Chapter 1

"Here. Take her, she's worn out," said the old man as he handed off his sleeping granddaughter.

"Ken? Where are the children?" asked his concerned wife as she tried to look around her husband.

"Dead!" Ken said grimly.

"Nooo!!!" wailed the old woman as her knees gave out.

The old man caught his wife as she fell. In one smooth motion he took Faine back, and eased the old woman to the floor.

Ken then pulled some Afghans and a pillow from the couch and spread them on the floor. After settling the sleeping little girl Ken turned to his assist his wife.

Once he had reassured himself that she was breathing, Ken sloshed some brandy in a glass and then used it to revive his wife.

"Is it really true? They're gone?" asked Hattie weakly.

"Yes. But we can't grieve, now. We must be strong for the little one, and I am depending on you woman! You need to care for her while I am gone," he said sternly.

The old woman, with tears streaming down, nodded and then grabbed her husband's arm tightly.

"What do you mean, 'While you are gone'?" In panic she asked, "Where are you going?"

A chill ran down Hattie's spine as she saw the look that transformed the face of her husband. Gone was the kind, and taciturn face of the man who had shared her life. In its place was a look of rage so black, that it terrified her.

"I have to deal with the cause of all this misery before he has a chance to run," he said with deep malice.

"Uncle! What brings you here?" the young man said nervously as he turned to finish his packing.

"Taking a trip, Donny?"

"More than that! I hit a big score, and I'm moving to Vegas. I'm finally gonna blow this burg," Donny said a bit too brightly.

The old man closed the door quietly. He turned and moved silently up behind the oblivious young man.

The struggle was short and sweet.

Donny woke to find himself naked, and bound to a cane chair. It had some of the caning removed, so that his manhood hung through the opening, totally exposed.

Donny didn't have a good feeling about this state of affairs, but he did have hope because his uncle Ken had always been nice. The thing was, though, that the man who sat in front of him looked nothing like his pleasant uncle.

The man sitting in front of him had the hardest face that had ever been Donnie's misfortune to see! And the eyes of the man were those of a lizard: so very dark, so very cold!

"Hey, Uncle Ken? Come on. What's this all about?" the boy whined. "I ain't never done nothing to you..."

Donnie hadn't noticed the car antenna that extended from Ken's hand too a place on the floor under the chair. Without a word Ken gave the metal rod a quick flick. The upward motion brought the antenna into sharp and sudden contact with the young man's hanging scrotum.

Donnie screamed!

"Donnie, that was just a light tap to get your attention. Now, my boy, you and I are going to have a little discussion. Whenever you lie, or avoid the truth, I will repeat what I have just done... only harder! Do you understand?"

Too afraid to speak, the whimpering boy nodded vigorously.

"Good! Let's start with this big score of yours ... How much?"

The boy narrowed his eyes as he looked at the old man. The greedy nature of Donnie was rearing its ugly head once again.

"That's my business not yours," he said with a small note of defiance in his voice.

Ken said nothing. He just sat and stared at the boy.

The silence finally got to Donnie and he said, "What's it to you, anyway?"

"Here's the thing, Donnie. The rumor around the family is that you sold the location of Jake and Anna's house."

"What if I did? It's no secret in the family, anyway."

"Ah, there's the problem. It was no secret in the family, but no one in the family let the information out, did they?"

"So what? No one in this family ever did anything for me, so why shouldn't I sell the location? I mean it didn't hurt any one, and I get to leave here and with some folding green to boot," said the boy in a surly manner.

"Well that brings us back to the original question doesn't it? So I will ask you again... How much?"

"Look, Uncle, that's my business, and none of yours!" yelled the young man.

The antenna flew up and impacted Donnie's genitals with much more force this time! The increased pain literally took the breath and voice from the young man.

Ken sat passively watching as Donnie's head leaned back with all of the cords of his neck standing out like bridge cables. His mouth was open in a silent scream, and his eyes were almost popping out of his head. The lad writhed against his bindings in agony.

A full ten minutes later Donnie had his breath back.

"What the hell is it to you, anyway?"

"Do you even have a brain inside that skull of yours?" asked Ken as he applied another whack to the boy's balls.

Ken again sat, and passively watched the agony course through the body of the boy.

Once he could speak again Donnie whispered, "Twenty Grand. Why is it so important to you?"

"Where is it?"

"It's in my backpack behind the couch," said Donnie in a voice that was getting just a bit stronger.

Ken rose and retrieved the backpack. Sitting back in his chair, he opened the pack, and then dumped the cash on the floor.

Ken sat and looked at the money without speaking for a full hour as the boy became more vocal with the passage of time.

"You know," he finally said, "I really don't think that is anywhere near enough money to pay for the lives of my children," said Ken as he looked up into the eyes of the young man.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"They're dead. MY CHILDREN ARE DEAD!"

Donnie was truly confused, "What the hell are you talking about? The General said he just wanted to give them a job. No! No! I had nothing to do with killing them! Noooooo!" wailed the boy, truly terrified of what his Uncle was going to do.

Ken stood and grasped Donnie's hands. Slowly he began to squeeze. The boy had not done a day's work in his entire life, and his hands were soft and weak. Ken had worked in the Maine woods all of his life, and his hands were like steel bands closing around Donnie's.

"Who is this General? What is his name? Tell me!"

"Ok! OK! I'll tell you!" screamed Donnie as the first of the bones in his hands began to break. "It's Vezza. General Vezza!"

Ken blinked in surprise as he released Donnie's hands.