The next morning, the cam was finally up again. I rushed to the
screen. Sandy was there, hopefully fast asleep. I tried to talk to him,
but he wouldn't wake up. I couldn't really visit him, so I decided to
let him sleep and keep trying to figure what the hell had happened to
the surveillance systems. They had been off since last evening.
It
was another long couple of hours 'till my earpiece beeped. "Boss? Are
you there? Can you hear me? ... Please, tell me you can hear me.... "
Sandy. I could tell from his voice he was a complete wreck.
I
took my phone in a rush and opened the interface with the surveillance and comms system.
"I'm here, Sandy. Calm down, I'm here for you." Shit. What the hell has happened to you, boy.
Poor thing was a mess,
shivering, in tears. "Boss, please, please. Tell me it was a test, tell me..."
"Calm down, boy. Explain yourself, alright? ... I have no clue on what you're talking about."
"I lost comms, and I thought..."
"Yeah,
comms have been off since yesterday evening, but I swear I haven't had
anything to do with that. In fact my guys have been working non-stop on getting
them back up."
I heard him swear under his breath. Then he started sobbing loudly. "Oh, shit, no, Boss, no. Tell me it was a test, please..."
"Sandy, I have no clue on what you're talking about, but calm down. Alright? ... Tell me what happened."
He
took a really deep breath. I could feel the panic in his voice. "I...
they took me. This guy, Valeriy. He... he made me sign a... a thing. ...
Pointing... pointing at you. Boss, they want you, and I... I failed
you, I signed the... the confession. I'm sorry, I... I didn't want to,
but..."
I took a deep breath. Shit. Who the hell could
have done this? I needed to calm Sandy first. "Calm down, Sandy.
Alright?... I'll deal with that, don't worry. Everything can be fixed.
Okay?"
He closed his eyes, definitely a bit less shaky. "You... You're not mad at me?"
Shit.
No, boy. Of course not. "Sandy. Sandy, I trust you completely, you
know. I just wonder who the hell has done this to you. That's it. Well,
I'll have to deal with the consequences, but those aren't as pressing.
If they wanted a confession, they'll want to use it in the trial, so we
have a bit of time to deal with that. I'm more worried about you, boy."
His face changed. He was now beaten up, but had calmed down. "Thank you, thank you, I'm sorry, I ..."
"Stop
it, boy. You did what you had to, I'm sure of that. Alright? Now, I'm
arranging a move so a doctor can see you, just in case. We've been a lot
of time without comms and I'm not risking you having something broken
or whatever."
"I'm... I'm fine, Boss."
"Yeah, well, I'm making sure you are."
