"So, am I supposed to believe that this is going to be a forceful and violent extraction if I fail to comply? Aren't afraid of the enforcers intervening?" asked Bruce.
"You're kidding," sniggered the woman. " Since, when are the local enforcers a cause of concern for people like us. I could walk around their station and they wouldn't realise that I am not one of them. A small forgery is enough for me to get them to help me. Moreover, my men have already bought them, and they were willing to avoid this area for some time."
"Oh! So, you have already made all the necessary preparations to capture and interrogate me. Impressive! Do you or your employer really think that it is sensible to cross me. I have friends in high places," said Bruce. Such words were routine stalling techniques and the woman realised it, but she didn't care. She had already been waiting there for over an hour and has cross checked the surroundings before reaching out to Bruce.
"Our employer invites you and would prefer to co-operate with you. She wants to inform you that it would be to your mutual advantage if you work with her."
Bruce lifted a hand calmly indicating her to stop. "It is highly disrespectful to infiltrate a person's book store to propose any venture, especially when the person is happy, safe and is trying to enjoy a moment of peace and solitude," said Bruce as his eyes moved along the lines written in the book. He had a calm sura of a person who isn't the slightest bit concerned about the woman dressed as an enforcer.
"I apologise for the intrusion," started the woman, but she was signalled to stop by Bruce again. "Secondly, I don't have a habit of blindly following anybody who I met the first time at least without any reason to trust the person."
He put the book down on a small stool on his right and stared at her. Even though she was about 5 feet away from him and the sensors built into the forged enforcer uniform didn't indicate any camouflage being used to hide any weapons nearby, she felt like she being looked at by a predator who was toying with his food. His lips turned into a smile, but his intense stare made her feel vulnerable.
"Lastly, the circumstances make me doubt your words. My man is quite late which is quite disturbing as the only variable in my expectations of the day is you. So, either you have something against me, or your employer uses incompetent people, and someone trailed you and your presence has disrupted my appointment," said Bruce leaning forward.
She quickly put her hand on her weapon pulling it off her holster as she started to get suspicious by Bruce's behaviour. "Calm down, I have no intention to fight you," said Bruce. "I thought you wanted me to co-operate and follow you."
"You are willing to co-operate?" asked the woman surprised by his words. She was informed by her employer that physical coercion would be required for this job and she had her team on standby waiting for her orders around the store. She was only trying to have Bruce focus on her while the others move to their respective places to cut off any possible escape routes.
"I did want to follow you, but I just realised where I have seen you. Actually, it wasn't me but my daughter who recognised you," said Bruce as the woman checked her sensors again for recording devices but failed to find any. "Moreover, you team are already being detained as we speak," continued Bruce.
"Stop bluffing," said the woman but traces of panic creeped over her as she couldn't hear her team on her earpiece. "Come in, Gottlieb," she called but there was no reply. She tilted her head as she looked for any traces of her team appearing, but she found nothing that could provide any relief or help to her.
"Anyway, this is not for you but the person listening
our every word. This isn't your trap but mine and it was very bold of you to use your father's old death soldier in the team sent to nab me, Miss Parvati Banerjee," sneered Bruce. A felling of shock followed by a sense of dread filled the woman's heart when she heard Bruce.
As she was contemplating her actions, a voice which did not belong to any of her team, but her employer came through her earpiece. "Kill him, blow yourself up if necessary, else you know what would be done to your family," came the shrill tensed voice of her employer.
The woman realised that she was in a very bad position and it was highly likely that she might not come out safe from this encounter. Her younger brother, his wife and child were the only one who would inherit from her and she never had a family of her own. She knew that her employer was someone who followed through her words and that her family would be lucky if she simply killed them. Her employer was known to be a deranged psychopath who would probably torture her family and make them beg for death if she failed.
She had kept her work a secret from them all these years as she loved them dearly wanting her brother to live a happy life of a regular citizen. She had always been prepared to die, but she was used to fighting for her life and it had become instinctive behaviour. Though she thought that she couldn't fight against Bruce and win, and it was in best interest of her family to explode herself as her employer told, she instinctively pulled out her gun and fired. It was her natural reaction and reflexes which kicked. She thought of her death multiple times. Though prepared to die, she always believed in going down fighting.
To her surprise, she found the shot reflecting a foot away from Bruce like there was a screen a foot in front of Bruce while he continued to smile at her. This was beyond what she could imagine. She had previously checked using the sensory technology in her uniform but failed to find the screen, she found the screen now. Another usage of those sensors revealed that this screen slid out from the walls to her side. She quickly realised that Bruce must have activated this mechanism to make a transparent screen slid between them, when she was looked away from Bruce for signs of her team. She understood in that moment that Bruce even managed to guess and control her behaviour with his words and timed his actions perfectly. Realising that only worsened her state of mind.
