Broken hearts & Coup d'etats - THE SPECTER SERIES [book three]

Chapter THIRTY ONE

Ellerie Devereux

You already knew Elijah wasn't going to take you to the FBI holding facilities..
No, this was his plan all along, to get his hands on you under perfectly legitimate circumstances... From here on out the investigation will be all too easy for him to manipulate in his favour..
And against your own..

You sit, meditative and quiet in the back of the dark, unmarked van.. Trying to mentally visualise the path you're being taken on through the city streets with each tilt and sway of the road.. You have a dreaded feeling that you know exactly where you're headed..
The abandoned industrial district, and a particular favoured interrogation location for Elijah..

When the van doors open and two men clamber in, lifting you to your feet to pull you out, you don't fight them.. With your wrists cuffed tightly behind your back, there is little you could realistically do against so many trained assailants..
There must be at least six guards surrounding you and you count another six as they shove you out into the gritty alleyway..

From a grimy grey door built into the brickwork, Mack Fletcher pokes his ugly, crooked toothed grin.. "Well, well, well.. If it isn't little Ellie-D.." He taunts with a low-bred jeer..

You smile sarcastically while he makes a disgusting phlegmmy sound in the back of his throat before spitting at your feet.. You never managed to get anything to stick to Fletcher, but you brought him in for questioning enough times to be more familiar than you'd like with the guy.. "Charming as ever I see, Mack.. Does Angelo know you're the one who's been holding his daughter hostage? ..I'm sure the godfather will be displeased when he finds out.."

He comes to stand over you, puffing his chest out.. Your best guess is he's trying to intimidate you.. But.. He's going to have to work a lot harder to scare you.. "You're assuming that he ever finds out.. Argh, Ya won't be so tough when the bossman is finished with ya, bitch.." He nods his head towards the doorway and the two hooded guards on either side of you, drag you into the old abandoned factory...

Immediately your eyes go to the limp, lifeless form of your former partner, dangling from his wrists in the centre of the factory floor.. Chains lash his arms tight above his head as he hangs suspended from the steel framework above..
He looks as though he's been here a while.. No wonder you couldn't find Charlie.. He's been here.. This whole time..

Your heart sinks..

His beefy upper body is exposed, and you can see the blackened bruises mottled across his ribcage.. Beside him, a second set of chains dangle and immediately you know how the next chapter of this insane nightmare is going to play out..

Those chains are for you..

You're trained to withstand torture.. Ironically, by the very same man who you know is just on the other side of that grimy grey door, that is probably about to administer a world of pain..

There are only three guards around you at the moment.. The rest are still outside, most likely being debriefed by Elijah.. You probably won't get this opportunity again, so as futile as your efforts might be, you have to fight..
You have to try..

The second the first guard unlocks the handcuffs to transfer you to the chains, you throw your head back, butting his chin so hard you hear the guy's jaw crunch behind you.. You launch yourself on the second guard, climbing him like a possessed, satanic spider monkey, wrapping an arm around his neck and constricting his airflow, squeezing as tight as you possibly can..
Just as you feel him beginning to sag beneath you, a sharp prod in your back followed by the high voltage dose of a taser, sets your body on fire..
Muscles seizing and burning in agony before you slip from consciousness, letting the thick velvety darkness take you away from the pain..