Ripped Open (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 2) Read online

  “Go and do that. I’ll get a Death Warrant for him. No one abuses one of my people. No one.” She glared a bit, as if she figured that Simpson was going to have a problem with that part.

  That wasn’t happening however. Enright kind of did, since that kind of thing was almost certainly going to come back on him.

  Cindy let her head come up however and smiled.

  “On that directly. Can you… Not mention who he was abusing? In the warrant? I guess we’ll have to pass that up the food chain, eventually, but if we can classify it a bit, it might save Enright’s career. He was trapped, and didn’t get a choice in this. Then… I can handle the rest for you?” She didn’t even try to be sly about what she was saying, since Marcia would get it and the other men wouldn’t.

  She was five foot nothing and weighed in at just about enough to make the needle on a scale twitch a bit. They were all much larger and stronger than Cindy was, and Mophrey was super humanly strong and fast. About three times what a powerful regular man would have going on that way. So it didn’t seem likely she could do much. Which was probably true. Her arms were already going to be bruised from the one block she’d only partially managed with the man.

  Looking at the others, she shrugged, and then explained.

  “I handle the death by torture portion of things here. This probably doesn’t actually warrant that, or wouldn’t normally, but the guy was one of our own and a sicko rapist. That has to make him fair game, right?” She knew the real answer was no, but for some strange reason, both Simpson and Turner started to nod.

  Greg took a very deep breath then.

  “Crap. Right. We can’t let him go, can we? Is that enough for you, Enright? We… Torture him and then make sure he’s dead? This is… So far beyond screwed up. I can’t believe he made it through the mental requirements for his program. They screen us all pretty hard.”

  It was actually true.

  Really, with a bit of cross referencing, Cindy could even tell that Mophrey hadn’t been like that, before the government had tampered with his biology like they had. It was atypical however, she thought. The others hadn’t heard about anyone else doing things like that at any rate. Technically it was probably enough to get the man off, with the work simply being undone on him. If you were pushed into being evil, it didn’t really count, after all.

  That thought crossed the minds of everyone else there, and Marcia nearly hesitated over it. After all, if it was a real thing, then others in that specific program might be at risk for the same kind of issue. If they hid what they did, and vanished the man with a warrant, then they’d need to hide the whole thing.

  Worse, nearly ten people already knew about it all. That meant his handlers would, eventually, find out about it. If they reported it however, then the generals in charge would probably try to cover things up, and that might come back on Enright. Blaming the victim, to cover their own asses.

  Cindy didn’t care about that part really. Marcia however, did. She was sort of paranoid, but essentially a good person for all of that.

  “Data first then. I’ll still make the call. Then we can figure out what will be needed?”

  That meant linking to the newsprint in the rapist’s head, and then locating the needed data to force his apartment door open. That wasn’t too hard to do however, since she just walked to the front desk, waved at Penny Cooper, who smiled at her, having been eavesdropping shamelessly the whole time, standing in the room with them, while invisible. Cindy had seen her there, lurking, though the others hadn’t.

  She was cute, in a heart faced way. Tan and with dark brown hair. That didn’t match her own internal self-image however, since nature had made her a blonde that had light blue eyes. It was still a great look for her, regardless.

  “You got all that? I need a door override, so I can get in.”

  The others hadn’t seen or noticed the girl with the fake tan in there with them, but it was all there, over her head, now that the other woman wasn’t trying to be invisible. When she was making an effort almost no one could find her at all. There was both a physical and psychic effect to it all, which even Cin wasn’t totally immune to. The psychic stuff was weaker for her than the rest of the base though, for some reason. It was a bit odd, but handy enough, on most days. For Penny.

  “Got it. I’ll have that ready by the time you get there.” She sounded normal, but the words over her head turned a bit green. Then yellow, with fear.

  After all, Enright was a man. So was Mophrey, but she’d done a lot worse to people at the base than the other man really had, over the years. Rape, abuse and even hurting them, for her own pleasure. If the new rule was all about torture and Death Warrants for that, then she might well be in trouble. Especially if she got caught doing things like that again.

  Not that she’d really stopped. For a while she kind of had, it was clear, since Brian had offered to kill her if she didn’t, and wouldn’t let himself forget that Penny was a creeper. After a while she’d gotten bored, and made herself believe that as long as no one knew about what was going on, then it didn’t really hurt anything.

  Which was, as far as Cindy could tell, really just the truth. That wasn’t what she was all about anyway. Cin wanted to hurt the man, certainly, but only for her own selfish reasons. It just so happened that Marcia was willing to let her do that, under the right circumstances. Not that the woman was really a fan of torture like that. The idea was to send a message to everyone else. Betraying her, and the IPB, was not allowed.

  It was a thing that made sense to Cindy. Even if she weren’t trying to get her jollies out of the situation. Which she totally was, at the moment.

