Over his shoulder, Bhuwakul yelled, “Keep Looking!”

  Everything that was holding Jackson together left him all at once and he did the only sensible thing that he could do; he fainted. Bhuwakul did a very quick pat down of Jackson and found no obvious wounds. Or, more importantly, booby-traps.

  Bhuwakul removed the blind, and the gag and started removing the handcuffs. That’s when he heard someone upstairs yell “FOUND ANOTHER!” – he would worry about that ter. Jackson was his focus.

  Once the handcuffs were removed, the only things holding the man upright, he started folding over and falling off the chair.

  The chair was a cheap folding chair that you find in hardware stores. Usually in sets of four with a card table. Also frequently found in college dorms. To say that it was unremarkable would be an overstatement.

  Bhuwakul took a moment to cradle Jackson as he lowered him to the floor to do a much more thorough check on the man. Everything appeared to be OK, outside of the many contusions. He was alive. That’s what counted most.

  “Bhuwakul? You’d better get up here” floated down from the second level.

  Jackson was currently stable, so he told one of the men who had come with him to watch over Jackson and keep him safe.

  Bhuwakul found the stairs going up and ran, skipping every other step to get there faster. He found three men at the top of the stairs standing around the entrance of what turned out to be an empty bedroom.

  In the middle of the bedroom was a man. That man was being held up by ropes that held his arms out to the side, being anchored to the walls. A third rope was attached to a colr around the man’s neck. He was kneeling in the center of the room. He appeared to be praying with his head lowered, but the blood pooled at his knees spoke of a different reason.

  “Show him,” said the man in the door to the man beside the figure. The man grabbed the hair of the kneeling man and it showed why he didn’t mind the rough treatment. It was obvious that he was dead. The front of his forehead had been caved in. Blood was everywhere. That’s when Bhuwakul observed the rest of the man. The person who kept him captive had liked knives. And was good at what he did.

  “Photograph everything, cut him down, and bring him. We have to find out who he is.”

  “I know who he is, sir.”

  Bhuwakul looked sharply at the person who made the statement. That person told him and Bhuwakul nodded in grim understanding.

  “We have to get him home, too. Still, get all the evidence and photos. We’ll clean him up before we return him. He deserves that much.” Everyone nodded and got busy.

  Bhuwakul went back to Jackson. To the man guarding, he said, “Get a stretcher, we need to get him to the hospital for observation.”

  The man ran off to get the requested equipment. When he returned, he spped one of his mates, they popped the device open and with surprisingly gentle hands, lifted the man onto the stretcher and ran like demons to the waiting truck.

  Bhuwakul found his XO and asked with just a look. The XO said “We got this. Go. He will probably need you if he wakes up.”

  Without a word, Bhuwakul turned and ran. He made the vehicle as the doors were closing and rode with him.

  They did not go to a public hospital. They went to a special underground hospital for people who do not exist. Bhuwakul was his real name, he actually existed, but he had multiple other personas that didn’t. Since this was an unofficial extraction by unofficial people, who also didn’t really exist, this was the safest pce for Jackson to go as he currently didn’t exist either, for the moment. Once woke up, was checked over, and cleared to leave, then he would recover and become a real person again.

  Essentially, Bhuwakul brought Jackson to a rough meatball clinic to make sure of the extent of his wounds.

  Until then, he was being given world-css treatment. He was being scanned by devices that major hospitals didn’t have access to yet. They were theoretical devices that should be avaible in about five years to universities and hospitals.

  In other words, Jackson was in very good care. He was also being kept sedated during the events so there was no need for non-disclosure paperwork or any suggestions of ‘silencing’ him in any way. How stupid would it be to silence the person they were currently trying to save – if he needs saving that is.

  Jackson turned out to have had the snot beaten out of him. He was also suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. The only thing that they were currently worried about was his right eye. The orbital socket appeared to be broken by a blunt object. The eye itself might be damaged, but that would have to wait for him to wake up to test. According to scans, there might be bone fragments in the eye and nerve, but they would need to do a deep scan or physically remove the eye from the socket to observe the damage. But that could be done elsewhere.

  The current pn is to make sure that Jackson is not in any immediate danger, then call a proper hospital with which they have an understanding that they ought not to ask too many questions, and send him there for a full battery of tests.

  After an hour, the medicos said that they could take Jackson to the hospital in question. They would take care of the other, less fortunate person. Once done with him, they could figure out what to do. Most likely, they would quietly slip a word to someone from the police department who would come over and take the body. They would find a more suitable pce to 'find' them.

  They waited with the sedated Jackson for the ambunce of the other hospital. The guard that was assigned to watch over Jackson stayed and chatted with Bhuwakul until the ambunce showed up.

  On the way over to the next hospital, Bhuwakul gave in and took a nap.