Page 57 of Destruction

“I don't.” He lays back against me and I hug him tightly.

When his body relaxes, I get back to work, some of my own tension easing as we soak up this small piece of normalcy in the eye of the storm.

“You don’t think he’s going to tell us anything new, do you?” Jude asks as we head into the warehouse where the torture room is.

“Not at all. This isn’t an interrogation, it’s pure torture, just because we can. We’re sending a message to him and anyone else who ever decides to fuck with us: It doesn’t matter who they are, or what their profession is, no one is above our laws.”

“How are you going to convey that?”

I smile at Benjamin’s question. “We’re going to give him back when we’re finished. So make sure to wear gloves at all times.”

The guard standing outside our “guest’s” room opens the door for us, and I grab the box of disposable gloves that are sitting on the table right inside the door. “Today you’re both learning something new,” I tell them as we don our gloves before I turn the thermostat in the room down.

Even as the cooling system kicks on, my blood heats with anticipation. It’s been a while since I’ve done this particular torture, Carter was the last person, in fact. I grin just remembering it. I tried so many things out on him back then, the memories are fond—for me, not him. I have a feeling this experience will be much the same.

Our test subject is already strapped to the table, and though he doesn’t make a sound, he does glare at us. We all know there’s no getting out of this; he knows what’s coming, and the bit of bravery he’s putting on in the face of it is nothing but a smokescreen.

“I wonder,” I say softly, with a hint of curiosity in my tone. “How many of our secrets did you give up? How many of your own did you try to conceal? Surely your badge won’t save you from this justice-seeking wanker.”

Silence. Which…is annoying. It’s always so much more fun when I can taunt them. “Jude, get the bag from over there. Benjamin, you can fill up the pitcher.”

It doesn’t take long to have the canvas bag secured over his head. “If you tell us something, anything, maybe we’ll spare you.” It’s bullshit, of course, but a quick death would be kinder than what’s about to occur.

When nothing comes, I gesture for Benjamin to start pouring the water over his covered face. “Slow and steady,” I instruct. “We want this to be continuous, rather than over too quickly.”

The unlucky test subject starts thrashing, and I hold up a hand to get Benjamin to stop with the water. “You know what makes waterboarding so fun,” I say to no one in particular. “No matter how many times you endure it, you never become numb to the sensation. The fear of drowning is too great to override the logical side of your brain that tells you it’ll end eventually.”

I give Benjamin a nod, and he continues to pour the water. “It’s interesting,” I tell my rapt audience. “Because ofthe support, and angle of the head and neck, while water gets into the lungs, it doesn’t actually fill them up this way. Which means the feeling of drowning occurs over and over, with death nowhere in sight.”

Benjamin runs out of water and he looks at me. “This seems simple enough, too easy for you.”

I grin at him. “Ah, Topolino, you know me so well. You’re right, this isn’t all that we’re doing to him today.”

Heading off to the side, where my favorite toy waits, I grab the cart and push it over to the table. Jude laughs while Benjamin looks on in concern.

“I figured the point of this exercise was to teach us something. How can you do that if you kill him too quickly?”

“Patience, Topolino. It’ll all make sense in a moment. One would think that with all of these questions about my methods, you want to stay here and learn more, rather than go home after this.”

Benjamin doesn’t respond, which is almost telling in itself, but…he is the one who said he needed to go home. Consent is a…very frustrating thing. Part of me wants to keep him here until he’s fully up to my standards, but he’s right; it’s been long enough. Less than a week is hardly enough time to learn what he needs to, but I trust him to return for more lessons. And I can’t wait to teach him everything I can. Besides, he’s mine now, he can’t disappear so easily.

Attaching the clips to the wanker’s big toes, I adjust the dials. “Have you ever unplugged a toaster, and maybe your hands were a little damp?”

“Sure…”

I smile at the uncertainty in Benjamin’s tone. “This will be like that…until we decide otherwise.” I look up and meet two pairs of attentive eyes. “Who wants to go first?”

Jude volunteers, making his way over to me. I kiss him, savoring his taste, eager to get this part over with so I can do something about the tension building in me.

If I didn’t have either of them to take care of, I would have worked the guy over and killed him already. As well as I’m pretending to hold it together, that is far from the truth. I’ve spent years hiding what lurks underneath the surface, and this situation is no different, though it’s taking much more of my concentration. For each day that passes without Cristian, is a day the chain of control loosens…

“Take the bag off, Benjamin,” I order. “I want him to see what’s coming.”

As he does that, I hook the poor bastard up to a heart rate monitor, both to make sure we don’t kill him, and to help teach them how much they’re able to give a person safely.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I tell all three of them. “You two are going to take turns experimenting with various currents. I don’t want you to kill him, so you’ll have to be very careful.”

Stepping back, I make sure Benjamin does the same, before giving Jude the nod to turn the dial. Watching someone be electrocuted will never get old. The choked off scream, the way the human body convulses under the current. Even at the lowest wattage the machine can go, the wanker’s body twitches in his bonds as Jude turns the electricity on and off, experimenting with different lengths of time.

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