“Now I really need gloves, because I don’t want your blood on my hands.”
Ben chuckles and I smile over at him. He most certainly caught the double entendre.
“Now for the IVs,” I say pleasantly, emphasizing that he’s completely under my control.
Ben’s prepared the needles, and I insert the first one into Katsu’s veins. I attach the small tube to the needle, and extend the tube down into the stockpot sitting beside me on the floor to catch the blood. Once the tube is in place, I turn the dial on the IV, opening it up so the blood can flow.
“Alright, now we wait. First I’ll add the solvent. Not too much, because I don’t want it to kill you. Just enough to send you mad with pain.”
I add some into the stockpot, and watch as the yellowish liquid sits at the bottom, barely covering the base. Red begins to drip quite steadily into the container, mixing with the yellow. Ben and I watch as the stock pot slowly starts to fill with Katsu’s blood.
“Mmmm,” Katsu moans.
“Oh good, you’re coming out of the paralysis. Soon, you’ll have regained all your senses and your pain threshold will be pushed to its absolute limit.”
I take a second tube, drop one end into the stockpot, and connect the other end to a portable IV pump Ben’s hung from one of the rafters. Connecting a third tube to the outflow connector on the pump, I slide an IV needle into Katsu’s other arm and join the loose end of the tube to the needle. Ben turns on the pump and adjusts it so it starts sucking the blood from the stockpot up and back into Katsu’s body.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Katsu mumbles. Obviously, he’s beginning to feel the pain.
“Before we go on, Katsu, it would be very rude for me not to introduce myself.”
His eyes widen, and I can see his pinky twitching.
“You knew me as Anna Moore, but you may also know me by my professional name…”
I tilt my head to look at Katsu, and his eye twitches. The paralysis drug I gave him is almost completely metabolized now, and pain is blossoming in his body.
“I’m 15,” I say as a smile pulls at my mouth. “Anna Brookes is the name I was given at birth, but you would have heard the name 15 before.”
“Ohhhh,” he groans again.
“You are aware I’m going to kill you, aren’t you? Usually I would do it quickly, but I have every intention of taking my time and enjoying myself with you.”
His hands ball into loose fists, but he doesn’t have enough control yet to do anything with them. I can tell he’s in one of his rages, because his body vibrates with a quick shudder.
“Now I’m going to tie you down, before you get your ability to move back.”
I move around the table quickly, handcuffing his wrists and ankles to the table.
“Gerrr rrr mmm,” he tries to say, but without a tongue, nothing’s intelligible. The pitch of his vocalizations is getting higher, and becoming annoying.
I get the roll of silver duct tape out of the duffel, and rip off a piece. I stick the tape over his mouth, his lolling tongue poking beneath it.
“Now you’re starting to feel, I’m going to make you experience every bit of pain you’ve ever inflicted. The pain you’ve given to every girl you’ve sold into the sex trade, to every child you’ve kidnapped and forced to become a victim for your pedophilic friends’ desires, and for every person you’ve destroyed for nothing more than your own thrills,” I whisper as I lower my mouth to his ear. “For. Every. Single. Person.” I emphasize each word.
I straighten my back and smile down at a panicked Katsu. He’s able to move his head slightly from side to side now, and I notice he’s blinking tear-filled eyes.
“First order of business – I’m going to drip bleach into your eyes. Just enough to irritate and burn. By the way, the stockpot is about an eighth full. I’d say that’s about a pint. Not enough to kill you, but definitely enough to make a difference.”
“Are you always like this?” Ben asks as he continues to hold the phone up, recording video of me torturing Katsu.
“Only when I’m angry. And right now, I’m very pissed off.”
A groan escapes from the back of Katsu’s throat. Clearly he’s already struggling. He tugs with one arm against the restraint, but his bonds are secure.
Grabbing the eye dropper and the domestic bleach, I twist the child safety cap on the bottle and pull a few drops of bleach in the dropper.
“This will hurt,” I say as I squeeze one drop onto his left eye and then a drop onto his right eye.
Muffled screams come through the duct tape, and he’s blinking like crazy, thrashing his head back and forth.
“Must hurt like a motherfucker. But definitely not as bad as it hurt the little girls who were being held down and raped.”
The more he blinks, the deeper the bleach works into his eyes. Katsu is breathing heavily, his orbs are red and look like they’re just about to pop out of the sockets.
“Speaking of rape,” I say as I take the scissors Ben holds out to me. “Have you ever been fucked in the ass, dry?”
His beady red eyes follow me as I move down his body and cut his trousers away. When I flick the material aside, I’m left with his lower half completely exposed to me.
“I thought he’d be bigger,” Ben says as he peers around the phone to have a look.
“This next part is really going to hurt, but first, let’s increase the outgoing blood flow.” I walk around to the IVs and adjust the dial, letting the blood flow more quickly into the stockpot, but I don’t increase the intake of blood via the pump. Essentially, what I’m doing is draining his body of blood, and replacing it slowly with blood contaminated with solvent.
“This is the part you’ll feel the most. No use in fighting it, Katsu, because I’m sure you’re aware by now I’m going to kill you. I’ve been planning this since the first time you put your filthy fucking hands on me.”
