Chapter 4: Always a Prisoner
When the helicopter was a safe distance away they finally stopped firing.
The senator awoke on the helicopter. He was bound and gagged. He struggled against the cuffs that locked him to a handrail in the helicopter. His head throbbed from the hit Ana dealt him. He could feel blood trickle down his neck. Everything was blurry. The sound of the helicopter was deafening and only added excruciating pain to his already throbbing head.
When his vision finally cleared, he looked up to Ana, who was calmly sitting on the floor, staring out of the side of the helicopter. She felt his eyes on her and she turned to look at him. His eyes were filled with anger and confusion. She bent over and casually ripped the duck tape from his mouth. "Yes?" She asked with a smile, knowing he had some choice words for her.
"You little bi-" he began to yell over the sound of the helicopter, but he was cut off by a strong hit to the stomach. One the soldiers had anticipated his words and rammed the butt of his assault rifle into the unprepared senator.
He buckled over and coughed violently. The soldier moved to hit him again, but Ana held out her hand to stop him and he obeyed. "Forgive him, Senator Holtz. My soldiers do not react well when someone insults their commanding officer."
"How could you? We trusted you," he said between coughs.
"I am merely following orders, Senator."
"The Justice League will save me. Then you will face the full weight of the American government." She laughed at his empty threat. "Ana, help me and I'll make sure you are treated fairly," he begged her.
She reached over and slapped him sharply across the face. "My name is not Ana. And I don't need your help."
"These people are just using you! Once you've served your purpose they'll kill you."
She turned away from the Senator. "I am a soldier of the guerrilla. I will serve my commander with out hesitation. I will carry out every mission, every assassination with extreme prejudice. They chose me. They raised me. They trained me. I am nothing without them and so I gladly die for them." Her words were rehearsed. She recited them with no emotion, no conviction. Even so, the senator was positive she meant it.
The rest of the team arrived too late to be of any help. They looked at the devastation around them. The guerrilla didn't hold back. The injured were everywhere. Fires burned all around. Cars were rattled with bullets. Shattered glass and bullet casings covered the floor as if the sky had opened up and dropped them on the earth like a heavy rain. "How did this happen? They had no way of knowing the senator was going to be here." Robin asked in disbelief.
"Ana and Agent Sanchez betrayed us." Aqualad stated.
"How is that possible?" Miss Martian asked in disbelief. "I read her mind she was telling us the truth." She thought back to the memories she had recovered from their betrayer.
"You promised her you would only look far enough to see if what she said were true. Perhaps she did escape, but was later recaptured." Aqualad tried to make sense of what was happening.
"After enough time they brainwashed her into becoming their little minion." Artemis finished his thought for him. "The Shadows have been known to do the same with their assassins."
"I can't believe this. How could I have been so stupid?" Miss Martian berated herself for not seeing past Ana's semi-truth.
"You cannot blame yourself. She fooled us all, Miss Martian." Aqualad offered to console her.
"What happened to the bioship? You should have been here on time to help." Artemis questioned.
"This isn't her fault," Superboy defended.
"It's ok Superboy," Miss Martian reassured him. "It was disabled." Miss Martian reached out holding a marble-sized metal ball. "I found this lodged in the control panel. It blocked my mental commands and deactivated the manual controls."
"Where could they get that?" Artemis asked.
"It's Martian technology. I don't know how anyone on earth could get a hold of it though."
Agent Ferril walked up to the team. "I hate to interrupt, but we have to get moving. Local police will handle clean up here, with some of my agents supervising. I need you focusing on getting the Senator back."
The Team had regrouped at the US Embassy in the city. It was convenient, close enough to where kidnapping happened and one of the few places in the city that was secure. The embassy was staffed by Americans and protected by US troops.
"It looks like she ditched my trackers and bugs." Robin said in disappointment as he pulled them up one by one. Then a sly smile spread across his face, "but there's one I know she missed." He typed furiously into the computer. Finally, a map appeared with a little, red blinking dot. It was still moving across the map of Colombia. "I got her!" he announced triumphantly.
"Awesome, where'd ya put it?" Kid Flash asked as he high-fived his friend.
"On her slice of pizza," Robin replied, with his signature cackle.
"Brilliant… but disgusting." Zatanna commented.
"Well, that tracker will be in her system for lets see…" he paused as he did the mental math. We ate at around 9 last night and its 11 am now. "So about 21-34 hours left of life on that little tracker…"
"How did you come up with that number?"
Robin shrugged, "ehh… it takes food about 36 to 48 hours to get from end to end." Robin looked up and watched as Kid scarfed down an energy bar. "Unless you're him," he said pointing to the young speedster.
"Again, that's disgusting." Zatanna replied.
Aqualad changed the topic quickly. "I believe Senator Holtz is still alive. Ana had plenty of time to kill him on the rooftop. Instead, she kidnapped him. The guerrilla must have a plan for him."
