13 Minutes by Jeff Lyons

Author:Jeff Lyons
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780997066357
Publisher: Storygeeks Press

The General watched the monitor and could not have asked for better timing in the unfolding of events. The shadowy figure watched him with keen interest, and the General knew that what happened next would bring the full weight of the past, present, and future down on the shoulders of one woman. He reached over, pushed a switch, and whispered to himself, “Stay strong. Stay you.”

Beside him the General heard the hushed and subdued sounds of a snigger of cruelty escape thin, bloodless lips.

The monitor on the holding room wall started playing another video. Mae watched with horror as she recognized everything.

She saw a large room, a cafeteria in an old, bombed-out school. Mae never knew exactly where she had been held, but she knew it had been in Kandahar, and she knew what was coming. Her previous captors obviously recorded the whole incident in Afghanistan for later use, maybe for blackmail purposes or just because they were freaks and liked torture porn. Regardless, somehow whoever was orchestrating the present nightmare had found this piece of her past, and now it was playing for all to see, especially Ling.

On the monitor Mae watched herself standing at one end of the room and a man standing at the other end.

She held a pistol in her hand, and he was unarmed. Mae knew the dialogue before it was even spoke it on screen.

“Go ahead. Do it,” the man said, resolved.

Ling walked closer to the monitor, “That’s my husband, Frank.” She turned to Mae. “What the fuck did you do?”

Mae looked at her with no emotion on her face. “Watch.”

Ling gave Mae a look that said I’m going to kill you, and then turned to the monitor.

“Come on! You fucking killed everyone else . . . just do it!” Frank goaded her.

“They killed them. Not me. I had no choice,” Video Mae yelled back, raising the pistol.

“You picked. You followed their orders and one-by-one decided who lived or died. How did that feel, you traitorous cunt? So now it’s my turn. What are you waiting for?”

Video Mae lowered the pistol. “One of us has to go back. Tell what happened.”

“Then shoot yourself and be done. I’ll put some nice flowers on your grave in Arlington.” Frank laughed.

Video Mae raised the pistol again. Frank stiffened. “There’s always a way out.”

“I know.” Video Mae pulled the trigger and shot Frank in the head. There was a long pause and silence on the monitor as Frank bled out onto the floor. Video Mae lifted the barrel of the pistol to her mouth but couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. She dropped the gun just as Afghan soldiers rushed in to subdue her. The monitor went to gray static and then to black.

No sooner did Mae lower her wet eyes from the monitor than Ling was on her with both hands tightly wrapped around her neck. Mae did not resist.

Her eyes met Ling’s as they collapsed to the floor. Mae saw nothing but murderous rage in Ling’s eyes.

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