“Get up!” Liam looked up at him with disgust. He’d spit in Gunther’s face if he knew he wouldn’t get another beating for it. There was no sympathy from Gunther. He leaned down into Liam’s face and jacked him up by the shirt collar. “I said get the fuck up,” he growled with grave intensity. Liam’s graying eyes met Gunther’s emerald green ones.
Liam struggled to get to his feet. He was out of breath, and the pain was radiating down his right arm with a lightning bolt intensity. He was full of anger and still in a near vomit level of pain.
“You need the clinic, Cock-up?” Liam just stared at Gunther, seething with hatred. “I asked you a fucking question, and I expect a bloody answer!” He was millimeters from Liam’s face. So close that he could examine Gunther’s pores.
“Yes,” he croaked.
“What was that, lad? I seemed to not have heard you properly.”
“Yes, sir,” Liam said a little firmer, as his arm dangled at his side. Gunther’s sadistic laugh filled the room. Then he whistled to get the other recruits to stop the heavy bag training.
“Everyone…look!” They all turned and looked down the row at Liam, who was about to be humiliated yet again. Gunther viciously grabbed his dangling arm and pulled up on it. Liam nearly passed out and, instead of complying, he hit the mat again. The laughing continued. “Look at this weak lass. Look at him! Is this what you want to become? Weak like this cock-up—little whiny Liam here?”
“No, sir!” the rest of the recruits yelled back. Liam’s jaw began to tremble from the pain. Sweat was pouring out of every pore in his body, running out of his pits and down his back, saturating his t-shirt. His vision was fading, and the sounds of Gunther’s verbal abuse were becoming distant.
Sophie’s eyes filled with tears, seeing the boy who had saved her on many occasions in such horrific pain, physically and mentally. She let out a soft cry, and Liam heard it echo through his subconscious. The sound of her whimper was pulling at him, bringing him back from the brink of unconsciousness. It took every ounce of energy within him to look over at Sophie. She gave him a slight nod, acknowledging his pain. He knew that she cared for him, but she wasn’t allowed to show it at that moment.
Gunther pushed Liam away. “Gabriel! Take your cock-up of a roommate to the clinic. Once his arm is back in the socket, take him to the punishment room.” Sophie let out a choked sob after she realized Liam was going to get yet another brutal beating.
In a couple steps, Gunther was in front of her. “What’s wrong, little bird? Does your little lover boy being punished not suit your needs?” He ran his finger down her cheek and jawline. Then he yanked up on her chin with his fingertip, so she was looking directly into his eyes. She recoiled in fear. “Don’t worry. His John Thomas will still work when we’re finished.” He chuckled at his own joke.
“Leave her alone!” Liam shouted through the blinding pain as Gabriel helped him up. Gunther looked back at him and smirked. He knew the effect on Liam when it came to Sophie, which was why he touched her and spoke to her in that way in front of him.
“Or what? You going to fight me? That would be brill, yeah?” Gunther made it back to Liam in the blink of an eye. “I suggest you keep your bloody mouth shut,” he said as he jammed his finger into Liam’s chest.
“Fuck you,” Liam growled. Gunther hauled off and decked him in the face, sending him crashing to the mat yet again.
“That, my friend, was just the beginning. Gabriel, take him now before I make him true dead!” Gabriel grabbed him by the uninjured arm and dragged him to his feet yet again. Liam’s lip was split wide open, and blood was rushing down his chin.
As soon as they got out of the door, Gabriel let go of him. “Mate, you need to keep your bloody mouth shut!”
“I don’t give a fuck anymore.” Liam wiped the blood off of his chin with the back of his good hand.
“You’re going to when he hospitalizes you again!”
Gabriel guided a sweaty, pain-filled Liam down into the clinic to see the nurse. As soon as the nurse saw what condition he was in, she called the doctor up from the lab to have him put Liam’s arm back in the socket.
Gabriel shuddered as he stood outside the door of the clinic, feeling Liam’s intense scream of agony. It filled the surrounding area. Minutes later, he staggered out with gauze pressed to his lip and sweat still pouring down his face.
“Jesus Christ.” Gabriel shook his head. “You ready, mate? Did she give you a vial, as well?” Liam nodded. “God, I hate to do this to you. I hate taking you here nearly every fucking week. You still have the bruises from last week.”
