Chapter II

Year 5 of the reign of empress Lim-Kiririsha, 16th day of the month of Nisanu

“Nergal almighty… Those motherfuckers sure did some damage here,” Uktannu Kuttimu, an Elamite agent of the Eastern Coalition Secret Service and the commander of the squad responsible for the operation known as Annunitum’s Wrath, said as he entered the sealed off area of the half destroyed complex of cotton mills in Mari.

His squad was far from the only one working on the Assyrian terrorists’ case, in fact there were a few dozen agents dealing with this threat, and hundreds more in support personnel, but Uktannu’s unit was one of the more experienced ones and had to tackle the angle specifically relating to Assyrian Liberation’s Army connections with the OFK, and especially the Commonwealth.

“At least those morons only destroyed two of the buildings. Could have been a lot worse, all things considered, with even more casualties,” Nidintu Ishpartu said.

She was also an Elamite, and had known Uktannu for a few years, already having been involved in a few missions with the commander before this one. She was an expert in interrogation and could manage to extract crucial information even from some of the most hardened soldiers. During the war she used those skills both on the front in the Levant under Shilhak-Inshushinak, as well as later in Elam by being one of the agents sent by Lim-Kiririsha to deal with disloyal nobles. During one of such missions, she met Uktannu, who had managed to survive the purge and climb the ranks rather quickly.

“Hey, no one enters this area just yet!” one of the guards said to them as they were passing through.

“We’re secret service, soldier. We enter wherever we want,” Uktannu said as the two agents flashed their badges.

“Oh, I apologize. I think some of your colleagues are still here as well, right there,” the guard pointed at the inner destroyed building.

The area was still sealed off to the civilian population and for now mostly contained military personnel, who were sweeping the area for more explosives and investigating the attack. However, there were also some construction crews, who were clearing the ruble and preparing for the rebuilding of the complex. It was still partially intact, as the two eastern buildings were basically undamaged, and the central building only had some minor burn damage on its western side, yet of the two western buildings nothing but rubble remained for the most part.

The two agents continued through the courtyard to the spot where the guard had directed them. They soon reached it and indeed found another agent standing outside of the ruined building perimeter.

“Good morning, commander,” Ahati Ninevina waved to them.

She was an Assyrian woman, a bit younger than the two agents, and also the newest member of this squad. She specialized in archery and other ranged weapons and had received specialized training, among other selected women, by the Daughters of Ishtar.

“Morning, Ahati. You’re here early. Want to show off or what?” Uktannu grinned.

“No, you’re just the ones who are late.”

“We had important business.”

“Oh, I know all about your business.”

“Not that kind. We had to torture another Assyrian guy. Turned out he was just a pawn and knew nothing so we offed him. That kind of business.”

“I see.”

“Who are you, anyways?” Nidintu asked.

“Our newest recruit. Nidintu, this is Ahati, the archer. Ahati, this is Nidintu, the torturer,” Uktannu introduced them.

“Charmed,” Nidintu said with a bored look.

“Uh, pleased to meet you,” Ahati said.

“Now, I assume you aren’t all alone here. So where is Tim?” Uktannu asked.

“Inside the building. Well, what remains of it. Digging through the ruins, as always.”

“I’ll go see him now then. Don’t kill each other in the meantime, ladies.”

Uktannu went inside the building and after navigating through some remains of the destroyed machinery and collapsed walls, found the last agent crouched and examining some bricks.

“Commander,” Timgiratee Kilamitu said, without standing up or even looking up at him. “Came here to join me? Very exciting stuff here.”

Timgiratee was an explosives expert, but was also specialized in general weapons analysis. He was a Babylonian, and had spent some time in the Levant under general Zikarsin, serving in one of the engineers’ divisions.

“I think I will pass,” Uktannu said, looking around.

“Well, I basically finished anyways. Don’t think I will find much else,” Timgiratee stood up, with a brick in his hand.

“So what did you find?”

