2

‘GET UP!’ Guy stood over the crumpled body. He brought his foot back in an exaggerated motion while the assembled group sat calmly watching behind a plate glass two way mirror; the interrogation continued. Breeze block blood smears decorated the inside of the cell walls. Knuckles scrapped raw from exhaustion and the warm coppery taste of blood filled Mendes with desperation. His left eye was swollen shut and still the animal kept coming.

 

‘GET UP’ Mendes did his best finding purchase on the edge of a steel table bolted securely to the floor. Guy was a mass of muscle with little or no neck; who had no compunction when it came using physical violence. As his latest punching bag gripped the edge of the steel frame with his right hand Guy considered breaking his fingers. In fact he could picture the screams as the bones became pulp under the impact, imagining the contorted features of his victim as piano playing became a distant memory. Inside the starkly lit sweatbox these thoughts seemed to make sense seemed to comfort him strangely. Advancing slowly but purposely over to the corner of the room Guy lifted the stocky implement and brought it back behind his head, all the time eyeing Mendes and his right index finger which looked particularly fragile. Mid arch and with the whip of breeze created by the natural physics between solid objects and the air in opposition, there came an ear splitting intervention.

 

‘GUY BACK OFF!’ He dropped the wood as if someone in his brain had flicked a switch. Metal grated against metal as the solid cast iron door swung inwards on huge hinges. An equally large, though considerably better dressed man entered the room. He took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and covered his nose and mouth.

 

‘Get him out of here.’ He pointed at what remained of Mendes. Two sturdy looking individuals moved out of his shadow and grabbed Mendes under the armpits on either side, forcibly dragging him outside. Only the ever diminishing scrap of shoe leather scuffing on concrete heralded his departure, as neither man registered the removal. In the gathering silence Guy felt the man cast an eye over him. Military training had taught him never to look superiors in the eye, even when, in this case, it was not necessarily expected.

 

‘Come on’ he said, ‘before I can’t get this stink out of my jacket’.

Guy followed obediently through the cast iron door in step but just behind his boss. White washed walls and overhead strip lighting stretched on for several hundred yards before they came to a set of polished lift doors. They opened on cue and slid shut just as quickly with a barely audible murmur after the pair had entered.

 

‘Need you hit them so hard?’

 

‘Sir?’

 

‘The violence Guy. Is it really necessary?’

 

‘It’s my job sir. If I need to I will employ any means necessary in order to gain access to the information which is required.’

 

‘Forgive me but; you seem to enjoy it.’

 

‘Enjoy it sir? No no..I don’t think’

 

‘That’s right Guy you don’t think and one day it’ll get you in trouble.’ There was a pause as the conversation became stilted.

‘It’s just sometimes I worry because I won’t always be there to protect you. Understood?

 

The lift continued to climb while the conversation petered out to nothing.

 

‘Yes sir. I understand.’

 

Finally the lift stopped and opened onto a foyer of plush leather upholstery and polished marble.

 

‘I hope for your sake you do my son. I really do. Now go get yourself cleaned up, you look a mess. Twenty minutes my office. Yes?’

 

He nodded and headed out across reception towards the washrooms. Behind him his father remained stoic and withdrawn clearly anywhere but in the moment. When the lift reached the top floor of the Williamson Group corporate offices, Joseph Williamson, CEO, stepped out and made one request of his secretary.    

 

‘No calls for twenty five minutes. Understood?’

 

A tacit nod was the only response needed. His door closed a matter of seconds later and the outer office regained an air of respectability. A few minutes later the intercom buzzed and another request came through.

 

‘When my son gets here send him straight in’

 

‘Yes sir’.

Reviews

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

Just got a chance to come back and read chapter two. You've done a great job in building the tension in this one. I'm interested. The dialouge is also quite good, as I find that I really enjoy your "voice". Good phrasing, word choice, an easy, but uniquely interesting read. I'll be back for more soon.

[Christian Carr]

hi there girl friday,

I did not realise that people only read a chapter at a time. Me being me I thought that the second chapter did not carry the momentum through from chapter one, therefore meaning it was not as good...glad to be proved wrong...really glad you are enjoying it....

C.....

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

I think it carried through fine...I like the momentum. A story can't be all twists, turns and bumps, there has to be a set-up.