"Do we even know if Ana is her real name?" Rocket asked, clearly frustrated. She didn't want to trust her from the beginning.
"I'm guessing it isn't." Superboy said pointing to a billboard just outside the window. 'Ana Rodriguez sale en La Impostora [Ana Rodriguez starring in The Imposter] was written across it in big letters, underneath a picture of a beautiful blonde girl, with tan skin, and blue eyes. The Ana they knew had dark brown, almost black hair, fair skin, and big brown eyes.
"Hmm… Imposter… fitting." Artemis thought out loud. "Do you think she did that on purpose?"
"I bet," Rocket replied. "Prob'ly wanted to rub it in our face."
"That does not matter now." Aqualad said, again trying to get everyone on track. "Robin, where is she headed."
"Looks like she stopped outside of Neiva, in the Andes Mountains."
"See if you can… borrow government satellites to take a look."
"On it." Robin said with a smile. He typed away at the computer and after 60 seconds of solid hacking, he was finally able to commandeer a satellite or two.
Pictures popped up on the screen. Unfortunately, what they saw did not bode well for them. Soldiers lined every inch of that fortress. This was definitely one of their major bases. They saw tanks and jeeps, heavy artillery, and at least 150 men. Not to mention, electric fences around solid stonewalls and guard towers.
"How are we supposed to get in there?" asked Rocket.
"With an army." Agent Ferril answered. "The Colombians have given us their full cooperation. Their army is at our disposal, along with American Special Forces that should be landing in…" he paused to check his watch, "less than an hour."
"All that for one man?" Superboy asked.
"We have to send a message to the world. Americans are off limits. We protect our own." Ferril explained. "This is officially an international incident, which gives us tons of resources and, unfortunately, tons of publicity."
"Are we actually going to use all that firepower?" Miss Martian asked. She was uneasy about working with soldiers, men trained to shoot first ask questions later. The Team, they don't kill, but soldiers do.
"I am afraid it will be necessary." Aqualad answered. "They have an entire army at that base and by the looks of it, their security has no holes. A covert extraction is out of the question."
"Besides, we want to hit them where it hurts," Ferril added enthusiastically. "Put an end to the guerrilla problem for good."
"You believe this is their headquarters?" Aqualad asked.
"More than likely, yes. I think if we take that base, we will cripple the guerrilla, if not end it all together."
"Then we must move quickly to rescue Senator Holtz."
"As soon as Special Ops lands in Bogota we take off. Gives us enough time to plan our assault on the complex."
"Umm… guys I think you need to see this." Robin pulled up video on the computer screens. "This is streaming live, millions are viewing it as we speak, all over the world."
Senator Holtz sat before them in an empty, dirty concrete room. He was tied to a chair, his head hung limp and to the side. Blood trickled out of his ear and down his neck, other than that there were no signs of abuse. His clothes were dirty and torn and his face was smeared with dirt and sweat. Ana stood behind him, her face was emotionless, like she didn't even register what was going on. She merely stared into the distance.
A man walked in front of the camera. "I am assuming you Americans are watching by now. This is Senator Stuart Holtz from the United States of America, Texas to be precise. And this is my soldier." He walked around, behind Ana. He was a giant compared to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You call her Ana, I call her Cristal." His accent was heavy. As he placed his hands on her, she flinched slightly, enough that only Robin noticed.
"Cristal has been wonderful to your friend Holtz here. Look, not a mark on him." He took notice of the blood dripping from his ear. "Oh that?" he pointed at it. "That was me. Forgive me but I got frustrated. Cristal is subtler than I. The pain she inflicts is excruciating, yet at the same time, she leaves no trace."
He smiled as he circled Holtz, like a vulture eyeing his prey. He faked a pleasant tone, almost sounding remorseful, but it was all a lie. "I did not want this to go so far. I sent countless warnings. I did that out of the goodness of my heart." His voice hardened as he went on. "When you ignored them, I had to take action. The whole world now knows who is the guerrilla and what we are capable of. Let this be a lesson to all, keep your dirty hands out of Colombian affairs."
The man motioned to someone behind the camera. He signaled for them to come forward. Soon two large, hulk-like men dressed in army camo stood on either side of the unconscious Senator. "Now I must go. However my men will keep the Senator company." He walked out of the frame of the camera. A door squeaked open, "Cristal come with me." She walked out, following the man's path.
The heels of their combat boots clicked on the concrete as the walked through the corridor dimly lit corridor. The soldiers they passed stood and saluted to the two. "Piensas que te pueden seguir? [Do you think they can follow you?]"
"No, Señor. Inhabilité su bionave y boté toda ropa mía y del senador por el camino. [No, Sir. I disabled their bioship and threw out all my clothes and the Senator's on the way here.]"
