"Actually," Annie blurts out and Razak pauses to look at her. She clears her throat as if she has something incredibly important to say and continues, "Actually, I have. I have been tortured before. And by professionals, too. Quite the experience, really. It was awhile back, in Russia. You know how those Russians get, huh?"
She knows that she's stalling, trying to think up any kind of plan that will get her out of being tortured, but she realizes that she has no idea what she's hoping for. Nothing short of a miracle will get her out of this predicament.
"I have had quite a few business dealings with the Russians. Always willing to supply us weapons in less than legal means," Razak says and nods thoughtfully. "But what could the Russians have against a pretty little thing like you? Since you're not CIA and all that bullshit that you've been saying."
"I'm not," Annie says and no matter how well she can fabricate lie, Razak is already convinced that she is CIA and there's no going back from here. She will play the game still, tell the lie, but no one believes her and she's frighteningly aware of that fact. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I felt like a lab rat stuck in there. I mean, those Russians had some pretty creative torture techniques tested out on me."
Razak spares a quick glance at the guard that still has his gun trained to Annie's head, then puts out his cigarette against Annie's collarbone. The hiss of the burn makes Annie want to vomit more than the pain, but she just bites her lip and keeps from making a sound.
He lowers his face to Annie's level and smirks.
"It's just going to get worse from here," Razak informs her haughtily as he crushes the cigarette further into her skin. Somehow, she manages to keep a straight face. Annie smirks.
"That the best you've got?"
Annie spits in his face.
Kuwat makes his first appearance outside Sapphira's cell with a water bottle in hand. He tosses it to her through the bars and looks her up and down with a lewd grin on his face.
"Terima kasih," Sapphira mutters and tries not to be too sarcastic in her tone.
"We can use English if you prefer," Kuwat offers as if it's the most generous thing in the world.
"Thanks, then." Sapphira analyzes his facial expression in an attempt to predict his next move. Annoyingly, he keeps a very guarded look.
"We will be discussing things with you and your friend in the same interview room, if you don't mind."
Sapphira immediately knows what their plan is, and it sickens her. She's been in this situation before, where the captors offer freedom or even a quick death to whomever gives up information first. They pit their captives against each other. It's quite an effective strategy, she's learned.
If Auggie hadn't been a soldier all those years ago, he wouldn't have had the patience to sit around and wait for so long before charging in. People think that being part of the military means constant action, fire fights at every turn, building bombs and disarming bombs. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
If all he had to do was shoot a gun, his mental strength wouldn't have been tried and tested and ultimately perfected into the steel trap of perfect patience that it is now. It's been four hours but it feels like years.
He thinks he ate something awhile ago, but he can't bring himself to think about anything but the Annie that came back from the Russian prison. She was different, changed, hardened. He wants to laugh, deranged mostly because it's not funny, but when he brought it up to her when she came back, all she said about it was "Prison changes a man," before jetting off to her next mission.
He can't imagine what this is going to do to her. He doesn't want to. He knows he will have to face it soon enough, hopefully, because the alternate of never seeing her again is not even remotely possible. It can't be possible.
Blessedly, before his mind falls too far down the path of the unimaginable very possible outcome of never seeing Annie again, his laptop sounds an alert of a new message.
"It's Eyal." Auggie's voice catches Flip's attention and he shoots over to read the message just as Auggie decrypts it.
"He's here?" Flip's accent comes out more with the confusion in his tone. "Is that even possible?"
"I gave him the address of the building, so yeah. It is possible. What may not be possible is the law of physics that he clearly broke by getting here so quickly," Auggie runs a hand through his hair and stands to walk towards the door. "Come on, Flip. You'll love him. Cami, keep an eye out on security cameras.
The two men step out of the Dragonfly building to the front gate. "Anything?"
Flip shakes his head before murmuring a negative, keeping his eyes trained on any movement in the bright daylight. A sleek black SUV pulls forward on the street and Flip taps Auggie's arm.
The driver rolls down the window and Auggie knows he has never been more relieved to hear an Israeli accent in his entire life.
"Auggie! Open these gates!"
"Eyal, you fucking unpredictable bastard," Auggie mutters more to himself than to Flip and hits the button to open the front gates to allow Eyal in. He hops out of his car and immediately pulls Auggie into a tight embrace just like their hug at Langley what feels like centuries ago.
"Eyal, this is Flip," Auggie introduces futilely, as both men have already shaken hands.
"Good to meet you. Heard you specialize in breaking women out of unbreakable prisons?" Flip greets him.
"I also make a mean falafel," Eyal jokes and taps Auggie's hand. "Shall we go inside to strategize? I don't like feeling so exposed out here, but I have to give compliments on the structure of this facility."
"It's all Sapphira's doing," Auggie shakes off. "You can tell her in person when we get her and Annie out."
The three men enter the building and stalk the hallways like an impressively adept army completely in sync.
