Inner Workings

Inner Workings - Part 43

Sandra grimaced as her shoe sank into the mud that made up the road in front of the dingy warehouses. She grappled with the bright orange umbrella against the rain, the keeping a wet wipe between her and the handle. Under the other arm she held her box. It didn't seem as unclean now as when she bought it. Perhaps because it was useful to her. She took step beside Mark towards the two of his men that stood in the rain. Her bodymen, more expensive than Mark, filed behind her.

"What is this?" asked Mark of the muddy body they had pinned to the ground.

"The other guy from the video," said Abe. "The one that beat up Harry and Beckett."

"They just keep dropping in on us," said Kane.

Sandra shuddered at the streaks of mud on them. Wallowing like pigs. The one on the ground looked worse. If the man was an agent of the Watch, even better. But it wasn't who she wanted. It wasn't the man she practically spoon fed and drew out a map for to these mongrels.

"What about Devi?" she asked. "The one man I asked you for."

"We think he's in town," said Abe. "If these two are here, that means Devi has no one."

Sandra turned to the two flannelled men at her back. "Check the SUV."

They did her bidding like automatons, breaking in through the windows. Good boys.

The two muddied men dragged the Agent to a work shed, and she shuddered at the thought of them coming near here with such hands. Her grip around the gun case tightened.

"I don't suppose we'll get a bonus for catching two extras for you?" asked Mark. "Because this body count is getting a little high."

"We'll talk payment when Devi is dead," said Sandra. "You already have your advance."

And if the two men following her orders had better success than Mark, he'd be lucky to get away with that.

The rain hardened, intensifying the smell of mud. Lightening flickered in the distance, highlighting the slickened road.

"Let's talk inside," said Sandra, nodding towards the warehouse. "Then I want to talk with those boys."

The sooner she was out of the rain, the clearer she could think.

***

Louis eyed the bar of light that trekked across the floor. He had no luck with the rope tying him to the pole, so his idea had to work or he would be screwed. Unfortunately, the closer the light became, the weaker it got, like nature decided to dim the lighting with more clouds. Rain spattered against the window pane.

"Mother Nature, you bitch," Louis hissed. "Quit your pissing and keep up the damn sun."

Louis managed to blink the tinted contacts out of his left eye by keeping it open so it could dry, reenacting the brief bathroom scene from the plane. A real pain in the ass when one eye wanted to keep shut from the bruising on his face. Perhaps he only needed one eye. He had to hope there would be enough light left to make him shrink.

And could he even stand?

As Louis got his feet under him, he heard something outside. Not thunder, voices. Someone fighting? After a minute he heard a rumble more like thunder, but the squeal of brakes meant cars. One car. The voices moved closer to the warehouse. Louis sat back down and kept his eyes to slits, trying to appear whipped. It wasn't that hard.

Ten seconds later, Abe and Kane dragged another body into the warehouse. Will, muddied up and bruised in their arms. Will barely moved as the two flannelled men took a length of chain and a pair of handcuffs from a prop box and strung him up by the wrists, looping the chain on the crossbeam running from one end of the warehouse to Louis' pole. Will moaned and shuddered as his body lifted until the balls of his feet grazed the ground. The chain stretched his skeleton, spreading his ribcage and leaving him exposed. His shirt rode up, exposing a strip of skin and bruises. Strung up like a pig on a hook.