“See this?” Timgiratee showed him the brick.

“What the fuck am I supposed to be seeing here? There is powder on the brick, so what?”

“This powder is most likely from Hatti. Eastern Hatti to be more specific, though would not be uncommon in former Azzi either, which is now under the Lullubi.”

“So still not enough evidence to link the bombing to the OFK.”

“Yes. The explosives themselves were also of an amateurish make, as I was able to deduce from some of the leftover ones here.”

“How did you get your hands on them?”

“Because some of them had not activated properly, obviously. That’s why this building only blew up partially at first, unlike the other one.”

“Fuck, man, you could have got yourself killed fiddling with those bombs.”

“I knew how to deactivate them. You have to give me some more credit, commander, I know what I’m doing.”

“Were there other explosives, in the undamaged buildings?”

“Not that we know of. They probably had limited resources and wanted to do their attack on the opening day and so couldn’t wait.”

“Why not place all the explosives in the central building?”

“It’s the most heavily guarded one. Would have probably foiled their scheme too soon.”

“Goddamn bastards. They still tried to hit it though, with that stupid chariot charge right after the bombs went off. Of course, all of them were shot down far from here and ended up just exploding their own fucking skulls.”

“It was indeed supposed to be a much larger attack, considering they also had the haphazard attack on Aramina taking place at roughly the same time. Nothing came out of that obviously, but their resources must be quite spent.”

“That’s why we have to crack down on them hard right now, before they recover. So, do you have any other leads?”

“Yes, actually. There’s this sword,” Timgiratee lifted a nearby sword from the ground. “It’s from that guy who proclaimed that this was the work of the ALA and all that.”

“Before getting a dozen arrows shot right through him.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yeah. But, as we have seen over the previous year, the Liberation Army does not attract the brightest minds of this land. This sword isn’t Assyrian made. Or made anywhere in the Eastern Coalition either, for that matter.”

“Egyptian? Hittite?”

“Not exactly. They look like Assyrian swords, but they have some slight differences. Not noticeable to the average eye, but it won’t pass by me. So it clearly must be made in the OFK. If I had to guess, I would say Carchemish. Back in the day they had a somewhat secret forge, funded directly by Hattusa, which supplied Assyrian rebels who fought against the rule of Tiglath-Pileser. They wanted to make weapons similar to Assyrian ones, so that the rebels would be comfortable with them, but could not get the exact designs, as the border was tightly controlled, and few Assyrians managed to leave west. Though these new ones are more accurate than the previous versions, it’s still not the same.”

“So you’re saying this forge still operates and now just supplies other rebels?”

“It’s a possibility. I can’t say for sure, we would need some witnesses to corroborate.”

“Ah, more torture. Nidintu will love this. Question is who we will be torturing. We have quite a few of the terrorists in custody, just need to find some who have family in Carchemish, I guess. They would be able to confirm it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The group left the cotton mills complex and headed to the Mari Central Prison, where many captured members of the Assyrian Liberation Army were held, awaiting their trial. The agents asked to see the ALA members who had family or other connections in Carchemish, but the prison was unable to find such people. However, the agents learned that there were a few fitting these criteria in the prisons in Ashur and Nineveh and requested them to be transferred to Mari. A few days later, these prisoners arrived, about a dozen of them, and were offloaded to the same central prison. Capacity was not much of an issue, as most members of the ALA received the death penalty in the end and so space was being constantly freed up.

The newly arrived prisoners were all pushed against a wall so that the ECSS agents could take a look at them, behind a wall with a window, and choose with which one they would like to start with. The prisoners were all Assyrian males, as young as twenty and as old as about forty-five, of various heights and appearances. Nidintu Ishpartu was to choose which one would be questioned first, as she was usually the one conducting interrogations.

“Hmm, an interesting selection,” she said, as she was pacing around and looking at the prisoners.

“Come on, just pick one, I don’t want to spend a minute more than I must in this hole,” Uktannu said annoyedly.

