Page 27

Hearing the moan of pain mixed with rage that left Keeley made me want to sweep her and her sister out of there, but I knew they wouldn’t go. I felt Kensy shaking, and her breathing increased, but she stayed beside me. I’d put my arm around her if I thought she’d let me, but I was wary. God knows what she had been subjected to, though this room more than hinted at it. It would be a miracle if she ever let a man near her.

A massive cage, for lack of a better word, dominated one-half of the basement. Inside, it was a parody of a bedroom and bathroom, though there were no walls to provide privacy. She would be visible to anyone in the basement, whether sleeping, dressing, using the toilet, or bathing.

If you overlooked the lack of privacy and the fact that it was in a cage, it was outfitted to be a nice-looking bedroom offering luxurious furnishings. If you pretended there was no cage around you, you might be able to say it wasn’t bad. But looking at the other half of the basement, you understood how truly awful it was.

That section was filled with all kinds of things used for BDSM play. Only in this circumstance it wasn’t mutually pleasurable. One wall had all types of whips, floggers, and more mounted on it. Some were so medieval in nature that you cringed as you imagined how they would feel if you had them used on you. They would draw blood and leave scars without a doubt.

In addition, there was a chair similar to a dentist’s chair and a sex bench with various restraints on them. Against another wall was a St. Andrew’s Cross with sharp spikes sticking out of it. It was like Vadzim had taken numerous things that should give your partner bits of pain that ultimately led to intense pleasure, if they liked that kind of thing, and made them perverse and sick. They’d been modified to be pure torture. Kensington had no doubt had them used on her numerous times.

She was so pale I thought she was a ghost. Her eyes were wide, and her breathing was so fast I was afraid she was about to hyperventilate. I was about to pick her up and remove her, but Ben came over. He lowered himself so he could see her face.

“Kensington, honey, I want you to focus on me. Look at my face. Hear my voice. I’ll help you get through this, but that means you have to do as I say. Take my hand and come over here with me. I know you need this, and this place is the most logical to use to get the answers we need. But if you find you’ve changed your mind at any time, you tell me. I’ll get you out of here. Now, take a deep breath. Another one. Good. See, it’s better already. Come with me.”

It was as if his voice entranced her. She not only took his hand but also clung to his arm and let him walk her over to a chair. It was an ordinary, though expensive, one that sat outside the cage. He lowered her onto it. She was facing toward the horror side. Ben remained at her side. Keeley and I walked over to stand behind her sister for now.

Chase and his wife had been settled into two more chairs. They weren’t nice like the one Kensington was seated on. They were still tied, but their mouths were free. Both of them were shouting at my men and the preppers about how they’d pay if they hurt them and a bunch of other empty threats. They said the threats, but you could hear that they didn’t believe a word of them. I let it continue for a minute before leaving Keeley with her sister, and I walked over to stand in front of them. Mona was glaring, but her husband wore an almost resigned expression.

“Usually, with sick fuckers like you, we’d take our time. Prolong the pain and horrors for hours, sometimes days, but we don’t have time like that. Plus, as much as I know that Kensy wants to see you suffer, she doesn’t need to stay in this hellhole for longer than necessary. And we still have Vadzim and his people to deal with. What does that all mean? It means that if you give me what I want quickly, your pain and suffering will last a shorter time before we end it. It goes against my principles to let you get off easier, but it is what it is.”

I heard a protesting sound come from behind me. Glancing back, I found Keeley scowling and shaking her head.

“Baby, I know it’s not what you want, but we have to get them out of the way before Vadzim arrives. Think of it this way. As much as they contributed to this, they weren’t the ones who actually inflicted mental and physical pain on your sister. We’ll make his worse.”

“He didn’t. You’re right. I only saw him once before, when he came here to meet with Vadzim. As for her, that bitch did more than set me up to be taken. She would come and sit outside my cage and taunt me about how I was never leaving and that I’d die without my sister ever knowing what happened to me. She’d laugh about it. She deserves more pain than her husband,” Kensington said softly.

The gleam in my woman’s eyes told me she wanted to be the one to take on Mona. I wouldn’t stop her.

