by J. L. Drake
“Fuc’ ‘ou,” Jack said around the gag tied around his head.
“You know…I really don’t need you to push me any further. This is already going to be much worse for you than you can imagine.”
“‘Iss m’ ass!” Jack retorted.
Lloyd watched the man he’d duct taped to a wooden kitchen chair.
Jack was still too weak and disoriented to hold his head up for more than a couple of seconds at a time, but he did manage to hold it steady and open his eyes wide enough to see that Lloyd was wearing white latex gloves.
“W’at ‘ou ‘onna ‘o t’ me?” he asked, scared for the first time since waking up. He tugged at his arms and legs only to find they were restrained. He knew he was going to die before Lloyd answered.
“I’m going to kill you—slow and painful like.”
Jack knew there was no point in pleading for his life—nothing he said would change Lloyd’s mind. The warnings Jennings had given him all came flooding back as Lloyd advanced toward him after picking up a knife from the many he’d laid out on the end table. He knew now he should have heeded those warnings, he should have stayed out of Sonya and Lloyd’s business. They were indeed dangerous.
“‘Ere’s ‘Onya?” Jack asked, his eyes flashing around his small living room, making him dizzy as his head throbbed with pain.
“Not here,” Lloyd said, and grinned. “I’m gonna handle you alone. She lost the privilege of being here to enjoy the treat of your screams.”
For some reason Jack felt a little of the tension leave his body. She bothered and scared him more than Lloyd.
Lloyd stood directly in front of Jack and raised the knife, holding it in his fist with the serrated blade pointing down and the sharp edge facing Jack. He raised it above his head and thrust it downward swiftly.
Jack screamed as the blade sliced through his shirt—into the middle of his chest—and continued downward, cutting his stomach and the tip of his penis through his pants, before pinning the fabric to the chair. He gagged and whimpered, and his body shook in a fit of spasms, causing the knife to saw repeatedly at his glans.
“‘Op, ‘ease!” he yelled, and flinched as every move he made caused the blade to cut deeper into his tender, sensitive flesh.
Lloyd didn’t even look at Jack or acknowledge his plea as he perused the other knives on the stand. He selected another and turned back to the blood-soaked man.
“This is going to take a while, so you should try to calm down,” he said with a smile on his face. He calmly slammed the new blade deep into Jack’s right thigh.
He squealed like a pig, jerked, and cried out again as the first blade continued to saw its way deeper.
“You know, if you’d hold still it wouldn’t hurt as much,” Lloyd said, and laughed, turning back to select yet another blade.
Chapter 21
Sonya was startled awake when her cell phone rang; she glanced at her alarm clock and noted that she’d slept for less than a half hour. Groggy and irritated, she answered the phone with a mumbled, “‘Ello?”
“He’s missing!” a woman cried hysterically.
“What?” Sonya asked, frowning and trying to make sense of the call. “Who is this?”
“Jan…from the dry cleaners,” she choked out between sobs.
“Oh, okay,” Sonya said, waking up a bit more. “Sorry, I was asleep.”
“My husband—Bill—is definitely missing.”
“Calm down,” Sonya said. “Who told you he was missing?”
“I stopped at the police station after lunch yesterday and filled out a missing person report for Bill,” Jan gushed. “Since no one has seen him for days, and he’s not at a hospital, they’re going to start looking for him. They’ve already found his car at a local impound—it was towed from a bar parking lot.”
“What was he doing at a bar?” Sonya asked, faking concern while yawning silently.
“I don’t know…maybe he had a business meeting.”
He was looking for a piece of ass, Sonya thought, finally forcing herself to sit up.
“Hey, why don’t I come over so we can talk?” she asked, wishing she could go back to sleep instead.
“Okay…” Jan said, sniffled, and then gave Sonya directions to her house.
Sonya pretended to listen and even asked a couple of questions so it would seem like she didn’t know where the residence was located.
After getting off the phone, Sonya reluctantly climbed out of her warm bed and got dressed. She soon left the house after grabbing a roll off the dining room table to silence her growling stomach.
***
Lloyd stood looking down at Jack’s dead body; it was covered with blood and the dead man’s skin was tattered and sliced to the point he could no longer be recognized. Knives stuck out of the corpse at odd angles and Lloyd couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of his handiwork.
Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he held it up and took a picture of deceased Jack and sent it to Jennings.
Lloyd: Jack retired. You need a new man.
Darkness had fallen on the world so Lloyd didn’t worry too much about being seen as he turned and left the apartment, heading for his car. Jack had picked a low-cost, slum of an apartment building to live in. It had no outside lighting and was either deserted or the people living there kept to themselves. He was sure many crimes were committed on the grounds, so his hope was that Jack’s murder would be pinned on a local drug gang. He’d even gone to the extra trouble of tracking down and buying some of their drugs and planting them in Jack’s apartment before he’d regained consciousness for the main event: torture.
Just as he was shutting his car door, he received a call from Jennings—he let it ring.
“I don’t want to talk to you, you arrogant bastard,” he said to the phone, shaking his head as he tossed it into the passenger’s seat.
