Heaven in Hell

DAY 6 (CONTD.)

DAY 6 (CONTD.)

0800 HOURS

OFFICER ROSHESH VAZA

I need to find Sid. The look on his and Agent Prescott's face when he was dragged in my room has me unsettled. I have seen Agent Prescott angry and I have seen him murderous. This was definitely the latter. What the hell did Sid do?

I need to find a reason to get Agent Prescott out of the interrogation room and find out Sid's situation fast. Come on brain, work faster. I know none of his seniors whose call he would be forced to take. The only call he cannot ignore is of mom's. And if he ever found out that I involved her, he would not be pleased.

Ignoring the warning bells in my head, I call mom and explain to her that I need to get Dad out of a room so she has to pretend that she called and talk about something important. She has a few minutes to get her story straight while I run to the interrogation room to get Agent Prescott out.

As soon as I walk to the interrogation room, I'm stunned. The air conditioner is on full blast and Sid is in bare minimum clothes shivering from the ice water which seems to be recently poured on him.

Not wanting to get in trouble, I salute Agent Prescott and staring straight ahead, I say, "Sir, there is a call for you in my office"

He barks, "I don't care. Cut it"

Taking a chance, I say, "I'm told it is important, sir"

Still glaring at Sid, he orders, "500 push-ups in the tub before I'm back. Clear?"

Shit. This is not good. He would die of hypothermia. The tub is filled with cold water and ice-cubes. Every time he goes down, he would be completely submerged in water and when he comes up, he would have to breathe before continuing. The constant change in temperature would kill him.

Sid gulps in fear and replies, "Yyyess, siiir"

As soon as Agent Prescott is out the room, Sid starts his counts knowing that he does not have long.

I squat beside the tub and ask, "What the fuck happened?"

In between his push-ups, he replies, "I. think. he. found. that. I. know."

Not wanting to believe this, I ask, "WHAT? HOW? IT'S NOT POSSIBLE"

Sid stops just a second to reply, "He thinks I know something. Unless I tell him what I know, this is going to continue. I can't think of a plausible lie to satisfy him. If I tell him the truth, you would be dead and if I don't, he would torture me to a slow death. I can't get you in trouble and I don't want to die. So, I'm hoping that when I pass out from his torture, he would calm down and believe that I'm stating the truth."

With that, he started the push-ups again leaving me confused. Why does Dad suspect something? Shit, I can't let Sid take that kind of torture all because I couldn't shut my mouth. He looked like death yesterday. Today, he is sporting bruises all over his torso and not to mention the amount of push-ups, chin-ups, head stands Agent Prescott must have already made him do. Sid will survive atleast another two days even if Agent Prescott continues this tempo and starves him. Knowing Agent Prescott, he would somehow keep him from reaching there. Sid would be at the edge and in shit load of pain, but will not pass out until Agent Prescott wants him to. I can't live knowing that I'm scot-free and can eat and sleep while Sid is being tortured endlessly.

Ok, so the only solution is to lie – so, what kind of lie would he believe? I don't even know what gave us away in the first place.

Thinking quick, I run to my office just as Agent Prescott was ending the call. Before he could say anything, I ask, "Sir, is something wrong with Officer Siddharth? He is the co-director of this facility. I need to know why he is being tortured and for how long, sir"