CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sinner
I MOANED AS my head throbbed painfully, feeling like a lead weight was swaying on my shoulders. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was in a dark, dingy room with only a chair sitting across from me. As my senses came back to me, I realized the reason for the throbbing in my arms was because I was hanging from my wrists by a rope. I was naked, which was pretty typical when someone captured you with the intent of torturing you for information.
Shaking my head, I squinted around the room to try to find some clues as to where I was being held. There were no windows, so there was no chance of gaining any information as to where I was being held. The room was concrete, which most likely meant I was in a basement.
Twisting my wrists, I gritted my teeth as the ropes rubbed against my skin. When I had my arms in position, I wrapped a hand around the rope and started to pull myself up. The strain on my muscles was excruciating, but I managed to pull myself up enough that I could wrap my other hand around the rope. Slowly, I started to pull myself up the length of the rope toward the ceiling.
My sweaty hands slipped on the rope and I fell back toward the ground, stopping with a sudden jolt as my wrists locked back in place. My shoulders burned from the strain and I had to take several deep breaths to counter the nausea that swirled from the pain. I needed a few minutes to recover before I tried again. It felt like every muscle was tearing in my shoulders and I wasn’t sure how long I would have before I would no longer be able to pull myself up.
The door slammed open and several men entered wheeling in a large battery and cables. Another man carried a hose and began attaching it to a spigot in the wall. Shit. I knew what was coming and it was going to be painful. I had seen guys that had been tortured overseas. Most of them were never the same again. One man stepped forward with an evil smile on his face.
“Mr. Sinn, it’s so nice of you to join us this evening.” The man looked to be around mid forties with black hair that was slightly graying at the temples. He seemed to be in good shape, as did the others. He wouldn’t be the easiest to overpower in my current predicament, though it wasn’t hopeless. “Although I had kind of hoped that you would still be asleep so that we could wake you up in an exciting way.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“We have some questions for you and if you answer, this will go a lot faster. If you don’t, my men will have some fun with you first. Which would you like to start with?”
“Well, my friends call me Sinner. I’m betting you can guess what I like.”
“Fun it is then.” He smiled and motioned for one of the other men to step over. The man quickly fastened a mask around my eyes and then was gone. The shit people tell you about people in the military being stronger and able to handle the fear is all a bunch of shit. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you know you’re about to be fried to death, no amount of military training can make you suddenly immune to the fear. However, the military does give you the tools to work through pain and fear.
I breathed deep to attempt to keep my breathing even and let the anger of the situation wash over me. The anger was what would get me through right now. A zap of electricity shot through me when the asshole placed the prod to my nipple. That’s the way this would go, shocks to the most sensitive areas. This man knew how to dole out pain and the most effective ways to do it.
I grunted and groaned as he repeatedly gave me shocks with the prod. Several times, he shocked awfully close to my cock, which had my balls drawing up inside my body to escape. It was worse never knowing where they were going to hit me next. I couldn’t prepare for the pain. With every prod, my body shook with pain and my brain begged me to let go.
“Are you ready to talk to us?” he asked as one of his grunts pulled off my mask. I blinked several times to regain my focus. The men all stood there like they were waiting for me to say no so they could dole out more pain. I didn’t say anything as I hung there, relishing in the few moments that I had pain free.
“You got in our way when you took Vanessa Adams. She’s important to us and we will do whatever necessary to get her back.”
I still didn’t say anything.
“Don’t want to tell us?”
“Is she a member of the Addams family?” I croaked out. Though my voice was a little hoarse, I got a perverse satisfaction in playing with them. “They’re creepy and their kooky, mysterious and spooky. They’re altogether ooky, the Addam’s family. Doot doot doot doot..damn, I can’t snap along. Maybe you want to untie me and we can have a sing along.”
“Very funny.” He chuckled as he stepped toward me with his hands clasped behind his back. He assumed that I was thoroughly incapacitated and while that was true at the moment, all I needed was a few minutes alone with him and he would be down for the count.
“You know who she is. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”
“I assume she’s someone important if you dragged my ass in here.” I was so thirsty that my voice was nothing more than a scratchy whisper. I had no idea how long I had been hanging here, but it had to have been hours since I last had something to drink.
“Let’s just say that she is a very lucrative part of a business deal.”
