Marcus is captured by the DHS and is wrongly accused of being a terrorist as Little Brother portrays. He is gagged and has a bag over his head. The bag is lifted and he is in a cold room with only a table a two chairs. A woman with a severe haircut is starring him in the eyes with an unseen smile, a stern look, but a smirk hides underneath. She asks him to unlock his cell phone. At this point everything is running through Marcus' head. He cannot even comprehend such a simple question. She asks him again. He finally gets his bearings and asks every question that flies through his bruised, aching head until he runs out of breathe. "Where am I? Why am I hear? Who are you? What is this place? Where is my friend? Is he OK? She continues to look at him with that same unseen smile. Calmly she responds, "Unlock your phone, Marcus." He refuses, and she proceeds to explain that after he unlocks his phone, he is free to go. Marcus again runs through his laundry list of questions and is brought to his cell immediately.
This dance between severe haircut lady and Marcus continues for months. Every day Marcus is brought to the same room and interrogated by the same person and asked the same question over and over and over. Yes, Marcus has stuff to hide on that phone, but he knows those small little crimes would not put him in here. He is essentially innocent. But he can't unlock that phone. That phone represents everything his country used to be. That phone has become more than him, more than his life. Unlocking that phone would be condemning everything this country stands for. Between these meetings Marcus is beaten and treated like an animal. One meal a day. Locked in a cell the size of a large closet day in and day out. Day light seems like a distant memory.
One night, he is told he has a visitor. It is the very same lady he meets with every single day, but this is the first time he has seen her outside of that cave-like room. She asks him why he is doing what he is doing. She knows he is clearly not a terrorist, but she can't let him go until he unlocks that phone. He explains to her his patriotic motivations, and while she respects and admires them, he finds them utterly foolish. The next day he is brought to the interrogation room where he is met by severe haircut lady again, but that unseen smile is gone. It has become a sympathetic frown underneath the same stern exterior. She continues with her interrogations like this every day.
One night she comes to his room, but this time, there was no announcement by a guard. She clearly isn't supposed to be here. She explains she is getting him out and that it is his responsibility to explain what has been happening here. There then is a thrilling escape scene, in which guns are drawn and severe haircut lady is hit. There is not time for a good bye or a dramatic monologue. There is just a look or an understanding of gratefulness thrown her way as the bullets continue to fly by Marcus’ head.
He escapes and exposes the DHS. Laws are passed to lessen the power government has over its civilians. Marcus never knew severe haircut lady’s name, and never will. She will only be a memory, but a strong memory at that.
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