Fire (A Special Agent Novel Book 4)

by C. P. Mandara

  “Hmm. Ladies first, then.” Just as I’d suspected, he picked Lois. He knew that was his best shot at trying to control us. I wondered, not for the first time, if she was beginning to rue the day she’d ever set eyes on us. If she wasn’t, she would be soon.

  Alain motioned for the guards to begin, and one of them moved alongside Lois. Placing her hand flat against the wooden armrest, he raised the hammer up and brought it down sharply. My whole body tightened in horror, but somehow, I held myself still. The sound of splintering wood could be heard, but nothing else. Lois stared into the distance, locked somewhere inside her head, while James and I pretended we didn’t give two fucks about her. Inside, I was a mess. If I could have ripped my hands out of the restraints, I’d have tried my best to take out Alain and his men, but I knew from experience that these beasts weren’t coming off in a hurry. My brother had soldered the locks in place, in case anyone got any ideas, so the cuffs would need to be cut off when this was over. That was yet another thing I had to look forward to. Alain did nothing by halves.

  My brother put his hands on his hips as he slowly considered the guard’s work. “I think we need another pin in there, just to be on the safe side.” Neither James nor I moved an inch as Alain tossed the man another steel pin. I wondered if James was thinking the same thing as me. Could he take out Alain and the surrounding men, in order to get her to safety? The answer was no. There was too many of them, and he had a busted hand. Lois was also out of action. She was going nowhere for the time being, unless she wanted to rip her hand in two.

  The second steel pin went in with a whimper that sent shivers up my spine. I didn’t dare look at Lois because if I had, my rage would have increased tenfold. For many years now I have desperately wanted to kill my brother, but never more than I wanted to in that moment. This was when I realised two things. The first was that I was very close to falling in love with Lois, and the second was that my brother now had the means to make me jump through any hoop he desired. All he’d have to do was dangle Lois in my face. I wanted to scream, and the whipping hadn’t even started yet.

  “Well, that was rather uneventful, wasn’t it? Maybe these men don’t care about you nearly as much as I thought they did. Either that, or they’re superb actors. I wonder which one it is?” Alain hovered over Lois, drawing a knuckle over her cheek. I could just make the action out in my peripheral vision because there was no way I dared to look straight at her. I have no problem with a woman in pain if I’m the one inflicting it, but it’s another thing entirely when someone else is doing it - especially if it’s my brother. Call me weird, but that’s the way I work.

  Meanwhile, Alain was getting impatient. “Right, it’s your turn, James.” With a nod of his head, Alain indicated that the guard move over to his next victim, and he did so quickly. Grabbing the hammer in his right hand once more, he raised his head up, catching Alain’s eye before asking for further instructions.

  “How many do you want me to nail in this time, Mr Dumortier?”

  Alain sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe we should go for three this time? While I can’t see James ripping his hand off to go for my neck, stranger things have happened.” My brother then stood up to look at me. “Anything you want to say before I start punching holes in your bestie?” He looked at me expectantly.

  I’d love to have responded to that comment. Something along the lines of ‘Yeah, Go Fuck Yourself’ would have worked perfectly. I didn’t dare say a word, though. Alain would have taken it out on James, and I didn’t want him to suffer any more than absolutely necessary. The silence stretched out for a moment, as if Alain had been expecting some attitude, but when none was forthcoming, he nodded to himself.

  “Nail the fucker in.” I felt myself inwardly clenching as the hammer came down. There was no murmur from James, nor would there be. I sometimes wondered if the man was impervious to pain. He seemed to be able to deal with it better than anyone I knew. I wondered what his secret was, as the second and third pins went in without fanfare. It left me anxiously waiting for the next stunt my brother would pull. He hadn’t shown me his Glock for nothing. Sure enough, his next words confirmed my fears.

  “So, James, Adrien tells me you wouldn’t mind leaving this world. If I offered to shoot you, would you take me up on that?”

  James didn’t take long to respond. “In a fucking heartbeat. Get the gun out, Alain. Show me you mean business.” Shit. Fuck. Piss. We were not playing this game.

