"Are you thinking to back out?" Major Watson asked me.

"Negative, sir." Hell yes! In my mind, I back out every 6 hours only to come back and get myself screwed all over again.

The exhaustion must have been clear on my face. Because he spoke in the same straight tone. "If you are planning, then do it within next two days. This coming Sunday you're having an interrogation session. And you might regret not listening to me."

Interrogation session? I've hardly survived two weeks here, and they're already pulling me into interrogation?

Though I have heard very less stories of this session, but all I know is that they break a man once he enters the hall. And being a Class-I agent, it is expected from you to dig out all the information you can from your enemy whom you're interrogating. So for that, you need to be on the receiving end of it to understand how much pain brings out how much information.

I felt a chill imagining that. Who will interrogate me? Anyone but Neil. That fucker is a mind reader.

"I will stay, sir." I say in a quivering voice and he didn't miss it. He laughed.

"You are scared. Good. Because if I were you, I'd run away after hearing God knows how many Agents are going to screw me from top and bottom in a closed hall, that too within two weeks of my trial period. It's bad, son. Take my advise and sign the deal off before you get scarred for life."

That really fucking helped!

He is just playing with my mind and instilling fear, James, don't listen to him. Beta had told me about everyone trying to plant fear in my mind. I won't give in.

"I'll stay, sir." I repeated firmly this time. And he looked at me not expecting this response.

"Your wish newbie." He said and left. I haaaaate this word!

Cursing him silently, I got back to unloading sacs of vegetables for mess. Yes he likes to make me feel miserable by making me do works of a labourer, sweeper, sewage cleaner etc etc.

Each CTO here has a different approach towards me. Some try to Fuck my mind - yes, Neil is on top. Some break my body through frank disastrous workouts - so much so that even taking a breath hurts. Some make me feel terrible by making me do petty jobs. Some try to be frank and fake friendly behavior to know my thoughts. Some try to make me hell drunk and then the rest try to Fuck my mind and body and self-esteem all at once.

The last situation is the most difficult to handle. The amount of alcohol I was made to drink on day 10 of my trial here, exceeds my whole lifetime of drinking till that date. And I freaking passed out for heaven's sake!

One would say that I should not be allowed to drink - and that I'm breaking rules. But guess what - there are no rules applicable for me. If my fucker I/C wishes, anything can be done to me anytime, anywhere. Also, if commander had caught me drunk talking, I bet my ass Norman would have washed his hands off. There's absolutely nothing I can do to keep myself safe except follow orders and pray.

Well I can't really blame anyone but me. I myself signed on that paper which meant-

'I, in my full senses, agree to undergo all kinds of examination and evaluation found necessary to pass the standards to appear for Class-I agent training tests. The minimum tenure of this trial will be 50 days. During this interval, if I wish to discontinue, I will inform the necessary authorities who shall decide whether I should be called fit or unfit based on my performance till the date of leaving. I shall abide by all rules and follow every command given to me by the Commander of CCTC and I shall not report against any behaviour or act done against me as a part of my trial. The only freedom that is granted to me is to sign my trial off.'

'I shall follow all orders of the Cdr'. The cdr gave me just one order - to follow all orders of my CTO I/C. And my I/C ordered me to follow orders of all CTOs. And all CTOs have ordered me to follow orders of every instructor here. All instructors have ordered me to follow orders of every sub-instructor and civil staff here. So basically, I am supposed to follow orders of every human here.

From polishing their shoes to mowing the lawns, there's nothing I can say no to. If I do that ever, it goes in red in my dossier and on 50th day, they'll throw it on my face and kick me out.

Till then they have no authority to show me the door until I'm willing to. Beta played smart and ensured that they don't get any such power. He knew I'll be out within two minutes if that happened.

But the joke is on me. Fifty days of hell and even then there is no guarantee that I'll be given permission to appear for Class-I agent tests.

If somehow I survive this hell and qualify through the wildfire of tests, I'll have another hell of six months waiting for me.

The road seems to never end. And so does my journey. But I can't afford to sit down and take a nap. I have to keep looking forward and walking.

"Your pants wet?" I heard Neil's teasing voice and immediately pulled my guards up.

"In sweat, yes, ss Neil." I said seriously.

He was controlling a laughter. "No. It looks like someone told you a bad news and you're losing it." I could hear his 'pissing in your pants'.

"No." I answered strongly. And within a millisecond, I realised that I missed something. "Neil. No, Neil."

I repeated the whole sequence just in case he gets offended and pushes my ass on fire.

"When will you stop lying to me, Lieutenant?" Yes he uses that word often. But it's million times better than newbie, or pup or all the shitty names they use to call me.

I sighed loudly. "Start talking." His tone got serious and I knew I had no other option.

"Major Watson said I'll be going through an interrogation session." I blurted out my worst fear.

"When?" He asked stopping in the middle of his walk suddenly.

"Coming Sunday." I hesitated, hoping he says exactly what I want to hear.

Instead, he laughed. Loudly. Like a monster.

"Boy, oh boy" He said pitying me. Shit.

"Just pray that it's not me who'll be doing that to you. I'm very nasty when it comes to that hall and I know no mercy. I take off my 'good man' cloak before entering and all that remains is a heartless ghost." He said looking into my eyes and my breath stopped.

"Why... Why would you... be taking that session?" Now that we've established that my luck is nothing but a nude wire hanging from the mainline in rain, I wanted to know how bad is it going to be. And most importantly, why?

"All agents are supposed to take one interrogation session and also undergo one during their refresher period. We need to break someone and practice ourselves from being broken by someone else." He explained.

"What if someone fails in both?" "Then he starts the refresher again. With humiliation."

Damnit! There's no way anyone is going to go easy on me. And for fucking hell, I'm going to be the dummy for someone. Or worst case, all of them.

"Is there any speficic time period?" "Six hours tops." He answered casually.

"Six?" I gulped. Six hours of non stop torture? And he calls it tops?

"How many have you been through?" "Two. In my class-I training. Everyone else does one but oldies love me more so I got an extra."

He said raising his eyebrows probably going through bad memories.

"How was it?" "As horrible as I had expected. Second was surprisingly worse."

"You gave in?" "Not even once." he defended himself strongly. And I swear I was even more impressed with this man!

"And how many did you take?" "One. And I made him pay back. He was a Senior Major who made me bite my cheek. And I made him bite his own lip." The smile on his face at that moment was the worst thing I'd have experienced at this place.

"Don't you worry. I'm not going to say what or how we go about it. It's a lifetime experience. The seniors try to keep it worst so that you fail the first ever interrogation of your life. It's a serious thing for you, but a game for them. They keep a score. You might find more than one person willing to break you that day."

"I won't be surprised if there are more than one, actually." "Considering the amount of love your I/C has for you, I won't be surprised either."

There goes my sleep for tonight.

"You too will be willing?" "I don't volunteer for stupid things, James. But I don't step back when I take up a task. So if I'm there, give up within first five minutes and let it be easy for both of us." He deadpanned. I said nothing.

************************************

Damn. I never liked interrogation sessions! James undergoing one will be an absolute nightmare! How does it make you feel?

************************************

Vote and comment - what do you think is going to happen with my man!