Captured: Hitman Duet, #2

1

Cash

The stench of urine invades my nostrils as I enter the room. Jesus Christ, he hasn’t even been here three hours yet and already the fucker has pissed himself. Tut-tut Dave, you sure are scared. I let out a maniacal laugh. He probably thinks that I’ve lost my ever-loving mind and I have. Ever since Lucy was killed, I haven’t been the same. So far, I have had the Judge killed and I’ve been on the hunt for the fucker that started this all, Henry Colin. The bastard has managed to out-wit Argos’ attempts at locating him. But, there’s someone who knows where he is and that fucker is sitting in the chair in front of me smelling of urine.

Who the hell are you? He flinches as I walk closer to him. I grabbed him from Henry’s house, he was coming out with files and there was no way in hell I was ever going to let him walk away. I need to know where Henry is and I need to know today! What do you want? He sounds like a fucking girl, almost as if he’s going to cry.

I’m your worst motherfucking nightmare. You have some information that I want and you have a choice on how I get it. 

What information would I have that would be of interest to someone like you? The asshole actually sneers at me.

Someone like me? Let me tell you something about people like me! We kill fuckers like you for fun. Bastards who are nobody’s. That shuts him the hell up. Now, your choice; you can either tell me what I want and your death will be painless or you don’t tell me and I torture the ever loving shit out of you. By the end of it I’ll know everything I want and you’ll be begging me to end your pathetic life.

What do you want to know? He sneers yet again at me; he’s a brave, brave man. 

Where is Henry Colin?

That’s Senator, to you. He curtly tells me, almost as if it’s ingrained in him. 

No, he used to be a senator, that was, until we all found out the truth; which is: the old bastard is a fucking pedophile. Now, where is he? I grit my teeth, if I don’t this bastard could lose his life a lot quicker than expected.

He’s not a ped… he’s not! It was a misunderstanding, that’s all. His stepdaughter got the wrong idea, she jumped to conclusions. A conclusion which has caused irrefutable damage to the senator. Now that she’s dead, the senator can try and work through this mess. 

I don’t even hesitate, my hands are wrapped around his throat and I’m squeezing hard, this asshole is deluded and I’m wasting my time. Three months, three fucking months I’ve been looking for these bastards and he’s acting as though nothing’s happened. 

Hades… The slight nervousness in Argos’ voice has me regretfully letting go of this bastard’s neck and looking up. Argos looks sick. What the hell has he just found? Ignoring the spluttering coming from the fucking idiot, I walk out of the room following Argos out of the basement and up the stairs of our new lair. We enter his office and he sits down. I watch his leg begin to shake and I know whatever he’s found, it’s about Lucy. Ha… He doesn’t know what to say, which is a first for him.

Spit it the fuck out. You interrupted my play time.

Fuck… Hades…. Shit. I watch him grit his teeth and before I get a chance to say anything, he finally spits it out. I found a video of the auction. Fuck Hades, it’s of Lucy. 

Play it.

Cash, I’m telling you man, you don’t want to see that. He’s pleading with me and that can only mean one thing; someone hurt Lucy.

Play it! I grit out, I need to watch this. I need to see what those bastards did to her.

He looks as though he’s about to protest, that is until his cell rings. He gets a funny look when he sees who’s calling but he doesn’t answer. You always have to be pig headed, don’t you? I’m going out. I’ll be back in a few hours. He taps away on the keyboard and a video pops up on the screen. Just hit play. And he’s gone. 

I look at the screen and my heart starts to pound and my palms are sweating. Fuck, don’t be such a chicken-shit. Great, I’m talking to myself, as Argos says it’s one of the first signs of going crazy. I know that I am going crazy! All my thoughts are centered on Lucy and getting revenge for all those bastards who made her live in fear, who was involved in the selling of young girls. I won’t stop until I kill every single one of them.

 I walk over to the computer and reach for the keyboard, my hands won’t stop shaking, I press the start button and instantly I see Lucy. She’s lying on a table that’s on one side of the room. She’s tied up and men are circling around her. Bile rises in my throat as I see one man touching her. I can see that she’s trying to get away. I see her body struggle but she can’t move, her restraints are keeping her tied down. Reaching for the trashcan, I lean over and throw up as I see the same man lean down and put his mouth around her breast. 

I have to replay it as I missed some; I know that what I’m doing isn’t healthy. It’s making things worse. I rewind to where that fucker gets off her just as that bastard Luis St. Clair comes up beside her. He too starts to touch her. His finger moving down toward her underwear, he circles around her pussy and I ball my fists up and continue to watch. I watch as everyone runs out of the room and I know that it’s due to the cops being on their way. That being said, we need to find the mole in the MPDC. They were obviously tipped off and I know that Argos won’t rest until he finally finds out who the rat is.

