The Quandary — Part VII
The elegant man froze, he could not believe his plan was bearing fruits. He tried to stay calm and control his reaction. He quickly forced a smile on his face, preparing to speak, but before he could speak the young prisoner jumped out of his seat.
“What?!” the young man yelled, his face turning red.
“Keep your composure!” the older prisoner stood up slowly pointing a finger to the younger soldier, “we have a protocol.”
The elegant man kept his seat, watching with fascination as the two prisoners broke down in front of him. I broke them down, he thought trying not to smile even more, I broke them.
The young man pulled on his hair hysterically, “what are you talking about!?” he yelled back to the older prisoner. “I do not know you! This is a huge misunderstanding!” He took a few steps back from the table, knocking down his chair. He continued to pull on his hair, his eyes turning glassy with tears.
“Soldier!” yelled the older prisoner.
The young man was shell shocked.
He walked over to the elegant man and dropped to his knees, grabbing him by the arm. “This is a mistake, let me go! Please, oh please let me go!”
The elegant man roughly removed the young man’s fingers from his arm, turning them to show him pain. “Do not touch me, Sir,” said the elegant man, “sit back down. This act is over, follow your colleague’s steps and cooperate, otherwise I will not be able to help you.”
The older prisoner walked towards the young man, who was now crying, and lifted him up and sat him back on the chair. “I know this is not what we expected Soldier, but we knew the risks we were taking. It is now time to get you self together and let me do the talking for us both, it is protocol.”
The young man continued to cry softly, quietly repeating to himself “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe this is happening.”
The elegant man continued watching them both with a smile on. He wasn’t convinced if the young man was still playing a part, now trying to confuse him or build empathy, or if he was actually breaking down.”
“I ask again, what is it that you want,” continued the old prisoner, who was now sitting on his chair with a new composure and straight face. He was no longer playing the part of a tourist professor caught in a misfortune, he was a soldier now.
“Let me just say I am glad you are both cooperating now,” he relaxed his pose and lighted up another cigarette. “I intend to get to the bottom of this, there is no longer a need to unnecessarily delay or mislead our conversations. As long as you both aid us in uncovering the rest of the plot I will do my very best to help you.” He knew that promising that everything would work fine for them would fire off red flags in their minds, these soldiers know that a change of destiny from bad to worse would be in his hands, but a change of destiny from bad to good was way above his pay grade. However, promising to do everything in his power was a trick learned from his elders, this was actually a promise soldiers could at least give the benefit of the doubt.
The young prisoner continued sobbing uncontrollably with his face buried in his hands. He was clearly not listening to what the Elegant Man was saying, which started to get on his nerves. He straightened himself and walked towards the young prisoner, standing over him. Do not fall for this weak form of theater, he talked to himself, he is trying to get on your nerves and throw you off your lead. Don’t fall for it. He smoked on his cigarette to try and calm himself, releasing the smoke through his nostrils. It did not work. He slapped the young man on his ear with the palm of his hand, sending him over the chair. The young prisoner laid on the floor with his knees pressed against his chest, trying to catch his breath between sobs. The Elegant Man kept his figure, looking down at the young prisoner and reading the older prisoner through his peripheral vision. He older prisoner did not react at all, he kept his stare at the Elegant Man with no signs of any emotion.
“Get him back in his seat,” he told the older prisoner without looking at him, “as I said, there is no more need for this diversion.”
The older prisoner took the younger prisoner by the shoulders and lifted him as if he was a puppet, forcing him back unto his chair. “What do you want?” the old man asked again as he took his position back.
“I want you to show me everything in your notebook, and walk me through every little detail on it.” The Elegant Man took the notebook and let it drop on the table making a dry bang.
The older prisoner looked down at the notebook and then back at the Elegant Man with a new and unfamiliar expression on his face. He took a quick glance at the younger prisoner, shaking his head and pressing his lips in disapproval, then leaned toward the Elegant Man. “I will tell you everything, with one condition. You will tell your seniors that I have been working with you directly for over a year, that you flipped me and I have been working as a double agent. Following this, me and my partner will join you and benefit from protection from your government.” The Elegant Man listened baffled. “Think about it, only one thing can give you more power than breaking a couple of CIA Agents, and that is converting CIA Agents. This will give you recognition beyond what you could imagine.”
The Elegant Man was fighting his emotions, trying not to show the mixture of emotions and disbelief. It had been over an hour since he began his bluff, an hour where he had put his psychological and physical skills to the test like never before, and he was feared this new set of cards would throw him off. Are they bluffing me? How could they be conceding to this and be willing to be viewed as traitors? Either they understand the reality of their situations and are choosing between the lesser of two evils, Death or Treason, or they are playing this game at a level I did not expect. His thoughts flew at light speed in his head. I have to follow through. If I say no, then I loose control of the game, and if I say yes I can continue to mislead them. He started feeling dizzy. However, they are most likely thinking I will say yes and will likely not follow through. The only way I can assure neither of us is misleading is to commit.
The Elegant Man opened the notebook at a random page, pulled out a black pen and placed it in front of the older prisoner. “This is what we will do. You will write in your notebook that you and your partner are working with D.N., my initials.” The older prisoner looked up at the Elegant Man with a white face. “If we are to do this,” said the Elegant Man, “we will burn all bridges to safety and be on the same boat together.”
