Dark Energy: The Mortal Fracture

CHAPTER FIVE: WASI’S STORY

What is evil? This is a question that often passed through Wasi’s mind as he executed his assigned victims. He entered the military a couple of years after graduating high school as a way to distance himself from the pain of the failures of his youth. He had quickly made a name for himself as a modern-day warrior. He was known simply as the Chameleon, as he could morph into any persona, be it soldier or terrorist, seamlessly and effortlessly. This skill allowed him to engage in battles both as a patriot and an enemy combatant. While strategically beneficial, this duality was morally confusing as Wasi had to abandon his preexisting moral judgment and biases and assume an entirely new set in order to be successful in his missions.

Wasi’s ability to seamlessly abandon and adopt new personas had a seductive appeal to a number of international agencies that could use this ability to their advantage. This made Wasi a hot commodity that was traded on a regular basis. His ever-changing clientele made it nearly impossible for him to identify which side he was on, and so he took no sides, but instead blindly completed orders as clients assigned them to him. With such a morally destructive profession constantly weighing down on his soul, Wasi was numbed by his abilities and he realized that his only option for survival was to retire his emotional capacities for guilt and remorse. This retirement segregated him from his humanity and it transformed him into a simpler being, nothing more and nothing less than a predator bent on survival.

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Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Terrorist Detention Camp 2006

The sun beat down on the camp turning the cement block cells into furnaces. The camp stood on high alert in response to the buzzard like media helicopters that flew in ever-tightening circles around the camp. Their cameras focused hungrily on the ground, searching for the first signs of carnage. Below the scavenging eyes of the media, a military escort marched 15 prisoners through the compound towards an administrative building. These men seemed uncharacteristically optimistic as they paraded past others who would not be leaving the camp on this day.

American news agented reported yesterday that 15 Yemeni terror suspects from the Guantanamo Bay Compound were scheduled to be released into the custody of the Yemeni government. After months of political debate and social protests an arrangement had been made that supposedly would ensure the security of the United States and its interests both at home and abroad from future threats of terrorism by those released. Despite the tension and anxiety over the release of Guantanamo prisoners, human rights activists were celebrating the first real steps toward closing down what they considered to be a modern Holocaust detention camp.

As the prisoners approached an awaiting black helicopter, a Yemeni government entourage waited for their arrival on the tar mat. American soldiers continued to escort the group of prisoners past a security check, but as the aerial news cameras pulled back to get broader pictures of the group, the men crossed under a covering at the checkpoint and only 12 of the 15 men appeared on the other side. Despite the disappearance of three prisoners, the newscasters continued their cheerful broadcasts to their drooling public, oblivious to the abduction of the three men.

The three selected prisoners, which included Wasi, were removed from the group of 15 and drug into the administrative building which was sterile and harsh. Every click of their escorts’ boot heels on the concrete floor echoed through the halls like a timer ticking down the minutes left in their lives. The halls were empty except for the three apprehended prisoners and six mercenaries that were “escorting” them.

“We are with the group to go to Yemen…We have papers…We’re supposed to go home today,” one of the Yemeni prisoners stated.

“Where are you taking us?” another asked.

The mercenaries stopped in front of a closed door. The two Yemeni prisoners looked frantically around for an explanation of their removal from their fellow prisoners, or for a route of escape from their nightmare, but it was to no avail, as there was nothing but desolation in the halls. Wasi, on the other hand, seemed unnaturally calm and certain of what awaited him on the other side of the closed door. For him, this was to be nothing more than just another trade.

The three prisoners were shoved into a concrete block room and isolated from escape by a heavy door that was secured behind them. The prisoners looked around at their new surroundings. There was a table, a few chairs, and a small window with bars.

“We are still going home, right?” the first prisoner asked with desperation.

“You were never going home,” Wasi said as he looked out the window, grasping the bars with white knuckles.

The first prisoner joined Wasi at the window and saw the remaining prisoners at the loading bay of the helicopter.

“Ezra!” he yelled as he pushed his face hard against the bars. “Ezra! Don’t leave without us! Ezra!”

The door swung open and a man in a dark suit entered with two bodyguards. The door closed behind him, drawing Wasi’s attention.

“We’re supposed to go home today. They told us that we were going home” the prisoner closest to Wasi stated desperately.

“That’s not going to happen, is it?” Wasi asked as he sat down facing the man in the dark suit.

“No. No one is going home today. Not you and not those men loading into the helicopter,” the man replied without flinching.

“If they are not going home, then where are they going?” the first prisoner asked.

The man in the dark suit motioned for the other two prisoners to sit at the table. The men followed his hand gestures and took their seats.

“You know the media says that one in five men released from this hell hole will commit acts of terrorism within a year of being released.”

“We are not terrorists,” the first prisoner said.

“We are now,” Wasi said intuitively. “Isn’t that right?”

The man in the dark suit sat back in his chair and smugly presented his devilish deal.

“Let me introduce myself. I am Martin Frierson, and I can offer you a way out.”

Wasi leaned forward and stared intensely into Martin’s eyes, “But it will have a cost, won’t it?”

“Not one you haven’t paid before, Mr. Wasi.” Martin responded.

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To be continued...