me more information there than you realise, Rat,” Indie interrupted, his voice low with smug satisfaction lining every word.
Maybe I had. And I had something else for them, because getting them to eye each other up suspiciously, and question who they trusted, might be enough just to get me out of here.
“Leave him here for a bit, lads. Let’s see what else he remembers.”
Indie turned, the three crowned skulls on the cut of his back laughing at me. Fucker.
“You need to find out who your rat is, Indie,” my voice gargled on my blood, and he spun on his heel, eyes narrowing.
“Someone in your club tells us what you’re up to.
Where you’re going to be riding. Where your shops are yours and where they are.
What your plans are. Before you try working out what the Rats and the Hand are up to, you might want to look closer to home. ”
Indie tipped his head, Fury striding forwards.
“And there’s no fucking point trying to beat me to shit for the answer,” I added quickly, hanging on the ropes now, my body screaming in pain and my face expecting another pummelling.
Indie held out his hand, and Fury stopped.
“Then how d’you know we’ve got a grass?”
“Dougal and Skinny bought the info from the Notorious. Whoever your rat is, they know club business.”
“You believe him?” Fury asked, his big hands balled into fists, flecks of blood showing on torn knuckles.
“No. But church starts in a minute. Let’s deal with business up there, and then we’ll come back to business down here. Let’s see if any of our members worry there’s a Teesside Road Rat downstairs.”
Behind Indie, feet shuffled, backing away. But the Kings’ President stayed, watching me.
“Indie?” Fury prompted.
“Give me a minute.”
Fury nodded, and the laughing skulls joined the shadows, a door clunking heavily back into place.
The silence seemed suffocating, the only thing breaking it my ragged breaths. For a while, Indie just watched me. I tried to stand tall. A thick, heavy ache in my thigh, my stomach convulsing, and if no one else had been in the cellar dungeon with me, I would have given in and puked.
“You got her out,” Indie said eventually. “And for that, the Kings thank you. I just wanted you to know that.”
“You’ve got a funny way of showing gratitude, Indie,” I wheezed through the pain.
“Don’t worry. We’re not done with you yet. Then you’ll what our gratitude looks like. We will kill you, Rat.”
My stomach somersaulted and then tensed. I knew that. I knew the minute the Kings found me I wouldn’t get out of here alive.