Chapter 3

• The door creaked open. Amanda's ears perked up instinctively, and she turned around to see which of Senna's men had come to torment her now or if it was Senna himself. No, it wasn't Senna, it was Placido.
• "Hey, soldier, we've been through this before," Amanda said with a curly, nasty little smile. "I ain't telling you shit. And no offense, soldier, but your torturing skills are a little redundant. Can't you be a little more creative?"
• "Silence bitch!" Placido thundered. "Why are you doing this? Why are you working for the Puppeteer?"
• "Hmm, tell me something, soldier. Is that the question you were ordered to ask me?"
• "Shut up. I'll ask the questions around here!"
• "October thirty-first two thousand two, I went to present the evening news. I was to be back home in less than two hours, I assured my husband and my daughter, who was five years old. I kept to my promise. I got home and tried unlocking the door with my key, but it was already open. When I got home, it was eerily quiet even though the TV was blaring in the background. I went into the living room to see my husband sprawled on the floor, bleeding still even though he'd been dead for quite some time. My husband was a DEA agent, and his name was Wesley Peres. Your boss had my husband murdered and my daughter kidnapped."
• Placido had never heard of his boss killing any DEA agent, nor did he know of any kidnapping on October 31, 2002.
• "Hey, you are full of shit!" Placido bellowed. "I've given you enough chances to speak the truth."
• "Don't you mean you've tortured me enough times and failed to get me to tell you anything even remotely close to the truth?"
• "Earlier, you said I wasn't creative in torturing, but you see, that's where you are wrong. There's a reason I was chosen to torture you. Have you heard about pharmacological torture? You see, I can inject you with morphine until you develop an addiction. Once you're addicted enough, I'll stop giving you the drugs, and interrogation begins at the onset of withdrawal symptoms. You'll only get a fix once you've told me the truth. On the other hand, I can administer some neuromuscular blocking agents that, when abused, paralyze you, causing you total panic because you'll be unable to breathe. You will not be offered oxygen until the point of suffocation or when you've told me what I need to know about the Puppeteer."
• Amanda watched Placido as he took out a syringe, injected it into a bottle of morphine, and pulled back the syringe's plunger till its volume marker was filled up to more than half.
• As Placido made his way to her to stick the needle inside her, she knew it was her moment to hit him with the element of surprise as she had successfully slipped out of the ropes to bind her hands.
• Placido inched closer with the injection, but then he felt Amanda grab his hand surprisingly and redirect the trajectory of the needle until he felt the sharp point stuck inside his neck.
• In a burst of similarly swift movements, Amanda equally reached for his knife tucked away into his boot, and she used it to cut the ropes that bound her legs loose and tried to stab him, but his feet quickly responded to the threat. Amanda then turned and fled from the room.
• Placido was thankful he'd not been injected with the total dose of morphine. He felt a little dizzy, but he fought the effect and concentrated on going after Amanda. He shouted for backup as he tore after the blond who was running like she was an Olympic racist champion. They chased Amanda into the forest area until they arrived at a cliff.
• Placido pulled out his gun and said, "Give it up, Amanda. There's nowhere else to run to!"
• "That's where you are wrong," Amanda replied as she did the unthinkable.
• What caused Amanda Peres to throw herself off a waterfall cliff was a fear greater than falling off a cliff. Senna's men were on her heels, and she'd rather die than let these men take her back to her captor. The four men stopped abruptly once they reached the edge of the cliff.
• Placido tried catching Amanda by the hem of her dress, but it immediately ripped off, leaving him with only a piece of the clothing. He watched in utter bewilderment as his boss prisoner freely fell down the waterfall. Placido strapped his gun into his back pocket and kissed his teeth.
• "Damn," Placido said. "We are in trouble."
• Amanda fell over thirty feet, screaming and scrambling up some rocks as she did. At first, Luca Montero, who was idly sitting on a rock, heard her call, and before he could turn to check what was happening, he heard a thud, and he felt a mixture of water and blood sprout on him.
• Amanda, on the other hand, before the light gave way, saw on Luca's face the horrified look of someone who had just witnessed a person falling to their death. At least death would be more merciful than Senna, otherwise known by his mafia name, Ghost.
• Amanda Peres couldn't believe it when she woke up at the bottom of the cliff to men helping her onto a car and passed out again. It was funny seeing how she'd wanted to die, but these men, filled with much empathy, moved swiftly to rescue her from dying.
• Placido and his men arrived shortly at the bottom of the cliff and, just in time, saw Amanda being lifted into the backseat of a black Citroen C4. He ordered his men to stay put while he moved up to the scene.
• "Oh my god, that's my wife. Is she breathing? Is she alright?" Placido said, splitting into the middle of both men who had helped Amanda into the car.
• "She's going to be alright, okay," Luca said. "Uh, you said she's your wife?"
• "Yes," Placido replied confidently. "It all happened fast. She slipped off the cliff, and I tried to catch her, but I ended up with this."
• "Well then, hop on in; let's get her to the hospital," Luca said.
• The closest hospital was St. Louis, and Placido had already texted his men to meet him there. Amanda didn't regain consciousness throughout the ride to St. Louis, and Placido checked her pulse to see if she still had any.
• It was faint, but there was a pulse, and it filled him with relief because he knew by the end of the day, although Amanda would have suffered from concussion, cuts, and bruises, she would be reunited with her captor.
• After they'd handed Amanda to the nurses, Placido turned to Luca and said, "Thank you very much, um-"
• "I'm Luca."
• "Right, Luca, thank you very much. I wouldn't want us to trouble you any further. She's in capable hands now. You can leave us. I'll call my driver to Bring me my car. I'm sincerely grateful for your help."