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The Iron Mind
Crucify (Ch. 5)

Crucify (Ch. 5)

Dillon and John were driving down the highway heading towards an exciting destination, Dillon’s basement. Dillon’s left hand was on the 12 O’ Clock position of the steering wheel, his other hand rested on the shifter next to his thigh. He drove expertly, weaving precisely in and out of the late afternoon traffic. He was incredibly calm and even appeared slightly cheerful with the grin he wore. John wondered if that was the smile of a madman as he took notice of the next passing exits and signs the nearest one they passed read “FREEMONT BLVD 3 MI”. John had been there before, Freemont was a troublesome neighborhood filled with night clubs, strip clubs (or a gentleman’s establishment as he often called them), and tattoo parlors.

There was a particularly good wings restaurant and sports bar called “Bones”, where you could compete in VR (Virtual Reality) boxing matches while drinking alcohol. John remembered watching a drunken Dillon win an astounding 14 fights in a row, which consequently landed him to a real one. The funny thing is, Dillon didn’t want to play for money, and he thought it was fun enough just to win.

When one drunken wanker couldn’t understand that, he threw his VR headset off and charged Dillon head-on. Dillon was still wearing his VR headset and witnessed the attack in virtual reality. He saw a headless man charging him, being an expert in more than 5 hand to hand combat disciplines, he selected the simplest maneuver from his arsenal and side stepped the imbecile while slapping him heartily on the rear end. This sent the large drunk into a nearby unsuspecting couple drinking happily at their table and knocking their fresh drinks into the air.

This too was unfortunate for the now airborne man, as the beast drinking at the table was a well renowned farm hand known only by the name “Tank”. Now, Tank didn’t take well to the notion of some drunken bloke in VR gear spilling his freshly bought drink onto his date and all over the floor. Tank decided to handle business, the drunk man’s legs were seemingly stuck under the bottom foot rest of Tanks table, as if he were hugging a tree with his entire body. Tank stood up and grabbed this man by the armpits, yanking up upwards breaking both of his legs. Both, of his legs.

Needless to say even Dillon probably didn’t want to be tangling with that hulk of a man so he went over being his charming self and had they moved into a VIP table on the balcony with free drinks for the rest of the evening. John turned his eyes away from the exit and sighed as they passed it on the highway. Dillon looked over at him smiling “Good times ay?” John let a smirk sneak onto his face “I was just thinking bout’ that first run-in with Tank” Dillon focused back on the road “Both his legs!” he laughed, “Haven’t been back to Bones since, on grounds that Tank may break both my bloody arms for setting foot wrong near him” John busted out with “SHIT IN MY SOCKS!” he took a breath and calmed down “There’s not a chance in hell that fat cunt could harm you.”

Dillon chuckled “I’d pay ten pounds to any men agreeing with you.” John retorted “Well good sir I- “he was cut off by a loud -Thump- and then a pause as he looked toward the direction of the noise -Thump- -Thump- Dillon’s eyes sparked as he too gave a look towards the trunk “Wife’s up!” he smiled brightly and returned his gaze to the road. He thought to himself this day was going to turn out to be a good one after all.

He looked up to see the next road sign, “Kyrus Estates 6 KM” ... “Not much longer John, then you get to earn yourself a paycheck.” John shuddered “You’ve yet to tell me why your wife is stark naked inside of your hi-tech kidnapper trunk.” His voice was gaining in volume again “AND IS CURRENTLY POUNDING FOR HER LIFE TO GET OUT!” Dillon looked over and beamed “She’s perfectly fine in there mate, as I’ve installed clean air vents that have LED light controls for hot or cold” he paused -Thump- …-Thump! - … he mumbled as he began manipulating controls on the dash display, John noticed the next few thumps began to lose their intensity more with each one. “And, she’s decided to take another nap!” Dillon said cheerfully.

“Dear god man, you’ve signed me up for a shitstorm of felony’s today mate” he paused and spoke inquisitively “Remind me not to piss you off” Dillon frowned in reply, “Truth is, caught her in the act.” John crossed his arms “Ah, and what of the bloke? Beat him shitless on the spot?” Dillon raised his hand in a pointing motion “No sir.” “Had to track him down manually.” Nodding, John raised his eyebrows “What?!” his London accent heavy into his words.

