“Name and date for the record, please.”
“Rhone Millis. 24. January 7 4990.”
“Thank you. Continue.”
“Um.. I didn’t have a mother. Didn’t have a father either. My brothers and me… we raised each other.
We would run around late … doing bad s***. Reck s***.”
“We as in? I need names.”
“I can’t… uh… It was these kids that I rolled with. They were just like me.”
“Okay. Tell me about your friend, JaKar Folani. Who was he to you?”
“… ‘Kar?”
A million memories flooded my mind as I felt strong emotions surfacing. I was JaKar’s closest friend, up until the incident. It had been about a year since I heard that name. JaKar disappeared and cut us all loose.
“Yes, JaKar.” The white man replied. He wore a beige jacket with navy corduroy pants, and tiny frames that almost seemed bulletproof.
The room fell quiet.
“Iain’t a snitch. Not telling you s***.”
“Now Rhone, I’m not asking you to jeopardize JaKar’s situation any more than — ”
“Nah forget all this. I’m out.”
As I began to leave, the man also started toward the door.
“Rhone, if you leave you risk losing your chance of — ”
“ — my chance of what?” I cut him off. “A plea deal? Less time here? What all that supposed to mean to me if I let down blood?”
I stared at the man as my eyes angrily quivered. Something deep down told me that I had no love for JaKar; that he was dead to me.
But I helplessly thought about the days of our brotherhood. JaKar and I endured all the highs and lows imaginable in this life. I remembered how much we despised the NIS (National Intelligence Syndicate) and everything they stood for. As I stared at the man, I got lost in my thoughts for a moment. He returned my gaze with a sort of confused look. He adjusted his jacket and a beam of light briefly reflected off of his NIS badge, hitting me in the eye. I studied him. Every man has a breaking point; I just knew I could find his, given some time. It was at least 4 agents just like him that I put in the dirt a few years back.
The love I once had for JaKar wouldn’t let me continue the interrogation. It wouldn’t even let me keep my composure.
The white man slowly lifted his hand to his face and adjusted his glasses. I felt my eyes now welling up with tears.
“JaKar wasn’t just a friend. He was like… a hero. He was our hero.”
The man started to dig through his virtual files.
“This young man is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people and you call him a hero?”
“He did what he had to do to make this world a better place, ‘ight. He had no choice — ”
“To take or to spare; we all have that choice, Rhone. JaKar’s actions have long been deemed reckless, and selfishly absolute. Let’s talk about the Federal base in Benin. Last year. March 1st, 4989.”
He spread out a holographic layout of the aftermath of that day.
“Your leader Folani led a team of extremists and infiltrated this base, with full knowledge of its lack of defense and ammunitions. It was a neutral sector — a medical camp with several inoculated patients. He decimated the base and everything within a two mile radius, even killed some of his own men. Now, tell me you don’t believe the morality of your leader is highly questionable.”
He paused.
“Rhone, your compliance right now can potentially end this epidemic. When was the mission organized? Under who’s authority? This destruction… it’s professional work. Who did you hire? We need to know the details Rhone.”
I hadn’t fully accepted what happened that day. I knew sacrifices had to be made but I couldn’t remember what happened. I was on the extraction team, not on field. I only recall getting a transmission from JaKar to flee as fast as I could. As the extraction team exfilled, the impact from a nearby explosion knocked our helicopter right out of the sky. l’d been under the custody of the feds ever since.
As far as I was concerned, JaKar was the reason I was still breathing.
“You’re wrong about him… you got it all wrong.”
I fought back tears as I struggled to get the words out. “JaKar vowed to us he’d give his life for any of us. Everything we did, we did for a cause. Selflessly and wholeheartedly behind him no matter what. You got no right to sit here and try to tell me about him like you know him better than I did.”
The man took a pause and removed his bulletproof glasses. Our eyes met for the first time. His gaze was stern, focused.
“When I first heard about JaKar, he was nothing more than a young activist,” He began again.
“Here in the Syndicate we have vows we’ve made too. A creed we‘ve sworn to live by.”
“What that got to do with me?”
I felt the anger welling up again — an ego attempt to hide the sadness.
“What I’m trying to say is… We keep a close eye on people like him.”
“Right.” I snarled.
“Don’t take that the wrong way Rhone… but how does one go from young activist to terrorist in a matter of years? You and I both know he’s a threat. Not only to the Stonesville community, but to the nation.”
I smacked my lips and turned my face away. “Terrorist,” I muttered. We took another pause.
“I’m here to help you Rhone. It’s been that way since we took you into custody. I’m your best shot at freedom. Work with me so I can get you what you want.”
The man seemed desperate now.
When I woke up in NIS wristchains I could only think about JaKar; if he made it out alive, and if they took him into custody too. I was completely incapable of imagining him behind bars.
I didn’t doubt that would be his reality if they caught him, possibly for the rest of his life. But the thought didn’t even seem plausible.
I kept my eyes open for clues to determine JaKar’s status, but this man’s desperation was all I needed at that moment. JaKar was still out there somewhere. Probably laying low.
I could finally let my mind rest.
“Y’all see a threat.” I began. “We see a shield. Y’all see a problem, we see a solution. People like JaKar is just what this nation needs,” I said after I let out a sigh. I started back towards the chair, and the man followed.
“This nation needs murderers?”
“This nation needs heroes.”