It was 8.00pm when all the families arrived, handcuffed together, and they were all demanding to be told the reason for their imprisonment. They did not appear intimidated by the people guarding them with weapons, but as they dragged the four prisoners, Gupta, Shamel, Jamal and Ahmed into the main room, they soon fell silent.
The four men were in a poor state. Their clothes were stained with blood and they had obviously been beaten. Now the disheveled men were forced to sit on the floor at the end of the room, in front of the families.
The children began crying with fear, something that would attack their parents’ defiant resolve.
There was a sudden hush in the large hall when Max stood on the makeshift stage, fashioned out of wooden pallets. A large white screen had been unrolled behind him, and it was now obvious to the prisoners that they would be shown some sort of film.
Max spoke. “I am going to show you all why you are here.” He pointed to the cinema screen behind him.
A loud clamor of voices broke out again demanding an explanation, but Max stepped away from the screen, ignoring them.
The lights of the room were dimmed and the video recording of the six high profile men, taken in the hotel room, began playing.
***
The men in the video were shocked to see themselves this way; there was no explanation they could give their families, no lie to justify their claim of innocence. They were exposed for the terrorists that they were, heartlessly scheming and organizing the deaths of millions of innocent people.
The recording ended and the room lights brightened, as Max climbed back on the stage.
“You all recognize these men. You all heard what the men in the film were planning. The reason why you are all here, is to ensure that you suffer the fate of the public they plan to kill. You will all die horribly, in the same way as the innocent men, woman and children will, outside this building. You know who is responsible for this atrocity; the six men in the film, the leading members of your families.
“We could interrogate these four wretched men on the floor here, we could also interrogate and torture the men you saw in the film, we could do the same to all of you, including your children.
“No, we will not do that, we will let you watch your loved ones and children suffer, and die at the hands of these terrorists.
“We will be safe though; we will be wearing these special protective suits, and breathing apparatus.”
Tim approached the stage and lifted a hazmat suit for everyone to see; intending to emphasize the hopelessness the prisoners faced, without protection.
As expected there was uproar, shouting, screaming and crying from the prisoners, arguing and blaming each other for their predicament, as they tried to pull themselves free from their handcuffs and escape.
“There is a way to avoid death,” shouted Max. He waited until the noise subsided and it was perfectly quiet again.
“All we want are the names, locations and details of each cell involved. We will keep each family together, and when we get what we want, we will let the family free. Any family who does not confess everything, will never be seen again.” Max warned.
The team guarding the families separated the six groups and moved them to different areas of the room, so there could be no conspiring between families.
***
Max moved to the center of the room and beckoned to one of the team to come over, an interrogator. He then called for the four prisoners on the floor, to approach him. Sullenly they struggled to their feet and came over. Max pointed to the floor, indicating they should sit there, in front of him.
He took out a small handgun and waved it about in the air for all to see, and then spoke.
“First of all, I will ask these men if they will tell the interrogator here, what we want to know.” Max pointed to the team member who had joined him, then passed him the handgun.
Two more members of the team came over and dragged Ruhab away into a side room, out of sight, followed by the interrogator.
The process was slow and theatrical, the footsteps of the two guards, the shuffle of Ruhab’s feet as he tried to resist, and his pleading and threats echoed around the silent room.
Two minutes dragged by like an eternity; apart from the occasional nervous cough and sob, there was silence, as everyone strained to hear what was taking place in the side room.
A single muffled shot evoked cries of panic from the prisoners. The side door opened, the two guards came out, they walked over and grabbed Ahmed, dragging him kicking and struggling into the side room. As they approached, the interrogator stood in the doorway, gun dangling loosely in his right hand. He took out a white handkerchief from his trouser pocket, bent down, and wiped something dark red from his shoe. They all entered through the side door and closed it behind them.
The murmur of voices from the prisoners grew louder, as they argued and pleaded with each other; there was another shot.
This time the two guards took Jamal. He begged, whined and screamed, but the guards showed no mercy.
Shamel begged them to spare his brother and take him instead, but again, after a short silence, the single shot echoed around the room.
Defiantly, Shamel was dragged to the side room, and executed.
The two guards and the interrogator walked to the center of the room, the interrogator looked at each family in turn. He pointed to a teenage boy whom the guards unshackled and dragged screeching, pleading, and fouling himself, into the side room.
As the boy was forced along, the interrogator turned and looked searchingly at the boy’s family, and called out to them to tell what they knew. He waited a few moments while the family pleaded and cursed the father of the boy, in an effort to make him speak.
The interrogator entered the side room with the guards and boy, a shot rang out. Moments later, the interrogator appeared, followed by the two guards.
The boy’s family turned on the father; they had to be pulled off him. When the family settled again, the interrogator turned to choose the next child, this time it was a little girl.
This time, the fury of the family against the father, was much worse; the girl was everyone’s darling.
Her father shouted “I will tell you all you want to know, I will tell you everything, don’t take her, I beg of you.”
The guards and interrogator took the father to a different side room, everyone waited anxiously, the minutes ticking by.
The interrogator came out into the main room and announced, “If he has told us the full truth, this family will be spared. We will compare what you say with what we know, or with what we have already been told. If any of you want to save your own family, tell everything and do it now!”
There was a surge of voices begging to confess.
The interrogators took each person separately into different rooms to hear what they wanted to say.
***
An hour later, Max and Robert joined the lead interrogator, to review the statements; they all appeared to say the same thing.
Max spoke, “Robert, get your contacts at MI5 to act on the information, and capture all the cells. Do not give this location, or any of us away. We must stay here until we know the Olympic area is safe, then your staff can move in and arrest these people. I think we should make the call from your house, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course!” replied Robert “we had better do it now. But, how do I explain the people you executed?”
“Nothing for you to worry about Robert, no terrorists or their families were hurt during the staging of the drama!” Max replied with a grin.
“Each person we appeared to execute was given an injection, by the doctor, to send them off to sleep.”