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DC
Alien, Shaka and Ice came striding down the badly lit corridor but even in the bad light I could see the darkness in their eyes. Alien pulled me into his arms, hugging me tight and whispered in my ear.
“Do not let this shit get to you, babe. I’ve got your back.”
Hugging him back I nodded against his shoulder and stepped back only to have Shaka enfold me in his heavy arms.
“We are your way back out of the dark, Crow. Use us, do not go there alone.”
Again I nodded, stepped back and nodded towards the door.
“You go in, stay against the walls. I want one behind her, two on either side, and one at the door.”
Meeting Hawk’s eyes I coldly laid it out for him.
“Do not, and listen carefully to me here, do not, fucking interfere. This is what I do, no matter what happens you stay out of it. You do not talk. You are here to observe and take note of what she says. Nothing more. Leave your phones with Law.” I pulled the mask back over my face, settling it over the top of my tee. Giving a nod to Law he opened the door.
I stood to the side watching as they walked through the door, leaving it open for me. I waited until they were where I wanted them, then took the bottle of tequila from Law, picked up the chair standing against the wall outside the door, walked in and placed it in front of the woman. The bottle of tequila I set on the floor next to my chair. Behind me the door closed with a heavy thunk.
Hawk stood with arms crossed against the wall behind her. Right in my line of sight. I ignored him and concentrated on the woman in front of me. I could not let him and Ice being in the room change the course of what was going to happen. What had to happen if we were to stand a chance of finding out what Speedy had planned.
Sitting down in front of her I studied her and she studied me in turn. The only sound in the room was a faint crinkle of sound as a foot moved over the plastic.
Leaning forward I spoke in a soft hiss. “Tell me a story.”
“You are a pathetic excuse for a man. You’re a puny loser and this is the only way you can get off.”
Behind my mask I grinned. Such a stupid old bitch.
“Tell me a story.” I hissed once again.
“Why don’t you bend over and let one of them do you up the ass? That might be more entertaining than listening to your voice.” She tried again.
I bent down and slid my knife free from my boot. And the bitch laughed.
“Oh look at that. You’ve got a big knife to compensate for your little dick.”
Staring at her laughing face it suddenly hit me. She had been coached by someone I had questioned at some stage. Someone who had made it through without a single cut. Someone who had talked when she or he shouldn’t have. A pity they hadn’t found one of the others to coach her. But that would prove to be rather difficult, none of those would talk to anyone, ever.
Oops, sorry for you old bitch.
Getting up I slowly walked around her. Picking at her shirt sleeve with the point of my knife I took it between two fingers lifted and slid the knife in and down. Splitting the sleeve from shoulder to wrist. I didn’t say a word, just moved to the other side and did the same. Very carefully I slid the knife around the armholes of both sleeves and let the fabric drop down over her cable tied wrists.
Her breath hitched as I cut and when I slid my icy cold gloved fingers into the fabric at the top of her shoulders her breathing became choppy. I said nothing as I cut her expensive blouse from her body, leaving her sitting in her pretty white bra with the remnants of her fancy blouse hanging around her waist. I carefully unbuttoned what was left of the blouse and as expected she snapped her head forward, hoping to hit me in the face. She misjudged the distance and as she sat back I hit her hard on the forehead with the hilt of the knife. She moaned with pain. Ignoring her pain I pulled the remnants of her blouse out of her skirt and threw it into a corner. The sleeves soon followed.
I slid back onto my chair and hissed. “Tell me a story.”
She decided to lie. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I don’t know anything.”
I cut her. Lightning fast. From shoulder to elbow. Not shallow but not too deep either.
Her shocked scream had Hawk going solid. But he didn’t move.
“Tell me a story.” I hissed.
“You are crazy! I don’t know anything. I’m nobody. I do my job and that’s all I do. I don’t know what you want.”
The next cut was slow, not fast. I slowly cut the other arm from shoulder to elbow.
“No! Stop! I don’t know what you want! Tell me what you want!”
I again started to circle her and she tried desperately to keep me in view. Sliding a bottle of the cologne from my pocket I slowly unscrewed it and standing behind her dribbled a few drops into the cut on her right arm. Her scream of pain didn’t do anything to me. I felt nothing.