“Keeley, she’s all yours. Remember, you can’t kill her before we get everything we can out of her. However, I need you to hold on. I want to do former Detective Chase first.”

Keeley gave me a delightful pout, which made me want to kiss her, but I held back. We’d have time for fun later. “Oh, alright, we’ll do it your way, but let’s get this going,” she said.

Chase stared at me.

“I’d like you to tell us everything you know about Vadzim and his operation. How did you and your wife get involved? Names of anyone else he has in this organization. Who helps him like you do? Where does he keep those he sells, and where do the auctions happen?” I fired out.

“You’re not asking for much, are you? I want you to know that I was a damn good cop. I made sure the bad guys were taken off the street. I earned my detective shield. If it hadn’t been for my wife, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in this shit,” he retorted.

“Shut up! Don’t tell them anything. If they kill us, they’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth. No one fucks with Vadzim and gets away with it,” Mona snapped.

“Why don’t you shut up? What don’t you get? These men are going to make us talk one way or the other. There is no getting out of it. Why should I go down protecting that bastard, Vadzim Boyko? His threats mean nothing now,” Chase spat back at his wife.

“Michael, stop! You can’t,” she cried out.

“I won’t shut up! I’m done with this. It’s because of you and your family that we’re here, and I’ve lost everything. You want to know what I know. Here goes.” He paused as Mona screamed at the top of her voice. It was a relief when Dickie shoved a gag in her mouth again.

“We got involved three years ago. It was because of Mona. See, her family is originally from Belarus, back a few generations. You’d think that wouldn’t matter, but it does. Some debt was owed to Boyko’s by her family. He called it in. You didn’t turn him down unless you wanted him to have you and your entire family killed. So when he asked for Mona to help him, she said yes. Of course, I didn’t know that at first.

“She began finding him women through Hope’s Dignity. She chose ones that fit various criteria she was given. Those criteria change all the time. It depended upon what the customer wanted. She stuck to choosing those who had no family, or if they did, they were estranged from them. That way, there wasn’t a lot of outcry when they went missing and couldn’t be found.”

“When did you get involved?” I asked.

“It was a few months after she started. It seemed Boyko wanted a cop on the inside who was more than a beat cop. He knew what I did for a living and told Mona that I needed to help. When she came to me and told me what she’d been doing, I couldn’t believe it. I never expected that from my wife. We argued and fought. She cried as she told me why she was doing it—the threats against us and her family. At first, I didn’t believe her, but then she showed me pictures of whole families he’d slaughtered. He gave them to her to use as persuasion if I was reluctant. Fuck, why didn’t I take it to the Feds? I should’ve. Even if I ended up dead, it was the right thing to do,” he mumbled.

“If you think saying you’re remorseful will save you, you’re wrong,” Ben growled at him.

“I’m not looking to be saved. I know what I did deserves death. I let my love for my wife and fear rule me. Now, I have neither. It makes me sick to look at her. I can’t even touch her anymore. All the money in the world doesn’t wash this away.”

“Keep going,” I ordered. I didn’t want to listen to more of his repentance or whatever it was. We needed details. We had a name. I needed more.

“We had to be careful not to take too many and space them out, even if we were getting them outside Billings. Mona had contacts all over the place due to the work she did. She used those to find others. We had to wait for the right time, which was at least halfway through their time at Hope or the other programs. They had to be working in a program. Some were doing well, and others weren’t. Both were good excuses to leave and not tell anyone they were or where they went. They’d leave a note explaining they felt ready to stand on their own two feet or some other excuse. That would lead the head of those places not to report them as missing.”

“Does this Boyko only take women from Montana, or does he have others like you and Mona throughout the States? The world?” This came from Keeley.

“I heard he has them scattered all over the US and Europe. I don’t know their names.”

“Where does he keep them? He has this setup, but he has to have others. Buyers won’t just pay for sight unseen. They have to come to inspect the women before they buy them. How often does he have an auction, and how long does he hold the women before they’re sold?” I snapped.