“Must be some broad,” I grumbled. With my body hanging the way it was, it made talking and breathing difficult, but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me struggle.
“We can do this all day, Mr. Sinn, but the longer you hold out, the more creative we’ll be with our forms of torture.”
“And if I tell you what you want to know?”
“Let’s just say, we won’t send you back to your employers in twenty pieces.”
“Can I make a request?”
“Of course,” he smiled.
“Make sure you tell Cash that I want hazard pay,” I mumbled.
His smile fell and his face contorted into an ugly sneer. “Don’t play with me, Mr. Sinn. You know where the girl is and you will tell me!” he yelled.
“As you can see, I’m the one hanging like a cat’s play toy.”
The man quickly snatched up the prod and ramped up the voltage, then shoved the prod against my cock. “Ahh!” The scream was ripped from my throat as this time he held the prod longer than the previous times. Unimaginable pain ripped through me the longer he held the prod in place until I eventually passed out. I woke up to an empty room and breathed a sigh of relief that I had been left alone for the time being.
I really needed to try to find a way to escape, but I was exhausted and my eyes just wouldn’t stay open anymore. My body was shaking from the cold of the room, making it impossible to actually rest. I let images of Cara float into my mind. In some, we were lying in bed together and it was a sunny, warm day. In others, I remembered her telling me that she loved me, only I had said it back to her. I wished now more than ever that I hadn’t held back the day I left. I wished that I had given her more than the half assed goodbye and promises of talking when I got back.
I had been such an idiot to not see how much she wanted me. I had let my pride get in the way of my feelings for her. She’d left me and told me I wasn’t enough and that grated on me. It was highly unlikely that I would ever see her again and now she would never know how much I truly cared for her.
The depression that was starting to sink in was blurring the lines between wanting to escape and wanting this to just all be over, which wasn’t a good sign if I wanted to get out of here alive. I had no idea how long I had been here at this point, but I knew that I would have to endure a lot more torture before I would be killed.
I quickly came back to my senses as water was splashed across my entire body. I didn’t get a chance to fully wake before they were back to zapping me with the prod again. With the water, the pain was so intense, it felt like my bones would crack. I knew that if I didn’t get out of here soon, I wouldn’t be alive much less able to move my hands anymore. The next time the man came toward me with the prod, I swung my leg out, kicking the prod out of his hand and wrapped my legs around his neck.
Everyone was so shocked that it took a moment for them to spring to action. Several of the men rushed forward, trying to pry me off the man that had his head locked between my legs, but they couldn’t force me away from him. Every time they pulled, I squeezed my legs tighter, hearing the man choking under the pressure. When the prod hit me in the back, my legs constricted and squeezed tighter, having the opposite effect intended. I felt the man go limp under me and his dead weight pulled harder against my wrists. I released him and let my body hang limply, exhausted from my act of defiance.
“Get his body out of here!” the man with the graying hair yelled. The men quickly followed his orders and dragged him from the room, coming back moments later. “Cut him down. Obviously, he’s not quite ready to break. We don’t need anymore mishaps.”
I was cut down and my body fell to the ground in a heap, my legs too worn out to break the fall. The good news was that the blood started flowing back into my hands, though it was painful and felt like sharp pricks through both arms. My attempt at escape had at the very least saved my arms from being useless. It would take some time to get any feeling back, but time was something I doubted I was short on.
One of the men brought in a metal chair and hauled me up into it. My arms and legs were tied to the chair and while the ropes were tight, I could still feel them. The problem now was that I was completely incapacitated. Still, I was grateful for the reprieve.
This time when they sprayed me with water, they didn’t shock me with electricity. They simply smiled and left the room. It was cold in the room, but still bearable. My body shook from sitting on a cold, metal chair while soaking wet, but I found this to be much more manageable than hanging from the ceiling. Then I heard a ticking and a cold blast entered the room. I couldn’t see where it was coming from, but there had to have been a vent close by because it felt like I was being hit with an icy blast. After just a few minutes, my body was shaking uncontrollably and my teeth were chattering so hard, I had to force my tongue to the roof of my mouth so I didn’t bite it.
