Page 1 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Craig

My blood roared in my ears, drowning out everything except for Victoria and Joey’s pained screams. From the corner of my eye, I saw Joey lurch forward.

Time seemed to slow as Az moved to pin him to the ground as another gunshot rang out.

Pain rocketed through the back of my skull, and the world went dark.

Rough material caressed my face as I blinked my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

A sense of vertigo settled into the pit of my stomach, telling me that I was in motion as soft whimpers filled my ears.

The strain in my shoulders and legs hit me before the rough scrap of ropes registered against my wrists.

“Bunny,” I managed to croak out. “I’m here, Bunny. We’re going to be alright.”

A sharp sob was the only response before a harsh male voice called out.

“Quiet back there. Don’t make me shut you up!”

I clenched my teeth to bite back a snarl as I struggled to shift my body closer to where I’d heard Victoria’s whimpers.

“We’re good for the crash,” I heard Candy murmur from nearby. “Less than a minute out from the extraction point.”

Before I could piece together what that meant, something slammed into us. My body was suddenly weightless before it slammed against the hard metal roof of the vehicle. My head cracked against what could only be a window, and the world went dark again.

My shoulders ached with the sensation of being stretched too far with my arms above my head.

My eyes fluttered open, and I immediately squinted against the light.

Taking inventory of my body as my eyes adjusted to the lights, I noted the cold bite of chains against my wrists and the rough feel of concrete barely brushing the tips of my toes.

Frigid air licked my bare torso, causing me to shiver.

The harsh, cold glare of factory lights buzzed above me, casting an unforgiving light over the room.

It flickered now and then, making the shadows jump and crawl.

“You’re awake.”

I knew that voice. “Fancy seeing you here, Mel.” I replied, forcing a grin to my lips.

I raised my head the best I could and blinked away the blurriness in my vision.

The basement reminded me of where we housed our prisoners.

The air was damp, and a chemical floral scent was doing a poor job of masking the same metallic tang of blood and the acrid ting of fear that coated every place like this.

The place was a tomb. No windows, no way out.

The walls seemed to press in, and the air was heavy.

Stale. The kind of room where screams didn’t carry, where the world outside didn’t exist. I couldn’t hear anything but the hum of the bulb and the faint drip of water from somewhere behind me.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, noticing another woman standing beside a metal table holding all the usual tools of the trade—pliers, blades, clamps–some clean, some not.

A car battery sat on a workbench in the corner, with cables coiled neatly beside it.

Organized. I could respect that, even if I was about to be on the wrong end of it.

“None of your fucking business, horseman.” The woman snarled.

“Ohh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” I laughed. The woman sneered, baring her teeth as she pushed her short black hair away from her face, revealing the shaved side of her head with the Golden Devils tattoo.

“Enough.” Melissa barked. “This isn’t a social visit, Craig. Though, I must say, I’m disappointed that of all people, one of you is chained to my ceiling.”

“Sorry to be such a disappointment, sweetheart.” I snorted.

Melissa looked at the other woman and jerked her head in my direction. My eyes narrowed as her apprentice grabbed a hunting knife from the table and stalked toward me.

“I’m going to ask once, before I let Anna here have a go at you. Why did the Horsemen take the Bristol girl?”

“What?” I asked, choking on a laugh of disbelief. “We didn’t take anybody.”

“Our information says differently, Craig. We have all the proof we need to know that your crew broke their protection contract and decided to take the girl.” Mel paused, sliding a folded piece of paper from her back pocket before unfolding it to read from.

“Posted by Voidphase: So, you all think you’re hunters now, huh?

A free-for-all on the girl is bold. Stupid, but bold.

She’s ours, and you know what that means?

Come sniffing around here and you won’t leave the way you came.

I don’t care who you are or your reputation.

None of you make it out alive if you try to take what’s ours.

I’ve seen your kind before–desperate, greedy, willing to stab each other in the back for scraps.

So, maybe some of you little rats are smarter than the others.

The person who put this bounty on our head, who told you little shits you could take what belongs to us.

