Chapter 10
Vin sat in a chair across from the unconscious soldier, patiently waiting for him to return to consciousness. It had been nearly twenty minutes, and while the man stirred occasionally, he showed no signs of returning to the waking world.
Vin’s patience was wearing thin. With every minute that ticked by, Deb and Jimmy were potentially getting farther and farther away. If they were still even alive at all.
Vin still wouldn’t allow himself to entertain such thoughts. They were alive. They had been taken by the remnant, and most importantly, he and Sean were going to get them back. All of that, however, hinged on this enemy combatant waking the hell up.
A groan sounded from across the room. Vin knew without looking that it was the other soldier who had managed to survive their encounter. He was in far worse shape than the one he’d knocked unconscious after shooting in the shoulder, and he was mostly there as an insurance policy.
That one didn’t have long to live, regardless of how this interrogation went. Vin and Sean had patched him up to a degree, giving him enough First Aid to keep him alive for the time being, but he wasn’t going to be able to provide any meaningful testimony.
Vin leaned forward in his chair, looking at the unconscious soldier in front of him.
He wanted to pity him, to see himself in the young man’s actions.
He, too, had been taken in with dreams of fighting for freedom before he realized how expendable he was to the government he served.
In the end, all he boiled down to was a very specific and shockingly low amount of dollars and cents.
He wondered whether this young man had suspected as much about his life, but in the end, he reminded himself that it didn’t really matter. What the government remnant was doing in this city right now was a clear violation of the US Constitution and the freedom of the people that it established.
Vin had heard it said on more than one occasion that a good soldier follows orders, even bad ones, without questioning them.
He didn’t believe in that. Even when he was bleeding red, white, and blue while serving overseas, he had never believed in that homogenized black and white picture of what it means to be a good soldier.
Had he ever been ordered to take American citizens hostage on US soil, he would have faced a court martial before following through on those orders.
But at the end of the day, the soldier’s personal beliefs or reasoning didn’t matter.
He had made his choice, for better or worse.
He had followed through on unlawful orders and found himself pitted against a pair of foes who were infinitely superior to him on the field of battle.
By all accounts, he should already be dead.
But, luckily or unluckily for the young man, he had information they required.
The soldier groaned again, stirring slightly but not returning to full consciousness. Vin sighed in frustration, leaning back in his chair.
“Oh, to hell with this,” he heard Sean say from behind him.
His one-time special forces partner rushed forward with a large bucket, flinging it at the rousing soldier. A huge splash of water sloshed forth out of it, striking the soldier along the side of his body. Instantly, he jerked back, his eyes wide open in disbelief as he cried out in shock.
“Well,” Vin said, as the enemy combatant thrashed against the thick ropes that bound him to the chair, “good morning, sunshine.”
Vin leaned back casually in his chair, pulling out his long hunting knife, and absentmindedly started polishing it with a rag. He watched as the soldier looked around, wincing in pain and looking over at his shoulder as his thrashing no doubt birthed a fresh rush of utter agony.
Vin and Sean had patched up his shoulder a little bit. Mostly they just ensured he wouldn’t bleed to death. They left the bullet inside while cleaning and wrapping the wound. An injury like that was going to be very useful for what came next.
“What the fuck?” the soldier grunted, wincing in pain and crying out as he fought uselessly against his bonds.
“Shut the fuck up!” Sean yelled, rushing past Vin to slam his fist into the man’s head.
The soldier reared back, and for a moment, Vin was afraid the chair he was on would capsize. He grunted in pain as blood flew from his lips, splattering onto the floor.
“Whoa there,” Vin said to Sean, holding up a hand as if he were trying to casually hold him back. “That’s no way to treat our guest.”
“Guest,” Sean spat in disgust. “I outta put a bullet in his skull right now.” He pulled out his handgun and pressed it into the wounded soldier’s temple.
The man cried out in terror as Sean cocked the gun to fire.
“Nah, we don’t need to do that,” Vin said, motioning for Sean to stand down. “I’m sure our new friend here is more than willing to tell us what we need to know. And if I’m right, there’s gonna be no reason to go redecorating the wall with his gray matter.”
