Jack could hear the shouts of troop leaders and commodore's giving their
troops, their cadets orders to search the woods, fan out, and shoot anyone
that resisted arrest. They were only a few steps behind them now, five
maybe six more minutes and they'd catch up.
He stopped still at the edge of a lake, pooled into by the river Guadiaro, unfortunately too still to hide them, but he got an idea. "Strip." He ordered Nina, as he shrugged off his backpack and utility jacket, dropping them to the floor.
She removed her backpack and jacket, and watched as Jack pulled out the pair of trousers he'd brought rolled up in his backpack. He unzipped his trousers, and she averted her eyes, instead finding the skirt in her own backpack, and tugging it on before removing her bottoms.
When she'd changed, she pushed all of her things into her pack, double zipping it closed. Jack grabbed the straps and tossed it into the lake, and lifted his own when Nina grabbed his arm, stopping him. "The code key?" She questioned, pulling the pack back.
"We need the frame, not the painting." He whispered, noticing a flashlight out of the corner of his eye, and pulled his arm free, tossing the painting into the lake.
The flashlights approached and the shouting began to surround them, soon one of the cadets would look past the nearby trees and note that the still figures by the lake were people, and when that happened, they needed a story.
Jack pulled Nina to him, wrapping his arms low on her waist. "We are out here for a walk, if they ask for details about our stay - tell them. Is there anything in the car?" He whispered into her ear, judging how fast the locals were approaching from the rise in volume.
"I don't think so." She replied, wracking her brains, thinking through the last time she'd looked in the glove box, in the boot, if there was anything under the seat, on the back, anything what so ever that could incriminate them. There wasn't anything that sprung instantly to mind.
Jack nodded, and then sat down on the ground, he extended a hand up to Nina, who accepted it, upon eyeing the approaching militia. Nina Archer sat in her husband's lap, leaning into his warm embrace, watching the moonlight on the water.
-24-
"So, my commodore tells me your name is Jonathon Archer." Began the thirty something interrogator. He was the fourth person to come in to talk to him since he'd been forced into this chair and handcuffed to the desk, but he was the first one to be out of uniform.
He was probably a senior agent who'd been dragged out of bed when the alarms had gone off, and then called in to interrogate whoever was found on base, which, tonight including the Archers, a honeymooning couple from LA, completely unaware that they'd stumbled onto military land.
"Yes." Jack replied, "I'm an American citizen, I'm here on my honeymoon."
"With your wife, Nina." The man didn't refer to any notes as he spoke. None of the previous officers who'd spoken with him had written any. The little information Jack had given to his subordinates was stored in his mind.
"Yes." He was getting testy, even though he was attempting to be as calm as he could, but being repeatedly asked the same questions that were completely unrelated to his situation was driving him nuts.
"She calls you Jack."
"Yes." Jack almost growled his answer, and the agent raised his two thick Scottish-terrier eyebrows.
"You know in England they correct Jonathon to John."
"Well in America we change it to Jack." Jack pushed back from the desk and stood up, knowing it would elicit a response for the posted airmen. They cocked their guns. "Where is my wife? I want to see my wife!"
"All in good time, Mr Archer." The man told him, he clasped his hands in his lap, watching as Jack slowly retreated to his seat. "Now, tell me again, why are you on my base?"
Jack let out a noise that could only be described as a growl and rubbed a hand across his face, brushing off some of the blood that had encrusted under his nose. It had bled when an eager young cadet had clocked him across the face. "I've already told your officers! I was out for a walk, we saw the water, we stopped, we sat down - a few seconds later, there are officers all around us, yelling at us in Spanish, dragging us away."
The senior official lowered one of his heavy eyebrows and turned to face Jack. "You're trying to tell us that you just happened to stumble onto a military base at the same time as one of our alarms go off?"
"Can't you believe that we were that stupid?" Jack said, laughing, trying to ease the tension in the room.
"You know in Japan they sell t-shirts with the writing on them, they say fucking stupid American tourist, and thousands of you buy them." The Spanish man laughed, and they nodded to one of his guardsmen, who complimented him on his humour.
Jack just nodded along, exhibiting a small smile on his face to show his co- operation with the interview.
The Spanish man waved a hand at one of his lackeys. "Coge carino a su esposa." He told the young men, and they moved forward, each hooking an arm under Jacks and tugging him towards the door. They dragged him along the corridor to another doorway, and the man who'd been interrogating him undid the cuffs on his wrists. "You will stay here until we decide we want to talk to you again." He informed him, and then Jack was thrown through the door into the room.
-24-
Jack hit the earth like a sack of potatoes. He managed to take in a mouthful of dirt before he remembered to shut his mouth, and he scrambled to his feet, brushing off his face and removing the mouthfuls of dirt he'd swallowed by spitting them onto the ground.
