"You shouldn't have done that". He said.
I shook my head, vainly trying to clear the cobwebs.
"Attacking a guard is grounds for transfer to solitary confinement." He flashed the crooked, joyless smile again as he halfway pulled me down a long gray hallway that ran perpendicular to the entrance of the dining hall.
I staggered slightly and he caught my weight, pulling hard on my upper arm and sending a shockwave of pain radiating down my back through the area where the rubber bullet and Taser had both impacted.
These fuckers all seemed to be aiming for the same spot. I thought, steadying myself as we walked down the hallway, a hallway which seemed interminably long.
At the end of the hallway was a set of stairs which were illuminated by a naked incandescent bulb affixed to the wall on the first landing. The lone fixture cast an eerie shadow across the hallway as we stepped down the hard concrete floor, my muscles still in spasm from the surge of electricity the guard had recently sent streaming through my body.
But still, I walked. I had regained my faculties enough to have attempted to a strike against the guard.
I assessed the situation.
My feet were free, and I could envision myself sweeping his legs from under his hefty frame. A head butt was also an option. It was likely to render the young man unconscious before he had a chance to cry out.
And yet, I continued in line with the guard, my feet shuffling forward. My head bowed.
There was really no point in fighting this young man.
Injuring the guard would only make me look guilty.
Lend credence to his tale that I attacked him.
No. I'd go along with the chubby young fellow.
Perhaps down these stairs I would find some answers, I thought, stepping down the first concrete step into the shadowy light of the dimly lit stairwell, the young man's soft, chubby hand resting lightly on my shoulder.
Chapter 16:
My legs shook slightly as the guard prodded me along the shadowy stairwell and into the long hallway below. The windowless corridor was dank and dark but it was clean in the Spartan fashion of the rest of the facility.
Naked incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling, and a row of cells stretched into the distance.
The guard stopped abruptly, jerking me to a stop before one of the cells. At the middle of the hallway, a security camera blinked on and a buzzer sounded.
The buzz echoed through the naked concrete walls of the dimly lit hallway as the door's locks released and the guard unceremoniously shoved me into the empty, windowless room.
Like the rest of the basement of the facility, the windowless room was gray. Recessed lighting in the concrete above offered the only light. In the corner sat a bucket. It was the only thing in the room.
Well, the bucket and me.
I sat on the cold hard concrete floor and let out a deep breath.
My back ached from the Taser. And it still ached from the rubber bullet of the day before.
I leaned back and stretched my side. Waiting.
I didn't have to wait long.
The buzzer sounded and I stood, stretching my frame to its full height.
Moments later a man entered the room.
This was no prison guard. The man's coppery skin stretched tight across his youthful face. His business suit was meticulously tailored. His black hair was combed carefully and swept away from his face.
He smiled a small, joyless smile and set an expensive brown leather briefcase on the concrete floor at his feet. Two guards stood behind him in an overt display of force.
I nodded to him.
"Who are you?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. This was the man who'd been pulling the strings. The man who'd tried to have me killed.
"An apt question, Mr. Pike." He answered, taking a step towards me in the shadowy light of the cell.
He continued, "I'm the man with the answers. I'm the one you need to be working with." He nodded to the guards.
Both men stepped from the room.
I paused. Sending the guards from the room was a clear display that the man was not threatened by me enough to maintain his security detail.
A worrying thought. Why would he not be intimidated?
Even in handcuffs, I could very likely severely injure him before the guards had a chance to return.
No, there was another reason for this man's confidence.
As a smile spread slowly across his face, I knew what the source of that confidence was.
He knew where my family was.
I groaned and leaned against the nearest concrete wall.
"Where are they?" I asked, sighing heavily.
The man just smiled. "You are very astute man, Mr. Pike. In fact, we almost didn't find them. Telling your wife to get out of town really was genius. And it almost worked."
"Almost," he repeated, opening the briefcase. He handed me the contents. There were several recent photos of Leigh and Clementine taken from a distance with a telephoto lens. They were at the lake cabin where I'd proposed to Leigh. They were seemingly unharmed.
At least so far.
"What do you want." I asked, as he placed the images back into his briefcase.
"I." He paused, correcting himself. "We.. We need you to confess to the killings in Afghanistan. Confess and your family is safe. As for you, we will ensure that the Judge Advocate General does not submit the death penalty as an option."
I pressed my head back into the hard concrete wall of my cell as I leaned against the only support structure in the windowless room. The man waited.
"I'm innocent." I said, defeat creeping into my voice as I thought of my family.
The man smiled, his grin knowing and menacing like the Cheshire cat from Carrol's novel.
A shiver ran down my spine.
He replied a moment later. "I'm well aware that you are innocent, Mr. Pike. But what you and I know, and what you can prove are two separate matters."
I groaned.
The smile dropped from the man's face and he paused, glancing at his watch.
"Your hearing is in approximately ten hours. I need an answer. I'd hate to have to make other… arrangements."
He emphasized the word arrangements and lightly drummed his fingers on the leather briefcase in his hand, a not so subtle threat against my girls.
I nodded.
"Was that a nod?" The man asked. "I'll need a verbal affirmation."
I nodded again. "I'll plead no contest to the charges."
The man smiled again, this time the expression seemed genuine. There was a hint of something more, however, a sense of his relief.
The man turned around, pacing slowly to the door.
"Wait." I said, stepping from the concrete wall and striding across the tiny cell. A wave of satisfaction swept through me when the man shrank away from me, placing the briefcase between us as his eyes glanced furtively towards the cell door.
"Yes?" He said, trying his best to relax.
But I'd seen the fear, and he knew it.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"My name is of no consequence, Mr. Pike. This meeting never happened."
He turned and tapped on the door with shaking knuckles as I stepped back to the back wall of the cell once more, lightly chuckling to myself as the guard opened the door.
He stopped, disconcerted. His face not close to the stony calm young man who'd stepped into the room.
"Why are you laughing?" He demanded, clearly disconcerted by my mirth.
"Because you are a coward." I answered, leaning heavily against the cold concrete back wall of the cell. "And name or no name, I can and will find you."
"It won't matter." He answered. "You'll be in prison for the rest of your life."