Runner (Riders of Apollo #3)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Mika Sage

Three days.

Three fucking days and we've found nothing. All of the cameras that were around that stupid van were out and even after arguing with the company about their ineptitude; we are no closer to getting Raphael back and I have to remain calm because Oliver is not handling it well at all.

Watching him get carried out, limp and lifeless, almost fucking killed me and now I have to wait for something, anything, to tell me where he is. Then I'm sure everyone here will lecture me and tell me we need to plan this extensively, then will tell me to stay behind and ride my desk instead of going out there and saving the love of my life.

This whole thing is bullshit.

It's always Raphael, I swear. He's one of our best fighters yet he finds himself in all sorts of predicaments. "Okay, next plan! Reign and I torture the shit out of Slasher to see if he knows anything about Bainbridge since he operated on Fire Demon territory." Saviour suggests, her legs kicked up on the table in a relaxed position. She's good at faking she's okay but she's doing just as bad as I am, she's not allowed to do much either.

"You think he'd tell you? We've tortured him before..." Bear flicks his eyes between Saviour and I, knowing that we're the ones taking this the hardest and I know he sees the spark in my eyes because he approves it. Leaving Reign, Saviour and I to head down to the basement where Slasher has been kept for the last few months. We were gonna kill him but we decided that until we get every bit of information out of him, it would be a waste.

Marie - Saviour's mother - wasn't happy with that so moved out of the clubhouse and moved to the other side of town. She doesn't visit really, I think I've seen her once, maybe twice, in the last few months but Saviour and Gears make the journey to see her twice a month. "Hey pops, how ya feeling?" Saviour mocks as we find him in his cell, it's quite small with a mattress on the floor, a toilet and a sink but it fits his needs well enough.

He's recovered from the last session since it's been almost a month since Reign had his hands on him. We needed to know about the hidden businesses that weren't put in the books, we found out in less than an hour. The fear in his eyes just shows how quick this is gonna go, I doubt we'll even need to torture him. He might just give us the information we need.

He is missing four fingers, a few teeth and I'm pretty sure Reign cut his kidney out and chopped his balls off as a present for Marie. Yeah, this guy has been put through the ringer and he's already shaking at the idea of going through it again. As I said, Reign is the most dangerous of us all.

"We're gonna ask you some questions," Saviour starts as we enter the cell, her crouching on the floor in front of him, Reign lent on the wall to my left and me in the doorway watching this all go down. "You answer them, we don't hurt you, deal?"

"Deal." He whispers, refusing to look his own daughter in the eyes. She can be terrifying in her own right but I know she didn't do anything particularly gruesome to him, just beat him up once or twice.

"Great, you know an Owen Bainbridge, correct?"

"He's a businessman, runs the fighting rings. He was weird, tried to avoid him just made him pay to stay."

"Know any of his hangouts?"

"He has a summer house about two hours from here, a mansion on the outskirts of town and some shitty warehouse deep in no-man's land." No-man's land was designed to keep the peace between us because we kept fighting over who would expand into it. At least we don't have to worry about that anymore, I wouldn't be surprised if we moved in.

The prospect guarding the cells hands us a map on which Slasher marks down what he knows. I recognise the streets the buildings are on but remember the cameras and how they're all fucking down which is fucking fantastic. "He have contacts around here?" I ask, both Reign and Sav looking at me in surprise.

"Last I heard he bought the company that controls electricity, gas and security systems in the area. He's a cocky dickhead but he at least knows what he's doing." He hands the map back to Saviour and gently takes her hand in his.

"I know I've said this so many times Peyton, but I am sorry and I love you and your mother a lot. I just got consumed by power and fear." He sounds sincere, Saviour staring back unblinkingly as she tries to get herself under control.

"Thank you for the information, I'll make sure you get a new book or something." Is all she says but I know that she's upset she has to leave him down here. She never had a dad growing up and then she finds him and he turns out to be an absolute psycho but here he is apologising.

We all head back upstairs, Reign comforting her while I grab the map to start printing the schematics for each building to bring into Church in ten minutes.

It feels weird in Church, sitting next to an empty seat and feeling his absence so deeply, it's the same in bed and in the weapons room and wherever I seem to go. He's been gone for three days but I feel like it's been forever.

"He's probably holding him in the warehouse, only one entrance and one exit, easy to protect and in no-man's land. It's perfect for whatever he has planned for Runner." Gears states and I shiver at the idea of what they could be doing to him. He got hurt in the fight and I wouldn't be surprised if they continued to torture him when they got there.

I feel a hand slip onto my shoulder and I know it's Breaker, the gentle giant once again supporting me silently and I sag slightly in relief. "Sorry Romeo." Gears winces and slides his whiskey over to me which I swallow in one gulp, rubbing my face in agitation shortly afterwards.

"The place is likely heavily fortified, the amount of people they had with them at the fight was incredible. They knew exactly what to do and who to go for, it was organised." Hunter says, looking over the specs and trying to analyse the safest way in.

"That doesn't sound good." Sav groans, swallowing heavily and resting on Reign.

We need to stop sitting around and actually get him back before I give myself a coronary.