Somewhere in New York City, inside a large train station, a group of terrorists rounded up everyone they could find and forced them into the center of the main hall. They made the people sit down and took them hostage.
To stop anyone from escaping, the terrorists installed a device, similar to a bomb, on the ceiling. It was fitted with a motion sensor that would go off if anyone moved outside the area it was watching with its infrared beams.
They then sprayed a red circle on the floor around the hostages, marking the boundary. No one was allowed to cross it... or else.
"Waah! Waah!"
Among the people trapped inside the circle, a mother cradled her baby, just a few months old. The child cried from hunger. They had all been held captive for an entire day without food.
"Don't cry, baby. There's nothing to be scared of. Mommy's right here," she whispered, trying to calm the baby.
Meanwhile, the terrorists seemed completely at ease. There were five of them, lounging around, some on the floor, others in chairs, browsing the Internet, reading news articles about themselves, or watching Netflix.
What the terrorists don't realize is that among the hostages, one man is secretly planning an escape. He knows that unless someone takes action, they'll all die here. Either they save themselves, or they starve to death.
So he waits, watching closely, looking for the moment when the terrorists drop their guard.
Then it happens.
He breaks from the group, dashes past the red line, and sprints as fast as he can while the terrorists are looking the other way. But it's not enough. Just a few seconds in, the terrorists react. As he reaches about ten meters, they raise their rifles.
"Shoot him!"
Gunfire echoes through the station. The man stops mid-run and collapses, his body sliding across the floor from the momentum. His chest and stomach are riddled with bullets, and blood spills out fast.
Screams erupt from the hostages. Panic spreads. Everyone's fear skyrockets. But then, someone notices something strange.
"The ceiling... it's ticking!" a girl yells.
"Shit! It's about to explode!"
As soon as they realize the bomb in the ceiling, with red and blue lights flashing nonstop and the ticking growing louder, panic spreads like wildfire. People scream and scramble in every direction.
"We have to get out of here!"
BANG!
"Oh my God!"
A man steps outside the thin red line by accident. One of the terrorists immediately shoots him down.
"It's okay, baby. Mommy's here..." In the chaos, the mother continues to comfort her crying baby.
"Waah! Waah!"
"It's about to explode!"
"Please let us go!"
Despite the desperate pleas, the terrorists remain silent, showing no sign of letting anyone leave. In fact, some are stepping back, moving away from the blast radius.
"We're all gonna die!"
"Look at Mommy, baby. Everything will be alright…"
"I'm not going to die here!"
BANG!
A woman tries to break free and run out of the red circle. But she's met with an AK rifle, and a copper bullet is driven into her forehead.
"WAAH! WAAH!!" The baby cries even louder, now terrified by the gunshots.
"Fuck this shit!"
"Let's fucking kill them!"
A few people in the crowd, mostly men, have had enough. They decide to fight back for their own lives, instead of waiting to die.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
No matter how many people rushed toward the terrorists, they were all met with the deafening sound of gunfire. Those who tried to resist are now dead, lying lifeless on the ground. Only those still within the red circle are alive, but not for long.
The ticking grows louder and faster with every passing second.
"WAAAHHHH!!" The baby remains in its mother's arms, crying, unaware of what's about to happen.
"Everything's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be alri—"
BOOM!!
The ticking stops, replaced by the deafening roar of the explosion. The bomb tears apart the ceiling, sending massive chunks of debris crashing down onto the red circle.
The rubble crushes everything and everyone beneath it. For a few seconds, the place goes quiet. The baby's cries, the screams, the yelling, all fall silent. All that's left is an eerie stillness.
blood spills
then a few seconds later, after the damage has been done and came the moaning of the ones who are still alive, agonizing while being stucks under heavy concrete
"Report! Our job here is done. Proceeding back to base."
One of the terrorists speaks into a walkie-talkie. Then, all five of them walk out of the station, heading toward their truck.
...
...
...
"Huh... Huh?!"
A few hours after being knocked out by Saiko, Chad finally wakes up. It's morning now—the operation began last night at midnight. Sunlight streams through a window, hitting him straight in the eyes.
"Looks like your sidekick's finally awake. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Gabriel."
