CAIN AND ABEL
CHAPTER THREE
After Ensign Wolenczak had separated from the landing party to check out Toya’s power systems, Commander Ford had sent a team of medics to help in the medical centers. Meanwhile, they themselves had been trying to calm the colony’s citizens while Lucas tried to get the power back on.
Commander Ford had breathed a sigh of relief as the lights flickered back to life and the hum of engines and systems restarting filled the air. He ordered a search of the colony and began asking the colonists questions about what they had seen. They soon found out about the three strange people who had been running through the center square earlier that morning.
“Did you see were they went?” Ford asked of the woman, who was holding one of her children on her left hip.
“No, not exactly. They started to blend in once they were wearing an overcoat. But they were headed towards that exit over there,” she shifted the little girl in her arms awkwardly so she could point behind her.
Ford nodded, “So there were three of them,” he confirmed.
“Only three that I saw. They looked like they were being chased,” she said.
Ford turned to one of his men, “Do you know if the law enforcement agency in the colony knew anything about people being chased?” he asked.
“They said never saw any trouble before the power went off,” the officer said, “I would say that these people weren’t being chased by any police or anything.”
“Maybe they weren’t being chased at all,” Ford pondered.
“Oh,” the woman next to them added, “We’re unfortunate to have a nosy neighbour around here. Mr Hewitt. He’s always keeping a watchful eye out. He might know where they went.”
***
The first thing Lucas noticed was the dull ache in his neck and back. He snapped into consciousness as he moved his head to alleviate the ache. The lights were too bright at first and he closed his eyes, licking his lips to get rid of the dryness in his mouth. By then he had noticed he was sitting in a chair. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he noted the metallic walls of the small room. The pressure on his forearms indicated that he was tied to the arms of the wooden chair. As he shifted to check his bonds, he noticed that his legs were tied too.
After he had fully regained consciousness, Lucas was given a few seconds to look around the room before the door on his left opened and two fairly thick set men walked in swiftly. The last one closed the door after him. Lucas noticed that it was almost as thick as a door on a safe. The first man placed what looked like a suitcase on the large table in front of Lucas. The other man looked toward the wall in front of them. Although Lucas couldn’t see his reflection in it, it looked glossy and he was sure that they were being watched from another room.
Moving silently, the second man walked behind Lucas and placed his hand on the young mans left shoulder. The other man half sat half lent up against the desk. Lucas sat quietly but placed a defiant look on his face.
The man sitting in front of him lent forward, “We need you to help us with a lot of questions,” the deep voice was almost a shock to Lucas’ ears as it broke the dead silence in the room.
Lucas decided that if he officially quoted his name, rank and serial number he would almost be asking for an interrogation. So Lucas addressed the man as though he weren’t tied to a chair, “My name is Lucas Wolenczak. I’m from the SeaQuest.”
The man in front of him looked at the man behind him. Lucas then realised why there was no mirror in there for the adjacent room. It scared the hell out of him not knowing what the person behind him was doing.
“What department are you in?” the man in front of him asked.
“Department?” Lucas asked, “We don’t really have departments..”
The man in front of him immediately backhanded Lucas across the cheek. Lucas gasped out in surprise.
Lucas recovered quickly but felt the other man shift behind him and his heart began to pump rapidly.
“I can help you,” Lucas said nervously, “Just tell me what you want to know.”
“We want to know what you were doing with Toya Colony’s power systems,” the same man asked.
“I was putting them back online,” Lucas answered.
The man in front of him shifted impatiently and stared ahead, “I’m not talking about when we found you. I’m talking about when you or someone you work with took them offline in the first place.”
Lucas shook his head in almost a panic, “No, we didn’t take them offline in the first place.”
“You’re telling me it was the Macronesian escapees that you took did it?” the interrogator said sarcastically.
Lucas was confused, “Macronesian escapees?” he asked quietly.
The man in front of him gave an annoyed chuckle and stood up, reaching for the suitcase and pulling it towards them. He flicked open the latches to the suitcase and propped up the lid revealing several painful looking metal instruments. Lucas’ paled and he swallowed visibly, trying to calm himself.
“Wh-what….?” Lucas began. He was interrupted by a sudden punch in the back from the man behind him.
The man in front of him sighed dispassionately. He then pulled out one of the instruments in the case and passed it over Lucas’ head to the man behind. Lucas was still hurting from the blow to his back but twisted his neck to see what it was. But his bonds were too tight and he was unable to see it.
