Only one of the men there could be General Arkanovich. One stout man bearing a patchwork of honours sat at the front of the largest desk, resting one foot on a chair, and even smoking a cigar for good measure. He leant forward to stand up, then ambled over to Zak, stopping so close that he towered over him. Zak gagged at the stink of cigar smoke.
‘So, a rescue squad eh?’ boomed the General. His accent was an equal mix of East European and American. He smirked, and glanced over at the VIP. ‘Come to rescue this big fella? Well we’re not finished with him yet. He’s not volunteered any information, so we’re going to have to squeeze it out of him.’ The VIP squirmed at this remark. ‘And while we’re at it, we may as well squeeze you as well. Aha ha ha!’
He turned and laughed to his men, until they all joined in.
Then he stopped laughing abruptly and sneered at Zak. ‘Your mission has failed!’
Zak was intimidated, but couldn’t help answering back.
‘The mission isn’t over yet,’ he retorted. His slimy throat made his words high pitched.
The General blinked in disbelief, and snorted.
‘What kind of pipsqueak soldier are you?’ he said with contempt.
He leant over, put his hand to Zak’s neck, grabbed the back of his helmet and ripped it off. He was taken aback when he saw Zak’s face.
‘Whaat!’ he said softly. ‘What’s this? A boy!’ His voice rose with anger. ‘Pretending to be a man!’
Zak felt the freezing temperature bite again, and a heaviness in his stomach. He was alarmed by this reaction. How could the characters in the game be aware that he was a child?
The General turned to one of his men, an aide. ‘We must report this to High Command,’ he said angrily.
Zak wondered if that actually meant reporting use of the cheat. This was not good news.
The General looked at Zak with pity. ‘Is the Alliance that desperate that it’s sending children to do its dirty work? Even we let our children grow up! You should be playing games with mud guns and monsters, not fighting wars. That’s a man’s job.’
