Chapter 77
Reaper
I’m about to ask Elijah something else when I hear the door unlock behind me.
Turning, I give Devil a chin lift as he comes in, dragging a bloodied and bruised Justin behind him.
I help them get the four men strung up alongside Elijah and Darren, ignoring the curses and promises of what they’ll do to us when they get their hands on us.
When we’re done, Devil turns a questioning gaze at Elijah and cocks an eyebrow.
“Fucker changed his appearance to look like Zac and led us on a wild goose chase. Told us a bit about Richard’s plans, which we’ll fill you guys in on later. Did they give you much trouble?” I ask as I tilt my head toward Justin and the others.
Devil huffs and he shakes his head. “All four of them drank themselves into a stupor and passed out, making it easy to restrain them.”
From his tone, I’m guessing he was hoping they would have put up more of a struggle.
I step closer, walking between all four of them.
“To repeat what I just told Elijah here, we can make your end relatively painless, or I can make your pain endless. That is really the only control you have. How much pain you endure by our hands before you die because you will be dying by our hands. Tell us what we want to know, and you’ll earn a less painful death.
Refuse, and we’ll make it extremely painful until we get the information we need. Why did you kidnap Lark?”
All four of them purse their lips and Devil and I share a silent look.
With the slightest tilt of my head, I silently tell him he can take Justin.
He dips his chin in thanks and we both retrieve knives from the cabinet.
Devil knows the questions Lark wants answers for, which unsurprisingly, are the same ones we wanted to know.
Since Dane’s the one that drugged my woman, I walk over to him and start to cut off his clothes.
Beside me, Punisher does the same to Alvin and Odin does the same with Ryan.
Devil steps up to Justin and brandishes a wicked looking knife.
It’s insanely sharp and it has a serrated edge on the back side of the blade.
“Why did you agree to kidnap Lark?” Devil asks as he starts cutting off Justin’s clothes.
Justin spews obscenities at Devil and I know when Devil’s had enough because the knife ‘slips’, biting into Justin’s skin a few times which has him cursing even louder.
Cutting off the last of Dane’s clothes, I stay silent as I slice into his skin with no rhyme or reason. His body strains as he fights to remain silent.
“Why did you agree to kidnap Lark? What was in it for you all besides the money?”
Dane continues to remain frustratingly silent. Stepping back, I look over at Justin, Alvin, and Ryan. All four are straining against their restraints, but none of them are giving us anything.
Fine. They won’t talk? I’ll up the ante.
Striding over to the corner, I lay my knife down on the table as I pass it. Then, I grab some belts off the shelf and the bin of remotes.
“Fuck, that’s gonna hurt,” someone mutters and the glee in their voice has me smiling inwardly.
Yes, it most definitely will hurt.
“Oh fuck,” Dane curses as I stop in front of him, and he starts to squirm when I set the bin holding the controllers down at his feet. “Please, please don’t.”
Since he’s still not giving me any information, or the others for that matter, I continue to ignore him as I pass out the belts to Punisher, Devil, and Odin. For now, Elijah and Darren won’t get this treatment, but if things take a turn, we have more we can easily strap onto them.
I secure Dane’s belts around his waist, making sure it’s around the spots where his kidneys are located. Grabbing the corresponding control, I pace the length of the floor between the four of them.
“Since none of you are willing to answer our questions, it’s time to up the ante.
As some of you might have guessed, this is a shock belt that we’ve crafted and we can control the level of the electric current that you’ll receive.
If you keep refusing to answer our questions, the voltage will increase.
Now, I’m going to ask you again. Why did you agree to kidnap Lark?
What was in it for you all besides the money? ”
The four of them exchange nervous glances, but still, none of them speak up.
I raise my remote as I power it on and Punisher, Devil, and Odin do the same.
I wait a few seconds to see if anyone changes their minds, and with a subtle nod of my head to my brothers, the four of us turn the dial to one.
Instantly, Dane, Justin, Alvin, and Ryan’s bodies shake as electricity flows through them, their mouths open in silent screams.
After a few seconds, I give the signal and the dials are turned back down to zero. Their bodies twitch from aftershocks as they hang limply from their chains. They all eye us nervously, but still they remain silent.