“How much do you know about the section seven operation in Macronesia?” the man asked seriously.
Lucas had finally come to the full realisation that these people thought he was someone else. His immediate impulse was to try to convince them of who he was.
“I’m not section seven. I have no affiliations with them. I swear. My name is Lucas Wolenczak, I’m from the SeaQuest.”
The man casually took a silver lighter from the upper compartment of the box and lit it up, putting it against Lucas’ fingers. Lucas jerked his arms. The man continued to hold the lighter against his fingers.
“Ow! Argh!” Lucas cried out in pain. The agent held the lighter on for a few more seconds before letting it down.
Lucas gasped out loud and sucked the air back in through his teeth. He was given a few moments to compose himself before he felt the man behind him place a hand on his shoulder. The fingers in his left hand had been burnt badly even though it was only a small area. There was plenty of red and some blackness covering the top of his fingers.
“It’s not a very good idea to lie to us, you know,” the man in front of him advised.
“I’m not lying,” Lucas hissed through the pain.
The man behind him began to slide the metallic instrument under Lucas’ armpit. Lucas became acutely aware of the dampness there and the sweat running down his back. The man sitting on the table nodded his head towards Lucas’ left armpit where the instrument was sitting like a thermometer on a child, “Do you want to find out what that does?”
Lucas shook his head as more colour ran from his face.
“Good. Then we can work together now,” the agent reasoned.
“Not if you don’t believe me,” Lucas responded angrily.
Pain shot through Lucas’ armpit. The ache extended up his neck and down the whole length of his body. He screamed and twisted his back forwards involuntarily. Slowly, the intensity of the pain went away and he was left gasping, still with a terrible ache under his arm.
The man in front of him held his had out for the torture instrument. Lucas flinched at the ache in his arm as it was knocked to take the instrument away and be passed to the man in front of him.
Smugly, the head interrogator showed Lucas the long metallic cylinder. He squeezed his hands around the side and a very long, painful looking needle popped through the top. Lucas noticed that the needle was glowing yellow, a sign that it was also very hot.
“We have all day to go through all of these wonderful toys to see which ones you like the least,” the man explained.
Lucas closed his eyes, feeling the panic rising up in him. A blow to his lower back in the same place violently knocked away all his efforts to calm himself.
“Now,” the first agent continued patiently, “Shall we start again?”
Realising the situation was hopeless Lucas gave out a small sob, which was ignored, “What are your orders in relation to Toya Colony?”
“It was a distress call,” Lucas said still upset, “They asked us to get the systems back online and find out who had taken them offline.”
The agent brought his head towards Lucas’ face so that their noses were almost touching and stared at him for a few seconds. Then he pulled his head back, “Okay,” he said.
Lucas was relieved for a few moments, thinking the agent believed him. It was short lived when the agent turned around and took another instrument from the boxed, “How old are you?” he asked.
The question seemed out of place so Lucas hesitated for a few moments he was rewarded with a punch in the back of the head. Lucas grunted, “Twenty-nine,” he answered.
Both the men laughed loudly and suddenly. It was the first time Lucas had heard the man behind him make a sound, “God you’re full of shit,” the agent laughed, legitimately amused.
“Okay,” he said as he fiddled with the instrument. It had a handle and about six prongs on it that could be twisted in different ways, “I would guess you to be no older than twenty one. In which case, this will be our favorite instrument because it’s most effective on young men.”
The hint sent numbness all the way through Lucas’ body. The man stood up from the table and used his own legs to pry apart Lucas’ knees. He brought the instrument down and held it between Lucas’ legs as a threat. Lucas didn’t want to look. He became very aware that his breathing was coming out in loud gasps.
The man behind Lucas leaned forwards so that his front was pressed up against the chair and Lucas’ back. In this position, Lucas already felt violated.
“It’s very painful,” the man behind him spoke over his head, “He won’t recover for a few days afterwards. We don’t have that long.”
The thumping in Lucas chest eased a little as he realised the man was speaking to the other agent in front of him. The agent looked up at Lucas with a still smug but somewhat disappointed look on his face. To Lucas’ relief the agent pulled the instrument back and stood up slowly.
“What do you suggest?” the first agent asked the man from behind.
“The young fellow likes to play with electricity,” the man behind him said.