“Just let me think,” she paused for a moment. “Alright, I think I know. This one,” she pointed to the third one from the left.

“Why that one? Why not the kid?” Uktannu pointed to the twenty year old. “Seems he would break much more easily.”

“Maybe, but he seems to be smarter than the rest. While this guy looks to not be the brightest, even among this degenerate group.”

“Whatever you say,” Uktannu motioned to the guards to take Nidintu’s selected prisoner.

The guards grabbed the prisoner and forced him out of the room. He was dragged to the interrogation room, thrown on a chair, and his legs and hands were chained to the table. The guards left the room and Nidintu and Uktannu entered it.

“He’s all yours,” a guard said as he was leaving. “Do whatever you want for all I care.”

Once they left, the door was closed, and only the prisoner, a rugged looking man in his thirties, and the two agents were left inside.

“I ain’t telling you nothing, motherfucker!” the prisoner shouted. “You ain’t getting anything from me. I’m as loyal as they come.”

“We’ll see about that. I wouldn’t bet any money on you staying true to your word though,” Uktannu said.

“Fuck you, man! And who is this bitch? What, she’s here to play the good cop to your bad one?”

“Actually, no. She is definitely the bad one.”

“Ha! Is that so?”

Nidintu got closer to the prisoner and suddenly slashed through his face with her nails, leaving a deep bleeding cut on his cheek.

“Ah, fuck! You fucking bitch, I’ll kill you!” the prisoner howled.

“Please, save your breath for more useful words,” Nidintu said as she cleaned the blood off her nails. “This was just a little warning to you that we’re not fucking around. I’ll get straight to the point, Bailram from Carchemish. We know all about you. We just need clarification on some details, and the quicker you answer our questions, the less pain you will suffer.”

“I ain’t telling you nothing, whore!”

“We know you lived in Carchemish for a few years after the war, moved there with your family, before leaving them alone there and joining the ALA. And subsequently you were caught after a failed assassination of one of the priests in Nineveh. Should have stayed in Carchemish and enjoyed the family life, you know.”

“What, you want to threaten my family too? That won’t work, they are over the border, you can’t reach them!”

“We don’t need them. We just need some information about the city from you. You lived there, you still have contacts there probably. So you know what goes about. Which means you must know about the secret weapons’ forge there which supplies you with some not completely accurate swords.”

“I don’t know nothing about no damn forge.”

“Really?” Nidintu asked as she sat on the chair opposite the prisoner. “Think hard about your answer.”

“Fuck you. I don’t know anything.”

Nidintu then grabbed his left hand and broke a couple fingers.

“Ahh, fuck!” the prisoner screamed. “I don’t know anything!”

“Shame,” Nidintu said, after waiting for a few moments. “We have all day here, we can wait for however long we need. And you still have plenty of fingers. Sure you don’t want to tell us anything?”

“No!”

Nidintu then grabbed and twisted his middle finger and after a few moments of the prisoner’s screaming, broke it fully.

“This really isn’t the moment you should be wasting away your screams, you know. Like I said, we already know this information, we just need some confirmations. You’re not gonna be spilling any secrets here, so I would say it’s not worth losing your hands over.”

“I… I don’t know, I… I swear!”

Nidintu grabbed the index finger of his left hand and was preparing to break it as well.

“Alright, alright, fine!” the prisoner shouted. “Yes, there is a weapons’ forge in Carchemish. It makes swords. But that’s all I know!”

“And the swords – they are transported over to Assyria?”

“Yes! I mean- I don’t-”

Nidintu twisted his finger harder.

“Yes, yes, they are taken to Assyria over the border.”

Nidintu let go of his finger.

“There, it wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Can I go now? I really need to see a doctor.”

“Not yet. You still need to answer some questions. One, actually. Where are these weapons going?”

“Uh, they… We take them.”

“From where? They are transported to a central hub and distributed from there, we just need you to say the name of that hub. That… city.”

