The Billionaire (17 page)

Gage had thought it might be better not to use one of
my warehouses for this particular meeting. Somehow he seemed to think things
might get out of hand so he'd found an out-of-the-way place in which to conduct
our business.

We had to be very meticulous, it wasn't exactly the
easiest thing snatching a city official off the streets and spiriting him away.
First we had to time it so he wouldn't be missed, his day off would've been
ideal but I didn't want to wait the few extra days until then. I wanted this
thing over and done with so I didn't feel like my wife was going through life
with a big target on her back.

It helped that Sanders was known for his disappearing
acts even in the middle of a shift. We played around with the idea of luring
him out on a false call but that would leave too much of a trail not to mention
the call would be documented and when he didn't return or call back in, someone
would most likely be dispatched as back up.

We took him in the parking lot of the local diner. How
my man broke into an official law enforcement vehicle and hid in the backseat
was anybody's guess. The fact that there was no guard up between seats made it
easy for the assailant to then place a syringe under the chief's chin and give
him orders to drive to the abandoned warehouse.

I'm not sure how smoothly or not that whole process
went since I was already waiting at the warehouse with some very pissed off
men. If I'd foreseen any trouble with taking care of him myself, I had a line
of bodies ready willing and able to do the job.

I watched as my man walked him towards the building.
Sanders didn't look too good, in fact for someone into the kind of shit he
dealt with he looked downright scared. It didn't help his case that the mere
sight of him had me wanting to taste his blood in my throat. If I didn't need
the information to help locate what I was beginning to suspect could be
hundreds of missing children I would just end him, but that would be purely
selfish.

I waited in the middle of the room for him, hands
clasped behind my back, business suit on, stern countenance. I wanted to put
fear in his heart and it's been my experience that most people were intimidated
by me in this guise. His steps faltered when he first caught sight of me but
then his bravado kicked in and he tried to play it off.

"What do you want Thorpe? You've already taken my
only child away from me..."

"Shut up, don't even mention her name you fuck,
sit down." He was pushed into the only chair in the room. Intimidation one
o one, always tower over your enemy.

"Do you know why you're here?" I unbuttoned
my suit jacket and placed my hands on my hips.

"Of course not how could I?" He kept looking
around at the men in the room.

"Fine, my wife has brought certain things to my
attention, things that you and a certain senator and a very well-known
prominent doctor have subjected her to." I saw the flash of anger quickly
tempered by fear that flitted across his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, she's
lying."

"Stop, before you say another word, know that I
believe her all the way and if you fucking call her a liar again or say
anything against her, I'll make sure you never fucking walk again. Do we understand
each other?"

One of the men walked over and put his hand on
Sanders' shoulder making him tense up. His legs started to shake as he played
with his hands nervously, sure signs of fear.

"I want to know what he's doing."

"I don't..." I didn't let him finish the lie
but clocked him across the face causing blood to fly from his busted lip. He
righted himself before he fell out of the chair.

"I can do this all day."

"You can't do this, I'm a cop." He felt his
tender lip while scowling around the room, his eyes running from one to the
other. Gage, Maurice and Stefan were standing back against the wall while the
beefy muscle flanked Sanders.

"Are you stupid, what the fuck did I just do? Now
are you going to tell me what the fuck I want to know?"

"You can't make me tell you anything and what's
to stop me talking once I leave here?"

"Go ahead I would love to explain to the district
attorney just how you came to be here."

"I don't take kindly to being threatened."

"I could give two fucks what you like or don't like,
what I do care about is what you did to my wife, now I want to know what
they're doing."

"I don't think I'll be telling you
anything." He sneered at me; I guess he thought I was pissing in the wind.

"Fine, you can take that knowledge to the grave
with you, I'll figure it out some other way."

"What do you mean take it to my grave?"

"Well, if you're not going to talk you're not
serving any purpose, I might as well end you here and now."

"You're bluffing."

 
"Suit
yourself." I pulled my suit jacket back and reached into my back for my
piece. His eyes widened in fear as I took the safety off and aimed it at his
head and I swear he pissed himself.

I didn't even blink as he held up his hands in
surrender.

"Okay, okay I'll tell you what I know."

"Go ahead."

Chapter 25

He fidgeted around in his chair for a bit before
answering me, I knew the bastard was stalling for time but his had run out
along with my fucking patience.

"Don't have all day here Sanders, either talk or
let's
end
this."

