Livewire

Chapter 41

The ringing in his ears was intense. The blast of the gun disoriented him. His vision came back, and he saw the large pool of scarlet spreading out on the floor. Warm blood was splattered across his face. Try as he might, he could still not budge the bindings which lashed him to the chair.

The cord cut into his wrist while he struggled against it. Next to him, his friend sat slumped back into the chair. He had been alive only seconds earlier. Now he was a lifeless lump of human flesh, leaking blood out of its head.

The hulking silhouette towered over him. Kyle could see the putrid smile on Pepe's face. The ringing began to die down and he could almost make out the muffled laugh of the taunting figure. A warm tear rolled down his left cheek and into the corner of his mouth. The salty taste was tainted with the bitterness of iron. His friend's blood.

"You fucking cunt! I will kill you and rape your fucking corpse with your own gun you sick bastard!"

He could not hear his own words when he screamed them. The gunshot had robbed him of his hearing. Pepe thrust the gun into his forehead and pushed the muzzle into his skin. Pain resonated in his skull.

Maybe he wasn't going to cut him up too. Maybe the torture was watching Jorge's pain and suffering, while not being able to do anything.

Trudie's face came to his mind. Every memory they shared over the past three months came flooding back to him. The end loomed in front of him. He could not bear to think of how she would feel if she found him there after Pepe had executed him.

He stared down the barrel of the gun in defiance at Pepe. The pressure on his face eased and the gun lowered.

Pepe began laughing. "Oh you thought you were going to have an easy death?"

He pointed to Jorge on the floor. "That was an easy death. Yours will be far, far worse."

Kyle looked over to Jorge's corpse. His head started to spin again. Nausea grew in the pit of his stomach and he threw up.

Pepe laughed again. "You are going to become very familiar with pain."

He ran his tongue slowly across his upper teeth, with an evil twinkle in his eye. There was only one thing left in the tool pouch he had not used on Jorge. Pepe walked over to the desk and pulled out the meat hook.

"This is going to be fun. There's plenty of you to cut away."

Pepe pulled out a chain then looked to the ceiling above Kyle. He looked up too and could see a metal loop. Was this room designed as a torture chamber for Pepe?

Pepe slung the chain through the loop, each link rattling and sending a horrific shiver down Kyle's spine. The rattling stopped and Pepe attached the meat hook to the end of the chain. The metal object sat just to the side of Kyle's head, taunting him.

Pepe grabbed the scalpel again and held it up to Kyle the same way he had to Jorge, right before he'd cut his shirt open.

A twisted grin returned to Pepe's face.

The door burst open and slammed into the wall.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Before Pepe had managed to even turn round he fell to his knees, then keeled over forward.

Kyle's ears were ringing like a bell and his vision went blurry. All he could see was a figure standing in the doorway, holding up a pistol. His vision came back into focus and he could see Pepe's body sprawled on the floor with a puddle of blood emanating from his chest. There were three gunshot wounds in his back.

He looked up and there she was. Trudie was standing in the doorway. His saviour. She dropped the gun and it clattered to the floor. She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

He was panting and had to control his breathing. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok. But Jorge."

Tears streamed from his eyes.

Her hands stroked the back of his head. "It's ok. I got you." She held him for a moment then pulled away. "Come on, we gotta get outta here."

She stepped back and her mouth dropped when she spotted Jorge. Her eyes took in the sight and her mind pieced together what had happened. Tears formed in her eyes.

Using one of Pepe's knived, she cut his bonds. He grabbed his wrists and stood up.

His head dropped. "I'm sorry Jorge."

They ran from the room, back across the refinery floor to the truck. Cartel bodies littered the floor. There had been a shootout. He looked around frantically but all his friends were there and seemed unharmed.

Leon walked up with wide eyes. "What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Jorge is dead. Pepe paid with his life." He wiped the tears from his face. "We need to go. For Jorge's sake, let's see this through."

He got into the truck and Trudie climbed into the passenger seat. The others got into the van and Leon led the convoy out of the refinery. There wasn't much time. If Baldo didn't already know about the incident, he would soon. They had to carry on with the plan.