Silence

Chapter Seven - Enquiry

"Regardless of how far a person runs, a lie will eventually catch up to them." – Donald L. Hicks, Look Into the Stillness

Chapter Seven – Enquiry

The sensation of a cold metal... something, pressed to Jaron's face, had not been what he had expected when he woke up. Actually, he hadn't been sure what he been expecting, but somehow he knew it wasn't this.

His head ached dully and it took him a few painful moments to remember why. Groaning, he pushed against the metal, lifting his head to see the tiny room he was sat in. It was unusually narrow, only having enough room for the table in front of him and a bit of space around it.

A single LED bulb lit the room from above and another chair was tucked under the table on the opposite side. As he took in the space, or lack of, of the room, he felt an unusual rumble through the floor. The scenes back in the clearing of the forest suddenly clicked and an image of the second woman leaping from a van finally made sense. A. Van.

Jaron jolted out of his seat, slamming it into the wall behind him. He weaved his legs out from underneath the table, stumbling as his foot caught on the chair leg. He managed to take two steps before being pulled back by his wrists. Puzzled, Jaron examined his hands. Two cuffs were secured around them and in turn those cuffs were attached to a chain, bolted to the surface of the table.

He pressed a foot into the table and pushed against it, pulling with his arms as well. The chains held firm. The other foot, still on the ground slipped under the table and Jaron fell after it. His head hit the floor and he lay on his back for a few moments, his arms hanging off the chains above him, dazed.

He struggled to get back up again, as his hands couldn't reach the ground to push him up. When Jaron was finally standing again, he blew a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes and leaned against the edge of the metal table.

There was almost no doubt about it now; Jaron was not dealing with any normal form of law enforcement, if that.

The ruckus caused in Jaron's brief panic must have been audible in the front, as the door on the other side of the desk slid open. Much to his dismay, Karen, the red haired woman strode in. She rested against the opposing chair and indicated with a nod that Jaron should sit. Too scared to argue, Jaron did so.

Karen however, didn't. She prowled the limited space of the room in short paces, staring intently at Jaron every so often. Once, Jaron tried to ask her what was going on, but at the sight of his opening mouth, she lifted a finger and kept on pacing. 

A few minutes later the other woman's voice spoke through a hidden speaker in the room, "Okay, I just got the call. You can start."

Karen sat immediately, leaning forward. She looked straight into Jaron's eyes and he strained to look back into hers.

"You have no idea why you are here, right?"

Jaron shook his head, struggling to maintain eye contact.

"Would you like to?"

He glanced down for a moment, thinking. When he resumed contact he uttered, "Yes."

"Oh good, because I don't know what I would have done if you had said no." It seemed a majority of Karen's speech was laced with sarcasm and this was no different.
"First of all, do you confirm you are, Jaron Harry Pierce?"

He nodded.

"Lets get right into it then." She opened a concealed draw on her side of the table and retrieved a black folder with nothing on the cover except a barcode and a serial number at the bottom. Pulling a pen from her pocket, Karen flicked a few pages into the folder, before pulling out a few sheets.