AN: If I have any readers left, I am so sorry for the delay. But at long last here is chapter 37.
Chapter 37
Three weeks after Owen's initial meeting with George Granby, Jack was summoned to give his video evidence to be used in the trials of Oduya, Stamford and many UNIT guards.
Owen and Jack waited in one of the interview rooms at the Court Martial Centre in Bulford Wiltshire. Jack was very nervous and was pacing around the room. Owen sat watching him with worry. The paperwork that they had brought with them, including a copy of Jack's written statement, lay on the table. A camera was set up in the corner of the room.
Jack had been on edge since Charlotte had told him the trial was about to start. Fortunately, the court had agreed to allow him to give the bulk of his evidence via video taped interview. He would only be required to answer questions about the evidence live at the trial, and even then via a video link. He was only managing to keep as calm as he was since he knew that he would not come face to face with Oduya or Stamford or any of the soldiers involved in the abuse. Owen had briefed him about the clearance level of the people who would be at the trial, so he knew that he would be able to talk freely about his immortality, and could mention the Master, as the person who had previously held him prisoner and tortured him, but should not mention his reign of terror of Earth or the time paradox.
Jack had taken holiday time from the restaurant so that he could give his evidence. The trial itself would be more problematic, as predicting the timescales, and how often Jack would be needed, was a lot less clear cut. Owen had suggested that Jack tell his boss that he had been called for jury duty; Torchwood would provide the documentation. Employers were required to allow that.
Jack jumped as the door opened and three men and a woman came in. Owen recognised George Granby.
Granby nodded to Owen, and moved over to Jack, holding out his hand for Jack to shake. "Mr Harkness, thank you for coming. I'm George Granby and I will be conducting the interview today. Mr Tisley and Miss Lindsay will assist me with any information that I need during the interview, and Mr Jackson is in charge of the taping."
Each person smiled and nodded as they were introduced.
"Every person in this room is cleared to the highest level, and can be trusted with the most sensitive information," Granby assured Jack.
"He means that they know about your immortality," Owen elaborated, "so you can speak freely."
"Would you move over to the side of the room, Mr Harper," asked Jackson, "so that you won't be in the shot. Mr Harkness if you sit here, and Mr Granby you here." Once Jackson had everyone arranged to his satisfaction he moved over to the camera and set up for a test. "Could you state your full name Mr Harkness," he asked.
Jack did so, and Jackson checked to make sure the picture and sound were working correctly, before giving the go ahead to Granby.
Before Granby signaled for the recording to start, he needed to set out for Jack what he wanted him to do. "OK Mr Harkness, when we are ready I would like you to describe, in chronological order, if you can, any incidents of abuse that you suffered at the UNIT prison. You may refer to your written statement at any time. For each incident could you state exactly what role Colonel Oduya and/or Major Stamford played, and, after that, what role any of the guards played. If guards were involved, I will ask you to identify them from these photos." Granby spread out photos of twenty guards on the table.
"These taped statements will be used in the trial of Oduya and Stamford, and also in the trial of the guards that will take place at a future date. Since the evidence is so inter-related, the judge has ruled that you need only give the taped evidence once, although you will need to answer questions at each of the trials. Your evidence will be given under oath, and when you are ready we will start the recording and administer the oath. Do you have any questions?"
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
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Once all the legal preliminaries were completed, Jack began his testimony.
"At first I was practically ignored. I was kept in the dark and given very little food and water. Not enough really. But they didn't harm me, not directly. I don't know how long it was exactly, it's hard to judge, but it was several weeks."
"Then one day it changed. Four guards came to my cell and dragged me out. I could barely open my eyes in the light. They took me to an interrogation room where Oduya was waiting. He demanded to know the security codes for Torchwood, along with details of any important items in the secure archive. He also wanted information on The Doctor. Oduya told me that I would be hurt if I didn't comply. They took me back to my cell to think it over. I didn't agree of course, so the next day they started with the physical abuse."
Jack then described a long serious of violent assaults, ranging from vicious beatings to water boarding, that took place daily over several months. The violence had escalated as they failed to get any information. From the pictures, Jack was able to identify all the guards who participated in the assaults. Stamford was not involved as he had not arrived at the UNIT prison until the physical abuse had ceased.
The evidence was long and detailed. It took two solid days to complete, with only a few breaks for meals and refreshments. Owen and Jack were staying in guest rooms on the base.
Throughout the horrific descriptions, Jack remained relatively calm. "Oduya usually kept at a distance, watching and giving orders, but occasionally he joined in. I think he was getting frustrated," Jack explained.
