Page 48 of Inescapable Ties
But we all knew I was the sickest monster here.
He dragged Jorge through the warehouse and into my favorite room - a place where screams echoed off the stone walls and agony turned into an art form. The smell of blood and sweat from previous occupants still lingered in the air. Vincenzo lifted the man up and started strapping him in to a new device I had just gotten installed.
“Why did you get that installed anyway?” Ettore asked. “It’s stupid. Looks like something out of a Saw movie.”
“Was getting bored. Wanted to try something new,” I said.
It was a spinning wheel large enough to accommodate a human. After being strapped on the outside, they would spin around like they were on a game show. Vincenzo shrugged, grabbed the handle, and Jorge started to spin. The man screamed through his gag, clearly displeased by the sudden disorientation.
“I don’t know,” Rocco said. “I think it’s kind of cool.”
While I didn’t need anyone’s approval on my new device, I was glad someone liked it. I walked over to the tools area and picked up a handful of knives, making sure the tips were nice and sharp.
I hurled the first one towards the man, intentionally aiming to avoid hitting him. It was nice to get them a little nervous first. It landed a few inches away from his legs, near the top of his right thigh.
I flung the next one towards him, this time letting it land near his left hand. I was like a cat, playing with my mouse instead of eating it. Ettore muttered something about how I should just get on with it.
“Let me try!” Felix said, eager to join in on the fun.
“Sure.”
This interrogation had to start sometime, and I knew Felix would accidentally hit him. If I kept up throwing knives at him, it could turn into a game for hours.
The wheel had been slowing down, so Vincenzo gave it another spin. Felix took the knife in his hand, his eyes following Jorge in an attempt to aim. Sure enough, he hit him. The knife pierced through his forearm and Jorge screamed through his gag.
“Oops,” Felix said, but the sadistic grin on his face said he wasn’t very sorry at all.
“Let’s get to fucking business,” Ettore said. He shoved his foot under the wheel’s lever and abruptly stopped the man from spinning. He yanked the gag out of Jorge’s mouth. “Who is your boss?”
“Ha,” Jorge spat out saliva that had been accumulating under the gag. “You think putting me on a carnival ride will get me to talk?”
Ettore clenched his fist around the knife lodged in Jorge’s arm and twisted it deeper into his flesh. Despite his best efforts, the man couldn’t hold back a scream.
“Can you take care of this?” he asked me.
“Gladly,” I responded.
Ettore walked away from the man, wiping the blood on his nice dress pants. He always dressed professionally, even for messy jobs like this one.
I grabbed the scalpel off the wall and walked towards him. Now that he had insulted my new toy, I was eager to ramp up the pain. I knew exactly what I wanted to get rid of to teach him a lesson.
“God isn’t coming for you,” I said.
I took the scalpel and slowly peeled away the Virgin Mary tattoo on the side of his face. It might have been extreme, but I could tell this man would be tough to crack, and I was also pissed he called my wheel a carnival ride.
I had him talking before I could even peel the entire tattoo off his face. He blurted out the entire story. Every detail spilled forth with urgency and desperation. The Mexican Cartel hadn’t been planning to take over NYC drug market; they were pawns in a larger game, hired by an unknown entity to disrupt it. It was beneficial for them, because they’d make more money, but the benefit to this third party was unknown.
“So you’re telling me,” Emilio started. “These people said ‘come disrupt the drug industry. We’ll make it easy for you.’ And you just did? Without asking any questions?”
He looked at us like we were idiots. “Obviously. The person who asked the Drug Lord is a very respected Mafia member.”
A tense silence hung in the room. It was one of our own who had caused this chaos, and it seemed they were trying to overthrow our current drug market. Someone was vying for control.
Jorge picked up on our tense silence and started to laugh. “Oh, you didn’t know. How amusing.”
“Who?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” he responded.
