After a few hours in the cell, a man came to see me. The attorney. Or at least he was not a cop.
"Hello, Sandy. Name's Valeriy, I'll be your attorney."
I looked at him as the cop who escorted him unlocked the cell door.
He
signed at the cop to leave once he was locked inside. Then he sat by my side. "So, I need you to tell me all the details,
Sandy. Else I can't possibly help you."
That... did not
make any sense. I knew Andrei had been watching the whole thing from
the distance, he surely had even more details than me. Was it a test of
some sort? I decided to be cautious, just in case. "Boss already has all
the details, you know."
"Of course. But as your
attorney, I need your version of the facts, Sandy. I want to help you
out of this, but the only way seems to be if we point at him, you know."
Confused,
I looked into his eyes. Stupid me. I never saw the syringe, I only felt
it piercing my leg's flesh when it was too late, as everything faded to
black.
I awoke in a standard interrogation room. Empty
except for the metallic table and two matching chairs, mine with
leather binds in the armrests. They were tight, I promptly checked. Same in
the legs. And a last one, much thicker, in the waist. Shit. What the
hell? Was this a test? Andrei had told me to trust him... I was
definitely not expecting a test. Oh, well.
Valeriy soon
realized I was awake. "Sandy,
I've brought you here since I realized you may want to talk in private.
Despite the generous light, this is a dark room. No mics, no cams,
nothing."
Not even comms? Andrei hadn't said much since I got arrested. Still, I decided to test. "Boss? Can you hear me?"
Silence.
Was it all part of the plan? ... Was Andrei listening but did not want
to respond, just to see what I'd do? This man couldn't block our comms,
could he? Valeriy smiled at me. He had that kind of creepy grin too. He
could perfectly work for Andrei, so I kinda assumed he did.
"Sandy, let me help you. There's no other way to get you out of this. You just point your finger at him, I'll do the magic."
But the idea had never been to get out. Was the guy an idiot? Or was he acting?
"I won't betray him, you know. It doesn't work that way."
I
did not see it. I just felt it, an even pressure in the back of my
neck. A gun. Shit. I waited - it was about the only thing I could do.
Thankfully, he didn't make me wait too long. "Sandy, I want him. You will point your finger at him, or you're dead."
Shit, shit, shit, what the hell was this. My mind was racing. "Look, I..."
"Can you take the risk, kid?"
I
closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Okay. I had this. A lie. Yes.
That was the answer, no one had to get hurt. "Okay, okay, I'll do it,
but let's both calm down, okay?"
He left the gun on the table for me to see, while he took a paper out of his briefcase, which then handed to me.
Except I was tightly bound to the chair, so I couldn't possibly take it.
He soon realized it, and placed it - and a pen - in front of me.
"Let me help you, Sandy. Just sign this."
I
quickly read it. Long story short, it said I had been following
Andrei's orders, and that he was the only responsible for what had
happened. I sighed. Shit. Could this really be a test? Had Andrei drank
again, or something? Or was it... real? I couldn't possibly sign it
either way. Failing a test was bad, but betraying him... yeah. Nope. I
knew too well what would happen.
I looked into Valeriy's eyes again. He was dead serious now. As if a warning. "Sign it." He took the gun again.
I sighed. "Look, man, I can't. I do that, Andrei's gonna kill me."
"Well, I'm gonna kill you if you don't."
Again
I felt the gun against my nape. SHIT. What the hell do I do. I decided
to do the only thing I could. Keep talking. I tried to put on a sweet,
sad smile. "Look, man. I sign that, I would wish Andrei would just kill
me, you know. I've seen what he does to those he can't trust. You see,
from here, a bullet to the head doesn't seem that bad."
"Oh. So, you're willing to die for him. How kind of you."
I
sighed. Okay, that didn't work. My mind kept racing, and I focused on
not (fully) letting my breath betray me. "So... you want me to sign that
paper... how, exactly?" I pointed at my wrists with my chin.
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize that." He proceeded to unbind my right hand.
I had to try. I quickly reached to grab his arm.
But at soon as I did, he drew the damned gun again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Oh-kay.
Another thing that didn't work. I let go of him. I felt the gun once more. "Sign it, Sandy." He held the paper with his left
hand so I could actually sign it.
I took the pen,
toying with it. I couldn't possibly do it. And then I noticed a detail.
His pinkie. It was missing a big chunk. Andrei, I knew it. You bastard. I
pointed at Valeriy's hand with my chin, almost laughing with relief. "So, this
is a test, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're following his orders. That's why he hasn't said anything in this whole time. He wants to know what I'll do."
He
took out a pen of some sort from his pocket. An inhibitor. One of ours -
the only ones designed to block even our comms' frequencies. I smiled
at the sight of it - nobody else had those. Oh, boy, was I mistaken.
"I got this from one of your guys, Sandy. I'm not working for that madman, I'm trying to stop him."
I
froze in place. Shit. Shit. No. Nope. Not... What the hell was I gonna
do now? Signing it was out of the question... wasn't it?
"I know you're scared of him, Sandy. I can give you a way out. Some sort of witness protection."
I
started breathing fast, my heart raging. I could barely think. "That won't work, he'll find
me. He's good at finding people." Namely, the comms chip also had a
transponder. So, nope. hiding was not an option. Plus I didn't want to.
"Well, you can risk him getting angry, or you can just get your head blown up. It's your call."
I
closed my eyes, trying to think. I could not form a single coherent
thought. No. I couldn't... Shit. I had a sort of a flashback, Andrei
telling me how thank god nobody had nothing to legally get him. And then
I saw the paper. A confession. That would get him. The first nail in
his legal coffin. I couldn't possibly...
Valeriy's
voice brought me back to reality, away from my thoughts. "Sandy. I
technically have all day, but I'd rather not spend it here, you know.
Sign it already, or tell me you won't and let's get done with it."
"No,
wait. Wait." I needed time. I needed to think. Even if Andrei didn't
get... mad at me, this would be the end of his world. I couldn't do
that... Right?
I tried to focus. Took a few deep
breaths, but it did nothing to calm my heart, raging in my chest so hard
it hurt. I had another flashback. The hug. I couldn't betray that man. I
couldn't possibly... Shit. Shit. No. I couldn't do anything.
I
never made up my mind. My body just went on by himself. Tears flooded
my eyes as my hand took the pen and signed the confession. And my vision
quickly faded to black again. I guess I was too focused on the events
to notice the needle piecing my arm.
