CHAPTER 5

THE FIRST INTERROGATION

"Buenas tardes, Señor Harith", Dianna calmly greeted him in spanish, since it was his native language, too.

But he just looked at her and mumbled, with disdain. "I speak English"

"Are you sure, sir? I'm fluent in Spanish, there's no problem at all", she lied. Spanish was her native language, but he didn't need to know that.

He glanced at her, then lowered his eyes again. "No. Let's speak in English".

She nodded. He was obviously the kind that didn't have many friends to help him, and felt alone. So she behaved accordingly.

"We have pictures of you with people known for their links to terrorism. Here, here, and this one". She gently placed the photos on the table, placing them perfectly aligned with the table, and the last one was crooked. She pointed specifically at someone, but he barely glanced, then she pointed again, making him smirk, before he raised his shoulders, as if he didn't know who the guy was. When he came back, he moved the photo a bit, so he quickly aligned it perfectly with the edge of the table, again. Interesting.

"You also were photographed coming into this meeting today, and this other one" she did the same with those pictures, and now he kept looking at the photos for a while before calmly saying he didn't know them.

"Sir, I wasn't questioning you" she suddenly said, but gentle. "I'm telling you. And you're seeing it. You were there. And simple being there is a crime of terrorism. You will face a long jail time, a long judgment, and a long period away from home. And the sun" her voice was gentle but her words were harsh, not leaving even a bit of a doubt to what the future of Mr. Harith would be. He swallowed hard.

"The only reason I am even talking to you is because we don't think that your captured leader will say anything. At all." she then put her eyes down and swallowed hard, trying to disguise some discomfort.

"Anything would be of great assistance by now, Mr. Harith. We already took the group down, we don't need proof to keep you or your leader in jail for the rest of your lives", then she glanced at him, quickly, and when she noticed he saw her glance, she cleared her throat a bit, "but there were people from other groups there too, that are of our interest. Sometimes even the smallest detail could help me, Mr. Harith. I know you weren't the leader of your group and they used you for anything and everything, but you know more than they know you know, right?"

Now Dianna was trying to make him a bit angry at the others, specially the other groups, from the other countries, who she already knew were funding and helping this group. It seemed to be working, because he kept looking at the photos and glancing at her, when he thought she wasn't noticing, and his face twitched when she said they used him. He was obviously been manipulated and humiliated before by someone, and this was his only chance to have a payback.

She sighed, and even her sigh was shaky; she wanted him to think that she was feeling powerless and desperate, even though she just started talking to him.

"Look, Mr. Harith" she glanced at him shyly, but serious, "I'll be honest with you", she lied. "As soon as we capture someone, there is this race between the captured ones, where a deal can be made. But only the first one there will be able to take the deal. The other two won't. I know, for sure, that the other guys haven't started interrogating the other two yet" she lied, and she could lie, but he probably didn't know that; she wasn't a human rights advocate there, "because they think that the other ones are a higher value target" she wasn't lying now. "They're making them wait to pressure them more and make them nervous. To talk about this other group. So it's up to you now, Mr. Harith, to think about it. If you think they value you more than they value their friendship. Because when there's three against one, sometimes two protect each other, and one is left alone, to suffer the consequences."

Now she had his full attention, and she glanced at the clock, then at the mirror behind her. She widened her eyes when she saw the clock, which was pointing at 1835 hours, but she would have widened her eyes anyways. Then she looked at the mirror behind her, and now Mr. Harith glanced at the clock too, because he was thinking that something important would happen at 1900 or maybe even already happened at 1830, and she exhaled, to let him know that it didn't happen yet.

"You don't need to think about if your information is valid or not, if it's something I'd find important or not, you let me be the judge of that" now she was making it personal between them, taking a bit of the load off the poor guy, or at least that's what he thought.

"But just think about this. We got to the meeting, and took down your leader. Killed almost all of you. We have access to a lot of information. And still, I decided to talk to you first, before anyone, because I know that some things are unfair in life, and war" she used the word 'I' to say she talked to him first, so she still wasn't lying. He was the first guy she talked to.

