Three hours later, Song Heping drove into the seaside town of Ussava.
It wasn't far from Eritrea.
Ussava was very quiet at night, with few people on the streets.
The SUV left the town's streets and headed towards the seaside, eventually stopping on a desolate beach outside the town.
Song Heping got out of the car, checked the surrounding environment to ensure no one was around, and then opened the rear car door to drag Jimmy out onto the sand, followed by a killer named Mario.
Both were bound like zongzi with cloth stuffed in their mouths and bound around their lips, able to emit only muffled sounds.
Song Heping ignored them and turned away to rummage in the back of the off-road vehicle, retrieving two ropes from the trunk.
For an assassination team, having ropes in the vehicle was nothing unusual.
Smiling, Song Heping approached the two men, helped Jimmy up, and then, with a gun to his head, said, "Walk forward."
At this moment, Jimmy was filled with panic, but he still followed Song Heping's instructions, hopping forward like a zombie.
Along the way, he thought Song Heping was finding a secluded place to kill them and then dump their bodies into the sea.
But then again, that didn't seem right.
If he wanted to kill them, he could have done it in the Jade Hotel parking lot.
Why wait until now?
He faintly sensed that Song Heping's purpose might be even more profound, even...
He dared not think further.
Because torture came to mind.
Reaching a rocky area by the sea, Song Heping kicked him to the ground, pinned him under his weight, quickly tied one rope around his hands, another end around a large rock, then lifted him up and tore off the cloth in his mouth.
"It's too hot tonight; go cool off in the water first."
Without saying another word, he pushed Jimmy into the sea.
The rocks were about a meter above the sea level.
Jimmy screamed as he fell.
His hands and feet were tied, and after hitting the water, he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of the salty sea.
Luckily, he was trained and soon calmed down, relaxing his body to float to the surface.
Just as he surfaced, a wave hit him, pushing him violently against the rocks, causing stars to appear before his eyes as he sank again.
Jimmy steadied himself again, slowly surfacing.
But the waves never ceased, and as soon as he came up, he was pushed against the rocks again, battered and bruised.
The sensation was extremely unpleasant.
After hitting the rocks just twice, Jimmy's composure was gone, and he began to swallow water helplessly.
Once he started to choke, a second mouthful followed the first.
Jimmy felt he was going to die.
He opened his mouth to plead, his instinctive will to survive causing the agent's mental defenses to collapse.
"I... glug... save me... glug..."
Suddenly, the rope tightened, and Jimmy felt something lifting him upwards.
Quickly, he was pulled above the water's surface.
Looking up, he saw Song Heping crouching by the rock, holding the lifesaving rope in his hand.
"Cool enough for you?"
"Cool... cool..."
Jimmy nodded repeatedly.
Anyway, if Song Heping said it was cool, it was cool—better not to offend him.
Jimmy now understood.
Song Heping didn't want him dead.
He wanted to extract some intelligence from him.
Since neither he nor Brooke had any identification on them, it was certain that they would be interrogated for their identities.
Jimmy quickly thought about how to respond.
Counter-interrogation, this subject was a must for spies and agents.
Although Jimmy had never been captured and tortured before, he had gone through both the theory and practical exercises.
Continuously, he recalled the training he had received, considering how he should react.
In the face of extreme torture, it was impossible not to divulge any information at all.
Typically, counter-interrogation training required giving very little true information mixed with a lot of false information, convincing the interrogators that one had succumbed, with the ultimate goal of buying time or preserving life.