A Ghost Encounter: My Time with Simon "Ghost" Riley

Part Thirty-Seven: The Set-Up

Let's begin? What the hell is happening?

An unbearable wave of panic rushes inside me. I grip the arm of my chair to stop my body from shaking.

"Is something the matter, Hassan? I thought we were here to do business," Ghost says with what most would assume is calmness, but I can detect the hint of fear in his tone.

"Funny you ask, Simon 'Ghost' Riley."

We are so fucked.

Hassan points the gun at me. "And here we have Breanna Roberts."

Ahmad jolts from his chair, interjecting," What is the meaning of this?"

"Seems you've allowed two members of Task Force 141 to infiltrate us." Hassan averts his gaze and is now piercing through Ahmad.

"W-what?" Ahmad says panicked. "T-that can't be true! We double—No—We triple-checked everything!"

Hassan scoffs, "Apparently not."

Hassan's voice is dripping with murderous intent. And his gun is still pointed at me...

"Sir, please. I had no-"

Huh?

My ears are ringing.

I look to the left of where I'm sitting and there lies Ahmad, shot in the head, blood pooling into the tile floor.

After a few moments of silence, horrendous screams fill the air by Cyra.

That is until she's shot too.

I'm frozen with shock.

Ghost and I dare not move a muscle and continue looking directly at Hassan.

"You see, I have no room for incompetent rats in my circle," he seethes.

This man's fucking ruthless. A true killer.

"What does that mean for us?" Ghost asks coldly, no longer keeping up his facade now that we've been caught.

"Oh, I still have use for the two of you." He smiles wickedly.

Hassan motions for his guards to lower their weapons.

"Clean up this mess," Hassan orders some of his guards. "Take them and prepare them for interrogation."

Before we know it we were being restrained and taken through the halls of the residence. Ghost and I remain silent but communicate with our eyes.

His eyes are telling me, Stay calm.

Ghost and I are eventually taken to a dark, cold room with concrete walls. We're thrown in by the guards and pistol-whipped, knocking us both unconscious.

- TIME SKIP -

"Ughh..." I slowly start to open my eyes.

Once I'm able to gain full consciousness the weight of the situation dawns on me.

I try to move but my arms and legs are tied to the chair. I look to my right and there sits Ghost, also tied up, but still unconscious.

"Ghost..."

"Ghost!" I yell to wake him up.

He slowly starts coming back into consciousness.

"Bloody hell..." he groans out in pain.

Ghost has a trail of blood falling from his forehead.

"Are you alright?" Concern is a rotten pit in my stomach.

"Better than ever," he snarks sarcastically.

He's still got his shitty humor, so he's alright. Thank God.

"How the hell did we get caught?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Ghost sighs deeply. "It wasn't Ahmad or Cyra's doing that's for sure."

"Yeah, no shit," I scoff in disbelief.

We sit in silence for a few moments.

"Have you ever been interrogated before?" Ghost asks me.

"I've not."

Ghost takes a deep breath and it's shaky, like he's scared.

"No matter what," he starts, his eyes burning into me. "You give them nothing no matter what. Even when they hurt you or me, we give them nothing, understood?"

Not if, but when...

This is the most serious he's ever been.

I nod my head at him to confirm and take a deep breath. I don't know what to expect but what I can expect is that it's not gonna be pretty.

Hassan and two guards enter the room shortly after our conversation.

One of the guards is carrying a jug of water and a cloth bag.

Waterboarding.

The other guard is holding a baton.

That's not gonna feel good...

"How are my good friends from the Task Force doing?" Hassan smirks smugly.

"How?" Ghost asks, deadpan.

"How what?" Hassan waves his hand, playing stupid.

"How did you discover us?" Ghost snarls.

Hassan smirks as he circles us. "Your good friend Graves paid me a visit and told me all about you two."

God-fucking-dammit.

And here we were expecting actual Shadows to attack us. This is not what we thought would happen.

Even still, it's quite the attack.

Ghost scoffs, the sound dripping with disdain, "Fucking Shadow."

"And now..." Hassan kneels in front of us. "You're going to tell me everything about 141, where they are, and where they have my missiles."

His missiles? This fucking guy.

"Don't think we'll be doing that. Right, Sergeant Roberts?" Ghost looks at me.

"That's right, Lieutenant," I wink at him and then grin smugly at Hassan.

"Your pride will do you no good here. No need to fear, though. We'll have you two singing before you know it." Hassan's smile doesn't reach his eyes.

He walks directly up to Ghost and without a second thought pulls his mask off.

Holy shit.

No one aside from me and Captain Price has seen Ghost without his mask.

I peer at Ghost and can see the rage on his face. His eyes tell a different story, though.

There's shame and embarrassment in those beautiful eyes.

He's vulnerable.

Hassan grabs Ghost by his chin and tilts his head back, forcing him to look into his eyes.

Hassan smirks menacingly. "Oh, what fun we will have."