"Bueno, tengo que irme. El jefe me llamó. Espero que tú puedes controlar la situación aquí. Los hombres pueden entretener el senador por ahora. Luego te mandaré un mensaje de como el jefe lo quiere ejecutado. [Good. Now I must go, the boss has called for me. You can handle things here. For now, my men can entertain the Senator. I'll send word later with directions from the boss on how to execute him.]"
He stopped and turned to her, "toma." He said as he handed her a ring of keys. "Vas a necesitar ésto. [Take this, you'll need it.]"
"Cómo tú mandes, Comandante. [Yes, Commander.]"
He walked up the steps leading to his small airplane. Halfway up he stopped and motioned for her to come to him. "Cristal," he said placing his hands on her shoulders once more. "Lo hiciste bien. Sabía, desde el principio, que tú serías mucho más que un soldado desechable. Manténgate enfocada y pronto subirás a rangos que nunca podrías imaginar. [You did well. I knew from the beginning that you would be much more that a disposable soldier. Stay focused and soon you will reach ranks that you never thought possible.]"
He kissed her on the forehead and boarded his plane. She watched as he took off. Her hands balled into fists, her knuckles were white. She learned long ago to conceal her anger, her hate. She channeled it into her missions or training, letting go of everything she had bottled up into her attacks. It was her drive. It fueled her. The guerrilla taught her that. Turn every useful emotion: anger, fear, hate, into power. Any thing else like compassion, love, hope, they destroyed that a long time ago. Commander Ruíz ensured that and she hated him for it.
She hated that man, more than anything in this world. Any target she was assigned had his face. She had killed him thousands of times in her mind and through the surrogates the guerrilla supplied. But she never raised a hand to him. She owed him her life. Even though his touch made her skin crawl and his voice was like daggers in her ears; in some twisted way, she owed him her loyalty. At least, that's what he convinced her.
She walked back into the compound, hoping to find refuge in her quarters. She was grateful for her orders. She'd do her rounds, then handle everything from the base's command center and didn't have to be privy to the guerrilla's cruelty. Better yet, she didn't have to deal it out for once.
She fiddled with the keys as she walked through the guerrilla compound. It wasn't strange that he left her in charge. He did it all the time. The place basically ran itself. The men had their orders and no one dared step out of line.
She got to her quarters. She opened the door to a simple room, a worn down twin bed in one corner with a small metal table beside it and a trunk at the foot of her bed.
She wasn't surprised when Commander Ruíz was promoted and stationed at the major base, just outside of Neiva. Nor was she surprised when he petitioned to bring her with him. She was, however, completely shocked when he named her his right hand. With that title came respect, mostly rooted in fear. But she didn't care about the power her position came with, all she cared about was the room. She now had privacy, something she hadn't had since she was first kidnapped eight years ago.
Cristal could barely remember life before the guerrilla and it was better not to try to. The memories only brought pain and longing. She grabbed the old wooden rosary on her night table and placed it around her neck.
She walked into a bathroom, or the dump that passes for one. There was a hole in the floor that was considered a toilet. The bathroom had a rusty old sink with a cracked and smudged mirror on one side and an old showerhead on the other side, no curtain, just a showerhead.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't recognize who she saw anymore. The person she was before the guerrilla died a long time ago. All that remained was an empty vessel fueled by anger and hate. A monster who survives off of pure instinct and whose only goal is to survive.
She couldn't help but think if this life was all the world had to offer her, maybe she was done with surviving. Maybe she should end her hell. It wasn't the first time she thought this way. The faint scars on her wrists were proof of that.
Focus. She thought, pulling herself out of her daze. She shed her street clothes and changed into her 'uniform'. Ever since she had been promoted, she didn't need to wear the camo anymore. She got to wear black, all black. This separated her from the other soldiers. She pulled on some tight black jeans and tucked them neatly into her combat boots. She reached for a black tank top and black jacket. She was ready. Tucking her rosary into her tank top, she grabbed her keys and weapons and walked out of her room.
Cristal had been walking around the compound for hours. Observing, making sure no one took a step out of line. She reached the far end of the compound. She stood before a large cage, twenty or more children inside. They were dirty some were bloody their clothes were torn. They looked pitiful.
Seeing them there, crying out of pain, fear, and loss, brought memories that Cristal would have preferred to lose. She was there once; she stood where they stood. She fiddled with the keys in her hand. She had the power to end their hell, to save them from living the life she couldn't escape from. She could free them.
She shook her head, trying to erase her traitorous thoughts. "Oye, buen hombre." She called to one of the three guards standing watch.
The soldier ran up to her. "Señorita," he responded with a salute.
"Hace cuanto tiempo que no comen? [How long has it been since they last ate?]"
"Ayer, por la mañana, Señorita. [Yesterday morning.]"