"What the—?! Where am I?"
As Chad becomes fully alert, he realizes he's tied to a chair in a dark room. The only light comes from the morning sun, but the room itself looks expensive, even luxurious. Sitting in front of him is a man with a beard, wearing a white shirt.
"You're Chad, right? We're glad to have you here in one of the finest places in New York City," the man says with a smirk.
"Don't talk to him!" another voice snaps.
Chad turns to his right.
"Mister Neil?!"
"I'm sorry, Chad. I couldn't get us out."
"Sorry, always sorry," Gabriel says with a mocking tone. "You act like every problem in the world is your fault. But guess what? The three of you ended up here because of me."
"Three?"
Chad shifts in his chair to look further toward Neil—and then he sees him. Another man, wearing a vest, also tied up in a chair.
"Hi, kid," the man says.
"President Mikeal?!"
And realize it was one who was kidnapped by the terrorists on the news, the president of the United States.
"Yeah, it's me. You are Neil's student, right?"
"Oh, so you two know each other?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm not talking to you." The President harshly replied.
"Mister President, I think you should know which position you are in right now. Your life is entirely in our control and it will be decided in..."
Gabriel checks his watch.
"28 hours. Unless the White House agreed with my conditions."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, at about 10 AM Yesterday, I contacted the White House and gave them my demands in return for the safety of Mister President here, and about 2 million innocent civilians being held hostage by us directly or indirectly. I gave them exactly 48 hours and up till now it's currently 6 AM..."
He took some time to do the math.
"So 20 hours have passed, 28 more to go."
"What did you ask for?"
"Hm?"
"The demands, what demands did you give them?"
Gabriel instead turns at the president.
"I think you can answer him for me, Mister President."
All three of them are staring at the President, waiting for his response, which makes him feel a little awkward, so he begins speaking slowly and hesitantly.
"He asked for a withdrawal of all our troops in Afghanistan, and a transfer to give the entire country of West Germany, including the civilians, property, land,... basically everything to the government of East Germany."
"And you accepted that?!" Neil exclaims.
"Of course, I didn't! But right now, I'm not the one who makes the decisions."
After the President's words, silence falls as everyone processes the news. Neil begins to notice something unusual from all the information he has collected so far.
"Those are just... diversions, aren't they? A distraction from the real intentions of this whole thing." He suddenly speaks.
"What do you mean?" President Mikeal wondered.
"All of the terrorists I have encountered until now, I realized that they all can speak English, even though not fluently. But most of them also speak a second language, it's either Russian, or Pashto a language used in Afghanistan, and it's not a coincidence, there are many of them. I know because it sounds familiar to what I've heard during my service in Afghanistan."
Gabriel keeps nodding enthusiastically as if he had anticipated hearing this, while the President remains perplexed by Neil's words.
"What are you implying?"
"I was thinking... what if, a joint operation between the Talibans[1] who would like to attack and revenge America on its own land and the Wagner Group[2] with an only goal is to spark the flame for World War 3 between The Alliances[3] and the Soviet Union. But I don't know whether they are backed by the Soviets themself or not, but if they are, a war is inevitable Mister President."
Hearing this, the President's eyes widened, his mouth dropped, and his face flushed with disbelief.
"So that's what you meant." He speaks to Gabriel.
Clap! Clap! Gabriel applauds in admiration in response to Neil's explanation.
"Congratulations. You are correct! Our true intention is to make the United States and the Soviet Union go to war with each other. But how did you figure it out."
"I didn't, we didn't. Guess what? It was one of your subordinates." Neil speaks with a smug tone.
"And where is this 'my subordinate'?"
"Why would I tell you-"
"Let me guess, somewhere in a basement below a 'Safe' bar, there are three people other than the one you told."
"What?!" Both Neil and Chad sit in shock, hearing the last thing they ever wanted to hear.
"Oh, and there's also another in the underground of this building that we caught, what's his name again? Yeah... Roy."
"Don't you fucking dare lay a finger on them!" Despite the fact that he is bound to the chair, Neil still tries to rush over to Gabriel and yells at him.
"Ah hah! That's the Neil Phildom I'd love to see!" Yet, Gabriel only gets more excited.
