Antidote (Don't) (32 page)

Gray patted the empty chair. It was the first time I noticed he wore black leather gloves like mine. A look at Brennan saw he did too. “I’ve got a few minutes,” said Gray. “Come chat with me for a while.”

“Chat? Fucking Cha—”

Brennan pushed him over, nearly making him stumble. “Likes his cupboards,” he said, forcing Keal down into the chair by Gray. “Or hiding in them at least.” Brennan tied Keal’s feet to his chair, legs open, then backed off over to the door. Is that where they’d found Keal? Hiding? I eased down into the settee, the aches and pains in my body groaning disgust. I was some distance away, but close enough to see the sweat forming on Keal’s deeply tanned forehead.

Gray gave a business sigh. “Three names, one chance to answer a single question,” he said, easing back into the chair and crossing his arms. “The funder, Vince, Jack. Where are they?”

All of the fear seemed to drop from Keal and was replaced with a raised brow. “You kill my guards because you’ve misplaced that fag of yours, Gray?” He snorted. “Really shouldn’t leave something of that refined quality lying around, who knows what will trip over and fall on top of it. Still, if you need a new one, I have a few on my list who might interest you, but you really should have come by my office to discuss your...” He smiled. “Weakness.”

Gray sighed, eased forward, elbows resting on his knees and still looking so relaxed in unfriendly surroundings. “Nice place, Keal. Lacks a little colour, though.”

Something flew past me, making me jerk slightly, and I realised it was rope, very fine rope, maybe specially made. Gray caught it as he stood, nodding a thanks over to Brennan, then wrapped one end of it around Keal’s throat, just once, before Brennan was over, holding Keal as Gray set the rope down Keal’s back and tossed the rest under the chair. Sitting back down, he unzipped Keal’s trousers, reached in, and pulled his cock and balls out. Giving a tut as Keal struggled, he picked up the rope, pulled Keal’s balls down, then wrapped the end around them once, twice, three times, making sure the balls bulged into a purple mass as Keal cried out. He kicked the rope under the chair, and Brennan picked it up, stretching Keal’s balls as far as they’d go under the chair, then he tightened it all up by throwing another loop around Keal’s neck and fastening it.

With a look at me, Gray disappeared into the room behind and the faint sounds of drawers being sorted through filtered over as Brennan stepped back out of the way. Keal looked at me; I held his gaze.

He went to say something, but a clip up the head off Gray made Keal cry out. It had only been a cuff a parent would playfully give a kid up the ear, but the rope around Keal’s balls was tied in such a way that even a small slap on the head would give maximum ball torture, stretching the sac so that his scrotum looked like it would crack open and his nuts fall out.

“You talk to me,” said Gray, and what he held took my attention. One was an extension cable, the other, just a pair of standard hair straighteners. Gray hunted for a socket to plug the extension in, plugged it in, then unwound it back over to Keal and dropped it at his feet. After taking a seat, Gray plugged the hair straighteners in and set everything at his feet. “When you do talk to me, it’s a simple answer to my question.” said Gray. “Where.”

Again Keal went to say something, again Gray tapped him on the cheek, causing the rope to shift and pull on his balls.

“
Fucking cunt
,” cried Keal, which won him another cuff on the cheek.

“Language. Turns me on like fuck when Jack swears,” said Gray, flatly. “But you, you’re an annoying shit.” He seemed to weigh up Keal’s cock. “Not a bad size,” he said. “Always helps, that. Believe me. You don’t know how awkward this technique can be when you’ve got a small dick to play with.”

“Yeah, you wanna play with a cock?” hissed Keal. “Wait until my solicitor hears what you’ve done—your bosses will have you bending over, kissing my feet, and taking every cock in my lawyer’s whole fucking law department up your ass, you—”

Another slap cut off his words.

“Language,” he said calmly. “Now. Three names. The funder, Vince, Jack. One question. Where. Keep that in mind, please.” Gray picked up the straighteners and tested out the heat by hovering between the V of the plates. “Expensive make,” he said, eyeing up the brand name, then he shrugged, “cheap ones work just as well.” After reaching forward, he wrapped the long cord around Keal’s neck and Keal started to panic as Gray rested Keal’s dick between the V of the plates, not quite touching, but close enough to make him squirm under its threat.

“Now,” said Gray, pulling a lighter from his pocket. I never even knew he’d smoked. “Can you remember the question, Keal?”

