BURN THE TRUTH

Episode Thirty-three

The room was spacious with generous clean walls and no opening, cold and dim. It was quiet and sombre and the victim who was clasped against a wall at the end of the room felt a chill as the darkness engulfed him. His head was covered in a black bag mask. It was the most piercing darkness ever-it was not merely the darkness that came out of the absence of light, it was much more sinister.

A tremor of panic vibrated in his core as he hear the door open and the faint rhythm of footsteps approaching him. He was blind, sightless, motionless, and restrained. He was as good as dead, a lamb awaiting slaughter.

"Lovely, you're awake," Milo let out, a dry smile crossing his lips before he took the mask off the victim's head.

The man's eyes popped open as the bag left his face and the cold, sharp gaze of Milo cut into his. "Who the f**k are you?" The supposed leader questioned and Milo silently moved to turn on more lights.

"What-what the hell are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Slightly Milo turned, his grave gaze packed with sarcasm "You are going to be brutally tortured until you provide the necessary information that will be useful. Though the torture is not by me, you have indeed got yourself a five-star torturer" The last words had barely left his lips when Casey walked in.

The man's eyes toured to and fro, "Who do you work for? Who sent you?"

"Sounds like karma to me, if you ask me" Casey let out as she approached him. Swiftly she scanned his face with the device she held up. "Benjamin Viotto, huh? Quite an unpleasant name" She stated as she moved away from him.

"Knowing my name is worthless, I've been threatened by worse than you," Benjamin remarked displeasingly.

"I guarantee you haven't" Milo returned.

Casey stopped midway and averted her attention to the man. "Because of you, I'm awake by this time of the night. If you think we're here to play a chit-chat game, I advise you to wake up, because the moment that man walks into this room, you're as good as dead" Casey told him and with a swift move, she left the room.

"You– you all a-are gonna regret this, you hear me?" The man quivered as the door shut.

Milo said no word as he put in the code against the side of the wall he stood, and gradually a section of the room extended, revealing a massive stretch of blades and the most unthinkable tools. "The thing is, you just talk way too much. Didn't your mother teach you to use your manners, when you are in the midst of strangers?"

Benjamin swallowed at the sight of the organized tools and then he watched Milo reach out "It's just annoying when the prey insists on being so difficult. Just don't go making this more difficult for yourself. Not the brightest, are you? You could have saved yourself all the pain if you hadn't taken the job"

He moved dramatically closer to the man "The thing is that anyone can remove a body part, anyone can torture, Benjamin, but the trick is to be able to do it while keeping the captive alive to obtain the information they withhold. And unfortunately for you, the sole person who qualifies for that is the man you had blindly shot his lover"–

Morning came, though the sun had barely set when Devyn drove into his garage. Casey immediately passed him an iPad which he briefly went through before steering to his room.

It wasn't long before the faint sound of Devyn's shoe on the cold floor followed by the sudden silence had Benjamin's heart racing and his body slightly shaking. The cell suddenly felt impossibly cold. Benjamin's eyes travelled around the space, dark, like a spot on the periphery of his vision.

"Benjamin Viotto," Devyn's voice rose, calm and collected. He was particularly well dressed for a person about to stain his hands.

Coordinatedly Devyn walked over to the man and took off the bag mask, letting it drop on the long rectangular shade table by the side. The grey eyes male was in one shade with the room – Black. Just the look on Devyn's face caused Benjamin to mourn silently, fear slipped into his eyes, and his mind, and completely consumed him. It was the kind that he couldn't predict what Devyn would unleash on him. And there was nothing in his voice, his eyes, or his expression that could betray them.

"You know we have to put family first, don't we? Without family, what is there?" He leaned against the table "Uh-huh. Might I ask, how's your sister? Zoe, is it?"

"Don't you dare!" The man lashed out.

"Oh. Here we go" Devyn sighed "In your position, you don't stand a chance to threaten anyone. She must be kind that love Africa so much. How long has she been there? Two months? No. It has been only a month and seventeen days"

"Leave her out of this!" Ben let out, his face is a furious mask, but didn't seem to be taken by Devyn.