The soldier was wide-eyed and gasping for breath. They were the shallowed frenzied breaths of panic and pain mixed together to make a soup of agonized torment.
Sean paused, letting the weight of the situation sink in.
He was playing his part perfectly, as Vin knew he would.
This was a scene they had enacted countless times throughout their long and storied careers together.
It was classic good cop/bad cop, and they had perfected it many years ago.
This interrogation tactic seldom failed, and Vin could see the required fear blossoming in the eyes of their captive.
“Fine,” Sean said, as though he were sorely disappointed and had been only microseconds away from pulling the trigger. “But if he gives you even a slight issue, I’m gonna blow his goddamn brains out.”
Sean pulled the gun away from the prisoner’s head, and Vin watched the man’s eyes move toward Sean with dread.
Sean, to his credit, gave the doomed soldier an icy stare of rage.
One that screamed total superiority. He then looked toward Vin, hope blossoming in his eyes.
This was exactly what they needed. The captive needed to see Vin as his potential savior.
He needed to believe Vin was protecting him and that he was all that was standing between continued survival and certain death.
“Thank you,” Vin said, nodding to Sean, before looking at the young man with a sympathetic and compassionate stare.
“Look, kid,” he said, leaning forward as though he were leveling with the man, “we understand what you’re doing here.
We understand the pressure you’re under.
After all, we served the same as you. Except we waged war out there. ”
Vin pointed toward the door, motioning to the broader world.
“We crossed an ocean to fight for freedom,” he continued. “You, on the other hand, are marching through the streets of an American city, taking that same freedom guys like us worked so hard to protect.” Vin shook his head. “That’s something I take personally.”
“I’m just,” the soldier said, clearly overwhelmed with pain and terror, “...just following orders. You…I’m sure…you know how it is.”
“Oh, I do,” Vin said, standing up out of his chair slowly.
He strolled around the soldier, walking behind him, and the man craned his neck, trying to follow Vin’s movements.
“That’s the only reason you ain’t dead yet, friend,” Vin said, laying a heavy hand on the man’s wounded shoulder.
The instant Vin touched the grievous injury he had personally inflicted, the soldier gasped in sudden shock and pain.
“Now,” Vin said, applying more pressure to the wound and digging his thick fingers into it. The man cried out in pain, his eyes rolling back. “I wanna know what happened to the woman and the baby who were here. And you’re gonna tell me.”
“Agh!” he cried out in pain. “I don’t know! I didn’t see anyone!” Vin’s fingers squeezed harder, and the man screamed in agony. “I don’t know!”
“See, the problem is that I don’t believe you,” Vin said, ramping up the pressure on his wound. “I don’t trust you, and if you’re gonna be able to walk out of here, I’m gonna have to be able to trust you.”
“I’m telling the truth!” the man screamed, his voice echoing through the space.
“I don’t think you are,” Vin said matter-of-factly while continuing to inflict mind-numbing pain on the soldier. “I think you’re a liar, and I don’t deal with liars. You know who does?”
Sean rushed forward, moving with a purpose. Vin let go of the wound just in time for Sean to let his balled-up fist fly into the soldier’s shoulder joint. The man screeched in what must have been pure agony.
“I deal with the liars,” Sean said. “So, I’m hoping that you’re gonna keep telling lies because I wanna pull you apart joint by joint.”
“No! There was no woman here! No baby!” the soldier screamed, looking in feral panic at the face of the man who had nearly killed him just a moment ago.
“Lying sack of shit,” Sean exclaimed, grabbing the man by the wounded shoulder with one hand while slamming his fist into his torso with the other.
Vin heard the sounds of ribs snapping and knew Sean was hitting his mark with surgical precision.
“Whoa now,” Vin exclaimed as the soldier screamed and groaned in pain.
“Now I could hear that. Sounds like you just broke a few ribs, son, and I am mighty sorry for that.” Vin crouched down so the groaning prisoner could look directly into his eyes.
“But what you need to know is that this woman and that baby are really important to my friend and me here. And I’m sure you’re a man who can appreciate something like that.
So, what I’m gonna do here is give you one more chance to do the right thing and let us know where they are. ”