Liability

Chapter 24 - Dmitri

WARNING: Graphic description of torture and some blood.

Monday

September 10, 2018

Anastas is lounging on Dmitri's bed looking for all the world like the cat that got the canary that was dipped in cream when Dmitri walks in after his illuminating late lunch with Thommy. His cousin's dark eyes watch him eagerly, and Dmitri instantly knows that he won't like whatever Anastas did.

"Should I be looking for a pile of decapitated bodies in my closet?" he asks as he steps up to his walk in closet his itchy knitted vest halfway over his head.

Ana huffs, mildly annoyed. "One time you cut a guy's head off and you never hear the end of it," he complains, making Dmitri smirk.

"Who knows what sort of bad habits you picked up since I've last seen you."

"You wound me. I'm an angel."

"Of death."

"Still an angel."

Dmitri snorts and is about to pull on a pair of comfortable sweats when the door is pushed open. He doesn't even need to check through the open closet door to be sure that Anastas is already aiming at the intruder but Dmitri just sighs and switches the sweats out for dark cargo pants. He also pulls a black Henley off one of the shelves before he joins Anastas and Carmen in the room. Because only Carmen would walk into his room without knocking first.

He isn't surprised to see Anastas still aiming his gun at Carmen, who looks unimpressed as she turns towards Dmitri with a single lifted eyebrow. Her stance would befit a tiger returning from her successful hunt as she flashes her white even teeth framed by burgundy coated lips.

"The rat is waiting for you, chico."

Spending 24 hours in solitary confinement, tied to a chair in full sensory deprivation with intermittent sessions of dropping and raising the cell's temperatures to varying levels of uncomfortable would take a toll even seasoned operatives. Especially when they are forced to listen to the sound of a knife being sharpened on a bottle. On repeat. Going by Carmen's expression, whoever they caught is anything but a seasoned operative and will be not much more than a pile of gibbering mess when Dmitri first lays his eyes on him. Nevertheless, he picks up his favorite knives, sliding them into the sheaths sewn into his pants before he heads for the door. Anastas and Carmen follow him without a comment for a change.

The interrogation rooms are strategically placed well under Yarkost Tower. Dmitri has to push SL5 for the elevator to take them to sub-level five, just a floor above the holding cells. The ride is quiet and quick with no stops in between. Carmen is standing at parade rest her eyes never leaving Anastas for a second, who, in turn, pretends that she doesn't exist, lounging against the metal wall of the elevator cabin. He is smirking, dark eyes gleaming with hunger despite only coming along to play spectator.

Dmitri's prize is held in Room 2 beyond a thick, windowless steel door that is protected by a biometric lock. They don't need fancy names from the barren, cold room with a single chair, cold overhead lights sunken into the ceiling and a wall made entirely of enforced mirror glass that separates it from the observation room where Dmitri, Carmen and Anastas are standing. Dmitri's focus narrows down onto the scrawny, pathetic form of the kid Maria and Chie are currently chaining to the lone chair on the other side of the glass.

The guy cannot be older than twenty even with what looks like weeks old scruff and fresh bruises on his face and dirty tangles in his overgrown hair. His eyes are still obstructed from the light by a black blindfold and his body wracked with tremors. He is useless, Dmitri knows this even without talking to him. He is just someone who was either a new recruit eager to prove his worth, or contracted for pocket change. Or more likely a few free hits. Whatever it was, by the time Dmitri is through with his questioning, he will have long regretted playing murderous pranks on the Yurievs.