Lucy is rushed out of the room with a robe around her and I know what happens next. That fucker takes a gun and shoots her. I’ve spent the past three months wishing that I hadn’t killed the bastard, that I had brought the bastard underground and tortured the shit out of him just as I’m being tortured now.  I replay her final breath along with replaying her trying to communicate that she loves me, every day over and over in my head. Every day I wonder what I could have done to save her, if there was anything I could have done differently. I let myself feel the pain of losing her and it completely overtakes me. I scream and lose myself in the grief.

I feel arms around me, pulling me from this grief, Hades… Cash, man you have to calm down.  I try and shrug him off but the tightening of his arms makes sure I can’t go anywhere. You good, man? He asks once I finally stop struggling, I nod letting him know that I’m okay. Can I let you go now?

Yes, I don’t need you to hold my hand. He releases me and I look around the room. I have completely destroyed his office; I mean there is not a thing left untouched. Including his computer and laptops, damn, this is going to cost me a fucking fortune to get fixed. Since when did you become the Hulk? Have you been lifting weights? He’s never been able to hold me off before. 

No asshole, I haven’t. You’re one to talk, calling me the Hulk, take a look at yourself. You’re buying me new a fucking computer and new laptops. Geez, he’s uptight.

Yeah, yeah, whatever… Now please tell me you know who the hell the asshole in the video is… and why he looks so fucking familiar?

No… shit Hades, I watched that video. I was sick as a dog watching it. Knowing what happened to her afterwards…. He shakes his head and he’s right, her final moments before her death were full of fear. I haven’t had the chance to identify him and you’re right, I know that I know who it is, but his name won’t come to me. He looks defeated and that isn’t the Argos I know. The man I know, he doesn’t accept defeat, nothing can beat him and he thrives at a challenge.

Do you have a picture of the bastard?

He looks around the room looking over all the carnage and walks over to the corner of the room. He picks up some papers and looks through them until he comes across what he was looking for. He passes me the picture and as soon as I see his face, all the anger I had let out has built back up again. I storm out of the office and down to the basement.

I open the door to the basement and the asshole scrambles backward. The fear on his face is evident. No matter what, he’s a dead man but I’m going to get what I want from him first. Walking up to him I wrap my hand around his neck and squeeze, his face goes red and I smile. Good, you understand that I can kill you with one hand. Now blink twice if you’re ready to answer my questions… He doesn’t even wait for me to finish my sentence before the fucker is blinking twice. If you don’t, I will hurt you. He blinks twice again and I release his neck and throw him to the floor. He lands with a jarring thud. I let out a sadistic laugh as he scurries backwards until his back hits the wall.

Where is Henry Colin? I ask him and it’s like déjà vu. How many times do I have to ask this fucking asshole where the pedophile is?

He’s in the Hamptons, he squeaks out and I’m not that shocked. He’s rich and what do the rich do when they’re caught? Go on the run where the other rich fuckers are. He went far enough, over four hundred and fifty miles; he doesn’t want to be found, tough luck. I’m coming for him.

Good, now do you know who this is? I show him the picture that Argos gave me.

I see the instant recognition in his eyes. He really needs to learn how to hide his emotions. I can see he’s thinking of lying to me, he’s contemplating if it will be worth it or not. Brandon Carmichael, he’s chief justice of the United States. Fuck, of course it is! I knew that I recognized the bastards face, fuck; they have everyone in play in this sick and twisted fucking ring.

You’re safe…. I tell him and watch as his whole body deflates and I see hope in his eyes, For now. I walk out of the basement, leaving on that bombshell. I don’t need to see the terror on his face as I can feel it in the air.

Walking upstairs, I look around the house to see where Argos is; I can hear his voice but not what he’s saying. He must be on his cell, so I follow the sound of his voice out onto the veranda. No, I won’t be able to come today… I know. I’m sorry, but it has to be this way…. I will, I promise… Be safe and say hi to your dad for me… Bye. He hangs up and turns to face me but as soon as he sees me all I see is sheer panic.

Who was that? I ask and watch as his face heats up, he looks embarrassed. You have a woman and you never told me?

He laughs, but it doesn’t seem real, he quickly changes the subject, Did Dave give you any information?

Yes, Henry’s in the Hamptons and the man we couldn’t remember is Brandon Carmichael. 

