The Routine

This one's a post "out of character" -- just the details, the routine, the opening routine, when I was abducted earlier this year, by men with semi-automatics. They held me for an hour-and-a-half, searched my papers, and took valuables. This was the sequence:

• Fasten your seat belt.
• Lock your door.
• Put your hands where we can see them.
• Put your head down.
• Take off your spectacles.
• Hand over your cell-phone.
• Declare all digital devices.
• Do you have a gun?
• These are our weapons.
• This is whose they are.
• This is our firearm training.
• These are our names.
• Confirm your personal details.
• This is how you'll die.

OBSERVATION: It seems a bit like airport customs control! I might have omitted a line or two here -- but notice that this is all a matter of "They said, I said." It is a private conversation, with no independent confirmation -- except, that is, similar stories out there. I limit the details, for safety's sake.