I can't tell you what my mission was or who it was for, even though I've already been captured. Please, don't make me tell you. Don't make me fail worse than I have. They've done enough to strip my pride already.
***
They throw a bag over my head, the day they catch me. They only lift it after dragging me through a maze of hallways, forcing me on to my knees, cuffing my wrists behind my back and my legs together at the ankles.
When I look up, there is a man sitting in front of me in a chair atop a raised podium, taking in the disheveled appearance of his prize. "You've been causing us a lot of trouble," he says. "I think it's about time for you to make it up to us."
As my training taught me, I say nothing. If I give them anything more to use against me, my outlook will get even worse. "I doubt you've learned much about us," he says. "In fact, I'm sure you don't even know my name." I hope my blush isn't visible. It's true - I've gleaned little about the true identities of my targets. The low-rank operatives I'd gained access to were useless. Of course, I'd still had to kill them after their interrogations.
"Your associates, your allies - they barely told you anything, did they?" He shakes his head. "It's obvious that they wouldn't trust anyone so pathetically incompetent."
I can't hold myself back. I glare, and say, "Incompetent? I'm the reason four of your agents are dead."
"I'm well aware." He signals for my captors - a squad of four - to leave the room. He descends the short flight of stairs separating us and leans over me. Quietly, sinisterly, he says, "Obviously, we're going to have to make you pay for that."
I keep my head high as he leers at me. "I'll never regret what I've done," I spit. "No matter how much torture you put me through." I knew capture was a possibility when I accepted this assignment. And I've already done more harm to them than they ever will to me, despite how little I know.
But to my surprise, he only laughs. "Torture?" he exclaims. "You're not going to be tortured." He steps even closer, so I have to tilt my head as far as it will go just to see his face. "I have no interest," he says, "in ruining a body like yours."