Warning – Violent Content
***
Rudolf entered the room quite sure his prisoner was ready for his session. After four days of deprival, Frank Donovan would be beyond exhausted, hungry, and thirsting, as he had never thirsted. By the time Rudolf was through with him, he would be as weak as a baby. "Get him off the bed and into that chair. Tie his hands behind the chair back and his ankles to its legs."
Nick stared blankly as the two helper goons untied him from the bed and then dragged his filthy carcass over to a chair and bound him as instructed. In his mind he had spent many an hour going through things in his life. He clung desperately to the thin hope that he would make it out of this mess alive and with his mind still intact. He closed his eyes and saw Michelle's face. Stay with me, baby, he begged silently.
Rudolf noted the empty expression Donovan wore. "You stink like the filthy animal you are," he commented, disgusted. He noted Donovan made no indication he heard. "This can end, if you answer my question."
Silence.
"Your silence only forces me to punish you. Is that what you want?" When he received no answer, he nodded to Rusty who landed blow after blow to Nick's jaw and face.
Nick grunted with each blow that landed and rocked his head from side to side. He had been in plenty of fights growing up, as most boys have, but had never taken a beating. He grew dizzy with each punch and the pain increased as cuts opened on his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes again, envisioning Michelle holding her arms outstretched. She enveloped him in her loving and comforting embrace. "Hold on, Nicky...hold on," she whispered to him.
Rudolph held up a hand, stopping the beating. "Would you care to talk to me now? Is there a name rolling around in that tired little brain of yours that you'd like to share?" He sighed when he received no response. "Very well, my friend. You leave me no choice."
Reaching behind him, he lifted a stun gun from the table and tossed it to Jimmy. Jimmy flipped the unit on, set it to a lower level stun, and waved it before Nick's face.
Nick followed it with his eyes, but made no sound. What could he tell them? He had absolutely no knowledge of his cousin's activities, nor did he have any idea who this Sonny Walker was. Jimmy jabbed the gun into his shoulder and zapped the charge. Nick jumped and shook in the chair, his teeth rattled slightly, but made no attempt to speak. In his mind, he sank further into his vision. He felt Michelle's embrace tighten, as if holding him together.
Rudolf grew impatient. "Use it right, you moron!" He wrenched the stunner from Jimmy's hand and placed it to Donovan's chest and raised the setting a notch. "Does your wife play with your nipples, Agent Man? Do you like the feel of her wet tongue circling them? Nipping them with her teeth?" He slid the gun over Donovan's muscles and settled over the left nipple. "Do you cry out for her?" he asked through clenched teeth and triggered the mechanism.
Nick convulsed as the current tore through the sensitive nerve endings and rippled through his chest and arms. He groaned painfully and bit his tongue violently with the effort of maintaining control.
Rudolf noted the trickle of blood that flowed from the corner of the Fed's mouth. "Have any Sonny news for me yet?"
Nick groaned agonizingly and tossed his head from side to side. Absently he noted the horrid stick man set the stun gun back on the table before moving behind his chair. Thank God, he thought briefly before realizing the man would only move on to his next torture device.
Reaching into his back pocket, Rudolf removed his favorite item. A simple little plastic bag; so simple, and yet it could destroy life in such a short amount of time. Without warning, Rudolf opened the bag and slid it quickly over Donovan's head, pulling it tightly closed around his throat.
Nick gasped and his eyes bulged as he struggled uselessly against his bonds. He strained for every ounce of oxygen the bag contained, but knew his time was short. As he gasped for the last and felt consciousness slip away, the bag was suddenly removed.
Rudolf waited until he heard Donovan gasp in fresh oxygen. He once again picked up the stun gun and held it loosely in his hand. In his other hand he gripped a portrait sized photograph. Circling around to face his captive, he smiled sickly. "Such a beautiful family you have," Rudolf commented and shoved the photo toward the Fed.
"I...I..." Nick panted as he looked upon the photograph. Frank, Shay, and their three children. How could he make this man understand he knew nothing?
"What? You what? Want to tell me everything before I destroy your family along with you? That would be most wise," Rudolf insisted.
"I'm ...I'm telling you...the truth. I'm not who...who you think...I am. My name is..."
"Frank Donovan of the Justice Department. Yes, I know!"
"Nicholas Kokoris....not...not...Frank!" he spat tiredly. "Please..."
"Please? Please....you sniveling pile of shit! Can't you do better than please!?" Rudolf tossed the photograph and grabbed the plastic bag. He snapped it open with a flick of his wrist and slid it back over the agent's head, leaving the opening loose for him to breath. For now. "Tell me what I want to know, you festering slime hole!"
"I...ta-told you...I am not who you tha-think," he stammered despairingly.
Rudolf growled and clenched his fist just under the agent's chin, effectively closing the bag and cutting off his supply of oxygen. At the same time he shoved the stun gun between the man's legs. "That was the wrong answer," he stated coolly and triggered the unit.
