16

Director of counter-intelligence Anderson Plemis saw that he had an incoming call from Serp Pros, and cursed. He hated the man and despised the way he treated those who he thought had betrayed him. But Plemis was a simple man, and he did his job. It was none of his business that people died and were tortured, that was the problem between Pros and his subordinates. Anderson was just doing his job.

Anderson picked up the phone and greeted Serp “Hello sir, I see that you have received the report that we got from Mr. Liam. I do not think we need to take things …”

“We do need to take things seriously director.” Serp interrupted him. “I want you to arrest captain Fish and see what he’s got. Make sure that the colonel is not alarmed of what is happening, and also, make sure that no physical harm comes to the captain just in case there are no plans from the officers. However, other than that, you can use whatever techniques you want. Do I make myself clear director?”

Anderson felt that the CEO was overreacting, but then again, he was just following his orders. He tried to change the CEO’s mind but was interrupted halfway through his sentence again, this time with a threat on his job. Anderson knew the CEO’s limits, and he told Pros that he job would be done. He could hear that the CEO was pleased, and the call ended. Anderson hated what he had to do sometimes, but he did not feel empowered to do anything else. He checked the manpower he had available in his own department and saw that he had no free interrogation teams. Ander then checked the security department’s logs and saw that there were no free teams there as well. Anderson sighed again and decided that he had to do the interrogation himself. He took some time to finish up the paperwork he was working on before Serp called, and checked the cameras for Benjamin’s position. Conveniently, the captain was in his office while his team was in the pool training for underwater infiltration.

Anderson left his office and gestured the two guards outside the door to follow him. The trip to the captain's office took around ten minutes as the counter-intelligence department was on opposite ends with the security department inside The Curator’s building on campus.

Captain Benjamin was initially surprised to see the Director and smiled with his hand outstretched for a handshake. But upon seeing that the two guards behind Anderson Ben’s smile faded and started looking worried.

“Is there anything wrong director?” Ben asked, his voice uncertain.

“Please, just follow us, captain,” Anderson responded.

Benjamin looked like he was about to protest, but as the two guards both gestured at their weapons, the captain decided otherwise. The four walked to the lift, and when it arrived, Anderson gestured for the captain to go in first. Ben walked in, now obviously stressed. In fact, Anderson could hear the man trying to control his fear behind him as Anderson swiped his card and pressed minus eight, which was the lowest floor, and the interrogation floor. The ride to the interrogation room was silent, and Anderson can feel the life being drained out of the captain as they walked pass by rooms of suspects and terrorists being brutally tortured. Anderson decided to let the silence and the fear eat away at Ben. Although Serp gave strict orders to not harm the captains, Anderson was the only one here who knew that, and the threat of physical torture was something he would use against Ben.

When they reached interrogation room E8, the captain was clearly sweating and bearly able to control his shaking.

“Sir, is there anything wrong, or anything that you need sir?” Ben said, in an unsteady voice.

Anderson said nothing, but instead gestured the man to go in, and the two guards to wait outside. He closed the door slowly, as if afraid to make a noise, but instead intended to give additional time for more fear to settle on the captain. The room was wide and filled gruesome equipment hanging on the wall. The fact was that most of the equipment didn’t even work, and would not be used anyways. The room itself was designed to be psychologically threatening, and not for any actual torture to occur. This fact could be seen if the given observer actually looked around and noticed the lack of a drainage system which is necessary for a real interrogation room prepared for physical torture in case things got messy.

Anderson gestured Benjamin to sit down on a chair opposite the wall of equipment, across a small iron table. The director was slightly annoyed that he did not have any team member available to play good cop bad cop, but decided that he would not let such a minor inconvenience get in his way. He looked at the captain in his eye, waved his hand around pointing at the wall behind him, and in a quiet voice, told the captain that “if there was anything that [he] knew, now is the time to tell.”

Anderson expected the man to be confused, as he didn’t really believe that the officers of the BSF were trying to pull something off. However, Benjamin broke down in front of the director and confessed how he has received a message from the colonel but didn’t actually go to the meeting, and that he was scared and very sorry that he did not notify counter-intelligence. The captain then went on to how he once hated the big corporations and was sure that the colonel did too, and how now his mind was cleared and he was loyal again. Then, the man lost his dignity and simply started begging for his life and that of his family. Anderson just sat there, impressed with the chief engineer’s predictions, and not sure if the accuracy was a result of genuine perception or just dumb luck. He thought that Liam would make a great counter-intelligence officer if he wasn’t so obsessed with the TAC IIs.

He sighed as his thoughts were disrupted by another volley of pleads and cries from the captain. He told Benjamin to shut up or else the guards would be called. Anderson felt sorry for the captain, but he knew that Benjamin would be largely fine. Serp was very merciful when people talked, even if a bit late, and the captain would probably only get a few electric shock or punches to the face before he is discharged from the company. On the other hand, Anderson was positive that Serp was going to literally kill the colonel. Anderson told Benjamin to wait in the room, and went outside to the guards. He saw that the captain had a pale face and almost laughed. The guards were confused by his giggles as he closed the door behind him and Anderson revealed how he was ordered not to harm the captain, but the captain was clearly scared that he would be tortured for the whole time. The two guards forced out some uneasy laughs, but it was clear that they didn’t appreciate the occasion.

Anderson told the guards to go back to their positions outside his office as the lift hit the ground floor. Anderson himself walked out of the building of The Curator, towards the CEO’s office at the building of The Engineer, knowing that he had serious information to report, which was better done in person than across the specs. As the director crossed the field he truly hated himself and his job but felt no other alternatives. Anderson knew that doing his job was important and necessary to the security of the company, but he understood the BSF officers’ perspective, and they were driven to what they would have done. Most of the officers grew up in the dark zone, where their life was made never that good. Of course they hated the TAC IIs, which created the whole situation in the first place. But, Anderson concluded, orders were orders, and they needed to be followed whatever the consequences.