He lets out a low whistle, Damn, is there anyone that’s not connected to this twisted thing? What do you need? There is the Argos I know. This is what we both need, we both need to find these bastards and get revenge.

I want to know where in the Hamptons Henry is and I want a full report on Carmichael. 

Umm, you do realize that you completely trashed my office. I don’t have a computer. He bitches at me with a big smile.

Go and fucking get one. I’m going to find out where the hell Carmichael is. He’s got to be in his office sometime fucking soon. When I find him, he’s going to regret what he fucking did to Lucy.

2

Cash

"Hades, I’ve hacked into his schedule. He’s got an appointment in thirty minutes and then he’s finished for the day, Argos says in my ear as the fucker types away on his keyboard. I swear he bought an extra fucking loud one just to piss me off. He and his wife of fifteen years are currently going through a very nasty divorce. She’s filed due to his infidelities with his secretaries; she wants fifteen million along with three houses and the holiday home in Cancun."

Oh, for fuck sake, I don’t want to know about his divorce. Will she be at his house? God, you’d think by now he’d have learned to filter this shit out. I don’t need to know the full details. All he had to say was that the fucker is going through a divorce.

No, she won’t; she’s at her mom’s. She’s been there for the past eight months. He starts tapping away again and I’m seriously tempted to break the fucking thing when I get back. Oh and by the way, you owe me ten grand!

What the fuck for? 

For my computer and two laptops. He’s an asshole, who the hell spends ten-fucking-grand on a few crappy computers?

Where the hell did you buy them from? NASA?  I’m not fucking paying it; who the hell needs three computers anyway?

Ha-ha, you’re hilarious, you broke them... 

Shut the hell up. How is this asshole involved in this fucking ring? I cut through what was going to be his stupid lecture.

Yeah, he and that fucking Callahan bitch were friends. He was also friends with Judge Payne and no doubt he also knows Henry and St. Clair. They probably all met up at a convention, the sick bastards. I can tell by the way he’s talking that he’s gritting his teeth. Just like me, he can’t wait until these fuckers have been brought down.

Bastards, they should have all been fucking put down at birth. How much longer is this asshole going to be? I’m sick of fucking waiting. I don’t think I have ever wanted to kill anyone as much as I want to kill Brandon Carmichael; Henry is a very close second.

I’m hacking into the feed to his office to see what the hell is happening. Again, he starts to tap away on that fucking keyboard; I really do think he pounds on them a lot harder than is needed. I hear him chuckling and it irritates me. There is nothing to laugh at, the longer I sit out here waiting the more chance there is of me being spotted. So… he’s in a meeting.

Fucking hell! Who’s he meeting?

His secretary’s pussy. The fucker actually snickers as he says it.

Change of plan, where is the wife exactly? 

What the fuck do you mean change of plan? You can’t be serious Hades. I’ve spent ages trying to get everything I could on that bastard. I have to pull the mic out of my ear as his voice raises at least three octaves.

I quickly put the mic back in, Well asshole, I want to know exactly where his fucking wife is. I know exactly how I’m going to get the truth.

Why on earth do you want to know where the wife is? Why the hell does he have to question me?

She was married to the asshole for ten years…

Fifteen…, the fucker cuts me off before I can finish my sentence and to make it worse, he interrupts me with pointless shit. 

Ten, fifteen, it doesn’t fucking matter. She knows him and she has to know everything about him. I want to know who else is part of this fucking sick ring. It’s time to flush out everyone else. 

What the hell are you going to do with her Hades? For the first time, he sounds as though he doesn’t know me. He seems scared.

Nothing, if the asshole does what I expect. Argos laughs, it’s a nervous one and I feel bad for him. This is something we don’t do, we don’t hurt innocent people. But it’s something we have to do, I need to finish this, I need to end this for Lucy. He hates the idea; yet he too wants this finished. Finding these people, it’s giving me a purpose, a way to function because if I didn’t have this I would be constantly drunk. 

I’ll find her and let you know. He starts to tap away again and I grit my teeth, I know that he’s doing it so he can find these people, but the noise is fucking irritating. Carmichael is on the move, I hear in my ear, right before the fucker walks outside. 

About motherfucking time, his secretary must be walking funny if he’s drilling her like that every day. I watch as Brandon gets into his car, I wait for five seconds after he drives off to follow him.

