Disclaimers: QAF characters don't belong to me. This is fanfic and just for fun. Most, if all are OOC. Set in Canada because guess what!!? I'm Canadian!

Last time....

"Oh, I have proof! (said Brian) Don't you worry about that! Now turn the fuck around. Slowly! I know who you really are...Mr. X!"

A MOUNTIE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN

Chapter 5

Mr. X

Slowly, the chair swivelled around. The man kept his arms up. The chair slowly came to face forward to reveal...

Stockwell.

The bastard just sat there with a smarmy smile on his face that Brian wanted kiss off with his knuckles. He theatrically waved his hands and opened his coat to show that he wasn't armed. He was wearing a black cloak and his moustache was especially curly.

"Happy? Do you mind? My arms are getting kind of tired," Stockwell said, lowering his arms to the handrests slowly. "Now...what the hell are you babbling about? What's Mr. X?"

"You know very well. You are Mr. X....You put on a cheesy mask and a cape and tied my boyf...uh...the schoolmaster to the railroad tracks in the woods. At the same time you left a note telling me to get out of town." Brian produced it.

"What?? That's terrible Brian! Is Justin all right?"

"Like you give a damn! You're the one who tied him there and left him to die! And if I'd obeyed that note, I might as well have been the one driving the train to run him over!"

"Brian...are you sure you haven't been overworking? I mean, I didn't tie anyone up....I don't know what you mean."

Brian kept his gun trained on Stockwell. "Cut the shit...Mr. X! Justin's alive! I saved him! And he told how he unmasked you in the woods! We know you're the sick bastard who had him kidnapped and tried to blackmail me! And that's why you're under arrest. God, I knew there was something off about you the moment I laid eyes on you! And now I know! You're going down!"

"Oh...I don't think so!" said Stockwell with an even more smug and evil smile.

"Huh!?" Brian said, caught off guard at the drop of the mask.

"Brian, I'm wealthy, I run the police department, and I'm a public figure. People love me! All you've got is a note written by an anonymous figure and a crazy story. And Justin may be still alive...for now...but all he has is a crazier story. Who do you think everyone will believe? You...or me?" His smug smile was even wider.

"You...unmitigated....asshole!" breathed Brian.

"Sticks and stones, my boy! Sticks and stones! Now, if there's nothing else...why don't you get the hell out of my office and oh...while you're at it, leave the whole claim jumping case alone from now on. I think you'll find that the "trail's gone cold." I believe that's how you put it?"

"Claim jumping!!? So...it's you...!!!"

"Again...prove it!" Stockwell snarled smugly.

Brian wilted a bit inside. Of course he couldn't. He'd been looking for clues and evidence for two weeks now without a single shred to go on. And now he knew why. The slimy perp had been right under his nose the whole time!

"But...but if this is what this is all about...why go after Justin? He has nothing to do with the case and knows none of the details. We don't discuss my work. Why are you trying to kill him? Is it because...?" he paused in consternation at his slip.

"Yeeeeeess???" Stockwell prompted.

"Is it because he's gay? Is this some sort...some sort of hate crime?"

"Gay?? What do I care if he's happy or not?"

"Not gay happy! Gay...as in homosexual."

"What? Justin's a homo?" He thought about it for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. "Oh, of course! All the signs were there! I knew there was something...but I never put it together..."

"And what signs might those be?" Brian's voice was so icy it was polar.

"Oh, you know...being so young...yet showing absolutely no interest in the opposite sex. The way his gaze lingered over certain lumberjacks...The extra attention he lapped up from the mercantile owner....Gold, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know," Brian said just as icily. But he did know and a bitter stab of jealousy rent his belly.

"Hmmmm. I wonder about him then too....I should keep an eye....Anyway...and then the way he attached himself to you like a bad rash and the way you two have been....inseparable..." Stockwell looked up, eyes wide. Brian just stood there, chest puffed out, arms crossed, each hand touching the other's bicep, a totally Dom pose and said nothing.

"YOU!!? You too?" Stockwell said.

"Prove it!" Brian snarled.

Stockwell was dismissive. "Oh, whatever! I hate to break it to you but I don't really need to prove it! Everybody in town knows something weird is going on with you! Your...friendship....relationship...whatever the hell you two are doing is the worst kept secret in town!"

"As for...that...well, it's disgusting of course...but that's not why I...I mean Mr. X kidnapped Justin. You guys can go fuck a duck for all I care!"

"Then why?"

"For bait. And I didn't realize it but it looks like I chose the juiciest piece of meat..."(Here Stockwell giggled nastily) "...that I possibly could. I didn't want to get rid of Justin...in particular anyway! I wanted to get rid of YOU! Something, I think I'll remedy...RIGHT NOW!!"

"Huh?" Was all Brian got out because several things happened at once.

A crowbar hit his wrist causing him to release his gun, sending it skittering across the floor. At the same time a second crowbar hit him in the back of the legs sending him to his knees.

"But...but why?" Brian managed over the crippling pain.

Stockwell shrugged. "You just know too much now. Sorry, Brian! Looks like you were just too good at your job!" He laughed nastily.