They had left me alone to think about my options. There was no way I would give up Vanessa’s location, but even if I wanted to end this quickly, I couldn’t. Sebastian never told anyone where he stashed people he was protecting unless it was absolutely necessary they know. My job had been to deliver Vanessa to Sebastian. Since I had just gotten my job back after dropping her off, I would be the last person that had any information on her whereabouts.
The door slammed open and two men entered. One was the same man that always talked to me and the other was an evil looking man with a sadistic smile. He was carrying a whip of some kind, but this had three ropes hanging from the handle and what looked like hooks on the end.
“Good evening, Mr. Sinn. How are you doing today?”
“I w-wish the accomm-modations were better. Honestly, if you w-want more guests, you sh-should really provide at least the basic ammenities.” My body convulsed from the cold. “Would it k-kill you to have a continental br-breakfast?”
“You’re funny,” he smiled. “I can see why people like you. I’ve read quite a bit about you over the past few days and I have to say, I’ve never seen such glowing reports.” He held out a folder and started reading from it. “Your Army captain says that you are ‘strong, determined, and a force to be reckoned with’. He goes on and on about your personality and several situations in which you stood out in your squadron.”
“It’s called a g-group, asshole. Special Forces Group.” I did my best to hold back my stutters as I bit out the last part.
“Right, well, either way, you come highly recommended as a deadly weapon. Since I can see you won’t break as easily as I’d like, perhaps we could work out a different deal. One in which you would come work for me and be spared any more of this unnecessary torture.”
“Y-you mean I’d get to s-see your ugly face every d-day? I th-think I’d rather fr-freeze to death.”
He smiled thinly and nodded at the other man. “Do you see what Ivan is holding?” I refused to look, staring the man down until he stepped forward and jerked my chin to face the other man. “Ever heard of flagellation?” I didn’t say anything. “It’s when you’re whipped as the hooks on the ends of the rope dig into your flesh and rip the skin from your body in chunks. Ivan happens to love this particular form of torture.”
If it weren’t for the chills already wracking my body, they would surely see how terrified I was of this particular form of torture. I had seen people tortured overseas and several times, something similar to this. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to watch and I imagined it was extremely painful to experience. I kept my gaze as stoic as possible and smirked when he smiled maniacally at me. That angered him and he quickly snapped at the other man and ordered him to undo my ropes, obviously having something different in mind.
I had decided when I was first taken that the man with the graying hair was not much of a fighter, but the executor. The way he stood with his hands behind his back said that he felt he was untouchable, which would be his downfall. He wouldn’t be prepared for an assault because he thought his men would protect him.
Knowing I only had one chance to get away before I was flayed to pieces, I let the adrenaline race through my system. The man stepped toward me and cut the ropes quickly from both legs and one arm. I didn’t wait for him to cut the last rope before I quickly delivered a throat punch, making him stumble back, choking and gagging. I spun around, gripping the arm of the chair and swung it at the other man’s head, who was still standing there as if I would be taken down by the other man. The chair connected with his head and he fell to the ground moaning in pain.
The sharp hooks of the whip were imbedded into the flesh around my ribs moments later and then yanked away from my body.
“Fuck!” I yelled in pain, but spun and swung the chair a second time. This time I connected with the torturer’s head and when he dropped to the floor, I quickly placed the leg of the chair over the man’s eye and slammed it into the socket. The man went still underneath me, leaving me only to deal with the other man. My energy was quickly flagging as the adrenaline started to wear off. I could distantly hear sounds outside the concrete walls, but it seemed all my senses were starting to fail me. I spotted a knife in a holster at the man’s waist and fumbled until I could grip it enough to cut through the rope still attached to my other wrist. I stumbled toward the other man, completely intent on ending his miserable life, but my limbs gave out and I fell to the floor completely useless.
My breathing slowed considerably and I noticed the violent tremors that wracked my body were no longer consistent, which probably meant I was getting to the severe stages of hypothermia. I curled up in a ball, hoping to warm myself a little, but it didn’t really help as I laid on the ice cold floor.
The other man struggled to his feet as he held his bleeding head in his hands. I could see through my narrow tunnel of vision that he was staggering toward me and then sounds came from behind him, but I could hardly hear anything anymore.