The interrogation room had probably been entirely steel. Reflective walling and flooring, the table had even shone where it reflected the light from the massive swinging bulb that only seemed to reach as far as his and his interrogators face, although he could make out the torsos of the men around the room.
They'd separated Nina and he as soon as they'd taken them into custody. She'd been calling his name when they'd smashed his head with a gun, but even then, her pleas had been fading. Jack hoped she'd been calling his name because she was acting in character, a frail society wife, not because of any real fear that she had had at that moment. He hadn't seen any sign of Nina after than.
Judging by their movements, they'd taken them back into the centre of the base, possibly even back inside the intelligence headquarters, which he was unable to identify from sea level. There was no way that the dirt on the ground in this room was naturally designed to be there.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the reduced lighting in the room, after the harsh glare of the corridor lights, his eyes had taken a beating, but the lights in here were hues of orange from the wall, which suited him much better. The ground was covered in a thick layer of earth, brought in from outside, but in the centre of the wall on the far side of the small room was a futon and a single bare mattress, so Jack plodded over to them and sat down, leaning back on the futon and resting his head on the concrete wall.
This was a purpose built interrogation room, and he didn't doubt for a second that there were cameras in there.
-24-
"I sware I don't know." Nina pleaded for the sixth time, reaching an outstretched hand across the table to the man who was interrogating her. He'd only come in a few minutes ago, but had taken a much more direct route than his predecessor.
"You shot three guards on CHOM." The dark haired, dark skinned man yelled, slamming his fists down on the table.
"I didn't shoot anyone, I sware...I'm just here on my honeymoon, please I want to see my husband." She begged, drawing her legs under her chair.
"Jack Archer?"
She nodded, silently.
"If this was all his choice, you can tell me. If he came here to do this, then you can tell me - you say you honeymoon? You do not have to be punished for your husband's crime." The man said, his sentence only slightly broken in places. The accent crushed every word though.
Nina wasn't getting anywhere trying to be reasonable and logical. So she played on his fatherly weaknesses, hoping he had some, and started sobbing, hoping she could bring herself to let at least a few tears come, it was easier than she expected "Please, I want to see Jack. Is he okay? Can I talk to him?"
The man pushed himself off from the table and issued an order he'd only made a few minutes earlier to Jack's guards. "Coge carino a su espose." Nina was hoisted to her feet, and one of the guards undid her handcuffs and then they led her to another room, opening the door and letting her walk in of her own accord.
It took her a moment to adjust to the lighting in the room, but the other occupant wasn't having any problems. At the same moment the door shut, Jacks arms surrounded her, pressing her tightly against his chest. The momentary confusion disappeared after a second, as she realised it was an act. "I was so worried about you." He whispered into her hair.
Nina swallowed carefully, it may have been playacting, but her boss' proximity still had an effect on her. "I'm fine." She replied tensely, nodding into his chest, as Jack maneuvered her over to a comfortable seat.
She finally managed to extend her view beyond his shoulder when she was seated. They were off to one side of the room, a room with dirt flooring and orange paper walls. The room had a vague orange glow, from the lighting on the other side of the papers, and a strangely clean smell, considering the flooring, and the layers of dust that rebounded off the cushions when Jack sat down next to her.
"My interrogation room was like a giant metal box, this room looks almost farm-y." She commented, reaching a hand up to her face to wipe off the drying tears from her earlier display, and leaning back on the padding.
"It's designed like that, they're probably watching us right now." Jack said quietly. Nina nodded, they were going to have to keep up the married pretense until they got off the base. Jack was sat in front of her, watching as she wiped her face.
"What did they say to you?" He asked her, taking one of her hands from her face.
Nina shook her head. "Nothing, Jack, I'm fine."
"Did they hurt you?" Jack growled, believing the first statement.
She shook her head again, closing her eyes and leaning back into the couch, clapping out her own cloud of dust. Jack growled her name, causing her eyes to snap open and her stomach flopped as he squeezed her hand. "No, I'm fine, I just wanted to see you."
Her eyes were beginning to get used to the light in the room, discerning Jack's features together with those of the crumpled paper walling behind him. He moved towards her, pressing his lips on her forehead, and sliding an arm round her back, behind her stomach to pull them together.
She blinked several times as she stifled a yawn; his shoulder was temptingly close to a pillow at the moment. Eventually sleep deprivation won over, and she yawned loudly to the room, the bulk of the sound bypassing Jack's ears.
"You can sleep. I'll wake you if they come." He told her, glancing down at her tiny body.