What all are they hiding?
At my signal, we crank the dials up to two for about five or ten seconds before turning them back off again.
Ryan mumbles something, and a bit of tension leaves me as I internally cheer. Finally, we’re getting somewhere.
“What was that?” Odin asks him.
Ryan weakly shakes his head. “No more. I’ll talk.”
Stepping in front of him, I cross my arms over my chest.
“So talk.”
“Cox. It all leads back to Cox. Kelly found out about Darren’s plan and offered our services.
She knew Richard had been getting antsier since his attempts to get his hands illegally on the Thompson land kept getting rebuked or rejected.
When Kelly informed Cox of the deal, he ordered us to do it and bring the money to him. ”
“Then what?”
“We scoped her out and followed her. Elijah and Rocky took care of your Prospects—knocking them out so that we could get Lark easier. I gave her the drugs Darren had procured for us. It’s not our usual go to, but it worked. Well, sort of.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What do you mean ‘sort of’?”
He hesitates and I uncross my arms, ready to shock him again if need be. His eyes widen at the gesture and he shakes his head.
“Apparently it was supposed to make her extremely horny as well as making her more fertile.”
Ice slides down my spine as I march over to Darren, squeezing the wound Lark put on his leg with the bone saw. It’s stitched shut but is still fairly fresh. His eyes widen with shock before he cries out in pain, his body thrashing against the restraints that keep him strapped to the table.
“What exactly did you drug her with?” I damn near growl at him.
“I-I don’t know exactly. I b-bought it off a contact Kelly p-put me in touch with.”
Fucking Kelly. Of course.
“Who was your contact?”
He shakes his head. “I-I don’t know his name—he n-never gave it and when I a-asked, he ignored my question.”
“Describe him then.”
“Hispanic with d-dark tan skin. Bald with a bl-back goatee and brown eyes. A bit h-heavy, but not overweight. He’s c-covered in tattoos. I thought for s-sure he’d be some sleazy g-guy but he was s-sharply dressed.”
Numbness slowly flows through my veins. No. Please no.
“What kind of tattoos?”
“Most of them looked like tribal tattoos. But the weird one was of a snake on his neck with its fangs barred.”
“Lark’s fine,” Python’s voice comes over the earpiece that I only just now realized I never took off yet.
“She’s over at the townhouse with Mama Astrid and Sara.
As soon as Smoke and Timber started hearing the description, they both headed out along with Axe, Patch, and Doc.
They’ve got her while Doc does his thing testing her blood. No one is getting our Queen.”
Taking a deep breath, I try to calm my nerves as I look around at my brothers, needing to confirm Smoke, Timber, Axe, and Patch really did step out. I must have been so focused on Darren and my anger that I didn’t realize they’d left.
Each one of my brothers dips their chins at me, their eyes blazing with anger at what he’s done to Lark. A surge of warmth fills me, not of anger this time, but of thanks and respect for my brothers.
This.
This is one of the things most people don’t understand about MCs.
We’re family.
Family that always has each other’s backs.
Family that will die if necessary to protect others.
Though I know all of us hope that doesn’t happen, but being in an MC is dangerous.
Another knot loosens from my chest at their actions. If X really is after Lark, each and every one of them will be there to protect her.
Wait.
The drugs Michael and Carter gave Mae never made her horny. Unless she just didn’t reveal that tidbit, but I don’t think that’s the case. Has X and Oasis altered the drug? What did they call it? Aphrodite’s Kiss?
“What did Kelly and your dealer tell you the drug was supposed to do?”
“Just that it was s-supposed to make her extremely h-horny and then she’d be a b-breeding machine for me. They b-both said it almost e-exactly the same way. I thought the way they p-phrased that was weird, but since I’ve always w-wanted a large family, I didn’t pay it much m-mind.”
Snarling, I dig my fingers into his wound a bit more, pissed at what he’s done to my woman.
Next to me, Devil holds out his hand, revealing the knife he’d been holding. Grabbing it, I stalk back toward Dane, slashing it in a diagonal line over his torso. He screams at the pain as blood dribbles down his stomach.
“What about Sara? Where does she fit into all of this?”