  To Director Turner’s mind, Captain Mophrey had slapped the entire organization in the face with his actions. As far as Penny went, well… The girl’s power kept making almost everyone forget that she’d ever done anything to anyone. That basically erased her actions each time. Plus, under torture the woman would simply vanish, and probably escape, so it wasn’t worth doing, as far as Cin was concerned.

  There was no point to causing screams, and delicate whimpers, if you couldn’t recall them the next day. That was almost the same as nothing having happened at all. Which made her current target much better for her.

  She jogged to the correct room, taking the location from the rapist himself, and loaded the correct files on a thumb drive, after peeking at them. Just to make certain they were the right ones. It seemed to be correct, but also showed that the man had been abusing someone else.

  That part got her to blink, since it hadn’t shown up in his head. Not just from what they’d been doing earlier. She did a search for that data specifically, and found it all, after that. There was even video of it all, and the large orc girl in tan fatigues was familiar enough. Sara. She was only seven, for all that she looked older in most of the video.

  Truly, if the man had just been doing her in the larger green form, the one with tusks and decently large breasts, Cindy would have let it go. Sure, the kid was actually seven, but you honestly couldn’t tell from the way she looked. Thankfully, the asshole had also gotten her to change shape, and had done her in her little girl form as well.

  It didn’t look coerced even, but little kids were children, and that meant the man was hers for certain.

  Enright was still there when she got back, though Simpson had left for some reason. Marcia looked up at her, getting ready to let her know that they were just going to be killing the man, since that was what Enright had asked for. A nice deep grave, and an end to the problem.

  It might not let him sleep at night, but he probably wasn’t going to for a while anyway.

  She grinned then.

  “Nope. We’re going for the whole torture experience. Files three, nine, and then ten through fourteen…”

  She didn’t watch them again herself, but Marcia did, and waved Enright over. The man threw up, using the waste basket for that part of things. It wasn’t that it was so bad, since he’d actually been trea
ted more roughly than the girl had. It was just the age thing, and the fact that he felt guilty. If he’d reported the man earlier, then it was kind of clear that Sara couldn’t have been targeted at all.

  It got a nod then. From Enright.

  “Okay. I take it back. We’re… Going to really do this?” He glanced at Cindy, who nodded a few times, her blonde hair bobbing a bit.

  “Yep. Or, well, I am. I was thinking of masturbating with his blood… That might not be a healthy group experience, but if you want in, I guess I can hold off on that part? This once. Just for you.” She was joking, as inappropriate as it was. Not that the idea hadn’t occurred to her before.

  Now… It just didn’t seem as fun. That meant she needed to hurry, since it was kind of clear that she was about to lose her desire for the kind of thing she currently enjoyed. It was sad. A part of life that she was truly going to miss. Killing was a rush, and hearing people in pain…

  Was the best thing ever. It had been. Now it was starting to seem pale, and insufficient. Empty of meaning.

  Enright blinked, several times, and then nodded.

  “Whatever floats your boat. How do we…”

  Marcia picked up a paper on her desk. One that was signed and dated already.

  “Death Warrant. I have you down as the serving officer of record, Mableton. How do you want to proceed? Mophrey dies, but we can do this to your specifications. Do you need a team for it?”

  She nearly said no, but then nodded, since the man had super powers, and might just kill her and run off, if she wasn’t careful about it all. After a moment, she understood who would be needed. It would take some management on her part, if she wanted more than a simple death for the rapist.

  She did a quick search of different people’s files, in her head. Calling up what they really thought about things like what they were facing.

  “Rachel Chambers, Olga, and… Denis.” The older woman, Rachel, got both names used as a courtesy. It wasn’t that there were ten Rachels on the base or anything, just that the woman was pushing at least her mid-seventies. She looked like she was an attractive and fit thirty, if not a bit younger than that, thanks to her powers, but had pretty much co-founded the IPB.

  Being polite to her meant something to Marcia, so Cin was going to play along with that part. It was manipulation, but the kind that the other woman would both catch on to, and be all right with.

  The other two were there for different, but very real reasons.

  “Hobbs, too?” This came from Marcia, who tilted her head. The reasoning there was a bit different, but not wrong.

  Turner knew that Olga was hard, and willing to kill. Denis was actually softer, but able to subdue almost anyone in the world, if he could see them. Neither of them would normally stand by while another person was being tortured. Hobbs however wouldn’t have an issue with that kind of thing. In his world, that was just part of how things were done. It might baffle him if they were hiding it, but he’d understand the concept. Especially given that they had real proof of wrong doing. That wasn’t even a consideration where he came from.

  Cindy smiled then.

  “That’s probably enough of a team.” She didn’t include Enright, but when Marcia waved her away, the man followed along, as if expected. Given the other man wasn’t called back, and felt very determined, she just nodded at him.

  “This isn’t about you. Yes, you should have stepped up, even if it meant killing yourself later. This isn’t even about the abuse, really. The man is clearly sick. Probably made that way by the alterations made to him. We’ll report that, later. You understand?” It was actually about her having set things up to get her jollies.