Walking back to my chair I sat down, leant back and stared at her.
“Tell me a story.” My whisper cut through her pain filled gasps.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know anything. I just do my job, like Hawk Walker tells me to.”
And there it was. The first step.
“He tells you what to do?”
She hesitated for a few seconds and then it seemingly poured out. She was good, but not that good. The lies she had been coached to give us fell like lead from her lips.
“He always calls with special instructions for certain documents. I just make sure they are in order and then send out the truck with the special container. Like he ordered me to do.”
“On your cell phone or the office phone?”
Her eyes flipped around like mad marbles in her head as she looked from side to side.
“Mostly on the office phone, sometimes my cell phone.”
“Hmm. So there will be a record of those calls on the telephone system at the office and on your cell phone. Good.”
I nodded at Shaka and he left the room. I watched her eyes and almost laughed. She thought she had nailed Hawk as the bad guy and we were swallowing her story.
Not giving her any warning I leant forward and poured cologne over both of the cuts. Then cut two more lines on each arm. Screaming she jerked at the cable ties holding her prisoner.
“I told you what you wanted to know! Why are you doing this? I’m innocent, I didn’t do anything. I just followed orders.”
“I only have your word for it. Hawk says you’re lying.” I hissed. “You have lied to me so I choose to believe him for now.”
I brought the knife towards her face and her eyes stayed on it until it was too close to watch. Her eyes shot up to mine, fear now very evident. I slid the tip of the knife down her nose and over her lips and chin, letting it drag over the soft skin. Leaving behind a red line. Keeping my eyes on hers I put the tip of the knife just inside the strap of her bra at her collarbone and cut a shallow line down to the top of her breast. Ignoring her screams I did the same on the other side. Blood ran down and into her pretty white bra, turning the top of the cups red. Tapping the flat of the knife against her sternum I leant close and hissed out the next step.
“Do you like patterns? I love patterns. Just love decorating my girlies, leaving my mark behind on pristine skin. You’re a bit old, but your skin is still good. I’m going to enjoy decorating your breasts. Big breasts are so much better than small ones. More space to play. So many pretty patterns to give you.”
I made a few shallow cuts across her abdomen. Not saying a word. By now she was shuddering and crying but I ignored her as I slowly poured cologne over the cuts. The smell was cloying but the alcohol did its job.
I sat back and twirled my knife then suddenly dropped it to the hem of her skirt and started slitting it up the middle.
“What are you doing? This is not supposed to happen! This is not supposed to happen!”
I ignored her and kept on sliding my knife up between her legs, over her belly up to the waistband on her skirt. Once I sliced through it I pulled the two sides away from her body and let it fall. Sitting back I crossed my arms over my chest and let my eyes run over her body as blood ran down over her white high cut panties, turning them red.
“Not bad for an old bitch.” I hissed.
“What are you doing? This isn’t supposed to happen! He said it would be easy. He said the Crow wouldn’t hurt a woman. Why? Why?” Tears and snot mingled on her face as she cried.
Reaching down I picked up the bottle of tequila, cracked the top and tipped it up to my covered lips, filled my mouth and swallowed. It burned all the way down and I suppressed the shudder but I welcomed the heat spreading outward.
“He lied.” I hissed. “I hurt women all the time, sometimes I even kill them.”
Her eyes were wide with shock and fear.
The door opened and Shaka walked back in.
“No calls from Hawk’s cell to the bitch or the office. No internal calls from his office phone to the bitch. We did find calls from the landline at the Warriors clubhouse here in Durban and a few from two unknown numbers. Most of the calls originated near a cell tower here in Durban. And it just so happens to be near the Road Warrior’s compound. The rest of the calls originated near a cell tower in Cape Town. Verified Hawk’s whereabouts, he was in Johannesburg at the time of the calls. Impossible for him to be in two places at the same time. She lied.”
Shaka’s face was impassive as he gave his report then took up his position against the wall again.
I tipped the bottle up and took a long drink then set it back down.
“Glad you lied. So very glad because those lies now make you all mine. I like patterns.” I shook my head. “No, I lie, I love patterns, love drawing them on the skins of my girlies.”
