Kaleidoscope by Ethan Spier Read Free Book Online

faded away. Hellam watched anxiously as the timer in the corner of the video ran for a few uneventful seconds before the door swung open. Two men in rubber Halloween masks entered the room, dragging a third man behind them who was blindfolded and appeared to be screaming something undecipherable.
    The shadow of a smile played on Hellam's lips as he turned up the volume so he could hear the cries of distress from the man. One of the men, this one wearing a vampire mask, pushed the screaming victim into the chair and began to tie his hands behind his back then proceeded to secure his ankles to the legs of the chair. The other man, who wore an old hag's face, began screaming something at the sitting man. It was in a language that Hellam couldn't understand. He then removed the blindfold and the victim, terrified, looked at his two tormentors. He spoke quickly, in the same foreign language, presumably pleading to be set free.
    As the timer to the video rolled by, Hellam sat and gazed in delight at the screen. He watched as the victim was tortured for over forty-five minutes; cigarettes burned into his face, his fingers broken and his knees smashed. Even Hellam glanced away a couple of times until finally the vampire pulled out a gun and pointed it at the broken man ’ s head. He paused as the bloodied victim whimpered and stared into the lens of the camera, then he pulled the trigger. The two men left the room and slammed the door shut behind them as the screen slowly faded to black.
    Hellam smiled as he copied the video attachment into a folder on the hard drive, which was simply labelled 'Miscellaneous', and renamed the file with the day ’ s date. He briefly scanned the list of other videos in the folder. There were forty-three altogether, each labelled with a different date. He thought about opening another one, perhaps one from a few years ago, but decided against it; not wanting to dilute the horror he had just witnessed.
    He closed the folder and opened another one called 'shipments'. There were a number of spreadsheets displayed and he double clicked on 'May-June'. The spreadsheet filled the screen and he scanned the document, nodding to himself as the dates for the arrivals of various goods rolled past his eyes: cocaine, heroin and an assortment of less profitable items. After a few moments, he closed the spreadsheet and shut down his laptop then picked it up and placed it back in the hidden safe behind the cabinet.
    As he closed and locked the door to the wooden cabinet, Hellam thought about the latest video and wondered what kind of price he might get for it. It had been an especially brutal film, just as Alrik had promised, and that would surely increase its value substantially. His clients knew what they liked and fortunately, so did Hellam. He wondered briefly why he took so much delight in viewing the videos - in viewing the suffering. It wasn't simply a case of knowing how much money they would fetch. Money wasn't Hellam's motivating force, and it hadn't been for a very long time, so why did he continue in these other business ventures?
    Hellam called his driver to meet him outside then walked down the stairs and out of the building, locking the doors behind him. He got into his car and asked to be taken home. As the buildings reflected from the glass of the car and Hellam stared out, he thought about the question again. Why did he continue to risk everything, just to be involved in a way of life he did not need to be a part of? He suddenly and unexpectedly thought of the girl; that fucking interfering bitch.
    Psychopath...
    That was what she had called him after she had stumbled across his videos. Hellam had been careless and had taken his laptop home. He hadn't expected her to arrive at his front door that evening; they had arranged to meet later in the restaurant but she had said that she wanted to come over and cook him something instead. The laptop had been on his coffee table in the front room, and while he