BURN THE TRUTH

Episode Thirty-five

Blood dulled each and every ornament, just adding to the clutter in the already paltry squalor. The lighting was poor, the only light came from the dim fluorescent at one side of the room. And at the centre of the room was the leader, particularly enmesh in a chair. His head slanted. He was a bloody mess, nose smashed and eyes almost shut with swelling with his arms restrained behind, looking much more dead than alive.

Gradually he began to raise his head, which ached as he struggled to gain a hold of himself. He peered around the eerie room only for his eyes to fall upon Devyn, well situated at the end of the room. Although Devyn’s head was slightly lowered, a portion of his eyes could be seen, as well as a crooked nose and chiselled jawline.

The leader groaned at the pain around his jaw as he tried to move. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" His voice came demanding and fierce, though in a way, composed. But Devyn stayed silent and continued to stare. He wasn't even moving a muscle.

Momentarily and coordinatedly, Devyn began advancing towards him, across the bloody mess on the floor and with no warning he banged the man's nose with his clenched fist. The leader groaned as he absorbed the trauma, swallowing the pain and then kicked his way slowly back to stare up at Devyn. Blood splattered over his nose and bloody spit drooled from his slack jaws.

With a sigh Devyn took a step backwards, it was tempting to charge at him as they were the only ones in the room. But what would be the aftermath? He'd be lucky to remember his own name.

"Now, let's have an easy talk. Shall we?" He said as he watched his now tainted though cover fingers as if he was disgusted to have the man's blood on his glove.

Two steps backwards, he signalled "Bring them in," He called out. A distant thud echoed across the cold, hard floor, ricocheting the space, and soon the rest of the survivors came through the door and lined up before they all dropped to their knees, hands restrained behind.

"I'm only going to ask two questions," Devyn stated and pulled out his pistol "The base of operations, where is it? And two, your boss?" He watched the man for a moment who did not attempt to give out any information "Well, I didn't expect much anyway"

Swiftly Devyn pointed the pistol at one of his men and immediately took him out. "Again," He let out.

"You can kill all you want, but you won't get the information you're searching for," The man told him coldly and in seconds Devyn directed a bullet through every one of their skulls, every blast to the gentle air, and next, a shot was directed to the leader's thigh.

He groaned painfully as he let his head fall back. It was as if the bullet was in his guts. His stomach lurched. It was agonizing but mainly the wounded leg, altering him physically for the worse. "f**k," he cursed and soon, running warm blood coursed through the coarse hairs of his legs.

"I bet shooting one at a time seems like a waste of time" Devyn groaned before he placed the barrel of the gun against the wound, digging it further.

The leader clenched his teeth when the pain hit except it was so intense, so all-consuming, that he let out a long agonizing scream, much more than when he was shot.

"s**t!" He let out as Devyn withdrew the pistol. His voice was tight with pain and the sweat on his face became more visible as if he was sitting near a furnace.

"One last try, shall we?" Devyn said with no proof of rumours. His eyes scanned the stained barrel of his pistol and then he let his hand drop "Who is the main boss?" He asked coldly.

"I told you before, you are getting no information from me. I guarantee you can torture all you want" His words came out bold with no trace of fear or any in that direction.

Devyn signed "Then I have no choice but to do it my way," he gave in, and shortly Milo escorted a lady into the room, blindfolded with her wrist tied together behind her. "Just to be clear how important those pieces of information are..."

Tensly the man's eyes got a wide look, his bottom lip quaver "You piece of a jerk!" he yelled as he watch Milo escort his wife and made her sit a distance away.

"See, it hurt my feelings getting called a jerk by a man like you. Since there may be no next time, how about we cooperate because every wrong answer you give could earn the torture or perhaps killing of another"

Torturously majestic, Devyn moved to stand by the side of the man's wife, his palm patting her lightly before he relaxed it on her shoulder causing her to tense more. "Well, until you choose to give me the information I want, I'm gonna break her fingers one by one..." And slowly his hand reached behind for her finger. She whimpered, body trembling in fear "I haven't done it myself in a while now, so I might be a little messy. But no regrets, it will all leave the same mark"...

