Caught

3.

The meeting was long. Afterwards I had several private appointments, so I did not get home until the evening. Tired as a kitten, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I was awakened by the insistent ringing of the telephone. Blindly, I reached for my phone and blinked at the glowing screen. It was Maya.

"Yes?" I said into the phone, still half asleep.

"Don't say I woke you," came the voice on the other end of the line.

"Not at all," I stifled a yawn. "Do you have the report for me?"

"I'll have it delivered to you later today."

"Well, how did it go?"

I looked around my small bedroom. I should clean this place up. There were so many clothes scattered on the floor that not a bit of the beige carpet was visible. My army uniform lay casually thrown over the chair, and I noticed that one button was missing.

"Did you have any problems during the examination?"

"Not at all. On the contrary. He behaved himself. I would never have guessed that he was the trained Imperial assassin that every doctor is afraid to get near, as you told me."

Maya's enthusiastic voice irritated me a little. I had known her for a long time and knew that, unlike me, she was able to get up before dawn with a smile on her face and full of energy to start the day, whereas I needed at least an hour and a large cup of coffee before I was able to function properly.

"Maybe you charmed him with your clever remarks. How's he doing?"

"Marakin's obviously had a lot of playtime with Shira. He has a broken collarbone, a bruised shoulder and two broken ribs. He also has three broken fingers on his left hand. Other than that, he's got some bruises, cuts, burns, mostly on his back and arms, but nothing serious. No internal injuries."

Maya finished her report. I didn't like it. How could the Council have agreed to such an action against a prisoner of war? It went against everything the rebels had fought for.

"I treated him as best I could and fixed the fractures," Maya continued. "I tried to give him something for the pain, but he refused."

Of course he refused, I grinned to myself, it would have ruined his bad boy reputation.

"All the details will be in my report, but I gave you the gist."

I thanked her and ended the call. A reminder on my mobile alerted me to an appointment with the prison director in twenty minutes. Time to get up.

~~~

The appointment never happened. As soon as I heard about another accident in the high-security area, I headed straight there.

The door to Shira's cell was wide open and two guards were escorting a man in uniform out.

The man walked slowly, his face covered in blood and more running from his nose. The swelling suggested that his nose had been broken. I didn't know if he had any other injuries, but I didn't doubt for a second who was responsible.

I walked past the silent guards and entered the cell without a word. Shira was sitting on the bed, his legs and arms tied. A chain link bound him to the wall, just as it had the last time I saw him, preventing him from moving freely.

"What happened here?" I asked the two guards standing at the door.

"The head guard brought the prisoner his lunch and he attacked him," one of the men explained.

It was only now that I noticed the tray of unappetising prison food lying untouched on the table.

"Leave us alone," I ordered the men.