Accelerant- Sixth Extinction

by James Morris Robinson

  Kyle laughed and spat blood on Harry’s crisp freshly ironed lab jacket. Harry bellowed, “You unmitigated traitor.” Harry open-hand slapped Kyle on his naked stomach as hard as he could. Kyle cringed in pain. He then punched Jeff in the abdomen. He walked away and abruptly turned back and open-hand slapped Kyle in the face. Kyle’s face was expressionless and void of emotion.

  The door opened again and a second interrogator walked in. He was built like a champion weightlifter. Jeff heard a firm, calm voice. It was Kyle.

  “Look at me, Jeff, look at me.”

  Jeff turned and looked at Kyle. He could see the pain and fear in Jeff’s face. “Steady, bro'. Remember the teachings.”

  The huge interrogator smiled at Jeff. He bent over and Jeff could feel his heavy hot breath. “Know anyone in Iran?”

  The huge interrogator hit Jeff in the head with a phone book. Daniel jumped up. J.R. grabbed Daniel and sat him down. “It'll be okay,” J.R. said assuredly.

  Daniel sobbed, “They're killing him.”

  Harry screamed, “Boys, we can do this all night. Tick tock…tick tock”

  Kyle yelled back, “No one but the United States Army uses wind up clocks anymore, you idiot.”

  J.R. and Daniel looked at each other and laughed.

  Jeff mustered the courage to know that he’s at life’s end. This knowledge gave him a sense of courage. He barked at the huge interrogator, “Let me up and let’s see if you can do this all night. Allah is God and he is my savior.”

  The interrogator kicked Jeff in the groin. Jeff passed out from the pain. The interrogator looked at Kyle and said, “You bastards will need more than Allah to make it through this night.”

  Harry walked over and hosed Jeff down with ice-cold water. Jeff quickly woke up. Harry pulled a chair over from the stainless-steel wall. He placed it in front of Jeff and Kyle and sat in front of them. For ten minutes, he stared and said nothing. There was dead silence.., what is he doing?”

  “Don’t know Daniel…don’t know.”

  “Sara, what is he doing?”

  “Daniel, I have no idea. This is how interrogation goes. Do you want to leave?”

  “No.”

  Harry yelled at Jeff, “You don’t know do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “Kyle and that Muslim whore have had sex more than once.”

  Kyle tried to break out of his chair with such force, the restraints cut into his flesh.

  “Jeff, they are trying to confuse…”

  Before Kyle could finish his sentence, the huge interrogator shoved a rubber hose down Kyle’s throat and began pumping water directly into his stomach.

  J.R. warned Daniel, “That particular interrogation technique creates intense pain. It feels like your organs are on fire.”

  Daniel was shocked, “J.R., his stomach looks like he is nine months pregnant. They have rights, you can't do this.”

  “No they do not. These boys are terrorists. Enemies of the state. They have no rights.”

  Harry broke his silence. “Boys, Navy SEALs stormed the container ship and supertanker in Shanghai even before they could get out into the China Sea. Also, that good-looking whore that masquerades as a Muslim woman, what’s her name? Oh yes, Jameela. You boys need to know that Jameela told us everything she knew. We picked her up in Chabahar. Her parents lived in the house we raided. She has been shamed. They know everything. She betrayed both of you. We made a deal with her.”

  Jeff yelled, “Where is she?”

  Harry snarled, “You want to see her? Too late. We released her yesterday. They found her dead in a hotel on River Street. It seems the poor girl overdosed on her sinus meds. Local cops said it looked like she took the whole bottle. That Iranian whore. Shame will do that to you.”

  Of course, Harry was misleading them. If he told them the truth...they may become more uncooperative.

  Jeff sobbed, “You demons. Do not call her that. She is more of a lady than that bitch of a whore you call your mother.”

  The huge interrogator hit Jeff so hard that it knocked him out of the chair. Harry slapped Kyle to get his attention off Jeff.

  “Kyle, you have an interesting job under the director of Marine Operations. You have a U.S. Coast Guard Mariner's license and Master of Towing license.”

  Kyle looked up and stared grimly at the Harry. Kyle yelled, “You seem to know a lot about me. So now that we are speed dating, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself before we go to bed?”

