by AJ Frazer
Dominic was hit by the putrid stench of vomit, shit, and the metallic bite of blood. Then his eyes adjusted to the scene in front of him. Two men leaned against a workbench, unmoving and unmoved. Another was tending to what was left of Sagen.
Powerful portable lights were aimed at Sagen, who was strapped to a chair that was bolted to the floor. A video camera on a tripod stood in front of him. Sagen was covered in blood, his face was barely recognizable. One of his eyes was collapsed and swollen over. The floor was covered in blood and bits of what looked like flesh, or vomit, or both.
Dominic recoiled, stepping backward into Stone. He snapped a hand to his mouth to shield it from the stench, swallowing hard to stop himself from vomiting. He could feel his legs wobbling beneath him as the room began to sway gently, causing him to lose balance. He had to steady himself with a hand on a workbench.
Sagen was making inhuman gurgling sounds. He was alive, but did not move. Every breath was labored, as if it would be his last.
“Wh-what …?” started Dominic.
“Is this what you wanted to see? What can you do for him, huh? What you should really be asking yourself is, ‘Will they do this to me next?’ Because I gotta say, I’m not convinced that you’re so squeaky clean. I mean, maybe Victor here told you everything before he launched his attack? And I’m also wondering how come your news site is the only website in the fucking world that’s still working!”
Dominic’s head was swirling, he desperately wanted to run away, far away, and do what the man had suggested earlier in the corridor—jump off this ship of horrors and swim for shore.
“This is what you wanted, so come on. What are you going to do?”
Dominic stood stunned by the horrifying vision of Sagen.
“Come on!” the man screamed at him. “You wanted this! Now what?” The man pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed deeply. “Dominic,” he said, more calmly. “Tell me how to shut down Biblical and I can end all of this right here. We’ll have Sagen in a hospital bed, on pain meds in five minutes. All his suffering will be over.”
Dominic shuffled over to Sagen’s feet. He heard him make a noise as he looked up at him. Dominic could now see the full extent of the destruction to his face, the savageness of the crushed nose, the bleeding eye socket, the swollen jaw, the soaked hair.
“I’m here, Victor, I’m so sorry. I’m going to do what I can.” Dominic lowered his head; the hopelessness of the situation bore down on him with crushing force.
Sagen was weeping, trying to speak. Dominic leaned closer and tried to make out what he was saying. Amid the wet, labored mumbling, he made out one word: “Run.”
Stone stepped over to Dominic and pulled him up by the shirtfront. “This is the price of extremism. This is the price of war, the price of taking on the establishment. Is it worth it? Tell me!” Stone screamed in Dominic’s face. “But whatever your answer. If you’re hiding anything from me, this right here”—nodding toward Sagen—“this will be you.”
Releasing Dominic, Stone went to Sagen. “Oh, and don’t think it ends here, Victor-boy. You know what’s coming next, don’t cha?” The man slapped Sagen’s face lightly, causing his head to loll to the side with a wincing gurgle.
Dominic gathered himself and looked around. “Whatever this is, it’s not about answers. This isn’t interrogation—it’s torture and vengeance.”
“Call it what the fuck you want, you Limey pussy. Now sit down over there and get ready for the show.” The man threw Dominic in the direction of a chair. “Sit his ass down,” he said to two of his men.
Stone went to the workbench and held up a long metal wand that looked like a cattle prod. “See now, Victor has already been introduced to my friend here,” said Stone.
Dominic was held firmly in his chair by two men either side. He took in the wand with its menacing electrical charge passing between two smaller metal pins at the end. He’d seen them before when he’d been a Royal Marine; though, thankfully, he’d never been on the receiving end.
“Yeah, this right here is my party trick. Got it down in Argentina,” said Stone, buzzing the cattle prod. “It’s called a ‘picana.’ They love these things in South America. It delivers a massive voltage but very little current. Now, I don’t really know much about physics, but what I do know is that with this”—he held up the wand, admiring it—“I can put nearly twenty thousand volts through Victor as often as I like. He gets to experience a kind of pain that will never leave him, but it won’t kill him. So I can keep doing this to him all night long.”
