He took them to the containment rooms and ordered them to take Nina first. Kalah opened the door, Anton and Pezel then entered the room. Her hands were already restrained behind her back with the tight plastic cuffs, so each of them grabbed an arm and roughly manoeuvred her out of the room. Kalah moved behind them with his gun out, listening to Mandras whisper instruction in his ear. Kalah made the appropriate signal to his men whom led the way. Mandras leaned against the wall, his broad arms crossed over his chest as he oversaw the whole thing; his presence seemingly intimidating Nina who kept her eyes straight ahead the entire time, not looking at him or where she was being taken.
It took a few minutes to get to the right room, they needed one big enough to hold the two prisoners, and empty too, apparently there would be no actual interrogation until further orders were given. The room was large, and held barely anything other than a large metal table and two metal chairs at opposite ends, all three objects screwed to the floor. There was a shelf, also metal, on one of the walls but it was out of view from Nina, so she couldn't make out the few contents which sat upon it. She was pushed into one of the chairs as she looked around the room, and was surprised to see no mirror, interesting.
Here hands were freed from behind her, but before she could consider trying anything Kalah's gun was pointed at her face, she would be stupid to make a move. Each arm was fastened to the chair with strong leather straps, as were her feet shortly afterwards. Once the men moved away she tested the strength of the bounds, they were tight, too tight to escape from. 'Oh well,' she thought grimly, 'we'll just have to see what dear Mandras is playing at now.' The three men left the room, certain she couldn't escape, and closed the door behind them, leaving Nina with her thoughts.
Jack herd the sound of a heavy door opening and had moved away, assuming that the men were entering his room. He was wrong, which led him to one direct conclusion; they were moving Nina. He was instantly filled with panic and curiosity, what was happening? Was she working with them again, or was she too in the dark as to what they were doing? Had she cut a deal, what would happen to him? He calmed himself as he realised he would have no way of knowing the answer until they let him out, he just had to utilise his skills and wait for an opportunity where he could take advantage of the situation. His chest still rose and fell faster than before, as the thought of her getting away hit him. From here or fulfilling her pardon - freedom was something he couldn't give her, he wouldn't let her have it.
He herd footsteps returning and assessed his situation, were they coming to kill him, or take him away? Should he try escape now? He thought through his situation quickly, he needed their attentions to be away from him if he were to escape; but if they were coming to move him he would be the focus. He needed them to think he wasn't a threat, or couldn't escape. He knew what he had to do, and although the direct consequence would be more pain, it would be worthwhile in the end. He jus hoped it wasn't the large man who had dealt with him before, he could still feel the ache in his head and the throb on his jaw where the mans powerful punch had connected. He reassured himself that if they were not coming to kill him, they probably wouldn't want him too damaged. He hoped not. He took a step back as the door began to open.
The two men from earlier were stood at the door, the third behind them, the large one stood by the wall. He didn't have a chance, 'but that's the whole point,' he reminded himself. As Pezel and Anton moved through the doorway Jack charged. He ran at Pezel with full force, using his hands as best as he could, throwing him into his friend. They both fell to the floor, unprepared for the attack.
Not giving anyone a chance to recover he charged at the next man, Kalah, who was starting to get into some sort of protective stance, but he wasn't quick enough, Jack jumped over the two fallen men, shoved the third out of the way before head butting him squarely in the face. He fell backwards, before crashing to the floor.
Jack hadn't expected to get this far alone so he risked a quick look over his shoulder, the first two men were clamouring up from the floor angrily. He pushed himself away from Kalah and made to move again, but a fierce blow caught the back of his head, throwing him back onto Kalah, both men were now sprawled out on the floor. His vision went blank for a moment before he realised what was happening. The large man was hauling him up from the floor with ease, he realised as he blinked, he squeezed his eyes shut as the man slammed him face first into the wall, once, when he hit the second time he could taste blood in his mouth, the third time made him incredibly dizzy and by the fourth he was ready to pass out, which Mandras also noticed. He dropped his prisoner to the floor keeping his foot firmly in the centre of his back, pinning him in place while the three men hurried to compose themselves, angry that the man had got past them but also certain he wouldn't try it again, not after what Mandras had done to him.