"Do you understand that these people would kill
me if they found out I talked to you?"

"Do you understand that I'll kill you if you
don't? At least with them you might get to live another day, who knows? If
you're that afraid of them, of their retribution you might even have time to
make a run for it. With me you won't make it out of this room with your life,
now start talking."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything you do but start with my wife; why
the fuck were they visiting her since early childhood? What did they have planned
for her?" The fear poured off of him in waves, he started sweating
profusely as his legs shook even harder. I braced myself for whatever he was
going to say next, I’d pretty much drawn my own conclusions so far, but there
were just some things that weren’t adding up for me and I needed answers.

"You have to understand I was in a very bad place
when this all started." He looked around as though seeking understanding,
no one so much as blinked.

"Get on with it."

"Yes, but I need you to understand that I would
never have gotten involved with these people otherwise. I mean I'd just lost my
beautiful wife and I..."

"Cut the crap Sanders, the night your wife died
you were fucking a cocktail waitress at the bar you frequented with your
buddies. Now tell me what the fuck I want to know before my patience grows
thin."

"How did you...?"

"Never mind how I know, I know plenty. What I
don't know and you're going to tell me, is what the fuck you planned to do with
my wife."

"What's in it for me?"

"Breath."

He swallowed hard then the fuck; yeah I'm glad you're
finally getting it asshole.

"They were going to buy her." His shaking
got so hard the chair rattled against the concrete floor.

"I know that much." He started that
fidgeting shit again, although I knew that much already hearing him say it out
loud still bothered the fuck out of me. He was talking about my wife, a human
being that he was going to sell like cattle. It wasn't lost on me that he'd
said 'they were going to buy her' as opposed to 'I was selling her. He could
try to absolve himself of guilt all he wanted he was still a fucking monster.

"Spit it out Sanders, what was the purpose of you
selling your own flesh and blood?"

"For a sacrifice."

I stumbled back at his words, I don't know what I'd
expected, but that wasn't it.

Realistically I knew that I'd saved her that she was
home in our home safe and protected but my heart went somewhere else. I pulled
my phone and walked away even as my men murmured among each other. I felt the
shift in the room, I'm sure Sanders did too.

"Hi sweetheart what're you doing?" I had to
clear my throat of the fucking horror. Stay solid Gideon she must never know of
anything that went on here today. At least she’d been spared this, she never
knew what they had in store for her, so don’t give anything away, nice and
smooth.

"I’m watching Steel magnolias with your
mom." She sniffled or at least it sounded like it.

"Hey are you crying?" My heart started
pounding in my chest and I started charting a map in my head of the fastest
route home.

"It's just so sad." I closed my eyes as my
pulse calmed down a little.

"Baby if it's making you cry just
turn
it off."

"No no it's okay I'm fine I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, when are you coming home I miss
you."
Straight to the fucking gut.

I looked at her piece of shit sperm donor as I
answered her. "I'll be home soon sweet Blossom, soon as I finish here.
Give me a kiss." We exchanged smooches, I love you and goodbyes, and I
could give a fuck that six grown men were in the room with me right now.
Sanders didn't count, fucking insect.

"Carry on." I walked back over to him. I
noticed that my men were no longer on the wall but getting closer. Emotions
were running high; you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

"What? That's it."

"That's it? That's it you fucking bastard?"
It was only as Gage was pulling me away that I realized I was choking the fuck
out of him. He fell to the floor retching and clutching at his throat.

"Get up you piece a shit."

"Easy boss easy."

"I'm cool brother, just give me a minute." I
walked it off, I had a feeling I was going to be pissed a hell of a lot more by
the time this fucker was through telling his tale. Sick fucks.

"What do you mean as a sacrifice, what kind of
sacrifice, sacrifice for what?" I was back in control but barely. The sick
feeling in the pit of my stomach just kept growing the more I stood there
looking down at him, knowing what he’d done to her.

"I don't know how they do it okay I just know
they promised me that if I sacrificed her life I'd get my wife back. All I had
to do was wait until she turned eighteen and keep her pure."

"And you believed that shit?" What the fuck?

"I already said my head wasn't straight back
then." He kept eyeing me as if he expected me to come after him
again which
I very well might if he didn’t start making some
fucking sense.

"And what were they getting out of this deal or
were they just doing it out of the kindness of their hearts?"

