Does the Feeling Go Both Ways?

Chapter 1-3

When Perez’ fist hit Landon’s face, it knocked the DEA agent’s head sideways. Landon spat blood on the dingy concrete floor. His arms were pulled over his head, held with zip ties and a chain. Blissfully the chain was just slack enough that he could stand and wasn’t dangling like a side of beef.

“Enjoying your day?” asked Perez, his mouth curled in a snarl.

“Absolutely.”

Perez hit him again, this time in the side. It drove the breath out of Landon and he wondered if he’d felt a rib crack.

“What did you tell the DEA?”

“I wish you would stop it with the DEA s**t. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Another blow and more pain. Landon knew he could hold out for a while. Chances were, since they hadn’t killed him already, he had a little time. Everything else was a complete gamble based on a debt. The debt lay in the hand of Sotolongo’s girlfriend, Nina.

Landon had first met Nina about five months before. He had worked his way up through the ranks of the Azor cartel, gaining a reputation as a middleman with a sharp edge. It was a ploy, he made more threats than actual violent acts, but he was good at playing the part.

Nina lived in a huge house owned by Sotolongo, and certainly seemed to fit the part of “awfully pretty and none too bright”, the quintessential trophy girlfriend. Landon heard rumors she had spent a year or so as a prostitute in the cartel’s stable before Sotolongo had taken a fancy to her. She was average height for a woman, with long dark hair, brown eyes and very nice curves, if that was the sort of thing that turned you on.

As Landon gained the trust of the boss and the rest of the higher echelon of the organization, he’d been invited to live in a room in the guest house, along with three other men in similar positions.

Nina turned out to be far more than she appeared, and Landon wondered if he was the only one who knew it.

That first month at the house, Landon had been very circumspect about what interactions he allowed himself. Nina was easy on the eye and lots of crude commentary was exchanged between the men. In the beginning Landon thought she was ignoring what was said in her presence, but…she was far more subtle than he originally thought. That girl had to have been the most accomplished pickpocket he’d ever seen. Maybe it was because he was a better people watcher than the other men, it took even him a few weeks to realize what she did.

Nina liked to move things. She’d filch a cell phone from one of the men and leave it on the counter in the bathroom, take a wallet and put it between two sofa cushions, stick the car keys in the fridge. She never took anything permanently and she always left things where they could be found with a little hunting. It made the men look a bit like morons, and Landon gradually understood it was part for her amusement and part very careful payback. He caught her at it one day as she put a set of car keys in the kitchen sink.

She saw him looking and a faint look of apprehension stole across her face. Landon merely grinned and walked out of the room. It was their secret. The first one of many.

Together they discovered they both had an affection for martial arts movies and TV shows. Eventually discussions evolved about which ones they loved and which ones were laughable; a friendship grew.

Perez hit him enough times that Landon began to lose consciousness. He didn’t fight it.

He woke up in the same little barren cinder block room he’d been in earlier. There was a large chunk of cardboard tossed in one corner and a five gallon bucket in another. He knew exactly what the bucket was supposed to be for. Semi-dried blood crusted about half his face and his left eye was swelling shut. He suspected at least one rib was broken and he probably had a fairly epic concussion. Some water would have helped, even a little.

* * * *

Double checking the contents of his backpack, Trey added a second bag of IV fluid. If Landon was alive, there might be blood loss, shock or a myriad of other problems.

Thompson poked his head into the back of the ambulance. “You ready to head out? The helicopters are gonna be here in about five minutes.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything but the kitchen sink.”

The general game plan involved a dozen men, half SWAT, half DEA, fast roping into the field just behind the biggest building, getting the job done and meeting the helicopters sixty minutes later. If Landon was still breathing, the ambulance would be waiting for choppers to land and transport him to the hospital. The whole operation was a mix of raid and rescue. Trey had a Sig at his hip and an H&K G36C as well as the backpack full of medical gear. As Trey followed Thompson toward the landing zone, he noticed the item Thompson had rolled up and tucked under his arm. A body bag.