“What have they done to you, Eagle?” I asked, horrified to see him so wasted. His pupils were pinpoint. His limbs shook with the effort to hold himself up off the ground. His clothing was ripped and dirty. A row of needle marks dotted the crook of his elbow.
I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose. Eagle didn’t do hardcore drugs. He abhorred them.
My eyes snapped open and I screamed, “What the fuck did you do to him?!”
“He came to our establishment of his own free will,” Nathaniel advised in a cheerful voice. “Such a fine example.”
“You sick motherfucker!” I growled. “Prison is too good a place for the likes of you!”
“Tell her, Lamb,” Marcroft said, leaning down and stroking Eagle’s hair. My chains rattled with the force I used trying to break myself free. I felt the skin tear at my wrists. Trickles of blood slowly wended down each forearm.
“It’s all right, Keen,” Eagle mumbled. “I’s ‘ere for someone else, eh?”
“Who, Eagle? Who?” I cried.
“Dave,” he whispered and then started crying. “They promised me, Dave.”
Oh, fuck.
I looked at Nathaniel. He just smiled. My eyes sought out Kyan.
“What the fuck, Kyan?” I said.
“He got what he wanted,” Kyan said very slowly, very carefully, the words sounding like knives in my chest, but also doing something to Kyan as well. I doubted they hurt as much, but guilt has a way of making you pay. “His friend Dave is an honorary member. Eagle has been his path to Paradise.”
Jesus Christ. What was wrong with these people?
“I didn’t know they’d pick yous,” Eagle said, snivelling on the granite floor. “I won’t do it!” he said. “I won’t hurt, Keen.”
“Your path is not here, Lamb,” Nathaniel said, stroking his hair again as if Eagle was precious to him. “But your time in Hell is coming to an end.”
“No!” Eagle cried, clearly not wanting to leave this fucked up place.
They’d drugged him. They’d made him into an addict. Not just on narcotics, but on whatever the fuck this Dave person did. I could see it in his desperation to stay, in the way he clawed at the floor, and dragged himself towards Nathaniel’s legs, wrapping himself around them and pleading forgiveness for his sins.
“I’ll die out there! I’ll die!” Eagle screamed. “Don’t let me die. Please! Please! Please!”
Oh, shit. The reality outside this cavern no longer existed for Eagle. This was his world now. They’d conditioned him to believe he’d not survive out of it. Is that why Rooster was so fucking scared? Not just a sex club. Not just a gaming hell. Not just a drug den.
But a life you choose to sink yourself in, until you simply existed no more.
“Your choice, Lamb,” Marcroft said softly, stepping away from Eagle and coming to stand before me. “He will die, you know.” I wasn’t sure if that was because Marcroft would see to it, or because he’d brainwashed Eagle that expertly.
I wasn’t prepared to risk it. Eagle would need a lot of help once I got him out of here. So I needed to get us both out of here. Alive.
“Is this what you do, Kyan?” I asked, knowing full well I’d get nowhere with his father.
“It’s consensual,” he argued. But I saw the doubt in his eyes.
“And Samantha Hayes? She consented to being killed?”
“We had nothing to do with that.”
“Don’t lie now, Kyan,” I said with a soft laugh. “We’re all here. We’re all about to enter a circle of Hell. Admit your sins. Pay your penance. That’s what this all about, isn’t it? Finding your path to Heaven. Seeking Paradise. Enjoying Hell.”
“You don’t understand. It’s consensual. Everyone is willing.”
“And Samantha?”
“She knew what she was doing.”
“Are you willing, Lamb,” Nathaniel suddenly said. Kyan had spoken out of turn.
“Did you kill her, Kyan?” I asked. “Or are you covering for your dad?”
He lifted his head and stared at me. The heat of his gaze was almost too much. I felt Nathaniel shift closer. I realised the other hooded figure I’d overlooked was doing the same.
“It’s time,” Nathaniel said. “Ask her.”
My eyes flicked from first one face then to the other. Nathaniel was the only one with his hood up, covering his face. The man who had dragged Eagle in here and been called Andy by Carole stood to his left. He was dressed as immaculately as Kyan who flanked him on the other side.
