The Trial

Few days after Christmas, Claudia's alarm woke her up to nearly complete darkness. She was so exhausted her eyes would not open properly, and her feet felt cold.

"I don't want to get up," she mumbled. She must have only fallen asleep a few hours ago after much tossing and turning. It was not the first time that happened to her over the last few weeks. Her mind just would not shut up.

"Well, that's the one advantage of being frozen out by the Order," Sirius said and turned over with a groan. "I don't have to get up at all."

Claudia reached over and gently rubbed his shoulder. "It'll pick up. You're one of our best fighters. They won't keep you out for long."

"Yeah," Sirius sighed. "Can't wait."

Claudia gave him a quick kiss and climbed out of bed, regretting it instantly. It was freezing. She wanted nothing more than to climb back under the duvet and sleep for the rest of the day, but she did not have that option. She forced herself into the shower and got ready for work.

Once in the office, she downed a couple of cups of coffee and headed for her final meeting with the prosecutors.

"We had a healer look at him," Goldhorn spoke the moment Claudia closed the meeting room's door behind her. "They could detect some sort of damage, consistent with a memory charm. But they can't restore it."

Claudia took a deep breath, unable to hold her tongue any longer. "I know I'm not supposed to speculate-"

"You're not," Goldhorn said but trailed off, making it clear that she was willing to listen.

"But," Claudia continued tentatively. She's been holding onto this thought for weeks. "I don't get the sense this was Mulciber's idea. Why would he go after Buttons and Ted? Why choose such a stealth way of murdering them?"

"You don't think he did it?"

"No, I do," Claudia shook her head. "I think he did it at his own free will. I just don't think he acted alone."

"It's your job to find them, it's our job to make a strong case. The evidence is there to convict him."

"Maybe we should wait-" Claudia jumped in, not really understanding what came over her. She worked so hard on the case. Why try to throw it away? "To see if Mulciber remembers something else."

The prosecutors looked at each other. It took a while before Goldhorn finally spoke. "That's not either of our decision. Crouch is not going to let us postpone it. Not if he thinks he's got an easy conviction."

"Doesn't he care we catch who's really responsible? Rather than just some pawn?"

The prosecutors looked at each other again. "No…" they said almost in unison.

"Great," Claudia mumbled, far from convinced. "I'll see you at the trial then."

Somewhat disheartened, Claudia walked through the Ministry corridors back to her office. It finally dawned on her that the trial was tomorrow, and she was feeling quite nervous now. There was very little time to find more evidence to implicate someone other than Mulciber. Maybe if she- But her train of thoughts got interrupted.

"Avery, my office!" she heard someone yell.

She turned to see it was Crouch, peering through a heavy mahogany door.

The office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was grand. It had large windows, looking over the Ministry's atrium. Everything was either a deep shade of green or dark solid wood. Claudia may have had her reservations about Crouch, but he did know how to make a room look imposing. She could not help but feel that she would quite like an office like that one day for herself.

"Tea?" Crouch asked.

"Coffee, if you have some…" she mumbled.

Crouch shouted at his assistant to bring some coffee and gestured towards two antique armchairs in the corner of the room. "How are the preparations for the Mulciber trial?" he asked, even before he sat down.

"Good, we have a good case." Claudia paused. "Although, there may be more accomplices, masterminds even," she added slowly. She needed to know if there was a chance that Crouch might be willing to hold off on prosecuting Mulciber.

"Let me stop you right there," Crouch said and passed her the coffee cup that had materialised on the table between them. "Mulciber is guilty, I'm sure of it. We are not postponing the trial."

"But-" Claudia mumbled.

Crouch interrupted her again. "I've been looking at the papers, however… All the evidence is circumstantial."

Claudia could feel her heart rate increase. Her hands trembled and she folded them in her lap to steady herself. She was not expecting to have to personally answer to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the merits of her case. "The prosecutors seem to think it's enough, and we have his confession too."

"And there were no other witnesses?" he asked and casually picked up some memo.

"No."

"No one who could testify they recognise Mulciber at the scene of the crime?" Crouch was speaking so quietly she could barely hear him.

Claudia shook her head. "It was just Fernsby – he's also on Moody's team - and me."

"You must have seen something…"

"Well, I saw a hooded figure in the dark, that's it. No way I could identify them."

