Chapter 9
That night
"Wake up, wake up," a voice urgently hisses in his ear.
Syed struggles to regain consciousness, to force his eyes open. "What?" he mumbles, before realising that is it not Nazir. Terrified, he starts to cry out. A hand closes over his mouth, and he stares up in fear at a man he vaguely remembers seeing before, when he first arrived at the house.
"If you want to escape a fate worse than death, take this now," the voice urgently whispers in an accent similar to his own.
He remains frozen to the spot.
"Now," the voice sharply orders. His tormentor forces a couple of tablets into Syed's mouth, and watches as he automatically swallows them.
The monitor is switched back on, and the man has disappeared out the door in an instant.
Syed lies without moving, fiercely gripping the quilt with both hands, wondering if he has just been poisoned. Time passes; he has no idea how long he has been lying staring into nothingness; his heart is beating so fast he can barely control it. Slowly, his attention is drawn to noises coming from down below. There are loud voices, and he can make out some sort of loud thumping music. He starts to feel sick. "I'm going to die," he whispers miserably into the darkness. He closes his eyes and prays for God's forgiveness for the sins he has committed. His stomach begins to cramp agonisingly. At some point, he becomes aware that the voices are getting louder, and closer. If he were not sure the men were Muslim, he would have assumed they were drunk. The door opens abruptly, and several men burst into the room.
"Hey, pretty boy, you wanna have some fun," one of them slurs in a poor attempt at an American accent.
"Of course he does, they're always up for it," another sneers, reaching to pull the quilt off of him. They begin to tear at his clothes.
"We know what you are; a dirty little ga*doo. You sin against God, you have to be punished."
Looking frantically from one to the other, Syed's eyes light on Nazir, standing back, smiling a vicious smile.
"If only your mother could see you now," he says with a feigned wistfulness, his eyes gleaming maliciously.
Syed now finds he is naked apart from his underwear. Deep inside him, a scream desperately tries to escape; a primitive need to scratch, to bite, to fight for survival; but his absolute terror renders him helpless. Not a word can he utter, not a move can he make to defend himself; and his stomach is rapidly becoming a ball of pain.
"Hey, me first." One that had been quieter than the others, suddenly staggers forward. They cheer him on, as he roughly pulls off Syed's pants. "Grab his legs," he orders. Two of the other guys grab his ankles to force his legs apart. "You like to suck on men's dicks, so suck on these." He forces a couple of fingers into Syed's mouth. Everyone is laughing and cheering, and they fail to notice as he forces the fingers down Syed's throat.
Syed becomes violently ill all over him and anyone nearby, and kills the mood stone dead.
"You dirty fucking bitch," his saviour cries in horror, jumping back and looking with disgust at the state of his shirt and trousers. He turns towards the door, and everyone rushes ahead of him to escape, as Syed continues to projectile vomit.
#
The next morning
"Time to get up," Nazir calls in an upbeat voice as he breezes into the room, "today is the day you finally do something honourable.
Oh, my God, this place stinks," he moans, covering his mouth and rushing to the little window on the far side of the room to let in some fresh air. He cannot help but be overcome with guilt when he turns around and sees the state of his victim.
Syed is sitting on his bed as far into the corner as he can squeeze; knees pulled tight against his chest. He is still naked. His dried vomit is all over his arms and legs, most of the bed and part of the floor around the edge of the bed. He is shaking almost uncontrollably, and his face is a pale, sickly colour and covered in a sheen of perspiration.
"Nazir forces himself to walk over to the bed. Reaching out to touch his forehead, he doesn't need a thermometer to tell him that Syed has a high temperature.
"Syed, can you hear me?" he asks slowly.
"Hmm," is all Syed can manage.
He puts his hand under Syed's chin and raises his head to look into his tortured face. "Even in this state you're still beautiful," he admits with a sigh. "You're everything I despise: a weak, shallow, frivolous creature of no use to anyone; and yet ... I wish I could keep you with me. I wish I could ... care about you." He speaks his private thoughts aloud, aware that the video in the next room has been switched off as it is no longer needed, and that his captive is barely aware of anything. Knowing that this will probably be the last time they are alone, he is overcome with an unexpected sadness. No longer aware of the state of the room or the bed, he sits down next to Syed and gently draws him into his arms.
Syed sits limply, imprisoned, wondering fearfully what Nazir will do next; knowing he won't be able to protect himself. A tear rolls down his cheek.
