The man was still staring at Nedim. He might not have even blinked since the staring contest had started a while ago. Nedim couldn’t be certain of much at this point.
“Just how do you propose to find them?” asked Nedim.
“You will lead us to them,” was the man’s response.
“I know not where they are or what they look like,” responded Nedim. It was a lie. He knew where some of them were and what some of them looked like, but not enough of them to keep himself alive.
“Still, you will lead us to them,” responded the man. “We can have no further conversation about this without a signed confession. You have a choice to make now. Sign the confession and lead us to them, or we execute you in a few minutes when prayer is over.”
“You will kill me as soon as I sign.” “No. At least not until we are done. Then it will depend upon how well you cooperated and how many of these people,” he paused to tap the printouts, “we have killed. The confession is to be placed on file along with your picture and the other evidence. Should you try to run, hide, or stop helping us track down these individuals, the information will be handed over to every news agency in the world along with a statement promising 200,000 euros for your return, dead or alive.” Something was odd about that last statement, but Nedim didn’t have time to think it through. The man went right on.
“So. Die now, or risk dying later. Make your decision.” “My hand has no feeling,” responded Nedim. They both looked at the hand by the pen. It was white, and the wrist was purple. A motion of some kind from the man caused the brute to release his wrist. A thousand needles rushed out to the ends of his fingers, but he could not bring his other hand around to comfort it. In an act of pure agony, both emotionally and physically, Nedim signed the confession.
Once the confession had been signed, the bag, which Nedim had not seen enter the room, was put back on his head. He was forced to stand and his hands were cuffed. He assumed they were going to execute him now, despite what they had said. The feeling in his hand was still reminding him of his betrayal. In truth, he was at peace about dying now. A public execution would make the news quickly and his brothers would be able to flee to safety.
The long walk up and down sets of stairs occurred again. Nedim didn’t bother to count. In truth, he didn’t begin to panic until they shoved him into a vehicle. His knees hit what felt like seats in front of him, so he assumed he was in the back. They didn’t need a car to get him to the mosque courtyard for execution! He had heard the call to prayer in the room. It couldn’t be more than a few blocks! “No!” he shouted. “The mosque is close! I heard the call to prayer!”
He heard the brutes, now on either side of him in the vehicle, begin to laugh and hold him in place. “Relax,” said the voice of the man. “We are going to take your picture.”
“Why couldn’t you just do that here?” Nedim asked.
“The camera and fingerprinting equipment are at another location,” the man responded.
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You are reading a special promotional version of “Infinite Exposure” containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:
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