Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two)

by Morgan Kelley

  “This is the game we’re going to play,” she stated. “I abuse you until you spill it.”

  He went to say something, and she punched him in the balls so hard that Rogue and Dakota both took a step back and cringed.

  The man…

  Elliot fought for air, and when he could get it, he had no choice but to whimper.

  “Again, who do you work for?” she asked. “You have three seconds, and then I get mean.”

  She counted down, and when he didn’t answer, Bunny kicked it up a few notches.

  She placed the filthy, slimy bag back over his head and watched him try to suck down any air—plus rotting garbage residue.

  “In his defense, you just busted both balls. He’s not talking for a few minutes. That’s like being sucker punched in the solar plexus by a jackhammer,” Dakota stated, not surprised he didn’t say anything.

  She put her booted foot on the chair between his legs and pressed down as he struggled to inhale.

  “I’m sleeping with my door locked,” Rogue said. “No, I’m sleeping at my own house. You’re vicious. When they say work over a man’s balls, they do not mean that—for the record and Dakota’s sake.”

  “Amen,” Dakota stated. “A-freaking-men.”

  She giggled as Elliot bucked. Not only was he fighting the pain, but he was fighting to get any air into his lungs. She could see his face through the opaque bag, and it looked like something from a horror movie. The plastic was sucked into his mouth, and he was shaking.

  It was time.

  Round two.

  Then she whipped the bag off his head. The lack of oxygen had broken the capillaries in his eyes. They looked like they were bleeding as they surrounded the blue of his irises.

  That had to hurt.

  “Okay, third time is a charm. Next time, I cut them off. Got it? Who are you working for, Elliot?”

  She unbuckled his pants and the man started talking. He obviously didn’t like round one and two, and neither man blamed him. They would have broken right about then too.

  “Chesky,” he gasped between gulps of air.

  Yeah, they thought so.

  “Was he on the phone?”

  The man nodded.

  “Did he kill Charlotte Shaw?” she asked again, firing questions at him while he was lightheaded and not thinking straight. Once he did, he’d likely come to his senses and stop talking.

  “Well?” Dakota asked when he didn’t answer.

  The man shook his head, and then he closed his mouth. Sarah knew it was time.

  She slid her hand into his pants. Then he screamed as she put his battered and swollen balls in a vice grip.

  The twist was evident, and Rogue shook his head.

  “He’s never getting an erection again. Those balls are busted. He’s out of luck.”

  Oh, Dakota was aware.

  “I’m not sure I like my girl manhandling some scumbag’s junk,” Dakota stated. “No, I really don’t like it at all. I hate it.”

  “Uh, you stop her,” he said, pointing at the man’s face. He looked like a fish trying to get air. “She has nails. That’s gotta hurt. Ball buster…that’s the definition right there.”

  Sarah worked him hard, and not in the good way that men liked. There was a fine line when you were fondling a man’s junk. If you added too much pressure, they’d cave.

  She was in full-on vice grip mode.

  “Did he kill her?” she asked, punctuating each word with a twist. She could feel her engagement ring cutting into his dick, and she didn’t give a shit.

  “Yes! Yes! He killed her,” he whimpered and begged, trying to get some relief from the pain. His eyes were watering, and his nose was bleeding.

  He was a mess.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Chesky wanted me to make sure that the cunt didn’t leave anything behind that might implicate him.”

  She sighed and put the bag over his head to begin suffocating him again.

  “You know that there’s not an ME in the world who will think he died in the fire,” Dakota stated. “You’ve pretty much destroyed ‘accidental’ with all of this.”

  “He was trafficking women and working for a man who thinks someone like me should be raped and tied to a bed. I have no mercy for him. This is his judgment.”

  It was crystal clear that Sarah was okay with destroying him. Only, killing wasn’t easy.

  Well, for him.

  It had become apparent that Sarah didn’t mind it at all, and that worried him.

  A lot.

  Yeah, he was never forgetting their anniversary.

