Black Glass

Chapter 11

I moved the flame closer.

"Stop, stop! Please stop!" Sayid Ahmed pleaded.

And like a river, perpetually flowing in its only inevitable path, the man told me everything. When it was over, I turned my back on him, as he had served his only purpose.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Sayid yelled after me.

I stopped momentarily, my amusement speaking louder than my triumph.

"Now, now, there is no need to be a sore loser about it," I taunted.

Sayid scrambled to his knees and looked past his daughter, right at me. I imagined that if his attention had left the girl, he obviously believed that he had something of importance to say.

"You think that you have beaten me, but you cannot fathom what is about to happen."

I turned back to him, deciding to throw the dog one last bone.

"Very well. I shall bite. You see in my line of work; you've usually lost when you've told me what it is that I need to know. Please, enlighten me as to what I am missing."

"I know you," Sayid spat.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Damon Carter. Yes, I know exactly who you are!"

Sayid smiled through the pain.

"I do not hide who I am."

He started to laugh.

I grew annoyed.

"If you need a straitjacket, I can arrange one for you."

The look in Sayid's eyes froze time itself.

"Talaal el-Mohammed, your employer, is my brother-in-law."

I stared.

"What did you just say?"

"And you, you damned fool, just tortured his niece!"

I looked down at Farah, still whimpering pathetically, praying for some sort of saviour.

"Look at her! You will remember her, when Talaal gets his hands around your throat!"

I scoffed.

"If that were in any way true, if you really held such an esteemed trump card, you would not have told me anything. You would not have allowed your precious daughter to be hurt. You could have stopped me before this game even started. Your attempt at a bluff is as weak as your faith."

I turned to leave.

"That is where you underestimate me. You see, I wanted this!"

I stopped.

"You are a demon. An abomination that has tortured countless numbers of us, my brothers and sisters in this war, but you have always had Talaal's favour. It had to end. I had to stop it. With this blood spilled, with this great sacrifice, you are finished. He will kill you for this!"

A choice. Whether to accept his bluff or not. Little more than another game.

"Go on! Find Talaal! Ask him about me, if you think I'm lying. Tell him what you did!"

I faced him one final time.

And I saw.

Behind his eyes, where the soul rests.

The madness of truth.

And I knew that it was over.

"The Americans will never be able to protect you from him. I suggest that you find a corner of the world to hide in and rot! Run! Run away like a dog! Bury yourself far away in some place that his wrath may never reach you!"