Leaning towards her I slowly started cutting a grid into her left thigh. Her screams echoed around the room but I didn’t pay any attention to her. I kept cutting into her jerking flesh until I had what I wanted. A noughts and crosses grid filled the top of her left thigh.
“I’ll be crosses you can be noughts. If you win you might just leave here alive.” I whispered as I carefully put a cross right in the centre.
Tapping the empty spaces with the knife point I looked up. “Where shall I put the nought? Here? Here? Or here, no maybe here.”
“No! No, please stop. Please. Anything you want, I’ll give you anything.”
I slowly drew a nought with the point of the knife, not cutting too deep and splashed it with cologne.
I continued taunting her as I played on her skin until I had three crosses in a row.
“I win.” I whispered. “We have to play again or maybe we play until you win. We have a lot of skin to cover with my patterns.”
I cut a deep line through the centre of the grid and tipped more cologne over the cuts. By now the bottle was empty and I threw it towards the remnants of her clothes. I saw relief shine in her eyes but it disappeared as I pulled the other bottle from my back pocket and set it down next to the bottle of tequila. She started to crack.
“It wasn’t Hawk! It wasn’t Hawk! I swear it wasn’t him. I was told to say that. I was told to tell you he was guilty.”
“Too late. I already know that.” I murmured as I cut her bra from her body and threw it towards the corner.
Tilting my head I stared at her breasts then slowly cut an easy curve from the side of her right breast to the centre of her chest. I did the same to the left and poured cologne over the cuts. Blood dripped from her heavy breasts and ran down over the cuts on her belly soaking the top of her high cut white panties.
She broke. Wide open. And started spilling her secrets, like I knew she would. Like they always did.
“My...my...my orders, they came from...Speedy and from...a woman. I only spoke to her a few times. She...she threatened my family if I didn’t do as she said. Please you have to believe me, please.”
“I need more. Who is she?” I whispered as I played with my knife. Her eyes never left it.
“I don’t know. I swear I don’t know. She kept her voice low but I heard a slight English accent and her voice...it was so cold. Emotionless. They are going to take my granddaughters if I don’t do as they tell me. You have to save them. Please. You...you have to keep them safe. They’ll know I’m gone and they’ll take my granddaughters and put them with the others. Please, please, save them.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have to do anything. Did you even once think about the children you sentenced to hell? About their parents and grandparents? Your offshore accounts are full of blood money. Innocent children’s blood are on your hands and it has stained your money red. Why should I do anything for you? Why should I stop making lovely patterns on your skin?” I dragged the tip of the knife down over her left nipple and her body shook with fear.
Her head dropped to her chest as she sobbed and when she looked up again I knew there was going to be more. And there was.
“I recorded everything. For insurance.” She whispered. “All the calls, every single one. I have it...I have it on a USB hidden in my garden. No one would expect me to hide it there. It’s in a small sealed plastic container with the cell phone they gave me. It’s buried under the Japanese warrior in my front garden. All of the calls are on there. Every single message. Please, you can have it, just save my granddaughters, please. I know I’m going to die but I don’t care what happens to me as long as they are safe. Speedy is bringing in the product, they call them the product, tomorrow morning and they will leave tomorrow night. I send out the order for the truck and container and prepare the shipping documents that implicates Hawk Walker and the Iron Dogz when he calls. All I do is handle the paper work. The driver is one of them but he works for Iron Dogz Trucking. His name is Charlie. That’s everything, I don’t know anything more. I swear on my son and granddaughters lives that’s all I know.”
Nodding at Alien I waited until he was out the room. Hawk shifted uneasily making the plastic rustle. Taking another deep drink of the tequila I sat forward and held the bottle to her lips. She took a drink and coughed as it burned down her throat.
“Why?” She asked. “Why did they lie about you?”
Giving a soft snort I shook my head and hissed. “They didn’t lie, they just didn’t know everything about me. Have a drink, it will get you through what comes next.” I pushed her head back and held the bottle against her lips, forcing her to take two long gulps. I drank as well, taking down about three shots worth. My belly was pleasantly warm even if my heart was ice cold. The next step was never easy.