Devyn and Milo had barely stepped out of the car which has been lowered into the private garage in Devyn’s house when Casey walked up to them, she sighed "You both look much pulverized than I thought"

"Nice to see you too, Casey," Devyn said without offering her a glance.

"She woke from the coma," she said and that drove Devyn to whip his head in her direction.

"She is bluffing," Milo let out as he shut the car door.

Devyn's eyes studied her for a while, her faint teasing smile made it a bit more confusing. Although he was eager, he did put an effort not to let it slip "She's not" he returned to Milo though his eyes remained on Casey "How long?" His voice dropped low, except if one of them could read him well, it was Casey.

She gave a ghost smirk "7:36 this morning, an hour fifteen minutes ago. You no longer need the man, right?" She asked, particularly of Benjamin.

"Yes. Though I shall grant him the honour myself"

The door to the torture room opened and Devyn walked right in, a pistol in his right hand. After the electrocution session during Devyn's last visit, Benjamin has been much sore and confused. His body was still pitifully clasped against the wall, series of cuts across his body. The torture was much that it altered his mind to believe he truly deserved the suffering.

"You know," Devyn's voice pierce the silent air in the room, but Benjamin was too weak to even let out a sound "I wanted to disembody your remaining fingers, and while you still lived, removed your genitals before I finally execute you. But I shall reserve that for a certain person I have been longing to meet" He stopped before the man "I remember vividly the spot you shot her,"

Even with how close he was to him, the man's eyes were barely able to glimpse his face properly. "Though I shall let you off just as I had promised" He placed the barrel of the pistol against Benjamin's chest and then pushed it a bit further which brought a weak reaction from the man "Don't... ever touch what is not... yours" Cue to his last word, the bullet burst through Benjamin causing a splash of blood to spread out on the wall behind.

"Dispose of him," Devyn said and headed out of the space with Casey trailing behind him.

Beneath the shower head, Devyn's body was sprayed with water that came as perfect rain, warm and steady and shortly he strides into his massive closet before laying into an exquisite fashion. Casey came into view, in the middle of some conversation with Milo as he walked down the stairs.

"You look stunning," Casey remarked, her lips in a satisfied smile.

"So does he, right before he fires a bullet" Milo let out before sipping his coffee. But Casey ignored the remark and shifted to Devyn.

"Let me dress that for you," She said positioning his collar properly before reaching to undo a few buttons. "This looks much better," she tapped on his coated shoulders.

Milo placed down his coffee cup, “Stop hovering like an ambitious stripper"

"One sees what they want to see, don't they?" She arched her eyebrow at Milo's path.

"I think we can continue this later" Devyn let loose another button of his shirt as he started to head off.

Clyde was in a conversation with Velda before their series of exchange was interrupted as Devyn stepped into the room, his hair styled backwards and his mesmerizing grey eyes lucked with Velda's as he step further into the space, with a mobile phone close to his ear before he nestled it into his coat, and in his left hand was a fresh blend of sunflower mingled with soothing blossoms of peony, magnolia, and lotus flower. His all-black style was impressive, particularly in the exposure of his chest.

"Mr Devyn," Clyde greeted. Perhaps surprised to see him in such an appearance, mostly, the flowers.

"Hello Detective, how are you feeling?" He said, voice low and deep with a little ghost smile that made Clyde so much more curious as to how close the two were.

Velda beams at him as she watches him draw nearer to her "It appears I'm fine"

"Uhm... I shall head back to the office" Clyde informed and she nodded to his words.

"You took a lot," Devyn whispered as the door shut behind him. He placed the flowers on the table and turned to her, admiring her for a while. So many possibilities had flashed in his eyes when he saw her lying in the pool of her blood – He waved the thought away. "I'm glad you're okay now" he uttered, even though his voice was no less the previous, his eyes did tell a lot.