The ex-Lonestar officer lay on his back with hands and feet chained to the table. Quiet moans and weak movement in his fingers and a few moments later his limbs and head were signs of the sedatives wearing out and his consciousness coming back.
Silk stood in the corner of the room with her back against the wall and watched him through an array of opaque AR windows in her vision. He couldn't look in her direction and she was careful not to make a sound. She chatted on the matrix and watched some more news feeds while he woke.
He woke to find himself lying tied to a metal table in a dimly lit room, no one to be seen, nothing to be heard. His last recollection was running towards the entrance of the VIP room, then... his head still hurt... blackness.
She turned up the volume of the music inside her head and turned down the sounds of his voice asking if anyone was there, if anyone could hear him, what the hell was going on. He struggled against the restraints that held him, kicking and pulling, screaming and shouting but got no response.
Silk waited for over half an hour while the fear and desperation inside the merc's head built; give a man in his situation enough time to himself and he'll put more fear inside his own head than hours of exhaustive torture could achieve... well, almost.
Enough time had passed, she assumed that by now the drugs had worn out enough for him to be fully awake and conscious but the gamma-scopolamine would still have broken most of his mental resistance.
Without saying a word Silk moved out of the corner towards her target, taking care to remain out of his vision. He heard her and opened his mouth to say something, but she covered his mouth and chin with plastic wrap before he could speak. The cellophane was immediately followed by a towel draped over his entire head. Silk unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and slowly poured it out over the towel.
Waterboarding was very simple, efficient and clean. The water moved into the nasal cavity and the only way to keep it out was by slowly breathing out though the nose; this was done instinctively by the body. But after about 15 seconds the lungs ran out of air to exhale, so the water would pour through to the sinuses and the trachea. The small amount of water and the low position of the head compared to the lungs made sure the subject wouldn’t really drown or suffocate unless you were careless, but to the subject itself, the brains started sending out emergency signals as if drowning. The wet towel and tight cellophane wrap only added to the experience, the blocked vision to the feeling of helplessness.
She waited 30 seconds then pulled back the towel from the nose and tilted his head sideways.
”Есть три шимпанзе танцевать в розовом пачка!”, she shouted at him in Russian while allowing him to take in some air and cough up the water. Before he could react -his panicked brain was focusing on getting air and he couldn’t speak with the plastic wrap over his mouth- she put the towel back over his face and started pouring again. ”Бананы изогнутые желтые рыбы, охота пловцов в верхушках деревьев!”
Less than a minute later, she removed the towel from his nose again and allowed him to breathe. He struggled for breath as if he hadn’t breathed for minutes and she could almost hear his heart pounding in his chest. She heard his muffled voice, attempts to speak or scream foiled by the plastic over his mouth. ”Три пачки в день держит отдельно доктора!”. More Russian shouting, it sounded more urgent and threatening. She removed the cellophane from his mouth. ”чизкейк!”
His managed to stutter ”I... But I don’t u-” before he was interrupted by another ”чизкейк!” shout and got another towel stuffed in his mouth as a gag, the wet towel over his face and the water pouring again.
This time it didn’t take that long, the water stopped flowing and the towel was removed from his eyes and nose even he ran out of breath. Silk’s face leaned over his, she frowned and seemed to be thinking.
”Shit.”, she cursed to herself. ”Ah crap... idiot! That’s what you get for hanging around a Russian the whole night.” She turned to him, ”You don’t speak Russian, do you?” He shook his head wildly, muffled attempts at shouting sounded through the wet towel in his mouth.
She paced around the table, looking slightly worried and stressed. Arriving in his head again, she seemed to have come up with an idea and smiled brightly.
”Tell you what, you don’t tell anyone about this little mistake and we just forget all about it! Just let me try again, okay?” She sounded sincere and exited like a child.
There weren’t any words for the agony in his eyes when he saw her reach for the towel and water bottle again and slowly drape the cloth over his face again. The towel drowned his screams. The water poured longer this time.
”You better start giving some answers!”.
A minute passed. The towel was removed, then the gag. He spoke quickly. ”But you didn...” The gag got put in his mouth again.
“No buts! I want answers!”. Repeat procedure, slightly longer.
More panic in his eyes and voice. ”I don’t even know...”
”You better start remembering then!” Repeat procedure, even longer. ”You can make this all stop, just give me some good answers!”
The towels removed again, he managed to blurt out ”What do you want to know?!”
A surprised look appeared on Silk’s face.
”I didn’t...?”
She frowned as if in deep thought again, her lips moving as she seemed to be talking herself over the past couple of minutes again. Her victim lay on the table, thankful with the pause and a chance to breathe.
”I didn’t repeat the question?? Oh god..."
She started another nervous walk around the table again.
” It’s just nerves, you know... Questioning an ex-cop... Probably had got lots of experience in with this kind of stuff, you know... A lot more than me! Makes you want to make a good impression, right?"
She sighed as she finished her round and picked up the wet towels and water bottle again, then leaned over him, her face close to his. Her breath smelled like strawberries, her perfume a blend of other fruits. The frightening thing was her smile. It was a genuine, heartfelt, friendly smile, nothing could be more eerie and out of place.
”Ok, fine. You’re going to tell me everything you know about Corland Ragley. How he hired you, what he hired you for, how you make contact, where to find him. Everything. The only question is how much more practice I’ll get at this interrogation thing.”