He lay still with his eyes shut, he assumed there wasn't too much actual damage as he couldn't feel any blood on his face, it was probably bruises but nothing serious. He realised this as the sharp pain in his face turned into more of a ache, joining the throbbing from his earlier encounter with Mandras. He didn't care, it served its purpose, that was all that mattered.
The foot was removed and the same hands dragged him up to his feet, where he found it surprisingly easy to balance on his own. He looked ahead and saw all four men had there guns out now, and looked equally angry. Especially the large one who had administered his second beating of the day to Jack. He grabbed the collar of his blue shirt and directed him where they were going. As they walked Jack struggled to keep up, he raised his bound hands up to his face and gently ran his fingers over it, there was some swelling on the side of his forehead and his nose was extremely sore to the touch, but there was no blood and he was happy with that. Surprised too, Mandras could have easily caused more damage than he had.
He was pulled to a stop and the same pair of hands that had been wrapped around his collar slammed him back against a wall as another metal door was opened, he wasn't sure where he was now, having been led down numerous intertwining passageways, and almost every door looked the same.
The door was thrown open and Jack was shoved inside, the hand on his collar once more. The man forced him into a chair and cut the ties holding his hands together away. Kalah's gun was aimed at him, so he didn't resist the other two men who strapped his arms to the chair arms tightly, he sucked in a breath as the hard leather bit into his skin. They did the same with his legs, Mandras standing before him the entire time, blocking his view. Once they were sure he was secure, the three men backed away, but the large one stayed put. He glared at Jack, Jack keeping eye contact although part of him wanted to look away, the way the man was stood meant that the light was in his eye, hurting his eyes and adding to the headache which had got stronger since his 'attempted escape.'
"Try anything remotely like that again, and I'll rip you apart, with my bare hands. Got it?"
Jack stared at him, his mind considering the best response. He decided a little more defiance was needed before he submitted, then his submitting would be totally believable, and they wouldn't be as concerned with him disobeying again.
So he continued to stare stonily at the man, who got tired of waiting quickly and slammed his fist into Jacks already fragile nose, finally drawing blood. Jacks head jerked back with the force of the punch and slammed into the back of the chair. He felt a desire to let the threatening blackness take over, but a hand ragged at his hair, pulling his head up, demanding attention.
"Don't make me repeat myself," the same deep voice snarled.
Jack opened his eyes slowly and looked at the man, before croaking, "got it," happy to submit. It would increase the mans confidence and save him the inconvenience of more pain. His head was now howling, his nose too, he needed to rest before he tried anything else.
The man muttered a response before moving out of the way, no longer blocking Jacks view. Jack squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again, and finally looking around. He almost gasped in surprise when he saw Nina sat opposite him, strapped down in a similar way. He hadn't seen her as he was dragged in, he wasn't expecting this at all, but he didn't let the surprise stay on his face. His exterior stayed calm, but inside his pulse was racing once more. What was going on here?
"I'll leave you two love birds alone for a while, I'm sure theirs a lot of catching up to be done between you," he laughed as he left the room, not bothering to bolt it shut, his prisoners were well restrained and couldn't move.
Now alone the two stared back at each other. Neither spoke, words were not needed. Jacks cold stare bore into her as he stayed deadly still. They continued to stay that way, both daring the other to look away. Jacks face stayed straight, even when a slight grin formed on Nina's lips, the same one he saw earlier that very morning in CTU, while he was interrogating her. He felt the same anger now as he had then, but this time he managed to control it, he would save it and unleash it later, when it could be used for something productive.
Thank you for the reviews, people. I appreciate hearing your thoughts about this!