Crisis Of Conscience (Part 2)

[Van Der Kamp]

>>>CONTINUED

[/i]


Larsen Van Der Kamp sits at a table in an interrogation room. His hands are cuffed.

There's no explaining this. This time it's over. Even if I tell Patel the truth, there's no saying he will believe me. How can I explain the fact that I nearly shot a Johannesburg Police Officer. How did I get this far? Two months agao I was just trying to figure things out, and now I'm completely in over my head. This obssession is starting to get out of hand.

Officer Ule Patel walks into the room. He sits across from Larsen. He reaches across the table and unlocks the handcuffs. Larsen pulls his hands away from the cuffs and massages his wrist.

PATEL:
"Quite the situation we have here. You don't look so innocent now. Last time we met you tried to make me feel guilty for accusing you of murder, and now I catch you red handed. I told you I would find out what you were up to. I knew if we led the mob to believe that Streppner was awake that I would catch you with your hand in the cookie jar."

LARSEN:
"You mean Streppner is still in a coma?"

PATEL:
"The man has barely twitched. I just needed to know where you stand. Now I do."

LARSEN:
"You don't understand, it's not what it looks like."

PATEL:
"Really. That's funny, cause the image of you holding a pistol to Streppner's head seemed pretty clear to me."

Larsen sighs. He buries his head in his hands for a moment.

PATEL:
"I've got circumstantial evidence that you killed my informant Lesedi, and I've got my eye witness account of you preparing to pull the trigger on Streppner. I could have you locked up for a long time... but I won't.

Larsen looks up with a look of confusion on his face.

LARSEN:
"I don't understand."

PATEL:
"I have watched you for a long time. I have studied your file. Killing Lesedi, well that made sense. He was going to end up dead eventually, and Lord knows he did enough to deserve it. But your choice to try and kill Streppner raises questions for me. I don't think it fits your character. For three years you dedicate your life to learning your past. For three years you have obsessed over your past, and left no lead unchecked. So why would you try to kill the man who was moments away from telling you the truth about your past before being shot?"

Patel pauses, Larsen remains silent. Patel gets up out of his chair and paces around the room while he continues.

PATEL:
"From what I know about you, you would be the first one who would want to see him once he woke up. You would grill him until he had given you every detail. Maybe after he told you the truth you would kill him if you didn't like what you heard. Killing him before getting that information would have haunted you for the rest of your life."

LARSEN:
"What do you want from me?"

PATEL:
"I want you to start telling me what is going on. There has to be more to the story than I am seeing. The more I learn about you, the less likely it seems that you have simply given up your search and become a killer for hire. Just talk to me."

Larsen looks up at the video camera recording the interrogation.

LARSEN:
"There can be no record of what I'm about to tell you."

Patel climbs up on his chair and disconnects the camera. He steps down and once again sits across from Larsen.

PATEL:
"It's just you and me. Start talking."

LARSEN:
"I have been spending the last two months attempting to infiltrate the organization. Lesedi's murder was my tryout so to speak. After killing him I gained an audience with the #2 man in the organization Nassor. Since then I have been having dreams that I am convinced are memories involving him. He seems to be the key to the door of my past. Everything I have done is to get closer to him, and to perhaps one day gain audience with the boss. I'm still not sure if I even would have pulled the trigger in the hospital room, but if I did it would have only been to get closer to Nassor. The closer I get to him the more I seem to remember."

Patel leans back in his seat and thinks for a moment.

PATEL:
"Listen, I know you don't trust me. I personally don't really trust you. The problem I have is, though I don't trust you, I need you. As I told you before, even my best informant has never even gotten to be in the same room as Nassor, let alone have a conversation with him. If you have access to him we can find a way to bring the whole deck of card down. I will let you go on the condition that you keep me informed of everything that goes down in that organization, especially any dealing with Nassor. When I say everything I mean everything."

LARSEN:
"What's in it for me?"

PATEL:
"For one thing you get to walk out of here. Secondly you'll get something you have never had before."

LARSEN:
"What would that be?"

PATEL:
"Streppner was the guy assigned to your case. The whole time he was hiding something from you. He knew more than he told. Which means you never had anyone committed to helping you find out about your past. I on the other hand know about as much about your past as you do. You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. You help me bring Nassor down, and I will do everything I can to help you figure out your past."

LARSEN:
"There's only one problem. By now Nassor will know that Streppner isn't dead and you have me in custody. How is he going to believe that I'm going to get to just walk out of here?"

PATEL:
"That's the beauty of working for the Johannesburg police department. There's more crooks working the desks than there are behind bars. When Nassor wants someone out, they always get out. They've been pushing hard to get you out the last couple of hours. You must have earned some trust."

LARSEN:
"How do I get information to you?"

PATEL:
"You'll know best when you're safe to contact me. Use caution, contact me only when you know you are alone. If I need to get information to you I'll just jump you on the street and try to arrest you. That wouldn't shock any of your buddies. They know me well by now. Keep up appearances at all times. I don't like you, and you don't like me. That's the way it has to be."

Patel gets up and opens the door. He looks at the man guarding the door.

PATEL:
"The prisoner is free to go."

Larsen walks out of the room and leaves the department.


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"So one piece of my life comes into focus. Something good comes from my reprehensible actions. Does this convince me that doing the right thing is the way to go... absolutely not. I am now in the best position I have ever been in my personal life, and I never would have gotten there if I didn't cross the line. The message to me is clear, if you want results you must be willing to do whatever it takes to produce them. You must be willing to ignore what your conscience is telling you, and do what must be done. That is what I will do at Apocalypse Now. I will have no crisis of conscience when I step into the ring with Ian DeTornado. I will do everything that I have to do in order to walk away the SWA Champion.I will not hesitate when presented with the opportunity to cripple you. I will cross any line that seperates me from the SWA Championship.

Tornado seems to think that I owe him some sort of apology. He seems to think that I will beg for his forgiveness, and beg him to restore my integrity to him. He said that he would save me. That is completely ridiculous and laughable. I have no interested in receiving your forgiveness. Not because my friends have made me sick and twisted. What I have become I have become on my own accord. Nobody forced me to be the way I am. I have changed not because of those I have around me, I have changed because I needed results. Being the nice guy got me nowhere. So no, you will receive no apology from me. The only person who will be begging at Apocalypse Now is you as you beg for me to end the pain, and finish the match.

Ian DeTornado's sad and mediocre reign at the top is in it's final hours. The dawn of a new era in the SWA is upon us. No more will the SWA Championship be looked down upon because of the man who holds it. No more will we have a champion who's greatest claim to fame since winning the title is a victory over Marty Jannety. It's time we get a respectable champion, and I will be just that. Ian DeTornado will only be a fleeting memory in the minds of the people. Whether people love me or hate me, they will see what a real champion is as they watch me. They will see someone who steps up to every challenge and overcomes every challenge. So talk all you want Ian. At the end of the day the result will be the same. Your mouth is no match for my ability. I am not intimidated by words, the only thing that gets my attention are actions. The only thing that you actions have told me is that you are an average talent at best. At Apocalypse Now I will show the whole world that I am the superior athlete in the SWA, and you will be forgotten."[/b][/center]