Talia's Torment

Chapter 23: Shattering the moment.

                Tanner was just starting to think that the date was going so amazing.  He felt that both Talia and he needed this time to get away from the looming and inevitable face to face with Laurent.  This place was special to him and he hadn’t shown it to anyone.  He felt something lock into place as he saw her reaction to the clearing that his father had created.  He knew that his parents were looking down on him and approved of him bringing her here.  It made his chest bloom with warmth as he pulled her close.  He had planned this evening so well, it had been hard to do without her catching him, when they had gone to that out of the way town and he had shown her the surplus store he knew he had his chance.  He had seen the dress in the store window on one of his many trips past this small haven of a shopping center.  He knew in an instant that it would fit her every curve perfectly, making her look like the goddess that he knew she really was.  Okay so maybe he wanted her out of it more than in it but he was willing to wait until they got done with dinner and dancing.  He felt her lean into him during their dance and was about to capture her lips when his phone pinged and the music was interrupted.

                He was frustrated at the interruption.  He knew the message was from Duke, and he had made sure to tell him that tonight he was taking a time out with Talia and was not to be interrupted.  Whatever information Duke found on his little excursion was to be given to him the next morning, preferably after breakfast was over and he had time to feed her.  Heaven knew that it was that or she might try to hurt his precious kitchen ware again.  He didn’t know what she had against his Cuisinart and his other favorites but it was as if she was on a mission to terminate every piece of equipment that threatened counter space with her beloved dinosaur of a coffee pot.  He was starting to wonder if the only thing she could operate without extreme prejudice was that blasted machine and the sandwich maker she had managed to use twice with mild success.  Well, at least the machine hadn’t blown up, just crispy crittered their hot ham sandwiches till he wasn’t quite sure there was ham in them, but progress is progress right.

                Apologizing to Talia for the interruption Tanner flipped the cell over and saw that the message was actually a video file.  Knowing that Duke wouldn’t have interrupted tonight unless it was important and that he had sent video evidence had Tanner’s stomach tightening with tension.  What could he have gotten on video, could it be something they could use to help nail that bastard?  Tanner hit play on the video and felt the ping of hope he had been harboring turn to a cold lump of dread in his stomach.  The video panned across the view of a darkened sparse room with a single bulb hanging in the middle of the room.  Then it fell on the figure of a man in a chair, no not in a chair, strapped to a chair.  He was haggard and had clearly not been enjoying his forced stay at casa de creep.

                Tanner felt his muscles tense and a tick start in his jaw as he watched the video pan so you could see the bloodied and beaten visage of Duke, his friend.  He had clearly gone several rounds with what looked like a meat tenderizer and he had not fared well.  The video then turned so that you could see the demented smile of a man holding Dukes phone.  He carefully walked to what must be a table or a shelf so that you could clearly see both Duke and the monster that had him on the footage.  The man then began beating Duke until his face was so swollen you could barely make out who he was unless you had seen him in that state before, and having known Duke as long as Tanner did he had seen it once or twice.  The man then asked Duke who he was working with.  Tanner couldn’t make out the words that left Duke’s lips before he spit a mouth full of blood at his assailant.  The monster then looked at the camera and spoke, “I don’t know who you are, but I have your dog and if you want him alive you might want to hurry.”

                The last thing Tanner heard on the video was that sick animal laughing, actually laughing.  The video then cut off as quickly as it had started.  Tanner just stared at the screen and tried to hold in his rage.  Duke had owed him one and they were friends.  That was the only reason he was even in this situation right now and the guilt over seeing him beaten was eating at Tanner.  He hadn’t noticed that Talia had leaned around him to see the screen on his cell until the video started playing again.  He jolted at the sound of flesh meeting wet flesh as the video replayed Duke being beaten to  a pulp.  Then he saw Talia’s face and the guilt was seared away by complete and utter rage.  The look on her face told him exactly who the monster that had Duke was and now he wanted a piece of that ass-hat for hurting more than one person he cared about.  I mean he had to admit he had wanted to get some licks in before, for everything that Talia had been through.  A part of him knew that he wanted to hurt that man for what he had done but now it was an all-consuming rage.  Seeing the way that Talia was thrown to the past and the torment on her face made Tanner realize that even his worst nightmares were probably not even close to what she had actually faced.  He would make sure she got her closure and he swore to everything he held dear that if that thing was still breathing after she was done he would end him.