"Syed, do you want to leave this place and return to your family?" Nazir asks, his tone gentle.
Syed nods, and another tear follows the first.
"You can go home this very morning, but first you have to do me one little favour. Will you do something for me, in return for your freedom?"
Syed nods, his fevered brain frantically latching onto the word 'family'.
"It's nothing very major or complicated," he assures, letting him go. "I need to get a package to this man." Nazir removes a photo from his jacket pocket. "This is my friend Khalid. I have arranged for him to meet with you in Albert Square at 12.00 noon today, a little over three hours from now, in the middle of the little park right at the centre of the square. You know the one?"
He nods.
"Once you've handed over the package, you can go straight home, no one will try to stop you; and you and your family will never lay eyes on me again. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Syed nods.
Nazir reluctantly lets him go. "Before you can do anything, we need to get you looking more presentable." He gets up off the bed and takes Syed's elbow to help him up.
Syed struggles to get his feet under him, but with a bit of effort manages to stand up; and promptly falls in a heap.
"You really are in a bad way, aren't you," he realises, a note of worry in his voice. Settling him back on the bed, he disappears for a minute and returns with a bag. Taking out a needle and syringe he gives Syed an injection into his upper arm. "This will give you a temporary boost," he explains. "You should start to feel the effects soon."
Syed doesn't say a word.
"Okay, let's try this again." Nazir puts an arm under his shoulders and half carries, half drags him in the direction of the bathroom.
"Nazir, Asif's on his way over with some final instructions. He said he'd get here in around five or ten minutes," a voice calls up the stairs, shortly followed by its owner.
"Okay, I'll have to meet with him," Nazir responds. "Can you take Syed and put him in the shower? He's very weak; you'll need to stay with him and help him wash."
"How's he going to be able to walk into a park without drawing unwelcome attention, if he can't even walk to the bathroom?"
"Do you want to do it?" Nazir threatens. "No, I didn't think so," he adds without waiting for a response, "so get him cleaned up and let me worry about getting him pumped up enough to do what is necessary."
Another pair of hands take hold of Syed, and he finds himself being carried into the bathroom and laid down on the floor in the far corner next to the shower.
"Keep still, don't move," his new companion calls urgently over his shoulder, as he quickly turns on the shower and goes to lock the room door.
Syed watches with a mixture of fear and bemusement as he grabs a chair and jams its backrest under the door handle to make it extra secure. He then proceeds to pull up a floorboard and remove a gun. As he checks that it is loaded, he makes a call. "We're in the safe place; we're secure for 2-3 minutes max. I've deactivated the remote control; there are three of them; they have semi-automatics and knives." He listens for a moment, and then says, "Good luck," and hangs up.
He turns towards Syed, who is obediently sitting with his head leaning against the glass of the shower.
Watching him approach, Syed suddenly realises that this was the person who forced him to take the tablets, the same man who wanted to be the first to rape him. "You're going to kill me," he thinks wildly. His eyes widen in fear and he makes a desperate, clumsy attempt to get up and somehow try to escape.
"No, stay down." His new tormentor reaches him in an instant and only has to put the slightest pressure to halt Syed's progress. He kneels down next to him. "We've no time. They'll be up here any minute, as soon as they realise I lied; do you understand?"
Syed nods helplessly. He has no idea if he will live to see another day.
Before another word can be spoken, they hear footsteps rushing up the stairs and someone tries the door handle.
The gunman immediately turns so that he is facing the door, with Syed behind him. He cocks the gun, ready.
"Isa, if you don't open this fucking door, I'll kill you and Syed, slowly, torturously," Nazir roars his warning. "And I can promise you that I won't rest until I find every member of your family ..."
As he spits out his threats, someone is throwing themselves repeatedly against the door, which is beginning to splinter ...
###
Later that day
"Oh, where could he be?" Zainab cries, ringing her hands in despair.
No one can answer. No one wants to admit that the odds of Syed still being alive are remote.
"Why did you have to bring him here?" she cries.
"I had no idea ...," Masood tries once again to excuse.
"And you, why did you have to fall out with my precious ...?"
Massive Explo*sion
#
News bulletin
"We have a report coming in of a massive explo*sion in the Walford area of East London. Ambulances and other emergency services are on the scene. Early estimates have the death toll at over 200. The ter*orist group ********* have claimed responsibility for the attack."