A picture not taken

Two

          Eoll gave a muffled shriek as the men roughly pulled him from the car and stuffed a wet rag in his mouth. He lashed out, swiping the glasses off one of the soldiers' faces. The soldier moved to strike back, but another, who looked like a pile of muscle, whispered into the other soldier's ear. Eoll couldn't hear much over the sound of his heart pounding, but he did pick up two words, need him. Eoll's heart rushed even more than before. They couldn't hurt him! He tried struggling against the man holding him, but to no avail. His breathing became shallow as he felt a hand against his nose and mouth. The last thing he saw before he fell to the grasp of consciousness was two of the soldiers arguing, ending with the brute sending a right hook at the other soldier. Eoll smiled.
          When he awoke, the light had cast like a shadow upon his vision. He squinted against the light burning into his eyes, and saw the outline of a muscular figure. When his vision cleared, he realized it was the man from before, the one who had protected him, only without a mask. He had strong features; his eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw rigid. The thing that caught Eoll's attention, though, was the jagged scar that ran down the man's nose, as if it had not been broken, but cut in half. The sight of it made shivers dance down his spine.
          The man, whom Eoll was going to call Scarman, sat down in a chair that Eoll had not realized was there until now. Scarman's gaze softened.
         "I apologize for my friend, he can be short-tempered sometimes. I have to ask you an important question. Are you ready?"
         "Yes," Eoll muttered. He was still drowsy, "what do you need to know?"
         "Do you love photography? And furthermore, do you love your country?" Scarman inquired.
         "To the first question, yes. To the second, no," Eoll retorted with a calm, stony look.
         "Okay, let's take another approach. Do you love your grandfather? Do you wish for him to remain alive?" Scarface crossed his legs and pulled something out of his pocket, "one phone call and he's gone."
         Eoll's senses heightened. They couldn't! His grandfather was all he had.
         "Okay, what do you want?"
      The end! (Of this page)