Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
SLOANE
An abandoned hospital. The setup for the organ harvesting was so fucking cliche it might as well have been a Hollywood horror movie.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate we showed up when we did, at least we were able to get three of the guys involved in the transplant organization.
It sucked that we weren't in time to save the fit teenager whose organs they had just removed from his body.
Hawk would make sure the family got his body back so they could know what happened to him.
The same couldn't be said for the three assholes currently strapped to tables fighting to be set free.
"Please," the youngest one begged. "The kid was already dead before I got here. I had nothing to do with killing him. I just needed to make some extra cash, and I heard these guys pay well."
Nyx ran the tip of her blade along the guy’s sternum. "That might be true, but you were caught with a cooler in your hand and the dead kid’s body on full display. Which tells us the sight didn't freak you out enough to leave. Therefore, you're just as guilty as these two."
The guy––and I used the term loosely because I wasn't sure he was much older than twenty––whimpered.
I would've felt bad that he got caught up in a shitty situation if it weren't for the fact that Nyx was right.
There was no way he didn't know what was happening here seconds after he showed, and instead of getting the hell out of Dodge, he chose to continue to make money from someone else's death.
"So what's the plan here?" I looked between Nyx and Anita. Torture was their forte, and given the heinous crimes, I assumed they would want to make these guys suffer.
"Just how close are you two?" Nyx pointed to the others and asked conversationally.
Both men were late twenties to early thirties. If I had to guess, they were related in some way based on their physical similarities.
"Cousins," the one on the left spat. Unlike the quivering kid, the cousins weren't happy we had them tied down to tables.
"Cousins." Nyx nodded. "I guess that makes sense.
You would have to trust the person you were working with, and who better than family?
It does beg the question though. How did you get into the organ harvesting business?
Did one of you wake up one day and decide killing people sounded like a good idea, and then you casually brought it up to the other?
Or did you stumble upon it? I'm genuinely curious. "
All the while she was talking, Nyx moved from person to person. Tracing her knife along each one. Effectively playing with her victims.
It was the one difference between Nyx and Anita. Anita you saw coming. She made sure you knew when she would strike. Nyx, on the other hand, dragged it out. Made her victims feel relaxed like she might let them go, then she struck.
"Fuck you, bitch," the same asshole spat. "We're not telling you shit."
"You're awfully cocky for someone who's about to die." Anita sounded bored. but it was only a facade. These assholes were pieces of shit, and Anita wanted nothing more than to end them in a horrific way.
"You wouldn't be saying that shit if we were untied."
I guess he already forgot how he got in his current position. Although to be fair, they had been distracted by the body.
"Nyx, cut the cousins loose." If they wanted a fight, then I would give them one. I had some pent-up frustration to work through after seeing Hayes.
"This should be entertaining," Beckett said from where he stood in the far corner with his arms crossed over his chest and one leg kicked over the other. He looked relaxed, but I knew if shit went sideways, he would step in to help.
Lilith, on the other hand, was stationed in front of the door. She had her phone in her hand as she watched Krista through a camera set up in the plane.
Yes, we compromised and brought her along.
Did that make us horrible guardians? Probably, but none of us claimed we would be the best at it. And still, Krista wanted to stay with us. It was probably a testament to her poor judgment.
Nyx sliced the binds that held the cousins strapped down.
At first, neither of them moved. They exchanged befuddled glances.
They were probably thinking this was a trap.
In a way, it was. They wouldn't be able to beat me even with both hands tied behind my back.
In all honesty, it was an unfair fight, but it's what the guy wanted, so who was I to deny him?
"Are you going to lie there all day, or can we get this started?" I taunted.
The cousins exchanged one last look, and then it was on. They all flew off the tables like their lives depended on it.
The cocky one, who didn't know how to keep his mouth shut, was the first to get to me. His wild swing was the first indication he wasn't properly trained to fight.
This was going to be easier than I thought.
I sidestepped his second punch, then immediately dodged another punch from his cousin. Both attempts were weak as fuck.
The third attempt to make contact with me pissed the loudmouth off and had him spouting shit again. "A pussy bitch just like I thought. You don't have what it takes to beat us."
Was he for real right now? Talking shit even though he hadn't landed a single blow.
"You hear that, Sloane? He wants you to fight back." Nyx chuckled.
The punk was about to get exactly what he wanted. I waited for the second cousin to take his next swing. While he was mid momentum, I landed a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, dropping him to the ground like a ton of bricks.
That apparently got the first cousin’s attention. With a roar, he charged at me linebacker-style. Unfortunately for him, it put him in the perfect position for me to wrap my arm around the back of his neck and spin so that he was thrown halfway across the room. He was lucky I didn't snap his neck.
Both guys lay sprawled out on the floor as they tried to make sense of what just happened to them.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Beckett sighed.
"Oh, don't worry. I have a feeling things are about to get interesting.” Nyx waggled her brows. "Shall I tie them back up?" She looked to Anita for confirmation.
Anita nodded her head once before heading over to the third guy.
