Page 92 of Red's Peril: Part 1

With one thing and another, eating in my office, I’m still hard at it when hours later, I get a call from Pyro. His words cause me to punch the air. Skull’s woman has turned up, and they’ve got her.

I quickly agree to send Crash to bring the woman to the compound, feeling like we’ve made a breakthrough. Now, at last, we might have some answers.

When Pyro appears, I wonder whether we’re on the same wavelength about questioning a woman. While we might not use precisely the same methods we’d use on a man, if a woman’s got information, in my view she needs to be interrogated, and that means using all the tools at our disposal. But when he mouths basement to me, I know he’s in the same ballpark.

It’s clear Pyro intends to use fear and intimidation, but he’s gentle with the bound woman when he removes the gag from her mouth. I harden my heart when I see she’s terrified and looking around frantically, her eyes going wide.

Yeah, she might be confused. This place has been witness to torture, and on occasion, death. But there’s also Rope and Cuff’s spanking bench and St. Andrews Cross occupying one corner, and a wall where whips and crops are hanging. The variety of restraints on show also has to be admired. I’ve used them myself from time to time. That part of the basement tends to have more willing victims.

The woman doesn’t seem to see any positive possibilities in the arrangement. “What the hell is this place?” she cries out. “It looks like a torture chamber.”

I again glance around, taking note of my deviant brothers’ enhancements, and chuckle. “It does, doesn’t it, doll?” Of course, some torture might be pleasurable, but I doubt she sees that at present. I step in front of her. “It’s Clare, isn’t it?” Pyro’s just used that name. When she nods, I point to Twister who’s followed us down. “You know what an enforcer is, Clare?”

She swallows rapidly and shakes her head.

“Well, he’s the man who gets information by whatever means necessary. I happen to know Twister is very good at his job. No one leaves here alive without telling him what he wants to know. You know how he got his handle?”

Another shake.

“I’ll give you a clue. People who don’t talk, quickly find out how twisted he is.” My face shows I’m completely serious. If I can get her to spill any info she has without bloodshed, so much the better.

“I don’t know what you want to know,” she cries out. “I don’t know who you are or why I’m here. I’m a part-time librarian, a housewife, and a mother. I don’t know anything.”

“To be honest, Clare, you look like a nice lady,” I tell her honestly. And she does. I try to ignore the resemblance to the woman I remember from my past. “And we have no beef with you. But we’d like to have a talk with your husband. Now, you can start by giving us his phone number.”

Of course, it isn’t as easy as that. She holds out, worried we’ll hurt him, even though I try and impress on her we just want to talk. Pyro tries his best to coax the information from her, but her lips are sealed tight.

Fuck it.Pyro’s getting frustrated, as am I. As there’s no indication she’s other than another innocent caught up in Skull’s web, I can’t justify hurting her, even though a little voice inside me suggests part of my reluctance to use force is down to how much she resembles the woman I had so briefly and lost.

Deciding the truth might persuade her, I tell her there’s a woman who’s five months pregnant upstairs, and that her beloved husband’s the father. She denies it, at first, then I think a little doubt sneaks in. Whatever, she finally gives me Skull’s number. Thank fuck. I was close to letting Twister loose on her.

We’re able to contact the fucker at last. Whatever Skull is, he proves he really loves her, or at least enough to agree to come to the compound. While we’re waiting, Pyro continues to question her.

Each word I hear chills my spine and puts another nail in Skull’s coffin.

The bottom line? Skull was a fuckin’ undercover cop who’d infiltrated the Devils.

Clare knew the basics, but not the details, and definitely not the important ones. Pyro takes the opportunity to explain exactly what her husband had done while fooling the Devils he was part of the club.

“He decided to take a woman as his own. Claimed her, which in our world is as good as marrying her. He lived with her. Slept with her every fuckin’ night. Forgot to use a condom, twice. Then he up and left, leaving her pregnant.” What Skull had done makes his voice harden.

She’s now hanging onto his every word, her mouth agape in disbelief and horror.

“He come home and fuck you? After he’d been with his old lady without a condom?” Her widened eyes suggest yes. “And what about her? What about the woman he said he loved, the woman he’d promised to spend his whole life with? He never came back, left with no warning. She found she was pregnant with no man to tell. You’ve got a kid, Clare. What if your husband left for a job and never came back? Disappeared off the face of the earth and you never had any answers. Can you imagine that, Clare? Can you imagine the fucking hurt?”

“No.” Her hands cover her face. Her denial, I suspect, more that those things had actually occurred than her answering Pyro’s question.

“Yes,” Pyro insists. “She’s five months pregnant with your husband’s baby. It’s a boy. Your little girl will have a brother. What about her, Clare? What about the innocent woman he used and discarded? What about her?”

Has he gotten through to her?As I watch, she sits up straighter.

Movement behind me makes me turn to see what’s caught her eye, and I wince when I see the woman heading straight for her.

“What aboutme?” Mel screams, spittle landing on Clare’s face.

Clare makes the connection easily, her eyes flicking to Mel then dropping to her stomach. A myriad of expressions appear on her features—anger, disbelief, sadness. It’s hard to predict what she’s going to say.

Finally, she settles on denial. “I don’t believe you. The baby can’t be his.”

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