Chapter 7: Interrogation

It was another half an hour before Carlos saw the two men again. He sat alone in pitch black darkness on an uncomfortable chair with his hands tied behind his back while his captures (was it still considered being held captive if they were a legal force?) went out for a cigarette break.

"Don't worry to such about the rope. It's just a security measure, like when the police handcuff a person to the table." The driver had explained while the passenger secured him.

"So, you're not the police?" Carlos had asked. No phone call then. He didn't struggle, it would have only made things worse.

"Not exactly."

"Well, that's great." He grumbled before speaking up again "I would prefer to be handcuffed to a table."

"Well we don't have a table." The man snapped. "Now wait here."

"Will do. I don't really have a choice." Carlos replied cheerily. After that, the two men had left, turning the single unshaded bulb that formed the entire room's light off as they did. Luckily, Carlos was an excellent day dreamer even under terrible circumstances. His daydream started simple. He imagined the last few weeks had all been a dream. Night Vale certainly felt like a dream. As the dragging minutes past his thoughts became more elaborate. He smirked as he thought of himself suddenly developing excellent combat skills and breaking free or Josie, Cecil, and his team showing up a defensive force to be reckoned with. Both seemed unlikely. Carlos had never been in a fight in his life and nobody knew where he was. That thought sickened him. What if they just left him there, tied up in the dark. How long before anybody found him? How long before anyone would even think to look?

They didn't leave him there. They came back at long last. The sudden burst of light blinded him as it turned on with a nasty pinging sound. Carlos wished he could raise his arm in front of his face to protect himself, but of course he couldn't.

"Sorry about that, Mr Cienca." Said the driver.

"It's fine." Carlos tried to shrug. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, that glow cloud is still lingering on the edge of town and we had to get those animals out of the way before the street cleaners show up." The man who had been on the passenger side explained.

"Oh." Carlos jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice. "You do talk."

"Yeah. Of course, I talk." The passenger scowled.

"It's just that you haven't said anything so far and I just thought-"

"Well maybe I just don't want to chat all the time."

"Yeah, I get that."

"Would it matter if he didn't talk?" Hissed the driver.

"No, of course not."

"Because I know some great vague but menacing government agents that don't speak at all."

"You're right. I'm sorry. Shouldn't have mentioned it." Carlos nodded rapidly.

"It's fine. Let's just get back to the topic at hand." Said the passenger.

"Good idea. W-what's the topic at hand?"

"Helicopters." The passenger announced firmly.

"Helicopters?" Asked Carlos.

"The helicopters you told Mr Carlsberg you would investigate." Said the driver.

"Oh helicopters." Carlos suddenly remembered. "I completely forgot about them. Do you know anything about them? Who do they belong to? Do they belong to you? What do they want? Why is their presence always followed by…" His voice trailed off as he noticed the murderous glares he was receiving. "I mean…"

"Do you plan on investigating the helicopters, Mr Cienca?" Asked the driver.

"…No."

"That's the right answer."

"Am I free to go?" He asked hopefully.

"Not quite." Said the passenger. Carlos stifled a sigh. Of course he wasn't free to go. That would have been too easy. "Your presence here is…troubling. Night Vale doesn't tend to react well to investigation."

"If I promise not to investigate you or your organisation can I please just-"

"We're not talking about us." The driver snapped. "Honestly, we don't care if you investigate us."

"You don't?" Asked Carlos.

"No." he shrugged. "Everyone knows we're here; they just don't talk about it. You can spend all the time in the world 'investigating' us if that'll make you happy, but really nobody cares."

"Oh…then what do you mean by-"

"We mean the town doesn't react well to be investigated."

"You mean the people?"

"Are you even listening to me, Mr Cienca?" The driver scowled.

"But-"

"He said the town." The passenger moaned in frustration.

"The town?" Asked Carlos. "As in the actual-"

"Look." The driver snapped. "Night Vale isn't like most towns. I know it, you know it, and even though they all try to deny it, everyone else knows that. There's a very, very delicate balance and if you disturb it with your 'science' something terrible is going to happen. Maybe not for another week, maybe not for another year, maybe not even to you, but it will happen. If you leave now everything might be okay. If you don't, we can't get responsible for your safety."

