Page 74 of After the Chase

I watch Ollie’s face, his breathing is more rapid, his brow is sweaty and skin pale. The reality of his situation is settling in.

"I'm going to ask you questions," I say. "You're going to answer them, and if you lie, I'll know. If you refuse, Ivan will hurt you. If you cooperate, this ends quickly."

"And if I don't cooperate?"

"Then it doesn't end quickly," Ivan says as he moves behind Ollie, trailing the knife along his shoulders with a mild pressure, hinting at what’s to come.

"Who ordered the hit?" I ask.

"Fuck you."

I nod to Ivan.

The knife slices through Ollie's shirt, exposing his back. Ivan makes the first cut, which is shallow along the shoulder blade. Ollie jerks against the restraints, hissing through his teeth.

"That's one," Ivan says pleasantly. "I can do this all night."

"Who ordered the hit?" I repeat.

Ollie's breathing is ragged now. "You're dead men, The Serpents will…”

Another cut is performed by Ivan but deeper this time, and Ollie screams. I wait for the sound to fade, but the loud idiot keeps whimpering.

"The Serpents won’t do shit, because they weren’t the ones to order the hit, were they?” Ollie freezes to the point he may not be breathing. Such a little liar.

“You see, we spoke to the Prez of your club, and he had no idea what we were talking about. Not until one of your haters from the gang spilled information that a little group of you were planning to branch out on your own, abandoning your club, breaking your vows. And if that wasn’t dumb enough, you decided to steal off the Kozlov patch.”

“What? Who told you that?” he asks, his voice timid and shocked as if he were betrayed.

‘It doesn’t matter now. All I want is names. Who gave the order?"

I leave the question hanging in the air as I watch this traitor try to make up either a lie or tell the truth. Weighing his options, like the result will be any different to death.

"Vincent," Ollie gasps. "Vincent Calabrese, he runs our operations."

"Where is he?"

"Warehouse in the Red Zone.”

"Address."

"347 Braunting Street. Second floor."

I pull out my phone, typing the information. A quick search confirms the location exists and I nod to Ivan.

"He's telling the truth."

Ivan makes another cut, this one across Ollie's ribs. The scream is louder this time, more desperate.

"Who else was involved in planning Tyler's hit?"

Ollie is crying now, his body going into shock. "Just Vincent and me. He said…he said it was supposed to be a warning, to hurt him enough to send a message. He wanted to start a war between the Kozlovs and Serpents so we could leave the club unnoticed and start our own crew."

"Do you know how stupid you sound right now? You hit him with a fucking car," I say, my voice still perfectly calm. "That’s not a warning, that's attempted murder."

"I didn’t mean to, I panicked."

"And now you have to deal with the fallout."