I couldn't remember how many months I'd been held captive. Six months, maybe nine… The wounds on my body still hadn't healed. My hands were chained, stretched out like Jesus on the cross. The faint light coming from the room hit Caner's face. Caner and I had been on the same mission for months; he was still working for the system. Actually, he was working, but my path was different—only I and Karahan knew that. I turned my tired body towards Caner.
"How are you doing, brother?"
"Let me sit for a bit, I'll be fine. These bastards won't break us, with God's help."
"Ah, you're right about that, brother."
Another stick hit my stomach. They were giving Caner electric shocks too. As we writhed in pain, the leader of the men sat on a chair, watching us get beaten. My body was exhausted. When there was a break, the man at the head of the table was saying something. Finally, he came up to me:
"Still don't know anything, kid?"
"Boss, get your father here; I have no account to settle with you or a tool," I said and spat in his face. He delivered one last blow to my stomach; I had blacked out. As I was unconscious, my conversation with Karahan came to mind:
"Listen, son, we've gotten into something. There's no one to trust on this path. Not even your childhood friend has shown that he can betray the system."
"We would have figured that out sooner or later. But we won't turn on each other for a system, Karahan. Don't you worry."
"Oh, my son… I'm twice your age. I've forgotten what you're learning; but let it be as you say, my son."
"So, what's our plan from now on, Karahan?"
"We'll wait, Alpay. The system currently wants results from the missions here. The Turkish supporters are also looking for something here. This place is a mine for them: drug, arms, women and child trafficking… Everything happens here. So the system won't leave without getting something from here. The system always takes something from where it goes."
"And if we find it, what will we do?"
"The system will either work with or kill the men it wants us to find. Our goal is to find and kill those men. If they do business with them today, they will bring them into our country tomorrow."
"So the system will create a 'win-win' situation: it will get weapons and money from the Turkish supporters, do business with the men here, and thus sell the goods to the men in Turkey through them, getting a double profit."
"Exactly, my son, you've understood it well. Our goal is to break this order and save ourselves. If we can't do this, we will always remain in the system. The system's law is clear: 'If you're in the system, kill; if you're not, die.' If we want to get out, we have to die, right, son?"
"Don't worry, we won't die. But we can't give anything away."
"That's where you come in, Alpay. I can never intervene from here. I can only show you the men; you can kill them or make contact with them. But our goal right now is to eliminate the small pawns here. The big ones are in Turkey. You'll take on the role of a reckless, dutiful soldier here; you'll even attack me if necessary. Good cop, bad cop…"
Cold water was poured on my face; the shock brought me back to my senses. When I opened my eyes, there was a different man next to him: middle-aged, bearded, a bit shorter than me, pot-bellied; he looked at me, grinning with his yellow teeth.
"You wouldn't tell me without me, huh, kid," he said, laughing at my bloody face.
"I thought the owner of these dogs was someone a bit bigger. I have a question: Is your nickname 'Underground İsmet,' or is it because of the job you do that you're so short?" I taunted.
The man got angry and delivered a few more blows to my stomach.
"Come on, kid, don't tire yourself and me out. You're a handsome boy. We have more work to do."
"You're not my target. If you're talking to me, you're the right-hand man of someone who gives you orders. But I can't be bothered with dogs and thugs."
"You have no chance to bargain, kid. Now give me what I want so I can ease your pain. Look, your friend is very tired."
I looked at Caner; Caner was completely exhausted. We were playing our last hand.
"What is this guy saying? Tired and all…"
"Don't look at me, partner, I'll get up and play another hand; this is a gamble."
The man laughed at us, turned his back, gave a few instructions to his men, and went outside to talk on the phone. The car wasn't working; we had to handle our business quietly. I called out to Caner:
"We're getting out, partner."
Caner nodded. He reached for his belt, pulled a razor from under the buckle, and cut the rope. He slowly stood up and undid my chains. We went around the back of the wall and neutralized two men. We took their guns, silently took down a few more men, and then captured the chief. I made a 'shush' sign with my hand.
"Now call that 'Underground İsmet' for me, or my friend will put the gun he has in his mouth out the other side of his head."
The man silently nodded.
"Caner, I'll hold the door. You handle this."
I walked towards the door, took the chain in my hand, and approached. The man shouted from there; he had a gun in his hand. He rushed in; I put the chain around his neck.
"Rule one, İsmet, you check the place you enter. Rule two: now you'll take me to your owner."
"What do you want from me?" he groaned. I tightened my grip on his neck and asked:
"Your owner."
"Okay, just stop. Your owner isn't with me; I don't know him. But I know a name." I loosened his throat for him to talk; after a little stroking, he said a single sentence: "We know Mr. Tarık." Then a bullet hit the middle of his forehead; the man died in front of my eyes. A spark came from the window. I looked to my right and left; Caner yelled, "Ambush!"
"Hide! Caner, there's a sniper!"
We pressed our backs against the walls; we couldn't even lift our heads. There was no angle, no view.
An idea came to Caner. We forcibly pulled the short İsmet towards us. Caner used the man to throw himself outside; he sacrificed himself. I was still looking for an angle inside. I took the man's phone and immediately dialed Karahan's number.
"I'm 24, operation two, world."
"Tell me, son, where are you? Give me your location."
"Sir, the location isn't important right now. Name: Mr. Tarık. Name: Mr. Tarık."
Caner broke through the door and came in; he emptied the entire magazine into the area where the shots were fired. Everything fell from my hands—the phone, everything… "No time, jump in, partner!" he said.
I nodded. I got behind the wheel; they kept shooting as I turned the car. A bullet hit the car's left rear tire.
"We can't go much further. Let's go somewhere and continue from there."
"Alpay, we can go back and find him. Let's do a reconnaissance search."
"The man is a professional; someone killed İsmet from a blind spot; he will kill us. We got what we came for; retreating is the best plan, Caner."
Caner and I came to a road border; we didn't know exactly where we were. There was a gas station up ahead; we approached it. Caner got out of the car and went to find the gas attendant. We needed to get some food and medicine. As I was checking the surroundings, Caner approached.
"The guy got suspicious of us, but good news: we know where we are now. We're in Al Rutbah, close to the Syrian border. We'll need to find a phone and notify headquarters."
"Let's get it from the gas attendant; we need food and medicine. We're drawing too much attention like this."
"What do you want me to do, partner? Take it by force from him?"
"I'll handle it," I said. I left Caner to get gas and a tire change and went towards the market. I asked the gas attendant for help with broken Arabic; I thought he agreed. A gun came out from under the counter.
"I won't let a thief like you take my goods!" he said. With a quick move, I grabbed the gun and knocked the man out.
"We didn't want all your stuff anyway."
I took the man's phone from inside. I contacted Karahan from somewhere and asked for first aid supplies, medicine, and food.
"I'm 24, operation two, world."
"I'm listening, son."
"We're in Al Rutbah. We'll get some supplies and materials at a gas station. What are your orders?"
"You're near the border there. There's a difference; the Syrian crossing is there. Enter the village; there's a house there. We'll pick you up from there."
"Understood, sir. Follow me on the phone; this time the man is big."
I hung up the phone, took the materials, and went outside. As I walked out the door, Caner was standing in front of me; a gun was pressed to my head.
"Don't move too much, kid, or you'll be picking up your friend's brains from those bags."
Now what was I going to do?