  From the corner of my eye I saw Lois flinch, although she recovered quickly. Thankfully, all of Alain’s attention was focused on James at the moment, so with any luck he wouldn’t notice, unless there were cameras dotted all over the place. I hadn’t had a chance to look for them. Having said that, the Monaco facility was new, so there was a possibility they hadn’t been installed yet. One could hope.

  When Alain pulled the gun out of his jeans this time, I didn’t look at him. If he wanted to do this, he could go right ahead, but I was buggered if I was going to watch. He’s just fucking with you. There’s no way he’ll kill James. He lives to twist the knife in that poor bastard’s back. It’s one thing to tell yourself that, and quite another to watch as a loaded gun is pointed between your friend’s eyes.

  “Any last words, James?” Alain was staring at me as he spoke. We both knew what this was about.

  James didn’t keep him waiting. “Yes. Get the fuck on with it. I haven’t got all day.” Normally, I’d had laughed at that. It was one of James’s typically snarky comebacks. I wasn’t in the mood for laughing, though. I wanted to know what my brother was up to.

  “I believe you’re here at my pleasure, Mr Leveritt. So technically, you do have all day, but I guess I can take pity on you.” There was then the distinctive sound of a safety being released and all the air in my lungs suddenly evaporated.

  “Anything else you want to share with us before you go?” Alain shrugged his shoulders, propped his foot up casually on James’s chair, and waited for a response.

  “Yes. Hurry up.” James rolled his eyes. My gaze flickered over to poor Lois, who was now looking green. Although her hand must have been killing her, I knew it wasn’t that which had leached all the colour from her face. She was now in panic mode. I hoped she somehow managed to stay still throughout this. If I didn’t know whether or not my brother was serious, there was no way she’d be able to tell. “Oh, wait, I have a couple more sentences to add.” I couldn’t see Alain’s expression as he now had his back to me, but I could imagine it would be dark and humourless.

  “Do share it with everyone, James. I can’t wait to hear this.” Yes, there was a little edge to Alain’s voice, just as I’d suspected.

  “See you in hell, Sunshine. Now can we get the fuck on with it?” He winked at him.

  Alain looked furious. “Fine. Have it your way.” My brother’s finger then slowly tightened on the trigger and I wanted to close my eyes but didn’t dare. There was then a click, but nothing happened. I’d been waiting for a bang - and a fucking loud one. This had to be good news. The bastard had been bluffing. At least two sets of lungs collapsed after that.

  “Seems like it’s your lucky day, Leveritt.” Alain then looked at his gun as if there was something wrong with it.

  “Yeah. I’m feeling pretty lucky right now, Dumortier. Did you forget to load it this morning? Seems like an amateurish move to me. Are you getting sloppy in your old age?” James was not amused.

  Alain turned around to face him. “Well, this is a turn up for the books. I think I’d better try it out on someone else, just to make sure I’m not going senile in my old age.” Alain then pressed the gun up against Lois’s temple and the room went back to stone cold silence. “Any last words, Lois?”

  James and I were about to lose it. I could already see a muscle ticking in James’s jaw, and my chest was about to explode. Just keep a lid on it. He’s bluffing. He has to be bluffing. Guesswork was not my thing, though. If he pulled that trigger, and the gun went bang, I’d go nut
s.

  My arms thought long and hard about wrenching themselves out of their steel restraints, before the sensible part of my brain overrode the idea. James was still sitting quietly. If he’d thought Lois’s life was in jeopardy, he’d have been on his feet by now, steel pins or no. The fact that he was still sitting down spoke volumes. Just keep it together. Another five seconds ticked by agonisingly slowly as Alain slowly began to pull the trigger. There’s no bullet in the gun. It was one thing to say it, and quite another to sit by and watch while I waited to see if my brother was full of shit.

  All eyes were on Lois as we waited to see what would happen. At the moment my girl was holding it together, but I had no idea what she was thinking. James and I knew what Alain was up to, but this was Lois’s first encounter with my crazy psychopath of a brother. Any sane person would have been having a nervous breakdown about now, and I didn’t understand why she wasn’t. All she did was return his stare calmly, while she waited to see what would happen. I didn’t understand how she could sit so still with her life in the balance. The woman had some balls, I’d give her that. When my brother finally pulled the trigger, and another click sounded, I wanted to smack the shit out of him.

