Chapter 4
Jamie's head was on fire, his throat was raw from purging the water that was being poured down his throat. He was aware his dad had been watching but he had no way to communicate.
"Your fathers gone Jamie, the longer he takes, the longer you suffer." Nodding to his sons, they continued the torture. Jamie was 'drowned' for 2minutes and then rested for 2 minutes. This continued for 30 minutes.
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"He looked about 40 or 50?" Erin offered as they brainstormed what they knew.
"Danny, in the attic, there's a box labelled 'Vietnam'. I know who his father was." When Danny returned, Frank started filling through the paper work, the whole time, he recounted the story. "It was 1968, i was a marine, we were stationed in the Quang Nam province of South Vietnam. I was in the 'Two-Five', 2nd battalion, 5th marines. Our squad leader had eaten a bullet and I was the one selected to take over. I was 19. We were on a search and destroy mission, search for the enemy and destroy. Deep in the bush, we found a 'mud hut', inside was a pregnant woman and her husband. There were 6 in our unit. I talked to them briefly but decided they were innocent farmers. 3 of my men wanted to destroy them, however, i denied them that as they were not the enemy. We carried on half an hour and made camp. I posted one man on sentry. While I was sleeping, the 3 men took off back to the mud house and tortured the husband. They were so sure he was a spy, in the end, he died. I woke as they were returning to camp, 2 of them took their own lives in grief, the 3rd was so sure the man was a spy, and he had done his country a service." Frank's hand settled on an incident report, " I filled the correct charges and the marine was dishonourably discharged. The formers wife was transported to a hospital where she later died in child birth."
"Do you know the farmers name son?"
Frank looked at his father and nodded, "Trang Xuan."
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Jamie's body was aching, he had suffered the sensation of drowning for half an hour, however, to him, it had felt like an eternity.
"Time to call" he heard the voice in the distance, it felt like the speaker was on another planet. Spitting as much water out as he could, soaking up the 'rest' period, his body started to shiver, he felt a blind fold go on and a gag placed in his mouth. Sucking in as much air as he could through his nose, Jamie longed to hear his fathers voice, longed to hear the suffered would soon end.
"Frank, do you have my answer?" Xuan asked as Franks face filled his screen in the room,
"I do," Frank said softly, "Your father was murdered by my men, his name was Trang Xuan,"
"Well done" there was a half smile on Xuan's face. "i'm impressed, it did not take that long for you to find it,"
" I remember as many men, woman and children that died under my watch as possible. I am sorry for your loss Xuan, but you must listen." Franks eyes pleaded with Xuan as he looked gently at his son on the table. Jamie was shivering uncontrollably, still gagged and blindfolded, Frank longed to see his sons grey eyes, but at least he was still alive, "I did not give the order to return to your parents house. I was unaware of their intentions and they acted without my knowledge. This is not my fault nor is it Jamie's," Frank pleaded,
"I understand, however, were you not in charge of that unit? Were you not put in charge of looking after the innocent? Were you not responsible for keeping your men in line?" Xuan's eyes lit up, energy had started to pour through his body at Franks attempt to save his son,
"Yes, yes I was,"
"Then there is no argument!" Xuan yelled suddenly, Jamie jumped at the sudden noise and Frank stepped back, hand over his mouth at the fury from the man in front of him. "Jamie will be placed in a cot to rest for 2 hours, check back in then for your next mission, commissioner" Xuan spat the last part out, no longer hiding his distaste for Frank. Frank watched as the screen went black.
"Get him in the room, lower the temperature, make the little prick freeze for the next 2 hours but make sure he does not die" Xuan ordered his sons, he proceeded to roughly removed Jamie from his restraints and drag him to his room.
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Frank stared at the black screen for a few minutes before looking at his family. "Danny, check in with Jackie and see what she has, i'm going to talk to Baker. Pop, Erin, you both find out what you can on this man, check land holdings, bank accounts..."
"We got it dad," Erin interrupted, "go."
