Ryan woke up to a searing pain in his head. Confused, he scanned his environment to ascertain his location but to no avail. He could barely apprehend what he was seeing as the pain in his head seemed to be blurring his vision. He shook his head as if trying to get rid of the pain.
He looked around again to see that he was in what seemed like an abandoned warehouse that had been converted to a tech geek's playground. There a was a work table on the east side with green screens displaying rolling random numbers as if left halfway by a programmer. Opposite it was another wooden table with metal parts of electronic devices left scattered loosely all over the table with duck tapes, nuts and screw drivers littered everywhere.
The lights flickered at intervals as he strolled close to the table to check what whoever was the previous occupant was trying to build. There behind the table was a small obscure and blood stained metal chair with a piece of dirty cloth laying on the floor.
Swiftly, Ryan moved over to inspect the cloth and the chair.
"it's still wet" he thought to himself as he scanned the room again to check for possible clues as to what is going on or the availability of any exits. The windows seemed to have been sealed off with heavy iron bars with sunlight only creeping in from tiny holes high up the wall.
*"no recognizable doors, no windows or even cameras. What is happening?" he thought to himself as he began to panic.
*"Anybody there?" he screamed desperately, more in hope than belief that someone would hear him. There was no reply of any kind coming back except the echo of his own voice that seemed to bounce back from within the walls of the room.
"who would've sold me out?" he thought scared as he rushed over to the system on the table. He opened the system to check what was on it, but it was expertly and delicately encrypted. A surge of anger and panic was billowing from within his bosom. He was about to let it out on the computer system when he heard a loud distorted sound from an invisible speaker in the room.
The sharp and deafening sound blaring from the system made him cower and cringe in pain.
"Hello Ryan" a distorted voice blared out. Ryan immediately sprung to his feet, looking around for where the voice came from.
"Who are you? Show your face if you're not a coward" Ryan shouted back. There was no reply. Another round of silence with the occasional flicker of light accompanied by an electrical spark.
Scared and exhausted, Ryan could no more hold his emotions.
"What do you want from me?" He yelled
"The truth" the voice came back almost instantly. "We want to know the truth about who you work for"
"I don't work for anybody, I'm just a freelance journalist" Ryan replied still scanning the room for where the voice was coming from
"That is a lie that might cost you your family" the voice replied with a tinge of anger in its undertone. "We know your real name is Frank Jared and you're married to Evelyn with two lovely daughters who's body you'll soon be seeing on the screen if you don't tell us what we want to know"
"I..I..I have no idea what you're talking about" he replied with a trembling voice as he tried to maintain his composure.
"Okay, have it your way then" the mysterious voice echoed back. Then the lights went out leaving Ryan in complete darkness and only the light from the screen as the only source of illumination. Then he started to feel water on his feet. Instinctively, he jumped on the table to avoid the water.
But the water kept increasing at a slow but steady pace.
"Hey, what are you doing" Ryan screamed in fear.
"The ball's in your court Frank" the voice replied "it's either you tell us what we want to know or you drown with your secret" he concluded.
The voice was then accompanied by a slow ominous music oozing out of the speaker and accompanied by a video collage of his wife and children playing on the screens. Anxious and scared, Ryan cried out in agony, "please let me go, I don't have anything to offer you. You can't just kill innocent people on my account".
"If they die, their blood is on your hands" the distorted voice replied. "You have the opportunity to save yourself and the people you love, don't try to be a hero" he continued.
The water levels kept on rising steadily and in a few minutes, Ryan's protestations were only heard as mumbles. Drowning fast Ryan's life began to play before his eyes, the pictures and memories he shared with his family began to flicker before him, and with oxygen gradually evading him, he couldn't tell if he was watching the screen before him or if he was hallucinating.
Gradually he began to succumb to the peace of the water as his body danced to its waves, his brain got numb and darkness took over his vision and memories.
"Stay still" Ryan's head was heavy and he could barely make out who's voice it was. Gradually his foggy vision cleared and he could see his handler's face beaming a big smile down at him. Confused, he jerked up
"What is going on? Were they caught? How's my family?" Ryan queried worriedly as he attempted to vacate the hospital bed.
"Everything is okay Ry" his handler started "it was the final stage of your test before you could be fully integrated into the agency"
"Huh?"
"Yes it was" his handler continued "And you passed with flying colours"
"And my family is fine?" Ryan asked again
"Yes, they are"
Ryan smiled and collapsed back onto the bed exhaustively, closing his eyes to take it all in knowing he's finally fulfilled his dream of being a senior staff at the agency.
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