Justice Denied

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The man moved to my front and as I lifted my head from the table, a dull pain settling in behind my eyes, I had to try hard to bring things into focus.

I saw that it was Ashif Musfar Khan standing over me in full military uniform.

“Sorry about the err, lack of subtlety Mr. Frank,” said Khan waving casually at the side of my head where I could feel the pain of where my kidnappers had hit me. “But we didn’t have too much time to persuade you to visit with us.”

“What the hell are you doing Ashif?” I shouted at him. “What’s all this about?”

“You see Mr. Frank. We knew about you all along!” He smiled knowingly, showing me a set of teeth that I was sure could induce severe sepsis should he ever decide to bite me and I smiled at the thought despite my current predicament.

My mistake.

His hand whipped across the table and he backhanded me across the nose which I felt split at the impact.

Probably due in the main from the gold coin ring he wore on his middle finger.

The blood poured immediately and began to pool around my chin as I lowered my head to the table to let the tears streaming from my eyes dissipate.

But as I did so, he grabbed my hair and bounced my forehead off the table again so hard that I saw stars and my eyes started to lose focus.

He came closer and leaned in to me, breathing foul air from his mouth as he explained, “You see Mr. Frank, because we know you were sent to kill me, I thought I would have some fun with you and send a message back to the scum traitorous government we have in my beloved Pakistan that they cannot stop our progress! And with Allah’s blessing we will expel the traitors and return Pakistan to Islamic glory!”

Even through the fog of my pain, it was clear that someone had talked. Certainly not someone from our side, but without a doubt someone from the Pakistani side had sold us out.

Someone with either an axe to grind, or more likely, someone who held views the same as this bastard Khan.

In this country, the state secret service, the ISI, were well known for their double dealings and on more than one occasion operations had been compromised resulting in tragic losses of life because of a subtle word here or there, often made in the pursuit of financial or political gain on behalf of the ever forceful Taliban ideology.

“I have no idea what you are talking about Ashif.” I said almost pleadingly.

But I knew I was just treading water, trying to buy a little time before the inevitable: either a bullet in the head or worse: a video recorder, a dull knife and a starring role in my very own snuff movie.

Khan motioned to two men who were standing in the corner of the room behind me.

“Stand him up and chain him to the wall,” he ordered.

One of the men stood behind me and held me secure, while the other unlocked my handcuffs.

I seized the moment and shoved myself backwards into the man behind me, knocking him off balance and temporarily freeing my hands.

One of the innovative things about the Breitling Emergency Mission watch is the emergency transponder which when activated sends out a sort of homing beacon signal allowing any emergency service looking for you to track the signal and hopefully locate you.

Right now it was my only hope and I pulled on the transmitter toggle located on the side of the watch even as the blow from a baton wielded by Khan landed in my lower back and floored me.