"Think again," Crouch said significantly. "It would really help the case."

Suddenly, Claudia understood. He was not asking her to remember. He was asking her to lie.

"Think again, see if you remember his face," Crouch implored her. "It must have been Mulciber."

Claudia finished her coffee and stood up. "If that's all, Sir. I'll take my leave." She mumbled and walked out of there. Furious that Crouch would dare ask her to perjure herself during a full Wizengamot trial, Claudia apparated straight home to find Sirius was still in bed. He was clutching a closed book.

"What are you reading?" she whispered and collapsed into the bed next to him.

"Scamander's memoirs," Sirius said after glancing at the cover.

"Anything else you were up to today?"

"This or that."

"Did you have dinner?"

"I'm not hungry…"

"Come on, I'll make you something." She gave Sirius a brief kiss and jumped out of the bed again. "I'm also going to make some light sleeping draught. Trial is tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. Haven't slept properly for weeks."

"You nervous?" Sirius asked and slowly followed her out of bed and into the kitchen.

"A little," Claudia sighed. "But mostly just pissed," she added and went on to recall the conversation with Crouch. By the time she finished, both the food and the draught was ready.

"But he did do it, right?" Sirius shrugged. "Mulciber is guilty."

"That doesn't mean I should be lying during a trial!" Claudia exclaimed, annoyed Sirius would take Crouch's side. "The rules-"

"Oh, fuck the rules…" Sirius interrupted her. "Why spend so much time on this bloody trial if everyone knows he did it?! I'd thought you have better things to do."

Claudia just stared at him. She was not annoyed anymore. Instead, it hurt. How could he, after so much work… Tears were forcing their way into her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Sirius mumbled.

"Don't bother coming tomorrow if you think my work is a waste of time…" Claudia snapped and put a bowl of food on the kitchen table in front of him with a loud thud. "Enjoy your food. I'm going to the shower."

She stomped off towards the bathroom and turned on the hot shower. But the moment she was in the tub, she crumbled to the ground and started to sob. Whether it was exhaustion, nerves, or just frustration, she had no idea. She wanted nothing more than for Sirius to come into the bathroom and hold her. But she had too much pride to tell him that, or to hug him herself.

Eventually, she managed to get out of the shower, drank her sleeping draught and went to bed. Just before the sleeping draught took hold of her, she could feel Sirius climbing into bed to join her.

"I promise to be there tomorrow, alright?" he whispered and kissed her hair.

With her last remaining strength, Claudia shuffled closer to him to feel his warmth, he just about managed to wrap his arms around her before she fell asleep.

By nine in the morning, Claudia found herself in the public gallery of one of the Wizengamot's courtrooms. Sirius was still sleeping when she left and was bound to come later, but Barraclough was with her, which had calmed her nerves somewhat.

Ted was the first person to give his testimony, but it was no use. He did not remember where and when he was placed under the Imperius Curse, and neither had he any recollection of what happened to him after that.

The next witness up was the surviving locksmith. As expected, he kept denying everything and blaming his wife. Until, about ten minutes into his questioning, something unexpected had happened. When asked if he knew Mulciber, the locksmith took a long pause.

"Yes," he mumbled and glanced at Crouch, who was presiding over the trial. "He came to the shop often on the orders of the Dark Lord." He took another long pause. Another glance at Crouch. "He mentioned he was an Imperio specialist."

Claudia could feel Barraclough's whole body had tensed up. She could swear there were gasps in the gallery from the other people familiar with the case.

"Why didn't the bastard say anything before?" Barraclough hissed.

"Well," Claudia whispered bitterly. "I suspect because Crouch only told him to say this very recently…"

"Crouch wouldn't have."

"He did ask me to say I saw Mulciber on the scene just yesterday."

"Why the fuck-" Barraclough barked but stopped abruptly when people turned and shushed him. "Why didn't you say anything?" he continued in a whisper.

"I didn't realise he'd take it any further." She paused and sighed. "What do we do?"

Mercifully, this question became arbitrary the moment Mulciber's defender began to cross-examine the locksmith. His account of meeting Mulciber was so inconsistent that even Crouch had to ask the Wizengamot to disregard it.