I saw Kensington flinch. Ben had an arm around her shoulder, and Keeley was rubbing the opposite arm. I noted that Kensy was leaning against Ben, not her sister. I hated to have her hear all this, but she was the one who insisted on staying—damn stubborn Mills women.

“This isn’t where he keeps them until they have an auction. This is his private place. She’s the only one I’ve known for him to keep here. He said she was special. As for where he keeps the others, I don’t know. I didn’t ask. It was bad enough knowing what I did. I don’t have locations or names other than those of the women who were taken that I helped to cover up. They haunt me.” He sagged.

If what he said was true, he was useless to us. I was aware of every minute clicking down on the clock. Not wanting to waste time, yet needing to ensure he wasn’t lying, I decided to unleash some pain on him. Who knew? Maybe it would scare his wife enough that she’d give us everything she knew when it came to her turn.

“Boys, it’s time,” I told my crew. Before they could move, Reed stepped up.

“Beau, we’d appreciate it if you let us do this. I know you’ll want more blood and pain for the likes of his wife and the big man himself. We’re glad to help in any way we can, but we’d like to do this one. Save your strength. Besides, we think a man of the law who turns this bad should get our attention.”

I didn’t have a problem with it. I knew my guys wouldn’t. I looked at Keeley. Would she? She scanned them and then nodded her head. “I’m good with it. He won’t get off lightly.”

I went to stand with her, Kensy, and Ben. Justin, Aryan, and Heath came to stand close to us, but not too close. I thought they’d use some of the tools on the wall. I was wrong. Instead, they started out using their fists. Admittedly, they saved them some wear and tear by putting on brass knuckles, but the power behind their punches was no joke. They might be in their late fifties and early sixties, but they were fit. After they beat him enough to have him groaning, they went to more inventive means. This time, they took tools out of their bags.

I hadn’t seen these when we showed each other our equipment earlier yesterday. They brought out a handled object with a long, wand-like attachment that had two short prongs on the end.

“What is that?” I asked no one in particular.

“That is a cattle prod. The amperage on one will motivate a cow, but when used on a human, it can kill. Most put out forty-five hundred to seven thousand volts. You can kill most people with eleven hundred. If you want to ensure they die, at least twenty-seven hundred volts will, most of the time, do it. Or leave them with a severe, lasting injury,” Arnie rattled off.

“But we’ve modified this one. It has a dial that allows us to lower it to the safe-though-painful stage and then be able to increase it until we get to the kill range. Warning. It’s rare, but people have been known to die with as little as fifty volts. So we make no promises he’s not one of those. We hope not. I’d hate for him not to suffer,” Reed added.

“No, please, don’t,” Chase uttered.

The preppers didn’t listen. As they shocked Chase, they kept the contact brief, but it was no less painful. He cried out and begged them to stop. They kept at it. When they began increasing the voltage, he screamed, and you could see that it smoked and left burns behind. They would ask him the same questions I had and more between proddings. It didn’t take long for me to realize they had done this before.

Eventually, after he was hanging there, crying and spewing the same information, we believed he’d told us everything. They cranked up the amperage and zapped him for a prolonged time. He slumped forward, falling off the chair. It was evident he was dead when he hit the floor.

“They crossed the current across his heart with the way they did that. It gave him an instant heart attack,” Keeley murmured.

I noted she sounded steady. Neither woman had taken their eyes off the scene. With Chase dead, it was time to move on to his delightful wife. I checked the time. It was almost three o’clock. We needed to get a move on. Aryan and Justin moved the body out of the way. Heath removed the gag. Mona was trying to appear stoic, but there were tears in her eyes. She was hurting over the loss of her husband. We hoped it would make her talk. None of us relished torturing and killing a woman, but we’d done it and would again. It just kinda went against the grain. We believed in protecting women and children.

“Beau, Kensington needs to go first when the pain part starts. I’d like to help her with it,” Ben said before I got a chance to say anything.

Ben was acting outside his usual self. While this was serious business, his typical, somewhat jovial self was gone, and his protectiveness toward Kensington was over the top. It made me wonder what was happening to him in his personal life. It had been a while since we’d had a chance to connect and talk. I made a mental note to do it after we were done with this bunch.