  Ever.

  “His balls will be unrecognizable. They’ll cook with the body.”

  The man shook at her words.

  Sarah pulled the bag off of his head and smiled at him again. “I don’t like that word. How about you tell us what you were burning, and I won’t kill you?”

  He didn’t hesitate.

  “She kept a book of customers. I was just getting rid of it for the boss. His name was in it!”

  “What’s going on at the meeting tomorrow?” asked Rogue, getting in on the action since he’d heard the conversation over the Bluetooth.

  The man closed his mouth again, and this time, Sarah held out her hand.

  “Damn it,” Rogue said, handing her a lighter, and fifty bucks to Dakota.

  He’d lost.

  “I hate the smell of burning dick,” Dakota stated. “It gets into your clothes, and you can’t wash it out.”

  It took everything Sarah had not to laugh her ass off at that. To her knowledge, Dakota hadn’t smelled anyone’s dick burning since she’d never done that before. Hair, yes. She’d scorched some nipples, but she’d never lit a dick like a candle.

  YET.

  Well, there was always the first time.

  “Here’s the rules, Elliot. If you lie, the pain goes way up. Got it?” she asked.

  He whimpered. His balls were purple, and that was NEVER a good thing.

  Sarah lit the lighter and turned it on the side, so the flame was heating up the metal.

  Both men stared at it.

  Oh, Elliot had better not lie. At that point, he should be begging her to just kill him.

  “Rogue, ask him what you need to know. Elliot is going to help us.”

  She hoped.

  “What is being transferred at that drop tomorrow night?” Rogue asked.

  The man shook his head.

  Sarah blew out the lighter, and then she, quickly, placed the scorching hot metal on the tip of his dick. The man screamed as Rogue held a pillow to his face.

  There was the burning of flesh and she’d sealed his piss hole shut with the heat.

  Well, that sucked.

  For him.

  When Rogue pulled it away, the man was sobbing like a child. If there was one way to break a man, this was it. His balls were three days past destroyed, and now his dick was going to be useless. She’d neutered him without having to make a cut.

  Yeah, poor Elliot. Maybe in his next life, he wouldn’t work for a man who thought raping and selling women was all fine and dandy.

  “It’s easy. Tell us, and you don’t have the pee slit on your dick sealed shut by this lighter. A few more times, and that’s never going to be a scab that comes off.”

  Then again, he wasn’t going to live to see tomorrow.

  “It’s a woman! They’re transferring a woman! She’s one of them who came from Vegas.”

  “A woman who runs the sex ring or someone who is trapped in it?” Sarah asked. She’d read the file on Rosemary Harrington, and she knew about Storm.

  “Product.”

  That pissed her off.

  Women weren’t pussy, cunts, or product. They were human beings, and if this man couldn’t get that, she wouldn’t treat him like one either.

  What goes around comes around, and Elliot had a lot to learn. Someone didn’t teach him jack shit in his near twenty-five years.

  Sh
e lit the lighter, and again, heated it up.

  “I owe you a new one, Rogue. This one has dick on it. You won’t be able to peel that off. It’s scorched right to the metal.”

  He tried not to laugh.

  Honestly, he didn’t do killing unless he had to, but this man was part of a sex trafficking ring. Rogue respected women. He wasn’t going to let one be hurt.

  This man was getting his just desserts.

  “And we thought Zayn was the brutal one. You win. He only peeled a dick like a banana. You’re sealing the sausage.”

  Dakota stared at him.

  “Uh, she handles my dick all of the time. Don’t put that picture in my head. I visualized that hot dog machine in convenient stores. You know, the ones that rotate the wieners…”

  “I’m becoming a vegetarian,” Rogue teased.

  “Can I get one of those?” Sarah asked.

  “NO!” they both said.

  She smiled and continued working on Elliot to get the intel they needed.

  “Who is Chesky working with?” she asked as the lighter got hotter and hotter.

