EPILOGUE

Alex Scano had waited in the room with no lights and no human contact for three days. The room contained a single bed in one corner, and a toilet and a sink in another. He was only aware of this fact because he had been given ten minutes to memorize the layout when he first arrived.

The walls were smooth concrete, with no windows and not even any electrical outlets. Scano had noticed the hum of an air conditioner sending forth cool air from the vent in the ceiling twelve feet above. Food was delivered to him three times a day, and he had begun to obsess about the thirty seconds of dim light which shone through the small slot in the door during those times. He had called out every time, but no one ever answered.

The food deliveries were the only way he knew that three days had passed. He knew what his captors were doing. It didn’t take much sensory deprivation to make most people frayed balls of anxiety. Scano knew it was starting to work on him, but he resisted it by doing mental exercises after every meal.

Sooner or later, Tam Broderick would regret this. Sooner or later, she would be made to pay. She had no idea what kind of influence Scano’s partner had. Scano would just have to suck it up until that happened.

When the door opened, the dazzling light nearly blinded him. A male voice barked an order. “On the bed.”

Scano crawled over to the bed and lay on his side, blinking to get his eyes to adjust. The man held a gun and remained at the door, but another figure was approaching him. She carried a folding metal chair, which she opened and sat on a few feet from the bed.

“Tam. Nice of you to finally join me.”

“I can’t say the same, Scano. I was otherwise occupied. If it were up to me, the waterboarding would have started the minute we got you here.”

“Ah, so you’re not in control of the situation. I had a feeling that might happen. So when do you let me go?”

Tam smiled, her white teeth contrasting against her brown skin in the dim light. “I think you may be operating under some sort of misimpression. No one’s ever letting you go.”

The first tendrils of doubt seeped into Scano’s brain, but he pushed them aside. “Brave talk, but I think we both know how this will end.”

Tam shook her head. “Deluded to the last. Let’s just start with the questions, shall we?”

Questions he could handle. Scano gestured with an open palm. “Fire away.”

Tam made a triangle in front of her with her two hands. “Hmm, should I start with an easy one? Nah, I think you can handle the good stuff right away.”

She moved the chair closer and leaned so that her face was nearly over the mattress.

“Tell me about your arrangement with the President.”

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The End