“Whatever. Let’s get it over with.” A reluctant Gabriel led him to the punishment room.
After Gabriel shoved open the heavy metal, narrow-windowed door, Liam walked in without pause and sat down in the cold metal folding chair that was strategically positioned in front of a mirror. Gabriel left the room and went back to the gym to let Gunther know he was ready. Gunther had already phoned ahead to Roger to inform him of the happenings in the gym, and was praised for his swift attention to things.
Minutes later, Gunther swaggered in with plastic zip ties and bandanas in hand.
“You know the drill. Hands behind your back,” Gunther barked as he yanked Liam’s hands back and viciously twisted his arms behind the chair. Liam hissed. “Still hurt? Good. Brace yourself for more.” Gunther smiled with sadistic delight.
He pulled the zip tie around Liam’s wrists so tight that it bit into them. Then he grabbed each ankle and zip tied them so taut to the outside of the chair legs that they drew blood. The marks from the prior week were just starting to heal.
Gunther chuckled as he waved the bandana in front of Liam’s face. “Lights out, motherfucker.” He wrapped the bandana around his head and tied it so tight, he saw stars in the familiar darkness. “Got anything to say?”
“Do I ever?” Liam snarled. That pissed Gunther off even more so he backhanded him, throwing Liam’s head to the side.
“Maybe this will help keep your vile mouth shut.” Gunther tied a second bandana around Liam’s mouth, gagging him.
Liam heard Gunther’s heavy footsteps move away from him. Then he heard the door open and close with a quiet click. They always did that. They would leave him for an extended period of time in that position to wear him down. Liam learned long ago to stare, albeit blindly, straight ahead into the two-way mirror. He knew Roger was behind there watching, which was reason enough for Liam to not show any signs of fear or weakness.
“Look at him. So stoic.” Roger’s laugh was heartless as he watched Liam stare into the mirror with unfeigned strength. His trimmed, muscled body jittered with excitement. He loved that part of his job, especially when it was Liam’s turn. Nothing made it more worth it than moments like those.
“Roger, don’t do this to him again. You just did this last week. You’re going to kill him at some point!” Roger turned and looked at the slight woman who was scared out of her mind. His six-foot-two lean body towered over all of her five feet. He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his piercing blue eyes at her. The lighting grabbed his salt-and pepper hair.
“I surely hope you are not telling me what to do because you know precisely where that gets you.” She looked down and away from his malevolent stare, and her stringy brown hair fell, covering her face.
“No-no, sir. I’m not. I’m just…” She stopped speaking when he ran his long forefinger down her jaw and gently picked her chin up to face him. Her hollow, lifeless eyes were swimming with tears, and fear rushed through her small, boney body. His upper lip lifted into a dark snarl.
“That’s what I thought, you whore.” He leaned in and crammed his tongue into her mouth. He groaned as he slammed her against the wall, moving his arousal into her lower abdomen. “Bloody hell! Be ready for me when I come back because I’m going to take you right in here. I hope you enjoy the show, my little bird.” She shuddered in disgust. Roger’s sinister laugh echoed as he left her alo
ne behind the two-way mirror to watch Liam’s next beating.
As soon as she saw Roger enter the room where Liam was, the uncontrollable sobs broke out of her throat. She held her shaking hands over her mouth, trying to hold them in. She was unsuccessful.
Roger stepped in front of Liam and he hauled off and punched him in the jaw. She screamed as the blood exploded from Liam’s mouth through the gag.
“Oh, god…no.” From behind the glass, she heard Roger screaming at Liam. She recoiled when she saw Roger’s fists connecting with his face and body, time and time again, with such ferociousness that Liam had passed out. His head was lolling around, blood was running down his chin, and the bruises were already appearing on his pale face. She couldn’t stand to watch anymore, but she had to make sure he didn’t kill him, even though there was nothing that she could do to stop the assault.
After Roger was satisfied with working Liam over with his fists, he waved Gunther in and he woke Liam up with a large glass of ice cold water. Gunther then tore Liam’s shirt open to expose his chest, as Roger pulled the taser gun off of his belt. The dark smirk came back as he fired it into Liam’s chest. She saw him say something to Liam, then he pulled the trigger again.