  Strangely, the man nodded.

  “Some things have to be hidden. This way we can tell the higher ups that the problem was handled, and no one will have to take the hit for it. He’s attached here, and we were all told that we had to abide by the IPB rules. We know the score that way.”

  She nodded, as if that had anything to do with what she cared about.

  “Exactly. I know that you military guys don’t always get it, but we take care of our own here. Even you. If it had just been you, this would still be happening. If it was someone else, it would be as well. We can’t let the world think that we’re monsters. Even if we really are. Not just the Infected. Or you military types. All of us. The entire government.” She was going to expand, but it was kind of clear that the man actually agreed with her. On all counts.

  At times having her powers were kind of handy. For instance, she was able to find out that Turner had, helpfully, called in the needed people, with the simple enough orders of following Cindy’s lead. It meant that she knew everyone else was going to meet them at the brig. Where Brent Mophrey waited.

  The paper in her hand was still fresh out of the printer, and real, meaning that she waved to the others as they came up. Olga was actually running, though Rachel was already standing there, not seeming all that concerned. Then, she hadn’t been told that the girl she’d been watching out for had been abused by the man they were going to go and kill. Just that the man was in trouble.

  Denis and Hobbs were the slow ones as far as getting there was concerned, being that neither of them had super speed of any kind. They did run however, and it really didn’t take long, both men being conditioned to that kind of thing.

  As soon as they got there, and were catching their breath, she waved the paper a bit.

  “One of the military men attached here, Captain Brent Mophrey, was caught out earlier, as a rapist. Coercion mostly, not force. He was abusing Enright here, using political power.” She glanced at Rachel and shrugged. “He was also doing Sara. Back before you started watching her. He got her to go little girl for parts of it, so her apparent age isn’t an excuse. I have a signed and dated Death Warrant for him. We’re going to serve that now. More to the point, I’m going to serve it. You’re the team for this. My backup. When we go in, we’re going to work in this order.” She looked around, and saw that she was about to lose Rachel, who was planning to rush in and kill the man herself.

  She could get the job done, Cindy knew. She was a class six after all. That meant that entire Army battalions would probably die if they were fighting her. Even in their tanks and planes. Cin snapped her fingers, to get the woman’s attention. She was not thrilled about the move, thinking that her vengeance was about to be denied, so Cin smiled at her. It wasn’t a kind of gentle expression.

  Evil, probably.

  “No. We do this my way. I’ll save the kill for you, but we aren’t going to end his suffering that easy. The man has super powers, if low level ones. I can’t beat him in a fight, so… Den, when we go in, you’re going to throw pain at him. Every kind you can think of. You can do that?” She was really asking if he was willing to, since she knew for a fact that he could manage it. He’d done it to enough people over the years that it wasn’t a hidden thing. He’d even done it to her, while they practiced meditating with Hobbs, about a week before. That had been intense, but not harmful, after it was done.

  He nodded, his pictures and words all about his own father, and what the man had done to the other children at Faithhome. The nutty commune that Denis had grown up in. It was bad enough that the man was more than willing to help make a pedophile pay. Glancing over, he got that the man was also a gay rapist. It kind of meant that he was beyond all redemption, to Den Thompkins. There were things that you didn’t get away with, in his book. He wasn’t that close to Sara, and only knew her as the green giant girl, but he’d been around enough to get that she was really just a kid.

  That was enough for him.

  “Got it. So I load him up until he passes out, and then we do that until he dies from it?”

  Hobbs nodded, agreeing with the basic premise, if not the actual plan. To him proper torture needed to be more hands on. It involved acid and fire as well. In fact, as the pictures and methods to keep people alive longer came to his mind, the red haired and bearded man r
ealized that they were going to need various supplies to do a correct job of things.

  Given what he knew how to do, things that Cindy had never even heard of, she waved to him.

  “We do that, until Hobbs returns. Then we make sure that everyone that matters realizes that no one here is above the law.” Except when they were, of course.

  Normal people didn’t get to do what they were planning, after all. It was a special treat, just for her.

  The only real problem was that she wasn’t going to get to do any of it herself. That part was fun. Too much to farm all of it out to the others. Still, she was in charge, and that meant the people around her were kind of an extension of her will. That counted. Hopefully it would be enough for her.

  The really difficult part of things was actually making certain that Rachel didn’t kill the man to soon. She was tough, and angry, which meant that she was actually fine with him being in pain, but she was constantly about to fly off and end the man. Which wasn’t going to work for Cin at all.

  The agents that ran the jail, as soon as she went to their little observation booth inside, showed her paperwork, and explained the whole thing… Very helpfully turned all the cameras and observation off for them. Without even being asked to. That meant working through the night for Cindy, even when Rachel went off to bed. Olga stayed, in case they needed her for anything.

  Like ripping the man’s arms off.

  She wasn’t exactly certain why they were killing him even. That part was down to the slight remaining language barrier. It was just her job at the moment, so she was ready to help.