“I hope you are enjoying our hospitality. We’re striving to make your stay a pleasant one. We may not have all of the amenities, but we do go all out for our guests,” I say, squatting in front of him.
The silence he maintains is expected.
“Like I said earlier, we both know how this game is played and how it ends. Knowing that, the only consideration is how much do you want to endure before that happens? The answer to that is entirely up to you. You have the option to save yourself a lot by telling me what I want to know,” I state.
Silence. I shrug nonchalantly.
“Alright, have it your way. It matters little to me. I’m not the one chained up and have nothing to lose whichever way you choose. Oh, but in other news, we have captured some of your team. Some of them… well… didn’t make it. My sincere apologies, mate. I know how it is to lose people, so I truly do mean that. They just didn’t want to play nice and come along quietly.” I watch him closely.
This triggers a reaction with a tightening of his eyes and lips. He glares, searching for the truth in my words.
“Well, what can I say? We’re just better.” I shrug.
“Whatevs,” he says, finally speaking.
“I have nothing to gain by lying to you. You understand this and therefore know that what I’m saying is the truth.”
“I don’t believe you. If that’s true, produce one of them,” he says.
Getting him to speak is the first step. It really doesn’t matter what it is as long as he says something. It opens a blockage, and once words are spoken, more are likely to follow. It’s getting him to become comfortable with speaking. And he did slip. ‘Whatevs’ is an Australian slang term for whatever. So, I’m guessing he may have been Australian SAS. I won’t let on that I suspect this as he’ll realize that he slipped and clamp down again. It’s a game, and I’m a little rusty. I again revealed some of his buttons though — anger and a competitive streak…pride. Of course, who in this game isn’t competitive?
“Mate, you know I can’t do that. That’s not part of the game and we have to play by the rules, right? You want to play by different rules, then you come up with something to tell me. I like it, and then you get something in return. I get something, and then you get something. You know how this is played,” I reply.
He looks on with a hint of confusion. It’s obvious he’s rummy from lack of sleep and not really able to keep up.
“Here, I tell you what, I’ll go outside the boundaries of the fun time we’re having and show you something first. Let’s relax and watch a movie together. I’m afraid I’m fresh out of popcorn, but we can enjoy it nonetheless.” I open the laptop I brought and power it up.
The screen goes through the boot up process and I start up the recorded video from the Spooky. The house and nearby barn are on the screen. A momentary tic on his face makes it obvious that he knows the location.
“I thought you might recognize this place. We found it during one of our afternoon jaunts.”
With his arms hanging above him, he looks from the screen to me.
“No, keep watching or you’ll miss the fun part.”
Suddenly, the doors of the barn burst open and a Humvee emerges, racing for a nearby tree line. Another vehicle follows shortly after. The internal radio calls asking for permission to engage and the okay comes from the small laptop speakers. The target reticule centers over and then ahead of the speeding vehicle in front. Clouds of dust erupt around the Humvee. I stop the video here and turn the screen away to fast forward to the second vehicle as it comes under fire. I fast forward to a place where the barn is centered in the screen. I don’t want to show him where we gunned down his team running from the vehicles.
A flash appears on the screen where the barn was. Smoke, with flames embedded deep within its dark mass, boils upward from the hit. One minute we’re watching the barn, then you hear the words ‘round out’ and the building vanishes under an immense, mushrooming cloud. Debris scatters outward. As the smoke surges toward the camera, pieces of the barn begin falling to the ground. The screen shifts to the house in time to see the second round hit it. I press stop with pieces of the house still hitting the ground.
“That’s really something, huh? So, I know you know the house and barn. You know your team was there. You saw them making a run for it and you know I’m not fucking around. Now, take heart. We had a team go in shortly afterward and some of your team survived. We are caring for them as we speak. They’re not really up for a cup of tea with you at the moment. However, they are a little chatty. So, you see, your use to me is fading. Unless you actually have something to offer, and soon, you’ll just be taking up space, time, and resources that I don’t want to spare. I’ll leave you to ponder that for a while,” I say, turning to leave. “We’ll chat later, mate. Until then, enjoy our comforts.”
He says nothing more as I leave but hangs his head in an attempt to get some rest. I know his mind will run through what he watched and wonder about his fate. I imagine he will begin bargaining with himself to tell me something if he believes his teammates are talking. Pride and training will argue one side, but his exhaustion will argue the other side. We can’t afford to wait long since we are at a distinct disadvantage. Whoever is behind this obviously knows us, whereas we know nothing about them other than they appear to be well organized and equipped.
“Make sure he doesn’t get any rest,” I tell the guards as I depart.
Walking from the warehouse, I see Harold standing near one of the tables set up in the middle of the first floor. He catches my eye and begins making his way toward me. I am tired and not close to being in the mood to listen to his ravings, but I figured he would approach me at some point. To be honest, he hasn’t spoken of his conspiracy theories since we picked him up from Mountain Home, for which I’m thankful. We have enough going on without becoming paranoid about everything. Of course, with what happened today, I must admit I’m a little more willing to hear what he has to say. The moment he starts sounding too far out there, I’ll be done and go to bed. After all, Lynn is back and I really haven’t had any time with her.
“I know you have a lot going on, and it didn’t seem like the right time earlier, but can we talk?” he asks.
“Sure, what’s up?” I say, wanting to keep this as short as possible.
We meander over to one of the tables and sit.
“I don’t rightly know how to start this and you may think I’m crazy, but hear me out. Remember back at Mountain Home when I said, ‘wait and they’ll find you’?” Harold begins.
“Yeah, I remember that. What exactly do you mean?”
“Okay, I don’t have the details, but the story is that someone took a shot at you. So, I’m going to take a guess and say that you were the target and the one you captured is a pro,” he answers.
“Correct so far, but that in itself doesn’t mean anything along the lines of a conspiracy,” I state.
“I don’t mean to sound crass, but I did say they would reveal themselves to you at some point,” Harold says.
“And you think this is from some group you were hinting at?”
“I’m sure of it,” Harold replies, nodding. “You have become a threat, or rather this place has.”
“What makes you so sure of that?” I ask.
“It’s probably best if I start at the beginning so you can see the foundation I’m operating from,” he responds.
“Okay, you have my attention.”