I’m sitting outside his fucking mansion. Why do all these assholes have huge houses? I’m waiting on Argos to tell me where Carmichael’s wife is. I need to nab Carmichael when I know his wife will be easy to grab too. The lights go on upstairs and I glance at the clock on the dashboard 20:08. God, I’ve been stuck outside this monstrosity of a house for almost two hours and that asshole Argos, still hasn’t gotten back to me about the wife. 

I’ve had enough waiting, Argos, did you forget that I’m fucking waiting?

I wish! You’re a demanding fucker! Get this, his wife; she’s on her way to meet him.

Great, that helps me out. When is she expected to be here?

She’s fifteen minutes out. You still haven’t said what you’re going to do to her? He’s worried; he thinks that I’ve lost the plot. Ever since Lucy died I’ve been on a mission and he thinks that I’m on a suicide mission. I’m not; I’m on a kill all mission. 

I don’t answer him, he’s better off not knowing and I’m not in the mood to be listening to him talk about morals. My fucking morals went out the fucking window when St. Clair killed Lucy. I start to drum my fingers against the steering wheel as I wait for Mrs. Carmichael to arrive. This, this waiting around is what kills me. My head fills with images of Lucy, her smile, the way she looked when she contemplated things. The way her eyes flashed when she was angry, how she completely lost herself in me and let go of her inhibitions. The sound of a car driving past pulls me from my thoughts. I see a black SUV drive up the driveway to Carmichael's house.

Argos, is that her? I ask, as no-one has exited the vehicle.

Oh, you can speak? Yes, that’s her. What are you going to do to her? He’s like a dog with a fucking bone.

I didn’t tell you for a fucking reason. I watch as Mrs. Carmichael exits the car and walks to the front door where the piece of shit is waiting for her. Cut all CCTV and have safe house C ready for me. I pull the com out of my ear and leave it in the car; I can’t have him distracting me.

I pull on my balaclava and make my way up to the house. The lights are on downstairs and I know that I have to be quick. Asshole left his door unlocked, that’s just an invitation to let me in. Opening the door, I hear talking coming from my left, Brandon, I’ve done as you’ve asked. Both the kids and I have moved back to DC.

You shouldn’t have taken them away from me in the first place! I hear the asshole scream at her.

Don’t, don’t you dare! This is all your fault, everything that has happened was because of you and your shitty choices. God, Brandon. You were the love of my life. I was so happy. We had a great life; beautiful kids, beautiful homes and I thought we had a happy marriage. You ruined that when you fucked that bimbo. Not to mention all the other shit you’ve done. Wow, Mrs. Carmichael has some pent-up anger.

What I do is none of your business Maggie. Why the hell are you complaining? I bought you everything you ever wanted. Why the hell are you so upset? You’ve got everything you dreamed of! 

This is getting annoying; I don’t want to listen to this shit. Pulling out my gun, I hold it up and walk toward the incessant arguing.  Maggie is the first one to spot me as the asshole has his back to me. I watch as the color drains from her face; she’s frozen to the spot. What no response? Typical Maggie, when the tough gets going, you finally shut up! What the hell are you looking like that for? As the asshole spews his shit, I completely understand why she left his ass in the first place. I would have had his ass murdered. Maggie is rooted to the spot and this is my opportunity to take this fucker down.

I pistol whip the fucker in the back of his head and watch as he falls harshly to the floor, landing with a severe jarring thud. His head bounces off the tiled floor making me smile as it does so. The more pain this asshole receives the better, he’s unconscious and his wife comes unstuck and screams. Why? Why the fuck do women always have to scream? She runs and the stupid woman runs directly towards me. Does she think that she’s going to take me on? I laugh at the thought, until she comes barreling towards me with her fists drawn and starts swinging.

What in the actual fuck? Is there something wrong with this woman? There’s a man in your house with a gun and you run directly toward him? Before she gets a chance to hit me, I pistol whip her too. Just like her husband, she crumbles to the floor. It doesn’t take long for me to tie them both up, I don’t want them to wake up and escape. I make my way to the car and drive it up the driveway. I open the trunk and put them both into it; glad that I can finally get the answers I’ve been looking for.

Argos has the safe house ready. This is the shittiest place I could think of. We don’t own it; there are no ties to us or any corporations that we own. It belongs to the city; it’s condemned and they’re waiting to get the date for it to be demolished. The place is an old book store. I wonder if Argos found any books here. I hear coughing and I know that one or both of them are coming to.

I walk out towards the back room of the building and see Brandon is awake and struggling to get out of the shackles. Both he and his wife are tied to the pipes across the top of the room. Brandon keeps struggling. He hasn’t seen me enter the room yet, he’s too busy wasting his energy. "That’s not going