The man in front nodded, “Hmmm, well we have a number of options then,” he turned back to the case just as Lucas heard the man behind him light up. The smoke annoyed Lucas’ senses and he struggled not to let it show that it was bothering him.
The agent picked out two of the shiny silver instruments and passed one back to the man behind him.
“Do you feel in a talkative mood yet?” the agent asked.
“Only if you’ll let me,” Lucas answered.
Without warning, pain shot through Lucas’ entire body. One of the agents had shocked him in the stomach and the other in the lower back. The combination was unbelievably painful. Lucas had received electric shocks before, some more serious than others. The most painful were the ones from his kidnappers a few months before. But he had never felt it hurt like this before. The surprise of not knowing where the second tazor was going to be applied added to Lucas’ fear.
The electrocution didn’t last very long but Lucas was left gasping for air for almost a full minute after they stopped. Once Lucas had recovered the man behind him passed his burning cigar towards his partner who cruelly put it out on Lucas’ forearm.
Lucas cried out weakly and tried to twist his arm away. Finally the man took the cigar away and tossed it onto the floor.
Despite himself, Lucas had begun to cry softly, but he attempted to address the agents anyway, “We can work together. The UEO doesn’t know who did this either. Just tell me who you are.”
“Tell you who we are?” the man in front of him asked, “How stupid do you think we are?”
Before Lucas could reply he was shocked the back again, this time it was applied nearer his spine. He screamed louder.
The man in front leaned towards him, “We will ask the questions here, not you.”
Lucas nodded, “Okay,” he whispered.
“And for God’s sake, stop lying,” the man demanded.
“I haven’t lied to you..” Lucas began. The man in front of him struck him violently in the face, knocking Lucas’ head back. Blood started to leak out from Lucas’ top lip and around his nose.
“I know for a fact you’re not twenty-nine,” the man in front of him pointed out angrily.
Lucas shifted uncomfortably, “Check my records,” he said, “I’ve told you everything I know.”
“How can we check your records if you haven’t given us your name?” the agent asked.
“I told you,” Lucas said frustrated, “My name is Lucas Wolenczak.”
Lucas received another long shocking from the man behind him. While he was still recovering the man in front passed something back to the man behind him. Then he picked up another thin looking needle and slammed it into Lucas’ left arm where it bent at the elbow.
“Arggghh!” Lucas cried out at the pain in his arm. He hissed again as it was pulled out. There was a fairly large dot of blood there and there was already a bruise forming around the area where it had been slammed in.
“What did you do to me?” Lucas demanded. Once again he was rewarded by another shocking. This time it was applied to the back of his neck. He wasted no time in screaming out.
This time, as he recovered, he noticed that his head had begun to feel dizzy, as though he had had too much alcohol and then smoked a cigarette that was too strong. It quickly became slightly more difficult for him to hold his head up and to breath comfortably.
“What is your name?” the man in front of him asked.
“Lucas Wolenczak,” he answered.
“He’s too good,” he heard one of the men answer.
Lucas was ripped out of the state he was in by another electrical shock and then another. The two men applied the tazors until Lucas screamed.
“We going to give you one more chance,” the man warned him, “Tell us what you know about section seven’s plans with the Macronesians.”
Lucas became aware of the perspiration dampening his hair. He tried to focus on getting this information back to the SeaQuest, and maybe piece it together.
At Lucas’ silence the instrument from earlier was pushed in under his arm. Lucas expected a warning before the needle went up. However, he received none. The searing pain through his armpit was more painful than the first time, as his arm was still hurting from the first time. It felt as though the needle went up into the same place.
Lucas screamed out loudly. Soon after, he realised that it wasn’t going to be removed. “Argghh pleaaase! God please!” Lucas begged. Tears were streaming down his face.
The needle was finally retracted from his armpit and the pain reduced. However, Lucas was left with a more heavy and painful ache than last time.
“Untie him,” the man in front of Lucas ordered, in a disgusted tone.
The ropes around Lucas’ arms and legs were cut quickly and he was thrown out of the chair. Lucas landed painfully on his stomach. The violence drew attention to how painful his entire body was from the torture.
Lucas cried out loudly as one of them kicked him hard in the back. They continued to kick him while he was lying down. A few times they picked him up and threw him into the wall and punched him a few times before letting him fall to the floor to be kicked again. It wasn’t too long before Lucas was unconscious.
“Get him out of here,” the first man panted before he left that room. He made his way down the hall towards the adjacent room where people should have been viewing the interrogation. He was annoyed to find no one was in there.
