Page 47 of Ravaged By the Dark (The Righteous 2)
Arek leaned back against the Hummer and used his knife to slice into the bright red apple, the juices flowing down the edge of his blade. He cut a piece off and popped it into his mouth as he stared at the piece of shit at his feet. The guy, who he had simply deemed as Y, had dark bruises from head to toe. Y’s eyes looked to him and then the apple, and he internally smiled at the small torture. It had been cathartic to release some of his building tension on this useless piece of walking flesh, but unfortunately, it hadn’t revealed any answers.
Tyson had to do some pretty serious shit to his men because not one of them talked. It wasn’t like Arek was a walk in the park when it came to torture, so it was downright frustrating. Arek’s last nerve was threadbare, and this fucker was swinging on it like Tarzan.
“Here’s the thing, you still haven’t given me what I want, so you’re leaving me no choice but to up the ante.” He smiled at his own sick joke because the guy looked ridiculous stripped down to his boxers with his feet chained to a two-hundred-pound weight.
When it was clear he wasn’t going to talk, Arek drove him out to the middle of the Mojave Desert and turned him loose with the weight attached. Arek slowly trailed behind, just enough that the guy thought he had a chance.
“Fuck you, man, I’m dead or worse if I talk.”
“Trust me. You have a chance to run if you talk. You’re dead for sure if you don’t. Because if you think I went to all this trouble to call your bluff….” Arek popped another piece of the apple in his mouth, and the guy licked his lips. But he quickly turned his head and remained quiet.
Arek looked around and spotted what he wanted. Fuck, this was shaping up to be a great day. He clipped the tow hook to the chain and hopped behind the wheel of his Hummer.
“Come on, man, I can’t…” the guy yelled as Arek started to drive, dragging the weight and the man behind the vehicle.
He pulled alongside a large mound and parked the Hummer before releasing the tow clip and leaning against his truck once more. He lit up a smoke and crossed his arms over his chest. It was one hell of a scorcher, small beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, and his shirt was damp just from standing around.
Y was panting hard. His skin was shimmering in the bright light, and the sand had to feel like a million hot coals on his bare feet.
“So here’s my final deal. You tell me what I want to know, and you can have a bottle of water, five grand in cash to disappear, and a Big Mac on the way back. You don’t talk, and you see that mound over there?” Arek pointed to the large hill he’d pulled beside. “That there, my friend, is a massive colony of fire ants. I will cut you and let the ants find you.”
“You’re a sick motherfucker!” The guy pulled back on the heavy weight as he tried to put room between himself and the ant mound.
“That was never in question,” Arek said and watched Y’s arms shake, but the weight wouldn’t budge. He’d over-exerted himself already, and what started out as a two-hundred-pound weight would now feel like a thousand pounds.
Arek finished his cigarette and let the smoke swirl in the slowly darkening sky. He could still appreciate a stunning sunset no matter what he was doing. His eyes focused on the horizon that looked as if it were on fire, but he blinked as a memory tried to worm its way into his brain.
He looked away from the stunning display to stare at, well, a not-so-stunning display. “So, what’s it going to be?”
“You’ll really take me back and let me go?” The guy winced, holding his side where Arek had placed a particularly vicious blow.
“All I want is info. You’re the one that’s made this so difficult.”
The guy’s eyes landed on the mound that was alive with activity and swallowed hard. “Look, I don’t know much. Tyson doesn’t work that way. He only tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Unless you’re part of his inner circle that goes everywhere with him, we don’t even get his location unless he needs us. But I do know that the Ice Man travels into the industrial area once every two weeks like fucking clockwork and that he can get you what you want on the Golden Dragons.”
“If Tyson is so careful, why would he purposely make someone so important to him an easy target?”
“I don’t know, man. Good luck knowing anything that man does. My best guess is that the assholes that run the Streelores and Golden Dragons make the rules. Those gangs can be—” Y made a face and spun his finger beside his head to make his point.
“Fair enough. Continue.”
“Like I said, clockwork on a Thursday night.”
“Where?”
“Again, I don’t get that info. It could be the same drop, or it could be random each time. I have no way of knowing.” Y inched away from the mound as a few of the ants marched in his direction.
“Really? You held out all this time for this useless info?” Arek was fuming. He pulled the knife from the chest sheath, and the blade glinted in the dimming light.
“Whoa, whoa, man.” Y backed away, hands up like that would stop him. “I know one more thing that will help you find the Ice Man. Tyson is obsessed with this one piece of ass, like seriously obsessed. He makes fun of all his men if they date one girl and will fuck you up if you decide to marry one. Meanwhile, he has it hardcore bad for this one chick.”
Y was now the second guy to mention this.
“So I’ve heard. How is that supposed to help me?”
“He goes and watches her shake her ass every Saturday night at the Golden Rail.” The hair stood up on the back of Arek’s neck at the name of Renee’s club.
“Who is he there to see?”
