Chapter 80

“Ready?” Troy asked, as he pulled the knife from the man’s throat and wiped the blood off.

* * * *

“Shall we try again?” The man pulled sharply on the chain attached to the wrist shackles. “Who are you and why are you here?”

Vance bit down so hard on his tongue he tasted blood, but he didn’t cry out, even though it felt as if his shoulders would dislocate at any moment from the strappado position they had used to restrain him. “Go to hell,” he spat out.

The only answer he received was the whip lashing across his back, again, causing him to jerk in response. Pain so intense he felt nauseated made him cry out as one shoulder finally succumbed and separated. He refused to give the man the satisfaction of reacting with more than the one shout of pain. He had, after all, learned at his mother’s knee it only excited the abuser all the more.

“One more time, who sent you here?”