Nina nodded, but didn't close her eyes, not wanting to fall asleep on top of him. It would be embarrassing to say the least, and now really wasn't the time to relax, not when they were imprisoned for espionage that they'd actually taken part in.
He stopped still at the edge of a lake, pooled into by the river Guadiaro, unfortunately too still to hide them, but he got an idea. "Strip." He ordered Nina, as he shrugged off his backpack and utility jacket, dropping them to the floor.
She removed her backpack and jacket, and watched as Jack pulled out the pair of trousers he'd brought rolled up in his backpack. He unzipped his trousers, and she averted her eyes, instead finding the skirt in her own backpack, and tugging it on before removing her bottoms.
When she'd changed, she pushed all of her things into her pack, double zipping it closed. Jack grabbed the straps and tossed it into the lake, and lifted his own when Nina grabbed his arm, stopping him. "The code key?" She questioned, pulling the pack back.
"We need the frame, not the painting." He whispered, noticing a flashlight out of the corner of his eye, and pulled his arm free, tossing the painting into the lake.
The flashlights approached and the shouting began to surround them, soon one of the cadets would look past the nearby trees and note that the still figures by the lake were people, and when that happened, they needed a story.
Jack pulled Nina to him, wrapping his arms low on her waist. "We are out here for a walk, if they ask for details about our stay - tell them. Is there anything in the car?" He whispered into her ear, judging how fast the locals were approaching from the rise in volume.
"I don't think so." She replied, wracking her brains, thinking through the last time she'd looked in the glove box, in the boot, if there was anything under the seat, on the back, anything what so ever that could incriminate them. There wasn't anything that sprung instantly to mind.
Jack nodded, and then sat down on the ground, he extended a hand up to Nina, who accepted it, upon eyeing the approaching militia. Nina Archer sat in her husband's lap, leaning into his warm embrace, watching the moonlight on the water.
-24-
"So, my commodore tells me your name is Jonathon Archer." Began the thirty something interrogator. He was the fourth person to come in to talk to him since he'd been forced into this chair and handcuffed to the desk, but he was the first one to be out of uniform.
He was probably a senior agent who'd been dragged out of bed when the alarms had gone off, and then called in to interrogate whoever was found on base, which, tonight including the Archers, a honeymooning couple from LA, completely unaware that they'd stumbled onto military land.
"Yes." Jack replied, "I'm an American citizen, I'm here on my honeymoon."
"With your wife, Nina." The man didn't refer to any notes as he spoke. None of the previous officers who'd spoken with him had written any. The little information Jack had given to his subordinates was stored in his mind.
"Yes." He was getting testy, even though he was attempting to be as calm as he could, but being repeatedly asked the same questions that were completely unrelated to his situation was driving him nuts.
"She calls you Jack."
"Yes." Jack almost growled his answer, and the agent raised his two thick Scottish-terrier eyebrows.
"You know in England they correct Jonathon to John."
"Well in America we change it to Jack." Jack pushed back from the desk and stood up, knowing it would elicit a response for the posted airmen. They cocked their guns. "Where is my wife? I want to see my wife!"
"All in good time, Mr Archer." The man told him, he clasped his hands in his lap, watching as Jack slowly retreated to his seat. "Now, tell me again, why are you on my base?"
Jack let out a noise that could only be described as a growl and rubbed a hand across his face, brushing off some of the blood that had encrusted under his nose. It had bled when an eager young cadet had clocked him across the face. "I've already told your officers! I was out for a walk, we saw the water, we stopped, we sat down - a few seconds later, there are officers all around us, yelling at us in Spanish, dragging us away."
The senior official lowered one of his heavy eyebrows and turned to face Jack. "You're trying to tell us that you just happened to stumble onto a military base at the same time as one of our alarms go off?"
"Can't you believe that we were that stupid?" Jack said, laughing, trying to ease the tension in the room.
"You know in Japan they sell t-shirts with the writing on them, they say fucking stupid American tourist, and thousands of you buy them." The Spanish man laughed, and they nodded to one of his guardsmen, who complimented him on his humour.
Jack just nodded along, exhibiting a small smile on his face to show his co- operation with the interview.
The Spanish man waved a hand at one of his lackeys. "Coge carino a su esposa." He told the young men, and they moved forward, each hooking an arm under Jacks and tugging him towards the door. They dragged him along the corridor to another doorway, and the man who'd been interrogating him undid the cuffs on his wrists. "You will stay here until we decide we want to talk to you again." He informed him, and then Jack was thrown through the door into the room.
-24-
Jack hit the earth like a sack of potatoes. He managed to take in a mouthful of dirt before he remembered to shut his mouth, and he scrambled to his feet, brushing off his face and removing the mouthfuls of dirt he'd swallowed by spitting them onto the ground.