This was Andrew Falkner. Rhys Weston. The HEAT saboteur.
We were all here. The only one missing was Damon and he’d be getting suited up by Nick and arriving any moment now.
How did they think this would play out? How the hell did they get tied up in this fucked up mess together to begin with?
“Are you here willingly?” Kyan asked once they’d all come within touching distance.
I could hear Eagle snivelling on the floor, but could no longer see him. I could hear Carole’s chains rattle, but she wasn’t attempting to get loose anymore. Somehow Falkner had calmed her and I’d missed it. No one was worried about her. All eyes were on me.
I looked at each man. I couldn’t quite see Nathaniel’s eyes, but I knew they’d show charm and hide the sickness. Falkner looked assessing, an intelligent mind working behind the shadow of his madness. And lastly, Kyan looked hopeful. For what?
“I’m not here willingly,” I said, holding his gaze. He let out a frustrated sigh.
“He will die,” he said, matter of factly.
“By your hand or your father’s? Or will it be the hired help? Mr Weston here.” I looked at Falkner. His smile was one of amusement not surprise.
“I’m only here to watch the show,” he commented mildly. His voice was deep and melodic. Almost hypnotic in nature. It oozed self-confidence and unending control, it slithered down his expensive suit and pooled on the floor at my feet. Tempting. This man was dangerous.
“They all die, Lara,” Kyan said and somehow that changed the atmosphere in the room.
“It’s time,” Marcroft senior announced. “She won’t let him die. Accept her willingness and let us begin.”
Both Falkner and Nathaniel turned away, leaving me with Kyan. I watched as Falkner picked Eagle up and carried him from the room. Then Nathaniel crossed to Carole and whispered something in her ear.
Whatever was about to happen was about to happen. Marcroft reached up and tied a piece of soft material around Carole’s mouth. Then slipped a dark coloured cloth bag over her head. She didn’t even struggle.
“Kyan?” I said, as he started to do the same to me. “Your father is sick,” I said quickly. “He killed Samantha Hayes. Weston, Falkner, whatever you call him, he beat Malcolm Warren to a pulp. They’re both going away for a long time.”
The gag came up to my lips.
“Listen to me,” I begged. “You are an accessory to these crimes. I can help you.”
“You should worry about yourself, Lara,” he whispered back.
“You’d let him kill me? Your own father?”
“I’ve covered for him before.”
“How…?” I said, but couldn’t get any more words out, the gag slipped into place and tightened enough to draw tears.
“I’m good with cameras,” he said as the bag slipped over my head.
I started struggling. Probably a little too late, but what the fuck. The chains rattled. My hands damn near got cut off. Blood oozed out of the wounds at my wrists. I made a muffled angry sound behind the gag, accentuated in my ears by the covering of the cloth bag. I sucked in air through my nose and attempted to scream.
None of it worked. I was chained up to a cross and about to become someone’s path to Paradise.
My heart pounded so hard I could feel every single beat. Sweat ran into my eyes and was wiped away by the material of the bag over my head as I continued to doggedly struggle. I was tiring, but I was determined to show my un
willingness to be a part of this.
Nathaniel Marcroft was crazy. Certifiable, murderous, loony bin type crazy. Falkner. Jesus, I couldn’t figure Falkner out. He owned Carole. He did everything in his power to get her back. His revenge against Damon had been methodical. And now he’d used her to trap me and was throwing her away, just like Damon had suspected.
And Kyan? He was as bad as both of them but somehow his deception hurt more. He covered for his father, doctoring that security camera footage. His act was brilliant. I’d believed his surprise when we realised the recording was blurred. He’d just said he was good with cameras. I let a frustrated laugh out behind the gag at that. Of course he was. He owned an electronics company, which he was currently being investigated for by the SFO. Embezzlement or maybe something else. Like his links to the CCTV camera footage around town. In particular, Boardman Lane.
The dots made sense, but I still couldn’t quite connect Kyan to Falkner. But maybe the connection was Nathaniel. Falkner knows he killed Samantha Hayes. Blackmail can be such an insidious thing. No one deserved being the recipient more than the Marcrofts.
