The Body #2: Lucio and Janie

Chapter 21 (Janie): A Piece Of Information

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

***TW for references to trafficking and torture***

I sprinted to go get ready after Lucio told me that they'd found the trafficking ringleader. We finally had the top woman responsible for so much misery. Between tracking down names, coordinating with the other Bodies and searching for money trails, we had her. This bitch had been destroying lives for years and now she was going to pay.

As I stripped out of my pajamas, I thought about the conversations Lucio and I had about this bitch. How we'd probably need to keep her alive for at least a few days to ensure we got all of the information we needed from her to make certain that we'd be able to shut it down forever and ensure another one couldn't take its place. That meant we'd have to dial back Lucio's encouragement tactics until we had drained every last piece of information from her. He assured me that wouldn't be a problem, and I tried not to think about how he got so skilled at differing levels of torture.

In less than three minutes, I was running back downstairs to join Lucio, who, even at this hour, looked fresh and ready to go in his suit and tie. Me? Not so much. I'd thrown on a pair of ripped jeans and a sweatshirt and finger combed my hair as I ran downstairs, a pair of boots in my hand.

"Ready to go?" he asked, and I nodded. His car was already waiting for us in front of the house and as soon as we got in, the driver took off for a shack.

I was nervous, anticipating what was about to happen, what we were about to discover. The blood that was about to be spilled...in a restrained way, of course, so we could get what we needed. I snuck a glance at Lucio, trying not to think about the five minutes he'd spent kissing me -- and where -- just hours earlier. His eyes were on me, once more blank, nothing like the fire that had filled them when we'd been on the couch. 

"Why do you always look perfect? It's the middle of the night and you look like you slept eight hours, showered and ate a full breakfast, before putting on your perfectly ironed and creased suit," I snapped at him. Where that had come from I didn't know. Maybe it was just nerves stemming from the anticipation of finally confronting this evil woman who ruined lives for profit.

"Why do you?" he returned coolly.

An involuntary laugh burst from me. I knew I looked like a scruffy child compared to the sleek Body wives, but I never had cared about that. Lucio didn't seem to mind, either. The five minutes on the couch had proven that.

"You should mess up your hair," I told him out of nowhere. "Tone down the perfection."

Shit. Janie, pull it together. Change the subject.

"When they grabbed her, did they get her computers?"

His teeth flashed at my question. I know what you're doing.

"So far just three, but we're literally taking her place apart board by board to see if there's anything there we missed -- hidden hard drives, flash drives, notebooks, keys to storage lockers, safety deposit boxes, other properties, hidden compartments, safes -- if she has something tucked away somewhere, we'll find it. By the end of tonight, we'll have her accounts, even the hidden ones. We'll have basic routes, purchasers, auction information...a good start on the logistical details. I'll have two teams working 'round the clock on the information she provides, verifying it, seeing if it leads to more information, seeing if it checks out."

"That's good."

"Then we'll keep coming back at her, depriving her of sleep, making the room uncomfortably hot then cold, no food, bare minimum of water, loud music. It shouldn't take long to break her down completely."

I looked out the window, thinking I'd be very, very glad when the next few days were over, when the ring had been dismantled and we could begin our search and rescue efforts. I knew the odds weren't good, but I had to remain hopeful that we could save some of the victims. The thought made my anger burn, and I wondered if maybe tonight's bouts of encouragement wouldn't bother me so much.

This woman was evil and she would find no mercy in me.

The car slowed as we pulled to the shack, and I noticed a number of limos.

Lucio answered my unspoken questions. "All the Heads wanted to be here for her questioning since she was ultimately in charge of the rings that operated in every Body."

As we came to a stop, Lucio touched my hand. "You'll be in charge of the interrogation, Janie. I made that clear and a condition of their being allowed to attend. Everyone agreed."

"I should probably do everything, then," I said, trying to sound strong at the thought.

"I'd rather you didn't," he said.

"Because you don't want to look like you've given up all control to me?"

"No. I hope I've shown you that I have no problem giving up control to you, Janie. I'm actually concerned about what the encouragement would do to you. Inside." He reached over and tapped my chest. "You buried your victims and that allowed you to keep your distance, so to speak, from the fact that you were ending a life. You were able to retain your humanity in an important way, and since I lost all semblance of humanity a long time ago, I would protect yours, Janie. It's a line that, once you cross it, there's no going back and it turns off something important inside of you. I don't want your life and your dreams haunted."

How ironic that the man starring in my dreams about comfort was now trying to protect them without even knowing he was a recurring figure while I slept.

"OK," I agreed without thinking it over too much. "I'll allow you to handle the encouragement portion of the interrogation."

"I appreciate that, Janie. You ready?"

After I nodded, he stepped out of the car and held the door for me, somehow knowing I'd refuse his help. We walked together into the shack, the Heads and their seconds arranged around the room, all attention on a red headed woman tied to the chair, no one saying a word.

Santo stood beside the woman, already fucking with her mind by meticulously arranging the tools Lucio would use to encourage her to tell us everything.

"You know why we're here today," Lucio addressed his fellow Heads by just jumping right into it. "Through our joint efforts, we were able to discover that Stefania Cifarelli was the head of the trafficking rings she was running in each of our Bodies."

I looked at her and hated that her head was held defiantly, even proudly. She was beautiful, but it was the kind of remote beauty that was too perfect. A couple of rounds with Lucio and his persuasion techniques should cure her of both her defiance and her vanity.

"What we don't know," Lucio continued, "is whose Body she's actually affiliated with and whether she was a general mistress or attached to a specific Body man. I suspect we'll have the answer before too long. She was living between Feroce territory and Caruso territory. Anybody know her? Want to identify her as a satellite member of their Body? Want to say there's been a horrible mistake?"

Nobody answered.

"Then we move along. Janie will be taking over the Q & A portion of the interrogation now, Stefania. I'm just along for the ride and to prompt your memory when you fail to answer a question immediately."

I took a deep breath.

I began asking my questions.

After the third one she refused to answer, she learned about Lucio's creative side. He still subtly stepped in front of me so I couldn't see the actual act; I saw only the aftermath, which was bad enough.

By the time we called an end to the first round, she was no longer defiant, or proud or beautiful.

Evil was discovering just how painful no mercy was.

We decided to resume after dinner when we would discover a piece of information that we really weren't expecting.

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA