ABLOCATE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME ONE
━━ ❛ 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 ❜
chapter no. 015!
❝ NO TRUST WITHOUT LOYALTY. ❞
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"WHAT WAS HE TALKING ABOUT?" MORGAN QUESTIONED THE MOMENT SPENCER AND I RETURNED TO THE INTERROGATION WING. Furrowing my brows, I glanced at the doctor, wondering which one of us he was talking to.
"Who?" Spencer asked, sticking his hands into the pockets of his pants.
Rolling his eyes, the dark-skinned man crossed his arms. "Farell. Who else would I be talking about?" Morgan asked, raising a brow.
Glancing over at the first room, I watched as Farell had his arms crossed and was staring blankly at the chair adjacent to him. "Which part?" I asked, keeping my eyes on him. It was nearly impossible to read him, let alone begin to imagine what he was thinking in that twisted mind of his. He was the most difficult to read out of the three leaders. Owen was always the easiest and Arthur followed behind him, but Farell... he was different.
"The punishment ritual." Morgan clarified and I turned my head towards him.
"It's called the Red Blood. I didn't bother to disclose information about it because it doesn't affect your case. Let alone any of you. There's no need to bring up something that, in the grand scheme of things, isn't beneficial to know." I spoke stoically, keeping my eyes locked with his.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out the outline of a small frown crossing the brown-haired man's face. "But it affects you," Spencer said.
I shrugged. "Be that as it may, I'm used to it. The Red Blood comes with the territory of being a Scorpion. You'll never be efficient in your job if you don't learn to compensate for the hardships that are attached to it." I explained; my attention back to focusing on Kirk Farell.
"Valentine," the Unit Chief cleared his throat, snapping my attention away from the expressionless man, once again. "When Farell mentioned your history, was he referring to both of your dads'?" I nodded.
Stepping forward, the blonde beauty looked my way. "What did he lie about?" Agent Jareau asked, tucking her hair behind her ears.
Shifting my focus back to the man in question, I narrowed my eyes slightly. "We needed to tie up loose ends. The Red Scorpions can't afford to have liabilities among them; we have to remain loyal, always. That was the first lie. They didn't have to kill off more than half of the members. It was unnecessary. The whole point of us moving to Arizona was so we could live in a bigger area that we could take over together. Arthur wanted us to become something bigger; something more global, in a sense. Killing off more than half of our own defeats the entire purpose of what it is we stand for. The three of them wouldn't make a play that irrational. It would only cause us to become vulnerable and less effective as a group. We wouldn't be able to make the trades or negotiate with other businesses. The Red Scorpions would lose money and loyalty.
"The only way the three of them would kill off dozens of our own would be if the order came from someone higher up the chain of command. Meaning—they are not in charge. Someone else must be. The second lie he told me was that my father is dead. Farell didn't lie about giving my father to Arthur, but he did lie about his death. Ross Valentine is alive." My voice was steady and calm as I approached the two-way mirror; stopping in my tracks once I was five feet away.
"How did you know he was lying?" Blake asked, and I kept my back to the agents.
Watching as Farell was tapping his fingers along the table idly, I held my breath for a moment. "Kirk Farell only has one tell and it's incredibly difficult to notice if you're not specifically looking for it. His right index finger twitches when he lies." I turned around and crossed my arms.
The Unit Chief's eyebrows were drawn in and his hands were intertwined as he stared at me silently; something was bothering him. "If Arthur, Farell, and Sánchez aren't the ones in charge, then who is?" he finally asked.
I shrugged, "I don't know which members are left breathing or if the Founding Fathers are dead. So, I cannot answer that for you."
"You don't believe that they're dead?" Jareau asked and I remained still. The Italian man raised his brows at my silence. "Cara?"
"The Red Scorpions aren't easy to kill," I began, keeping my stance impassive. "The work we do is dangerous, and there is no trust without loyalty. There is no loyalty without trust. We're trained traffickers, dealers, and soldiers. The Founding Fathers wouldn't be killed so easily, and it would be quite impossible for my father to kill all of them with so little time. However, there is no doubt in my mind that he could take them on, but it's walking out of a fight with four highly trained murderers alive that I find hard to believe he would survive. Yet insinuate on his own."
The interrogation wing was silent as the BAU team processed my words.
"Kid, you've been extremely helpful and a great resource to have," Rossi spoke, breaking the silence. "I know we've already asked a lot from you, but I'm going to need to ask one more favor. Could you join Hotch and I when we go in to interrogate Joseph Arthur? Your instincts are precise and clean. Not to mention, it would be useful to have someone with us who knows all of his tells." For a moment, my breath hitched.
People tend to say that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, yet in my world, that isn't true. There are many things worse than fear.
Joseph Arthur was cynical and, at times, a maniac. Everyone in the gang feared him, and sometimes, I did too. After all, he was Michael Le's right-hand man and first pick of who would lead the Red Scorpions. Arthur was Le's golden jewel; his prized possession. Nobody knew why the man had taken such a keen liking to him, but their relationship was never questioned. The two of them together were a force not to be reckoned with. Even when they weren't together, neither of them was worth upsetting. Both of them tended to bring out the worst in each other and they used that combined darkness like a sword. Alone, they were just as strong. It was when they worked together that they wreaked the most havoc.
Joseph Arthur was someone that sent chills down my spine whenever he spoke. His words and the facial expressions he portrayed when speaking were unnerving. The man had spent so much time with Michael Le that when he was made leader, he quite literally became him. Arthur adapted to the way Le spoke and dressed; he picked up on his habits and the personality traits that made him so intimidating and terrifying.
Le had this almost childish element to him. In his mind, everything was a game, and he always had to win. Which is why the Red Scorpions were so successful. He turned the drug trafficking community into his own playground, and Arthur adapted to this prominent characteristic—making him crazier than before. If he weren't so much like Le, I wouldn't fear him as much as I do. He wouldn't be the leader I despise the most.
"Will you?" Rossi's voice brought me back from the depths of my mind as he peered at me, a slightly concerned expression etching its way onto his face.
I looked away from the Italian man and made my way over to the opposite end of the wing, halting in front of the two-way mirror that gave me full access to the lone leader. My hands were clenched into fists as my nails dug into my palms and the rapid beating of my heart was all I could hear.
"Cara?"
"I'll do it."
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THE SUDDEN SOUND OF A DOOR SLAMMING CAUSED THE GREEN-EYED MAN TO LIFT HIS GAZE, HIS CRAZED EYES AUTOMATICALLY SETTLING ON ME. A chill shivered down my spine, but I remained still. "Ah, hello darling," Arthur whispered gleefully, running his eyes up and down my figure. "You had so much potential. It's such a shame that you had to go and waste it, but it was only a matter of time, I suppose. Ross Valentine raised you with a little bit too much of a pure heart—which is exactly what brought you to where you are now, my dear Clementine." The edges of my nails dug into the palms of my hands as I breathed in through my nose, trying my best to ignore the old nickname that hadn't been uttered in years.
"Today, you're going to be answering some questions for us, Mister Arthur," Hotch said, opening his crisp manila folder and disregarding every word the man in front of him spoke.
An enigmatic smile spread across his face, and the dirty blonde man sighed happily. "Wonderful! I do love a good game of twenty-one questions," Arthur chuckled; the tone of his voice held a childish tone to it that was deeply disturbing.
"Why did you want Person X? Farell told us about the deal the two of you made." The Unit Chief stated, giving his undivided attention to the leader. Darting my eyes between him and Arthur, I waited anxiously for his reply.
It was silent for fifty-three seconds before a delighted look overcame his face—his eyes glowing a bright green. "Ah hah! The memorable trade between two comrades!" Chills were sent down my spine at the similarity between the way he and Michael Le both spoke and I held my breath. "Agents—it's not a sin to say his name. I'll say it right now! Ross Valentine." Instinctively, I stepped forward slightly as a small fire was ignited inside of me. Whether my father was working with them or not, he was still the man that raised me and that would never change.
"There's no need to get defensive, Cara, we're all just having a friendly chat," Arthur smirked, sweeping his eyes to my approaching figure. Pausing in my tracks, my nails dug deeper into my palms. "Now, to answer the million-dollar question! Valentine is such a key asset to the Red Scorpions. After all, he was the one who nearly ended us. With everything he knows, it would be such a shame for him to unleash those secrets on the innocent. That being said, I needed one Valentine to reach our endgame. It didn't matter who. Farell came to me saying he would bring me, Ross Valentine, in exchange for deciding what Cara's punishment would be and keeping her as long as he pleased. It was a spectacular idea!"
My chest heaved up as I gulped, forcing down the lump in my throat. He lied.
"Let me get this straight," Rossi cleared his throat. "You only wanted Ross Valentine because of what he knew?" Arthur nodded, a sadistic smile swinging across his lips. Lie. Pulling my hands behind my back, I hooked my forefingers together.
Leaning forward in his seat, the Unit Chief narrowed his stare. "Where is Ross Valentine, right now?" Hotch asked, and my eyes flashed to Arthur as he began to laugh. The corners of his lips lifted to reveal his pearly white teeth and a bone-chilling smile etched its way across his face. He had the smile of a madman. "Owen mentioned that he's with Person Y—dead. Farell also said he was dead. Is that true?"
I was prepared to hook my fingers together again when he spoke, but his confession caught me off-guard. "Those two never were very good at lying, let's be real here ladies." Both of the agents narrowed their gaze. "Ross Valentine is alive and well enough to still be breathing. I don't know why those two would lie about such a thing." Lie. Arthur was being truthful when he said my father was alive, but he was lying about not knowing why the others would lie. He knew why. Something wasn't right. Owen and Farell wouldn't lie if it wasn't a part of the plan; they wouldn't lie if Arthur wasn't going to either.
Something must've happened to cause Arthur to change the original plan. They needed my father but not because of what he knew—there was something else. The three of them needed one Valentine to carry out their endgame, but Arthur lied about how it didn't matter which Valentine. They didn't need my father to reach their goal—they needed me. Which meant that my father was needed for something else. Something that wasn't part of the plan.
Owen insinuated that the Founding Fathers weren't dead, so, if they were still alive, they would be the ones who needed my father—not Arthur, Farell, or Owen. The three of them weren't the real ones in charge. They were simply pawns on a chessboard acting as the queen; they were simply carrying out the orders given to them.
"Where is he?" Hotch snapped, growing irritable.
"Ruby lips above the water, blowing bubbles soft and fine, but alas, I was no swimmer, so I lost my Clementine." The leader directed his eyes to me, and I felt the color in my veins fade away. "Then the miner, forty-niner, soon began to peak and pine, Thought he oughter join his daughter, now he's with his Clementine."
Oh, My Darling Clementine was the song that Michael Le told me I reminded him of. After I first met him, he began singing it to me whenever we were alone. The only ones who knew about that were him and I, or at least I thought we were.
"This isn't karaoke night, Arthur. Where is Ross Valentine?" Rossi asked as those dark green orbs never once swayed from mine. A dawning realization set in as our eyes remained locked; ruby read lips above the water, blowing bubbles soft and fine, I was no swimmer. My father was near a body of water and the only one connected to the Red Scorpions was the San Pedro River—right across from Fairbank, Arizona. The location of what was supposed to be our new home.
"He's at the gates of Hell, isn't he?" I asked; my voice was timid and small; terrified of his answer. The Unit Chief was shooting me a warning look; I had disobeyed his direct orders, but I couldn't help it. None of them were going to make the connection.
Arthur clapped his hands together, delighted, a crazed look gleaming in his green eyes. "Well done, Clementine! Sometimes I forget how brilliant that mind of yours is." I blanched and my hands dropped limply to my sides.
Then the miner, forty-niner, soon began to peak and pine, Thought he oughter join his daughter, now he's with his Clementine. They left him behind in Fairbank to be ablocated... he's boarding the train that I took years ago. My father was going to be leased to someone and that someone was most likely the Founding Fathers. They were the only people I could think of who would want my father.
"Checkmate, Sin," Arthur smirked maniacally; snapping his fingers. "God, I wish Le was here to see how petrified you look," the madman breathed happily, and it took everything in me not to pin him against the wall. Shakily, I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes, counting to ten silently. "You can count to ten as many times as you please, darling, but the truth will remain the same. We won."