"But don't worry Neil, they'll come here soon and we will put them all together in a nice and comfy room, but I promise... we won't do anything to them, unless... You force me to."
"Why are you doing all of this." Chad asked in frustration.
"Why?" Then Gabriel approaches him. "Haven't you heard? We want to start a war between the US and the-"
"I know, I mean you! Why are you doing this personally? You don't just go all the way here, risking your life and becoming the most wanted person in the entire world just for money, don't you? What is your motive?"
"My motive? Let me think... Well, having witnessed the brutality and human rights abuses of both America and the Soviets, I would say I'd love to see them destroying each other. I would enjoy sitting down and eating popcorn while the two most powerful nations in the world set each other on fire."
"How about the innocent people? What have they done to deserve this?"
Gabriel takes a brief pause and then gives Chad a sinister smile.
"Yeah, you're right. They don't deserve any of that, but neither do the 2 million people who died in Vietnam, nor the 70,000 in Afghanistan.
Innocent people die as a result of the selfishness and greed of powerful individuals. This occurs due to what is so-called "ideological differences," where they are willing to drag each other down to their graves along with their own people. And we are just doing the inevitable."
Gabriel's conclusion left all three of them speechless, their faces turning blank in front of the undeniable truth. He then stands up, steps away from Chad, and leans his back against the wall.
"Oh, and personally, I really despise the 'innocent people' you're talking about." He continues.
"What do you mean?"
"Because while "you people" wake up on a comfy bed and have a hot Starbucks on your way to work or study, there are many others who don't know whether they can even fill half of their empty stomach to survive until the next day. While you all may experience heartbreak, unemployment, or financial struggles, there are others who are struggling on the battlefield, not knowing when they are going to die.
You all are behaving as if you're the unhappiest people in the world when you don't have to worry about your safety, hunger, and health. And don't ask me about deservingness, Chad!" He said this while slamming his hand on a table.
"Because this world is already unfair, and I'm sure that my subordinates feel the same."
Then he sat back down in his chair. Nevertheless, Chad remains unsatisfied with this answer, he glares at Gabriel with a face full of hidden anger.
"But that doesn't mean you have the right to kill my friend."
"?" Gabriel bewildered.
"Just because you have suffered doesn't mean others have to suffer as well. Just because innocent people in your country have died doesn't grant you the right to kill people from another country. This makes you no different from the super-powerful people you mentioned. You are all simply murderers who use your own suffering as a justification for your atrocities!"
Upon hearing this accusation, Gabriel just smirked.
"You know what, Chad? You're right. I am a murderer. I've killed tons of innocent people before."
He then drew closer to Chad's face.
"But, so what? You're acting as if I'm the only one in this room who has killed innocent people before, right Neil? Mister President, since you two know each other, I bet you must know what he has done, right?"
"Mr. Neil, what is he saying?" Once again, Chad is puzzled.
"Don't listen to him Chad!"
"Oh, he didn't know?!" Gabriel laughs.
"You shut up!"
"Do you want to know what he did, Chad?"
"What are you saying?"
"Don't listen to him!" Neil begged.
"He..."
"Whatever he's saying he's lying!" Neil continues to beg desperately.
"Killed..."
"Please don't tell him! I beg you-!"
"My wife and son."
"..."
After that, everyone became quiet. Neil stopped pleading with Gabriel to tell what he didn't want Chad to hear, as Gabriel had already said it. However, Chad appeared to be skeptical.
"You're lying! Mr. Neil is not that kind of person! Of course, he used to be a soldier, but he only kills the evil ones like you! Right, Mr. Neil?"
Neil remained silent, avoiding eye contact with Chad and giving the impression that he neither rejected nor confirmed it.
"Wait... are you serious?"
"Jesus." The President exclaims.
"And do you want to know the details?"
Chad's eyes lock onto Gabriel with curiosity and bafflement. He leaned back in his chair, sat cross-legged, and started telling the story of a dark past.
[1] Basically the US' main enemy in the Afghanistan War.
[2] A Russian Mercenary Company founded and funded by the Russian Government.
[3] This novel's version of NATO, includes all anti-communist nations, not just North Atlantic nations.