  Harry smiled at Kyle while he picked up an icepick from one of the surgical tables. He put alcohol on it and stabbed Kyle dead center inside his right hand. “So you don’t catch infection.”

  Kyle hollered in agony as he lurched toward Harry. The blood covered restraints held, however.

  “Where are the detonators, Kyle?” Harry drove the icepick through the middle of his left hand. Kyle let out an agonizing scream that could be heard halfway to Atlanta. “Jameela already told you what we know; why are you doing this? Screw you.”

  Jeff turned his chair around and pleaded with Kyle, “She's not here to protect us. They killed her, Kyle, they killed her. Now they will kill us.”

  Kyle bellowed back, “Shut up, Jeff. I told you not to get involved with her that way. Just shut your face.”

  Jeff cried out again, “You don’t get it, do you, Kyle? Jameela’s not here to protect my brother’s family. I have no guarantee they will get out of Savannah before the event.”

  Kyle’s eyes widened. “Jeff, I can’t believe you just said that.”

  Harry jumped out of his chair and hit Kyle so hard he knocked him to the floor bleeding out his mouth and nose. In the dead silence that followed, the interrogators left the room. As they left the room, Jeff and Kyle started shivering.

  Daniel was furious but trying to remain calm. He noticed Jeff was shivering violently.

  J.R. calmly explained, “Dude, they just turned the temperature down. It feels like a freezer in there now.”

  Daniel noticed the representatives from the CIA, FBI, and NSA in a huddle comparing notes and whispering. Then the door opened. In the bright light, he could see Colonel Werner. Daniel tried to plead with him, “Sir, we are violating their rights.”

  The lights in the interrogation room got dimmer and the lights in the observation room got brighter. Colonel Werner sat down. He patted Daniel on the hand. “Son, I may have hostiles with atomic weapons in American cities. I am willing to lose my command to stop them. You have to understand that I must know what they know.” Colonel Werner pointed to the group from the CIA, FBI, and NSA. “They also have to know what Kyle and Jeff know. That Muslim woman…well, I am sorry. She truly was an enemy combatant and we treated her as such.”

  “Colonel, I need to talk to my brother. He mentioned me, my family, and an event.”

  “Yes, I heard what you heard.”

  “How could you? You weren't here.”

  The colonel laughed, “You're not that naïve, are you?”

  The door opened and Harry was all cleaned up. He was dressed in the Army physical fitness uniform with ARMY printed in all caps on the long-sleeve t-shirt. Harry started to take his seat when Colonel Werner said, “Harry, go back in there. Turn the heat up. Give them water and nurse their wounds. In thirty minutes, I want Daniel and J.R. to speak with the prisoners. That’s right, I am officially calling them prisoners. I have declared them combatants of the United States at this point.”

  Colonel Werner looked across the room at the CIA, FBI, and NSA members. They barely nodded in agreement. “Daniel, can you do this for me? I need to know what they know.” Both J.R. and Daniel nodded yes as they poured themselves cups of black coffee. J.R. consoled Daniel, “Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Jeff was a good kid that met the wrong people and was influenced by them. We were in college and working on our careers and family when all this happened. Daniel, you are not responsible for this. I need to know you understand this.”

  Daniel groaned, “
How could my parents not see this? His friends? My cousins would have told me if they knew…”

  “Daniel, in my time in intelligence, I have come to know that terrorists are adaptive adversaries who use a variety of tools and tactics to reach potential recruits. Terrorist groups are systematically preying upon the vulnerabilities of young people by offering them the trappings of success and fulfilling their pent-up desires. Cars, motorcycles, homes, and cash…lots of cash.”

  Captain Parrish overheard the discussion as she walked in. She added, “The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs once said that the internet is a radicalization accelerant. Our youth are generally drawn into radical internet web-spaces while exploring the internet for entertainment; they may be curiously seeking information on ideologies, traditions, or heritage-related matters or they may be looking for a community with which they can self-identify.

  Daniel appeared to be enlightened as Captain Parrish continued. “The preparatory camp is the first home and school of the Mujahid in which his military and jihadi training sessions take place and he undergoes sufficient education in matters of his religion, life, and jihad.”