  “Dammit. Looks like this is your lucky day, too, Lois.” My brother raised his eyebrows and grinned at me, as he walked casually away from the pair, placing the gun back in his jeans. As I’d suspected, he’d been fucking with us, but every time we played this game the stakes got higher. If we continued on this thread, eventually he’d destroy me - if he hadn’t already. At the moment my chest was so tight, I could barely draw in air. If he ever realised how much Lois meant to me, I’d be a piece of fucking gum under his shoe. I couldn’t give him that kind of control. I couldn’t. I was screwed up enough as it was.

  “Apologies for the brief interruption, ladies and gentlemen, but now it’s time for the show to begin,” Alain announced. “Sit back, relax and make yourselves comfortable.”

  Those words should have put the fear of God into me, but strangely enough, they were oddly calming. Now that the focus was once again on me, I had nothing to fear but pain itself - and my own pain was something I could deal with - up to a point.

  Chapter Four - Lois

  Having someone put a gun to your head while they slowly pulled the trigger was a new experience for me. It wasn’t one I’d care to repeat, either. Even though James had been the first to get this five-star kind of twisted treatment, it didn’t make it any easier to stomach when my turn came around. Still, I took a leaf out of James’s book and remained as still as a corpse. When the click came, my sigh of relief hadn’t been audible, but it was there, nonetheless. Safe to say my adrenaline levels had now gone through the roof.

  You can’t fight back. With one hand nailed to a chair, the result is guaranteed to be suicide. Alain’s guards were just waiting for an excuse to blow holes in us, and if James could keep his ass in a chair, so could I.

  When they turned Adie around, so that his back was towards us, I knew that I would have to brace myself for more nastiness. This was only the beginning of a day that had all the hallmarks of being my own personal apocalypse.

  “Right, enough messing around. It’s time to get on with the show.” Alain sounded pissed at the moment, probably because we hadn’t given him what he wanted, but I wondered how much longer that could last. Eventually he’d get a rise out of one of us. It was just a matter of time. I couldn’t help but wonder what the man wanted. Did he want to see us brought low as an example for others? Did he want to kill us? Was this all an elaborate stunt to torture Adie, James or both? Or was there something else I was missing?

  Stalking to the grey gunmetal box, Alain rummaged around for a minute, until he found what he was looking for - a bullwhip. It wasn’t a long one, maybe one metre in length, but it looked evil enough. I knew the damage those things could inflict from my time in Carte Blanche, and it wasn’t pretty. This kind of display would turn my stomach and set my nerves on end, but I was ready for it - or so I thought.

  “Okay little brother, it’s your turn now. I’m going to whip you until you beg for forgiveness, which is the least you owe me considering you sold your soul to the other side. After that, we’ll discuss whether I’ll let you back into the fold and what the consequences will be for disobeying me again. Now that you’re back there is only one option - but I’m prepared to be lenient if you agree to play ball.” Alain trailed the end of the whip across Adie’s chest as he stared him in the eye. The animosity flowing between these two was so intense I could barely stand to look at them.

  After a moment’s silence, Adie finally retaliated. “There is no way I’ll ever work for you again. You might as well save your fucking breath.” His face had turned a dark shade of red and his hands rattled in their chains as anger began to eat away at him. He looked like he was about to blow.

  “Now, now,” Alain purred. “You and I both know that’s not true. I just need to motivate you into doing what we trained you for - what you were born for. I have a feeling that motivation is sitting in this room with you right now, isn’t that right, Adie?” Alain’s voice was soft and deadly. Adie paid it no attention. He was looking straight through his brother and his unfocused gaze was impassive. Alain hadn’t got his attention yet, and he knew it.

  Bringing his whip hand back, Alain threw it forward with as much force as he could muster. Adie’s body swung inwards as the whip cut into him, but then he righted himself. There was now a blazing highway of pain across his shoulder blades, and it was all I could do not to suck in a breath. Don’t react, I told myself firmly. I swore I would have to repeat that after each and every stripe.