I hoped they rotted in Hell.
A humming started up. Deep, resonant, rising to the arches and bouncing back down again. A door opened; I heard the minute creak. The same creak as the main door to the cavern had. Footsteps sounded out. No doubt hooded figures entering the room. I was unrecognisable under the hood. So was Carole. Would Damon still see us? What would they do when he did?
But my father. Surely when the hoods were withdrawn he’d stop this insanity. Seeking control through borderline immoral acts was one thing. Breaking the law by allowing this to continue was something entirely else.
“Welcome!” Nathaniel, the Grand Master, said loudly, making the humming cease and the silence that followed sound echoing. “We have reached the ninth circle of Hell. Here lies the hardest of tests. Here our initiate can prove he is most worthy of acceptance into Paradise. Failure will induce expulsion.” I could just imagine what that was a euphemism for. “Success will allow transcendence. We shall begin now.”
The bag on my head was removed, but the gag left in place. It hadn’t been as long with my eyes blindfolded, so it took only a few seconds to get my vision back. Enough to know the room housed only four hooded figures. Not the entire Irreverent Inferno membership. Not my father at a guess.
One of the hooded figures stepped forward. Then abruptly stopped.
His features were hidden, but I knew it was Damon. His face swung one way and then the next as he looked from me to Carole. Then back again in rapid succession.
“What is this?” he said, pulling his hood down and breaking the rules. His hands shook, his face was blanched of all colour. Dark eyes came to mine and he let out a wretched breath. “Lara?” Another sweep of his head towards his sister. “Jesus, Carole.”
He took a step towards her and stopped, spinning ‘round to look back at me.
Chaos ruled his expression. Utter, mind-numbing confusion.
“Initiate!” Nathaniel Marcroft shouted, the word echoing around the chamber. “Make your choice.”
“What?” Damon exclaimed. “What do you mean, choice? Take them down. Take them down, right now!”
Falkner stepped forward, until he was beside Carole on her cross. His hood swept back as he effected the movement.
“What’s it gonna be, Michaels?” he asked, in a conversational tone. “Will you save your sister or your girlfriend?”
“You!” Damon growled taking another step in Carole’s direction. “Let Carole go!”
“Is that your choice?” Nathaniel asked gleefully. He rubbed his hands together, as though about to receive his most fervent wish.
“What? No!” Damon cried, his hands fisted. “This is ridiculous. Let them down now!”
“Them?” Nathaniel repeated. “Oh, no, Initiate. You only get to choose one to pass this test.”
It all suddenly made sense. If Damon picked me, he’d be betraying Carole. If he picked Carole, he’d be betraying me.
“Get her out of here, Damon,” I said, behind my gag. It was muffled and indistinct. But it made him swing his gaze back towards me.
Nathaniel laughed. “Shall we hear what the lamb has to say? Remove her gag!” he ordered.
It was the last hooded figure who approached. Kyan. I glared at him, willing him to do the right thing and stop this farce. There was no way this wouldn’t end in bloodshed. Their game was over. The dance winding down. I was a police detective. Damon was a HEAT investigator. Either they killed us, or they went down.
Four against one and Damon wouldn’t be armed. I had no idea where my handbag had gone, but I’d been holding my gun when the gas cannister consumed me. My guess, it was back at Greys Ave.
Kyan reached up and untied the gag, pulling strands of my hair while he was at it. I winced, stretched my mouth wide to bring the circulation back, and then rattled my chains making Kyan skip out of the way in fright. It was juvenile, but I smiled.
“What were you saying, Lamb?” Nathaniel asked politely.
I shook my head as I looked at him. Crazy motherfucker. He thought this was real. He thought this was sane.
“I’m placing you under arrest, Nathaniel Marcroft,” I said, hanging on my cross while I was at it. “For the murder of Samantha Hayes. The abduction and consequent assault and maltreatment of a street worker called Eagle. And for hanging me on a fucking cross.”
He started laughing. Falkner wasn’t far behind.
“Oh, there’s more for you too, Weston. Abduction, grievous bodily harm, arson.”
Falkner just shook his head, entirely too amused.