  Daniel asked, “Captain Parrish…what is Mujahid?”

  “Oh, the term literally means 'the one who struggles for the sake of Allah and Islam.'”

  Daniel scratched his day-old beard. “I think I get it.”

  Sara continued, “Now, according to what we know about the Islamic State, the camps are divided into three types to nurture the caliphate generation. There are special camps for the Mujahid who lead in the jihad and those who are masters of managing and planning the battle from beginning to end. This camp includes physical preparation for 15 days. In the second kind of camp, the Mujahid is exposed to the latest weapons, military planning, and military technologies known on this planet. In the third camp, the Mujahid spends days in Sharia sessions through which the Mujahid studies the jurisprudence and rulings of Islamic doctrine. After which they are appointed a military commander for their missions. They will follow the decisions and instructions of the field commander during the battle, to earn the virtue of martyrdom in the path of God, to raise the banner of Islam and the caliphate, and the virtue of the one struck with wounds in the land of the battle.”

  Harry pointed out, “All of us have natural firewalls in our brains that keeps us from bad ideas but terrorist recruiters look for weaknesses in the wall, and then they exploit and attack. Daniel, I know I look like the bad guy right now. I am truly trying to protect you and your family…from your brother's misdeeds.”

  Daniel said with a sad smile, “I do understand, and maybe I can help Jeff make this right.”

  J.R. looked grim and made a startling comment. “Jeff may have been exposed to mind control or abuse. He may have reached a new realm of thinking and may never make it back. Genesis may have systematically used manipulative methods to persuade them to conform to their objectives.”

  J.R. prodded Colonel Werner. “We have to get the president’s permission to run surveillance photos on all ships headed to the United States now. I don’t know if you all picked up the part where we have ships headed to America outfitted as weapons of mass destruction.”

  The Colonel concurred. “J.R. you are on the dime. I agree. I will run it up command immediately.”

  J.R. continued, “I am tired of extremists extracting our citizens and killing women, and children. Now they may be on our soil again. What if we had Christian extremists that did the same things?”

  Daniel looked at J.R. in amazement. “We do, dude. Who do you think the Ku Klux Klan is?”

  “Screw them too,” yelled J.R. “Daniel, I will kill Jeff myself if you can’t go in and get what we need.”

  Daniel pleaded, “You can’t do that, J.R.”

  J.R. grabbed Daniel and hugged him tightly, with tears in his eyes, and whispered in his ear, “Not as a captain in the Marine Corp, but as an American, I can. I will kill both of them to get those nukes. I will do it for you, for Marcia, for Nanna, and for my family. I will take them out.”

  Colonel Werner shouted at J.R., “Stand down, soldier, now.”

  J.R. calmed down. Colonel Werner gave Daniel a serious look and once again asked for his help. “It is late and we are running out of time. Can you go in there, Daniel? Can you do this?”

  Daniel sighed, “I have no choice. I must.”

  Harry raised his eyebrows. “This will have tremendous shame and shock value. They do not know you guys are here.”

  The lights in the interrogation room got brighter and the observation room lights dimmed; the group from the FBI, CIA, and NSA were seen leaving.

  J.R. whispered to Daniel, “They are headed back to their respective agencies.”

  Colonel Werner grew impatient. “Ok…all of you get in there and get me what I need…now!”

  Daniel, J.R., and Harry left the observation room with an armed escort. They took an elevator, and this time, they went down. The buttons on the elevator said five floors. They got off on the fourth floor and passed seven closed-off rooms with heavy metal doors. There was a surgical smell everywhere and it was cool down there. The eighth door opened automatically. They walked through and the door closed. Kyle and Jeff appeared to be in a state of shock when they saw Daniel and J.R.

  The room was comfortable and Kyle and Jeff had been cleaned up. Harry commented, “I did get Kyle his cappuccino. Jeff told me to get him a black coffee and get lost.”

  Kyle stared at Daniel. “So you came for that cowardly brother of yours, huh?”

  Jeff started weeping. Kyle yelled at Jeff, “Would you cut it out. We are soldiers, not sissies.”