“Fuck, I already said enough.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. Your body would really thank you if you continued talking. Again, we already know all this, we just need you to say it. Isn’t that right, commander?”

“Of course. We’re heading out there anyways in a few hours, whether you talk or not,” Uktannu said confidently.

“Yeah? You’re going there?” the prisoner looked at Uktannu.

“We sure are.”

“Where is it then? What city is that? You know it, right?” the prisoner tried to smirk.

“What, you don’t believe that we know? Because we do. We know the city. Harran. It’s Harran, that’s where we’re going.”

The prisoner’s smile faded.

“See? We do know. You really don’t matter as much here as you believe you do. And besides, there are a dozen other prisoners, half of them have already probably been broken by our friends. So no point in holding anything back,” Nidintu said.

“I- I don’t know…” the prisoner struggled. “I don’t know where they send those weapons. Could be any place.”

“No, it’s not any place, it’s a very specific place. And if you don’t say what it is, then a very specific place on your body will hurt quite a bit.”

Nidintu, who was wearing high heels, raised her leg and put her foot on the prisoner’s crotch, and began pushing the heel further in, causing the prisoner to scream even louder.

“Ahh, fuck you, why are you doing this?! Please stop, stop, get it off please! I can’t take it, please fucking stop this!” the prisoner shouted.

“I will, once you answer my question. Otherwise, I hope you’re not planning on having any more children, because that will not be possible in your condition. Though maybe having only one ball intact is still enough? I’m not sure. I think I’ll crush both just to be sure.”

“Come on, man, you know this shit ain’t worth it. Just answer the damn question,” Uktannu said.

“Alright, alright, fuck! It’s in Harran. It goes to Harran. The weapons get distributed from there. Some of our people meet with some guy in, uh, I don’t know, some fucking bar there? And he gets us the weapons we need. We pick them up in Harran,” the prisoner said frantically. “That’s it, I swear! That’s all I know! I wasn’t high up, I didn’t hear nothing more!”

“Bar huh? And which one is that?” Nidintu asked.

“I don’t know! I swear I don’t know! I think it switches places. It’s secret. They don’t tell us grunts that. Please, I’m telling the truth now, I know nothing more, I swear on Ashur and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser! Please, just let me go!” the prisoner cried.

Nidintu slowly lifted off her leg and stood up.

“We exhausted everything out of him,” she said.

“Let’s get out of here then, you made him fucking piss himself,” Uktannu said.

The two of them left the room with the broken prisoner inside and rejoined their colleagues outside.

“We’re going to Harran,” Uktannu said.

“How did you guess it anyways?” Nidintu asked.

“Only so many locations to guess from. Carchemish is on the Euphrates, but the river is highly patrolled, so I guessed it was the desert route, also considering how he talked about the goods being sent over the border, rather than along it. And Harran is the first major city on the desert way. So that was my guess, wouldn’t really make sense to transport such large quantities any further, as it would increase the risk of detection.”

“Fair enough. So you want to leave right now?”

“Well, I am leaving for sure. And Ahati, you’re coming with me. Will help me navigate that city.”

“I’ll be glad to, boss,” Ahati said.

“While you, Nidintu, you do some more of your interrogating here. See if the stories match up. We’ll investigate in Harran itself in the meantime, you’ll catch up with us in a few days.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have an opportunity to refine my methods then,” Nidintu said.

“And me? Where do I go?” Timgiratee asked.

“You stay here. Don’t want Nidintu to be all alone in such a place, so you keep her company,” Uktannu said.

“What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?”

“I don’t fucking know, stick a bomb up the prisoners’ asses for all I care. Should help to make them talk.”

“Huh, that is an interesting idea,” Nidintu said. “Maybe making some small explosives, putting them in the prisoners, blowing up their organs little by little. Could work.”

“You are by far the scariest person in this prison,” Timgiratee muttered.

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Well, you two have fun here,” Uktannu said as he began walking away with Ahati. “Join us in Harran once you’re all done.”