Chapter three; Gone
I gasped and shot up, the world was still spinning and the floorboards in the room I sat in seemed to rock back and forth. I hadn't even remembered getting hit in the back of the head. The room was dark and the floor was sticky, I rubbed the substance between my fingertips to find fresh dripping down my fingertips. I touched the back of my head to find an open wound caked in fresh crusty blood, shit this was bad.
"M-Mike? Mikey…?" I glanced around as my bleary eyes blinked, as I searched for a light source. After a moment or so they adjusted, the room I was in wasn't that big and it seemed to be an abandoned apartment on the second floor of the building, judging by the near sound of sirens I was still somewhere on the bad side of town. There was though, no sign of my beloved collegue. "Mike? Mike!" I tried again but I was alone in the room, I gathered all my senses and scrambled to my feet. Where was he? What did they do to him?
I pounded against the door. "Dammit! Where's Mike?" No answer. Hell there wasn't even any traces of feet on the other side of the thin wall. They wanted me alive to shake the bureau well it was fucking working. "Please let him go! I'll do anything! Anything dammit, the kid doesn't deserve this!" I rested my head against the wood of the door, the room filled with empty sounds that began suffocating me from the inside out. Why Mike? Why not me, and how could Felix do that to the kid after he saved his family?
The floorboards creaked with unfamiliar weight followed by multiple pairs of feet shaking the building like a brutal storm. I jolted away from the door, my heartbeat rising to my ears; there was no protection in here, no weapons – not even a goddamned lamp! I raised my fist as the footsteps drew closer, they were in front of my door now, their shadows casting over the only light I was provided with as the nob was turned several times. My palms began to sweat, I couldn't die, it wasn't my time! The door flung open, "Johnny?!"
Too late, I hurtled my fist forward at the incoming attacker, not my smartest move as I miscalculated the situation and the attacker shot back; shutting the door ever so slightly so my head smacked into it full force. "Motherfucker!" I yelled, the sharp corner catching right under my hairline as the cut began spewing thick red blood.
"Jesus Johnny it's me!" That was Jakes, and I stepped back holding two fingers to the head wound, damn that was really embarassing. Though I had no time to feel embarrassed before my mind was flashing back to Mike.
"Shit where's Mike?"
Jakes stepped back looking slightly confused followed by the rest of the S.W.A.T. team. "He's not with you?"
"He's not with you?!"
"I thought he was with you," this was really going nowhere and it certainly wasn't helping Mike's cause. A few more minutes of arguing about where the hell Levi/Mike Warren was and I was in the S.W.A.T. truck so fast I didn't even apologize for barreling down the stairs knocking multiple S.W.A.T. members out of the way.
Paige bolted into the truck crying, she didn't cry much but there were her puffy usually devious yet sparkling eyes and make up was smeared down her face like she was a member of the band KISS. "Johnny!" She embraced my small form into her arms and I let her hold up my trembling body for mere minutes before setting her aside. "What happened?" She pulled back a little and tried to hide the fact she was crying, we all new her and Mike were close and how hard this must have been.
"We were playing our cards right, juggled some names and we had a quick meet with someone low down. We were just going to scope out the battlefield, you know? Suddenly the meet is rescheudulaed and six guys come in with heat ready to take out the sun! Mikey and I tried to cover it up – play the game – and we did! It didn't matter though cause that dumb son of a bitch Aurroyo sold us out flat and before we knew it lights out!" My heart pounded like it was all a nightmare, wake up; I kept telling myself, wake up! My head throbbed and world somersaulted through space – it seemed like an enternity since Mike and I had gone surfing this very morning but time was traveling way to fast at the moment and my adrehnalin was through the roof. My throat felt raw and dry like I was chocking on a bag of nails. "W-We need to find Mike! Who knows what they could be doing to them!"
"We're going to find him baby." Charlie whispered soothingly, trying to keep her cool but she breaking apart just as fast as the rest of us. My body rocked back and forth in a never ending notian, if only we hadn't taken the job—we'd be laughing, drinking beer on the beach, my arm around Charlie and my feet in Mikey's lap forcing him even closer to Paige yet not even daring to separate from him. It would all be all right if only I hadn't taken the job….
Jakes was pacing and Paige was sobbing softly into Charlie's shoulder by the time Briggs casually strolled into the S.W.A.T. truck, sure we had an A.P.B. out for Mike across the whole of California but Briggs could at least act upset about the loss of his trainee!
Nope not Briggs, all he did was pat me on the shoulder and murmur a "we'll find him John." Maybe I'd been able to shake it off if it were anyone else it danger, but not Mike – not Mike and Briggs had taken things too far. Actually the more I thought about it the more I began to contemplate that the cage rattling idea this was all in Briggs' plan to get what he wanted from the Caza Cartle: Jangles. I should try to understand his position and the fact that Jangles sliced the man to ruins but I couldn't; my mixture of pain and anger sent me sprawling to conclusions that later I would prove to be true because no one puts Mike in the corner like that – no one brushed him off to the side. Mike was going to die and I might not have been the only one to blame. I could feel his bones crunch as my powerful fist made contact with Briggs' face….