"The chances are, we soon will find out what we need, but I just think it's a shame that you would answer in the same proportion as the other two. Time is important, Mr. Harith, and I'm talking about jail time too, because even a bit of information can guarantee you decades away from prison" she now was telling the truth.

"You just need to show me that you're willing to help me, and I'll take care of everything else. Because then we can calmly discuss how you will help us from now on". She was talking to him as it was a done deal, and reassuring him so he could relax.

She stopped, suddenly, and glanced at the clock again, and now he almost held her hand to ask her what was going on, but she got up, quickly. "Just please, wait here for a minute, look at this photos, think about anything, anything at all that could be helpful, or anything you remember, even if you don't know if it's helpful. I'll just talk to someone real quick, ok Mr. Harith?". He was already nodding at her, desperate, like a puppy.

"Calm down Mr. Harith, I got you. I will be right back, but we still don't have much time, ok, so just think hard about these events I showed you in these five photos, take a hard look, and when I come back you can talk to me about them, ok?" she slightly smiled at him, and he nodded in silence, again.

She turned and started to walk to the door, and glanced at the fake mirror to watch Mr. Harith already looking at the photos on the table, trying to think about anything, and smirked at that. She opened the door, urgent, and got out quickly, closing the door behind her. Then she stopped and exhaled.

"Wow" Davis suddenly said, standing behind the fake mirror, with all the team guys around her, with an amazed face, probably watching attentively her interrogation this whole time. They were still dirty, and a few of then even had their vests still on. "You're good, girl" Davis stated, and the others nodded.

"Thanks, I think it went well" she casually said, finally smiling for real. She was there for just over twenty minutes. "How's Jefferson doing?" she nodded to the room beside hers, and Ray took a quick look.

"He is still apparently offending the guy a bit. Jefferson barely introduced himself so far, and the guy didn't even confirm his name yet". Ray resumed everything, he was watching a bit, but they were going no where so far.

Sonny muttered, so Mr. Harith wouldn't hear them, "I think he wants to tell you something, Miss Veiler" he purposely used her surname, and in the correct manner, nodding at Mr. Harith, who was holding a photo close to his face and watching attentively at the door, almost as if he was holding a menu in a restaurant and needed to place his order to the waiter.

"Great" she smiled widely, then she pinched her cheeks and nose a bit, while the guys all looked at her, tilting their heads a bit. She explained, "Oh, I'm supposed to look as if I just had a heated professional argument with someone. You know, asking for them to wait until Mr. Harith said something before interrogating the other guys".

The guys were amazed by her powers of inventing a whole scenario of crap to convince the terrorist. She was good.

She put her hand on the doorknob, about to go in, and turned to them, with a strange request.

"Hmm. Can someone say to me, in an annoyed voice, 'ten minutes, huh' exactly when I open the door? Preferably Jason or Ray?" she asked, because they had the most American accents, ever, and sounded like leaders when they spoke. But of course she didn't tell them that. They both nodded, a bit lost, then looked at each other, and apparently they silently decided it was Jason who's going to say it. He nodded back at her, and she instantly had a distraught face and demeanor, ready for action, and nodded at him, it was his cue.

She opened the door, quick, and slightly turned when, 'surprised', Jason said in the most annoyed and American voice ever, "'Just ten minutes, huh'", and she nodded again, quickly, and made her way to her chair, while by now Mr. Harith already was holding two of the five photos in his hands, looking at the clock on the wall, now the worst enemy he's ever met.

"Huuh. Would you look at that" Sonny said, in his texan accent, trying to not speak too loud while watching her manipulate the terrorist in under half an hour. "The girl's got talent for a lie, huh. Face of an angel, mind of a devil".

"Good for us", Davis complemented his thought, agreeing completely.

The entire Bravo Team was watching to see what Mr. Harith would say, but apparently they'd have to go to get some rest soon, because they had a feeling that they'd be going out for another op sooner than they expected.

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