"I can't talk about that." I didn't even
bother talking to this fuck. I just pulled my piece and blew his kneecap out.
The sound was loud and harsh in the abandoned building, his screams more so.

"
Fuuuuck
, how am I
going to explain this?" That was his first thought after the agony abated
a little bit. Total sociopath. The thought of my blossom at the mercy of this
man was almost too much for me to bear. How the fuck had she survived?

"What was their part of the deal?" I was
past caring now, this asshole was getting closer and closer to death.

"I didn't know, I swear I didn't know when they
approached me, I only found out later."

"What?"

"They made a deal with the dark side."

"Come again?"

"They believe that if they sacrifice a virgin on
her eighteenth birthday that it will gain them certain powers and wealth."

"What the fuck, is this thirteenth century
Europe? What the
fuck are
you talking about?"

"I'm telling you..."

"Wait wait
wait
."
I held up my hand. "You're telling me that a United States senator is
involved in a cult, in some sort of dark craft?"

"That's what I found out, by that time it was too
late I'd already gone too far to turn back. Please you've got to get me some
help I'm going to bleed to death here." He clutched at his fucked up knee.

"Just one more thing, what about the kids, the
babies and toddlers they've been snatching off the streets of America?"

"Oh, you know about that huh, that's another
branch of the organization."

"Come again?"

"I don't know too much about that side of things,
I started digging but then I stopped, I only found out that they uh, you
know."

"No I don't know why don't you tell me?"

"It's like this some of them are sold into
brothels or to individuals all over the world. But I found out that some of
them are handpicked and that's when I had to stop. I was getting too close,
strange men started showing up in town and I knew it had to be because of my
digging only thing is I was doing it secretly so I don't think they ever
figured out it was me doing it."

"What do you mean handpicked?"

He took a deep breath and touched his wounded knee
gingerly, I didn't even tie it off to stop the flow of blood, let the fuck
bleed to death for all I care.

"I mean that some people go shopping for pets and
some go shopping for humans and according to their taste it could be man woman
or child."

"What the
fuck are
you
saying?"

"I'm saying that if you have the money and you
see little Susie or Jimmy riding their tricycle on the sidewalk and you want
them, all you need is a picture, the general area or location of the home and
someone will acquire them for you for a price. From what I gathered the senator
and the doc liked to oversee those special acquisitions themselves if the price
was right."

I think I'm going to be sick to my fucking stomach.
"Is that it, anything else, do you know times and names, places?"

"A few but my information is old, I stopped like
ten years ago."

"I want everything you've got, where is it?"

"Fine, then can I go to the hospital?"

"Sure where is the information?"

"It's at my house but you can't find it. Can I go
get this looked at now?"

"Give me a minute, I'm trying to figure out if I
should let you live or just sever you limb from limb and feed you to the
fucking wolves."

He started laughing like he'd just heard the funniest
thing in his life.

"What's so fucking funny?"

"That's rich, that's how I got mixed up with
these guys in the first place."

"What the hell are you talking about now?"

"Keith, he introduced me to them, he made some
kind of deal and now he can turn into a wolf whenever he wants, it's the
freakiest fucking shit you've ever seen."

Okay now I'm in the fucking twilight zone. "Are
you kidding me Sanders?" I looked at my men who were all looking at him
like they each wanted a piece.

"I wish I was but I have evidence, I videotaped
him once when he didn't know. I've been holding it as insurance just in case
you know, now with you grabbing that...your wife." He spat the word out
and I thought; why don't I just kill the fuck and be done with it?

"Now that you've soiled her I'm not sure what my
life is worth."

"I hope they gut you and leave you in the desert
somewhere for the wild animals to pick over your carcass. Get your own ass to
the hospital. Gage, search this fucker’s house; make sure you find everything
there is to find on this shit. I find out you're holding out on me Sanders I'm
coming back and when I leave you won't be breathing. You’re only alive because
of her, isn’t that ironic? I know if I kill you it’ll hurt her and I’ll never
hurt her. Not even to rid the world of a piece a shit like you. But if you ever
in your life cross my path again I’ll end you. Oh and by the way she’s happy,
she doesn’t even talk about you you’re nothing but a distant memory. If you
survive them, one day when you least expect it, when enough time has passed and
she’s forgotten that you ever existed I’m going to kill you.”

I left the building with my men trailing behind me.

"How am I supposed to drive with this fucked up
knee?"

I didn't even bother to answer fuck him.