Skullface could not help but break into a laugh as he watched Gwen's break down through the one-way mirror and listened in from the live footage. Rider was barely containing his excited emotions. The man was on cloud nine after putting down the King's little puppet.
"It's time", Skullface spoke into his earpiece.
Rider's business with Gwen was done and he left her to embrace even if it was with tears, snot, messy hair, and wondering eyes like a crazy person. The woman still could not cope with the obvious betrayal.
Two agents arrived just as Rider was getting out of the room. They had been summoned by Skullface.
"Give her a minute", Rider instructed.
"Yes, sir."
He knew that she had taken the betrayal quite badly. Maybe it was the human in him that made him feel just a tiny drop of pity on the woman.
He walked around to join his friend who had been watching from the moment he went in with the new evidence. Both men sighed at the sight of Gwen.
"She's broken", skullface commented.
"I think they had broken her for her to become who she is today. I've seen blind loyalty but this? And all those killings yet no ounce of remorse bro?" He shook his head. "No."
He vividly remembered how emotionless her eyes were when she took out the manager, when she burned the three men alive, and when those women lost their lives during the failed experiments. To Gwen, lives did not matter. It made one wonder what she had experienced with the Dark Waters to become this cold and heartless being.
"Mm", skullface agreed.
They quietly watched as the agents took the crying Gwen out of the room. Why was it suddenly sad to watch the woman in that state?
"One down, one to go", Rider said, with enthusiasm back in his system.
"He might decide to stick to his 'wrong place at the wrong time' story", he chuckled.
"How big of a fool does he think we are?" Rider clicked his tongue in annoyance as he walked off. "Five minutes."
"And I'll watch every second of it", Skullface chuckled.
As a 'thank you', he patted the shoulders of the two men who were recording Gwen's interrogation before following his buddy. He wanted to see Peter's reaction when Rider hits him with the truth; he would not miss it for the world. The duo had really been a headache.
"Peter Wright", Rider acknowledged as he walked in.
"I thought we were done for the night?" Peter was genuinely confused by the second visit.
"Ooh! Shall I take it you're not happy to see me? Are you hiding something from me Peter?" He gave him a questioning gaze with a slight smile playing at his lips.
"Ay! No! Not at all!" He forced an awkward laugh and put his ego aside to brown-nose.
He would do so if that's all it took to get him out of there and back home with his wife. He really did mean it when he said things were done between him and Gwen.
"Why would I not be happy to see you, sir? And I'm not hiding anything. You know, being detained can take a toll on you, so it might seem like I'm not happy, but I am. Truthfully."
Rider tried not to wince at the cringe words expressed towards him. Peter was no better, he looked like he wanted to barf but kept it all down along with his pride. He remained quiet, as much as he was curious about the second visit, he would not rush the man so he doesn't question his motives again. He was really behaving.
Rider smiled, impressed by the acting. He unlocked his tablet and typed a few things on it. "So there's been a new development...", He started with his gaze peeled on his tablet.
"Oh?" He answered in high pitch out of nervousness and awkwardly cleared his throat to regain his composure. "Oh."
"There are so many interesting things I learned tonight, but what I especially found interesting helped me understand your behavior", he finally looked up.
"What-?" He cleared his throat. "What behavior?" He cleared his throat again.
"Should I get you some water?" He willed on a concerned look.
"I'm fine. What behavior?" His heart was thumping a mile a minute. He was perspiring on his face, palms, armpit and anywhere he could from nervousness. What made it worse was that Rider was in no hurry to reveal the little secret. "Sir?"
"About the experiments, the factory manager; and then acting like you didn't know them. I totally understand you Peter."
"I'm sorry, I'm not following", he tried to lean back in his seat to look unfazed but it was too obvious. He didn't like where Rider was going with his speech.
"Oh come on Peter. You lied that you didn't know Gwen and her people but in truth it wasn't just to get you out of here, but you were protecting them too." Rider's face was now stone cold and if he could smother the man into ashes with just his eyes, oh he would.
"You've got me wro-"
His mouth fell open when Rider pulled up a picture of him pounding Gwen who was lying on her office desk, legs held wide open and both of them in their naked glory, faces red, sweaty, and contorted in pleasure.
"Peter, Peter, Peter", he shook his head in both disappointment and disgust.
"It's not what you think", he started in disbelief that this cat, was out of the bag.
"Mr. Wright-"
"IT WASN'T LIKE THAT!" He abruptly stood up, pushing his chair in the process. "I NEVER LIKED HER! I THOUGHT SHE DID BUT SHE MANIPULATED ME INTO SLEEPING WITH HER BUT NEVER LET ME CUM IN HER BECAUSE SHE WANTED MY SPERMS FOR THE EXPERIMENTS! THAT'S ALL IT WAS! I NEVER PROTECTED HER! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT I WAS BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL? WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME?"
"Damn", Skullface commented from the other.
"Wow", Rider felt completely awkward. It was not a turn he expected. "Well, that does not matter anymore. We have evidence of you being an accomplice to some of her crimes especially those related to the experiment. Gwen has been locked up and-"
"I'm innocent in all this", he pleaded.
Rider stood up to look him right in the eye as he said his last words. "That's probably what you convinced yourself to believe. The evidence is right here."
"Please", he got down on his knees. He knew his end had arrived sooner than he wished. Tears had started to form in the man's eyes.
"And one more thing", Rider looked down at him, unforgiving. "You weren't protecting your family by concealing this, you were hurting them more than you will ever imagine."
That very statement was a trigger to make him realize that he had actually lost the very things he was afraid of losing: his family. When Rider mentioned protecting them, his mind went to Gwen while the former meant his family. Since when did they become the last thing on his mind whenever faced with a hard decision?
"Take him away", Rider said to the gentlemen that had been assigned the task.
"Well done", Skullface patted him on the back as they walked back to their cubicles. "One hell of a night."
"One hell of a night", Rider agreed.