Friendly Fire

Colonel Hitchen - (29) Old Friends

I would have continued questioning her, bending her, and making her finally break and cave in if it weren't for Private Riley as he whispered to me.

"Sir... we have a problem. The leader of The Resistance has come here alone. He's taking out our scouts and soldiers at their posts as we speak."

My eyes grew wide. I drew in a breath and held it while processing what was happening and how the matter could be dealt with. I released my breath and turned to Lieutenant Willow and Lieutenant Davis.

"You two. Come with me. Let Bane think wisely while we deal with a little intruder."

They both gave me a nod and followed me out but I turned back to Bane once I had reached the doorway.
"We will resume once we deal with some other shit." was all I said before locking the door behind me.

The minute I left the interrogation room, I could hear screams, gunshots, and punches being thrown. The leader of The Resistance is here in our base alone. I couldn't believe it for a minute. No one would be crazy enough to take a whole military base on their own. Even if our supplies are plummeting by the day, we still have our reserves. What concerns me the most is that he now knows where our base is. He could report back to his group of rebel scum and takes us down. But no, he's picking fights.

I watched this masked man take down one soldier after another. Sergeant Collins was trying to lead any personnel he had left standing. But to no avail as they dropped like flies the minute they made contact with this man.

For what it is worth, he is a very skilled fighter. But not skilled enough to take down The Elite Strike Force as both Lieutenants Davis and Willow were able to hold him down in a firm pin while he was distracted with Private Riley as he engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with him.

The man did struggle and tried to break free from the pin. Instead, I had stepped in and given him a firm punch to the head to knock his ass clean out.

"Take him to the second interrogation room. If we can't get Bane to talk, this is our second shot at getting information. Maybe The Resistance themselves will stop once they see that we have their leader held captive." I ordered.

"What if all this is a trap?" Private Riley piped up while Lieutenant Davis and Lieutenant Willow dragged him away while he continued to struggle to free himself from their grasp.

"Don't be so paranoid, Private. I know a trap when I see one."

"You didn't see multiple traps Rin had set..."

I gave him a glare that could kill before gesturing with my head to the training grounds. "Go train. Now."

Private Riley shot me a hurt look and honestly looked like a kicked puppy as he made his way to the training grounds.

My concern shouldn't and isn't on him.

I turned my back and followed after my Lieutenants to the second interrogation room. I need to know who this man is, how he found our base, and why he's taking out my men.

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Once more I watched as this man was chained up the exact same way Rin is. The only difference is that I made an order to chain his legs as well. God only knows what damage he could do with his feet unbound.

With caution, I entered the room and nodded firmly at Lieutenant Davis and Lieutenant Willow to leave the room and return to their duties.

"Dismissed."

I tilted my head to the side as I looked closely at the man in front of me.

"Well. Did you seriously think you could take down this whole base single-handedly? I knew The Resistance were smart with their operations but, this is where you slip up?"

The masked man before me only gave me a cold stare and his body became very tense as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Where. Is. She? I swear, if you laid a fucking finger on her head, I'll be sure to blow your brains out."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his threat.

"Awe, that's real cute. You came back for Rin. Why? She's just a bitch who refuses to follow orders that go against her getting her way. She's nothing but a pawn and she needs to know that in order for this... feud; to put matters lightly; to end between us. She needs to know her place and stay there."

The masked man only clenched his fists as I spoke before giving a response of his own.

"She's not a bitch. She's a strong, protective, loyal woman who likes to call people out on their bullshit knowing that the orders given to her will only lead to more fucking conflict and war. She is not a pawn. She is the game master. Her place is at my side as part of The Resistance, not here as part of a genocidal unit that wants to wipe out half of the country. And for what? That, I never understood."
I gave him a good left swing at his jaw.

"I ask the questions here. But to entertain your curiosity, we do what we do because The South is where criminals like yourself like to hide. By wiping them out means that Vietnam as a whole can finally be a crime-free country. No more war. No more conflict. No more crimes. Now tell me," I glanced over to a stack of his belongings that were displayed on the table before me and picked up what Lieutenant Willow claimed was the ID card used for him to bypass our security check. When I looked at the name, I couldn't believe it. "Leonard Bane..."

His name is spelled in black and white, his ID is expired by 12 years, and the photo of him still looks the same as the day he went MIA presumed KIA. The only difference about him now is the fact that he's been siding with criminals that we want eradicated and betrayed his unit.

Leonard clenched his jaw and bared his teeth.

"Rhys. Hitchen." He spat my name out sternly.

I could only let out a soft chuckle at this discovery.

"Like father, like daughter I guess. Wow. Now this is a big shock. Who else knows you're out there playing hero, old friend?"

That question alone was enough to keep him silent. Again I struck him, this time in the stomach. In return, I got a groan out of him.

"Who. Else. Knows?" I repeated.

Again, he didn't answer.

"Does Rin, your daughter know?"

Again, silence. That there was already an answer. Rin didn't know.

"I could only imagine the look on her face when she sees you, her father who went MIA all those years ago and didn't come back home."

I struck him once more, this time right at his core, knocking the wind right out of him. I didn't give him the chance to explain himself. Not like he would give me an explanation.

But knowing who the leader of The Resistance is Leonard Bane is just a bombshell that I can drop on Rin. Seeing her father again will break her and force her to lose trust in him and those rebel scumbags.

It's the final move I need to make to have everyone in checkmate.