Page 15 of Sinner's Salvation

Evan stopped a few feet away, braced his feet shoulder width apart, and just stared at the man.

The other man on Ledger’s right said nothing, but he studied Evan with a cold expression.

Great, just what he needed. Two more fucking politicians.

Ledger looked disgusted as well with a side order of regret. Right now, he was probably wishing that he hadn’t called in a US Army Intelligence officer to run this interrogation.

All three of them waited for Evan to respond.

He didn’t. He had to establish some credibility for himself, and he had to do it now.

As the seconds ticked by, all three of them began shifting their weight from foot to foot. They couldn’t maintain eye contact with him, either. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of the face of the guy on the left.

They were ready.

“What is the first rule of interrogation?” he asked them.

His question surprised them. All three frowned, glanced at each other, then looked at him for the answer.

He sighed, shook his head, and deliberately relaxed his body posture. “Look, I don’t tell you how to do your jobs, please don’t tell me how to do mine.”

The three men grumbled a bit.

Then the one on the left brought out his sneer again. “So, there’s a reason for your behavior?”

“The first rule of interrogation is:establish a rapport. It can be positive or negative, but no one is going to tell you anything useful unless you’ve created a relationship between you that they understand.” He pointed at the screen, showing Anna and Stettler. “That woman is like nothing you’ve ever encountered before. I was in that room for two and a half minutes. She was cool, calm, and confident for all of it. I’m a big man, but she didn’t blink an eyelash at having me close enough to grab her by the neck.”

All three of the men in front of him stared at him with rapt attention.

“You think she doesn’t know what’s going on here?” Evan asked them. “She was shot in the head. She woke up and smacked an armed soldier into a wall like he was a fly. She knows what’s going to happen next, or she thinks she does.”

Ledger’s eyes widened. “She expects to be hurt, threatened, and forced to talk.”

“Yes. That’s why we flip the script now.” He made eye contact with each man, giving them every non-verbal cue that they were a team, that they had the same goals. “Now, she can’t anticipate what happens next. If we’re polite and respectful, provide some small comforts, like water and food, we may gain some useful information.”

All three nodded.

The one on the left hardest of all. “Bad cop, good cop.”

“The long game of bad cop, good cop,” Evan agreed. “And we’ve already learned something interesting.”

“What’s that?” the man on the right asked. The first words out of his mouth since Evan had walked into the room.

“The baby FBI agent, Brian Stettler...is fucking brilliant.”

Ledger’s frown returned. “He’s on her side,” he almost shouted.

Evan grinned. “Rapport, remember. He’s been completely truthful with the woman and her family. They know exactly who he is, and they welcomed him into their organization anyway. He hasn’t broken character once. When he’s finally extracted from this assignment, I’ll be recommending the US Army recruit him.”

Realization and understanding dawned on their faces.

Ledger’s expression turned a little sour. “I told the FBI he was dead.”

“The best cover story there is,” Evan said, spreading his hands, then patting the other man on the shoulder. He discreetly dropped an audio and GPS device into Ledger’s suit jacket pocket. “And when it’s revealed that he isn’t dead, you tell them the opportunity couldn’t be passed up. They’ll thank you for it.”

Ledger nodded slowly. “Exactly. Exactly.” He grinned briefly and gave the men on either side of him knowing glances. “So, do you think you’ll be able to get her to cooperate?”

“Whatever she is, she’s also a woman.” He gave the men a smug side-long glance. “She’ll talk.”

---