2:45 pm
The Farm
It had taken 2 days, a high tech parabolic microphone, telephoto lens, 3 states, and hundreds of miles of travel but Dante had gotten what he was after. He and Simon were pretty sure it was only going to take one of their guests, but just in case, they had 3 separate packages ready to go and it was time to see if all of his hard work was going to yield the results they both anticipated.
The 11 men were all still in the main room in restraints and gags, as they had been for the last several days. Simon had brought out the projector and had been displaying Snatchchat video for the men to watch and it was definitely having an effect. When Simon and Dante walked into the room, the tension level ratched up about 10 notches. Dante hung back while Simon went around and stared down each man without saying a word. Finally, he addressed the group,
“Men, I’m going to ask one more time, who do you work for?” Seconds ticked by with only the heavy breathing of those struggling to breath around a gag. Simon slowly walked around the room and stopped in front of the soldier who has a son named Jeremy that Simon had targeted earlier.
“D, is young Jeremy ready for us?” Turning to look at Dante. Dante took a few seconds, feigning hesitancy to do what they were about to do and finally answered,
“He’s ready. He’s been prepped and is on the table now…..” Dante lowered his voice but not enough that the men couldn’t still hear him and leaned toward Simon,
“Are you sure we need to do this…” Simon released a long breath and replied,
“Yeah, these men obviously don’t care about anyone else so let’s show them what it’s like to watch your loved ones in extreme pain”. He turned back toward the soldier with fire and ice in his stare and said with as much menace as he could muster,
“It’s time, bring him.” He turned and went to the door leading to the next room. Dante removed the chain restraining the man from the eye bolt on the wall and pushed him behind Simon out of the room. It wasn’t lost on Dante, the frantic looks the rest of the men had on their faces as they marched the soldier out of the room. When they walked into the next room, it looked like an electrocution chamber. There was a big chair with restraints and several wires running down the sides of it bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. There wasn’t anything else in the room except a large mirror on the wall in front of the chair. They strapped the soldier down to the chair and when they had him secure, Simon walked in front of him and regarded him once again.
“There’s no reason Jeremy needs to suffer for what you have done, but make no mistake, he will suffer like it’s his job. Who Do You Work For?” He waited a couple of seconds and then removed the gag. The man just stared up at Simon. A small smile crossed Simon’s face and he looked over at Dante and nodded. Dante poked a couple of buttons on the device he was holding and suddenly you could hear a voice over the speakers they had installed in the room,
“You..you don’t have to do this, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Dante hit a button and the voice cut off. Simon turned his attention back to the man in the chair who’s entire body was tensed up like he was ready to pop and tears were falling freely down his cheeks. Simon waited,
“Tell me or I am going to let my associate go meet your son.” The man looked over at Dante for several seconds and then his eyes went to the floor at Simon’s feet. Simon stood and turned toward Dante,
“Start with his finger nails.” Then he turned and stared at the man while Dante slowly went to the door next to the mirrored wall. Once he got to the next room, the mirror suddenly became clear and was looking into the room on the other side where a small man was strapped down to a table and a black hood covered his face. Dante slowly donned a gown, gloves, and eye protection. He turned and looked through the mirror at the man in the chair and then turned around and picked up the pliers on the stainless steel table that was next to the table. He walked to the top of the table and pulled the hood off the man to reveal the soldier’s son, Jeremy. Simon hit a button on the device Dante had given him when he left the room and Jeremy’s voice could be heard begging and sobbing. The man in the chair was pulling against his restraints as hard as he could. Dante bent down and whispered something in the young man’s ear and he started begging and crying more. Dante picked up the young man’s right hand and moved the pliers toward his finger.
7 seconds later, they had their answer.
It’s amazing the results the right amount of CGI will yield. Once D put the mask and gown on, the video from there forward was actually old Snatchchat video with Jeremy’s face superimposed over the body on the table and his voice was what D had captured with the parabolic microphone, remixed into the dialogue we needed. Jeremy wasn’t the one who tried to kill us…