"Wake up!" Cold water was splashed over my face sending icecycles down my spine.
"Dammit!" I hissed my eyes popping open only to find a dark room in what smelt like an old warehouse around the marina's docks. I could smell fish, and truck loads of salt; and blood…. I winced at the tall dark figure in front of me, a mask clung to his scruffy face and his eyes were cold and menacing enough to make blood rain from the sky. The man drew his knife from his belt and nailed me in the face so hard my lip slit open and blood spurted out. I grit my teeth and spoke with any remains of calmness I had left. "I don't care what you do to me; I'm not going to talk."
There was a chuckling sound behind me and I tried to jerk my head around but the chair I was chained to didn't budge. I dug my fingernails into the hard wood as the scrawny druggie from before paced in from behind, a devious smirk plastered on his smug. "So nice of you to finally join us Agent Warren."
"What do you want from me? Do you want us to leave behind all the cases on Caza because the bureau wouldn't dare; they'd rather see my head on a stick so don't even bother." I hissed out, blood staining my teeth red.
"Maybe you're right maybe you're wrong," he sighed but that smirk never left his fox shaped face. "Any excuse to torture someone, eh Jangles?" Keys rattled in response as the masked killer circled us like a tiger scoping out the vulnerability of it's prey.
"If I die that's one more thing the bureau has on you, the whole department's looking for me right now!" I pressed trying to hide how desperately I needed a sense of remorse – a sense of anything!
"That's just part of the fun Agent Warren because you see no matter what you do or say; we're not going to let you leave this place alive." He slammed both hands on the arms of the chair I sat in, his breath reeked and I cringed away from his blackened smile as he dug his fingernails into my skin. My blood turned to ice and my vision blurred with the overpowering raw animal fear I was now experiencing; I could get out of this right? They would find me… right?
"N-no! This isn't supposed to be happening!" I screamed, "Help dammit! Someone!" I glanced frantically around the warehouse but there was no sigh any of life outside.
"Scream all you want Agent Warren but no one will come!" The druggie called vaguely in my direction as he gestured to Jangles to go into one of the large storage boxes and I few moments later he was dragging a scrawny but muscular looking teen. For the moment the killer was no longer paying attention on hurting myself but I quickly realized that now two lives were on the line and I couldn't just give up. The teen was dragged towards an empty chair a few meters away from mine, dust and blood coated the boy but when his golden brown eyes snapped open my heart sailed into my throat. He kicked Jangles hard in the knee before nailing him in the side of the face so hard blood instantly gushed out of his forehead. He took off towards the exit of the metal warehouse, and for a moment he was free; perfectly and utterly free until Jangles drew his handgun and shot the kid in the shoulder with a bang. He was thrown forward as the bullet made contact with his shoulder and was dead before his body hit the ground. Or so, for a moment I thought he was, my breath was clogged in my throat and I was caught between screaming and crying in horror. He teen then flinched and struggled onto his side, one hand protectively over his shoulder as blood seeped onto the floor and into his close. "Is that the best you got you fucking asshole?" He taunted his eyes cloaked with pain but his voice remained steady.
"Get him into the chair!" The druggie commanded shooting a finger in my direction and Jangles obeyed; stalking over to where the teen lay in a crimpled heap.
"That's a good boy, obey your master like a trained little dog." He snarled out and the killer clipped him in the side of the jaw. "Bite me." The teen was chained down into the chair at last and suddenly the attention was on me again.
I shrank back against the cold metal but I kept my voice firm, "lay off the kid, it's me you want."
"Oh don't worry Special Agent Michael Warren I'd never forget about you." The druggie purred as Jangles dug his blade hard across my upper arm and I cried out as the blade torn through muscle as blood fountained out. My head felt light with pain and suddenly a different knife with curves on the end like fishhooks was slowly digging into the waist and then across my chest. The knife was dropped somewhere between the scrapbook of fleshy wounds he was craving into skin and he was hitting my in the face with firm knuckles, my nose cracked, my jaw shattered, blood oozed from my body and he continued to punch me until blood was all I could taste. My eyes were fluttering, suddenly I wanted it to end, I gave up that anyone would here me.
Just kill me, get it over with.
I didn't mind.
Graceland wouldn't miss me I was still too green.
They'll find another replacement, it's not like they wouldn't all hate me anyways after what I've done, why I was really placed here to investigate Briggs.
Paige would never forgive me.
No one would mind so just end me; the world was spinning.
Suddenly I was flying, the pain was unbarable, and I felt as if the whole weight of the bureau had come crashing down onto my shoulders leaving me to rot in the rubble. Though, it didn't really matter anymore because I knew I was done. I blacked out.
I was tried of lying….
Oh shit, what'll happen next to Merciless Mike?
How is Johnny going to handle the weight of the blame of loosing Mike?
Find out next chapter!
Love you all!
~DodgeValentine