A Tunnel drowning in the shadows, part 1

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I felt myself drift away from reality. My eyes started to feel heavy and the only thing I could hear was the distant sound of a man shouting. My hands were tied, my eyes were covered by a piece of fabric.

Suddenly, what sounded like an iron door opened, and I could feel strong hands holding me tightly. My body was paralysed, I was paralysed by fear. I felt trapped, and unsafe. I fought my breathing for almost what seemed to be an eternity before I finally started to calm myself down. I was then dragged into a room and seated on a cold, metallic chair. Hands found their way to the back of my head and removed the blindfold that was prohibiting me from seeing.

A massively built man was standing in front of me. He was extensively tall, and his gaze was as sharp as a knife. For about ten minutes, he walked around me, analysing me, but since I was terrorised, he took a chair and sat in front of me. His eyes softened and he placed his rough hand upon my leg, squeezing it lightly. In a quick motion, he pulled my chair closer to him and said in a terrifying tone:

“Where did they go?”

“I… don’t know…”, I said as I was trying desperately to avoid eye contact.

24 hours earlier.

Beep…Beep…Beep…

“Sir, we’ve located them”, said Steven from his chair across the room.

“Martin, call the president”, I ordered.

Within seconds, I was presenting our current situation to the president of France since he is the only one who can give us the green light to fire.

“Mr President, we need your approval to fire a factory where we believe terrorists are hiding out.”, I said firmly, looking straight into his eyes.

He nodded briefly allowing me to go on with my explanation.

“We’ve been observing a factory who supposedly closed down 30 years ago on the west border of Afghanistan in the Herat district. When I say “supposedly”, I mean that on the 23rd of February we spotted a truck entering the perimeter from our Satellite CSO 1 who was above the area. We truly believe that this truck transported weapons and men.

Three parts of the factory are inaccessible because of the damage caused by the multiple fights that occurred 20 years ago in that same area. Therefore, one area remains liveable. We suspect that they built an underground network connecting them to the city of Taybad in Iran.

I respectfully demand your agreement to send four A400M.”

PART 2