  “Some Indian!” he said, as she moved the lighter closer and closer to his dick.

  “Oh, no, Mr. Baird. My friend here is Native American. I don’t like when people call them that. You see, Indians come from India. Natives are from here.”

  The man screamed as the hot metal of the lighter touched his dick and was pressed to the bulbous head. There was a sizzling sound and his muffled screams.

  When she’d pulled it away, skin came with it.

  “Yep, ruined.”

  The man was sobbing.

  “My dick! My balls! Please stop!”

  She didn’t care.

  “If you talk, the pain stops. If you fight, I’ll make your dick one giant scorched piece of man meat. You’ll never stick it anywhere again without losing skin. Now, what was his name?”

  “Something Harris! I don’t remember the first name!”

  “Was it Tasunke?” Rogue asked.

  “No! I think it was Taz! I think they called him Taz!”

  Well, that sucked.

  That was his father’s street nickname. They’d learned that from Julius. It looked like he was definitely involved.

  This was going to blow. Rogue wanted to find the man so his mother could have peace, and now it looked like he was helping Chesky Jensen.

  Shit!

  He had to die.

  This was not going well for him—or later for his father.

  “Which ride outside is yours?” she asked, knowing that they’d better move it, and use it tomorrow. That would help them sneak up on the bad guys.

  “The blue Camaro!”

  Well, well, well. Someone was paid well for helping Chesky. That was coming to an end.

  “Anything else, boys?” she asked, tossing the lighter back to Rogue. He headed into the bathroom off the living room, and they heard a flush.

  It was gone.

  As was any evidence.

  “No, I think we have plenty. Let’s search the place for anything we can use,” Dakota stated.

  It was hard to focus.

  Sarah had him wild.

  “I’m going to go downstairs and make sure the lower level apartment is empty before we cook this guy.”

  Elliot’s eyes went huge.

  “I helped you. I gave you intel. Let me go! I’ll run. I’ll never come back.”

  Sarah patted his garbage-streaked cheek.

  “Oh, sunshine, Chesky will find you. I’m going to actually do you a huge favor. You’ll thank me for it on the other side.”

  She put the bag over his head and pulled the duct tape from her pocket. She secured it to his neck.

  The man’s body bucked and shook as he fought to get any air left in the bag. It didn’t take him long for him to run out. Again, his mouth sucked in plastic, and he shook as death won.

  Dirty deeds got you dead.

  Here was the proof.

  N’awlins was unforgiving.

  “We can search now,” she said brightly, as Elliot slouched in the chair.

  Dead.

  They were good with that.

  Rogue high-fived her and headed out the door to check out the downstairs living area. As Sarah wandered the apartment, she found Charlotte’s bedroom. Once inside, she was shoved into the wall and Dakota was on her.

  His mouth found hers, and he kissed her like it was their last day on Earth.

  When he finally set her free, she stared at him.

  “Wow.”

  “I know it’s sick, but I have a thing for badass women. You’re all kinds of wrong, but it feels so damn right watching you work.”

  She touched his cheek.

  “I love you, Dak.”

  He grinned.

  “Oh, Sarah, later, I’m going to show you how much I love you.”

  She giggled as she could feel him throbbing against her. He was rock-hard, and now she was thinking about manhandling his dick—but with her mouth.

  Rogue stuck his head into the room.

  “Uh, can we take a break on the making out?” he asked. “I’m sick of seeing happy people.”

  Dakota kissed her once more.

  “Yeah, like that. Thanks. I needed to see a point of reference,” Rogue said, rolling his eyes.

  “I’m good now. I had one for the road.”

  Rogue let it go.

  He got it.

  Sarah being badass was sexy. What wouldn’t he give to have someone tough in his life?

  “What do we have on a tenant on the lower level?” Dakota asked. He’d hate to burn their home to the ground, or someone’s pets.