Moody and Oscar were questioned too but it did not reveal anything new. Claudia was the second to last witness to go. Her stomach felt like it was weighted down by a huge stone, and her throat was closing. As she sat down on the stand, she glanced around the room. Sirius was still nowhere to be seen, but Oscar and Ewan had taken seats in the back row. Even Moody took Claudia's old seat next to Barraclough.

"You were one of the two aurors that interrupted the attempted murder of Edward Tonks, correct?" Goldhorn began the questioning.

"Yes."

"What did you see?"

"I saw a hooded figure pointing a wand at Mr Tonks as he was tying a noose. My assumption is that he was under the Imperius Curse, because once the assailant vanished and his wand's connection was broken, Mr Tonks' state of mind altered. He became alert and began wondering where he was. He showed no intention to continue the suicide attempt."

"Did you recognise the assailant?"

"No," Claudia said resolutely, her eyes planted firmly on Goldhorn. It made her feel a little warm on the inside to defy Crouch in this way.

"What happened next?"

Calmly and factually, Claudia recounted the rest of the case. How they found the key in the bushes and traced it to the store in Manchester. How they learned the proprietors were murdered by Mulciber. How they went after him, but he was gone, until he resurfaced in Glasgow. With that, it was the defence's turn.

"All of the evidence is circumstantial," the defender began. "All they have that ties the defendant to these murders is a one scream of a dying woman. Or do you have any actual evidence?" he asked aggressively.

"A box matching the key found at the scene was found in the defendant's apartment-"

But the defender jumped in. "Anyone could've placed-"

"Sir," Claudia turned to Crouch. It was her turn to interrupt. "I haven't quite finished. And we have a verbal confession immediately after his arrest, and a signed one upon return to the Ministry.

"Yes, the defendant's arrest," the defender went on. "You were the arresting auror, correct?"

"Yes."

"How did you find the defendant?"

"I obtained a tip from a confidential informant with the address that Mulciber was hiding at. I visited the address, but the property was burned down. The muggle landlady gave me an address of the shop where he worked, and I followed him to his new place of residence from there."

"Who is this confidential informant?"

Claudia did not get to answer that question as Goldhorn objected, arguing that revealing the identity would put their life at risk. Crouch agreed.

"Fine, a different question." The defender was visibly annoyed. "The search of the shop in Manchester where those keys were found. It was a big place but yet, I understand that the key was find within minutes. How?"

Claudia bit her lip to make sure she did not lose her composure. This was not something even Goldhorn picked up on. She must not mess this up. "I was not the one who found it."

"So you are just saying you got lucky?"

"I'm saying I was not the one who found it. Inspector Moody did and you already questioned him about it."

"Who tipped you off?"

"Do you need me to repeat it again?" Claudia hissed and caught a glimpse of Oscar and Ewan giggling together. "I was not the one who found the key. I was conducting a search in a different room when Inspector Moody made the discovery."

"But how did-" the defender began but did not get to ask his question.

"Move on," Crouch growled.

"Fine…" The defender grumbled. "This Muggle landlady. Did you tell her who you were?"

"Of course not. I'm well aware of the Statute of Secrecy."

"So what did you do?"

"I told the hospital I was her daughter, but told her I was from the police."

"So, deception..." The prosecutor smirked.

"What was I supposed to tell them?" Claudia lost her temper properly for the first time. "And what difference does it make? If I was from the muggle police, they would've let me in."

"Do you often lash out in anger, Miss Avery?" The defender said silkily.

Goldhorn was now on her feet again. "How exactly is this relevant?"

"We are trying to establish a pattern of behaviour. Miss Avery has previously been disciplined."

Claudia caught Moody in the crowd. He looked like he was getting up to clobber the defender to death with his chair. Bit Barraclough dragged him down to sit again. That cheered her up. She took a deep breath.

"So, what's your answer?" The defender insisted. "Do you have a temper-problem?"

"No," Claudia said with a forced smile. "I would consider myself very even-tempered."

"But Rosier-" the defender kept pressing.

"Enough!" Crouch roared. "Move on. This is irrelevant."

The defender was visibly annoyed, having his third line of argument blocked by Crouch. It occurred to Claudia that having Crouch, who was in charge of both the Auror Office and the prosecutors, presiding over the trial was not exactly fair.

"Can you tell us what state of mind Mulciber was in when you arrested him?" The defender sounded almost resigned now.

