"Army ? Why are they here ?" I ask in confused.
"You tell me," Dr. Ramorez replies me in irritation.
"Me ? Why me ?"
Instead of answering my question. dr. Ramorez walks toward the room which I was being operated. I follow him for the sake of curiosity.
"My guessing is they put some kind of tracking device in this," he says while observing the bullet that being pulled out from my shoulder with magnifying glass.
Though I'm not 100% believing that theory, that is the only explanation that reasonable at this moment.
"Uncle. they are barging in.. the troops are waiting for your order to attack," Roberto reports in panic.
"Tell them to.."
"No!" I cut him. He looks at me. "If your theory is right. then I'm the one they are looking for. Don't sacrifice those kids. I will surrender my self to them."
"They will still barge in anyway!" Roberto says.
"Not if I give them a good story," I respond to him end it with a smile to assure him.
Dr. Ramorez sighs. "Tell the troops to step back and go to the bunker," he finally makes his order.
"But, Uncle.."
"Do it!"
Roberto lands his gaze on me for few seconds then runs outside to deliver the order.
"Are you going to be alright ?" dr. Ramorez asks.
"Let's hope luck is still on my side," I reply with a wry grin.
--------
"Don't shoot!! Don't shoot!!!" I shout, raising both of my hands above my head while limping out toward the armies. Someone shouts in Spanish. I guess it's their leader's, telling them not to shoot. I walk slowly to an open field. Around a dozen men are pointing their guns at me.
"Thank God you are here.. Those rascals.. they.. they .."
"Bajalo!!" The leader shouts at me.
"What ?! No Spanish.. English.. English" I say to him, letting my face looking dumb.
"Bajalo!!" He shouts again, pointing his gun to my helmet and move it to the ground.
"This ?" I say, moving my helmet. "You want this ?"
"Bajalo!!" He shouts louder, I guess he has a thin patient.
"Okay.. okay" I say, throw the helmet to him.
"¡Cuidado!" Some shouts are heard from the line then they, including their leader jump away and cover theirselves. I just stand, grinning inwardly on their reactions. I actually could escape now, but if I do, they will continue to search this area, thus they might find out dr. Ramorez basecamp. So..
"Ponte de rodillas !" The leader orders me after knowing that my helmet is not a bomb.
"No Spanish.. no Spanish," I say, truly don't understand what he said. The leader push my wounded shoulder with his gun to force me down on my knees. I wince, but keep my mouth shut so I can hide the wound.
"English, please.. I don't.. " He cuts my words with hitting the back of my head with his gun. I feel dizzy all the sudden and just drop my body on the ground.
I can feel they cuff my hands and cover my head with black sack before dragging my body to their vehicle, may be a truck based on its height. Around ten minutes later, the leader shouts to his men and soon I can feel my surrounding is no longer empty. I am now surrounded by the armies
The engine of the truck is on and some seconds later it is moving. I guess they don't find dr. Ramorez and the kids, hopefully. I cross my fingers. If they are saved, all I need to think of now is a plan for me to escape. But, I'll think about it later.. my head is too painful and dizzy right now. I only able to manage to keep my self conscious so I can at least know how much further they take me from dr. Ramorez' basecamp.
It is almost an hour ride. So, it's definitely not the same place where I got shot. The truck finally stops moving. Men surround me are moving and someone pulls me to stand and push me to walk.
From the brightness difference, I know they take me to an indoor. The floor is hard, maybe a cement floor. They pull my hands then bring them a head and tied it with something above me. After that, I hear sound of an engine and my body starts to be pulled upward until my feet can no longer touch the ground. Shit!! they use this kind of torture.
I grab the iron pipe that tied me, pull my self a little. This way I can distribute the burden more equally to every muscles of my upper body. Thus, can slow down the muscles collapse that might happened if I'm hanging in a long period of time. Like always, I don't know where I learn this stuff, I just know.
"Who are you ?' A voice asks me in English.
"Tom Braddy," I tell him. That's who I am in my passport this time.
"Really ?"
"I can prove it.. if only my bag wasn't stole by those rascal," I add. I left my bag and my phone with dr. Ramorez intentionally. I need to convince these people that I was being rob by Roberto and his friends.
"Why you here ?"
"I.. I look for my fiancee..," I begin my story. "She.. she.. disappeared two months ago. Then a week ago, someone told me he saw her in this country. So.. so I went here to search for her. I looked for rented vehicle and met that rascal. At first it was okay. I thought he brought me to location where my fiancee was showed herself. Turned out, he brought me to that no where land. His friends waited for him. They are many.. dozens.. then they robed me.. stealing everything.."
"Why you trespassed our territory ?"
"I didn't know it was your territory. I just avoided chaos in downtown. The boy told me to just .."
Someone enters the room. I can here a whispering sound, though I understand nothing. Then I hear someone stepping toward me. A second later, he rip open my shirt. I immediately know what's going on.