"Did you tell them anything?" Granby asked.
"No. Getting beaten up by them was nothing compared to how I had been treated before. They were amateurs compared to the Master. Eventually they gave up and left me alone for a couple of days, and then they changed tactics." Jack coughed suddenly, his throat dry after talking for hours.
"Can we finish for today?" Owen interjected. "I think we're all tired." To himself, he admitted that he wanted to put the next lot of evidence off until the next day when Jack was rested.
Granby glanced at the clock, surprised to see that so much time had passed. "Yes, of course." He turned to Owen and Jack, "We'll reconvene here at 9am tomorrow morning."
As Owen and Jack started to leave, to return to their rooms, Granby indicated to Owen that he should stay for a moment. Jack glanced at Owen, but then continued on his own.
Granby had hidden it well, but he was angry. "You said that he was vulnerable! In two days I have not seen one shred of evidence of that in his testimony. He's no more nervous than anyone I've seen in court. Anyone who can be that dispassionate about abuse like that doesn't have any grounds for giving video testimony."
Owen could understand exactly why Granby had reached this conclusion. Only someone who knew Jack, and the intimate details of his recent history, would understand that the standard physical abuse UNIT put him through was relatively insignificant to him. It was the rest of it that broke him.
"Give him a few more days," he requested. "This part of the evidence was never going to be the problem."
"Very well," Granby acquiesced. "But, if he is as calm as this throughout the evidence, I'll have no choice but to go back to the judge and ask him to review the matter. He may decide that he should rescind the permission for using video evidence."
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The next day Jack's nerves were increasing exponentially. They were going to cover his forcible addiction to heroin, and subsequent total capitulation to Oduya and Stamford.
The same team assembled in the meeting room and, once Jackson had everything set up and running, they began.
"Can you tell us what happened when Oduya and his men changed tactics?" Granby asked.
Jack nodded and, reluctantly, began. "He, Oduya, had realised that their tactics weren't going to work, so he brought in another guy; Stamford. If they had just carried on with more violence I could have coped, but they didn't." He looked down in shame.
"Even with a couple of days to recover since they beat me up, I was in bad shape. They dragged me to Stamford and tied me to a chair. Then they injected me with heroin. I couldn't stop them."
Granby interrupted. "Who injected you? Was it Stamford himself?"
Jack shook his head. "No, he ordered the guards to do it. He was right there watching though." He sifted through the pictures and pointed out three guards. "These two held me down and this one injected me. It was heaven," he admitted. "And they kept it going for days. I've no idea how many doses they gave me, or who gave me the others. But of course, once they had me hooked, they withdrew it and left me to go cold turkey. Eventually Stamford showed up and asked if I would talk. I refused and they did it all again. I OD'd once, or possibly more than once, I'm not sure."
"Did Stamford ever physically harm you or inject you with heroin?" Granby asked.
"No, he just gave the orders."
"And how long did this continue?"
"I'm not sure. I was so out of it that it could have been days or weeks. They kept upping the dose, then putting me through withdrawal, and each time it got worse." By this point Jack was beginning to shake as he spoke. "I could cope with the physical withdrawal, but it was the memories! Stamford didn't even realise what was happening. I don't know why, but the heroin withdrawal made me relive memories. When I got heroin it was bliss, and the memories that had plagued me since the Master were gone, but when I went through withdrawal they came back stronger than they had ever been. It was like I was actually living through past events, with all the physical and emotional feelings that came with them."
Jack paused to collect himself. "For most people reliving memories wouldn't be much of a problem, if the heroin even had that effect on them. But for me it was devastating."
"Why is that?" asked Granby.
Jack swallowed. "Think about your worst memory," he suggested to Granby and the panel. "It may be painful to you, but I would guess that reliving it wouldn't be that traumatic. But I have died hundreds of agonising deaths. I've been beaten to death, impaled, flogged, burned alive, ..." he trailed off. "The Master delighted in killing me slowly, and as painfully as possible. Can you imagine reliving that? Feeling every nuance of pain and agony again."
Tisley and Lindsay looked green.
Jack vividly remembered the desperation and humiliation he felt when grovelling to Stamford, and pleading for a fix. He had been a completely broken wreck, willing to betray everything, and (almost) everyone for one more hit. His voice shook as he admitted his abject surrender. "Given what withdrawal did to me, there was no way I could hold out against Stamford. Over the next few months I spilled everything I knew in return for heroin. One secret for one hit."