“Dambers?” a voice from behind the agent that had interrogated Lucas asked. He turned to realise his superior officer standing in the doorway of the room.
“You didn’t wish to view the interrogation?” he asked.
“I was here for a little while,” Robert Bridger replied. As much as he hated section seven, he had never really liked interrogations. He didn’t like to hurt people full stop. He also felt that the particular agent in their custody was a little young to be entirely at fault. He thought it was sad that younger people in secret services were corrupted so easily.
“We did what you said,” Dambers responded, “Colger standing behind him worked as well as you said it would.”
“Did you get everything?” Robert asked.
“We didn’t get anything,” Dambers said, then off the look on Robert’s face he answered, “But we will. Colger didn’t like the idea of any genital mutilation but I think that will be very effective.”
“No, you’re not going to be doing that,” Robert said.
“Are you joking?” Damber asked him frustrated, “Do you know how long we were in there?”
“He must have his reasons,” Robert said, “Let me speak to him.” Robert had a found through experience that bad guys were much more willing to listen to reason once they had experienced a session with Damber and Colger. And Robert generally only allowed an interrogation when he felt that he had reasonable cause. He believed that stopping section seven from committing a war crime against Macronesia and finding out the perpetrators for the deaths of the people in Toya colony was a worthy enough cause.
If section seven wasn’t stopped, the UEO would be just as guilty as Macronesia, and no one would know who the bad guys were.
***
Robert opened the door to the small room. Lucas was sitting quietly against the wall. According to the cameras in the cell the boy had regained consciousness about half an hour ago. Robert had decided to give him time to see if he would lose consciousness. He hadn’t, so Robert assumed that his injuries weren’t life threatening.
As Lucas heard the cell door open he turned his head away towards the opposite wall angrily.
“How are you feeling?” Robert asked him gently, stopping to stand a few feet away from him.
“How do you think I’m feeling?” Lucas answered, “They tortured me.”
“I know,” Robert said, “I told them to.” Lucas kept his head turned away but clenched his teeth angrily.
“We really need to know what section seven wants with these Macronesian civilians. It could start a war or a violent conflict that no one needs,” Robert tried to reason.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucas told him urgently, although he kept his head turned away.
To Robert, this was a typical non-compliance answer, “It looks like you’ll have to go back into that room them. I told them they weren’t allowed to touch your genitals but I can’t see any other way.”
Lucas turned around quickly, panicking “Look, you have to believe me. I’m not affiliated with section seven. I’m from the SeaQuest.”
Robert blanched, “SeaQuest?” he asked. He looked at Lucas carefully, noting his age, teenagers weren’t uncommon in secret service, but they were on submarines. The colour drained from his face, “Is your name Lucas?” his voice calm out fairly calm but an ill feeling was rising up inside him.
“Yes, that’s what I keep telling you people,” Lucas gasped still very frightened but relief began to fall through him. Lucas then looked at Robert carefully for the first time. ‘Robert’, he thought. But he didn’t want to say his name. He’d rather they meet another way. Robert said nothing. He turned suddenly and left the room.
Robert went to his own superiors and told them he had discovered that Lucas knew nothing.
“He is from the Seaquest and he must be returned immediately.” Robert told Sympson urgently.
Sympson turned around to face his protégé, “Are you sure?”
“Sympson, I’m absolutely certain,” Robert said quickly. Sympson noticed that the younger man was looking very ill. However, he trusted Robert.
“Alright, I’ll have him returned to the same colony he was taken from and inform section seven,” Sympson told him.
“Section seven?” Robert asked, horrified, “What if they interrogate him too?”
Sympson wasn’t worried about Robert’s concern for the young man; Robert’s horror at human atrocities wasn’t unusual.
“Section seven will know everything he could tell them,” Sympson explained, “Also, they are more likely to blame Macronesia.”
The news didn’t make Robert feel a whole heap better, but he was relieved that Lucas would be returned to the SeaQuest, “When?” Robert asked him.
“I’ll have him brought back there immediately,” Sympson told him.
Robert looked slightly relieved, “Tell them to be careful with him, he’s injured.”
“Of course,” Sympson assured him.
Robert left Sympson’s office feeling sick. He couldn’t believe what he had done. It was horrible enough that he had been responsible for innocent people being hurt. But this boy was practically his father’s other son. Robert stopped walking and lent his head against the wall, closing his eyes.