Liam’s muscles violently contracted, and he screamed in pain for the first time during the punishment session. Roger hit the trigger again, just to drive his point home. Once Liam’s convulsions ceased, Gunther tore out the taser probes and cut him out of the chair. He then dragged Liam out of the punishment room, still blindfolded, gagged, and on the brink of unconsciousness.
Roger walked back to the room on the other side of the mirror with a swagger that only he could pull off. It disgusted her. She trembled in fear, knowing what was about to happen.
“Ready, my little bird? Because I so fucking am.” He pulled off his sweaty t-shirt, exposing his muscled chest, and unbuckled his belt. With an arrogant smirk, he quickly dropped his pants. Every inch of hate that she felt for him sprung free. He smiled as he saw her fear and hate run rampant across her face.
Knowing the drill, she turned around and laid prone over the edge of the cold metal table, shaking all over. “That’s my girl,” he droned as he lifted her shift dress and tore off her undergarments, dropping them to the floor like trash. She held her hands over her mouth so that the sobs wouldn’t escape. She knew that if he heard her cry, she would be beaten like Liam had been a few short minutes ago.
-March 2011-
The fierce pounding on the heavy metal door to Liam’s and Gabriel’s room echoed throughout the silent hall. Liam launched out of the bottom bunk and rushed to pull on his black track pants over his boxers. As he was running to the door, Gunther was keying in. “What the fuck took you so long, Cock-up? You answer as soon as I so much as think about pounding my fist on that door!”
“Sorry, sir. I was sleeping,” Liam muttered as he ran his hand over his day’s beard growth.
“Get your useless arse up. Pack your shit. Meeting in five minutes in the conference room.” Gunther turned on a dime and walked down the cold, sterile white hall. Liam rubbed his out-of-control hair for a second.
“What did he say?” Gabriel groggily jumped off of the top bunk. He, too, pulled on his black track pants over his boxers.
“Pack my shit.” He grabbed his pack and neatly filled it with all of his possessions, which was next to nothing. There were a few clothes, his journals and, the most important item, the picture of his five-year-old self with his mother. He looked at the picture for a brief moment and then stuffed it in the pocket of his pants.
“Where are you going?”
“Haven’t a clue. Out of here, I hope.” Gabriel held out his hand and Liam shook it. “Thanks for helping me when I needed it.”
“Yeah. No problem. See you around…I suppose.”
“Yeah.” Liam walked out of his dorm room with a flutter in his stomach. He stood outside of his door and looked down toward Sophie’s room. His chest ached, knowing that he may have to leave her.
Liam felt gutted.
He turned and headed toward the conference room as instructed, wondering where he was going and what the fuck was going on. He hoped that if he was leaving the complex, Gabriel would take care of Sophie because he knew how Liam felt about her.
As Liam reached the conference room, he paused at the door. He almost felt as if he was walking into an ambush. He rapped on the door, and Gunther yanked it open with his usual enthusiasm. “Come in and sit.” Gunther stepped away from the door, and Liam saw that everyone was there…Gunther, Drew, Kellan, and Roger. The four assholes with a major case of the head-fucks.
The conference room was quite a large, posh room. The glass table stretched from one end of the room to the other with ten large, plush black leather chairs pushed up against it. The walls were covered with mahogany panels, and acid-washed concrete covered the floor. Those luxuries, which were a stark contrast to the rest of the complex, were something Liam wasn’t used to.
He quietly sat down in the chair Gunther waved to, which just so happened to be right next to him. Great, he thought. He prepared himself mentally for a physical blow or two.
Roger was staring at him, with his usual dark and hollow eyes, from the head of the table. He sat forward, bracing his weight with his elbows on the long conference table. He steepled his hands in front of his mouth and quietly tapped his fingers together. Liam didn’t break his stare. Instead, he held it with zero effort. Roger threw him a smug grin after a few minutes of the ego-filled contest. Finally, Roger decided to address him.
“After speaking with everyone in this room at great length, I have decided you are fit for the job. At first, I wasn’t on board because you seem to have a slight…issue with authority. But, for some bloody reason, I have agreed to allow you to be the one who makes this whole program come to fruition. Do you understand?” Liam firmly nodded once. “I expect your full cooperation, or you will pay the consequences. This job is of the utmost importance to me and to the program.”