The sniffling I had tuned out while sparring with the cousins came back in full force.
The guy was shit scared. "You should've left as soon as you figured out what was happening.
" That was the only warning Anita gave him before she dragged her knife across his throat.
Ending his life in the most merciful way she could considering what was about to happen.
"Your deaths won't be nearly as quick." She pointed the bloody knife at the men. "You want to harvest organs. Let's see how you like losing them. But first you're going to tell us who you work for."
"Yeah, there's no way you two dumb shits are the masterminds behind this organization," Nyx added.
Hawk was working in the background to figure out who these two reported to, but so far, they had nothing. This was a much larger operation. These guys were simply the ones who worked in this region.
"We don't know anything," the second cousin pleaded. "We accept jobs on the web. Then pay someone to deliver the coolers. That's it. We've never met the person in charge."
"Shut up!" the other cousin hissed.
"Dude, they are going to kill us," the guy whined.
At least one of them was smart enough to know how this was going to play out. "Yeah, we are. But how many organs you lose in the meantime will be determined by what you tell us," I was quick to inform them.
"I'm not scared of you bitches." There that cocky one went. Running his mouth once again. The guy was grating on my last nerve.
"You know calling a woman a bitch isn't very original. That's three times now you've used the same word. It's getting a little stale, don't you think?"
The asshole hissed at me. He reminded me of a feral cat, and it made me chuckle. Apparently, that further pissed him off. "Screw you, slut. I'm going to fuck you so hard as I carve your fucking kidney out of your stomach that the last thing you see is my face."
Vicious. I liked it. Not him obviously but the picture he painted. Although I was against rape, I was pretty sure I could find a way to make that work on these guys.
"Huh." Nyx rubbed her hands together. "You just gave me a brilliant idea." She turned to Anita. "What are your thoughts on fucking him in the ass with a knife while we cut out his kidney?"
Beckett winced. Anita's man was going to have to toughen up if he wanted to join us on assignments. Especially when Nyx and Anita decided they wanted to play. Either one of them was deadly in their own right, but together, they were what nightmares were made of.
"I'm thinking a drill would be better," Anita deadpanned.
Nyx made a lap around the old surgical room until she found what she was looking for.
"Oh look. It just so happens this place has a drill.
I guess you're getting your wish." She smiled at Anita who merely responded with a bored look.
"You know it wouldn't kill you to look a little more enthused. " Nyx threw her hands up.
Anita shook her head but didn't respond.
I glanced at the cousins. The prick looked scared for the first time since we tied him up. But the other one was so green I was sure he would puke any minute.
"I don't think he has the stomach for what you're about to do." I brought everyone's attention to the guy.
"Well, now." Nyx smirked. "That's an interesting development, considering what you've been doing here."
"Please," he begged. "Just kill me already."
"Sorry, but you don't make the rules," I advised him. "But I do agree we need to get this started. We need to get back to the plane." I didn't expand beyond that but my team knew what I was referring to.
"You're right." Nyx sighed. "Last chance to tell us who you work for before things get very uncomfortable."
"They call themselves The Givers. They contact us through the dark web. I swear that's all I know." Thing Two––not to be mistaken with Thing One, the asshole––rushed out to tell us.
My team and I shared a look between ourselves. We'd never heard of them, but now, we had information to give Hawk. Hopefully, they could figure it out past that.
"Thank you for the information." Nyx walked over to the trembling man. "Your cooperation is appreciated and will be rewarded." With the flick of her wrist, she sliced his throat so deep she nearly took off his head.
"Two down." I pointed at Mr. Cocky. "That just leaves you."
He didn't respond. And it looked like he had resigned himself to his fate.
"Just out of curiosity, would you ever give your cousin here your kidney?" Nyx pointed to the dead guy.
The man shook his head vigorously and pleaded for us to stop. Reality had truly sunk in.
"I mean, I guess it doesn't matter since he's already dead, but we're cutting yours out anyway." Nyx turned around and smiled at Anita. "Do you want to gut him or drill?"
"I'll remove the kidney."
Nyx sighed. "I guess I'm stuck drilling his asshole. That's what I get for being nice and asking."
The next few minutes were filled with the man's screams. Lilith, Beckett, and I stood off to the side, out of range from blood splattering, while Nyx and Anita did exactly what they said they would.
Unlike the care a surgical doctor would use to remove an organ, Anita hacked it out of the guy's body and unceremoniously dropped it on his chest.
Nyx hadn't even bothered to remove the guy’s pants before she bent his knees up and drilled straight through his flesh.
It didn't take long for him to die. I could say with complete honesty that at least he suffered for the wrongs he committed. Dying in the same manner in which he killed others was poetic justice.
Anita walked away from the body and stopped in front of me. "Call Hawk and get a cleanup crew in here." Then she turned to Nyx. "We need to find someplace in this shithole to change so we don't scare Krista."
I watched my teammates leave the room as I gave the three men one final glance. This place was gruesome, and whoever the unlucky bastard was who cleaned up this mess was going to have a field day. With any luck, the place would burn to the ground.