Nodding, Frank and Danny left at the same time,
"We'll find him gramps," Erin said softly as she noticed her grandfather still staring at the screen,
"We have to Erin, Frank can not bury another child and I, sure as hell, will not bury another grandchild. " Nodding, Erin pulled her jacket on and led her grandfather out.
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Jamie had heard the argument between this man and his father, his head had stopped spinning. He knew he had 2 hours rest, but after being dumped in his room, Jamie wondered what they meant by rest. It was freezing, his clothes still wet from the drowning, were clinging to his body, his hair was still dripping and there was no blanket. His saving grace was the gag and blind fold had been removed.
"Jesus, Mum, Joe, any of you listening?" he whispered, his arms wrapped out his torso and his knees drawn up, "stay with me, please, help dad, please" his voice shook as another wave of shivers took control of his body, " don't leave me again..." he closed his eyes, trying to keep as much warmth in his body as possible, but sleep would not come to the hurt officer.
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The Raegan's met at the house close to the deadline as possible. Baker hadn't found much except for the autopsy report for Xuans parents but was diving head first into the task of finding more information.
Jackie also had come up with nothing but was continuing on from Henry's and Erin's search.
Standing by the computer, the house was deathly quiet. Nobody had anything to say, nobody was ready for what was to come but they knew they had to be there, they had to watch.
Dead on the 2 hour mark, the computer whirred to life, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room was Jamie. He was deathly pale but alive. His gag was in place as was his blind fold but Frank could see the rising and falling of his chest, his son was alive, his son was still fighting,
"Jamie..." at the sound of his name, Jamie's head whipped up, "Jamie its..."
"Enough" Xuan entered the screen forcing Frank to stop, "are you ready for your next task?" Xuan's face had hardened, he had 2 hours of thinking, 2 hours of hatred towards Frank Raegan,
"Do i have a choice?"
"Only if you want to save your son."
"Then yes, i am ready." Frank stood up straight and looked the man in the eye, "what do you want me to do?" Henry sat heavily in the chair behind Frank, focussed solely on his grandson, he noticed the shivering, the paleness of his skin and the sag in his shoulders. He had heard his fathers voice and was sitting as straight as possible. Henry then scanned the room, looking for clues, looking for anything to reveal where they were,
"Good. When you murdered my father, a special pendant was stolen from my mother. I want you to find it."
"I was not there, I do not even know what it looks like," Frank said exasperated,
"It was not easy for me to grow up without knowledge of my parents, why would i make this so hard?" Frank nodded slowly, understanding that he was not in a position to talk Jamie out of this nightmare,
"What are you going to do to my son?"
Smiling, Xuan moved slightly so Frank could see his son again; Frank watched as Jamie's gag was removed and his head was held back, his mouth was held open as one of the son's used a syringe filled with a liquid substance was poured down Jamie's throat. His mouth was clamped shut to avoid him spitting the substance out. Jamie fought like mad, trying to get rid of it, but his weakened body gave out and he eventually swallowed. Letting him go, he gasped before a gag was again put back in his mouth.
Danny had vented his anger outside, punching and kicking the fence. Henry had closed his eyes, forcing the images away and Erin had stayed stoically by her father, her hand covering her mouth to keep the scream inside.
Frank had stiffened but not moved,
"That Frank was a poison called Strychnine. In 20mins, Jamie's muscles are going to start to spasm, he will eventually suffer from convulsions to the whole body, this in term will lead to hyperthermia. Eventually he will die of asphyxiation as he will lose the ability to control his breathing or he get's to exhausted from the convulsions," Xuan shrugged as if he didn't mind which one it was, "the whole process will take 2-3 hours." Frank closed his eyes, again wishing this was not happening his youngest, "I guess you have 2-3 hours to find the pendant." Xuan smiled again, " I will leave the camera running, so you can check in as soon as you find it. Good luck." Xuan left the room leaving his sons sitting by Jamie,
"We are coming Son, we are coming." Frank said quietly.