Chapter 3

Steve had lost count of the days, they had tried with Catherine and Jones, but their abductors didn't seem to bring them food with frequency. They had no view outside and couldn't hear the adhan from their cell. The guards' coming and going at their door didn't seem to have a frequency neither. Time was long and the discussions laconic, Steve had a lot of time to think. He missed his family, his friends, but especially Danny. He was terrorized by the idea of never seeing them - him - again and he was convinced that was about to happen. These thoughts depressed him, so he had done his best to avoid them.

So far, he had analyzed their abductors' movements, he knew that Catherine and Jones had done the same. They hadn't had the opportunity yet to share their observations, too busy taking care of their wounded colleagues. Steve, even though he had been sorry to see their deaths, was relieved, the two men had been in agony and survived that long only thanks to substances the Talibans injected them with.

When the three men returned to their cell, they huddled next to the fire. They stayed in silence for a while, thinking of their lost friends and what would happen next. It was clear to them that they had to act and for the first time, they shared their thoughts.

"Catherine, do you understand them?" asked Steve, whose Pashto was not as good as his ex's.

The woman spoke it fluently and might have gotten what they were saying when he couldn't.

"Partially, they want weapons in exchange for our lives, so let's just say we are dead."

"I expected that," answered Steve with sarcasm.

"So, either we leave by ourselves, or they kill us one by one," summarized Jones.

The three soldiers looked at each other, decided to fight. Quietly, they agreed on a plan.

In the following days, they collected any small metal, wood or fabric pieces lying around on the ground of their cell. Gradually, they were able to start to create small bladed weapons, which they hid in the cave corners or in their clothes.

When a dozen men came to get them for the next video, they each had a sharp item on them. They waited until they were in the corridor, just before the room where they had been recorded, to attack the closest guards. Their attacks had the expected success : surprise, immobilize and kill. The three closest guards hit the ground before anyone could react, and the Americans ran through the corridor without being held back. However, the shouts behind them started soon after, and rock bits were flying around. The narrowness of the corridor and its turns protected them from some of the shouts, but more than one bullet grazed them or hit them superficially. They arrived at the cave's entrance without noticing it. Catherine was taken down by the blow of a rifle butt to the face. Steve stopped short, the barrel of a rifle at his forehead, and Jones was taken down by a bullet to his leg. The men who guarded the entrance had stopped them. Their pursuers caught up with them and bound their hands behind their backs before putting Steve on the ground too. There, a shower a blows fell on the three Americans. Steve protected himself as best he could by curling up into a fetal position. The kicks and rifle butt blows never stopped. He was in pain, but didn't allow himself to scream.

Suddenly, the storm passed and he was back on his feet. He could feel the blood running down his skin on his back, his face, his arms, but he didn't think about being badly injured. He glanced at Jones and Catherine. Both were banged up, but their lives were not in danger… if he didn't take into account their situation. One of the Talibans grabbed Catherine by the hair, two others took Jones and Steve by the throat with huge pliers and they were pulled toward the recording room. Quickly, Steve started to pant, his trachea was being crushed by the metallic jaw and air had a hard time passing through the now narrow channel. In a desperate gesture, he placed his hands on the pliers' handles and tried to loosen their grip, without success. Instead, the pressure increased and he started to gasp. He let go of any sense of what surrounded him to focus on his breathing, allowing molecules of air, almost one by one, to enter his lungs.

He was suffocating as he was thrown on the ground, his fall softened by Jones's body who moaned at the impact. Steve moved to let his co-prisoner breathe, while he was himself taking deep breaths to calm the bursting feeling on his lungs.

"On your knees!" screamed one of the Talibans.

Steve lifted himself onto his knees with difficulty, his body wasn't responding well yet. He certainly didn't move fast enough for his abductors, who took him by the throat again with the pliers to force him onto his knees. The grip wasn't strong enough to cut off his breathing again, it was only to force him into position they wanted. He saw in his peripheral vision that they had done the same with Jones, but that Catherine got on her knees by herself and was in between them.

Steve saw the green light of the camera starting to flicker, but didn't say a word. It was useless to beg the US government to do something for them, he knew too well that they would not negotiate.

"Speak!" said the guard angrily. "If you no speak, you dead."

"You're gonna to kill me anyway! You'll get nothing from the USA." he declared with a hoarse voice.

The man winded his gun on and pointed it at Steve's head. The latter swallowed, but he was ready to die, he was resigned to this end. He thought of Marie, of Joan, of Danny, of his loved ones…

"Speak."

The face of Danny was so clear in his mind that he could almost see the blond in front of him calling him a Neanderthal. He was sure of himself and in peace when he answered his angry abductor.

"Kill me."