"UUUGGGHHH!!" The crowbar hit him in the back of the shoulder blades, then the neck. Brian slumped forward, unconscious.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

"OHHHHHH!!!" His whole head throbbed like a sonofabitch. He wanted to rub it but he couldn't move his arms. His eyes flew open in alarm. He took in his circumstances and he sucked in a huge breath of horror.

He was on his back. He was lying on a huge log. His overcoat had been done away with and he was lying there in full uniform, red tunic, pants, boots and leather gauntlets. He was tied up. Tied to the log. Securely lashed with at least ten coils around the chest. Around the neck, not enough to strangle but enough so he could barely lift his head. His hands had rope manacles and were attached to each other going underneath the log and then looped several times around the chest. This attached his arms to the sides of the log. This had been done to his leg as well, attaching his booted legs to the sides of the log and positioning him so that his....ahem...crotch was dead center and on top of the log.

Brian groaned again and looked around. Machinery...logs...lumber...saws...axes...a sawmill. He was in a sawmill.

"Ahhhh!!! You're awake! Good! Can't have my top cop miss his own death! Especially when I've designed it to be so dreadfully painful! BWA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!!!"

Brian looked down and struggled, pulling his arms, trying to reach for...

"Looking for this!?" Stockwell said mockingly, holding up his belt with its various utilities and Bowie knife. He tossed everything far out of reach. "Oooops! How clumsy of me!"

"You sick fuck!" Brian spat out and struggled again.

UGGHH! What was this!? Dammit! Somehow the old man or his thugs had attached his arm rope to the neck ropes. If he pulled his arms the neck collar tightened, strangling him. If he relaxed, the collar loosened again.

"Ahhh! I see you've discovered the futility of struggling! But you haven't noticed the icing on the cake that is your peril! Look ahead...to your doom!"

Brian obeyed and he sucked in a breath. What fresh hell was this! He couldn't have! This was monstrous. It was inhumane. It was unthinkable.

But...quite simply, it was. Brian was looking ahead at a giant round buzz saw. He wasn't facing it headfirst. He was facing feet first which means when it started to cut, the first thing it would cut into was his...

Brian shook his head in horror. He bucked and squirmed and struggled in sheer terror and horror until he turned purple and couldn't stand it anymore. He yelled for help in total futility until he was hoarse.

Stockwell looked on at all this in a supreme, sick kind of enjoyment that made Brian's bile rise. Oh dear God! What kind of psycho had this town elected as their mayor!?

"Oh, yes!" Stockwell came close, his cape swirling around him as he did so. His fetid breath chuffed onto Brian's face. "Mwa! Ha! Ha! Now you understand! I thought you'd appreciate this due to your....appetites! As the saw cuts into you, it'll take your manhood first! You'll probably stay awake for quite a bit as it continues until it kills you! Well...not in the way it would if it'd cut your head open!"

"You are the...sickest...."

"Yes, yes, I know! Sick, crazy, insane, I've heard it all before!"

"From who? I thought you were a paragon in this town?"

"From the voices in my head, of course!! AHHHH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HAAAAAA!!!" Bran couldn't tell if he was serious.

"It is a shame, really!" Stockwell moved in close, moving one black-gloved hand over Brian's magnificent physique. It really is a pity to destroy such a fine...figure...of a man!" At the word ‘figure' Stockwell grabbed him by the dick and began to massage.

"What the fuck!" Brian struggled to no avail. "Hands off! What are you ...you doing...Ohhhhh..."

Damn it! The lunatic was repugnant but whatever he was doing was working. Brian felt himself getting hard against his will.

"Ohhhh! Just thought I'd get the best possible effect when the saw actually reaches you! And here's some more food for thought in your last moments." He continued orally raping him and twirled his moustache evilly with his other leathered hand.

"Once you're gone, what's to stop me from killing your little boytoy too!? Nothing, that's what!! I think this time....I'll just make it easy and tie him up and send him to the bottom of the lake with a nice big rock attached to his shoes! Why drag things out and have him escape like last time?"

"You....sick shit! You leave....him alone! And fuck off! Hands off!! Let me go!"

But Stockwell just laughed and did what he pleased. He didn't stop till Brian was hard as a rock and then he abruptly dropped everything.

"Well, that ought to make a nice mess! Enjoy the pain! Sorry I can't stay to hear you scream!" Stockwell grabbed the lever and turned on the machine.

The buzz saw started. The conveyer belt started slowly. Ever sooooooo slowly the log moved forward. And then the log moved into the saw. Slowly but hungrily, the saw bit into the log.

Brian struggled. "Let me go! I'll make you pay! You sick fuck! You SADISTIC SHIT!!!"

Stockwell just laughed insanely and left the building.

The saw cut into the log. Closer and closer it came.

Brian hated to do it but there was little recourse. "HELP!!! HELLP!! HELLLP MEEEEE!!!"

The saw came closer.

Brian struggled and yelled again. Could anyone even hear him over the saw?

The saw bit into the log closer....and closer....

Damn it! The ropes...the knots were too tight! He couldn't get loose...of the ropes.

The saw came closer...and closer....

"HELLLP!! Somebody....HEELLLLP ME!!!!!!"

The saw continued to cut into the log. It came closer...and closer...and closer....it was almost there....

TBC