Sagen’s eyes shut tight and his face contorted. He struggled against his bonds, straining every muscle in his body to break free. The plastic zip ties dug into his ankles and wrists, cutting the skin.
“What do you say, Dominic, where shall we start?” Stone waited for a response. “OK, I’ll play nice and start on his chest.” Stone turned to the operator of the rheostat that controlled the voltage. “Ten thousand.”
“Stop this! Please!” screamed Dominic as the hands that restrained him tightened their grip on his shoulders.
One of the other agents moved in front of Sagen and tore off what remained of his shirt to reveal his torso, before jamming a large rubber bit into his mouth to stop him from biting off his tongue. Sagen tried to struggle—feebly—no fight left.
Stone touched the wand on the top of Sagen’s shoulder before trailing it down his pectoral. The smell of hair and flesh burning filled the small room. Sagen’s entire body stiffened and his muscles seized as the voltage snatched control of his body.
Stone snapped the picana away and took a handful of Sagen’s hair, pulling his head up to face him. “I know you’re still with me, and I know you’re still feeling that, but it is nothing compared to how twenty thousand volts is going to feel on your balls. Nothing to how it will feel when I cook your eyes in their sockets one by one. So, I think you’ll agree, now is a good time to start talking and I suggest you give me the answers I want to hear.”
Dominic wanted to be sick. He wanted to kill these animals with his bare hands. He wanted to crawl into a dark corner and cover his eyes and ears.
Stone turned to face Dominic, while still holding Sagen by the hair. “Tell me how to stop it, Victor!”
Dominic glared at Stone with unrestrained hatred, while Sagen blubbered deliriously before his voice became clearer.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. You took care of him. I love you so much,” Sagen spluttered.
“What the fuck?” spat Stone, throwing Sagen’s head forward and releasing his grip in fury.
Dominic knew straight away where Sagen was in his mind. The smell of the burning flesh and the immeasurable pain … it must have taken him back to his wife and son the day he found their bodies.
In a fit of rage, Stone took the picana in two hands and drove it into one of Sagen’s eyes.
Dominic roared in horror, “Stop!”
Sagen screamed in pain, his whole body convulsing.
Stone kept going.
The sickening stench of cooking flesh.
A popping sound.
Stone stood back, panting. He wiped the sweat and blood from his brow.
The lifeless-looking Sagen was slumped over in the chair.
Dominic swallowed hard. He begged Stone, “Please, you’ve done enough. There’s nothing he can tell you. Look at him!”
Stone ignored Dominic and gestured to one of the others to check on Sagen.
The man inspected Sagen and took his vitals. “The eye’s fucked. He’s unconscious. You need to throttle back for a bit, or he won’t last another twenty minutes,” said the man.
Dominic prayed Stone would comply.
“There’s no throttling back,” said Stone. “In case you haven’t heard, our entire civilization is crumbling and that man right there is to blame. He either tells us something useful, or we toss his dead body into the Indian Ocean for the sharks to finish what’s left of him.”
Sagen’
s head lolled to the side and he started making an animal-like moaning sound. Saliva and blood dripped down his chin.
“Unless, you got something to tell us?” said Stone to Dominic.
“If I knew anything that could help him, I’d have told you the moment I walked in here, you fucking animal.”
Stone walked closer to Dominic and bent down into his face. The stink of foul breath and stale sweat. “Animal? That hurts my feelings. And because you’ve got nothing to add to the conversation right now, you can leave. You’re really not going to like what’s coming next for old Victor here.”
Stone stood, walked back, and started circling Sagen. “You see, I’m going to start taking limbs off his worthless body. Hands, feet, maybe whole arms and legs. And if he’s still alive—which is entirely possible with our drugs—then we’ll start removing organs and shit. Trust me, Dom, that is not something you want to witness—a man’s intestines being unraveled where his feet used to be. So, tell me how to stop Biblical!”
“You can’t! Don’t you think he’d have told you by now!”
