“Do what you want with him,” said Roger in a gruff voice. “Just keep him alive. There’s no one around to bury a body tonight.”
I sneered at the guy who was desperately trying to get to his feet but kept collapsing on the floor.
“Fine,” I snarled. “Now, get out.”
Roger stared at the man on the ground with a mournful look before turning away.
“Stay down,” I said, stomping on the guy’s spine.
“Who the fuck are you?” he screamed, trying to fight me off.
Kneeling beside him, I grabbed a handful of his dark, greasy hair and pulled his face up so he could see me. Immediately, a look of recognition came over his eyes. “You...”
“So, you remember?” I asked even though I hadn’t met him before. He was probably mistaking me for Corey. “Who paid you to mess up my bike?”
“What? I don’t know anything about—”
I rose to my feet before he could finish spewing his lies and whacked him hard in the face with the iron rod.
A wild cry escaped him as he was thrown back.
“Oww! Fuck!” he screamed, touching his bleeding face with his trembling hands. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“You messed up my bike,” I said.
“I didn’t!”
I brought the rod down on his chest, making him collapse on the floor. Letting my anger consume me whole, I hit him again.
“P—p—please,” the young man whimpered while lying in a pool of his blood.
I swiped a sweaty lock out of my eyes and glared down at the bastard. “Lie to me one more time and I’ll break your legs into so many pieces they’ll never be able to put them back together. Understand?”
“Why are you doing this to me?” the guy whimpered pathetically.
“Because you fucked with me,” I said in a cold tone. “Tell me who paid you to mess up my bike or I’ll break your spine next. Or maybe, I’ll take out one of your balls.” I poked him between his legs.
Pressing his thighs together, he crawled away from me at once.
“I don’t know who he is,” the bastard replied, trembling from head to foot. “He showed me your photo and the bike you usually ride. Told me to mess up the brakes in such a way that you can’t figure anything’s wrong with it the first few days.”
I raised the rod to hit him again but he flinched, shouting and sniveling. “I’m not lying,” he shouted. “Please! It’s the truth! That guy paid me five thousand dollars for the job.”
Rage flowed through my veins like poison. Corey’s life was worth a mere five thousand dollars to him? I wanted to beat the piece-of-shit to death but I still needed an answer from him.
“What did this guy look like?” I asked.
“He was about your age...kinda geeky looking. Blond hair plastered to his head, large gray eyes...big mouse-like ears.”
“Anything else?Think.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “He was kind of tall and lanky. And...and...he wore the same pin as you.”
“What pin?”
The trembling young man pointed at my chest. Looking down, I became aware of the golden Elite badge pinned to the front of my leather jacket.
Blond, tall, and lanky. A geek with big ears. Someone who was an Elite.