Undersea Prison

A face came to one of the portholes to look through the thick, grimy glass. It belonged to Durrani who was standing in a small cell in which a bed and a toilet bowl were the only furnishings. He was sure he had seen something fall past his window but after craning in every direction he thought he had imagined it.

Durrani stepped away from the window, went to the bed, picked up a copy of the Koran, sat down and began to read it. But, unable to concentrate, he did not get far, as was often the case. He dropped his head into his hands, stared at his feet in his worn sandals on the concrete floor and wondered, for the umpteenth time since arriving in the prison, if he would ever see his homeland or even the sunlight again.

Chapter 6

Congressman Forbes was seated behind a large oak desk in his sumptuous office on the first floor of the Rayburn House Building on Capitol Hill. He was editing a letter when his phone rang.

He picked it up.‘Congressman Forbes.’ His pen went still in his hand as he recognised the voice. ‘Yes . . . yes, of course. Where? . . . But . . . OK . . . No, I’ll be there . . . Yes.’

Forbes replaced the phone, put down the pen and paused to collect his thoughts. He got to his feet, walked to a coat rack by the door, took his jacket off a peg, pulled it on and left the room.

His secretary looked up enquiringly as he passed her desk. ‘I’ve got to go out. Be back in an hour,’ he said as he left the office.

The congressman walked briskly along a shiny marble corridor, doors staggered along either side and adorned with ornate brass plaques bearing the names of various committees. He passed through an arched opening into a palatial hall where a staircase descended to a broad lobby. He skipped down the steps with a degree of athleticism, headed across the mosaic floor, returned greetings to colleagues without stopping and walked through the entrance into the bright sunshine.

Forbes stopped at the top of a broad arc of stone steps and scanned the panorama, starting from the Botanic Conservatory on his far left and sweeping across the manicured gardens in front of Capitol Hill. Halfway across he saw a man wearing dark sunglasses and a brown suit standing alone beside a groomed hedgerow and looking directly at him.

Forbes did not hesitate and walked down the steps, this time with a sense of caution. He crossed a footpath and deliberately headed in the opposite direction along the hedgerow from where the man was standing. When he reached the end he kept going at a casual pace. The man, who had followed Forbes down the other side of the hedge, was soon alongside him.

They continued in silence towards the Library of Congress until Forbes judged that they looked as if they had been together for the entire stroll. ‘I’m assuming this is extremely important for you to meet me here of all places and without more than a minute’s notice,’ Forbes said without looking at the man, an irritation in his voice as if he were the superior of the two of them.

The man in the brown suit didn’t reply as he casually looked behind them and to the sides whilst adjusting the glasses on his nose. Satisfied that they were unobserved he broke his silence. ‘The feds are sending someone inside,’ he said.

Forbes was perplexed enough almost to stop.

‘Keep walking,’ the man said casually. He was half Forbes’s age and infinitely more composed.

‘You mean Styx?’

‘Where else?’ the man replied dryly. Forbes was no superior of his.

Forbes’s mind raced to calculate the implications of the statement. ‘This isn’t official. I mean, I’ve not heard anything,’ Forbes said, unable to see the irritation in the man’s expression.

‘It’s an undercover operation. They’re making their move . . . It was only a matter of time.’

‘You people said it would be years before anything like this could happen.’

‘It has been years. Just not as many as we would’ve liked . . . We haven’t been as nice to the feds lately as we should’ve. They’re punishing us.’

‘Just you? I mean, they’re not investigating us, right?’

The man grinned and shook his head slightly, a gesture that Forbes also failed to register. ‘You’re the key to closing us down. You always were . . . They’re investigating your offshore accounts.’

Forbes couldn’t help pausing. The man continued and Forbes caught him up. ‘Why’re they sending in an agent? I mean . . . they . . .’

‘To confirm what they already suspect . . . You can help us - the both of us.’

‘How?’

‘Give us more time.’

‘More time?’

‘They’re sending in an agent - as a prisoner.’

‘A prisoner?’

The man glanced at Forbes, irritated again, this time with the congressman’s panic attack. ‘He’s on the next scheduled intake.’

Forbes stopped, unable to talk sideways for a moment longer. ‘That’s in a few days.’

The man stopped and faced the congressman. His eyes were invisible behind his dark glasses but the scowl etched into his acne-scarred skin was plain enough. ‘That’s right.’

‘What . . . what are we supposed to do?’

‘Stop him.’

‘How?’

‘How do you think?’

‘I don’t think I like your tone.’

‘I don’t give a damn.’

‘Don’t you talk to me like that, you son of a bitch. I’m not some CIA lackey. I know what we’re doing here. Remember it was the CIA who approached me first, asking for my help in pushing forward the prison concept. I got myself on the congressional delegation trip to Guantanamo. I got onto the House Intelligence Committee so that I could push votes for you.’

‘Oh, that’s all correct. But we came to you only after we learned you owned a piece of the Felix Corporation and what you were planning for the old NASA facility. You already knew about the possible yield of the mine.’

‘That’s bullshit. The facility was built on legitimate concepts. The mine was a plus.’

‘Is that right? The way I heard it was that a Felix engineer kept the potential mine yield from the various committees that oversaw the original NASA project . . . what, three years before the proposal of the detention centre?’

‘It was you who corrupted it by introducing questionable interrogation methods.’

‘And very successful methods too. We saved a lot of lives. You came into this deal a crook, Forbes, and we turned you into a patriot.’

‘How dare you! No amount of money from that mine would even begin to compensate me for the risks I’ve taken for the Agency.’

The man didn’t want to put Forbes over the top and softened his manner slightly. ‘We still have a problem to take care of.’

‘I want you to take that comment back.’

‘Which one?’

‘I am and always have been a patriot.’

‘I’m sorry,’ the man said, doing his best to sound sincere and almost making it.

Forbes knew it was the best he could expect and calmed down in order to think. ‘Are you telling me it’s over? The feds are making their move and so we pack our bags and leave.’

‘No. We’re not ready for that yet. You’re going to stop that agent from getting into the prison.’

‘I’ll need the name.We can reverse him on a medical issue.’

‘We don’t know who he is.’

‘Then how the hell do you expect me to stop him?’