The interrogation room had probably been entirely steel. Reflective walling and flooring, the table had even shone where it reflected the light from the massive swinging bulb that only seemed to reach as far as his and his interrogators face, although he could make out the torsos of the men around the room.
They'd separated Nina and he as soon as they'd taken them into custody. She'd been calling his name when they'd smashed his head with a gun, but even then, her pleas had been fading. Jack hoped she'd been calling his name because she was acting in character, a frail society wife, not because of any real fear that she had had at that moment. He hadn't seen any sign of Nina after than.
Judging by their movements, they'd taken them back into the centre of the base, possibly even back inside the intelligence headquarters, which he was unable to identify from sea level. There was no way that the dirt on the ground in this room was naturally designed to be there.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the reduced lighting in the room, after the harsh glare of the corridor lights, his eyes had taken a beating, but the lights in here were hues of orange from the wall, which suited him much better. The ground was covered in a thick layer of earth, brought in from outside, but in the centre of the wall on the far side of the small room was a futon and a single bare mattress, so Jack plodded over to them and sat down, leaning back on the futon and resting his head on the concrete wall.
This was a purpose built interrogation room, and he didn't doubt for a second that there were cameras in there.
-24-
"I sware I don't know." Nina pleaded for the sixth time, reaching an outstretched hand across the table to the man who was interrogating her. He'd only come in a few minutes ago, but had taken a much more direct route than his predecessor.
"You shot three guards on CHOM." The dark haired, dark skinned man yelled, slamming his fists down on the table.
"I didn't shoot anyone, I sware...I'm just here on my honeymoon, please I want to see my husband." She begged, drawing her legs under her chair.
"Jack Archer?"
She nodded, silently.
"If this was all his choice, you can tell me. If he came here to do this, then you can tell me - you say you honeymoon? You do not have to be punished for your husband's crime." The man said, his sentence only slightly broken in places. The accent crushed every word though.
Nina wasn't getting anywhere trying to be reasonable and logical. So she played on his fatherly weaknesses, hoping he had some, and started sobbing, hoping she could bring herself to let at least a few tears come, it was easier than she expected "Please, I want to see Jack. Is he okay? Can I talk to him?"
The man pushed himself off from the table and issued an order he'd only made a few minutes earlier to Jack's guards. "Coge carino a su espose." Nina was hoisted to her feet, and one of the guards undid her handcuffs and then they led her to another room, opening the door and letting her walk in of her own accord.
It took her a moment to adjust to the lighting in the room, but the other occupant wasn't having any problems. At the same moment the door shut, Jacks arms surrounded her, pressing her tightly against his chest. The momentary confusion disappeared after a second, as she realised it was an act. "I was so worried about you." He whispered into her hair.
Nina swallowed carefully, it may have been playacting, but her boss' proximity still had an effect on her. "I'm fine." She replied tensely, nodding into his chest, as Jack maneuvered her over to a comfortable seat.
She finally managed to extend her view beyond his shoulder when she was seated. They were off to one side of the room, a room with dirt flooring and orange paper walls. The room had a vague orange glow, from the lighting on the other side of the papers, and a strangely clean smell, considering the flooring, and the layers of dust that rebounded off the cushions when Jack sat down next to her.
"My interrogation room was like a giant metal box, this room looks almost farm-y." She commented, reaching a hand up to her face to wipe off the drying tears from her earlier display, and leaning back on the padding.
"It's designed like that, they're probably watching us right now." Jack said quietly. Nina nodded, they were going to have to keep up the married pretense until they got off the base. Jack was sat in front of her, watching as she wiped her face.
"What did they say to you?" He asked her, taking one of her hands from her face.
Nina shook her head. "Nothing, Jack, I'm fine."
"Did they hurt you?" Jack growled, believing the first statement.
She shook her head again, closing her eyes and leaning back into the couch, clapping out her own cloud of dust. Jack growled her name, causing her eyes to snap open and her stomach flopped as he squeezed her hand. "No, I'm fine, I just wanted to see you."
Her eyes were beginning to get used to the light in the room, discerning Jack's features together with those of the crumpled paper walling behind him. He moved towards her, pressing his lips on her forehead, and sliding an arm round her back, behind her stomach to pull them together.
She blinked several times as she stifled a yawn; his shoulder was temptingly close to a pillow at the moment. Eventually sleep deprivation won over, and she yawned loudly to the room, the bulk of the sound bypassing Jack's ears.
"You can sleep. I'll wake you if they come." He told her, glancing down at her tiny body.
Nina nodded, but didn't close her eyes, not wanting to fall asleep on top of him. It would be embarrassing to say the least, and now really wasn't the time to relax, not when they were imprisoned for espionage that they'd actually taken part in.