Starting the engine, he took off into the night, heading home to take a hot shower and wash away the blood before the meeting.
***
Sonya pulled to the curb in front of Jan’s house, took a deep breath, and climbed out of her car. She jogged up the walk and rushed to the door, ringing the doorbell and knocking urgently. She’d planned her “approach” strategy on the way there, to make sure she looked the part of the concerned friend.
Jan opened the door and Sonya immediately hugged the woman.
“Have you heard anything else?” she asked, pulling back and looking at Jan, whose eyes were red and puffy from crying. “What did the police say exactly? Tell me everything.”
“Shh,” Jan whispered. “The kids are in the living room—I don’t want them to hear. I haven’t told them yet.”
Sonya frowned and nodded, glancing off in the direction Jan had indicated to see three children watching TV and laughing.
“We can talk in the kitchen,” Jan said, sniffing loudly and heading off in the direction opposite of the living room.
“Aren’t they wondering why you’re crying?” Sonya asked, frowning and following Jan.
Jan laughed. “Yeah, but I told them I just missed Dad and I’ve had a long day. They seemed content with that explanation. Besides, this is the worst it has been, since I just received the latest call from the police right before I called you.”
“What did they say?” Sonya asked as they stepped through a swinging door into a large, brightly lit kitchen.
“They said they would do their best to find him, but their expectations were low at this point—I got the impression they think he’s dead,” Jan said, and broke down into tears, throwing herself at Sonya, who hugged her again and patted her back.
Sonya froze and stiffened. “I’m sorry…why would they think he’s dead?”
Jan pulled away and wiped her nose, walking over to the stove to check on a couple of pots and a skillet with steam wafting above them. After a couple moments of stirring and flipping she’d calmed down enough to speak again.
“Apparently whatever happened to Bill fit
s the same profile of people who’ve been going missing all over the United States. When they typed the details of the case into their data bank and did a search, they were instantly told to contact the FBI.”
“Really?” Sonya asked. “How much do they know? Did they give you any other information?”
“Not really,” Jan said, and blew her nose. “I’m supposed to go down to the station tomorrow and talk to the FBI agent handling the investigation. I just can’t believe it though. Why Bill?”
Sonya shrugged. “Why anyone?”
“I don’t know,” Jan said. “I just want to know what happened to Bill. If he’s dead…”
Sobs racked Jan’s body and she leaned against the counter. She covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Sonya with tear-filled eyes.
“It gets worse,” she said, moving her hand and swiping at the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. “We’re gonna lose the house. We’re gonna have to move.”
“Why are you going to lose the house?” Sonya asked, frowning. “Don’t you have savings?”
“We did,” Jan said, “but we put everything we had into the move and the business, and apparently, without Bill to write the software, they’ll lose the contract they were going to sign with a big corporation and will have to close. There’s no money. We’ve already received notices from the bank. We were depending on that deal to be able to keep the house—the advance from the contract was going to get us out of the hole.”
“Oh, dear,” Sonya said, stepping forward and rubbing Jan’s back. “How long do you have before you have to move?”
“Two weeks…I don’t know what to do!” Jan exclaimed in a near panic. “If I knew Bill was dead for sure I could collect his life insurance, but I can’t do that without a death certificate. I don’t know what to tell the kids. How am I going to take care of them? I don’t even have a job.”
“You’ll figure something out,” Sonya said, drawing the woman back into her embrace. She really wanted to tell Jan she wouldn’t have to worry about anything because they’d all be dead soon, but she couldn’t.
She spotted a clock on the wall and sighed.
“I’m sorry, Jan, but I have to go—I have a meeting for work,” Sonya said.
Jan stepped back and frowned. “At night?”
Sonya laughed. “Hospitals never close. Call me if you find anything else out, okay?” She squeezed Jan one more time before stepping away from her and heading for the door.
“I will,” Jan said, following her. “Thanks for stopping by. I needed someone to talk to, and a hug.” She smiled and more tears leaked from her eyes.
Sonya gave Jan another quick hug as she stepped out the front door of the house.
“Call me if you need anything,” she said, “and let me know what you find out tomorrow.”
Jan nodded. “I will.” She smiled sadly, waved, and closed the door.
***
“That fucking bastard!” Jennings screamed at his phone in a fit of rage.
Roger sat in a chair with his arms crossed, watching the older man freak out. He raised his eyebrow quizzically, but knew better than to open his mouth and ask what was wrong.
“Look at this!” Jennings ranted, turning his phone and holding it out to Roger so he could see the picture Lloyd had sent. “They fucking killed Jack!”
Roger reached out and took the phone, looked at the picture, and fought the urge to smile.
“What are we going to do about getting another guy?” he asked Jennings in a mild tone.
“How should I know?” Jennings barked. “I should make them hire someone and pay him out of their cut.”
“You’re not going to believe this!” Sonya exclaimed, coming through the door of the meeting room.
“Oh, we already know!” Jennings screamed.
She stopped in mid-step and blinked at Jennings.
“You already know? How?” she asked, then shook her head. “Doesn’t matter…what are we going to do about it?”
