Robbed and tortured

Dan has entered the wrong (or “One Chance”) bus and it's finally dawned on him. As the bandits opened up his bag their faces couldn't but brighten up seeing a laptop, an earpiece, two memory sticks and another mobile phone.

"What's the password to your phone" the first question passed at him as he was still hands-bound by the bandits. Absolute “SILENCE” was the response from Dan as he was quite curious what the bandits were capable of. At this point, Dan had realised that all passengers including the driver and conductor were together on this robbery act hence, the only victim in the bus at that moment was Dan.

A bit disappointed in himself for not getting off the bus when his intuition nudged him to. Nevertheless, he was in the situation now and everything he had on him then, he believed he had lost to the bandits. His life however, was the greatest concern on Dan’s mind.

"How long do you think you can stay quiet for" One of the eight bandits asked Dan as he wasn't responding to their questions. Multiple slaps on Dan's face by one bandit, a hard punch on the right eye from another. "What's your phone's password" they asked him again.

Like the slaps and punches were not hard enough, Dan was dragged down to the floor of the bus and one of the bandits brought out a metal bar with a base having the size of a car shock absorber (without the spring). Bang! Bang! As they hit Dan's left knee just to force the password out of him. At this point, Dan spat out his phone’s password to avoid further hits on his knee.

"He's got three debit cards with some cash in his wallet and a bank token in his bag" One of the bandits who ransacked Dan's bag and wallet said to his fellows. Next the same bandit brought out a note and a pen from Dan's bag and the second phase of interrogation began.

"What's your PIN for bank-A debit card?" another bandit asked as they were intending to write them all down on paper. At this point however, Dan's silence had been broken, so he went ahead to give them the first PIN. "And the PIN for bank-B's card?" the same bandit asked Dan and in one word, Dan gave the details. "What's the PIN to bank-C's card?" Dan hesitated for a few seconds before giving them the passcode.

Naturally, Dan's thought was to be released right away since he's given out the card details and all his items have been taken and wasn't expecting any of them back. To Dan's surprise however, the bandits had a different intention – they were going to verify Dan had given them the right access details to his cards.

"HOLY SHMOLY! Can this get any better for me today?" Dan thought within him as he was now concerned about their verification strategy and how much long he was in that mess for. A few minutes later, the bus halted as one of the bandits got off the bus.

Dan still had no idea where he was as he was seated on the bus floor. The bus picked up the speed again and kept driving as the other bandits in the bus continued with their interrogation on Dan - "where are you heading to? Where do you live? Where do you work? What do you do at work? What's your job title at work? All the while, they were scanning through Dan's papers, identity cards, driver's license in his wallet and bag.

About fifteen minutes later, the bandits in the bus called their partner with Dan's debit cards to get the status of his withdrawal. That's when they found out Dan had given two correct PINs and a wrong one hence, the actual torture commenced.

Firstly, Dan got another hard punch in his left eye such that he felt the eye shooting back into his skull. Yet Dan stood his ground saying he had given them the right details all through. The bandits called their partner again to affirm to him that the PIN was accurate thereby allowing him try it the second time to no avail. At this point they had just one last shot at getting it right and this all depended on Dan providing the accurate code.

So the metal bar was brought out and was continuously struck on Dan's knees especially the left one yet Dan kept affirming the accuracy of the detail he'd given them. As an alternative and more drastic resort, the bandits brought out a knife, pointed to Dan and took off Dan's right feet shoe.

uddenly, with his eyes wide open at the knife and another bandit squeezing his throat such that he couldn't make any audible sound anymore, Dan was convinced he would lose his toes one after the other if his bluff continued with the bandits. With his neck held down, his voice gone mute from the strangle and his right leg held down with the shoe taken off, Dan put up his right hand and made a sign on the wall of the bus.

"What is the correct PIN" the guy choking him asked as he released his hand from Dan's neck. "9876!!!" he replied over and over till the bandits were convinced he was being sincere. Calling the correct PIN to their partner at the cash machine, he entered the code and was granted access.

Written by Micheal Tadese

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