There were six other inmates with Michael in that narrow dark cell in the Srinagar Police Headquarters. All of them were bearded and the look in their eyes was the look of determination and hatred. He did not have courage to speak to them. He noticed that they prayed five times in a day.

A constable had informed him that they were Afghan terrorist who had been arrested while they were entering the Indian side of Kashmir. They were in possession of heavy arms and ammunition. They were supposed to be transferred to the Tihar Jail in New Delhi. The court had already given the verdict and they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Michael noticed that when they talked to each other it did not seem in the least that they were afraid or repentant; on the contrary, they laughed and joked with each other. He was unable to understand what they said but he felt that it did not make any difference to them whether they were imprisoned or free. He had read many true stories about the Muslim Jehadis that they embraced their deaths without any hesitation. He was surprised how they were motivated and what drove them. Being an investigative journalist, he was interested in their behavior.

It took him three days to break the ice. That morning, after the morning tea, which was given to them in the tin mugs by a constable, they were led out of the cell. They were brought in to the courtyard in the sun. He felt as if a new way of life had been brought to him though the sun-rays. The pleasant warmth of the sun made him bold and he decided to talk to them.

Michael: Salaam!

1st Afghan: Salaam…

The man looked at him with suspicion and looked at his friends.

2nd Afghan: Why you here?

Michael: I crossed the border from Pakistan.

3rd Afghan: You Jehadi?

Michael: No, I write books.

1st Afghan: Teacher?

Michael: No, I write for newspapers and magazines.

2nd Afghan: What you write in Pakistan?

Michael: I was writing about the people in POK.

3rd Afghan: You Amriki?

Michael: Yes, I am an American but my wife is Muslim. Her parents are from Pakistan.

1st Afghan: Where she now?

Michael: I don’t know.

1st Afghan: Police arrested her?

Michael: Yes.

2nd Afghan: You eat almonds?

The afghan pulled some almonds from his pockets and gave them to Michael. He thanked him and his friends. After about one hour they were led back to their cell.

Michael was interrogated by the officers on regular basis. He was asked the same questions over and again and he answered them very calmly, always cautious that he should not change the answers. They had not applied any cruel means on him because he had fully cooperated with them.

On fifth day, he found that the Afghans were being excessively friendly. They laughed and joked with him, half of which he did not understand because their lack of English vocabulary compelled him to guess the meanings of the words in the context they were spoken.

1st Afghan: We run from here tomorrow.

Michael (shocked): What?

2nd Afghan: Our friends attack here tomorrow night and we break the jail.

Michael: Oh my god!

3rd Afghan: What happened?

Michael: You mean, you are going to escape from the jail?

1st Afghan: Yes, if we no run away, they kill us in false encounter.

Michael’s head was heavy and he felt as if he would fall unconscious because he knew that if they escaped he would be in a deep shit. It had taken him about a week to convince the interrogators that he had nothing to do with the wrongdoers or Jehadis and if the cellmates escaped, he would be the only one to answer their millions of questions.

1st Afghan: You want to run away with us?

Michael: No, why should I run away?

2nd Afghan: They torture you here.

Michael: Why will they torture me? I have done nothing wrong.

3rd Afghan: We say the same but they beat us. They don’t like Pakistani, Afghan, and their friends Amrikis.

Michael: I believe in justice and I will be free soon.

1st Afghan: You run away and we take you back to your friends in Pakistan.

Michael: I don’t have friends in Pakistan. I don’t want to go to Pakistan. I want to go back home, America.

3rd Afghan: You no go Amrika, you die here.

Michael: No, the people from our Embassy will come to take me.

They began to laugh and Michael felt as if he were a little child whose flippant talk had caused that laughter. After that he did not speak.