"Don't be rude. We're only chatting" Devyn spoke, keeping his face neutral. "I spent some time in Africa. A wonderful place. So beautiful, but quite dangerous. You love her much, do you not? She is quite pretty unlike you, I just don't like the look of your nose. I bet it is of no use" Ben glared at Devyn in a way that makes it seem like he would be able to end him if given the slightest opportunity.

Devyn slide a part of the table without turning completely to the table, revealing more weapons, there he picked up a black glove as if he already knew the placement of it, and slowly put them on before reaching for a very exquisite cutter. "I wanna know three things; first the look on her face when you or perhaps one of your men stabbed her. Secondly, what exactly were you people trying to accomplish? And finally, who gave the order?" He took a slow step "Oh, I almost forgot. To you, your answer means nothing since I will eventually kill you... But it will tell if to let your sister live or not, or perhaps your mother, who I will be visiting after this. I would love to try her meal"

"You! Bastard! My people will come for you!" His voice raised, spiralling into a steady shout.

But the opening of the door drew Devyn's attention "I found those shares you were asking for" Louisa said from the door.

"Good, I will join you soon," Devyn noted before the door shuts.

"Now, Benjamin" Devyn turned his attention back to the man, "Oh, look at those nails" His voice was cold, calm and condescending "...they're so long. They really need cleaning. Why not trim them a bit?" cue to those words, the blade sliced off a portion of Benjamin's middle finger causing the man's cry to roar through the room.

"Dear me, I cut a bit too deep. But I'm still yet to have the answer to my first question" He said, regretfully. And just as his words ended, the agonizing cry of the man again echoed throughout the space. "Oh my, I did it again. Twice in a row" His eyes blankly stared into Benjamin's face.

"Now, that I've gotten closer, I got to tell you, that nose of yours is a little too long. Allow me, please"

Benjamin gasped, his eyes bulging in disbelief. From his open mouth came gurgling, sputtering sounds. His voice cuts through the cold air almost piercing as the blade slices into his nose. If he could call for help, to scream his agony and fear to the street, they should have heard him by now, but he could get no volume out of the room.

Without a word, Devyn turned and placed the bloody cutter on the table and shifted from him, purposefully. Bold. He leaned against the table with a face of utter nonchalance, as if he was merely waiting for a bus on a spring day. His body wasn't clearly too muscular, yet it is just as relaxed as his face. If Benjamin had thought his first approach was mean, the man before him was now more of a different person, because as his head whips up, something had changed on Devyn's face. And that was when it occurred to Benjamin that the few he had just received were only an experiment.

"The length of your torture depends on how long she lay there in a coma and I will end your suffering once she wakes. Don't you dare die on me before then. Or I will pay everyone you care about a nice visit"

Those words came out cold, his anger finally manifesting in the tone and his words generally let Benjamin know that backing out wasn't an option. Not even the truth will save him from the man before him.

The extended sessions of waterboarding left Benjamin with serious chest pneumonia; every time he scream it feels like razor blades were slicing up his throat and lungs. Though Devyn was clever, he didn't want the man dead, yet, only for him to suffer enough to give him every bit of information he needs. But more... Devyn wanted to inflict so much pain on him no matter the information he had provided.

Benjamin sustains so many shallow cuts, uncomfortable bruises and burns that every day is more discomfort than agony. Each time Devyn enters the room, blades get dragged across bruised skin, stinging lightly but as it's pressed further in, the man couldn't help but cry out.

Devyn came in through the hidden staircase into a corridor before paving his way into his living space. "Any lead?" he asked as Casey followed behind. They has earlier learned Benjamin had received the task from a phone call while a half payment was dropped at his door step before the operation.

“I managed to track down the massanger’s location, the call had come from this hotel” She showed him the screen.

Devyn took a brief glance. “Q-16, that's the only information he knows. It was the letter on the paper used to wrap the cash” he told her.

"What's Q-16? Not heard of them yet" Milo said, standing a distance from them.

"It's much like a private Organization" Devyn informed and began to take the route to the exquisite staircase.

Milo's eyes trained on him "Should we dispose of him?"

"Not yet. Casey, dig into Q-16 and find everything we need to know”

“Certainly,” Casey smirked at Devyn's words "He's not getting off that easily" She turned to tell Milo "You did say he pulled the trigger, didn't you?"