42
Questions without answers
Aleksa
Something pulled my hair back, causing me horrible pain.
My body ached, my ribs hurt, and my eyelashes felt like they were stuck together. I opened my eyes with difficulty. I was tied up in a damn chair, and in front of me, Andrey was hanging from the ceiling, secured with thick chains. His torso was bare, soaked with water, and a man was walking around him with an electric shock baton.
I knew that device well; I had used it myself on a few occasions to make some snitch who had crossed us talk. You could adjust the amperage to cause more or less damage, adapting it to the area being treated. The kind of toy any child of an extreme masochist or torturer would ask for Christmas.
I shifted restlessly, trying to free myself from the chair I was bound to, and from the hand that was pulling my neck backward. I heard the cocking of a revolver pointed at my temple.
”You finally wake up, about time. I hope the sleep has cleared your mind enough.”
”Why am I here? What have you done to us?”
”Nothing you haven’t done before, an injection and off to sleep to move you without much trouble.”
How long had I been unconscious? The last thing I remembered was losing control of the car, it starting to spin like a top before crashing hard against a tree.
”What the hell do you want?” I asked with a grim face. There was no doubt about which gang they belonged to, their physique and accent made them unique.
”That’s what I like to hear, you wanting to talk. Your friend seems to have forgotten how; he hasn’t opened his mouth no matter how much we’ve played with him.”
The man let go of my head and positioned himself in front of me. I looked from side to side; we were in a building, on one of the top floors, judging by the height that the windows allowed. It could be an office block or even a hotel. The Chinese had several businesses that matched the surroundings.
I heard a dull groan and turned my gaze to the other end of the room. Andrey”s torturer gave me a demonstration with a powerful shock on his swollen abdomen. His forearms tensed, gripping the palms of his hands on the iron links.
The Russian was barefoot and stood on a puddle of water that had accumulated on top of a plastic sheet that must have measured two by two meters.
”Stop it!” I ordered them. ”He doesn”t answer because he barely understands Spanish,” I excused him, ”and your accent is terrible, I even struggle to understand you.”
Those guys were two of Cheng”s henchmen; they couldn”t be mistaken.
The ones on the motorcycles must have been either a distraction or the ones responsible for the blowout. They caused the explosion, aiming at the front tires of our vehicle. Perhaps the pair holding us had followed in a sweep car in which they loaded us once they had us drugged.
Either way, the accident had been staged, and it looked very much like what happened to Nikita was also the work of the Chinese.
”Don”t take me for a fool,” he grumbled. ”We know who your little friend is, just as we know who you are. He seemed to understand Spanish well enough, or at least to speak it, when you were messing around among the trees.” I felt a nervous tic in my cheek. They had been watching us, just as Andrey had suggested would happen. ”Then he had no trouble finding words...” I clenched my teeth. The Russian must have been furious with me for what he heard, and if we got out of this, he was never going to want to speak to me again.
Damn fool! I was more driven by lust than the safety of everyone.
I squirmed, responding bitterly.
”And what about it? Were you dying of jealousy? Is that why you brought us here? Because you got turned on and wanted to get involved with us both?”
His open palm crossed my face.
”Silence.”
”Make up your mind, first you want him to talk, now not to, all that three delights rice must have gone to your brain.” I was trying to buy time and see how we could get out of this mess.
The Chinese tucked his gun into his belt and grabbed my neck.
”We want back what you stole from us!” he burst out, squeezing. I couldn”t breathe, the asphyxiation clenching me from within. I couldn”t even speak until he let go and I started coughing to regain my breath.
”We haven”t stolen anything from you!” I exclaimed hoarsely. He gave me a few seconds to continue speaking. ”If anything, it was you who tried to take ownership of the cocaine shipment that disappeared from one of our ships on the very day of the goods reception.”
”If you lose things and can”t guard them, that”s not our fault,” he replied swiftly.
”We didn’t lose anything. You were the ones responsible for the plunder,” I spat out angrily. ”What did your boss think? That we would just sit back? You have no fucking idea who you”re messing with.” The Chinese clicked his tongue several times.
