The Cage (Book 2)

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"His kidnappers sent them to me." Schniezel said, and upon seeing the ashen look on my face, quickly closed his hand around the torn nails. But it was too late; the damage had already been done.

I shouldn't have been as horrified as I was to see ripped blood-crusted fingernails; I'd seen them before when Freddie from down the road stupidly lodged his hand in the spinning wheel of his red bike. It had rained torn fingernails on us, and Freddie's scream of pain was an unforgettable symphony.

But horrified and sickened I was indeed; now that I knew who those nails belonged to.

Bile rose up my esophagus, and I quickly turned away from Schneizel, part to spare him the unsavory sight of me spewing the contents of my stomach onto the grass, but mainly because looking at those offending bloody nails for another moment would have set me down a dark path from which there would be no return.

Thinking about what Schneider had gone through -was going through- was enough to do that.

Nail ripping was an age-old torture method for a reason. The mind-shattering pain it inflicted was long-lasting and blinding in its intensity. It tended to leave not just physical but emotional scars.

Wiping away my vomit from my mouth, and then my tears from my eyes, I straightened -though I stumbled pathetically a couple of times- and met Schneizel's sympathetic gaze.

Upon seeing the look in his eyes, I nearly laughed if not for the painful pressure on my chest, restricting my lung pipes. It occurred to me that I should be the one looking at him with such sympathy, not the other way around, seeing as Schneizel was his flesh and blood.

How did he feel, I wondered, holding his own twin's fingers in his hand, knowing that he was suffering somewhere unimaginable horrors all by his lonesome? What if what they said about twins was true: that they could feel each other's emotions across distances? My eyes watered again at the thought.

"I told you not to show the torn nails to him," Aiden chided his beloved irately, his drawn eyebrows clearly spelling out his disapproval.

"He would have found out eventually." Schneizel responded in justification, although to his credit he did look a little sorry.

Aiden sighed, but then his face softened, as if he couldn't bear to be mad at Schneizel for long.

Then I felt Aiden's arm wrap around me as he pulled me into a side hug. "We'll save him, I promise you this." His steady voice belied a confidence that I simply could not reciprocate. Not yet, anyway. I recalled Schneizel making me the same promise only an hour ago.

Were they so sure we could save Schneizel?

I met Aiden's poised gaze and he squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

When my weak smile threatened to break into tears, I instantly dropped it. I couldn't even pretend to be okay. With a hitch in my throat and fat tears in my eyes, I begged, "Please. We have to. We just have to."

There was simply no other choice.

Helplessness ripped at me like a scythe, cutting open large, bleeding gashes. What was someone like me to do when I was so very clearly out of my element? Mafiosos and guns and kidnappings and fucking torture? I knew absolutely fuck all about those things.

In other words, I was fucking useless.

"That's the plan," Aiden confirmed with a fire in his eyes, and his self-assuredness touched something inside me. We were not so different, he and I. From where did he muster all this confidence and faith?

Releasing me, he went to stand beside Schneizel, who pulled him close.

They had faith in each other, I realized.

Something in me abruptly shifted. While a part of me was still feeling pretty hopeless, another part started to feel conviction, like the first rays of sunlight at dawn breaking the darkness of the night, one shaft of light at a time.

I scanned the faces of the men around me. Resilient. Calm. Self-assured. Everything I wasn't but needed to be.

The time for self-pity was over. I needed to thicken my skin and steel my nerves.

If anyone could save Schneider, it was this band of convicted criminals.

"I've already found out his location." Schneizel announced, much to the shock of everyone present, including Aiden, who asked incredulously, "You do?!"

My heart skipped a beat at the monumental news, and my blood surged warm across my body in celebration and relief.

But ever the pessimist, I held my horses by the reins; knowing that it might be too good to be true, too early to burst out the kazoos and celebrate just yet.

"You know where he is?" My voice when I spoke was a hoarse noise, and how I managed to make intelligible words was beyond me, given how sandpaper dry my throat felt.

"I'm almost certain of his location." Schneizel confirmed with an affirmative nod, and coming from him, it was gospel. "They made the mistake of sending a courier with the nails package. I caught him midflight and showed him what real torture interrogation looked like. He didn't have much to offer, but he did give me a few clues that I pieced together. I'm confident I have the right location."

I let out a shuddering breath and closed my eyes against the wave of relief that doused me like cold water, putting out the mental fires.

"Why did they send the nails? Proof of life in exchange for information on your brother?"

Schneizel nodded. "Even if I wanted to give up the information, I have nothing to give. Our older brother is a ghost. I haven't seen him in years, nor do I know where he is."

"Do you know who the kidnappers are?"

"That I don't know, unfortunately. Neither did the courier, if his dying breath could be believed."

At that, I shivered.

Did Schneizel just hint at killing the bastard who delivered Schneider's torn nails?

His black expression was answer enough.

I shivered again.

"What could they possibly want from your older brother to go through all this trouble? To risk going to war with you and your father?"

"Revenge. Payback. Who knows. It could be any number of things if he's concerned."

The mysterious older brother sounded like a popular guy.

"Do you think..." I trailed off, but when all eyes trained on me, giving me their undivided attention, I had no choice but to continue, "... it could be a trap? Think about it. These motherfuckers, whoever they are, have managed to elude both Cade and you for a year and a half. Now all of a sudden they make the mistake of sending a delivery man who might be caught and questioned?" I bit my lower lip, sucked on it until some of the dryness softened, well aware that I still had everyone's attention, and added, "It just seems too easy to me."

Schneizel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I thought so too. But a trap is only a trap if it's sprung on you. We just have to be smarter. And faster."

"You're saying we should still take the chance and check out the place?"

"Yes, but we have to be ready for anything."

"Well, I'm ready." 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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