“I have no problem with that. Keeley may want to be involved, though.”

“I’ll let you know if I do. Go for it,” Keeley answered.

I walked over to stand before Mona. She lifted her chin and gave me what I knew was her defiant attitude. “Mona, I’ve got to ask. Why would you allow yourself and your husband to be used by someone like Boyko? You know, right from wrong, I have to think. What debt could your family owe that you had to repay? Why couldn’t someone else in the family do it? And why this kind of work repayment? I don’t understand it. Your husband didn’t know the details but went along with it. That tells me Boyko is powerful but not undefeatable. You could’ve found my organization or another and asked for help. Or went to the Feds and told them what was happening. Why didn’t you?”

“You act like you care and know what I was living with, but you don’t. You don’t say no to Vadzim Boyko. When he asks for something, you give it to him. No questions asked. Years ago, his grandfather helped out mine. He asked for nothing but a favor—one to be paid any time by any of my descendants to Boyko or his descendants. My grandfather agreed. We were honor-bound to do as he asked, even if it might lead to ruin. To say no was to be killed. At least this way, there was a chance to survive and end up rich.

“If it weren’t for that bitch you’ve been protecting, we would be safe and still making money. You might end Michael and me, but you won’t stop anything significant. There’s no way you’ll take out Boyko, his suppliers, and his customers. He’s too well-protected. If you make a move against him, and this is a move, he’ll wipe out your entire family and that stupid company you work for,” she sneered.

“Mona, I don’t work for the company you and your husband think I do. My name isn’t Beau Winters. I’m not a low-level security consultant. I lied, and everything he found was a backstop for anyone snooping, which we knew was done since flags were raised all over. It was a lie to mislead you. Did you communicate what Michael found to Boyko?” I asked.

The way her eyes widened and the frightened expression she got told me she had. She was starting to get worried. I added more to make her truly scared.

“My team, which is far bigger than this, is composed of numerous men and women with incredible skills that span all aspects of security and warfare. Many of us were in all branches of the military. I was in Marine Recon. You have Army Special Forces, Navy, and DEA in this room alone. The four men we call our bosses were all former Navy SEALs. Our allies are some of the baddest people in the country. If necessary, the might of the US government and its various allies can be utilized. I doubt Boyko can do that.” I smirked at her.

“W-who are you?” she whispered.

“Personally, my name is Beau Powers. As for who we work for, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of us, but I work for the Dark Patriots. We’re the guys the government calls when they want something done off the books. We do wet work for them when needed.”

That got her attention. She paled and began to dart her eyes around the room as she nibbled on her bottom lip. I let her for a minute or more. I wanted it to sink in. When it did, I got a different response than I wished to, but not an unexpected one.

“If you are who you say you are, then you can help me. Get me out of here. Give me protection and immunity, and I’ll give you everything I have on Boyko. Protect me from him, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“And you’d what, just keep your mouth shut about the fact we murdered your husband?” Aryan asked.

“Yes, if it means I live and go free, I will. Michael never understood me. He held me back. I can get a new husband,” she said coldly.

This attitude caused grumblings and more than one calling her a heartless bitch. I even heard someone mutter the word cunt. I didn’t blame them. What she asked for wouldn’t be out of the question if we were officially investigating Boyko. However, this wasn’t a government or law enforcement-endorsed assignment. Could I make it one? Sure, but why bother? The thought of having her on the streets made my blood run cold.

“My God, please tell me you’re not thinking of giving her what she wants,” Keeley cried out.

I walked over to her and took her arm. She struggled as I pulled her to the far corner of the room. I knew what it looked like, and I wanted it to. She was furious and ready to fight me. Good.

“Beau, if you do this, I’ll never forgive you,” she shouted.

“That’s too bad because this is my assignment. I’ll do whatever I have to do to resolve this. I’m sorry if it upsets you, but you’ll get what you ultimately want. Boyko and his people will be out of business and rotting in prison,” I roared.

The three survivalists tried to come to her aid, but my guys stopped them.

“Keeley, you need to calm down. Fighting this won’t do you any good. I’m making the deal.”

