“Yeah, in Stare Kiejkuty,” he said with a perfect Polish accent. Impressive.
Stare Kiejkuty was a Polish intelligence-training site tucked away in a forest about two hours north of the capital. Claire got a guided tour of it from Polish officials, the key word being guided. As she described it, the whole purpose of the tour was to convince her the CIA wasn’t using a spare room or two to interrogate suspected Muslim terrorists outside the reach of US legal protections.
“So you have actual proof that it’s a CIA black site?” I asked.
The kid shook his head slowly. “No, what I have goes way beyond that,” he said. “Way beyond.”
Chapter 27
“Do you know the name Abdullah al-Hazim?” Owen asked.
“No,” I said. “Should I?”
“He was thought to be the number two guy in Al Qaeda,” he explained. “Of course, it’s pretty silly how we imagine terrorist groups to be structured like our own government, with a neatly organized line of succession. Let’s just say al-Hazim was one of the ringleaders based in Yemen.”
“Was?”
“About a year ago, the State Department announced he’d been killed by a drone attack in the Shabwah province,” Owen said. “If I’m not mistaken, the Times gave it two columns above the fold in the International section.”
Two columns above the fold...
“You sound like Claire,” I said. “There was the story, and then there was where the story was placed.”
“In this case, though, the story was wrong.”
“The guy’s still alive?”
“No, al-Hazim is dead, all right. It just wasn’t a drone attack that killed him.”
With that, Owen slid out of the booth and joined me on my side. I didn’t know what he was doing until he removed a small device from his pocket, attaching it to the Lightning dock on his iPhone. It was one of those tiny portable projectors. We were going to the movies.
The backrest of the bench where he’d been sitting became the screen. The video was black-and-white and as grainy as the leather of the booth, but it was clear enough to see what was happening... and to whom.
“That’s al-Hazim in the chair,” said Owen.
The Middle Eastern man was probably in his late thirties, with a short beard and rimless glasses. I was hardly an expert on body language, but this was an easy read. Al-Hazim was trying to act defiant but was clearly scared to death.
“This is from Stare Kiejkuty?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
The room was average-sized and well lit, albeit with no windows I could see. The chair al-Hazim was shackled to — hands and feet — was the only furniture, at least in front of the camera. There were two male voices in the background speaking English, but I couldn’t make out the conversation.
I turned to Owen. “What are they saying?”
“I haven’t been able to make it out,” he answered. “Keep watching, though.”
I leaned forward for a quick peek toward the front of the tavern. I couldn’t see anyone, and no one could see us; this was truly a private screening. If I hadn’t been so intrigued, I would’ve been more aware of how surreal this all was, even by New York standards.
What the hell am I about to see? Torture? Some sort of confession? A combination of both? Or is it D, none of the above?
I kept watching. Seconds later, three men entered the picture. Two were in suits and ties, while the third was wearing a white medical smock. That man, presumably a doctor, was holding something as he approached al-Hazim.
“Is that a syringe?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“He’s not getting a flu shot, is he?”
Owen shook his head. “Nope.”
Chapter 28
The two men restrained al-Hazim, one of them gripping him in a headlock as the doctor swabbed the side of his neck with an alcohol pad. Quickly, the doctor injected the contents of the syringe into the carotid artery. All three then stepped out of frame.
As al-Hazim simply sat there as he had before, I was about to ask Owen what was going on. That was when I heard a man clearing his throat off camera. This sound, unlike the previous conversation, I could hear perfectly.
“What is your name?” the man asked.
Immediately, another voice off camera translated the question into Arabic. I hadn’t suddenly learned the language — there were actually subtitles at the bottom of the frame. It was like a foreign film, albeit not the kind Claire and I would watch at the Angelika down in SoHo.
Al-Hazim didn’t answer, and everything repeated itself. One voice asked the question again in English, the other translated it again in Arabic. And once again, al-Hazim didn’t respond.
“Are you a member of Al Qaeda?” came the next question. The translation followed, along with the subtitles. Still, al-Hazim didn’t say a word.
Then something strange started to happen. It was as if his chair had been electrified, although not with a sudden jolt. Rather, a slow build. His arms and legs began to shake, his face contorting. He was clearly feeling pain.
“Are you aware of any plans by Al Qaeda to kill American citizens?” came the third question, the interrogator’s voice unchanged. It was calm, placid, even as al-Hazim began to shake uncontrollably as if he were having a violent seizure. He was in agony, and no one was laying a finger on him.
Meanwhile, the question was repeated — louder, finally, so as to be heard above the metal cuffs around his ankles and wrists, which were now clanking and rattling incessantly against the chair.
“Are you aware of any plans by Al Qaeda to kill American citizens?”
If he was, al-Hazim still wasn’t saying. I wasn’t sure he could even if he wanted to, at this point. His mouth was open as if to scream, but there was no sound coming out. His eyes rolled back. He looked possessed. There was no control, not anywhere. His jumpsuit darkened around his crotch and thighs. He was urinating on himself, if not defecating.
Suddenly, everything stopped. Like someone had pulled the plug. Al-Hazim collapsed in the chair, his body limp and lifeless.
The doctor in the white smock reappeared and placed two fingers on the neck, exactly where he’d administered the shot. He turned and shook his head to those behind the camera. His face was as expressionless as the bartender who had poured me my whiskey.
“Christ!” was all I could sputter at first. I was still staring at the opposite side of the booth and what was now just an empty white square being projected. It was all sinking in. Finally, I turned to Owen. “The syringe. Whatever was in it killed him, right?”
“Technically, no,” he said.
“Technically?”
He folded his arms on the table. “What you just saw was actually a suicide.”
Chapter 29
Before I could ask what the hell that meant, Owen reached for his phone and began tapping the screen again. He was bringing up another video. It was a double feature.
“If this is the same thing with a different prisoner, I don’t need to see it,” I said.
“Just watch,” said Owen.
He hit Play and positioned the phone again, the image beaming across the booth as it had before. Same room, same chair, different Middle Eastern man chained to it. His beard was slightly longer, and he didn’t wear glasses.
The only other difference was that he filled out his jumpsuit more. He looked bloated, puffy where there might otherwise be edges.