Primrose choked on his gag, trying to say something.
Jay caught him nodding to Catherine. 'Seems she's changed sides, mate. Save your breath.'
Primrose turned and rolled his eyes.
'Shut up, Jay,' Catherine said from the doorway.
'Any chance you're going to unlock these handcuffs for old time's sake?' Jay asked.
'I suppose I can. Get up and move to the back corner, facing the wall.'
'After all we've been through, Catherine, I think I'll wait for Major Bowen to return, thanks.'
'Get in the fucking corner. Now!' She took a step forward, the pistol trained on Jay.
'What if I don't?'
'I'll shoot you.'
Jay believed her. She was fucking crazy. He managed to get to a raising-crouch position and shuffled to the corner. The chair dug into his lower back, causing a cramp in one side. He made it to the corner and sat facing the wall.
The metallic clink of handcuffs played off the concrete floor. Jay heard Catherine whisper something to Primrose. 'I hope you're not playing favourites,' he said.
'Don't know when to shut up, do you?' she sneered.
'My handcuffs are a little tight too. Can you adjust them?'
'Fuck off, Jay. You really are annoying sometimes.'
'Does that mean I can't see you for conjugal visits?'
'What?'
Jay turned his head toward Catherine, who was standing behind her husband. 'You know, when you're in jail. Can't honestly think that you'll get away with this?'
'You really do think you're smarter than everyone, don't you?'
'No. I just think that you three are stupider than I am.' He flashed her a smile.
The vein throbbed again on Primrose's temple. Catherine clenched her jaw. 'We'll see.'
'I guess we will, Catherine.' Jay turned back toward the wall, knowing Catherine and Primrose were again up to no good.
Waiting for Bowen to return felt like an eternity and Jay reflected on why he was in his current situation. One interrogation of an Iraqi general before the invasion had landed him in the hands of these lunatics. The information he'd obtained from the general should have stopped the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His government and the Americans chose to ignore his interrogation report; in fact, they acted as though the report didn't exist. It had played on Jay's mind at times. Each time he told himself he was just doing his job. Empty faces screamed out at him at night, asking why he didn't make the information public. The nightmares were persistent. Scotch and dry helped keep the faces at bay but he hated not being in control of his senses, so he rarely overdid it when it came to alcohol. The post-deployment counselling service provided by the army was inadequate, to say the least. Fresh-faced psychologists with no comprehension of living on the edge in a war zone. Besides, Jay couldn't offload on them the secrets he knew. It seemed pointless. And the few sessions he'd attended didn't yield any positive outcomes for him. The regular nightmares persisted, yet paled in comparison to his current situation.
Bowen jolted Jay from his thoughts by dragging him back to a position next to Primrose. 'I knew it,' Bowen said. He waved a few pieces of paper around. 'We went to Iraq looking for fucking Weapons of Mass Destruction, sweating our arses off in the godforsaken Western Desert for no reason. They had already moved them.'
'We went there because we were told to go,' Jay said.
Bowen's jaw tightened. 'Why haven't you told anyone about this?'
'My orders were to report directly to the Chief of Defence, and I did.'
'You sent thousands of people to their graves, Sergeant Ryan.'
'What are you talking about?' Catherine asked.
'This piece of shit here gained information that should have stopped the invasion of Iraq.'
'What information?' she asked.
'Iraq moved the WMDs across the border to Jordan before the ground war. Yet we still invaded.'
'I had my orders. It wasn't my call,' Jay said.
'What else is in there?' Catherine asked.
'In his analysis, the good sergeant here claimed it was likely that Mossad was involved. Apparently, Israel offered to purchase some of the WMDs. Mossad arranged the shipments.'
'I'm an interrogator. I don't make policy and I certainly don't influence decisions to start wars,' Jay said.
'Who else knows about this?' Bowen asked.
'Apart from you three and me, the Chief of Defence, and I assume he would have told the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister.'