"I…I can't." Carlos quietly admitted.

"What do you mean you can't?" The driver scowled.

"I can't leave. I'm under contract." He explained.

"If that's the case then we can't let you leave either."

"Are you going to leave me here?" Carlos asked fearfully.

"Of course not. We're not evil. There's a lovely little mine where you can go until your 'contract' ends."

"A mine?" Carlos explained.

"Yeah, it sounds worse than it is. It's actually really nice. You've gone TV, HBO, they change your sheets every day. It's kind of like a fancy underground hotel that you can't leave." The passenger explained.

"Oh…" he replied calmly. "Well, that does sound nice, but I don't think-"

"He's resisting. Knock me out." Said the driver.

"Woah, hang on, wait." Carlos protested as the passenger started walking towards him. He tried to struggle free from his restraints, but it was no good. Luckily, there was no need for a speedy escape. The room feel silent at the sound of a ringing phone.

"Excuse me one moment." Said the driver as he took his phone out of his pocket.

"Sure, take your time." Carlos smiled nervously as the driver picked up.

"Hello…speaking…yes we-wait really? Are you sure? Well thank you, that's very generous of you… you have a great day too." He put his phone down and looked back at Carlos. "You're free to go."

"Really?" Carlos sighed with relief.

"Untie him." He nodded to the passenger. The passenger nodded back and untied him. Only when his wrists were free did Carlos realise how much the ropes were hurting him. He gasped at the sudden release of pressure. "Now get out."

"C-can I get a ride back?"

"No. Just keep walking straight and look out for lizards. You'll be fine."

Carlos left without saying goodbye. The walk back to Night Vale was impossibly long and it wasn't long before his feet were screaming in pain. It was the middle of the night before he finally got back to the lab to collect his things, where he was surprised to find the light still on and his team still inside. Even more surprisingly, they weren't alone. Cecil was also there. All four of them were surrounded by paper.

"I'm just saying it might be a little overboard." Said Robin as Carlos stood unseen in the doorway.

"There's no such thing as overboard. If sky text is available, then it just makes sense to use it." Cecil explained.

"We already have the posters."

"But you can't ignore sky text."

"Urm, guys…" said Carlos. As soon as he did, the conversation stopped as all eyes turned towards him.

"Oh, thank God." Said Cecil. He rushed over and gave Carlos a crushing hug, which didn't help with all the aches and pains he'd developed from the chair.

"Hi, Cecil." Carlos croaked from inside the air restricting embrace. Cecil quickly realised what he was doing and released him. "What are you doing here?"

"Our phoneline got cut so we went to borrow his to call Mr Markson. He started freaking out and we couldn't get him to leave." Marsha explained.

"I was just worried that you'd gone missing. That's all. We made posters." Cecil handed him one of the sheets of paper, which read the following:

Missing:

Name: Carlos Cienca.

Age: Like twenty something we think (apparently nobody thought to ask).

Appearance: Perfect.

If found, please contact the station and we'll come pick him up.

Of course, nobody had a picture of him, so in the place of one was a photocopied pencil portrait.

"Wow, Cecil, this drawing is really good." Said Carlos.

"Thank you." Cecil smiled. "My niece, Janice, drew it."

"You got your niece involved?" Carlos laughed.

"He got everyone he could involved." Said Robin.

"She's a lovely kid." Jess added.

"Well, kind of a shame they're going to waste. I'll have to keep one." Said Carlos.

"We're just glad you're okay." Said Cecil.

Carlos didn't sleep much that night. The events of the day kept playing on his mind. It wasn't the capture and attempted imprisonment; it wasn't the interrogation. It was that they had said just before they'd attempted to knock him out. 'Something terrible is going to happen. Maybe not for another week, maybe not for another year, maybe not even to you, but it will happen'. If not to him, then to who? And how could the town itself act against him? More importantly, if it was really that important to everyone's safety that he stay out of the way, then how did a single phone call convince them to let him go? He turned up to work the next day bruised and drowsy. He looked out the window to where the car was usually parked. They didn't show up that day. In fact, they never showed up again.