Those Hollow Lies

Operation Black Widow

Russ 08/09/09 – I think…

My throat was dry and my voice cracked the second I tried to speak. The dried blood itched around my eye, but I couldn’t reach up to scratch at it. The cuffs cut into my wrists as another part of the torture and I ached from everything I had already been subjected to since my capture at the hospital. When I had refused to cooperate in a normal interrogation situation, the intensity had been raised and while I hadn’t been prepared for torture in any of my training, Roz’s brutal attacks three years ago had been enough to numb the pain from my mind. They tried knocking me about a bit, I spat up blood, but nothing came close to the day Roz had practically left me for the dead in the tunnel. It all felt like a far off dream and I had forgiven her almost instantly because of the look in her eye, but right now that was the thing saving me from begging for mercy and confessing to everything.

They had captured a number of other agents, too, but I had only seen Joe. He was being kept in the cell next to mine and when the guards came and went we were able to exchange a few words through a tiny mouse hole in the wall that had apparently gone unnoticed by maintenance. The other suggestion my brain cooked up was that it might be there and bugged to try and catch any classified information we mentioned to each other. We were not that stupid. So far it seemed as though we had all been asked the same things; who we worked for, where we came from, what our final goal was...and from what I could tell from the frustrations of Bethany and her agents, no one had revealed anything to her. I didn’t know if it was out of loyalty and commitment to the job or out of fear of Roz, but I was relieved that we were sticking together. I already felt pretty terrible that I had been in command of The Quarter for only four days and I had managed to get several of the undercover agents captured. I felt as though none of this would have happened if Roz had been there and been in charge. I didn’t know where she was or what she might be doing right now, but I knew that she would be trying her best to get us all out of this trouble. I knew Bethany was looking for her, but I doubted that she’d find her as easily as she’d found us, even with some nationwide search being on for her. Roz’s best talent was being invisible and with her Underground network, too, it didn’t take any of us long to figure out that capturing Roz would be mission impossible.

I heard the locks on the heavy door turning and sliding and soon found myself glaring tiredly up at my ex-girlfriend. Bethany wore a malicious smirk that came nowhere near Roz’s and her arms were folded across her chest, only slightly crumpling her neat blouse. On the outside she looked like a government analyst, but now it was obvious that she was a devious, greedy bitch who only cared about what she could get for herself.

“Bring him down to the interrogation room.”

Two heavy set men made their way into the cramped cell and dragged me to my feet, each of them grabbing a bicep each and literally manhandling me all the way down the long corridors. They pulled harder if I tripped and made a fuss if I made a noise. Once at the room they shoved me down in a cold, metal chair and rearranged my handcuffs so I couldn’t break free or attack Bethany. The smirking woman was standing in front of the chair exactly how she had stood in the door of the cell just moments before. I said nothing, but merely glared venomously up at her.

“How did we get here, Russell? Or, more specifically, how did you get yourself caught up in this mess?” She pulled a chair for herself from the corner, but kept her arrogant sneer in place as she sat down.

“Oh, trust me; you’re the one in this mess.” I wanted to tell her exactly what was about to be unleashed on her. I wanted her to know who would be coming for her, but I held back, knowing Roz might just kill me for that if I did it.

She let out a feminine little giggle and then shook her head. “Oh, that’s not what it looks like from where I’m sitting. From here it looks like I’m on the verge of getting all the information that I want.” She produced a manila folder from her bag and looked down at it, keeping it out of my line of sight. “What do you know about Operation Black Widow?”