Kellan quietly slid a folder and a cell phone at Liam. “Here is your new phone. Roger’s, Drew’s, mine, and Gunther’s contact information is already pre-programmed. You are to answer when any one of us calls, no matter what time of day it is. I don’t care if you are fucking some bird’s brains out. You answer the motherfucking phone. Clear?” Liam nodded.
Kellan continued, “Here are your papers to get into the USA and live as an American citizen. From the moment you board the plane, you are to speak with your American accent at all times. You will live with Harold and Margaret Daniels as their son. They have already been briefed and are living in the States. They’re just waiting for the stork to drop your sorry arse on their doorstep.” Liam looked at each sheet of paper as they were pushed at him.
“How did you get me citizenship? I’ve never been there.”
“I have my ways. You will act as if you are home from university until you find a job. But, as we all know, you are too fucking stupid to attend university.” Kellan grinned at Liam. Laughter filled the room.
“If I’m so fucking stupid, why would you trust me with such an important task?” he growled.
Gunther grabbed him by the back of the neck. “Shut your gob, lad,” Gunther said in a gruff voice. Roger smirked and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Conflict was one of his favorite things, especially when there was no resolution for the weaker party.
“I am trusting you with this mission because you know that we will hunt your arse down and make you obey. Plain and simple, yeah?” Kellan smirked at the thought of hunting Liam down. He looked down at the thick, two-inch scar on the underside of his forearm. Liam looked back up at Roger when he heard Roger chuckle.
“Have I shown one lick of fear with any one of you?” Liam deadpanned everyone in the room. “No, I don’t think I have. And, if my memory serves me right, every time you beat me, I was tied up to a fucking chair! I have beaten every recruit here, blindfolded, on more than one occas
ion.” Roger smiled. He almost looked proud, but then his face shifted and fire overtook his hollow eyes.
“If you do not obey, I will personally hunt down every-fucking-one you come in contact with and torture them in my very own personal way. I will make them pay for your trespasses. We all know you have a bleeding heart.” Roger’s lips curled up into a smirk. “I fancy that Sophie quite a bit.”
“You stay the fuck away from her!” Liam spat his anger-rich words at him.
Roger leaned toward Liam. “Try and stop me, bleeder.” His eyes danced with danger. Liam wasn’t going to let anything happen to Sophie. He had protected her for years.
“I’m not going.” Liam stood up to leave, only to have Gunther push him back into the chair.
“This is not an optional mission, and there is no negotiation. This is a direct order,” Roger growled.
“If you so much as harm one bloody hair on her head, I will kill every-fucking-one of you. Am I clear?” Laughter erupted throughout the room again. It was more humiliation for Liam, but he didn’t allow it to outwardly faze him.
“Well, isn’t this priceless? We should have videoed this for entertainment purposes later on.” Roger chuckled at Liam’s seething. “Continue, Kellan.”
“Here is your degree in phlebotomy.” Kellan continued to hand Liam paperwork from the folder. “This is the New York Blood Bank. We own it now. You can get your supply from there, once you start working there. Until then, you are on your own. The bank is already well established with employees. Approximately two months after your arrival, you will step in as manager, but you will continue to be an active phlebotomist.”
Liam worried about his cover being blown with the whole management angle. He could barely manage himself, let alone an entire blood bank and employees. Then he worried how he would get his supply prior to that. He thought that maybe he would have to jack the blood bank and steal his supply. He refocused his wandering mind when Kellan spoke again.
“Once you move out of your ‘mummy’s and daddy’s’ after two months, you will stay in active contact with them. Also, when you arrive at JFK, Xander Mead, who is working as a fixer for us, will be there with your vehicle and your cache of weapons. He is clueless about the weapons and thinks you are a collector. He will help you find a flat when the time comes, if you wish, and give you any information you need about the area. He doesn’t know about the program. He just thinks he is part of a procurement team. He will only be in the area until you go out on your own. We have him set to fly south to set up Gunther.”
A Little Taste of Naughty (A Shattered Lives Short) Page 4