If Nick thought he had felt pain before in his life, it was negligible compared to what he was now experiencing. He screamed ear-shatteringly as the pain ripped from his nether region and spread through his entire body.
Rudolf grinned wickedly. The man's screams were only mildly muffled by the plastic that was quickly suffocating him. He pulled the stunner away and tossed it onto the table, all the while laughing as the pitiful excuse for a man slumped into unconsciousness. He pulled the bag away just before his captive's life slipped away. This weakling could not handle a proper torture. He would have to let him rest a short while before he resumed his task. "Fucking pansy," he spat and slapped the agent's unconscious face for good measure before leaving the room.
Losing consciousness was an escape from the horror of torture, and Nick welcomed it. He slumped willingly into the void, knowing Michelle would be there to heal him.
***
The team headed to the local FBI offices where a small office had been cleared for them to work from. Cody quickly logged into the government database, checking for any local connections to Patriaka's 'former' associates.
Alex paced the small area anxiously. If she did not know better, she would think she was taking Frank's place as the pacer, since Frank was being forced to remain as stationary as possible by his mother hen wife. She was about to make her umpteenth pass over the small carpet when her phone began its annoying chirp. "Cross."
"If it isn't the Money Lady."
Alex's eyes widened, recognizing the voice. "How'd you get this number?"
"We have a mutual acquaintance, remember? Listen, Doll, I don't have much time. Put Mr. Cool on the line."
Frank looked up when Alex stopped her pacing and stood directly in front of him. He frowned as he accepted her cell phone. "Donovan."
"Warehouse District on the north side of the Bay Bridge," the voice on the other end of the line said calmly.
"Excuse me?" Frank replied, his brow arching reflexively.
"You heard me. Heard through the grapevine you were in the hands of one of Patriaka's goons."
"Obviously not," Frank spat irritably. "What do you know, Sonny?"
"That Patriaka believes you are in the capable hands of Rudolf. The meanest sonofabitch he has on his payroll."
Frank heard Sonny release a sigh. His own patience was growing thin. If Sonny knew something, he wished he would just spit it out. "You've already said he thinks he has me. What else do you have?"
"All I know is that he is holding someone. No matter who is being held, the poor bastard is in for a hurting. You're running out of time, Donovan."
"And I should believe you, why?" Sonny Walker helping him? Who would have ever thought it?
"After you and your team laid your lives on the line for me? Why would I lie to you? Check out the warehouse district. You might find something you like."
"Wait..."
"Check it out, Donovan."
"What the...?" Frank asked of no one in particular.
"What did he want, Frank?" Shay questioned, after he ended the call. She had watched him closely during the call. Alex had whispered to her who the caller was, and by the reaction on Frank's face, Sonny had given him some disturbing news.
He offered her a brief smile. " Cody, check the lessee's and owners of the warehouses on the north side of the Bay Bridge."
"Uh...okay. What's up?" he asked, wondering what prompted that order out of leftfield.
"Check it and run the names against known Patriaka associates." Frank saw Cody nod and begin clicking away at the keyboard. Whatever information they could turn up from their unexpected 'informant's' call, he hoped it would lead them to Nick...and that he was still alive.
--
After disconnecting the call with Donovan, Sonny moved outside to the sun porch of his modest home and sat in the recliner to relax. He missed little about his former life of crime. The only thing he did miss was the people he considered his family. Over the years, he had formed very few close relationships with people and those he had were usually ended in death. A lonely existence for the most hardened of hearts.
He sighed as his thoughts turned to Jake Shaw and wondered where things would be between them if Jake had not turned out to be an undercover snitch. That knowledge still caused a twinge of heartache for Sonny, having developed a familial bond with the kid. He often thought they were two sides of the same coin. One had chosen easy money over the more righteous and tougher road. Being bad was uncomplicated; being on the good side of the law was never easy. It could be easy, if you dealt in black and white, but real life was shaded in grays of a thousand different hues.
When he heard word through the seedy end of the grapevine that Patriaka had received a certain visitor in prison, he knew something was up. Sonny was no fool, he never deceived himself into believing he would never be hunted for his part in bringing down Patriaka's Empire.
There are always repercussions. Patriaka learned that the hard way when he murdered Carly. Donovan was learning that lesson now. Donovan had been honorable, stood up against the corruption in his own department, and protected him when others might have let him die.
Sonny closed his eyes and rested his head against the recliner. It had not taken much to find out where Rudolf was holding his new project. He only hoped Donovan and his team could get to him in time. He knew Rudolf's reputation and felt a spasm of pity for the man, whoever he was. That the man was mistaken for Donovan intrigued Sonny. He knew Rudolf's reputation and he would not make a mistake that careless. Whoever the poor sap was, he was in for a wakeup call into a world he would never dream of, not even in his worst nightmare. He would be a changed man and it would take a strong woman to deal with those changes.
As he drifted off toward a light sleep, he silently wished the team luck.
***
To be continued...