Keal grunted something, then spat at Gray.

A slap at Keal’s face, one hard enough to snap Keal’s head to the right, forced the one edge of the straighteners to scald part of Keal’s dick as the slap pulled horrific tension on his scrotum. His scream hit the air and he instantly squirmed in the chair, forcing the other side of the plate to touch down, burning into the other side of his dick and balls.

“
Oh, fucking
—”

Gray just sat back. “Language.”

“
You bastard
,” Keal snorted through tears, but even keeping still was singeing his pubes.

Gray only shrugged. “Not yet, Keal,” he said, leaning forward, “but it’s coming. Now.” Keal’s groin sported red blisters as tears and snot streamed his face. “Where’s my sub?” said Gray, his tone flat. “It has a really simple answer.”

“
I don’t know
,” cried Keal, and Gray shook his head. Flicking his lighter on, he took it close to Keal’s hip.

“Like Doms, interrogation ops have their own signature marks too. Do you know mine, Keal?” The flame of the lighter caught Gray’s eyes. “Jack doesn’t.” He offered this smile, just a slight curl of lips as he watched the play of the flame. “I love him too much to let him know the real bastard. You know how that feels, right? You like to keep your Logan away from your shit?” He never expected an answer, although Keal looked too tormented to reply as his gaze darted between the lighter and the straighteners shaping his dick. “See, if you move away from this,” he held up the lighter to show Keal, “you’ll burn your balls. You don’t, you burn your hip.” Gray flicked the lighter and pressed it into Keal’s hip. Keal screamed, but tried his hardest to keep still, obviously choosing his hip over burning his balls in the V of the plates.

“Progress,” said Gray. “Now.” He kept the flame against Keal’s hip and a slight smell of burning meat crept over the cries. Even when Keal cried mercy, Gray kept it there. “Where’s my sub?” he said quietly. “Where’s Vince? Where’s the funder?”

“
I don’t know the funder
,” shouted Keal, sobbing.

Gray tilted his head, nodded, then finally pulled away the lighter and slipped it in his pocket. “But you do my sub and Vince. Progress.”

“
Like fuck will I tell you
,
you cunt
. You’re fucking marking me, you’re—”

“Son? You’d like me to ask your son like this?” said Gray, quietly. “I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting him yet. How old is he? A little older than Jack?” Squeezing the edges of the straighteners together, crushing Keal’s dick and balls in a scalding vice, Gray took off Keal’s tie and wound them around the straighteners, tying the plates shut. “Do you want me to have fun with your boy, Keal? Keep it in the family?”

Keal’s cries were horrific, like a rat in a trap, and I’d heard a fair few of those scream.

“
Pleeeeeeas
—”

“My fucking sub!” shouted Gray. “Where is he?”

“
Main Street, number twelve. Vince.... There
.”

“Password?”

“What?”

“Fucking code you swap between each other so they know it’s you. What is it?”

“
Bourbon
.”

Gray pulled the tie tighter. “You lying to me, Keal?”

“
No. For Godssake—no
.”

Gray pulled the straighteners off, leaving Keal yelping and crying in the chair.

“You’re in serious shit, Raoul,” sobbed Keal. “I’ll have you put in jail and make sure every goddamn con in there knows you’re ex-cop rape fodder.”

Pulling two things out of his jacket, Gray glanced over at me. “Out.”

Keal went as quiet I did seeing Gray attach a silencer to a sidearm.

“You...” Keal’s voice was a whisper, his gaze darting between the silencer and Gray. “You don’t carry a licence to slaughter.”

“Hmmm,” said Gray, the sidearm levelling smack bang in the middle of Keal’s forehead. “Just taking away the red tape, Keal.”

Brennan came over to me, the grip on my arm more than suggesting I leave now.

Gray’s hand wasn’t even shaking. “You know the importance of being able to get around red tape when it matters, right, Keal?”

Brennan pulled me out into the hall, then blocked my view when I tried to sidestep him, get past, maybe not shout, not cry against what Gray was threatening, maybe just to see, needing to—“Fucking see.”

“I—” Keal, he whimpered, was sniffling as though crying, the legs of the chair he was tied to tapping his need to get out—run. “I know things.”

“Yeah, no doubt you do,” said Gray, softly. “But you’d let your solicitor tie my people up in red tape for months. I’m pissed off enough.”

In the hall, Carr brushed by with other men carrying computers and CCTV equipment. Keal’s other guards were also nowhere to be seen.

