The lifejackets were fitted with the latest state-of-the-art stealth attack kits borrowed from CIA. Ron looked at the moonlit sky; sighed and jumped into the icy water. Mitch followed without delay. They both had been given mouth-pieces to drown the noise of clattering teeth. By the time they reached the ship, it was ghostly silent. Ron signaled Mitch to wait. ‘This would be a cakewalk’.

Suddenly the deck was washed with piercing white light blinding Ron. He felt a heavy blow to his head, the last thing he remembered before fainting was Mitch’s crooked smile.

He woke with a start; cold sweat breaking on his forehead, that smile had haunted him for the last 7 years. Until yesterday that is. He had killed Mitch with his bare hands, watched him plead for mercy. But he had needed the closure, the answers for that one month of pain, torture, humiliation and, above all, the betrayal. It would take some time before he could start breathing easy again, when he would not wake up in the middle of night screaming like a madman. But he was ready; ready to learn to live again.

© 2009 Sankalp Sunder. Original for CCF. (Sunder grants CCF first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).