Foreign Influence_ A Thriller - Brad Thor [87]
“We’re the Chicago police, asshole. We’re not answering shit,” stated Davidson.
The man turned his attention to the Public Vehicles officer and smiled. He then gave a command to one of the other men, who opened the door and exited the room. Vaughan’s Arabic was not the best. It sounded like he had sent the man for water.
The interrogator then focused on Vaughan. “I will ask you again. What are you doing here?”
Davidson, his face swelling, said, “We were looking for your sister.”
The man was about to strike the cop again, but caught himself when Vaughan admonished Davidson. “Cut it out. That’s not going to help.”
“It won’t. You are right,” said the interrogator. “What will help you is if you tell me why you are here.”
“We have your mosque under surveillance,” replied the Marine. His jaw, his head, and his wrist were all throbbing.
“Who is we?”
“The Chicago Police Department.”
The man lined up his captives’ credentials and studied them. “And while you are on police business, you carry other business cards and badges as well?”
Davidson didn’t know when to shut up. “Tell him to fuck off.”
“Listen,” Vaughan continued, blood running from his mouth. “You may think you know how this works, but you don’t. The police will not negotiate for our release.”
“I don’t expect them to.”
“What do you want then? I already told you that your mosque is under surveillance.”
“But you haven’t told me who is monitoring it.”
“I have. The Chicago Police Department.”
The interrogator smiled. “You’re lying.”
Vaughan knew that if he told the man the truth, if he told him nobody else except for Josh Levy even knew they were here, they were as good as dead. Their only hope was that Levy would realize something had gone wrong and that he would bring reinforcements.
Vaughan was trying to come up with a response when the door opened and the man who had left a few moments ago returned. He was carrying a case of large water bottles with two towels laid across the top.
“I’ll pass on the sponge bath,” shot Davidson, “but there’s a couple of you who should definitely consider it. Maybe some back waxes too.”
The interrogator picked his foot up and kicked Davidson over backward. The sound of his head cracking against the floor could be heard across the room.
Calling two of the men over, the interrogator had them tilt Vaughan back. Another man grabbed a towel, and though the police officer resisted, managed to wrap it around his face and pull it tight at the back of his head.
The interrogator opened half of the bottles and sent the man to go get more. Picking up two of them, he walked over and stood looking down at the Marine. “We have much more water and I have all night. Let’s see if we can decide once and for all whether or not this is torture.”
CHAPTER 41
Rashid had seen enough. He opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway.
Marwan Jarrah was waiting for him and could read the younger man’s face. He signaled for him to hold his tongue until they got upstairs.
The two men proceeded in silence to the mosque’s office, the faithful having long dispersed since the end of evening prayers. Once they were inside and the door was closed, Rashid wasted no time getting to the point. “We’re in big trouble.”
“Everything will be fine, Shahab,” replied Jarrah.
“No, it won’t. Do you have any idea how serious this is? You have two Chicago policemen as prisoners in your mosque.”
“A police officer does not carry a private investigator’s badge when he is on duty as a policeman. Nor does another carry business cards identifying him as an attorney and a little notebook with the information about his case.”
“It doesn’t matter what they were carrying, Marwan, they’re still cops.”
“I understand the situation,” said Jarrah. “I also understand that they were carrying a picture of Mohammed Nasiri and that it wasn’t my idea to bring Nasiri here. It was yours.”
“We had no choice.”
“We should have killed him.”
“Please, Marwan. We’ve been through this.