I sit on the backseat of the SUV beside Alejandro as his driver takes us to the warehouse where the guy who tried to kill Lucia is being held.
“So, what do we know about this guy?” I ask.
“His name is Owen Kincaid. Worked for the Ortegas a while back.”
“Those Ortegas again,” I snarl.
“After we had our run in with them a few years ago they had a change of leadership.”
“Yeah. I remember,” I say. “The younger brother took over, right?”
“Yeah. He had a shakeup and Kincaid was one of the casualties. It seems he has been a little down on his luck ever since. Lost his apartment. Wife. Kid.”
“Any idea why he targeted Lucia, though?”
“Not yet. But he used to work in that club she used to go to sometimes,” said Alejandro. “That awful place you picked her up from.”
“Deemon?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Maybe he knew her from there?”
“Maybe? You got his cell or anything?”
“No,” he grins. “It got smashed when we picked him up.”
“Smashed with what?”
“Kincaid’s face,” Alejandro replies with a shrug.
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway. We got him on camera getting into the car that ran into Lucia and Raoul outside an IHOP about two miles up the road. He was wearing a black cap. Raoul took a look at the footage and identified the car and him as the ones that he saw too. So—”
“We definitely got the right guy then!”
“We sure do,” he said. “I don’t know about you but I haven’t tortured anyone in a long time and I’m itching to break out every single trick I know on this motherfucker!”
“A long time being like what, six weeks?” I arch an eyebrow at him.
He frowns at me. “Six weeks?”
“Yeah. We went to Phoenix, remember?”
“Oh fuck yeah. Well six weeks is a long time.”
“Whatever, amigo. I am up for giving this piece of shit everything we got.”
He nods and smiles at me. “I love when you let your inner sadistic fucker out to play.”
Five hours later we are in the warehouse with Owen Kincaid. He’s tied to a chair and I am holding a blowtorch to his nuts while he screams in agony. The smell of his burning flesh fills the large space and makes one of Alejandro’s newer recruits throw up in the corner.
“Get him the fuck out of here!” Alejandro snarls and he gets escorted from the room by the scruff of his neck.
I turn off the torch and step back, watching as tears, blood and snot pour down Owen’s face.
“Please just kill me,” he groans as his eyes roll in the back of his head.
“You want to give him a shot?” I ask Alejandro. This guy is about to pass out from the pain he’s in. We’ve been at this on and off all day. I’ve already cut off so many parts of him that he looks almost unrecognizable from the man who we met when we first came in here, but all he keeps telling us is that we ruined his life, he’s sorry and he never meant to hurt her, in between begging us to end his life. One of Alejandro’s tactics is to give people morphine so that they can endure more pain for longer and then when it wears off every part of their body screams at the same time. I have to admit it’s pretty twisted.
“You think he deserves any?” he asks.
“No.” I kick him in the nuts and he retches but there is nothing left in him to throw up. He puked up his guts ten seconds after I cut off his first toe. “But he’s going to be out soon though. I’m not sure how much more he can take.”
“So fuck him. I want him to hurt so bad that the memory of his screams will haunt this place for the rest of time.”
“I do too, but we’ve got nothing from him yet.”
“Maybe there’s nothing to give?” Alejandro shrugs. “Maybe he’s told us all there is. Because I gotta say I don’t think this piece of shit has it in him to withstand this level of pain without cracking, do you?”
I look back at the pathetic figure of Owen Kincaid. “No.” I frown. He was definitely the guy in the car that day. But why target Lucia?
I grab him by his hair and try one more time. “Why her?” I ask him again. “Why did you try to run her car off the road?”
“I didn’t,” he wails.
“What?” I snarl at him. He’s fucking delirious. He’s already admitted that it was him driving the car and now after everything he’s endured he’s trying to claim that it wasn’t. Alejandro walks over and punches Owen in the side of the head. His head snaps back and stays there.
“What the fuck?” I shake my head at him.
“I knocked him out. Wake him up.”
“Owen.” I shake him but there is not a flicker of life. “Owen!” Still nothing. I take my knife and hold it to his lip, slicing into the delicate flesh but he doesn’t flinch. “You fucking killed him.”
“So? That was the plan. I just did it a little sooner than expected.”
I drop the blow torch to the floor. I suppose he’s right. But fuck I was enjoying torturing that fuck way more than I thought I would.
As I walk out of the warehouse, I wipe my blood-soaked hands on an old rag and toss it to one of Alejandro’s security before I take out my cell phone. “Fuck.” I have no battery.
Alejandro walks up behind me.
“Can I borrow your cell?”
“Sure.” He takes it from his pocket and tosses it to me but he stays right by my side as we walk to the car. I can’t call Lucia because he’ll ask questions. I enter his passcode and dial Shane Ryan’s number instead.
“Hi, buddy. What’s up?”
“Hey, amigo. We found that guy that Jessie was looking into for me.”
“You did? I’ll let Jessie know she can stand down.”
“Thanks, and tell her thanks for her help.”
“I will. I’m glad you got everything sorted. How is Lucia?”
“She’s fine. There was no permanent damage from the crash.”
“Ah, that’s good.”
“Yeah. Thanks again, Shane.”
“No problem, Jax. I’ll catch up with you soon.”
“Bye, amigo.”
I end the call and hand Alejandro his cell phone back, wondering if Lucia is expecting me or whether she’s sleeping because we were traveling almost all night. I also remember that Alejandro has a guy stationed outside her apartment; how will I explain my visit? I’ll just say I’m checking in on her after our trip. She must know I’ll come to her place, right?
I should go home first and wash this asshole’s blood off me but all I can think about is touching her, tasting her, burying myself inside her until the rest of the world fades away. Rage and adrenaline and fury burn through my veins and I need to do something to release it. I need her. She is the light to my darkness.
“You ready?” Alejandro holds open the car door for me and I climb inside and count the seconds until I can get to her.