"Dales de comer. Necesitamos mantener sus fuerzas. [Give them something to eat. We need to maintain their strength.]"
"Sí, Señorita." The soldier ran off quickly to find them food.
That was it, she had traversed the entire compound and it was time to head back to the command center. She walked back to the main compound when she was approached by a soldier. "Señorita," he saluted. "Holtz ask for you."
"Holtz is asking for you," Cristal corrected. "You need to work on your English." Even though she did have a thick accent, at least her grammar was right.
"Sí, Señorita."
Cristal followed the soldier to the holding room. She could hear her men's fists pounding against the defenseless Senator from down the hall. Holtz grunted as the men made contact with his body.
Cristal walked into the room and the soldiers stopped immediately, "lárgansen. [Get out.]" They all scrambled out of the room, leaving Cristal alone with Holtz. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky. The men were only ordered to let out their frustration. The actual torture hasn't started yet."
"What do you want from me?" he sobbed, spitting blood onto to the floor. "I'm not fighting you. I'll give you anything, tell you anything. Just name it."
She smiled at him cynically, "we do not want anything from you. We just want to make a point. Now was there a reason you asked for me? Or did you just want to whine?" The Senator didn't answer. She turned her back and began to walk out. Guilt filled her. She had been where he sat many times. "A little advice, don't struggle, it only makes it worse."
Cristal sat in the bustling command center, staring at the plans for the next few days. They had three new villages planned out to ransack. They needed food and supplies… and children, little future soldiers. Tomorrow, they should receive more children from other smaller bases. They would train here under Cristal's guidance.
The plans made her wonder. Why would her bosses all of the sudden need so many more children? They were planning something big. She brushed the thoughts from her head. It was not her place to question her bosses. She just needed to follow orders.
"Señorita," a soldier addressed her. "El commandante Ruíz está en línea. [Commander Ruiz is online.]"
"Pásamelo, [Patch him through.]" she picked up the headset attached to the radio system in front of her. "Sumercé," she addressed him with the traditional Colombian title.
"El Jefe decidió mandar a Viruñas. Él viene de Medellín y llegará en unas tres horas. [The boss decided to send Viruñas. He is coming from Medellin and should arrive in about three hours.]" Cristal was shocked when she heard that name, Viruñas, one of their best, most vicious assassins. His work made her stomach churn and hearing his name made her heart race. Cristal wasn't afraid of much, but Viruñas, he petrified her.
"Mientras tanto, asegúrate que Holtz no se muere. El Jefe quiere verlo sufrir. [In the meantime, make sure Holtz doesn't die. The boss wants to see him suffer.]
"Como mandas, Comandante. [Yes, Commander.]" She responded, dreading the arrival of that monster. Commander Ruiz hung up quickly. She took off her headset and massaged her temples. This can't be happening, she thought to herself.
Suddenly, and without warning, the alarm rang through the building. That could only mean one thing, invasion. Gunfire, explosions and screams boomed through the halls, sirens and strobe lights added to the madness. "Hombres, a sus puestos! [Men, to your posts!]" Cristal yelled over the chaos.
She ran to the door, grabbing an assault rifle and a radio on her way out. Two of her soldiers followed close behind as she ran through the halls. The ground shook with the explosions from outside. They headed for Holtz' holding room, when the ceiling collapsed in from of them.
They were blocked from reaching Holtz. The soldiers waited at the ready for Cristal's command. She listened as her soldiers radioed in their defeats, one after the other. First, Building A fell, then the Mess Hall, the Artillery Room, Command Center. All of it was crumbling beneath her.
They were clearly outnumbered and outgunned. They were a guerrilla force. They kept to quick and clean ambush attacks, they were always on the offensive. No one dared attack them at base, and that left them unprepared.
Cristal reached for her radio. "Hombres, saben el protocolo. Húyensen y no miren para atrás, [Men, you know the protocol. Retreat and don't look back.]" she ordered calmly. She looked to her two companions. They nodded, knowing what they were about to do.
They took off down the hall. Five enemy soldiers popped up out of nowhere. Both sides opened fire. Cristal and her men took care of them quickly and continued on their way. The faced no more resistance before they reached Commander Ruiz's office.
They burst through the door and swept the room, making sure they were alone. When the office was secure, Cristal rushed to the Commander's desk. She pulled out a metal briefcase and typed in a code, opening it and revealing a digital handprint reader and a few red switches. The switches were labeled with different buildings within the compound. Every building or sector had a switch.
Cristal looked to her soldiers. They nodded for her to go ahead, but she was uneasy. What if her men couldn't get out in time? What if something went wrong? What about the children locked in those cages? She pushed her doubts aside. This was protocol, leave no loose ends, leave no evidence, leave no witnesses.
She flicked over every switch, then placed her hand firmly on the pad. The countdown started. They had five minutes.