Page 209 of Reaper

Reaper

I’mabouttoaskElijah something else when I hear the door unlock behind me. Turning, I give Devil a chin lift as he comes in, dragging a bloodied and bruised Justin behind him. I help them get the four men strung up alongside Elijah and Darren, ignoring the curses and promises of what they’ll do to us when they get their hands on us. When we’re done, Devil turns a questioning gaze at Elijah and cocks an eyebrow.

“Fucker changed his appearance to look like Zac and led us on a wild goose chase. Told us a bit about Richard’s plans, which we’ll fill you guys in on later. Did they give you much trouble?” I ask as I tilt my head toward Justin and the others.

Devil huffs and he shakes his head. “All four of them drank themselves into a stupor and passed out, making it easy to restrain them.”

From his tone, I’m guessing he was hoping they would have put up more of a struggle. I step closer, walking between all four of them. “To repeat what I just told Elijah here, we can makeyour end relatively painless, or I can make your pain endless. That is really the only control you have. How much pain you endure by our hands before you die because youwillbe dying by our hands. Tell us what we want to know, and you’ll earn a less painful death. Refuse, and we’ll make itextremelypainful until we get the information we need. Why did you kidnap Lark?”

All four of them purse their lips and Devil and I share a silent look. With the slightest tilt of my head, I silently tell him he can take Justin. He dips his chin in thanks and we both retrieve knives from the cabinet. Devil knows the questions Lark wants answers for, which unsurprisingly, are the same ones we wanted to know.

Since Dane’s the one that drugged my woman, I walk over to him and start to cut off his clothes. Beside me, Punisher does the same to Alvin and Odin does the same with Ryan. Devil steps up to Justin and brandishes a wicked looking knife. It’s insanely sharp and it has a serrated edge on the back side of the blade.

“Why did you agree to kidnap Lark?” Devil asks as he starts cutting off Justin’s clothes.

Justin spews obscenities at Devil and I know when Devil’s had enough because the knife ‘slips’, biting into Justin’s skin a few times which has him cursing even louder.

Cutting off the last of Dane’s clothes, I stay silent as I slice into his skin with no rhyme or reason. His body strains as he fights to remain silent.

“Why did you agree to kidnap Lark? What was in it for you all besides the money?”

Dane continues to remain frustratingly silent. Stepping back, I look over at Justin, Alvin, and Ryan. All four are straining against their restraints, but none of them are giving us anything.

Fine. They won’t talk? I’ll up the ante.

Striding over to the corner, I lay my knife down on the table as I pass it. Then, I grab some belts off the shelf and the bin of remotes.

“Fuck, that’s gonna hurt,” someone mutters and the glee in their voice has me smiling inwardly.

Yes, it most definitely will hurt.

“Oh fuck,” Dane curses as I stop in front of him, and he starts to squirm when I set the bin holding the controllers down at his feet. “Please, please don’t.”

Since he’s still not giving me any information, or the others for that matter, I continue to ignore him as I pass out the belts to Punisher, Devil, and Odin. For now, Elijah and Darren won’t get this treatment, but if things take a turn, we have more we can easily strap onto them.

I secure Dane’s belts around his waist, making sure it’s around the spots where his kidneys are located. Grabbing the corresponding control, I pace the length of the floor between the four of them.

“Since none of you are willing to answer our questions, it’s time to up the ante. As some of you might have guessed, this is a shock belt that we’ve crafted and we can control the level of the electric current that you’ll receive. If you keep refusing to answer our questions, the voltage will increase. Now, I’m going to ask you again. Why did you agree to kidnap Lark? What was in it for you all besides the money?”

The four of them exchange nervous glances, but still, none of them speak up.

I raise my remote as I power it on and Punisher, Devil, and Odin do the same. I wait a few seconds to see if anyone changes their minds, and with a subtle nod of my head to my brothers, the four of us turn the dial to one. Instantly, Dane, Justin, Alvin, and Ryan’s bodies shake as electricity flows through them, their mouths open in silent screams.

After a few seconds, I give the signal and the dials are turned back down to zero. Their bodies twitch from aftershocks as they hang limply from their chains. They all eye us nervously, but still they remain silent.

What all are they hiding?

At my signal, we crank the dials up to two for about five or ten seconds before turning them back off again.

Ryan mumbles something, and a bit of tension leaves me as I internally cheer. Finally, we’re getting somewhere.

“What was that?” Odin asks him.

Ryan weakly shakes his head. “No more. I’ll talk.”

Stepping in front of him, I cross my arms over my chest.

“So talk.”