“Get him the fuck outta here,” said Stone, pointing to Dominic.
The two men holding Dominic hauled him up and manhandled him into the corridor.
Dominic broke free and stumbled back inside to where Sagen sat strapped into the chair and leaned into his ruined face. “You’re not alone, Victor!” he yelled. He desperately wanted to give Sagen some hope, however insignificant. The man who had checked Sagen’s vitals hooked an arm around Dominic’s chest and hauled him back toward the door. In the corridor, he pushed Dominic forward.
“Get your filthy hands off me!” demanded Dominic.
“Move! You’re not making this easy for yourself.”
As they walked down the corridor, Dominic fumed. “How the hell do you live with yourself?”
“Shut up. And I strongly suggest you don’t mention what you saw in there to anyone. He wasn’t joking—you could wind up in a similar situation if you’re not careful.”
Dominic’s head swirled with fear and disgust. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run through the ship yelling at everyone, telling them what was happening, rally the sailors to stand up against these evil fucks. But it was fantasy, and he knew it. There would be no heroic rescue, no uprising, no happy ending. Not for Sagen, anyway. Besides, the CIA were the good guys—here to save the world from the economic apocalypse. Any means necessary.
When they reached Dominic’s room, he entered and started to close the door behind him. The man wedged his boot in to stop it. “If you come back down there, you’ll stay down there. Am I clear?”
“Clear,” Dominic said flatly. He slammed the door and leaned his back against it, breathing deep, labored breaths. His chest felt as if it was being crushed and he struggled to get air into his lungs.
What the hell could he do now?
Chapter Thirty-One
In the morning, after no sleep, Dominic showered and dressed. He wondered if Sagen had survived the night. He’d heard stories of interrogation and torture sessions conducted by military and CIA personnel: Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Egypt, Turkey, El Salvador. But nothing could have prepared him for what he’d seen the previous night.
A knock at the door startled him. Petty Officer Taylor stood in the doorway in her crisp uniform. “Morning. I’m here to escort you to breakfast.”
“Fine.” He guessed that she’d been briefed to accompany him anywhere outside of his cabin.
“Right, let’s go then.” She hurried him along. “I’m starving, and we might still get the hash browns, which are the best.”
Dominic had no appetite, but he needed to get out of his cabin—or was it his cell? He grabbed the borrowed sand-colored jacket and headed through the door.
They didn’t speak until they had sat down with plates loaded with food. Dominic looked at the plate and felt nauseous. Hands shaking, he moved the food around the plate, deep in thought. “I’d like to see Dax this morning,” he said.
Her mouth full of food, Petty Officer Taylor nodded in agreement. “No problem, my orders are to get you to the flight deck for ten hundred hours, a Sea King will take you to Darwin.”
“Darwin? I don’t want to go to Dar— Yesterday you said the Marines have a base there, didn’t you? Am I being taken there?”
Petty Officer Taylor shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Jesus Christ, I don’t want to go to bloody Darwin. My jet is at Halls Creek. That’s where we need to be taken. And Dax has to come with me, too. No way am I leaving him here with those CIA animals on board.” Dominic could feel a rising panic—like a nuclear reactor with the control rods pulled out, his brain was heading for a meltdown. “Come on, let’s go get Dax!”
“But your breakfast?”
“Not hungry. Come on.”
Petty Officer Taylor stuffed a hash brown in her mouth and stood, picking up her tray to take to the return station. Dominic left his behind and started for the medical unit, with Taylor jogging to catch up.
“What’s the hurry? Plenty of time to make the chopper.”
Dominic didn’t answer her.
“This way,” she called after him, opening a door to a stairwell that he strode past.
“I want Dax in my quarters now.”
“What? Why? He’s perfectly fine in the hospital.”
“For now he is,” said Dominic.
“OK, let’s go see what the doc says.”
When they got to the hospital, Dax wasn’t in the bed he’d been in the day before.
“Where is he?” demanded Dominic, becoming feverish with panic. Taylor looked shocked by Dominic’s tone and aggression. “Doctor!” he yelled at a man and woman in deep discussion.
