Burning Angels

There was a stark metal desk before him, with a glass surface. Sitting on the desk was a bland-looking white china mug.

Nothing else: just a mug of steaming liquid.

Behind the desk was seated a portly, bearded, balding man. He looked to be in his mid-sixties. He was dressed in a threadbare tweed jacket and fraying shirt. With his dated dress and spectacles, he had the demeanour of a jaded university lecturer or an underpaid museum curator. A bachelor who did his own cleaning, overcooked his vegetables and was fond of collecting butterflies.

He looked utterly unremarkable: he’d be forgotten in an instant and would never turn heads in a crowd. The archetypal grey man. And the very last thing that Jaeger had been expecting to encounter right now.

He’d expected a gang of shaven-headed Eastern European thugs, each wielding a pickaxe handle or baseball bat. This was just so weird. It was way out left field, and it was messing with his head.

The grey man stared at Jaeger without saying a word. His expression almost gave the impression that he was… uninterested; bored; studying some unedifying museum specimen.

He nodded at the mug. ‘Tea, white, one sugar. A cuppa. Isn’t that what you say in England?’

He spoke quietly, with just a hint of a foreign accent, but to Jaeger it was untraceable. He didn’t sound particularly aggressive or unfriendly. In fact he gave the impression of being slightly weary — as if he had done this a thousand times before.

‘A nice cuppa. You must be thirsty. Have some tea.’

In the military, Jaeger had been taught to always take a drink or food if ever he were offered. Yes, it could be poisoned, but why would anyone bother? It was much easier to beat a captive to a pulp, or shoot him dead.

He stared at the white china mug. Faint wisps of steam curled into the chill air.

‘A cup of tea,’ the man repeated quietly. ‘White with one. Have a drink.’

Jaeger flicked his eyes up to the grey man’s face and back to the mug again. Then he reached out and grabbed it. From the smell, it just seemed to be hot, sweet, milky tea. He raised it to his lips and gulped it down.

There was no adverse reaction. He didn’t collapse or puke or go into convulsions.

He placed the mug back down.

Silence descended once more.

Jaeger took a momentary glance at his surroundings. The room was a stark, utterly featureless cube devoid of any windows. He felt the grey man’s eyes upon him, staring intently. He returned his own gaze to the floor.

‘You are cold, I think? You must be. Cold. Would you like to be warm?’

Jaeger’s mind raced. What was this — a trick question? Maybe. But Jaeger needed to buy himself some time. And in truth he was sitting there in his boxers freezing his nuts off. ‘I’ve been warmer, sir. Sir, yes — I’m cold.’

The ‘sir’ bit was another lesson ingrained during Jaeger’s military training: treat your captors as if they warranted some respect. There was just a chance that it might be repaid; it might persuade them to view you as a fellow human.

Yet right now Jaeger held out little hope. All that he had experienced here was designed to reduce him to the level of a defenceless animal.

‘I think you would like to be warm,’ the grey man continued. ‘Look beside you. Open the bag. Inside, you will find dry clothes.’

Jaeger glanced down. A cheap-looking sports bag had appeared beside his chair. He reached for it and did as instructed, unzipping it. He half feared he would find the severed, bloodied head of one of his Amazon team lying inside. Instead, he discovered a set of faded orange work overalls and a pair of threadbare socks, plus some battered plimsolls.

‘But what were you expecting?’ the grey man asked, a faint smile playing across his features. ‘First, a nice cup of tea. Now, clothes. Clothes to make you warm. Get dressed. Put them on.’

Jaeger slid into the overalls and buttoned up the front, then slipped on the shoes and sat back down again.

‘Warmer? Does that feel better?’

Jaeger nodded.

‘So now I think you understand. I have the power to help you. I can truly help. But I need something in return: I need you to help me.’ The grey man left a weighty pause. ‘I just need to know when your friends will be arriving, who we are to expect, and how we are to recognise them.’

‘I cannot answer that question, sir.’ It was the standard response that Jaeger had been trained to give: a negative, but as polite and respectful as he could make it in the circumstances. ‘I don’t know what you’re on about either,’ he added. He knew he had to stall.

The interrogator sighed, as if he had been expecting that response. ‘It does not matter. We have found your… equipment. Your laptop. Your cell phone. We will crack your security codes and passwords and soon these things will reveal to us your secrets.’

Jaeger’s mind was whirling. He was certain he’d not brought a laptop with him. And as for his cheap pay-as-you-go mobile, that would reveal nothing of any great import.