Prologue (Unknown Title)

Prologue

There were so many thoughts rushing into James Donne's head: one was remembering all the good times he'd be having right now if he wasn't here, another was why he let himself get caught by the most powerful man he knew. And lastly the one that forced all the other thoughts out of James' head, "I need to breathe!"

James finally felt the relief of fresh air after a man named Xander took the soaking cloth off his face.

"Well that's one way to hydrate someone." He said still catching his breath.

"Where is he?" Xander asked.

"You torture me and then ask me questions? Shouldn't it be the other way around? I'm sure you would get quicker answers if you just-" Xander slapped him.

"Mr Donne, I really don't want to be hurting you any more than I have to. How about you just tell us?" James Donne still had no idea what accent Xander had, he was considering Polish.

"You know what? Waterboarding isn't all that bad." That was a lie; he had experienced torture before but waterboarding was definitely the worst.

Xander looked at his comrade and gave him a nod. Fists rained down on James' face until he was one punch away from passing out. His face was so bloody and numb; he could barely manage to breathe. He was wondering how much experience they must have with torture to know precisely when to stop. Then he stopped wondering when Xander pulled his head back and put the cloth over his face again, screaming as he heard the water gushing out the hose.

At that moment someone else entered the room, Xander stopped what he was doing and so did the water. James wanted to cry, but he knew that crying would only encourage Xander do something even worse, it was a fetish of some kind. The man pulled a chair in front of James and sat down. It was quiet. Copper coloured water dripped from James' hair.

"Good morning, Mr Donne." The man said casually. James recognised the voice. "What? no good morning to me?"

"U-uh, yes it truly is a good morning, sir. Did you sleep well?" said James a little muffled from the cloth, he was slowly getting his wits back. The man chuckled.

"You're a funny man Mr Donne, and please call me, Mr Nowacki. Xander, get that dirty cloth off him so I can hear what he is saying." James is actually glad he had the cloth on his face, otherwise he probably wouldn't have picked up that Mr Nowacki's accent was slightly different than it usually was. This means that Mr Nowacki had spent a lot of time in a different country.

"Now," continued Mr Nowacki, "I hear you are being a little stubborn, even after all you've been through. I respect your strength." James thought then that if Mr Nowacki hadn't come in just then, then he actually might have talked. "But being strong isn't going to help you much longer." Continued Mr Nowacki again, "With or without your help we will find him, but understand this: if we don't get an answer from you right now, we are going to be hurting innocent people. Can you live with that?"

"I don't care anymore." Said James a little angrily.

"Now, now Mr Donne. I know what it feels like to have someone taken from you, and I know I would do whatever it takes to get them back. So you must understand that I have my reasons."

"Fuck off!" shouted James feeling the tears come up again. He just knew Xander had a big grin on his face, waiting for him to burst into tears.

"I would love to, but I need to get an answer from you." James could hear him getting more impatient.

"Do whatever you want, I'm not going to be the reason someone I love dies again."

"I admire your courage Mr Donne, but like I said: with or without you." He looked at Xander and gestured to the door he came in. Xander walked over, opened the door and two men walked in holding a woman with tears running down her face and gag to stop her from screaming. At first James had no Idea who this woman was but then he remembered she would come by every few days at night to give him some water, food and clean his wounds.

"This woman, Mr Donne, was stealing food from me and giving it to you." James was dumbstruck. Why did this woman risk her life to help him? She must have known exactly who these people are it's not a secret, even to the Police.

James looked at her, "Why? Why would you steal from men like these?" he paused, not expecting an answer," It's not fair!" James said this not because he thought that punishing this woman was unfair, rather he meant he felt it unfair that anyone who showed him any kindness would die.

Mr Nowacki stood up and moved the chair back to where he found it. He nodded at Xander as he pulled out a pistol from his waist and they all left the room.

"This is your last chance Mr Donne." He kicked the woman on her knees in front of James and pointed the gun at her head. "Where is your brother?" James stared blankly, trying to get himself to think of a way to get her out of this situation. He needed someone to swoop in and save the day. He wanted his brother to burst through that door and laugh at him for crying. He wanted so desperately to think that his dear old brother was just pulling pranks on him again. Mr Nowacki cocked the gun.

"No, this is real. If I don't tell him where Em is then this woman is dead." thought James. He looked at the powerful man, and then looked deep into the eyes of the woman in tears.

"I'm so sorry."

There was a deafening noise. James' heart raced, hers didn't.