The woman looked over. “Yes, what is it?” There was a strength to her voice.
“Where is Dax Beresford? He was here yesterday. Surgery on his leg.”
“All right, calm down. He’s here. Just in a different recovery ward.”
Dominic nodded. “Take me.”
“And you are?”
“Dominic Elliston, I’m a friend.”
“OK, calm down please, Mr. Elliston, and you can come with me.”
Dominic took a breath and planted the best smile he could muster. “All right, yes, I’m calm. Apologies.”
She headed toward the recovery room and Dominic and Taylor followed her.
“Dom.” Dax leaned forward from his bed.
“Dax!” Dominic heaved a sigh of relief before turning to the doctor. “He’s coming with me, right now.”
“My understanding is that he’s flying out later this morning.”
“He is. But he’s coming with me until the flight leaves.” Dominic turned to Dax. “You all right to move?”
“Sure, reckon so.”
“We’re going. Can he have some crutches?”
“Ah, yes, of course,” said the doctor, “but let me check his wound and change the dressing first.”
“Fine. Make it quick, though, please.”
The doctor went away to gather equipment and fresh dressings.
“What’s the big rush, mate?” asked Dax.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just think it’s best that you’re in my cabin until the flight.”
Dax look perplexed. “Mate, I was really making progress with the doc, reckon she likes me. Sure you don’t want to stick around a few more days?”
“Yes, very sure,” said Dominic impatiently.
A nurse arranged crutches, meds, and Dax’s belongings while the doctor changed the dressing. When she was done, they headed for Dominic’s room. It took longer to get back to the stateroom as they had to take a less-direct route via the service elevator to avoid the steep stairs. Once inside, Dominic began to pace as he thought through scenarios.
Dax lay down on the small couch opposite the bed. “What’s got into you, mate?”
“We’re getting off this ship, quick as we bloody well can.”
Dax was nonchalant.
“Fine by me. Always preferred land to sea.” He looked sideways at Petty Officer Taylor, who was perched on the edge of the desk. “No offense.”
She smiled. “None taken. Not everyone has the stomach for it.”
Dax assumed a mock scowl, oblivious to the danger he and Dominic were facing.
“Officer Taylor, I need to speak to the captain again,” said Dominic.
“I’ll see if he’s free.”
“Please do. Tell him it’s life or death.”
She stood and went to the phone, looking slightly confused.
“What’s with all the dramatics?” whispered Dax.
“I can’t explain, but we have got to get the hell away from here as soon as possible.”
“Fine. What can I do?”
“Stay in here and don’t go anywhere. I have to speak to the captain. When I leave, you lock the door. If someone comes by, do not answer it. If someone busts in, do not go anywhere with them. If they try to take you, kick and scream and make as much noise as you can.”
“Think I can manage that, except maybe the kicking bit.” Dax adjusted his position on the couch to find a comfortable spot.
Petty Officer Taylor hung up the phone. “He’ll see you in his cabin. I’ll take you there now.”
“Good.” Dominic looked back at Dax. “Like I said, yes?”
“Sure, sure.”
“Lock it!” said Dominic, before closing the door. He waited in the corridor until he heard the lock mechanism click into place.
The captain’s cabin was on the same level but on the other side of the ship. Knocking gently, Petty Officer Taylor waited for the captain to acknowledge them before opening the door.
He stood from behind his desk. “Mr. Elliston, I’m sure you’re as glad as I am that you’re leaving this morning.”
“That all depends on where I’m being taken. Why am I going to Darwin?”
Captain O’Donnell gave Taylor a quick glance. “The CIA team requested it.”
Dominic’s breath caught in his throat. “Captain, are you aware of what is happening in one of your engineering rooms? The human-rights violations? The criminal acts being perpetrated on your ship? I know, because I saw Sagen last night. They have tortured him with electricity and beaten him to a pulp. He was barely alive. And you know why they want to take me to Darwin? So that they can do the same thing to me!”