The Culprit

Drew received Zane's call to find the culprit responsible for poisoning Zane's companion, and he knew he had to move quickly. Zane wasn't a patient man and surely would not be forgiving if Drew didn't sort this out immediately.

Drew was in the black-ops and had an extensive background in military missions and covert operations. He was hunted down about five years ago to serve as Zane's head of security. He didn't know who Zane was and had no interest in taking the position initially. He was offered a package he couldn't refuse, with five times his salary. He had worked for Zane now for the past five years. Ever since he took the job, no day had ever been dull, many trying to assassinate Zane, steal his fortune, kidnap him to try to unlock Zane's secrets, and everything in between.

Being that Ethan was one of Zane's best friends, Ethan was often targeted as a way to get to Zane. Zane knew he needed top notch security for Ethan as well, so he charged Drew with the task of hiring someone as competent as Drew himself for the job. Drew and Taylor served together in the black-ops. When Drew was asked to hire someone, there wasn't a shadow of a doubt in Drew's mind that Taylor was the man for the job.

Taylor was stealthy, alert, and the best shooter he had ever seen. Knowing that Taylor was back at Ethan's house already, he decided to give Taylor a call and get him started on finding the culprit.

"Taylor, that woman was poisoned, you need to" Drew was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Drew, I know. I saw her when she was leaving, and you and I have seen our share of substances and poison. I knew exactly what happened to her. I've already scanned the house and found the culprit."

"Taylor, are you alright?! You seriously are slipping if someone was able to slip some poison a house guest right under your nose!" scolded Drew.

Taylor shook his head and knew Drew was right. He had disappointed himself by letting this happen. Many had tried to do horrible things to Ethan, but they had never succeeded. Why was this different?

When Zane and Sara flew out of the house, he knew the person responsible for poisoning Sara was going to slip away quickly. He knew Jen and Ethan had been in the bedroom, and he had surveyed Jen. She was ruled out, not having done anything other than to possess Ethan.

He gathered all the staff in the interior of the house and rounded up the staff working the outdoor bar. He reached the bar and noticed no one was there. He looked around and found a small but empty vile. He slipped the vile in his pocket to examine it later.

He looked towards the far end of the perimeter of the yard and the man made ocean. His eye caught something moving on the sand, about to dive in to escape.

Taylor sprinted towards the sand and in the water. He was so quick, anyone who would watch would be shocked at how much ground Taylor covered. It was like he was a Jaguar in human form.

The culprit started to swim away, and Taylor dove in to the water. He was just as quick at swimming as he was in running. His body moved like a swift shark, propelling forward in the water with ever kick and stroke. His hand reached the culprit's foot, and Taylor grabbed his ankle and yanked him sharply, pulling him under water.

Taylor grabbed the handcuffs he carried in his pocket and quickly affixed it to the culprit's ankle, while securing the other side to his own ankle. This would connect them and make it easier for Taylor to swim back to shore and find out who this man was.

Once back on shore, Taylor released the handcuff on his own ankle. The culprit still had his right ankle locked, and Taylor grabbed the man's left hand and contorted his body backwards, locking his left hand with the other side of the handcuff.

"Ahhh, motherfucker, you're going to pay for that!" teller the culprit in pain.

Taylor's eyes turned to steel while a smile crept up on his face. Taylor loved torturing cocky assholes who crossed him. Taylor pulled a button out of his waistband and whacked the culprit hard across the back. Taylor was really getting pleasure from inflicting pain on this man.

"Aggghh!" Screeched the culprit in pain.

Taylor raised his hand with the baton in the air and was going to come down hard with another crack to the culprit's back with the intention of hearing some bones crack when he felt a stern hand grab a hold of his wrist just before the baton met the man's back.

"Taylor, we have time for that. We don't want to kill him just yet." Drew said, as he held on tightly to Taylor.

Taylor released the baton back to his waist band and ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a sigh of impatience. He really wanted to beat this asshole senseless, but he knew Drew was right. If they were going to get any information out of this man, they needed to apply their torture tactics.

Drew and Taylor picked the man up and tossed him in the back of Drew's black van. The front windows of the van were tinted, while there were no windows on the back side of the car where the culprit had been thrown. Anyone driving by this car would have no idea some man was being transported to an excruciating torture room where he would eventually find his death.

Drew slammed the back of the van after the culprit was tossed in. He nodded at Taylor and said, "I'm off. I'll call you when we are ready to start. See you soon comrade."

Taylor nodded back at Drew and headed back inside. He didn't want to interrupt Ethan but knew he had to get him informed of the events.

Taylor ran up the stairs and knocked at the door. Ethan and Jen were still napping, but Ethan was a light sleeper. He had many encounters where people would try to attack in the night, so he learned to always have his senses sharp, even in his sleep.

He heard the light tap at the door and jolted awake. He looked over to Jen and noted she was still sound asleep. He lowered himself from the bed and moved to the door. As he opened, he saw Taylor on the other side. Taylor never interrupted him in his bedroom unless it was important. He knew something bad must have happened, so he stepped out of the room and closed the doors to leave Jen alone on the bed.

"What happened Taylor?!"

"Sir, the lady's friend, Miss Sara was poisoned. Zane noticed something was off and transported her to his hospital. Drew and I caught the culprit, and the man is now with Drew."

"Taylor, how the fuck did this happen right under your nose?!"

"Sir...I..." Taylor had no words.

"Alright Taylor, we will deal with that later. You're lucky you've never fucked up before in these past five years and lucky that girl is still alive. You have a bit of leeway from me on this one, but I can't promise Zane won't want your head for this. Now you had better work with Drew to figure this out before Zane gets to you."

Taylor nodded and excused himself.

Jen was already really protective over Sara, Ethan thought. They just shared an afternoon of pleasure, and now he didn't know what to tell her about Sara's condition. He didn't want her to worry about Sara but didn't want to keep this from her either.