I could see outlines of other men entering the room and some light filtering in from the hall. Something forced my head to look up and I saw the vaguely familiar face of one of the guys from OPS staring down at me. Then Cash stepped into view, his face grim as he stared over my naked body. Blankets were thrown around me to keep me warm, but it didn’t help much at this point. I felt like I would never be warm again. Cash shouted orders to the other guys, which were quickly followed, and then he was leaning over me and yelling into my ear.
“A few weeks on the job and you’re already trying to get out of work?”
“I..want..hazard pay,” I slowly grunted out. He pulled back and grinned down at me.
“You want hazard pay? You only took out one guy.”
“Two..killed one..with..legs..” I said between shivers.
Cash lifted my head and poured water down my throat. It had been way too long since I’d had a drink and I started gulping it down, feeling better with every swallow. When I finished the bottle, Cash slapped my cheek lightly and grinned.
“Put your clothes on and stop laying down on the job,” Cash said as he flung my clothes at me. I tried my damnedest to get my clothes on, but my fingers weren’t working. Red had to come over and help pull my pants on and zip them up. Then he put on my shoes, but the sound of gunfire in the distance had us all stopping and listening. I immediately understood that OPS had come in under heavy fire to get my ass out.
“No time for the rest. It’s now or never,” Cash said as he pushed a gun into my hands, but it quickly fell to the ground. I didn’t have enough strength in my hands to grip the gun. My hands were swollen from where they had been bound with the rope, and the cold had rendered my hands useless. The guys walked out of the room ahead of me while I struggled to stay upright walking along the wall. Every step was harder than the one before, but I pushed myself, knowing that freedom was just outside the building. I couldn’t distract the guys with my dead weight, so I needed to push it until I had absolutely no energy left.
We wound our way up the stairs and out into a large warehouse that was mostly empty. It seemed to take forever and I was sure the guys were going slower to accommodate me. When we reached the outer door, I was done. There was no way I could go any further. I had been hung by my wrists, electrocuted repeatedly, sprayed with water and left in a freezing room, and had my side ripped out with hooks. I just didn’t have anything left to give.
“Cash,” I mumbled as my energy started to flag and I slumped against the wall. He turned to look at me and immediately understood that I wasn’t going to make it out of there on my own.
“Red, get Sinner before he falls the fuck over.”
Red Warren quickly came over and flung me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I noticed a throbbing pain in my right side that was quickly intensifying with every step. Shouting blurred with gunfire and running and my body jostled with every step Red took.
Red tossed me into the backseat of a company SUV and then turned to lay down fire as other team members ran toward the vehicle. I was laying across the seat and briefly thought that it might be helpful if I sat up so the other guys could get in, but my muscles wouldn’t comply with my thoughts.
Doors opened and closed, someone yelled orders, and I was moved into a seated position as the vehicle roared down the road. My head lulled on the back of the seat and I closed my eyes, hoping that when I woke up I would be home in a warm bed.
“Mark! Stay awake, man. Don’t go to sleep.” Red was sitting next to me and slapping my face to keep my eyes open. He tucked blankets around me to warm me up, but the shivering had stopped and now I was just numb.
“Fuck off,” I grumbled. I was tired and wanted some sleep. I gave in and let my body do what it needed to, which was relax. It was strange because I was no longer feeling pain, but I probably should have been. Deep down, I knew that not feeling the pain anymore was a bad sign. It meant I didn’t have long before my body would give out. I fumbled on the seat for Red’s hand and felt a slight pressure when he squeezed back.
“Red,” I said, but it only came out as a whisper. He leaned in close so I didn’t have to struggle so much to talk. “Cara..tell..love her.” Red squeezed my hand tighter and gripped my face with his other hand.
“Hey! You don’t just lay down and take this shit. Fight, you fucking idiot!”
I wanted to, but I just didn’t have it in me anymore. “Tired..” I mumbled as he continued to yell in my face about not giving up.
“Cash, get moving or we’re going to lose him!”
“Red..” I drew him closer with the slight pull of my hand. He leaned in again and squeezed my hand to his chest.
“Take care..of Cara..” I breathed out heavily. “Love her,” I whispered. He pulled back and looked me in the eye.
“I will, Mark. I promise. Just hang on,” he replied fiercely. “You can tell her yourself.”
I gave a slight nod and closed my eyes, finally giving into the demands my body was making.