"How did you get off it in the end then?" asked Granby, with doubt in his voice. "If it was that bad wouldn't you still be addicted?"
Jack grimaced, then drew himself up and faced Granby and his assistants. "I didn't get off it. I am still addicted. And we will need to adjourn today's session early so that I can take it this evening."
Everyone but Owen was reeling in shock from this revelation.
"Don't judge him," Owen interjected. "If you had seen Jack in withdrawal, you'd understand. We, that is the senior Torchwood team, have seen it and we couldn't deal even with watching it, never mind living it."
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The panel reconvened after lunch. Granby, by this point, was no longer questioning Jack's need to give evidence via video link. They were in the final stretch now, and he wanted to get the last part of the case wrapped up before Jack had to leave. The guard, Peterson, was the principal witness for this part of the case. For some reason, while clearly describing many rape scenarios, Jack himself had not made definitive accusations in that part of his written statement. That would need following up.
"So Jack, we have covered up to the point that you had given UNIT everything they wanted, and were addicted to heroin. What other abuse, subsequent to that, did you experience?"
"None, that's all."
Granby looked astounded at this, and whispered to Tisley briefly. They consulted a document to verify their facts, then Granby turned his attention back to Jack. "What about the sexual assaults? We have testimony, from one of the guards, that several of the other guards raped you on many occasions. And your own written testimony sets out the assaults in detail."
Jack froze and visibly started to hyperventilate. If Granby had thought he was heading for a meltdown before, it was nothing compared to his demeanor now. "I wasn't raped," he declared hoarsely. He was holding the handles of his chair in a death grip.
Owen looked as if he was about to call a halt to the proceedings.
Granby consulted his colleagues again. "We have testimony that on at least twenty seven separate occasions, spanning several months, guards entered your cell and forced you into various sexual acts including fellatio and anal penetration. The numbers of guards varied between four and seven on each occasion, but a total of fifteen guards participated."
"I … was … not … raped," Jack stated, enunciating each word deliberately.
"Are you saying that these events did not happen?" Granby asked.
Jack flushed. "They happened," he forced out, "but they weren't rape."
Granby gaped. "Then what were they?"
The morning session had almost tipped Jack over the edge, and this was the last straw. "Don't you understand?" he yelled. "I whored myself out for heroin. They didn't rape me, I begged them to fuck me. I didn't care how many of them had me, as long as they gave me heroin!"
At that point Jack fled from the room, ignoring the court officials and Owen as he ran. His one thought was that he needed heroin, and he needed it now.
The panel sat in stunned silence after Jack's precipitous exit.
Lindsay motioned to Owen, "Shouldn't you go after him?" she suggested eventually.
Owen shook his head. "No, he'll have gone to take his heroin and it's best that we leave him to it. Emotional trauma tends to set him off. I just hope he has enough self control to stick to his regular dose. It's taken over a year to get his dose down to three quarters of what UNIT had him on."
Granby paced around the room. "Well that was a fiasco. What the hell was the point of bringing up rape charges against fifteen men if the victim says that he wasn't raped?"
"I had not realised that Peterson had made those accusations," Owen admitted. "Or I would have headed this off. We all know that Jack was raped by those guards. They were in a position of power over him, and he had no choice. But he wants to believe that he consented. He was raped many times by the Master, and he is desperate to think that he hasn't been raped again."
Granby turned to his colleagues. "Well, it's a complete mis-communication, but there is nothing we can do about it now. We will have to drop the rape charges. Still, it is completely against military regulations to have sex with a prisoner, consenting or not, so we'll have to be content with a much lesser charge. Tisley will you complete the paperwork for that?"
He turned to Owen. "I can see now that Jack really does need to give evidence via the video link, rather than in person, so you don't need to worry on that account. And, whoever failed to follow up the discrepancies between Peterson's evidence and Harkness's evidence about the sexual abuse, and to ascertain if Harkness wanted to press charges of rape is for the high jump, I promise you."
He briefly consulted his notes, and his staff, then announced to the room, "As we won't be proceeding with the sexual assault charges, and Mr Harkness has already confirmed that the events did take place, I think that will be sufficient for his testimony. Any questions that come up can be dealt with via video link at the trial. So Mr Harper and Mr Harkness are free to go."
As the panel began to pack up, Granby moved over to Owen. "I don't know how long Mr Harkness will be incapacitated, but feel free to stay as long as you need in your rooms. I'll let the base personnel know that you should not be disturbed."
Gratefully Owen headed off back to the residential block to check on Jack. At least one ordeal was now out of the way.