She started to fire at the screen in fear and hoped to put a hole through the barrier and shoot him. She had the latest technology of high piercing rounds which she believed would break through the screen. As she thought, she found the screen scarring. So, she came close and after a few rounds close by one another, a hole soon formed through which she inserted the barrel of her gun and fired at Bruce's head.
It was then that she realised that it wasn't a transparent screen but an image of Bruce sitting on the chair. At the same time, she found herself being greeted by a sting on her neck and high current passing through her body. She jerked and fell down on her knees which failed to hold her up. She was very afraid. Not of her situation but for her family as she knew that they wouldn't survive the wrath of her employer. Her vision got cloudy, her body numb as she fell down and lost conscious.
It was a nightmare. She had been having nightmares and bad dreams from the first time she killed someone when she was twenty and it only got worse with time. They usually involved herself being tortured or dying in gruesome ways. Some of the soon turned from mere dreams to recollections of past events. The worst were the ones where she had to watch her peers tortured. Those memories formed her worst nightmares.
But this one was special even amongst them. It was the first time she saw her younger brother tortured and one who inflicted pain upon him was her employer. She had seen her employer in action before and even aided her employer's sadistic entertainment occasionally but finding her own brother as the person being toyed made it the worst. She struggled and yelled as she woke up.
As her eyes opened, she saw a person looking at her curiously. Her vision was cloudy, and she thought that it was her brother immediately tearing up happy to see him, but soon her vision cleared finding the person to be Bruce Kane.
"You!" she exclaimed. "You're not Toby," she continued dispiritedly as she realised that her brother might have already been captured by her employer. "My brother," she sobbed uncaring for her current situation. She was laid down on at table, her limbs and head held in place by straps. Bruce let her cry and decided to let her a few minutes of respite for her to come to her senses. He saw her yelling in sleep and wanted her to get into her proper senses before questioning her. He had already injected a picovolts into her that would prevent her motor functions other than her head.
The straps were considered a decoration by most who used such picobots and didn't use them, but Bruce was not one of them. He understood that the tech he used is not fool proof and had her held down with use of them. Moreover, in some situations, he preferred if person being interrogated didn't have their motor functions arrested. It gave them a sense of hope which he could use to his advantage.
"I am done with mine. They yielded no information at all. I doubt they knew anything of value," came the voice of Barbara. She came close to Bruce and kissed him on his cheek as she inspected him. "That was risky on your part to go as a bait. Was it necessary?" she asked.
"It was not much of a risk. I did worse," said Bruce calmly. Though he knew that his words didn't provide much of an explanation, he hoped that his calm demeanour would pacify Barbara's concerns and she would concentrate on the mission on hand.
"I know, but you are not the same man you once were," she said. "As you have once told me, none can escape the ravages of time. Even the gods will have to bow down to it in failure."
"Well, it isn't my time anytime soon," said Bruce as he turned towards the woman who was tied down and had ceased her sobbing. She had realised that it was a nightmare and her first priority is to find a way to save her brother and family. She didn't care much about the matters of her employer anymore. It was clear that her employer's enemies were already aware of them.
She believed that her employer would have more pressing concerns than her family. Her employer would only injure them to set an example to others in her death squad, but it would depend on the situation. She failed miserably and was caught by the enemy. So, she was sure that there was no chance of redemption from her employer. Her only chance was to talk to Bruce and try to escape and help her family before anything befalls them.
"Hi, I am not Toby," said Bruce. He looked at a small tablet placed beside the table onto which the woman was strapped. "But I believe I can help you if you are concerned about Toby."
"I don't know any Toby," she denied flatly. One of the privileges of being a death squad was that her identity was closely guarded. Her employer deployed her on extremely critical missions, and she couldn't have her enemies using them to get to her.
"Your brother?" said Bruce. "You were yelling in sleep," he said sure of the fact that it wasn't just a nightmare. His confidence surprised her. "You might be thinking that they would probably be safe for now as Parvati, your employer would be busy dealing with me, but you should understand that a single person is enough to kill your family."
Though Bruce hadn't the slightest idea about her nightmare or about Toby or her brother or if they were the same, he decided to talk about it like he was alive. He was unable to find any details about her and she was a member of death squad. So, he was sure that Parvati hid her details and would know about her loved ones. If she had any person that she valued and her employer knew of the person, he was sure that she would take the olive branch extended by him, else it would only waste a bit of his time.