"You lie !!"
"I am not !" I insist. Damn ! I should just sleep in the truck so my wound is healed.
""The bullet in your helmet. It's one we shot on you. And it has blood !" He push his finger on my wound. I wince in pain. "This was where we hit you. Someone helped you getting the bullet out and even sutured you."
I didn't say a word.
"Who is this person ?"
"No one. I did it my self"
"Liar !!" Then a punch hits my stomach.
"Whom did you meet ?"
"No one," Another punch hits me. This time it is a lot harder that makes me growl.
"The fact that you don't want to tell is a proof that this person is important."
"Or simply there is no ... Uughh.." Another hit, followed by several more, hitting my upper body. One big punch also hits my jaw that causes immediate dizziness.
"Who ?"
I keep my mouth shout. Of course that is rewarded by multiple punches. Those punches only stops when someone shouts, "¡detener!"
I cough badly since some punches just hit through my organs, including my lung. These people knows how to torture.
"Still not talking ?" the leader asks me. I answer him nothing more than a cough. "Alright then... tráelo aquí," he orders to someone before taking the sack that has ben covering my head the whole time.
I squint to receive so much light at a sudden. Someone pushes a trolley that has racks on it. On top the rack there is a tray with some syringes and heart-rate monitor.
The leader takes one of syringe that already is filled with liquid. "This is the most strong truth serum," he said. I knew it. This method of interrogation somehow familiar to me though I have never through it, not as far as I can remember at least. I must have through it several times in my past life.
"I have nothing to hide," I said, spitting blood that comes when I speak.
"Then you don't have to be worry," he says, fake smile is plastered on his face. Someone ties my lower arm with a leather belt so tight that my veins start to show up. I wince when the needle penetrates my skin, then I can feel the liquid enters my blood. Around 30 seconds later, my brain starts to be fuzzy and my heart beats faster. What did they give me ?
"What is your name ?" the leader asks. His voice sounds so far away.
"Tom ..., " I say. "Bra.." A sharp sting penetrates my heart. It is so painful that I just blurred, "Bennet," I surprise hearing the word that just came out of my mouth.
"Bennet.. not Brady, right ?"
I shake my head to deny it. I feel my heart is like being squeezed.
"You see, Bennet.. what's great about this serum is.. even when you didn't tell the truth, we know that you're lying. You know how a lie detector works. When someone is lying, his heart rate increases. This serum just emphasizes that increment by like.. a hundred times maybe.. that will cause you a mild heart attack."
I just cough to respond his information. So that's what happened to my heart. The squeezing was stopped the moment I told the truth. Still, the pain is there. My forehead starts to sweat.
"So.. Where do you come from, Bennet ?"
"Country A"
"What is your fiancee's name ?"
Only by thinking that I actually don't have fiancee, my heart starts to be squeezed again. "Jennifer... McCourtney," I say out of reflect. She is not my fiancee, but she should be. The squeeze is gone.
"She disappeared ?"
"Yes" From my life, I continue inwardly. So, I have to answer somewhat that my brain knows it as the truth to avoid the heart attack.
"Why are you here ?"
"Looking for ..." I swallow the word Ramorez hard. A drop of sweat falls from the top of my nose once I wince in pain. What should I say that is actually true.
"Looking for what ?"
"The truth"
"About ?"
"My past"
"Your past ?"
I nod firmly. The leader sighs.
"Who got the bullet out of you ?"
"Me.." I try hard not to show it, but the pain just nearly unbearable that makes me groan unconsciously.
"I will ask you again.. who mended your ..."
"No one"
The leader smirks. "So, you are a tough one, huh ?" He makes a signal to one of his men. The man injects another serum into my body. Shit!
"Can I have water ?" I ask in between my pant, trying to buy some time.
"After we've done questioning you," the leader says. "So.. who mend your wound ?"
"No.. arrggh !!!" A tremendous pain, doubled the previous ones attacks my heart. "A doctor.. a doctor," I finally say, so I can just breathe. "Drink, please.."
"There is no doctor on that area. It is a forest."
"Not on that area. Please, I'm dying.."
The leader tells his man to give me a glass of water. I drink it like a stray dog being lost for days.
"How could you find the doctor ?"
"I didn't. He found me."
"What is the doctor's name ?"
I shake my head. "I don't know." Another attack makes my body cramp for a second.
"What.. is.. the doctor's.. name ?" he repeats.
I don't answer him. Even if I wanted to answer him, I couldn't answer him due to the pain on my heart.
"Still don't want to tell me ?"
I shake my head while my body gets another cramp. The leader is clicking his tongue.
"Stubborn.. stubborn.. You know, this last injection might put you in danger, Bennet. So I really hate to give it to you. but you give me no choice," he says, putting the blame on me.
"Noo..." I mumble in horror. He penetrates the syringe's needle into my skin.