“How the fuck did you get caught up in this shit?” Hawk suddenly burst out. I was amazed he had kept his mouth shut this long.
“It was my husband, he was a gambler and he owed the wrong people a lot of money. They broke into our home while my daughter-in-law was there. They...they killed them both right in front of me, threatened to kill my son and take his little girls if I didn’t do as directed. They knew I worked at Iron Dogz Trucking, knew exactly what my position in the company was. I couldn’t let my son and his little girls pay for my husbands’ mistakes. I...I agreed to do anything they wanted me to. They...they beat me up, shot me and left. The SAPS never really investigated the murders. I think they might have been paid off. I’ve been working for these people for almost eight months now. At first the containers contained animal products that had been poached. But it changed when the woman got involved. She promised Speedy a lot of easy money and that’s how it started with the children.”
She gave him everything. And the longer she spoke the more I saw compassion glowing in his eyes. This was not going to end well.
Alien walked back in and I waited as he took his place. “Sent some men to retrieve the items. They should be back in an hour or so.”
Rising up out of my chair I looked down at the woman as I tapped the knife against my thigh. “While we wait I’m going to take a little break. I’ll see you again soon. Don’t go anywhere.”
Picking up the tequila I looked into Ice’s carefully blank and narrowed eyes as he opened the door for me. I needed to breathe fresh air. I needed to cleanse my soul of the dark shit I had boiling in my blood. Stripping off Hawk’s hoody I dropped it on the floor as I walked away. The mask, gloves, contact lenses and tee shirt I handed to Law to dispose of. He held out a clean tee and I pulled it on and nodded my thanks. He was my little brother and I trusted him implicitly. Those items would disappear and never surface ever again.
Sitting on the outside steps sipping on the tequila I stayed silent when Rooster sank down next to me.
“Need to ride, baby?” He asked softly.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go.” He lifted me off the step, passed the bottle to Law who had been watching over me and drew me to my bike. Law knew I would need to ride and had already pulled it to the front, my helmet, gloves and jacket lay on top of the seat, waiting for me. Alien and Rover’s bikes stood ready next to Rooster’s loaner and I breathed easier knowing they would join me on my ride.
The weight inside my chest slowly started to release as we rode. I let Alien and Rover lead me where ever they wanted to. I wasn’t even aware we were on the South Coast road until we hit the tollgates. We rode hard and fast, letting the night slip past in a blur. It was late when we rolled into Margate and parked above the beach. Everything was closed except the nightclub, and they were doing a brisk trade. I pulled my helmet off and walked down the paved walkway onto the deserted beach. The waves were lit up by the security lights and the street lights all along the beach.
Standing just out of reach of the breaking waves I breathed in deep. Holding it before letting it out, and letting the last of the black coating my soul float off into the night sky.
“We’re not riding back tonight, baby. Got us an apartment at the Margate Sands for the night. I’ll take you up while Alien and Rover go find us some food. Okay?”
All I could do was nod and follow as we rode our bikes up into the parking garage and checked in at reception. The poor receptionist tried hard not to be freaked out by the bikers standing in front of her. She only succeeded once Alien started flirting with her.
Not too much later we sat on the balcony eating burgers and drinking beer and watching the dark waves rolling onto the beach. No one spoke, we didn’t have to. The four of us had been friends for a very long time and the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.
“I put your saddlebags on the bed, DC. Hop into the shower before you fall asleep in that chair.” Rooster poked my shoulder as I started nodding off.
After a long hot shower I pulled on clean panties and a tee shirt and crawled into bed. I fell asleep almost immediately. I slept deeply, so deeply I didn’t hear my phone vibrating madly on the bedside table.
Alien’s hand on my shoulder in the early hours had me up and out of bed. There were things to do today and we had to get back.
The sun was rising as we rode into Durban and made our way to the safe house.
I was not looking forward to seeing Hawk. He had seen too much.
Way too much.
He now knew what the Crow really did for her club and as with some of the brothers would never be able to get past it.
But I had to try and explain. I had to at least try and save what we had because he was it for me.
The one who made everything worthwhile.
Even the Crow liked him, and that was a damned first.
