Kader recognized the voice. “McCarty?”
Jamal watched the dark face zoom towards him slowly until he could make out some features of the man. “Yep. It’s me, buddy. My friend Gus came along reluctantly by circumstance. I even have Deke the dog here. You remember. We were walking Deke when you decided to execute us. I bet you never thought you’d be in a place like this, huh? Well, my friend, you’ve certainly gained our attention. Not many people earn a place strapped to a gurney in our house of horror. You’re only the third person other than my partner Gus and I to ever see this room. Those two folks lived, and are actually doing quite well now, having experienced the dark side of bad choices. You, unfortunately have more limited options. You won’t be leaving this room alive. The only bartering you can do is for a nice death, or a death beyond normal human imaginings. See, I’m not normal, right Gus?”
Jamal, shivered uncontrollably. He cringed as another dark form joined McCarty’s, peering at him with darkened motions vaguely evident on his featureless face.
“Believe me, pal. My partner here is so far from normal, if I were you, I’d answer anything you get asked with enthusiasm. If you don’t, Nick will do things I’ll need to leave the room for. It’s not that I have a weak stomach, but this bad man has an imagination best never trifled with. You may have seen an example of torture on TV, where a bunch of pussy amateurs pretend to torture. Nick here is the real deal – the combination of darkness and imagination even Hollywood can’t duplicate. Save yourself some pain, and answer the questions. You will eventually, no matter how tough you think you are. By the way… that seventy-two virgins? It ain’t happenin’ for you. I-”
“Gus!” Nick pushed Gus aside. “Sorry Jamal. I never discourage someone’s beliefs. If you think seventy-two virgins are waiting for you in the afterlife, then by Allah, let’s get this train moving out of the station. Are you ready to answer a few questions, pal? We have all the time in the world, so if you want to pretend to resist, you and I can dance as long as you wish. It’s your choice, bad boy.”
Jamal sobbed. “You… you are going to kill me anyhow. You cannot do this! I am an American citizen!”
“Uh oh,” Gus mumbled mostly to himself, but Jamal heard him.
“Tell him!” Jamal looked straight at Gus, who had taken a step back from the table. “He cannot do this! I am an American citizen! I have rights!”
Gus turned away. “You said the magic words, Jamal. The words where all hope of a pain free death just got eaten by wild dogs.”
“But…but… I do have rights… as a citizen.” The face of the Terminator now hovered over Jamal, without emotion, and without mercy. Jamal could make out the faint lines of Nick’s face. In the black-lighted darkness, his face looked like that of the Devil. “You…you cannot do this.”
Nick reached over to Jamal’s hand. It was clenched into a white knuckled fist. Nick covered it with his own, and began to squeeze. Jamal couldn’t believe it. McCarty’s hand continued to tighten, inexorably. The bones began to crackle in protest within Jamal’s besieged hand. He cried out, then screamed, then begged. It was all for naught. When Nick let go, Jamal’s hand was pulped internally, a misshapen appendage of molded together cartilage and bone. Nick moved to the other side of Jamal, whose pleas had escalated into high pitched yips of agony. His left hand gripped Jamal’s other fist.
“I bet you didn’t know I was ambidextrous, Jamal,” Nick stated, his left hand beginning to tighten ever so slowly on Jamal’s left hand. “Let me demonstrate, and then I’ll give you a nice foot rub. If we’re still in a state of uncooperativeness, I will give you the dick massage of your life.”
Over the next half hour of screams bordering on insanity, Nick pulped Jamal’s left hand with his left. He then moved to each foot. Jamal passed out three times, but sputtered into a lucid universe of suffering. All pretense of holding out or ignorance fled the man’s countenance, leaving only a gibbering human husk wanting only to cooperate. Gus motioned Nick away from the gurney.
*
“I know he pissed you off, but if you don’t start asking him something pretty soon, he won’t be able to talk.”
Nick shrugged. “I had to get his attention. It’s starting to stink in here, so I needed to get busy. Deke’s all the way over there huddled in the corner. The smell’s grossing him out.”