'What happened to the Iraqi general?'
'Don't know, don't care.'
'Any guilt, Jay?'
'No.' There was, but Jay would never admit it.
'Seems to me that we invaded Iraq for no reason. So yeah, you should feel guilty, considering this report should have stopped it.'
Jay tried to stay calm. 'I did my job. Gave the information to the right people and they made their decisions.'
'You've been living with the knowledge that Israel has fucked the Americans and the Coalition. We went in looking for WMD, which cost the lives of thousands of troops and civilians. You put your mates, including myself, in harm's way. You should have stopped it.'
'What could I do? If I'd have brought this out in the open they would have found a way to discredit the report, either through the Iraqi general or me. They would have said he made it all up. There was no way I could have convinced anyone. Who in their right mind would believe that Israel would buy chemical weapons from the Iraqis without the general verifying it? I did my job. I gathered the intelligence and sent it to the right people. They made their decision.'
'You do realise that this is going to come out in the open, don't you, Jay?'
'Not much I can do about it now.'
'Problem is we don't need you any more, now that we have the document.'
'You need that document corroborated, and I'm the only person who can do that,' Jay said.
'Not necessarily. We've got enough proof from Lazarau to validate the conspiracy between our government and the Americans. You're just likely to cause problems. You know too much. I can't let you go from here, Jay.'
Jay had to take a risk. 'Look, boss, I'm sorry you've been dragged into this. The fact is these two are using you, and they plan to kill you.'
Primrose's eyes went wide. Catherine stood still. She seemed to be holding her breath.
Bowen looked at them both. He appeared to assess the information, grinned and addressed Jay. 'Catherine is a smart woman. She helped me use her husband to fulfil our end state. Warren really is a chump. He's just bitter because you deployed instead of him. Have a look at him. If these two wanted to kill me, they would have done so by now.'
'They needed you to get to my father. They needed you to log on and get that document. I only had access for that one task. They needed you because you are the only one here with the access.'
'Shut up, Jay,' Catherine warned.
'Listen to me, boss.' Jay continued. 'I couldn't have got that document, even if I had wanted to. They're using you.'
'Shut the fuck up!' Catherine shouted. She took a step closer and pointed the pistol at Jay.
Bowen turned toward Catherine. 'What's he talking about, Cath?'
'Lies. He's telling lies. You know that it was you and me who set this whole thing up,' she purred.
Jay added more fuel to the fire. 'Do you know who you're actually working for, boss? Has she told you?'
Catherine took another step forward. The pistol waved around in her trembling hand. Bowen noticed and stepped between the pistol and Jay, facing Catherine.
Primrose launched from his chair. Hands free from the cuffs, his knife extended in front of him.
'Boss!' Jay shouted.
Too late. Primrose took two steps and plunged the blade deep in Bowen's side. Primrose worked in a frenzy. Sidearm movements propelled the blade in and out of Bowen's staggering body. Blood sprayed everywhere. Catherine ran out of the room. Bowen spun around and looked wild-eyed at Jay. He tried to mouth something but the knife caught him again in the neck.
Jay cringed and pushed back in the chair. He wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to speak.
Bowen collapsed at Jay's feet. Primrose went down with him and continued stabbing until he was spent.
Like witnessing a train wreck, Jay couldn't stop watching. He saw his boss and mentor die with a pleading look in his eyes. Pleading for the ever-reliable Sergeant Jay Ryan to come through for him. Not this time. Jay had let him down, or so he felt. Bowen had betrayed him, yet Jay felt that he was the better of two evils.
Primrose rolled to his knees and ripped the gag from his face. He puffed like an overweight office worker running for the train.
Jay froze with fear as Primrose rose to his feet.
Primrose controlled his breathing and wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. He looked at the blood-soaked corpse on the ground and then at Jay.
Primrose flashed his lunatic grin. 'Hello, Sergeant Ryan. Good of you to join us.'