Five Beautiful Boys

Ray Toro - Moment Killer

Sergeant Hannell headed back down the long corridor towards Clarke's cell. His lawyers hadn't stayed long; in fact they had left in a surprising hurry. Hannell smiled to himself as he thought about how troubled they must be trying to defend a man who was so clearly guilty.

Clarke's senior officers had suspected him for a long time and had quietly noted when items of equipment apparently went missing only to reappear shortly after. They suspected he was supplying the devices for black-marketeers or for other Governments to copy. The reality was much more mundane, but just as serious. However, thankfully, as Bob had suspected, Clarke had not by that point named him as an accomplice.

Hannell inspected the cell through the small inset hatch and frowned as he initially saw no one. Glancing to the sides before looking down, Hannell finally spotted Ray lying sprawled on the floor.

"Fuck!" Hannell cried as he pushed the key into the lock and, drawing his pistol, opened the cell door.

Quickly scanning the cell, he soon realised that Ray was the only occupant, lying in only his underwear and apparently unconscious it was obvious to Hannell what had happened. Ignoring Ray, he pulled the radio from his belt and spoke to the gate house only to learn that they had long since left the base. Turning his eyes to look down at Ray, Hannell screamed his frustration. The lawyers had left in a hurry and one had, he realised now, very strangely been asking him somewhat inappropriate questions as he left. Had he been forced to draw his attention away from Clarke? He had to find out what had happened inside the cell.

Calling to a colleague to alert the base commander of the escape and to call a doctor, Hannell knelt down at Ray's side.

"Sir, can you hear me?" he asked, shaking his shoulder gently.

Awake all along, albeit still slightly woozy from the blow, Ray groaned softly at the sound of his voice.

"Sir?" he called again, this time louder.
"Yeah... yeah..." Ray replied, groggily as if waking to find himself seriously disorientated.
"I've called for a doctor for you," the military police officer stated, still trying to coax him to wake.
"Wha...?" Ray drawled. "What happened?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."

Ray pushed himself almost into a kneeling position, only to half collapse again down onto his elbows.

"Hey! Steady!" Hannell cried, helping Ray find his balance.

Ray turned his head to look at Hannell, his eyes screwed up as he squinted, hisexpression a mixture of pain and confusion.

"Where are my glasses?" he asked, referring to the fake ones he had worn to assist with Clarke's disguise.

Hannell looked around, but they were nowhere in sight.

"I can't see them, I'll find them in a minute. What happened?"
"He had a gun," Ray finally stated, his tone exhibiting his astonishment at the idea. "How did you not know he had a gun?"
"No," Hannell argued, "there's no way he had a weapon."
"Really?" Ray snapped. "Then how do you account for this?" he added pressing his fingers lightly to the painful area behind his ear. Then, as if he had only just become aware, he let out a short gasp of surprise. "And... and he took my clothes!"

Ray pushed himself to his feet and staggered to a chair, flopping down heavily, looking as though he was willing his head to clear and for the pain to subside.

"Where are the others?" he asked, turning a worried expression towards the sergeant.
"They got away," Hannell replied dismissively. "What happened?"
"You mean, he got away. He took them with him?" he corrected. "He took them hostage?"
"He's probably let them go by now."
"I work with these guys! How can you be so flippant? Don't you think you'd have heard from them if he had?"
"Fine, we'll start a search, but first, tell me what happened."
Ray sighed. "We walked in and you closed the door. Simon explained that he had been contacted by a member of his family and asked to represent him. He'd no sooner got the words out than Clarke had a gun on us."
"Where did he have it hidden?"
"I'm not sure, I was getting the papers out of the briefcase. I think it was just in his pocket." Ray shrugged indicating his uncertainty. "He had us all up against the wall. I was terrified, I thought he was going to kill us. Then he just cracked me over the head and that's the last I remember. What do you know?"
Hannell frowned. "I didn't suspect a thing. The three of you were in there about ten minutes then left. The short guy went off with the guy I thought was you while the lawyer almost pulled me aside as we walked and asked me some odd questions before he left too."