CHAPTER 2 The Shadow T he screams of pain bouncing around the cement walls are getting a tad annoying. Sometimes it sucks being the hacker and the enforcer. I really fucking enjoy hurting people, but tonight, I have no goddamn patience for this whiny asshole. And normally, I have the patience of a saint. I know how to wait for what I want most. But when I’m trying to get some real answers and the dude’s too busy shitting his pants and crying to give me a coherent response, I get a little testy. “This knife is about to go halfway through your eyeball,” I warn. “I’m not even going to show you any mercy and shove it all the way through to your brain.” “Fuck, man,” he cries. “I told you that I just went to the warehouse a few times. I don’t know anything about some fuckin’ ritual.” “So, you’re useless is what you’re saying,” I surmise, inching the blade towards his eye. He squeezes them shut as if skin that’s no thicker than a centimeter is going to prevent the knife from going through his eye. Fucking laughable. “No, no, no,” he pleads. “I know someone there that might be able to give you more information.” Sweat drips down his nose, mixing with the blood on his face. His overgrown greasy blonde hair is matted to his forehead and the back of his neck. Guess it’s not actually blonde anymore since most of it’s painted red now. I had already cut off one of his ears, along with ripping off ten of his fingernails, severed both Achilles heels, a couple of stab wounds in specific locations that won’t allow the fucker to bleed out too quickly, and too many broken bones to count. Dickhead won’t be getting up and walking out of here, that’s for damn sure. “Less crying, more talking,” I bark, scraping the tip of the knife against his still-closed eyelid. He cringes away from the knife, tears bubbling out from beneath his lashes.