“They’ll know,” shouted Keal. “Whoever paid to fuck your two whores over, they’ll—you kill me, they’ll know it’s you.”

“Yeah,” said Gray, and the chair stopped moving, as though Gray rested his foot on the seat between Keal’s legs, keeping him still. “Guess they will.”

Brennan came in close, pinning me against the wall. Not to hurt, but to shield as hands pressed to my ears, blocking out whatever came next. Didn’t matter, I still jerked even though I knew no noise would come from the silencer. It was more to block out the scream that was cut short. Then as Brennan backed off and quiet hit the hall, I pushed him away, stumbling out into the light, over to the car.

Brennan came out as I doubled over behind the boot, throwing up. Gray took longer, and when he came out he was carrying the rope he’d used to tie Keal down, some tinged with a heavy hint of red.

“Get in the car, Jan,” he said calmly, and I stared at him as Brennan moved away from me, over to Gray.

“You’ve got two, maybe three hours before the District General gets word,” said Brennan, close to Gray’s ear as Gray pulled open a door to one of Keal’s cars.

“Keal’s been on the MI5 shit list for a few months,” Gray mumbled back, the gun now out of sight. “A contract would have been ordered eventually.”

“Yeah, but you know what the bastard’s like for wanting to make sure your MI5 ranks are closed and watertight when a culling like takes place. Keal has influence.”

“Let him know it’s a personal culling. I’ll owe him.” Gray seemed to bite that out with distaste and after a moment Brennan nodded and hit his arm.

“I’m back with the confiscated tech. Carr is with you.” Brennan flicked a look over as Gray gave him the keys to the Merc. Why the fuck was he giving Brennan the Merc car keys? “He should come with me,” added Brennan.

“No,” bit Gray, as he flicked a look over at me. “Jack’s his concern.”

Giving a puzzled frown, Brennan nodded. “Jan, go on.” He was still looking at Gray. “Please.”

Besides having a fresh coat of paint on the front door, Twelve Main Street looked no different than the other terraced houses lining the road. Like Jack’s neighbourhood, curtains twitched, some onlookers curious, some perhaps opportunist. Yet get a police car around here, nobody would have seen or heard a thing. Maybe that was how Gray liked it, or had played it countless times in the past. He hardly seemed interested in how some people were looking. The switch in cars made sense now, leaving the Mercedes with Brennan and opting for one of Keal’s, with Mistress Carr having done the same with her car. That included not drawing her sidearm. Mannerisms were enough to say that people here were better off hidden behind their curtains anyway. Although having me stumbling from the car to the front door no doubt raised a few brows. Gray had already given me my order, but his gaze when I joined them was enough to say
stay back
as he slipped his hand in his jacket.

A nod at Carr, and she pressed the bell.

“Who’s there?” came a voice from inside.

Eyes closed, resting my head against the rough rendering of the wall, I whispered, “The doctor.” The fear was there in the man’s voice. “Goes by ‘Doc’.” I frowned. “A drinker.”

“Doc,” called Gray. “One of Keal’s. Bourbon.”

“Oh thank—”a few locks were pulled open, “—hell. Ketamine, have you got some ket—”

Gray smashed Doc in the face with his palm, sending him staggering back. There was a shout, then another thud as Gray took care of someone else behind the door, finishing by making sure his black gloves were pulled up with a creak of leather. Carr followed, and I gave them a few minutes, just staying against the wall and nearly lulled into a strange safety as silencers added thuds to the whoosh of the passing traffic. A whistle came from inside, forcing me to shake off the need to fall, and I eased inside. Carr was in the living room, one man meeting her knee between his legs, another already on the floor. She gave a nod over to me, then indicated upstairs with a flick of her eyes, her gun levelled on the man at her feet. The two men from by the door were also in there with her. Four down.

I took the stairs slowly, feeling every pull on the muscles in my legs and arms. They were a winding sort, obviously saving space, which only added to the whole-world-spinning effect. It took me into a small hall, which then led through into a front bedroom first. The door was open and three men lay on the floor, one moving, gripping his shoulder, the other two... not. Gray had Doc up against the wall, his silencer up under his chin, making the man look up for divine intervention.

“Vince? Henry?” said Gray, that calmness still in his voice, and I knew he was talking to me even though he never took his gaze off Doc. “None of these,” I said, noticing another door led into what must be a back bedroom. I didn’t look at Gray as I made my way over.