"He was calm. He didn't fight back. And he confessed immediately."

"Did you find that an unusual reaction?"

Claudia did not find it just unusual. She found it fucking weird. But she could not say that. "Well, he was the first person I ever arrested so I don't have much to compare it to."

Crouch was getting fidgety again. "Wrap it up," he barked at the defence. "If you still want to interview that healer. He's the last witness, correct?"

The defender sighed and nodded. "No further questions..."

Relieved it was over for her, Claudia sat back down in the gallery. All her colleagues patted her on the back, but she did not much care. The only person she wanted to see there was missing. She wanted to write to him, to tell him just how much it hurt that he would just ignore something she worked so hard on. But she did not dare open her notebook right in between Moody and Barraclough. It was still an illegal artefact.

"Is Mulciber not going on the stand?" Barraclough whispered, leaning over to her.

Claudia shook her head. "Goldhorn thought the signed confession was good enough, and his defence are not putting him up."

"That does not bode well for Mulciber."

Claudia was so torn between wanting to feel sorry for Sirius and yelling at him for not caring about her, that she barely listened to the healer's testimony. All she remembered was that they examined Mulciber and were fairly certain part of his memory was erased. But, importantly, they thought none of it was altered.

The prosecutor quizzed them whether that wiped memory could somehow be recovered, but the healer did not think so, not without risking permanent damage. On the back of the healer's testimony, the defence made the case that Mulciber was not in the right state of mind, and thus his confession was meaningless. And without the confession, the prosecutors had nothing. But Crouch ruled that the confession stood, and it was time for the Wizengamot to vote on the individual charges.

"Murder of Philip Buttons?"

Claudia held her breath as she watched a sea of hands fly up.

"Guilty." Crouch ruled, and every muscle in Claudia's body unclenched. She sunk to her seat and smiled like an idiot as all her colleagues turned to mouth a 'well done'.

And on it went.

Murder of the locksmith? Guilty.

Attempted murder of Edward Tonks? Guilty.

Use of the Imperius Curse? Guilty.

"Archibald Barnaby Mulciber," Crouch said after all votes have been completed. "You have been found guilty of all charges, and I sentence you to life imprisonment in Azkaban."

Barraclough dragged Claudia to her feet and hugged her. "Well done, kid."

The rest of her team followed suit. Between the hugs, she managed to catch a glance of Mulciber. He was being led away by a couple of patrol officers. He was pale and needed to be supported. For a split second, Claudia felt bad for landing him in Azkaban for the rest of his life. But then she remembered what he did and began to celebrate again.

"Pub?" Oscar asked as the court room emptied.

"Am I allowed to the pub?" Claudia asked Moody, remembering his instructions to be careful and to keep a low profile.

Moody did that strange thing with his face that looked like he may have been smiling. "You have four other aurors with you, I think you're alright."

"Are you coming too, boss?" Claudia asked him.

"I'm buying."

Claudia laughed. "You go ahead. I just want to quickly go and speak to Goldhorn."

She exchanged few pleasantries with the prosecutor and then sat down alone in the gallery again. She looked around the now empty court room. She did it. She caught Mulciber and got a conviction. An actual, dangerous Death Eater was put away because of her. This is why she joined the Auror Office. She felt proud, like all the hard work worth it. But she wished from the bottom of her heart that Sirius would be here to celebrate with her.

She looked around again to make sure the coast was clear and took out the notebook.

"We won! We're going to celebrate in the Leaky Cauldron. Not suppose you're coming."

Sirius handwriting appeared shortly afterwards. "You'll barely notice I'm not there… I bet Ted is pleased."

Claudia shut the notebook and threw it in her bag. Of course, she was going to notice he was not there. And a 'well done' would have been nice too.

But she did not have long to contemplate Sirius' message. The moment she left the court room, she spotted her brother in the deserted corridor. He was standing in a dark alcove, only few yards away from her. Instinctively, Claudia drew her wand.

"Blast me into smithereens of you must," Marcus said with his voice breaking. His eyes were all red and puffy.

"Are you crying?" Claudia gasped, her wand still pointing at him.

He wiped his eyes. "Leave me alone."

"I know he was your friend. But-"

"Stop trying to guess my motives."

Claudia sighed. She was going to regret this. Slowly, she lowered her wand. "What is it then?"