I lean down and get a small, flimsy tube out of the duffel.
“This part’s not so bad. It’s not pleasant, but it’s not as bad as the next thing I’m going to do.”
Grabbing Katsu’s shriveled cock in my hand, I ram the catheter into the head.
“Fuck me,” Ben moans and turns his head to look away, closing his eyes.
Katsu doesn’t move. He takes the pain without trying to scream. Tears are dripping from the sides of his eyes. It appears he’s given up his will to fight.
I bring the thin purple pipe cleaner out of the duffel and hold it in front of Katsu’s eyes, letting him try to focus through the bleach that must now be impeding his sight.
With my left hand I hold his cock tightly, and with my right I feed the pipe cleaner up through the catheter. I let it touch the tip of his cock, then jam it as far up as I can get it.
Muffled cries come from Katsu. He’s not even thrashing around anymore.
“Fucking hell,” Ben says again in a strained voice. I see his legs tighten together and his face screw up in sympathetic pain.
I rip the pipe cleaner out, and blood spurts out the catheter, then I repeat the process. Ben’s looking green, and Katsu’s looking broken.
Katsu’s eyes begin to roll back and I know he’s almost at the end of his ability to tolerate the pain. Although his face gives nothing away, his body language is screaming out for me to stop my assault on him.
I ram the bloodied purple pipe cleaner up again, pushing it further, hitting every sensitive nerve in the end of his cock. When I rip it out, parts of his cock come out with it. Katsu screams through the duct tape, and his body trembles from the pain.
He passes out then. The pain must have been too much. I stop torturing him, knowing he can’t feel it. His brain is protecting him from the excruciating agony I’m inflicting.
“Smelling salts,” I say to Ben, who puts the phone down and rummages around in the bag.
“I honestly thought he’d die, not pass out,” Ben says as he keeps looking. “Here it is.” He hands me the smelling salts. I uncap the
lid and hold Katsu’s head up as I run the bottle under his nose. The stench is sharp and horrible, enough to wake the dead. Ha, enough to wake the almost-dead, like Katsu.
His eyes flicker open and then close again, so I wave the smelling salts under his nose once more.
“Hmmm,” he groans under the tape, halfway between consciousness and death.
“Oh no, honey. You can’t die yet,” I say, using the nickname he insisted I gave him as a pet name.
I wonder, if I rip the tape off quickly, if his tongue will come off with it. Let’s try.
While cradling his head in the crook of my arm, I pick at the side of the tape. This stuff is extra sticky, so when it comes off, he’ll be lucky if I don’t rip off part of his face too.
With one quick movement I rip it off, but I’m met with resistance where the tape is stuck to his tongue. I tug harder and can feel the pressure change. Damn it, it ripped some more of the tongue away, but it’s still attached, only by the smallest amount of skin.
Katsu shrieks in pure pain, which causes me to smile.
“Did that hurt?” I ask, feigning concern, but knowing full well it must have burned like a motherfucker.
Tears are now streaming down Katsu’s face, his tongue almost completely gone, his cock totally red and raw, and his eyes are still blinking like crazy.
“Let’s get some more blood into you, maybe that’s why you passed out, too much blood leaving your body and not enough blood coming back in.” I adjust the pump to increase the blood intake, and know I’ve only got a short time left before his body shuts down.
I go back to the pipe cleaner and his cock.
Katsu is furiously shaking his head and trying to say something to me, it sounds like ‘stop’ but without a tongue I can’t quite understand him.
Oh, who am I kidding, I know exactly what he’s saying.
“For the girls who you shackled and sold into the sex trade.” I repeat the excruciating process once more. His dick looks red and tender. There’s blood spurting out and I believe he’s now losing quite a lot of blood.
The shaking of the head is becoming weaker and weaker.
Katsu’s eyes close.
He’s struggling to breathe now, and his chest is heaving.
I walk around to check the stockpot. It’s now nearly filled with the thick red blood.
“You’re going to die soon, Katsu. And I’ll be here to watch you take your last, agonizing breath.”
His eyes flicker open, and he tries to focus on me but he can barely keep his eye lids open.
Ben moves the phone closer so it’s looking directly into Katsu’s face.
I stand beside the man who sold me and injected me with heroin.
“I know it hurts, and I hope when you get to Hell, the Devil fucks you with his pitchfork.”
Katsu begins to drift.
It’s beautiful to watch his soulless, broken body lose the spark of life.
This man who caused devastation to so many is almost dead.
I lean down and whisper, “If you hadn’t gone after Ben, you’d still be alive.”
One more tear rolls down his cheek.
“Or maybe I would’ve killed you anyway, on behalf of every female you’ve ever hurt.”
His eyes flicker.
For one last time.
Anna
“A plane will land in the field where you were dropped off in fifty minutes. He’ll have your and Ben’s new identity and luggage. He will take you to Singapore, where there’ll be a car waiting for you. The car will take you directly to the port, where you’ll board a South Pacific Cruise boat, taking you all the way to Hawaii. When you get to Hawaii, there will be another car waiting for you. I’m in the process of getting you into American territory again,” Agent says.
