The Jericho Files #5.3

After some double checking (also called: Does it suck? checking), here is the Jericho Files #5.3! Enjoy!

Part 3:

My body racked with pain. I was unaware of how much time has passed during my interrogation since there were no windows in the room and my captors certainly wouldn't tell me. They had used every slow and painful torture method previously devised by man to try and get me to talk. I had come close to cracking several times, but would find myself able to be lucid enough to refuse. My spirit was strong, but my flesh was proving to be very weak.

Although I have had plenty of time to study their dialects while they threatened me, I was nowhere closer to figuring them out. Their slang and regional specific words led me to believe they were near the southern region of Lebanon, but I couldn't be 100% certain yet...I needed more from them.

They finished their latest round of interrogation with several palm thrusts to my sternum per minute. These men had obviously had different regional trainings, and they were good. Their palm thrusts were taking all the breath out of my lungs, by the time my lungs would recover, they would take another shot, leaving me with no air again. I continued to find myself on the verge of passing out if this did not let up.

They stopped their barrage for just a second to question me again. “We know that you are trying to track us, tell us who your outfit is and this punishment will end”, they spoke into my ear, with false sympathy in the voices. I shook from the pain running through my chest, and my breath was staggered, but I refused to talk. They waited several seconds, then they resumed the palm thrusts.

The lack of air circulating in my body was causing my vision to dim, I felt myself begin to slip into a state of near unconsciousness and felt myself drift. I was no longer strapped in a chair being interrogated by the enemy, I was back on my farm once again with my family. My mother was on the porch once again tending to the catch of the day while my father was in the farm finishing up the chores before the sun was lost.

I was in my own corner of our land, tending to some crops and making sure they were growing well. Despite the pain in my body, I could swear that sun was beating down on my sweaty brow.

I stood up and stretched for the heavens, I had been working for hours and was looking forward to a good meal with the family. I gathered up my tools and the produce bag and made my way back to the house. I crossed over a couple of hills to get close to the house when I heard shouts coming from my mothers direction. My family, being the loving couple they were, rarely argued so shouts like this were uncommon. I continued walking with no cause for alarm, until I heard a crash coming from the house.

I dropped everything in my hands with the exception of garden hoe. If something bad was happening at the farm, I was going to run into it unarmed. I took off at a speed that defied my miniature frame. As I crossed over the last hill, I caught full sight on the horrific scene on the porch of our house. I let out a shout of rage....

With a blinding flash, I was brought back to reality still screaming. They had decided to put aside the palm thrusts and resorted to Water Boarding. The cellophane was over my face already, thereby masking the shout of rage that carried over from my dream. The water was flowing at an amazing rate and I felt panic to begin setting in. My nerves were frying at an accelerated rate and I felt myself on the verge, once again, of begging for the pain to stop. When the begging began, I knew I was not too far off from surrender.

As soon as I had tightened my vocal cords to speak up, I heard a shout in a foreign language to halt. The water stopped flowing and the cellophane was cut. I took as deep a breath as I could, due to my bruised sternum. The lights had been slightly elevated, which hurt my eyes a little. I squinted for just a second while they adjusted, then looked for the person who shouted.

As my eyes regained focus, I was face to face with the originator of that shout, staring down the two soldiers. He was wearing a lab coat, but carried an officers decorations. This meant he was above the two interrogators in rank, and a surperior. My ears were still recovering from having cellophane dragged across them, so I had a hard time hearing exact words. He poked both of them in the chest in a commanding stance, and then pointed to the doorway, asking them to leave. They did, but with hesitation. As the door closed, I felt panic set in once again. Higher ranking meant that the news I was here was circulating. Higher ranking also meant that he was cleared to do more damage to get information.

I had a feeling that the interrogation was about to get much worse. He looked down at me and smiled and leaned in close. He whispered a phrase in my ear that made my brain work overtime.

“Au revoir non e für immer”

My tri-linguar code for an ally. I had a long time ago devised several hundred codes comprised of several phrases with 3 or more languages contained within the phrase. I gave one and only one to each of my contacts or people I did business with. It kept us from compromising each other in public and easily identified a friend should they be disguised.

The phrase “Goodbye isn't forever” belonged to Farid Abed, a contact I had established a long time ago during my first months as a supply officer in my outfit. He worked for a small laboratory in his home country that specialized in gene therapy and cancer research. Their funding wasn't the best in the world, so me and him were able to assist each other. Farid was well stocked with ammunition and materials for body armor. Where as I, through another contact, was able to gather laboratory equipment for him and his team to keep working. I had not seen him for 3 or more years, he either was moonlighting as a Lebanese officer, or he was undercover. I dared not ask, lest it come out in interrogation.

He leaned back and spoke softly with exaggerated body language, for the security cameras benefit. “Carey, it is good to see you again. The help you gave me so long ago has caused my laboratory to be merged with this outfits medical division. It was done against my will, but I am trying to support my family through this. When I heard word of a prisoner of Irish descent in these parts, I knew it was you. I pulled rank on those interrogators to see you. I will more than likely be found out as a sympathizer and be taken care of soon, but getting you out of here is more important.”

He reached into his lab coat and produced a syringe filled with a cloudy blue liquid. “This is a result of the equipment you gave me, it is the only way to get you out of here alive and in one piece. I want you to trust me on this, and do not doubt me. You will return from this adventure very much alive. I wish you the best” he said, while tapping the syringe. We began to hear knocks on the door and shouting from the other side. Farid began to loosen my straps before the door opened up with guards realising their mistake of letting Farid in. As he loosened my bonds, he grabbed my arms and whispered to fight as the door flung open. I faked a struggle and grunted to put on a show for the guards who had just come in, they joined in the struggle trying to pry me and Farid apart. During the struggle, I saw Farid wink at me and loosen his grip on the syringe. I grabbed it with my free hand, and in a split second, stabbed the syringe into my thigh and pressed the plunger down. Farid loosened his grip from me and was thrown into a corner by the guards.

As the drugs made their way into my system, I began to wonder what Farid meant by “adventure”. I also wondered, if only for a split second if I had been betrayed. It wouldn't be the first time in business that it had happened. I felt the drugs begin to take affect.

It started with a tightening in my chest, I could only describe it as what a heart attack would feel like. The pain was excruciating on top of my already bruised sternum. I felt the pressure on my cranium skyrocket, my eyes feeling like they were going to explode from their sockets. My stomach and intestines cramped to unbelivable lengths and I thought I was about to turn inside out. Every vein felt like it was on fire. My body began to seize with such force that bonds were coming loose, some were more stubborn and resulted in breaking the bones they held down. The others pains masked these shattered bones, the only proof being the sound of breaking resonating in my ears.

The pain continued it's unbearable waves for several seconds as the guards stared in wonder. I was dying, and they didn't know what to do. I wanted to curse Farid's name, but he begged me to trust him on this “adventure”...so trust him I did.

My last thought, before my body became still, was whether or not Farid would survive this adventure for what he had done. I stared open eyed at the ceiling and felt my toes go cold, the cold began to creep up my body towards my head. If I could have screamed, I would have, but every muscle in my body seemed dead. By the time the cold reached my heart, I felt it stop beating.

In every sense of the word, I was dead.

To Be Continued.....