“I can’t fucking believe you! I thought you were someone who wouldn’t compromise. God, I was wrong. I wish I’d never let you touch me,” she hissed. This was softer than before.

Needing to get her on my side and not cause too much more pain, I yanked her to me, and I pretended to kiss her. Instead, I whispered as softly and quickly as possible, “Go with it. I won’t do it, but she needs to think I will.”

“I know. I knew you wouldn’t do it. Just go with me,” she said back.

As we parted, she surprised me with a slap to the face. It was no love tap, either. It stung. Pretending to drag her back to her sister, I let her go and marched over to Mona, who watched the entire scene with extreme interest.

“Either we do this, or I let her have your ass. As mad as she is, she’ll make it last for a long goddamn time. Do we have a deal? Immunity, and we’ll give you a new identity in exchange for everything you know about Boyko. Hurry. Time is running out. They’ll be here soon. And when he comes, I’m telling him you told me everything even if you haven’t,” I added to push her harder.

Mona’s eyes bounced from side to side as she thought. “Time’s up!” I hollered.

“No, wait! I’ll do it for immunity and a new identity. I have everything that I know about him on a jump drive. I kept it in case I ever needed to get myself out of a bind,” she spewed in a gush of words. It was hard to understand her because the words almost ran together.

“Oh, and let us guess. The jump drive is back home, and we have to wait until we go there. Beau, she’s full of it. Let’s just torture what she knows out of her and then kill the bitch,” Heath snarled.

My guys knew there was no way I’d ever guarantee her freedom. They were playing along. The three older men were watching me cautiously, but they were no longer trying to get to me or giving me looks that could kill. I hoped it meant they knew what I was doing. The only one who didn’t seem to understand was Kensington. I hated to cause her more worry, but soon, she’d see this was all a sham.

“I agree, Beau. She’s stalling,” Justin added.

I was opening my mouth to push Mona when she made my day.

“I’m not lying or stalling. If you don’t believe me, get the keys out of my purse. It’s in the kitchen. The jump drive is on it. There’s a laptop up there, too. You can check and see I’m not lying.”

Holding my breath that she wasn’t full of shit, I gave Aryan a chin lift. He knew the most about computers out of all of us. He ran up the stairs. Not long afterward, he hollered down, “I got it! Give me a few minutes to check it out.”

As we waited for him to return or give us news, I paced in front of Mona. She was no longer the arrogant woman she was earlier.

“I need her passcode,” he called out as he came down the stairs carrying a laptop.

“Are you trying to mess with me, Mona? I wouldn’t recommend you do it,” I warned her.

“No, I’m sorry. I forgot. The code is nine-zero-seven-one-six-three-five.”

Aryan punched it in, then nodded his head, telling us he was in. He took a few more minutes to search around. Ten minutes later, he lifted his head and grinned. “It’s all here. And to make sure it doesn’t disappear once I close it out, which it can do if the programming was done correctly, I sent a copy off to our techs. They confirmed they got it intact, and it does have an erase feature if a second code isn’t input before I close it on this end. Mona, would you like to tell us what that one is?” he asked.

Tired of her and waiting, I grabbed her by the throat and began to squeeze. She gasped and had to struggle to get the words out. “Seven-one-six-five-three-zero-nine.”

Moments later, Aryan closed the laptop. “Got it. We’re good, Beau.”

I let go. As she sucked in air, I turned to my woman. She was practically vibrating. “Baby, she’s all yours. Do whatever you want. When you’re done, we’ll take over. Kensy, I hope it’s alright that I call you that. You can do whatever you wish as well.”

“What do you mean? You can’t hurt me. I gave you everything. You promised me a new identity and immunity,” Mona whined as Keeley advanced on her. Kensy was on her feet but not coming toward us.

“I lied. Why would I make a deal with the likes of you? For one thing, I’m not currently working for law enforcement or the government. Second, I have no authority to grant those to you, even if I were. You were stupid to believe me.”

“You fucking—” her words were cut off by the right hook Keeley landed on her jaw. I took a seat to watch what my woman could do.