“A plane? A helicopter won’t make the distance?”
“No, it’s a small air charter. The cruise will take twelve days. And I’ve booked you into a suite, seeing as you’ll be on your honeymoon.” Agent chuckles to himself, and I roll my eyes at his immaturity.
“I’ll let Ben know we’re happily wed,” I say, and I laugh.
“Are we?” Ben asks with a smirk. He’s lying down on the bed with his feet crossed at the ankles and his hands behind his head.
“Did Cleaner get everything done?” I ask Agent, cutting Ben off before he can say something that’ll piss me off.
“Done, and Cleaner will be back here within 24 hours.”
“Good. Give Doctor an extra hundred thousand this week, and Cleaner an extra ten grand.” They’ve done well, and I’m generous when I’m pleased.
“Done,” Agent says, waiting for further instruction.
“Find out what you can about this sister of mine. She’s got to be from Natalia’s side, not Henry’s. Get me as much information as you can. I need to find her,” I say as I feel myself biting on the inside of my cheek.
“Anything else, 15?”
“Who was the pilot of the helicopter who brought us here?”
“Our regular guy was in the hospital, so it was a back-up guy we haven’t used before,” he says as I hear his fingers tapping against the keyboard.
“Where did you find him?”
“I’ve had him on my list for a few years. Never used him though, because the regular guy has always been available.”
“Alright,” I say as I start to consider everything in its entirety.
“Anything else, 15?” Agent asks, with concern in his voice.
“No,” I say and disconnect the call.
Without even knowing how I got there, I’m sitting on the bed beside an outstretched Ben.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, reading my disquiet.
“Something’s just not right, Ben.”
“In what way?” He sits up in bed and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean back into him while my mind keeps churning over the events that have taken place.
“Something’s just not right. I don’t know if it’s because my mind is still clouded with the residue of the heroin or if it’s because since you rescued me everything’s been a roller coaster ride, but I just know something isn’t right.”
I have a sister.
An old, gray-haired man told me that and gave me Katsu’s location without asking for anything in return.
He also told me my sister and I are important to him.
Who the fuck is he? And what does he want with me? And my sister…I need to find her, and protect her against whatever his game is. I was born into this world as an innocent, and my innocence was stolen from me the day I turned 15. She might still be an innocent, and if she is, I want her to remain one.
For a long time, I’ve lived a life cursed by bloodshed. Now it’s time to protect the innocence of the sister I never knew I had.
I just need to find her.
“When we finish with the hits in America, I want to find my sister and protect her from the old man,” I say to Ben as I close my eyes and welcome his warmth.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to,” he says, comforting me.
“But for now, we need to move. Transportation will be here within the hour.”
We both rise from the bed, link our fingers together and leave the hut.
Who the fuck knows what will happen next?
“Enjoy your honeymoon,” the receptionist says as we check into the ship.
The entire trip, from leaving the Philippines to getting to the dock in Singapore, has been effortless. The pilot this time was my regular employee, and he handed us everything Agent had prepared for us – fake passports and luggage with clothes to support the façade of being newlyweds on our honeymoon.
We get to our suite, and it’s luxurious. We have a wrapping balcony, a hot tub, and the space is quite generous.
“Wow, this is nice,” Ben says as he looks around the suite.
“Yeah, it’s alright,” I answer as I shrug.
“What do you mean it’s alright? It’s opulent.”
I
look at Ben and shrug again. I mean, who cares? If the bed’s comfortable and the ship doesn’t sink, that’s all I can ask for.
“You really don’t give a shit, do you?”
“Why would I?”
“I assume you have money, but you don’t spend it.”
“When am I supposed to spend it, Ben? My legitimate business is the recruiting agency. It makes me a decent living, but I’m not troubled by money. I have it; I use it when I want to.”
Ben walks over to me and wraps his arms around me and leaning down, he kisses me softly.
“I’m going to run us a bath, baby girl. And we’re not going to worry about anything until we have to.”
Ben lets me go and walks into the bathroom. I hear the water running.
I walk outside to the balcony and lean over to look down. We’re still docked in port. Our balcony faces the side of the ship facing the water.
As I’m looking over the side of the boat, I get a whiff of something burning that smells sickly-sweet.
That smell. Damn I miss it. I so fucking want it.
The scent is so similar to the smell of heroin cooking in a spoon that I feel a tingle of desire for the drug begin to heat my veins.
I close my eyes and let the aroma swirl around me, calling me, hypnotizing me.
Small vibrations of need travel through my body. I can feel it. It’s calling to me. Just a small taste, a tiny little amount.
“Anna, what the fuck?” Ben yells and he snaps me out of the fantasy.
His arms whip around me and pull me back into him. I was leaning over the railing on my tiptoes with my head hanging down over the boat. If I had lost my balance, I might have fallen in.
“What the hell is going on?” he says, turning me around and taking my face between his big hands, kissing me.
“I could smell it, Ben, and it took me away for a moment.”
Fucking idiot. What the hell am I doing?
I know this is something I’m going to have to fight for the rest of my life now, and I can’t be pussy-whipped by it every time I smell something that reminds me of it.
Push on, Anna.
The HiT Series Page 53