For a long while, Marcus stared a Claudia's wand that was now dangling by her knee. "They sacrificed Archie," he said finally. "They wiped his memory and gave him up. Killed Regulus too."

"You surprised?" Claudia asked. "You know father has no remorse. You know how he treated me."

"I thought that if I did everything he asked, he'd –"

"What?" Claudia interrupted. "He'd love you?!" The mocking was clear from her tone of voice.

"This was a mistake..." Marcus sighed. "Forget you ever saw me." And he was gone before Claudia could reply.

Between seeing Marcus like this and Sirius' absence, Claudia's desire to celebrate had evaporated completely. She went to the pub but apparated home after a drink or two and kept the conversation with Marcus to herself.

When Claudia got home, Sirius was fast asleep, and there was a half-drunk bottle of firewhiskey on the bedside table.

She took off her clothes and climbed into bed. Sirius stirred but did not wake up. Even when he was asleep, his expression was pained. Claudia found his hand among the covers and squeezed it. Tears started to flow down her cheeks, but she supressed her sobs so not to wake him.

When Claudia woke up the following morning, they were still holding hands. Her eyes were all puffy from crying herself to sleep the previous night.

"When did you get back?" Sirius asked. He was squinting. "My head is fucking killing me."

"You should probably drink less."

"Probably," Sirius sighed.

She managed to get him into the shower and tidy the flat up a bit. She was so busy with her trial, she barely noticed it was in complete disarray.

"James came by yesterday," Sirius said as he emerged from the shower. "With orders from Dumbledore. I seem to be back in favour."

Claudia would have not expected to be pleased that her boyfriend was going to go back to risking his life on a daily basis. But she was. At least a little. Anything to get him out of the horrible rut he had been in since that failed mission that they all went on.

They spent most of the day sleeping. Claudia tried to recount the events of the trial, but Sirius did not seem that interested. He kept changing the subject and getting distracted by the most pointless of things. This annoyed Claudia to no end, but she bit her tongue.

The following morning, Claudia was getting ready for work when Sirius woke up.

"Where are you going?"

"Work."

"But the trial's finished."

"Mulciber's trial," Claudia corrected him. "But the Geneva case is still going, and I have a lot to catch-up on."

"Would it kill you to take a break?" He was now slowly getting out of bed too.

"I need to do this for Alice…"

"Keep telling yourself that." Sirius was now on a threshold of the bathroom. "I know full well you rather spend time at work than with me." He slammed the door behind him, and Claudia could hear the faint sound of a running shower through the door.

She bit her lip to stop herself from crying again, grabbed her coat and set off for the Ministry. There was no point barging into that bathroom right now. She would only say things she would regret later.

By the time she got to the Operations Room, Claudia was almost calm again. She walked over to the desks that Barraclough and Oscar were occupying and threw her jacket on a free chair. "What did I miss?" she mumbled.

"Absolutely nothing," Oscar sighed.

Claudia's eyes narrowed. "You've been investigating for two months."

"Yeah, and we got nothing."

Barraclough nudged Claudia towards a door in the corner of the Operations Room. "I'll brief you."

He then spent the next hour updating Claudia on the case. Anderson's trip to Geneva was organised by his private secretary and a junior official from the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Them, Adler and the two junior aurors accompanying him were the only people who knew the itinerary.

"So, one of them had to be in on it?" Claudia interrupted Barraclough's account.

"The two junior aurors did not actually find out until few minutes beforehand that he was going to take that route. Adler kept it to himself. So, the likelihood it was them is small."

"Well, it wasn't Mr Adler. He was the straightest man I now. And he died…"

"Oldest trick in the book," Barraclough replied. "If someone is passing information to you, kill them to cover your tracks."

"You cannot be serious," Claudia barked. "Mr Adler would never-"

"Just playing devil's advocate…" Barraclough interrupted. "But no. We don't think so. The Private Secretary definitely had the opportunity, but we couldn't find any motive. She's well-off, so no financial incentive, muggle-born…"

"Which leaves the International Cooperation guy. It's got to be him."

Barraclough sighed. "Well, he's in St Mungo's under twenty-four hour guard with no memory."

"Wiped memory?"

"Got injured in the attack. It could be deliberate, or it could've been an accident." Barraclough paused. "I don't want you to overreact… But he was in your father's division."