Devil’s at my side the next second as he brandishes another blade, holding it to Dane’s cheek. Dane audibly swallows as he repeated looks over at Justin.
“Just that Justin needed her to cement a deal between Daniel and Cox.”
“What kind of deal?” Devil snarls and Dane pales even further.
He starts to shake his head but stops when the blade Devil’s holding cuts into his skin. “I-I don’t know. Justin never told me.”
Devil stalks over to Justin and mirrors the cut I just gave Dane on his chest. I step closer, ready to step in if Devil’s anger starts to take over.
“What was the deal? What did you need my woman for?”
Justin smirks wearily at Devil.
“So you’re the scumbag biker that was fucking up my plans. Thanks to you, I lost ten grand due to the delay in her delivery.”
Devil reaches up, squeezing Justin’s throat as he holds his knife to his cheek and his eyes widen in panic.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what the fuck you lost in that deal. What I want to know is what the deal was.”
“R-Richard,” he croaks out as his face starts turning a little purple.
I step forward, putting a hand on Devil’s arm. If he kills him before he talks then we’re in the blind. Devil loosens his grip and Justin gulps in huge breaths of air.
“R-Richard,” he gasps again. “He needs Daniel for the resort. To draw in people. Part of why Richard got some of his investors and the contracts for investors and building companies is because of Daniel. The only way Daniel would agree to be the main draw person for the resort is if he got the bitch as payment.”
“Why Sara?” I ask since I can tell Devil’s getting into his head with this news.
Justin smirks and Devil growls, making Justin’s confidence falter.
“Why not? It’s not like she’s useful for anything, so I might as well get something out of the fat bitch.
Daniel’s current wife isn’t doing it for him anymore, and he said he needed someone else.
He saw a picture of her once and became obsessed with her.
Don’t know why since she’s fat, ugly, short, and useless.
Sure she’s got great tits, but that’s about it. ”
The veins in Devil’s neck strain as he glares at Justin.
I frown at Justin’s words. Something still isn’t adding up right. “Daniel’s married to Sara. How can he be married to two women at the same time?”
Justin laughs, which is quickly cut off when Devil decks him so hard his body slumps.
Sighing, I turn to look at Loki but he’s already coming over with the bucket of ice water. He dumps it over Justin’s head. He sputters and glares at us through his hair that’s hanging in his face.
“Let’s try this again,” I tell him as I eye his now wet shock belt. “Unless of course you want me to turn on the belt you’re wearing. I bet it will be a lot more painful since you’re wet.”
He stares at me for a few seconds, not saying anything. Devil grasps his chin and makes him look at him.
“Answer the fucking questions,” he snarls.
Justin smirks. “Easy. He used an alias.”
I narrow my eyes at him. You need to bring official documents to get a marriage license, unless of course he has someone who can make him fake documents. Or has a hacker like Python or Smoke on his payroll.
Shit.
Cox.
The fucker has city council people in his pockets. It’s probably not a stretch for him to have a county clerk also be in his pocket. Fuck. Who the fuck else does he have on his payroll?
“Where is Daniel now?”
Justin looks over at me and gives me a look that says ‘how should I know’?
“He travels a lot for his job, so who knows. I’m not his keeper.”
Fuck.
“What’s his alias? How many does he have?” Devil asks him and Justin raises his shoulders slightly as if he’s shrugging. Well, as much he can shrug with how he’s strung up.
“How the fuck should I know? I just know he has one because I overheard a conversation he was having with Richard.”
Shit.
“Where does Daniel work?”
He half-ass shrugs again. “All I know is that he’s in the music industry.”
Glancing over at Python, he tilts his head and I know he’ll be looking into Daniel after this.
Three hours later, I unhook Justin’s body and let it fall to the floor.
Glancing around at the five dead bodies on the floor, I sigh.
We really need a better way to get rid of bodies after an interrogation.
For tonight, we’re rigging a stolen SUV that we’re going to drive off a cliff.
It’ll have enough fire power wired onto it that it will burn all five of them to a crisp.
They’ll be practically unrecognizable aside from their teeth.
Shaking my head, I push the thought to the back of my head. That’s another day’s problem.
Clasping Devil on the shoulder, I tilt my head toward the door. “Let’s go check on our women.”