“Slow going,” I grumbled, trying to take a deep breath, but my side screamed too much. “Three dead,” I said as I passed the third body, prone with his eyes wide open. “But there… yeah… there’s one alive still,” I said, making my way over toward where I saw a chest rising and falling.
He had a single wound to his side and a giant knot on the side of his head from where he’d clearly lost a battle with my cast iron pan.
“Tie him up while you can,” Smith demanded.
“Working on it,” I agreed, making my way across the kitchen again to go into the storage closet where Bob kept a kit full of various things like rope and water purifying tablets, first aid kits and mylar blankets.
“We are trying to get someone out to you,” Smith said.
“Got the groundskeeper,” I told him. “He’s looking for a trail,” I explained as I made my way back to the man who was getting a little restless, trying to regain consciousness.
I didn’t have a lot of time.
“Is he… are the cops going to be on their way?” I heard Quin ask as Smith put me on speaker.
“I don’t think so. He seemed surprised but not all that freaked out by the bodies. Nia can get my private plane,” I suggested. I’d given her the number to set up her vacation. Which seemed less and less likely each day that passed. “He will drop everything. Six hours, give or take, to get here.” A lot could happen to Shawn in six hours. Too much. But I couldn’t let my mind go there. I couldn’t imagine her scared or hurt or dead and out of reach.
I needed to focus on what I could do.
Like tie this bastard up, wake him up, and get him talking.
It had been a long time since I’d needed to torture someone. But I imagined it was a lot like riding a bike. You had a sort of muscle memory for it. I’d seen Holden do his inquisitions more than a time or two. He was far better at it than I’d ever been, but I’d taken some mental notes.
And if there was ever anyone I could use those methods on, it was someone who was holding information that could help me find Shawn.
“Okay. We got in touch with the pilot,” Smith said on the speaker as I went through the kitchen and supply cabinet, getting some things I would need to inflict some pain without needing a whole hell of a lot of strength, which I seemed to be short on at the moment. “Holden and Gunner are going to head your way. We don’t want to put all the eggs in one basket,” he added. “If Adams has access to his own jet, he might bring Shawn back here, so we want some of the team around. Between you, Holden, and Gunner, you can handle anything on your end.”
Except I wasn’t up to par.
It was fine.
Once I played with this guy for a bit, I could patch up my arm, take some pain meds, wrap my ribs, and feel mostly human again.
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath as the guy’s eyes blinked open.
“I’m gonna let you go so you can focus,” Smith told me. “Call us if or when you know anything.”
“Will do,” I agreed as the man’s eyes landed on me. Wide and round, he seemed instantly aware of being tied to the chair he was sitting in.
I hung up the call and shot my prisoner a smirk.
“You and me, we have to have a little chat.”
“Not saying shit,” the guy declared.
“I anticipated that,” I said, waving my hand toward the coffee table where I had all my little makeshift toys gathered.
I got to see a flicker of fear before he banked it down.
“Yeah, I get the bravado,” I said. “But look what I managed to do to your buddies here. And that was before your fucking boss took my girl,” I told him. “I’m even more motivated now,” I added as I danced my fingertips over the various items gathered around, watching as his gaze flicked in that direction, wanting to know what I was going to use on him first.
You never really knew what someone feared most. Some had a higher tolerance for piercing pain but shrank away from the blunt sort. Some could tolerate cutting off a finger but would piss themselves at the idea of you pulling out a tooth or a toenail.
I waited until my fingers touched the tool that made him stiffen before I reached for it.
“You can tap out anytime if you tell me where Adams is taking Shawn,” I informed him before moving forward with the pliers.
It was about forty minutes after I started that I got the plan, called it into Smith, then patched up the guy as best as I could in case I needed to use him again.