“Enough!” Marcroft senior shouted. I forced myself not to show a reaction to the thunderous echo that ensued. “Choose wisely, Initiate. Because your choice dictates their fate.”
I let a slow breath of air out. It was a trap. No matter what he chose, Damon would pay for it.
“Take her and go, Damon,” I said. “Get your sister out of here.”
He looked at me as though I was mad. I wasn’t the crazy one here. Not by a long shot.
“This is my job,” I said with meaning. “She didn’t sign up for this.”
“And you did?” he asked, his voice rough with some turbulent emotion.
I shrugged. The chain rattled. My wrists screamed for release. A steady beat started up in my fingertips. It hurt like fucking hell.
“She’s a civilian,” I said. “I’m a cop. Get her out of here. Please.”
“Make a choice,” Nathaniel barked.
Damon sucked in a ragged breath of air. His knuckles were white, streaked with the dull red of old grazes. I knew what he was going to do before he did it. I’d asked him to. I shouldn’t have felt such shocking pain in my chest. It was the only thing he could do. Save his sister. Appease the Grand Master.
Pass the ninth circle of Hell so he could demand his Paradise.
He took a step towards Carole. I couldn’t keep watching and lowered my face to the floor.
Then he said, “I choose Lara.”
My head shot up. My heart tried to break free of the confines of my ribs.
And then all Hell broke loose in Hell.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“You can’t solve everything at once. But you can sure as hell solve everything eventually.”
The door burst open and several gas cannisters were thrown in the room.
“Not again,” I managed to say, before I sucked in air and held my breath.
Shouts and demands for “Get on floor! Get on the floor! Hands out where we can see them!” sounded out.
Flashes of light, and the thump of multiple heavy booted feet echoed under the arches. Tasers were fired, the zap and hum of their fifty thousand volts singing through the air. The walls thudded, the floor sounded like it cracked, and in the melee I lost sight of Damon.
I prayed he was on the floor and letting the Armed Offenders Squad do their thing. But all I could hear w
as what sounded like hand to hand combat. And all I could think was that Damon was in the middle of the world’s most chaotic fist fight.
He’d go after Falkner, knowing the AOS would take care of me. And in the distraction of the Marcrofts resisting arrest and hidden by the God-awful smoke screen shielding the room no one would see them fighting. And I didn’t trust Falkner. I laughed, sucked in gas and shit and then coughed. Of course I didn’t trust Falkner. He blew things up. He played with fire. And he was out for revenge.
“Damon!” I screamed, sucking in more life sapping chemical fumes. He didn’t answer.
But shouts and cries rose above the cacophony, the distinct sound of flesh meeting flesh joined in the fun. Chains rattled. Grunts burst forth. My head spun, the room tipped sideways, but I could tell I was still hanging upright on my handy dandy cross. And then a crash sounded out, that could have been caused by a bomb, and had the entire room scrambling.
Colour began to whirl in front of my eyes, noises sounded warped and twisted as the gas from the cannisters finally reached my nervous system and fucked with it for good measure. Streaks of light flashed by. Bursts of illumination blinded my eyes. Swirls of brain fogging smoke swirled all around me, like some creepy ghost fingers stroking across my bare arms.
Then strangely silence. Just me coughing, my chains rattling, and the plunk of blood hitting stone. I blinked back streams of tears, my eyes stinging like crazy, my vision warped from too much fluid, but I could tell the smoke was finally dissipating and I wasn’t the only one in the room.
Several masked AOS members held down Nathaniel Marcroft and his son. A few were groggily trying to get up off the floor, their masks ripped off and their faces blanched of all colour. I scanned the room for Damon. I searched for Falkner, because where he would be, Damon would be too.
I found Carole’s cross bare. The chains hanging loosely down the wooden beams, her gag and cloth bag hood pooled on the floor.
“Keen,” someone said beside me. “Let me get you down from there.”
“Where’d they go?” I demanded, but I don’t think I made any sense.
“One robed figure escaped in the chaos. Worst fucking AOS rescue I’ve ever seen.”
H.E.A.T. Book Bundle (H.E.A.T. Books 1-3) Page 65
