Ajax laughed at her. “Really? You think I’d want your daughter after being with Jessica? That’s like comparing champagne to piss-tasting beer. Not going to ever happen. Jessica is the best thing to ever happen to me. Your mistake was in trying to take her away from me, and for thinking her money should be yours. I know how you and Melody treated her all those years. How you turned her own father against her to a degree. I don’t feel a bit sorry for either of you, but that’s not why we’re here. We need to know how you knew the code to get into the compound’s side gate. Who told you?”
She just shrugged. I knew it was too easy for her to just tell us. She wanted to play it tough. I watched to see what Ajax was going to do. He gestured to Alex, who had come along with us.
“Get her out and tied to the chair in the center over there,” Ajax ordered. Alex nodded and unlocked her cell. She struggled and swore as he dragged her, none too gently, to the chair. When he got her there, he slammed her down and tied her arms behind her to the back of the chair. Ajax walked all around her. She twisted as much as she could to see what he was doing behind her.
“Before we get started, would you like to tell me what I want to know? It’ll go a lot easier on you if you do.”
“Go to hell. I’m not going to tell you shit. You don’t scare me.” Without responding to her, Payne stepped up and got in her face. His eyes were cold as an iceberg. No way would I want to piss him off, and I was a dangerous fucker myself.
“You think you’re tough, don’t you? I can promise you, you’re not. I’ve taken people like you apart many times. In the end, you all cave and tell me what I want to know. If you think we won’t, remember what your daughter looked like with that hole between her eyes. She got off easy. You won’t.” We saw the fear flicker across her face before she got herself under control again. I had to give her kudos.
She squeezed her lips tighter, like that would keep her from talking. Ajax went over to the cabinet where we kept our playthings. Payne stopped him.
“Let me do this, Ajax. It won’t bother me, and that bitch is pissing me off, looking like she’s all that and in control. I think I can scare the truth out of her before I have to get physical or at least too physical.”
“Thanks, Payne, but I can do this. I may not like it, but I can do it.”
“Okay but let me pop in and out some. I’ll know when the time is right to push her harder or up the pressure.” Ajax nodded and grabbed a knife with one sharp edge and a serrated one on the other side. It was huge and terrifying to look at. He seemed to saunter back over to her like he didn’t have a care in the world. He crouched down in front of her, so she could see the knife. Her eyes widened before she narrowed them.
“See this. This is a favorite for us. I can’t tell you how many people we’ve taken apart with this. Do you want to see what you look like on the inside? I can tell you it’s much uglier than you are on the outside. You’ve been using your looks to get your way for years. I think it’s time for the outside to match the inside, don’t you?”
She turned her head away from him to stare at the concrete wall. He laid the knife against her cheek and let it barely cut a tiny slice. She cried out.
“Want to look back at me? I don’t like to be ignored.” She turned her head back to face him. All of us were quiet as we watched him start the process of breaking her down.
“Who gave you the code?”
“No one. It was a lucky guess.” I heard Joker laugh at her lie. She looked over at us. Joker gave her an evil smile and drew his thumb over his throat, mimicking a throat being cut.
Ajax took the knife and gave her another tiny slice on the other side of her face—nothing too deep, just enough to bleed and sting. It would be devastating to someone as vain as she was. As blood ran down both cheeks, he circled her again. When he got back in front of her, Payne stepped up again. Ajax wordlessly handed him the knife. I saw her eyes flare with fear. She was scared of him.
“So, you think you’re all that. Maybe we should see what you’re made of. You think you can handle pain?” She didn’t answer him. “Good. Stand her up and hook her hands over the hook,” he directed me and Slash. We quickly did as he asked. She was now on her tiptoes. He stepped up and held up the knife.
“I think we can find something better than this, at least for a little bit.” He went back to the cabinet and returned with a flogger. It was used in BDSM. I knew it could leave temporary or permanent marks based upon the expertise and wishes of the wielder. Payne was an expert at it for many reasons.
It whistled through the air as he let it fly. The crack of it against her back had her crying out in pain. He smiled. “Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? The whistle and then the cry of pain. I could listen to this all day.” He smacked her three more times in quick succession. She kept crying out. He then went to stand in front of her.
“Want to tell us who gave you the code?” She spit at him. He laughed and went back behind her. He took the knife Ajax had first given him and cut up the back of her shirt. In no time, he had her standing there in nothing on top but her bra. She struggled to try and turn around to see him.
He stood back and let the flogger fly again. The crack this time was louder, and she screamed louder as well. The marks on her skin now were more than red. They had cut her skin in places. Twice more, Payne let the flogger go. When he was done, she had three perfectly distanced stripes bleeding on her back. He came back to stand in front of her again.
Her head was now hanging down, looking at the floor. He crouched down in front of her. He spoke so softly, we all had to strain to hear him.
“Do you know what my job was in the military? I took people apart to get information. I was an expert at it. I can keep up the torture for days if I want. I know just how far to go before killing you and how to inflict optimal pain. You’ll beg for death long before I give it. You being a woman doesn’t matter. To me, you’re just meat. Now, I can continue and this time really up the fun. I have endless toys to use, and hurting you gives me pleasure. Would you like me to continue?” She sobbed and shook her head no.
He smiled at her. “Tell me who gave you the codes to the gate.”
“It was some woman. She approached my guards at a bar outside of town. She said she knew who they were and why they were here. She told them she could get them inside here to grab Jessica. All they had to do was promise to leave everyone else alone.”
We all looked at each other in shock. Another woman, but who? It wasn’t one of the old ladies that was for sure. It had to be someone else like a bunny or someone recently, who came to the compound. For a second, I thought of Zara, then dismissed it. No way she’d tell someone that, even if she did know it. The next thing to come to mind was, why would a woman do that anyway?
“What was her name?” Payne asked.
“I don’t know. She never told me. They brought her to meet me and my daughter. She gave us the code, and we paid her the money she wanted.”
“What was the purpose of the grenade thrown over the wall earlier today if you had the code?” Ajax asked her.
“They thought it would rattle you guys. Maybe get some of you to leave the compound, so there were less of you to avoid when they came to get her. But you didn’t fall for it, and we couldn’t wait. Her birthday is only a week away. When it didn’t work, they came in the side gate and waited until she was where they could grab her.”