Chapter 53: The Interrogation
Elliot Tomkins awoke from his sleep a little too early for his liking. He hadn’t had a good nights sleep in a while now. When he awoke he found himself bound to a chair. This was a shock to him. He had expected to find himself in the same flea infested bed he fell asleep in.
In front of the bound young man was a high-ranking army officer flanked by two subordinates. The senior officer looked to be in his late fifties, with dyed black hair and red skin that seemed to be caused by lying in the sun too much. In his right hand he held a cane, which he tapped repeatedly against the palm of his left hand.
Please let this be a dream, Elliot thought to himself. He was still hurting from the last time he had been held captive.
“Mr Tomkins, we have reason to believe that you know the location of the rebel base,” the army officer declared. “With your cooperation we would like you to inform us of its whereabouts. If you don’t cooperate, the situation could become very unpleasant.”
Instantly Elliot wondered how on earth he had gone from the rebel camp, to what looked like a small room with otherwise bare walls made of wood. There were no ornaments or pictures in this room and the only object that Elliot could see was a small wooden chair by the doorway. The door itself was painted black and the walls looked to be painted Mahogany. Elliot thought that almost all wood was painted Mahogany so he wasn’t entirely sure if he was correct or not.
Attached to the ceiling was a large dome shaped light of about thirty centimetres in diameter. It was relatively strong and caused Elliot to close his eyes from time to time.
“Tell me,” the senior officer insisted. “Where are your friends?”
“I don’t know,” Elliot responded.
The interrogator lashed his cane against the young captive’s arm.
Elliot winced in pain. He had been hoping that this was all just a dream, but the pain felt real.
“Where is the camp?” the high ranking officer asked once more.
“I don’t know,” Elliot responded hoping that the officer would leave him be. Truthfully, the only fact that Elliot knew for sure was that the base was underground. They had taken so many twists and turns that meant he wouldn’t be able to find it on his own. He didn’t know its exact location but even if he did he wasn’t inclined to rat on his friends so easily.
“Very well then. I know you are lying, Mr Tomkins,” the interrogator declared in cold voice, “We will have to engage in more effective methods of interrogation.”
The sadistic officer produced a battery powered drill which he turned on briefly.
“This is your last chance Mr Tomkins. I need the location.”
“I told you that I don’t know. I really wish I did,” Elliot stated anxiously. Even he wanted to keep what was left of his battered head in the same condition as it was.
The army officer turned on the drill once more but this time left it running and moved closer to the prisoner. When the point of the drill was an inch away from his ear, the officer spoke above the noise. “Last chance, Mr Tomkins.”
“Okay, okay I’ll tell you what I know,” the captive replied, realising that he was in a life or death situation.
Suddenly the drill stopped and the lighting in the room became even brighter. The army officer and his two subordinates changed shape, into Stanislas, Dorothy and Jesse.
Elliot was embarrassed. It was a test and he had failed abysmally.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said repeatedly as he was untied.
At the same time Elliot wondered what was about to happen to him now that he had failed.
“I let you down. I failed.” Elliot responded.
“On the contrary, Mr Tomkins, you passed,” Stanislas responded. “Nobody passes the drill test.”
“Yeah,” Dorothy declared, “your friend Jeff cried like a baby. I’ve never seen such a macho guy reduced to such a blubbering mess.”
“Hey, look,” Jeff said from behind Elliot, “I told you I don’t do drills. You can knock all my teeth out but I hate drills. I bet you cried too,” he said to Dorothy.
“I’m sure my response wasn’t as laughable as yours,” Dorothy responded without breaking into a smile. “And no I didn’t shed a tear.”
“Ok, enough,” Stanislas responded. “They both passed, though some better than others. They’re probably both still tired so we’ll let them rest a little longer.
“Rest? After that?” Jeff responded in a frustrated manner. “I normally don’t do nightmares, but I don’t think I’ll sleep so easy, thanks very much.”
Elliot didn’t care if he had a hundred nightmares as long as he got some more sleep.