”You”re the ones who have no fucking idea. If you have problems with lost items, file a complaint,” he said jokingly, ”I’m sure the cops will be thrilled to lend you a hand, or both.”
”Look, you fucking Chinese...” The back of his hand hit my face again, this time towards the other side. Not being able to fight back and squirm was killing me alive.
”I”m the one who talks here, so you better address me with respect or I”ll fry your boyfriend.” He raised one of his hands, and the one holding the shock baton pinched Andrey’s nose with his fingers to stop him from breathing. The Russian held on as long as he could without opening his mouth and when he did, the idiot Chinese stuck the baton in to give him a shock that reached his throat.
My partner”s body convulsed. Seeing him like that, so big and unprotected because of me, was screwing me over more than if it were done to me. I showed them my weak point and now they were going to attack it to the last consequences.
”Do you really think that because he has jerked off to this, it fucks me up?” The Chinese pressed his flat nose against mine.
”I believe it fucks you up, even though you want to pretend it doesn’t.”
”If you continue with this, you”re dead,” I threatened him.
”You”re all out of options, you”re not in a position to say things you can”t fulfill. Besides, we are offering you all our hospitality, right, Liú?” The one with the rod finally took it out of the Russian”s mouth, and his head drooped forward. Damn them all. ”No one needs to die, we just want to get back what you took, you know, something Mr. Cheng values and appreciates a lot. Where is it?”
”If you mean his lack of shame and poor judgment, I have no idea where that is, maybe you should file a lost and found claim yourself.” He laughed and elbowed me in the jaw, making all my teeth rattle.
His accomplice returned to Andrey to place the baton on his groin. My partner couldn”t suppress the scream. I was going to kill these damn bastards as soon as I could get free from the ropes!
The Russian got on his tiptoes, trying to move that curse away from his balls.
”We can do this all night,” the Chinese murmured in my ear. ”Your friend won”t ever get hard again, and you... I”ll shoot you in the mouth if you don”t start talking. Where is Xia?”
So that was it, about damn Miss Wang. The very one Koroleva switched to their side and who was now missing from everyone”s radar. Except for hers. Great!
”I have no idea where that bitch is. If you have so many resources, look for her yourself instead of wasting time with us, who have no clue where she might be. I”d also have taken off if I had to be on the side of a loser like you.”
My response earned me a straight punch to the abdomen. My ribs hurt like hell, surely some were broken.
”You kidnapped her and took her against her will. We managed to restore the backup of the exterior cameras; we have you controlled, we know who you are and every move you make.”
”Then find her and leave us alone! I”m sick of you never being straightforward, you always resort to subterfuge because you”re cowards who know otherwise you”d all be dead. Why does your boss never show his face? Why does nobody know him? Because he”s a damn coward who hides behind losers like you!”
My captor looked at me with hatred, waved his weapon in the air, and Andrey received a much longer shock than before. Those bastards were going to fry him.
I pulled hard at the bindings without success. The knots were too tight. Sweat ran down my spine and a sharp pain pierced my temples.
”We”re not going to stop until you sing,” he clarified. ”You can struggle all you want but you”re not moving from here.”
If only I could reach one of the blades integrated into my shoes... Three blows to the abdomen made me start coughing and cursing at him.
”Speak!” he shouted nervously.
”Was it you who shot Koroleva this morning?” I asked. He looked at me strangely.
”I”m the one asking questions!” The Chinese was getting impatient.
”Answer for answer, if you”re honest, maybe I”ll recover the memory I lost thanks to the blow and can tell you something of interest.”
He weighed my answer. I could lie to him, give him a location, and buy some minutes.
”That order has not been given by our organization. You might have more enemies than you”d like. You”ve pissed off a lot of people, and that comes back to bite you sooner or later. Now answer: where is Miss Wang?”
I looked at Andrey and clenched my hands on the armrests of the chair. I wanted to know how he was, but I couldn”t ask him. His body emitted an occasional spasm, the result of the multiple doses of electricity he had received.
”Alright, I”ll talk,” I conceded, thinking of the perfect answer to keep them entertained for a while.