Red

Recap...

I hear a faint click and start to feel drowsy again. That's weird I think before I drift off to sleep.

Adonis:

I wake up at 6:32 and get ready for the day as fast as possible before leaving for my warehouse. The British and the French should be at the warehouse by 7:30 today. I get there at 7:00 and I head straight to my office. From the corner of my eye, I see Nico leaving a group to follow me up.

I hope they found something by now. I enter my office and Nico follows not long after. "Have you found red yet?" I ask. "Yes, you're not going to believe it," Nico says breathlessly as he sets a file down. Open it immediately and scan through. They found a lot of evidence while I was out. 3 photos, 2 fingerprints, and some fake IDs from Red. I grit my teeth and spit out "Alfeo King."

"Yes," Nico says. The only good thing about this is we already have him trapped. The bad thing is we have him trapped. We may have a leak in the guards if he's getting information from the Greco's still. That better not be the case. "Let's go pay him a visit then," I say once I plan out what to do with him.

I walk out with Nico behind me and enter the torture chamber he's currently being kept in. I walk to a guard and demand "Get prisoner 19 to torture room 3." Before walking out to the observation area of the torture room selected. It's not the same as my primary torture chamber. It has more of a musty smell to it and is often damp. That's just what comes with what we do here, it's great at pushing the limits of the body. In a special way. He'll break. They always do once you apply a bit of heat.

A guard enters the chamber not long after to prepare the room. This isn't an ordinary torture room. It's built specifically to push the limits of the human body through heat. First, it'll be the air. It'll slowly heat up until it reaches 100°F. Then it'll cool down slowly. It's just below the livable heat someone could survive in without brain damage.

If he doesn't talk from the humidity we'll heat the room itself. Like an oven. There is a difference when you take out humidity and cook someone alive. Once their body heat reaches 107.6°F their heatstroke is irreversible. Most people don't make it to the oven stage but it has happened. Even if they do no one has made it to 107.6°F without telling me what I need to know. Most do die of heatstroke though whether they make it to the oven or not.

If I know what I need to know, what's the purpose of keeping someone alive? Alfeo unfortunately does have a purpose for his living other than telling me what he knows. He's Kiera's to kill. That doesn't mean I won't let him die if necessary though. I don't think she'll care if he's dead if his death stood between her being safe and alive or dead.

Alfeo is put into the chamber as soon as it's ready and the guards leave securing the door before leaving the room entirely. Only Nico and I are left in the observation room. Alfeo looks around briefly before spotting us. Fear flashes through his eyes before he covers it by laughing. It was supposed to be maniacal I think. It came out more like a dying horse.

I press the speaker button to say "This is no time for games red, I know who you're involved with and you're going to give me answers," I say. He goes quiet. I ask him my first question "Where is the Greco base?" I ask. Silence. I shrug and press another button. I hear the metal pipes clang open and in comes the first round of hot air to the room. It's only 80°F now. Not too bad yet.

"What is this?" He yells standing up. I laugh slightly. He was better off sitting. I observe him spinning around in place before going over to the walls. The first signs of him cracking. I press the button again. "This is an oven, right now it's not in function but it can be put into action. What's happening now is just humidity. It was nice and cold but soon it will be unbearably hot and it'll only get hotter the more you don't answer," I say coldly.

"You're sick," he yells. He collapses on the ground not long after. "If you tell me what I need to know this will all be over," I say. "I don't know where their base is, it's too well hidden," he cries. He broke faster than I expected. "Have you been there before?" I ask. He nods desperately. "I was blindfolded the whole way there though," he says. "Describe the place." "It's run down and falling apart. It's a concrete building and the grass is too tall around it. The inside is musty and it's clear the building wasn't well maintained. Besides the basement, it's modern and clean. I think it used to be a hospital. That's all I know," he says.

I swallow hard. "What were you planning?" I ask. "I-I can't tell you," he says. I press the other button releasing hotter air. This time 85°F. "Now will you tell me?" I ask. "We um, well we wanted to take over all the mafias. I was going to run the King Mafia and more. We were going to be in charge of everyone," he says. I can't help but laugh at this. His motivations were greed when he already had everything handed to him. "That's your motivation, not your plan," I say.

He goes silent. "I'm waiting," I say. Still nothing. I turn the heat up again releasing more air and making it 90°F. "Ok, ok, I don't know the full plan but I can tell you what I was supposed to do. I had to use Kiera to get to Alessandro and eventually break him down. The more that was released about her past the more it hurt his reputation as the head of the mafia. It was even better when she ran away he went crazy. It was going well and he was becoming weaker as he became more unhinged. I was supposed to eventually lead him to his breaking point when he made a lethal mistake and our mafia would've been taken over by me," Alfeo explains. 

I exhale deeply and turn on the cooling system to make it room temperature before I leave. He'll be questioned again later if I need more information. But for now, it's time to meet with the British and French. I hope the information Alfeo gave is going to be useful. Before we make it to the conference room I stop making Nico stop as well. "Get a research team together to survey the area and find any records of hospitals created in the 1900s that shut down over 10 years ago," I say. He nods and walks away. I continue walking after that and walk into the conference room and greet the people there beginning our meeting. 

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