Claudia's eyes went wide. "Have you interrogated my father?"

"Yes, but he denies any knowledge. He says that itineraries are confidential these days and even he doesn't get to see them."

"So, he's basically saying that the junior official must have done it of his own accord?"

"Basically…"

"Not like my father to throw someone under the bus like this," Claudia smirked.

"In any case, the junior official was not the one who did the killing. At most, he passed the information."

"But if his memory has been wiped… We will never know."

Barraclough glanced towards the door. "This is top secret. Crouch had ordered the healers to get it restored. At any cost."

"But that could permanently damage him!"

"I don't think Crouch cares. But it's going to take time in any case… In the meantime, we have agents in Geneva talking to every single witness they can think of. The area was tightly controlled – no unauthorised portkeys, anti-apparition shield around the complex. It's bit of a mystery how the Death Eaters got there."

"Any theories?"

"Someone authorised a portkey or they stole identities of some other delegates to get in."

"Or they were the other delegates."

"Edgar Bones and his private secretary were the only other two people attending for the UK."

"Oh, so that's out of the question…"

"Why?"

Claudia froze. "No reason. I've just heard he's got a lot of integrity. Oh, and my friend works for him…"

"Right..." Barraclough smirked at her. "Nothing to do with him being an Order member, then…"

Claudia went bright red. Of course, Moody told him… "What can I do?" Claudia asked in an attempt to change the topic.

"You can sign up for the St Mungo's guard shift."

"Aren't patrol doing it?"

"For a suspect like this? Fat chance…"

Claudia did as she was told and went to sign up for the guard duty. She spent rest of the day reading up details of the case, witness testimonies, reports from searches. She needed to catch up if she wanted to be useful.

Her mind, however, was drifting back to the fight with Sirius this morning. One minute, she was mad at him. The next, she felt a little guilty. She knew he was not well and that he spent a lot of time on his own. And there were enough warning signs over the last few months to suggest that was not always a good thing.

So, she went home early. Sirius was collecting things around the flat, scowling.

"Are you going on the mission?" Claudia mumbled. "Be careful, okay?"

"Right." Sirius snapped and raised his head. "Would it be too much of a nuisance for you to take time off for my funeral?"

"Is that really fair?" Claudia hissed. "I've been waiting around for months for you to talk to me. For months I watched you retreat into your shell. And you give me a hard time because I worked a lot for a week?"

"Right, a week…" Sirius scoffed. "You've been avoiding me for months. Glasgow, the trial, and now that's over, you jump straight into a new thing."

"Let's talk now then. I want to. I'm here."

"I can't… I'm late for a mission." Sirius stood up and crossed the living room.

"When are you going to be back?" she meekly said after him.

But Sirius slammed the door without another word.

Claudia spent the next hour stomping around the apartment. How dare he? She gave him so many opportunities to talk to her. She put up with his moping and moods. And just because she was not there for him every second of every day! How dare he?

But then, she remembered everything he had been through. Regulus, Orion, James having a baby. That will change things from him too. She remembered how much she put up with her – how she looked after her when she was not well, when she was depressed after her suspension, the Daily Prophet's revelations.

Maybe she overreacted. Maybe it was all just cry for help.

The Italy travel guide was still on the coffee table, so she picked it up and began to read. Naples had the best pizza in the world. Sirius was going to like that. And there was a special museum with all the wizarding things that were dug up in Pompeii. It made her remember all the good things about their relationship. They had to be able to fix this.

She decided to wait up for him. It was a long night, wondering whether he was alright, running through all the things she was going to say to him. That she loved him. That she was there for him.

In the early hours of the morning, Sirius finally stumbled through the door. Claudia felt momentary relief. He was alive. He was ok. She run across the room to hug him, but he did not even move. It was like hugging a statue.

Claudia took a step away from him and began to notice things. He was covered in blood, he was pale.

She touched his arm, and he took a step or two back.

"What happened?"

Sirius did not say anything. He walked over to the bookshelf, grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and dropped to the floor.

"What happened?" Claudia was panicking now.

Sirius sighed and took a long sip of the firewhiskey.

"Sirius, you're scaring me."

"Tony's dead, the guy we were guarding got kidnapped. I barely got out of there alive."