The ladies quickly took possession of their babies. As they cuddled them, we got them settled. Though they didn’t want to do it, Bull told them all to head to the houses to wait. He said we were going to be busy for a while. None of them questioned what we meant. They knew the score when it came to something like this.
After they cleared out, I did a quick download of information. When I was done, I looked around. There were looks of concern and even anger on their faces, but one in particular caught my attention. It was Payne. He had that gleam in his eyes. The one he’d get when there was pain to inflict. He got off on that shit.
Alex gave all of us a beer as we discussed what we were going to do. Once we’d slaked our thirst and had our game plan, we headed for the Cellar. A few of the guys and the prospects stayed behind. We wouldn’t risk there being more who might try to gain access to the compound while we were busy in the back.
It ended up with me, Bull, Payne, Rebel, Maverick, and Bear going. It was purely coincidental that we were the members who’d all served in the military at one time or another. Well, all except for Slash, but he was already there. When we pulled outside the Cellar, we asked Joker and Player to help watch the compound. They nodded and headed back. We’d keep Jake with us.
Inside, our three guests were tied to chairs in the middle of the open area. They sat right over a drain. This place had been an old mortuary years ago. This is where they would drain and embalm the bodies. Down in what we liked to call the basement was the old crematorium. No one knew it was still operational. It sure did come in handy at times.
They were haggard-looking and glaring at us. I crouched down in front of them. “You guys have to know how this is going to go. We’re going to ask questions that we want answers to. The quicker you answer them, the less it’s going to hurt. I know you think you’re tough, macho men, but I’m here to tell you, you can’t stand up to what we can dish out.” I stood back up and gestured to my brothers.
“Every one of us was in the military. We had to do some dark things. We still do those things to protect our families. You’re after our family, my family, in fact. And see that man right there.” I pointed to Payne. They all looked at him. You could see the coldness in his eyes, the killer lurking under his handsome surface.
“His name is Payne. Wanna guess how he got his name? He’s our enforcer. It’s his job to protect the club. He takes his job very seriously, and I have to say, he amazes me with what he can do in order to protect this club. Fuck, he makes me want to shit my pants,” I told them happily. I saw one of them shiver. Ahh, my brothers saw it too. This would be the one we started with. He’d break first. Now, it would just be a matter of what he could tell us. My money was still on the driver as the one who would know the most. Call it a gut feeling.
I stepped back and let Payne take the lead. Not because I couldn’t or wouldn’t, but because he did actually enjoy this on some level. He was a master at it. It was a thing of beauty to watch—a grotesque beauty but still a beauty. Not sure what that said about the rest of us. I guess we all were fucked up in some ways from our former lives.
He circled them saying nothing, just looking at them and slapping the blade of that huge-ass knife of his against the palm of his hand. The three amigos watched his every move. I could see sweat on two of them, and nervous throat movements. Yeah, this was going to be quicker than I’d hoped.
Suddenly, Payne launched at the most nervous one. He jerked back in his chair and tried to put distance between himself and Payne. All Payne did was grin at him as he ran his thumb lightly along the blade. A line of scarlet appeared. “I think I’ll start with you. What’s your name?” he asked as he ripped the duct tape off the guy’s mouth. I saw him wince in pain.
“Come on, that’s the easy question. What are you going to do when they get hard? Tell me what your name is. It’s just your name. No need to hurt because you don’t tell me,” he cajoled.
Amigo three, as I referred to him in my head, looked around at all of us. His eyes blinked almost nonstop. “I-I-it’s Juan,” he stuttered. The leader, amigo one, jerked in his chair and tried to yell at him around the duct tape on his mouth. I casually backhanded him.
“Juan, nice name. Tell me, Juan. Why were you so keen to get a hold of my brother, Demon’s, woman? Surely, it’s not because she’s a lost ransom.”
Juan shook his head but didn’t respond. Payne sighed like it hurt him. “Juan, Juan, why are you making me do this? Why?” As he finished asking him, in a flash he slashed out and cut a long line across Juan’s left cheek. He cried out in pain as the blood began to run down his face.
Payne went back to slowly pacing and stroking the blade. “Let’s try this again. Why were you after Zara? What’s the big deal?”
I watched Juan gulp as he stared at the blade in my brother’s hand. He feared it after that bite. “I don’t know. All I was told was we needed to get her.”
“What? They don’t trust you to know all the details, Juan, or are you too stupid?”
“I’m not stupid,” he said with a touch of anger in his voice.
“Good, then you might be of use to me. When you got her, where were you supposed to take her?”
“We were to call a number. We’d be told what to do once we had her.”
“And what is this number?”
Amigo one and two were both trying to yell through their duct-tape gags. As I backhanded number one, Slash did the same to number two. Juan gave us wide-eyed looks. Those backhands weren’t love taps. They were enough to knock their heads all the way to the side.
“Juan, where is the number you were supposed to call?” Payne asked him again quietly. That was part of Payne’s deadly persona. He could sound so calm, and talk so softly, while he was taking you apart, either physically or mentally, or both.
“It’s in our phones.”
“Under what?”
Juan hesitated for a moment then sighed. “It’s listed as Dad.”
Maverick went over to the table along the wall. There were three cell phones they’d taken off the amigos. He picked one up. He looked back at us. “The phones are passcode protected.”
“Which one is yours, Juan? Tell me the code,” Payne said mildly. Juan shook his head no. Ahh, he was starting to grow a pair. Too late for that. This shit is what Payne loved. We relaxed as we watched Payne glide around the three men. Juan was trying to turn to watch him when he was behind him. He circled a couple of times, then came to a stop in front of him.
Again, in a flash, he struck, and this time sank the knife into Juan’s right thigh. He screamed out in pain. I knew from where he’d planted it, Payne had made sure not to hit anything vital. It would bleed a lot and hurt like a bitch, but not kill him.
“Okay! Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s the blue one. The code is three-six-nine-five,” he yelled. Mav entered the code then nodded. He rattled off the phone number. From the country prefix, I knew it was an international number in Mexico. I hurried to send a text to Outlaw. He would start seeing if he could track it.
“Good. Thank you, Juan. What else can you tell me about your group, their plans for Zara? Who else is here in the States? Is Jefe here?” He slipped in the last one. All three of them jerked in surprise.
“Ahh, you didn’t think we knew about Jefe Nunez, did you? Yeah, we know all about him and his little ratty ass Mafia or cartel. Whatever you call it. Bet he’s not happy with us. After all, we took out a shitload of his men and his two cousins. That had to have pissed him off.”
Juan remained silent. Payne asked him several times the same questions, but he didn’t answer. I think it was because he didn’t know. To make sure, Payne proceeded to beat the hell out of him. When he was done, Juan was hanging in his bonds, barely conscious. My brother barely blinked as he stepped up to amigo two.