Page 19 of Matrix

“Yeah? So?”

“That’s illegal.”

“No shit. Do you think we can ask nicely and expect to get an answer? Don’t tell me you’ve never roughed up a suspect to get them talking.”

“Never.”

“Bullshit. You Feds are all the same. I’m sure you’ve looked the other way more than a few times. Try this; just pretend it’s just another day at the office.” I grab her hand and drag her toward the shed. She doesn’t say another word as we walk down the steps into the basement.

Scar’s testing the knots at the Demon Rider’s feet. His hands are tied behind his back, and he’s been stripped to his boxers. Men seem to talk faster when they’re exposed like this. It’s one of Reaper’s tricks. He’s not here yet, but Nitro walks in to join us.

“Back-to-back days in the basement. Perfect.” The sarcasm in his voice isn’t lost on me. I don’t want to be down here either. The less I see of this place, the better. The only one of us who seems to like this place is Reaper. It’s his playground.

“Let’s wake this asshole up.” Scar grabs a bucket of water and splashes the Demon Rider with it.

Coughing and sputtering, the man’s swollen eyes crack open. “Fuck you.”

Scar laughs before punching the guy in the face. When he lands another blow to the man’s abdomen, the guy grunts in pain.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Fuck you.”

I grab his cut off the floor and hold it up. A patch bearing the name “Griller” gives us the information he’s refusing to share. I show it to Scar.

“Why were you trying to kill our club girl, Daisy?” Scar asks.

“The Fed?” Griller spits at her but misses. She backs up toward the nearest wall.

“Don’t disrespect women.” I slam my knuckles into his teeth. They cut through my flesh, but I welcome the pain.

“That your bitch?”

“This guy’s an idiot.” Scar does the honors, throat-punching the guy so fast that I almost miss it.

Doubled over with drool and blood dripping from his mouth, Griller looks like he’s about to throw up. His eyes go blank. He’s trying to do what I do, check out of the situation. That’s not happening, not while I’m here.

I stomp on his bare foot, crushing the delicate bones in his feet, and he howls in pain.

“Matrix!” Daisy’s horrified gaze meets mine.

“You think you can talk sense into this bastard?”

She shakes her head but doesn’t respond. She knows there’s only one way to get info out of this punk, and it will involve a lot of blood. I hate that she has to see this, but I’m not letting her leave. We can’t risk it. She could run back to the FBI or rush into another ambush with the Demon Riders. Either way, she’d be in a whole hell of a lot of trouble, and I won’t let that happen.

“Why were you trying to kill the Fed?” I stand in front of Griller, close enough to tower over him but not within head-butting range. Talon made that mistake once. I learned from it.

“There’s a contract out on that bitch.”

“Who ordered the hit?”

“Don’t know.”

“Lying will only make things worse for you.” I jump and come down hard on his other foot. His piercing scream echoes through the basement.

“I swear I don’t know. We were looking for her because she’s got a price on her head. Figured we’d cash in. When we saw her with Vale a couple of weeks ago, we realized she was an undercover Fed. That got me real excited. Never killed a cop before.”

“When did you see me with Vale?” Daisy askes, shocked.

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