  “It’s empty downstairs. If I were Charlotte, I’d buy them both, so no one would be under me. She’d have privacy and no paper trail if she used cash.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing we don’t have anyone else in there,” Sarah offered. “I’d have to set the pets free, grab the family pictures, and…”

  They both pointed at the now dead man slumped in the chair.

  “He deserved it. He helped traffic women. Innocent people don’t deserve shit lives. That’s the huge difference. We fight for justice for them, and retribution for the ones who act like fools.”

  Rogue got down on one knee and Dakota smacked him in the back of the head.

  “I will hurt you. Get up.”

  He listened but winked at her.

  “Let’s finish searching the place.”

  “What’s in here?” he asked, pushing open the door and looking inside.

  Then he knew.

  It made his heart skip.

  “It’s Peony’s room,” he said softly, as he scanned the contents. This was his daughter’s private space, and she’d started her life there without him.

  It hurt.

  It really hurt.

  Rogue headed inside and looked around. On the wall were pictures of her crawling, walking, and all of the things he missed because of Charlotte.

  Sarah headed to his side and took his hand in hers. She saw him hurting.

  “She kept all this from me. I missed the first three years of her life. I’ll never get any of that back,” he said, his lip trembling.

  Sarah hated seeing him like this.

  The one way to break Rogue was his mother or daughter. He loved them both.

  “But you have her now. Why don’t we load these up, grab her comforter and some of her toys, and then go?” Dakota asked, trying to help him. “We don’t want to leave these memories behind. They are yours now.”

  Rogue looked at him.

  “Thank you for that.”

  Sarah hugged him.

  “You smell like garbage and crispy dick,” he muttered, as he fought the emotion.

  She snorted.

  “My bad. I didn’t wash my hands.”

  He looked horrified and then pointed at the bathroom. She flounced away and did just that.

  Dakota grabbed a bag from the closet and pulled all of
the frames from the wall. Then he grabbed toys, and Sarah, after washing her hands, filled the bag she’d found in a hall closet.

  They looted the place of all the memories that Rogue had been excluded from, so he’d have them, and so would Peony.

  When they reached the kitchen, Sarah pocketed the crispy-bagged book, and Rogue turned on the gas.

  “We’ll light the fire downstairs. This place will blow pretty fast. I don’t want to be in it.”

  “And half the block,” Dakota stated.

  “Nah, only this building. I’ve done this before,” Rogue offered. “It’s a controlled blowup.”

  The man looked horrified.

  “What? I needed to cover my blood trail when I was bit once by some dog as I did a job.”

  “Uh, I don’t want to know.”

  Sarah did.

  “Did you kill the dog?” she asked.

  “Sarah! We don’t want to know,” Dakota stated.

  Rogue shook his head for her.

  That was what she thought. Only sickos could hurt kids, dogs, or women.

  “The less we know…”

  Sarah tapped his star on the belt buckle that Zayn had given him.

  “Oh, okay, copper.”

  He snorted.

  “I think we have it all. Let’s get out of here,” Dakota stated.

  Downstairs, they lit a fire in a garbage can, and then hustled it to their ride. Dakota pulled on gloves and ‘borrowed’ Elliot’s ride for their sneak attack.

  He pulled out and followed them.

  In the other vehicle, also ‘borrowed’, Rogue drove down the street, avoiding the oncoming people as he tried to get them away from the building.

  One block away, there was the whoosh as the building went up with Elliot Baird inside it.

  “We have some time,” Rogue said. “Want to come with me to my mother’s house so I can get Peony?” he asked. “We can hide Elliot’s car in her neighborhood. The cops never go there,” he offered.

  “I’d love to see Grace again,” Sarah said brightly. “Maybe I can take a shower there. I do smell like garbage and dick. I’m going to puke.”

  Rogue laughed.

  “I think that could be arranged.”

  “Can she have her chef make those tiny sandwiches? A girl gets hungry after doing some killing.”

  He snorted.

  “I think so.”

  “Perfect. I want her to think I’m a lady.”

  Oh, she had his mother fooled.