Chapter 4
"Keep the red-headed one for questioning." A guard gestured towards John, as Malcom helped him out of the back of the truck, letting him lean his weight on him.
"Hey, hey, hey, what're you doing?!" Malcom shouted as the truck driver took charge of John, dragging him along unceremoniously into one of the nearby buildings.
John grinned at his new friend. "Don't worry, laddie! I'll be quite alright!" He glanced up nervously at the driver, who was carrying him towards a pair of ropes dangling from the ceiling. "Oi, what're you doin' with that!" John's smile turned to a glare, as the German attached the ropes to his wrists, making his arms hang slightly in the air; his whole body bent forward.
A German in a heavy looking trench-coat strode through the door, fiddling with the leather gloves in his hands. "I see you've brought another prisoner for interrogation." He muttered, looking slightly uninterested.
The guard standing beside John saluted quickly. "His legs are wounded, Colonel Adenaur. He cannot go anywhere, except with assistance."
The Colonel smiled unpleasantly, while slipping on his gloves. "The man will have to learn to walk, Sergeant. Hand me that stick."
John's eyes widened at the sight of the heavy, wooden object in the Colonel's hand, but didn't flinch back. "If ye think I'm goin' to tell you bloody Germans anything, you'd be right wrong." John liked the way "bloody Germans" rolled off his tongue; he'd heard the term often enough in the trenches from his fellow British.
Adenaur tapped the stick against John's shoulder experimentally. "You shouldn't talk like that, sir. It's not good to curse at people you don't know; you can never tell their reaction." He circled around John a moment, thumping him on the ribs this time.
"I'll talk anyway that I like, sir, if you don't mind. And would you please get that stick away from me, I really don't appreciate it, sir." John turned his face away, as the Adenaur slipped off his glove and slapped him in the face with it.
"So, you think your opinion counts, hmmm?" He knelt down beside him, and made him look into his face. "Now…I want to know what the next move is for your men. Are they making another push across that frozen wasteland?" He gave John a hard hit to the stomach with his stick. "Are you going to tell me, you leprechaun, or do I have to beat it out of you." He snarled.
John bent forwards, trying not to make a noise as the stick met his gut. His eyes flashed, and he fought against the ropes. "I-I'm not going to tell ye, sir, and that's a fact. Do you really think that mere intimidation will bring me to the conclusion that I have to give you that information, you're very wrong, sir."
"Yes, but it generally helps. Now, tell me what I want to know, or I'll give you a beating that you will never forget. Are you willing to tell me, now?" Adenaur pressing the front of the stick against John's throat.
"No, I told ye before. I'm not going to rat out on my friends like that! I…ah!" He stopped talking, as the Colonel brought his stick down hard, smashing him repeatedly with it, fury in his eyes.
John leaned forward heavily on the ropes, and spat out a tooth that Adenaur had knocked loose. He smiled slightly, as he watched the Colonel stalk out, fury written on his face.
He glanced up, as the Colonel strode back in, this time with accomplices, all armed with sticks this time.
John sighed, and tried to make himself more comfortable on the floor of the building. It was going to be a long, hard night.
