Chapter Two
"Charming man," the voice said to Ryo. Not just a voice to him, but a man with cold, grey eyes and a shaved head, staring down at him with just that bit too much intensity to make his gaze turn from focused to creepy. "Bit rough around the edges, but I guess that has a charm on it's own."
Ryo glared and spit on the ground he was kneeling on. He had attempted getting up two times before, but the blows to his face had made it clear that wasn't desired behavior from a captive and as, in turn, Ryo didn't desire getting slapped around, he stayed down now. With his hands tied together behind his back, palms facing outside, it wasn't as if he would have many more options on his feet. It was just a matter of pride.
Staying down didn't mean he had given up yet, though. He'd pretty much extracted the promise from Dee, and while the other man had undoubtedly been unhappy about it, Ryo knew he'd keep his word.
"Ýou are quite selfless, detective, telling your partner not to give up those files. Surely you don't value them higher than your life?" A short, harsh laugh and a moment later, Ryo's own gun was trained at him, the cold muzzle pressing against his forehead. "Or do you think you're immortal?"
Dark eyes narrowed even if his heart was beating harder in his chest at the feel of his gun pressed against his head. Nothing like...an entirely different feeling than when Dee had done something similar. More a chill inside than the warm rush of heat as his partner stepped closer. "No, just confident. Kill me, you lose your leverage." He pointed out.
"Smart guy," the bald man said, trailing the gun down the side of his face, a smirk appearing on his lips. "There are things we can do though, that are much worse than simply killing you. I'm sure you are aware of that, detective. Tell me..." He pulled the gun back and turned, gesturing to the towering man, skin tan by birth more than sun, who had hit Ryo before, "Do you think your partner is a smart guy, too, or should we give him a sign on how serious we are?"
The dark man smiled down at him, too wide to seem friendly, with an edge that was threatening. A metallic flick and quite suddenly, the edge of a knife was threatening to cut through the skin on Ryo's right cheek.
Ryo wasn't about to let himself be intimidated. Scratch that, anyone with half a brain would be nervous around someone that big and muscular pulling a knife out when they were bound. But he didn't let it show. At least, he tried not to, glaring up at the one talking to him and obviously calling the shots. "I"m sure he's quite aware. He deals with people like you everyday." And so do I. He clenched his jaw and turned his head to keep pressure of the blade off his skin.
"I see... I still wonder whether we should take our chances. After all, you told him not to give us the files." A hand clenching in Ryo's hair pulled his head back and the tip of the knife slowly ran along his neck.
"I'd be holding still now, if I were you." The dark man's voice was right by his ear, low and too intimate, with a hard to place accent.
Further away and, in contrast to the other man, in a detached, business-like manner, the bald man continued, "We might have to convince your partner not to listen to you. You clearly don't know what's best for you."
It was less the words and more the knife running along his neck that made Ryo hold as still as possible. He felt vulnerable the way he had to tilt his head a little to try and keep pressure from cutting his skin. Or so he hoped. The voice in his ear made the little hair on the back of his neck stand up and little goose bumps run along his arms. Too low, too intimate, and dangerous.
"Tell me, detective. Do you think your partner is going to listen to me or to you?" Kneeling on the ground, with his head forced back and the look on his face, failing to hide his fear, he had a hard time being as sure of his partner as he wanted to be.
Ryo growled, and as much as he wanted to say Dee would listen to him, he wasn't so sure. "You've made your point." He tried to glare at the man but it wasn't easy when his head was held back like that. "If you hurt me, he certainly isn't going to listen to you anymore."
"Why not? Seems like it would be a good incentive for him to hurry up and behave, don't you think?" A smirk appeared on the man's face for a moment and he took a step back.
"Milosh, get him to the backroom."
The delightful chuckle that order drew from the man with the knife wasn't very confidence inducing. Milosh, as captor number two was obviously called used his grip on Ryo's hair to make him get up.
"Come on, copper. We haven't got all night."
"You might just," the bald man mumbled, looking at Ryo's cellphone in his hand. Milosh smirked even wider.
Ryo winced and bit back a yelp as he was pulled up by his hair and struggled to his feet. The bindings of his wrist held, and it was impossible to even try finagling a way out of them with his palms outward like that. Milosh, tugged him toward the door behind them, but he tried to keep an eye on his phone for as long as he could to see if they were going to call Dee again. Just as the bald man lifted it to his ear, the door was shut and he lost sight of him.
The backroom was small, without windows, and just a single light-bulb to keep it from total darkness. Ryo was alone in the room with Milosh. He couldn't hear the other's voice through the metal door. That usually meant no one would be able to hear him on the outside, either.
"So, let's have fun," Milosh said and finally let go of his hair, giving him a hard shove between the shoulderblades that caused him to stumble further into the room. Somehow he doubted that he and Milosh had the same idea of fun.