  Three more followed in quick succession, leaving glowing trails of misery that literally sent Adie’s body flying. If it had been me, I’d have gone berserk, but Adie was no stranger to this kind of pain - that much was clear. I wondered how he’d managed to grow up amongst these crazy bastards and remain as sane as he was. It was a miracle he hadn’t gone nuts - it certainly explained a few things.

  “Do I have your attention now, brother?” Alain lifted Adie’s cheek up with his finger and smiled at him. Adie yanked his head away. Alain would not win their war with words. He was in no hurry, though. That much was obvious by his easy posture and self-assured smirk. “Suit yourself. You’ll talk soon enough.”

  The whip came down repeatedly. Each new stroke ate me alive. In the torture professional’s arsenal, the bullwhip - when used correctly - is one of the worst punishments alive. It’s a combination of impact play and friction burns, which can lacerate skin and break bones at the same time. I’d read up on it. When it’s moving at full whack, it almost reaches the speed of sound, and the force it imparts can feel akin to a baseball bat slamming into you. Now I have a healthy relationship with pain, and yes, it turns me on to a degree - but this was something else.

  Risking a quick glance over at James, I saw him staring straight ahead, his eyes glued on Adie but unseeing. He might have been here in body, but the rest of him was far, far away. Why couldn’t I switch off like that? At the moment my heart rate was accelerating with each fresh stripe that cut into Adie’s flesh, and inside I was screaming. Given half a chance, I’d have taken his place - as crazy as that sounds. I can’t bear to watch someone I care about in pain. That wasn’t what we’d agreed on, though, and now that I’d given my word, I had to sit here and take it. That was easier said than done, and it was becoming more difficult with each second that passed. Alain was getting increasingly frustrated with how unresponsive his brother was, which had him slamming the whip down with a force that was unholy.

  “Are you going to work for me, you ungrateful little shit?” Alain’s voice was rising in volume between each bout of whipping, and it was clear he was losing patience. His right hand had grasped a handful of hair from the top of his brother’s head, and he was yanking it back savagely. The man wanted a doormat and a slave. Someone he could control with a click of his fingers. Alain needed a second
in command that could take orders and obey them without thinking. Adie was not that man and he never would be. Whatever gene was missing in Alain and Geraud’s genetic makeup was present to some degree in Adie. He knew the difference between right and wrong. Yes, he was all kinds of fucked up, but there was someone worth saving inside. His heart was still warm and beating. I knew that while there was a breath left in his body, he would never stop fighting his brother’s control. That’s because there’s no way out of this mess for Adie. He’ll either kill or be killed, and therein lies the rub.

  “No, I will not work for you - ever - and my answer will not change.” Adie had taken a full minute to get those words out. It might have been because he was in so much pain he could barely talk, or he might have needed a break before the whip came down again. Whichever it was, I felt for him. I was already blinking back tears, and we’d barely begun. In order to get through this in one piece, I was going to need fucking tranquilisers.

  Alain’s voice then cut through the silence that his response received. He was beginning to lose his shit. “Let’s go again then, shall we? We’re going to keep going until you give me the answer I want. You know that, and I know that. There’s only so long you can last under this beast. If you’re determined to get yourself hospitalised again, so be it. I will not stop until you fucking do as you’re told.” I had to grind my teeth together to prevent the hiss of horror that wanted to escape. I couldn’t stay and watch this. Please, dear God, no.

  What kind of monster could do this to his own brother? Adie was family. The thought spiralled around and around in my head with no answer. I needed to do something to get myself through this. Yes, but what? I settled for vowing that I would kill Alan Dumortier at the earliest opportunity and by whatever means necessary. It might even be the first kill I actually enjoyed.

  The first two hours went by inexorably slowly. It was as if someone had rewired the clock to go backwards. James and I continued to keep our eyes glued on Adie’s back, but only because if we didn’t, someone cuffed us on the back of the head. It was easier to stare straight ahead and not see. Neither of us wanted to acknowledge what was happening because we knew we were helpless to do anything about it.