  Daniel looked at Kyle, gritted his teeth and said, “Enough okay! You guys are in deep as it is.”

  Kyle heckled, “Screw you, too. It is the end of days for all of you.” Daniel hit Kyle so hard with his right fist that it knocked him out momentarily. He kneeled, placed his hand on Jeff’s shoulder, and kissed him on his forehead. “He had that coming, bro'.”

  Jeff lamented, “Kyle is my friend and he means well. I messed up, bro. I really did.”

  “Look at me, Jeff. We are Americans. We are home-grown citizens of the United States. Our people have been here for generations. We helped build this country. I agree that white America has continued to show its dark side as blacks and others try to achieve economic and political parity. Have our fellow Americans been as kind and humane to us as they have been to other immigrants?”

  Jeff shook his head, “No.”

  “But you have to agree that as Christians and as Americans, we have been working through these issues and continue to do so every day.”

  Daniel felt Jeff’s cold eyes as he looked at J.R. in contempt.

  “Jeff, look at me. Look at me…remember dad telling us about the 1921 Tulsa race riot of whites against blacks. This devastating massacre was the result of blacks achieving economic success in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, commonly called 'Black Wall Street.' Tulsa, like many cities and towns throughout the U.S., was hostilely segregated, with African-Americans settling into the northern region of the city. Greenwood residents enjoyed many luxuries that their white neighbors did not, including indoor plumbing and a remarkable school system that gave black children a superior education. It was pure envy. The white community vowed to put progressive, high-achieving African-Americans in their place. The destruction began the way much terrorism, violence, and dispossession against African-Americans did during that era. A young white woman accused a young black man of attempted sexual assault, which gave local mobs and white men acting as police just cause to invade and destroy the unsuspecting community. When the smoke settled…as many as 300 African-Americans lost their lives and more than 9,000 were left homeless. When dad told us this story, we sat there and cried together. We cried because of the injustice and inhumanity. Do you recall that Jeff?”

  Jeff nodded, 'yes.' Tears streamed down his face as he smiled at his big bro
ther.

  J.R. thought, Daniel’s breaking through.

  Daniel put his hand on Jeff’s forehead and wiped the blood off an open wound. “Were those riots any less terrorism than killing innocents in Hawaii with a nuclear bomb?”

  Jeff looked confused.

  “Jeff, we’re getting better. America is getting better. Let’s work with her. Let’s help her get better. Men have been enslaving, torturing, and hurting children and women since the beginning of time. We have the power to stop this. We can do it through the power of forgiveness. Jeff, we are better than our enslavers. We must prepare the generations ahead through economic and political empowerment. We can’t do it through terrorism. You can put things right, Jeff. Tell me where the detonators are. What if momma were living in Hawaii? Would you kill her?”

  Kyle was now awake. He yelled, “Does not matter. She will be collateral damage; as other sweet little old ladies will be. What makes her so damn special?”

  Daniel walked over to Kyle and hit him in the temple with his fist. Daniel grabbed Kyle by the throat and yelled, “You said ‘she will be’…what do you mean ‘she will be’?”

  Jeff cried out, “Kyle, you heartless bastard. What if your mother was in the kill zone?”

  J.R. looked puzzled, “Kill zone? How can Savannah be in the kill zone?”

  Shut up, Jeff,” shouted Kyle. Daniel knocked Kyle against the wall. He walked back to Jeff’s chair. Daniel said in amazement, “Little brother, where were the ships headed . . . Savannah?”

  Jeff looked at Daniel and said, “May Allah forgive me, yes.”

  Kyle was furious and feared that Jeff would break. In spite of his blood covered restraints, he tried to pounce on Jeff.

  Kyle shouted at the top of his voice, “They are the enemy. These bastards are Allah’s rage. We have pledged to wage jihad for the rest of our lives until either we establish Islam all over the world or meet our Lord as bearers of Islam. We will force the sixth extinction. Jeff, I will die. You must fulfill Allah’s will. Jameela would be proud, my brother.”

  J.R. ordered the MP and Harry to leave. Harry nodded in approval. As the armed escort and Harry were leaving, J.R grabbed the MP by the neck in a choke hold. He took his gun.