Turn them over. If you can prove it’s them, maybe we’ll think about letting you enjoy the reward for helping us take this player off the board.

The reward? It’s her. Yeah, I’m offering you exactly what you’re all out here tripping over yourselves for anyway.

So, who’s feeling brave? Or better yet–who’s feeling smart? Clock’s ticking.”

I couldn’t help the snort that left me. “That’s your evidence? Seriously, Mel?”

“There’s over three dozen messages on the boards offering her up for information from you, Craig.

Each one more antagonistic and lewd than the last. It’s clear your crew decided to throw out your code once shit got too deep.

I didn’t want to believe it considering I know the history of you boys, but the proof is irrefutable.

Still, I can’t help but wonder what made you break your code.

So, tell me, Craig. Why was this the thing, and what else did you boys have planned for the Bristol girl when all was said and done. ”

“I already told you, Mel. We didn’t take her. Those messages, that’s us working to protect her.”

“Wrong answer.” Mel nodded to Anna and stepped back.

I hissed at the first slice of the blade against my flesh. The cut was shallow, for now, but just enough to make the pain burn up my chest. I gritted my teeth and sneered at the pair of women.

“I hope you cleaned that knife. Infection would really fuck up my tattoos.” I said as casually as I could manage, raising a brow and giving Anna a patient expression. She scowled and took a hasty swipe at me with her knife, digging a deep cut into my stomach by my belly button.

I couldn’t stop the yell that clawed out of my throat. Fuck, that hurts… The sticky feeling of blood down my stomach had the first thought of genuine concern flickering through my mind.

“Hey! Woah, there, new girl. Mel, you really need to have this girl read an anatomy book. A little further to the left, and you wouldn’t get any answers out of me, even if there were any to get.” I said through gritted teeth.

Mel seemed unperturbed as she continued to toss out the same questions over and over as her unskilled apprentice hacked away at my torso.

It didn’t take long before I couldn’t offer any more witty banter as a cover.

It took every ounce of control I had to keep from screaming as the blade bit into me time and time again.

I was back on my knees in the middle of the road surrounded by Jackals, except something wasn’t right.

There was a haziness to everything that made it seem far away.

Candy’s malicious smile was twisted into something more bizarre and inhuman as she pointed her gun toward Rich.

Her finger tensed on the trigger, the bullet leaving the muzzle in slow motion.

My eyes tracked it as it slowly closed the distance to Rich.

It felt like hours ticked by before he collapsed backward on the pavement.

Leighton snarled something beside me. Turning my head to look at him, I barely had time to catch the pain that streaked across his features before they twisted into the monster he became whenever he worked.

He moved at the same time as Az did, tackling the Jackal that stood behind him to the ground as Az forced Joey under him.

The men who’d had them at gunpoint fired their weapons, the bullets barely missing my friends.

My eyes blinked open and landed on Mel leaning against the metal table with her arms crossed. The dried and flaking blood across my upper body left me with an all-consuming need to scratch, but my hands were still chained above my head.

“Welcome back.” Mel spoke. “You ready to talk now?”

“Your girl needs more work. I could give her a few pointers, even though this wasn’t usually my job. I pay attention.” I huffed out, my voice raspier than I wanted it to be.

Mel sighed heavily. “We could have done this the easy way, you know. All you had to do was answer the questions.”

“Mel. I did answer your questions. It’s not my fault you don’t believe the truth when it’s dropped in your lap. You always were a stubborn woman.” I said, trying to get her to understand I was sincerely telling her the truth.

“I’m going to give you some time to think about the situation you’re in. Maybe a little time to reflect will leave you more willing to cooperate.” Mel pushed away from the table and started to walk away.

“Wait, Mel!” I called out, causing her to pause, “Tell me something… Is Bunny okay? Did she make it out of the wreck?” My tone was almost pleading; I needed to know she was okay.

She didn’t answer me. Instead, she flipped the lights off and left me in the dark. I don’t know how long I hung there in the dark. My mind turned everything that had happened over, looking for any answers, though I wasn’t even sure what questions I was asking beyond the one Mel refused to answer.