“What are we going to do about it? I think it’s you and Lloyd’s problem to handle. You can find a replacement for Jack—and fast.”
“What? Did something happen to Jack?” she asked, confused.
“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Jennings snapped.
Sonya looked over at Roger, who smiled and handed her Jennings’ phone with the picture of Jack’s mutilated body still displayed.
“Who did that?” she asked, glancing from Jennings to Roger, handing him back the phone.
“Lloyd! As if you didn’t know,” Jennings said.
“Actually, I didn’t,” she said, taking a seat and crossing her arms defensively. “When he left my house earlier, he was pretty pissed, but he didn’t say where he was going or what he’d be doing.”
“Bullshit!” Jennings screamed, and his face turned red. “You helped him do it, just to spite me!”
Sonya opened her mouth to retort, but snapped it closed and spun around as Lloyd entered the room and spoke.
“She had nothing to do with what happened to Jack,” he said. “I did it on my own because he had it coming.” He sat down beside Sonya and casually draped his arm around her shoulders. She beamed a smile at him, knowing he’d forgiven her.
Jennings looked at the two of them and frowned.
“If that’s true, what were you talking about, Sonya?” he asked.
“The FBI might be onto us,” she said, sitting forward slightly and frowning again. “They might have connected us to Bill’s disappearance.”
Chapter 22
“What do you mean they’ve connected us to Bill’s disappearance? How?” Roger asked.
Sonya looked at him. “Apparently when the police typed the case information into their database, the damn thing told them to contact the FBI. I don’t know how they’ve figured things out…she’s—Jan’s—supposed to have a meeting with them tomorrow and she’s gonna call me and let me know how things went and what they know.”
Jennings sighed, closed his eyes, and rubbed his forehead with the fingers of one hand. He stopped and opened his eyes, looking at Sonya.
“This isn’t good. Planning to harvest an entire family all at once is complicated enough. Add in the FBI breathing down our necks and things are going to be worse.”
“There’s more,” Sonya said, “and it might help us.”
“What?” Roger asked.
“She said they were losing their house and will have to move—maybe we could strike then and it would be a smooth situation.”
“What do you mean?” Lloyd asked, sitting slightly forward so he could see Sonya’s face.
She turned to him and smiled. “I was thinking on the way over here that we could have Jack and Roger pose as movers and drug the family, stash them in the van or a moving truck, and take them all at once.”
“That does sound like a good idea,” Jennings said with an edge in his voice, “but we no longer have Jack.”
She looked at Jennings and frowned. “True…how hard would it be to find someone to take his place?”
Jennings looked pointedly at Lloyd for a few moments before answering.
“I don’t know. I really don’t want to alert anyone else to our presence here, or the operation, since the FBI might be getting involved.”
Lloyd smiled and shrugged, staring Jennings straight in the eyes.
Jennings opened his mouth to speak again, but Roger beat him to it.
“What about Peter?”
They all turned to look at Roger, blinking.
“What about Peter?” Sonya asked, frowning slightly. “Do you think he’d come all this way to be part of one more job when there’s a possibility that we could all get pinched? He has a wife now.” She glanced at Lloyd to see what expression was on his face and what he was thinking. She didn’t know if having Peter back in the mix would mess up what they had planned.
He shook his head so slightly that if she hadn’t been looking for a signal from him, she wouldn’t have noticed it
.
“What about me?” Lloyd asked. “Couldn’t I pose as the other guy?”
Now everyone turned to look at him.
Jennings sighed. “While I think that’s a good idea, and one that could make up for you killing Jack, I don’t want you in it that way. We’ve been extra-careful to keep you out of any public view, because even if one of us is compromised, you could still continue with the plans and move the parts. Isn’t that our agreement, after all?”
Lloyd shrugged and sat back in his chair, casually caressing Sonya’s back.
“I was just offering.”
“Besides,” Jennings said, “I don’t think you’re muscular enough to look like a professional mover.” He turned to Roger. “Do you think you could do it yourself?”
Roger shook his head. “I’d rather have back up, just in case something went wrong—two pairs of hands and eyes make things safer.”
Jennings shook his head. “I suppose we could call Peter and ask.” He looked at Lloyd again. “I wish you would have controlled yourself better. You put us in a bind when you decided to slice and dice Jack.”
Lloyd laughed. “The fucker shouldn’t have pissed me off.”
“I’ll call Peter later and see what he has to say—he might say no,” Roger said with a shrug. “I don’t think it would hurt to put feelers out for someone just in case though.”
“I might have someone who’d be interested,” Lloyd said, still trying to keep the retired team member out of harm’s way. “He’s got a few things under his belt already and he doesn’t want to get snatched by the feds any more than we do.”
“Oh, really?” Jennings asked. “You know he’ll have to meet with my approval before I can allow him any part in our plans, right?”
Lloyd smirked. “I don’t think he would mind an interview and he can be here tomorrow morning.”
Jennings nodded and looked at Roger. “I’ll meet Lloyd’s guy first, and if he falls through, we’ll think about Peter—I don’t want to bother him unless we have to.”