The Love Of Money - Episode 167
29-07-25 (17:36)
My words were cut short as a fist slammed across my
jaw, sending my head careening back and causing my
world to spin. Before I could recover, I felt a firm grip
on my jaw as the stranger forced me to look up at him.
I felt sharp pain where' his fingers dug into my jaw, and
I blinked, trying to clear my head enough to process
what was happening to me.
"Shut the fuck up," the stranger growled at him. It was
definitely a man.
I just needed to know. "No, but-"
The wind was driven from my lungs as I felt him drive
his other fist Into my stomach. This time, I did vomit as
I tried to double over, pinned back against the seat by
my bonds and the man's hold on my face.
Despite retching and coughing, I managed to take a
wheezy breath and breath, "Please... I just need-"
He drove his fist into my stomach once more, and I felt
spittle and bile fly from my lips as I felt my existence
narrow until there was nothing else left but the physical
pain in my gut and head and worry for my friends. He
shook my face a little and growled, "Three of my
people are dead. You're lucky I was told to keep you
alive."
"But," he continued, and I felt something cold and sharp
pressed against the side of my face. I tried to inch
away from whatever it was, but the hold the man had
on me was too strong. "Instructions didn't say anything
about body parts, though."
He bent forward, getting so close that I thought for a
wild moment that he was going to kiss me, and I tried
to inch back from him. No kiss came, though; his face
stopped inches from mine, and I could smell the stink of
old coffee and nicotine on his breath as he said, "Thear
any more whining out of you, and I'll cut off your nose."
He released me, shoving my face away from him as he
straightened and stared down at me, putting away the
knife he'd held against my face. I stared back up at him
wide-eyed, wanting desperately to ask him about my
friends but convinced he would shove more than just a
fist in my gut if I uttered a single syllable.
Moments passed, and when it looked like neither of us
was going to speak, he reached into a pocket and
pulled something out. He held it in both hands and
reached for my head, causing me to flinch, thinking he
was about to garrot me or something. Instead, he
slipped a blindfold over my head and secured it around
my eyes until he was sure I couldn't see anything. Then
he tightened it a little more, causing my head to pulse
in pain.
I heard him walk away from me. The door opened
again, but instead of hearing him leave, as I expected,
my assailant began speaking. I could barely make out
the words.
"He's all yours," he said.
"For how long?" Another voice asked - another male.
This one didn't sound as rough as the one who
blindfolded me. His tone sounded more measured and
diplomatic.
"Till she gets here," the first man said.
"And anything goes?" the second man asked.
"As long as you don't kill him and as long as he's in his
right mind to answer questions."
"What questions could Am-"
"No names," the first man said, cutting off the second
man. "You know the drill,"
"Apologies," the second man said and cleared his throat.
"It shouldn't be a problem though, should it?"
"No," the first man said.
"Well then, if that's everything, I'm sure you have
things to do."
I heard those heavy footsteps fade. Then a flick and I
could barely see the edges of my vision change slightly.
They became a shade or less black, giving me the
impression that a light had been turned on in the room.
Despite not really changing my predicament much, the
fact that there was a light on in the room filled the
primitive part of my brain with a fleeting sense of hope.
So did the fact that the rough man had left; the sound
of softer footsteps approaching gave me the impression
that whoever this was probably wasn't as strong or
aggressive.
"Hey," I said, unsure how to proceed. I needed to find
out something - anything - that would give me an
inkling of what had happened to Emily and the others.
"Listen, I don't know who you are or what you want,
but-"
My cheek blossomed in pain as I received a firm slap
across it, followed by another slap across the other
cheek. I tasted fresh blood.
Okay, so I was wrong about the new guy being
aggressive.
"Fuck! Fine! Beat me. Do whatever. Just tell me if
they're alr-
Another punch across my face cut me off. Whoever this
was didn't hit nearly as hard as the other guy. Small
favors, I guess.
"Please," I said, trying to reason with the man. "I don't
know why this is happening. Can you just tell me what
did?"
Nothing. I heard light footsteps to my left and then
another slightly behind me. He was circling me.
Then I heard a slight trickle of water behind me and
turned my head to concentrate on the sound, trying to
figure out what he was doing. It sounded like someone
was peeing.
"What-"
"I hope you feel every excruciating second of what's
about to happen to you," the man finally said, speaking
to me for the first time. He sounded vaguely familiar,
but I couldn't quite put a face to the voice. I was just
about to ask him what he meant by that when I felt a
soaking wet rag hit my face, a hand shoved it firmly
against the lower half of my face. Water invaded my
mouth and threatened to fill my nostrils. I had to fight
hard to not inhale as the stagnant liquid washed over
me.
The hand held the soaking rag to my face, and I
struggled against his grip for the next several moments,
trying to fight free so I could spit the water out and
breathe. Seconds ticked by as I drowned while bound
to a chair, unsure of why, left with nothing but my
need for oxygen, burning questions, and an overactive
imagination that haunted me with scenarios of the
gruesome fates that Emily and Natashya could have
suffered.
It could have been minutes or hours, but it all was a
blur of pain and near drowning as the man relentlessly
tortured me, beating on me, repeatedly waterboarding
me, and cursing me the whole time. Eventually, I
blacked out again.
I was ripped back into consciousness when a high-
pressured column of ice-cold water threatened to tear
the skin off my back. I yelled out and rolled toward the
column and realized the mistake as soon as I made it,
water slammed into my chest and face. I rolled away
and yelled out again, confused, hurting, and more than
a little pissed off. The assault continued for another
minute and a half before the stream of water abruptly
disappeared.
"What the fuck are you doing?" someone said. It
sounded like the man who had put a blindfold on my
face earlier. It was no longer there, and I dared to open
my eyes to see a sliver of silver in the sky as the last
dying gasps of the day faded. A handful of stars dotted
the sky, their brethren biotted out by light pollution.
Judging by the sky, I was sure of one thing - I had no
idea where' I was or what the hell was going on.
"You told me to wash him down," someone else sald.
"Inside, dumbass. There's a tub in there." the guy giving
orders said.
"I'm not touching him," the other man said. "Guy had
piss on him."
Had I pissed myself?
"Upton pissed himself?" the rough man said. I'd started
to think he must have been the leader of the people
who captured me.
"Nah. He pissed on Upton. It was a lot, though. I dunno.
Maybe some of it was his."
"Fuck, I don't care," the leader said.
Coughing and sputtering, I rolled over and saw two
men standing less than ten feet away from me. A thick
coil of fire hose lay at their feet. Three other men stood
nearby, armed with rifles.
"He could be spotted. Get him back inside"
The other man muttered something but followed orders.
He called one of his buddies to come over and help him
pick me up. The pair grabbed an arm each and dragged
me toward a large warehouse. My head hanging limply,
I stared up at the silhouette of the sad- looking building
and realized just how tired and sore I was. Vague
memories of being beaten across the back with
something long and hard came rushing back. I
remembered being waterboarded with foul-tasting
water. My head was pounding, and despite feeling like
a drowned rat, my tongue clung to the roof of my
mouth. I was surprised I could even hold my head up.
"Why are." Don't forget to leave a Comment 