Dillon grimaced “Well, a man in my profession- “ he stopped, changing his expression “I mean I’ve gotten a bit excessive with-“ he paused again, as if looking for words in the air “What I mean is-“ this time John interrupted “Spit it out or have a fucking stroke mate! You’ve got me sweatin’ thinkin’ about what the fuck you’re trying to say.” Dillon growled and spoke quickly “I was watching her on camera one evening, she was taking her panties off on the bed... she began punching the bean pretty well and- “he frowned “I saw her using her phone to record it or something, I focused in on it out of curiosity-“ John bursted out laughing “I call it curiosity too.” “I’d bet sixty quid your hard drive is FULL of curiosity.” he laughed again in a mocking tone “THE MIGHTY DILLON, CURIOUS AS ALL HELL!” Dillon chuckled at this, “Balls man, would you let a bloke finish the story?” laughing again “I focused in to see her facetiming with someone, and naturally...” he paused calmly “I became quite livid.”

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John looked over at him “how’d you catch im’?” Dillon nodded “I examined all of the network traffic from the times she was doing it each night and confirmed my findings by tracking her phone records for roughly the same times” John shook his head in agreement as he read “Kyrus Next Exit” they glided into the turning lane and he spoke “And then you matched the phone number to a name and confirmed that with his IP address on the mesh network” Dillon’s face shone with excitement “Precisely, Then it was a simple matter of convincing him to come over and meet me in the basement” John raised his hands in an exasperated manner “He’s at your fucking house mate?” Dillon winked at him “Would you like to have yourself a look?” he operated some controls on the dash and swiped the video over to John invisibly, as if throwing him a digital card.

The windshield in-front of John became opaque as the video began to stream, he saw a man with lightly tanned skin, messy black hair that was begging to be brushed, and the man’s face was pale in comparison to the rest of him. He appeared to be wincing in pain, and the crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes hinted at how old he may be. He was close to clean shaven, just a few days’ growth and a goatee. John noticed he was held to either a floor or wall by white bracelets on each of his appendages. A faint blue LED glow could be seen around each of the four connection points, John pointed at the screen “What might those be?” “They’re common amongst law enforcement and prisons these days, they’re electromagnetic restraints powered wirelessly the same way the coasters are at the café” John’s eyes widened “There’s no limit to the things you people can do, I haven’t even thought about that.”

Dillon raised his hand in a dismissive gesture “It’s not that far-fetched really, I use the same concept to power my cameras around the house and such. Phone stays charged anywhere in the house too.” John replied with a shocked expression “And how much exactly does this sort of thing cost?” Dillon shrugged “Couldn’t say.” They turned off into the exit and came to a stop at the light about half a mile down.

The sign before them read “Left, Recharge Station / Food .5 KM” “Right, Kyrus Estates 1.5 KM”, they turned right, driving smoothly down the freshly paved road. To the left was a dense forest of tall oak and pine trees. The grass leading to the tree line was well taken care of, as if every blade had been carefully placed into its spot. The late afternoon sunlight was casting a beautiful pink and melon hue to everything, they would have needed sunglasses for the drive had they not been looking through the no-glare smart windshield of his Jag. Dillon drove steadily on the winding road; in the distance the road gave way to a matrix of paths into the few but massive estates that seemed to fit perfectly into their surroundings. Dillon could almost see his house now it was strategically placed on a subtle hill with the forest surrounding it as if the massive house were an island in a sea of green waves.

There were eight houses in Kyrus, the only ones for many kilometers. His own house appeared in the middle of the list for appraisal value, but the technology he had was worth well over the sum of that. He had a bit of an obsession with security. Cameras in the house with virtually no blind spots, cameras monitored all avenues of approach, even the woods were monitored in case of a terrestrial assault.

The house and his small fortune had been earned from the many favors and missions he had done for London. For he was once one of the crowns most valuable spies, but now retired his final wish was to live in relaxation working in his humble coffee shop playing the role of a middle-aged small business owner. They took the final road leading up to his estate and he began entering codes into the dash display to let the house know it was his arrival.

His vehicle triggered a sensor under the pavement on his way into the drive and voice was heard in the car. “Mr. Grey, Arrival time 1837 hours, facial recognition confirms your passenger as Mr. John Belmont, weight and MIDAS sensors indicate a third presence in the trunk compartment-“the voice was cut off by Dillon “That’s all right Raina, just put the tea on and watch out for company” John raised his eyebrows in a confused look “Who’s she?” Dillon pointed “She is the house” he paused “Keeps me company.” He quickly unlocked the trunk compartment and got out of the car, closing his driver door. Dillon then stepped back and opened the one behind him, plucking his wife out from the trunk and placing her over his shoulder like a long sack of potatoes.