His limbs were on fire, which slowly subsided, leaving him with painful cramps. Vision returned—or at least he could see light streaks amid the darkness. He tried to blink into focus. The shaking was bad. And he couldn’t move his hands.
He was cuffed into the chair, wrists and ankles.
“Oh, shit. Shit shit.”
His screen sunglasses had either fallen off or been taken. Whatever. He didn’t have them anymore. When he looked at his wrist, he saw the smartCuff had been removed.
“Apollo?” he whispered.
A hand smacked him on the side of the head. Hard. “Don’t do that again. Your mInet is dead. You are alone.”
The red stars slowly faded. There was a man standing in front of him. Tall, African, with a bald head beaded by sweat and tattoos running sinuously along his arms. He wore a black t-shirt with a picture of a crystal prism splitting a rainbow.
Callum’s chuckle was almost hysterical. “I have that album, too.”
“What?”
“Pink Floyd,
“Smartarse,” the man grunted. His hand lashed out again, striking the other side of Callum’s head.
Pain spiked through his ear, and there was a taste of blood in his mouth. “Fucking hell, what is this?”
“Where are they? Where have you taken them?”
“What? Who?”
“My people.”
“What the fuck?” Callum eyed the hand as it rose threateningly again. “Which people? Wait, who do you think I am?”
“I know exactly who you are, Callum Hepburn.” The African held up a piece of paper, printed with the publicity shot of him with Ainsley at the Greenwich Peninsular site. “Connexion’s newest golden boy. Saved Northern Europe from a radiation plume. The world is so grateful.”
“Why am I here? And who the fuck are you?”
The man raised his hand again, and Callum flinched.
“Where are they?”
“Who?” Callum bellowed back, more frightened than ever now, not just for himself but mainly for Savi. If these were the student radicals she’d been shadowing…
“You are either a fool or a very good actor.”
“I’m not fucking acting. I don’t know who you are or who you’re talking about!”
The man walked around the chair. Callum tried to turn and watch him, worried that he’d be hit from behind. But he reemerged on the other side, carrying a tall glass of water.
“Tell me what you want to know,” Callum said desperately. “Exactly what. If I know, I’ll tell you. Fuck’s sake.” He had to tip his head back then; the man was standing directly in front of the chair.
“My name is Akkar, but I think you know that already, company boy.”
“No. I don’t fucking care, either.”
Slowly Akkar tipped the glass, pouring the water down over Callum’s crotch.
“What?” Callum stared down at his soaking shorts, then back up at his captor. “What the fuck?”
“To encourage the telling of truth,” Akkar said. “Took us years and years of research, but we’ve found water improves conductivity to skin.” He smiled mockingly. “Who knew?”
The suited man came around the chair to stand grinning down at Callum. He held up the taser baton.
Akkar’s smile turned mirthless. “Dimon, how big a charge does it take to fry a man’s balls?”
Dimon patted the taser baton. “Don’t worry, boss, we have more than enough.”
“No!” Callum yelled. “Fucking no! I’ll tell you what you want to know, but I don’t know what it is. Tell me! Fucking explain! What is going on?”
“First fall,” Akkar said. “My people went into Water Desert’s maintenance compound. Is that clear enough for you?”
“I know there was a riot out at the observation area that day,” Callum said desperately. “Is this the same thing?”
“No, it is not the same thing, Callum Hepburn. One hundred and twenty-seven activists went into that compound. They were going to strike the greatest possible blow against the corporate criminals who are here to rape the desert. A blow that took me over a year to plan.” His hand shot out, gripping Callum’s chin. “One hundred and twenty-seven, company boy. None of them came home. Where are they?”
“I don’t know,” Callum said. “I wasn’t here. I work in fucking Emergency Detox, for Christ’s sake! I don’t give a flying shit about your stupid fucking desert. Nobody does, only freaks like you.”
“First they came for the rocks in space and took them away from us saying they now owned them,” Akkar said in a low, dangerous tone. “And we did nothing, because they were just rocks. Then they came for the desert…You understand? You know how it goes? But this time, company boy, this time we will not let them ruin what nature has given to every human, the beautiful land which belongs to all of us. There are many with my belief, and our numbers grow, accepting the truth of our cause.”
Callum gave his captor the most contemptuous look he could manage. “I’ve only seen six of you. That’s not an oppressed minority with a cause, that’s a mental health issue.”
The baton jabbed down into Callum’s shorts. He screamed, then realized there was no electric shock.
Both men were laughing at him.