7. Crash
He was tired, his
head and wrists were killing him, his torn earlobe was on fire, he
was trembling from
the chill and the indignity of being dumped
naked and blind in some basement
cell somewhere, and the thing
that got to Rico most was that he didn't know
what time it was.
They'd been left alone for what felt like hours, but he
had no way
to tell. And it was driving him mad.
His partner didn't seem
bothered by the lack of clothing or watch. He had his
own
hangup to worry over.
"They shoulda separated us
by now," Sonny's words slurred a little. "Why
put us
back together? It doesn't make any sense."
He'd said this before, but he hadn't explained.
The conversation was going
circular on them. It was better than fishing,
though, which was
what Sonny had demanded they talk about in exchange for
agreeing
to the agonizing task of dragging his ass over to sit against
the
wall next to Rico. Who knew there was so much to say about
fish?
"Maybe they're not as well trained as you think."
He felt Sonny shake his head. "They're pros.
It's all been standard
procedure. Straight from KUBARK."
Sonny's
skin was icy next to his, and Rico wasn't feeling particularly
warm.
His mind was working too slow. He had to fight both the cold and
the
constant throb in his head just to connect his thoughts.
KUBARK. He'd heard
of it.
"CIA interrogation manual,
right?" He wished he could see his partner's
face. He hadn't
said anything but Rico could tell he was in pain from the uneven way
he was
breathing. "I heard they're using some version of it
to train
counterrevolutionaries in central america. I take it
you're familiar?"
Sonny let out a sharp bark of laughter.
"You could say that."
Sonny seemed
to know the habits of the Company well enough. Not as
intimately
as the lieutenant maybe.There had been hints that he'd worked
with
Army Intelligence in 'Nam, but he'd never said anything about how
far
his involvement went. What little he had said made it clear
he'd had
his share of brushes with the CIA. The intelligence
agencies were always in
each other's pockets, when they weren't
actively undermining each other's
missions.
"So what's the standard procedure?"
"Hmm?" Sonny's breath
hitched and he squirmed, his shoulder bumping into
Rico's. "Can't
feel my damn hands anymore."
Despite the intermittent
blasts from the damn air conditioner, his partner
had stopped
shivering. Rico knew it was a bad sign. There wasn't much he
could
do besides keep Sonny talking.
"Sonny," Rico
pressed, "Tell me about this manual. About the
standard
procedure."
"It was a long time ago," Sonny hedged, shifting again.
"You got anything better to do? Tell me what we're in for."
"The prisoner is
taken by surprise, to maximize confusion. Kept cuffed
and
blindfolded. Naked, obviously."
The AC shut down
again. Wouldn't stay off long enough for them to get
warm, but
even so it was a relief.
"What else?" Rico asked.
Damn, but his shoulders hurt. The ache radiated
down his neck to
his lower back, the muscles protesting with an occasional
spasm.
A long pause. When Sonny spoke again his voice was thin.
"Rico, I gotta lay back down."
"The floor's gonna make you feel colder."
"Tell me somthin I don't know."
"Dizzy?" Rico tried to remember the
symptoms of shock. How long could
Sonny last in this cold? How
much blood had he lost?
"Yeah," Sonny admitted, "Startin to regret that reuben I had at Benny's."
He
sucked in a quick breath of air and then moved. Changing position
was
hard without your hands but he did it, a little at a time, and
the
effort left him gasping.
"Shit," Sonny
panted. His hair brushed Rico's bare thigh. Rico gave him a
few
minutes but his partner couldn't seem to get his breathing back under
control.
"You okay?" Had he passed out? "Sonny?"
"Yeah."
"Stay with me, man. You gotta stay awake."
"Easier said..."
"Than done. I know. Tell me more about why
you think these guys are
working from the CIA playbook."
"The exam," Sonny said.
"You mean the full cavity search? Not the usual MO of scuzz like de Soto."
"No. But it is if they're following KUBARK."
"So you don't think de Soto ambushed us?"
"Didn't say that. Could be
hired guns. Spooks. Paramilitary.
Whoever they are..."
"They've
got training," Rico finished. "Still, none of this fits
with what
we know about de Soto's organization."
Sonny's
agreement was drowned out by the click and whir of the
air
conditioner's return to life.
"They'll keep that
up," Sonny said, "And if we fall asleep they'll wake us
up
at random intervals."
"They want us on edge."
"You got it."
"What you said earlier - if they're so well
trained, they should be keepin
us in different rooms,
right?"
"Yeah," Sonny moved again, his head
butting into Rico. "Been thinking
about that. It's the only
thing that doesn't fit."
"Could be they're
improvising," Rico suggested He rested the back of his
head
against the rough brick wall. "Might not have the kind of
space
they're used to."
"Could be. Whatever the reason,
they'll stay cool," Sonny's voice was
muffled against the
floor. "More bark than bite. Try to
convince us we're on our
own. That they're our only chance."
"They'll use us
against each other," Rico added, though he knew Sonny
didn't
have to be told.
"If they can. They'll... oh Christ..."
Rico felt Sonny push himself up, struggling as
if he wanted to stand. His
leg wouldn't hold him and he crashed
into Rico, hard, wheezing like he
couldn't get enough
air.
"Sonny!"
But he wasn't listening. Sonny
was locked in a mindless fight to pull
himself upright. Rico tried
to curl around the cold body, tried to snap his
partner out of the
sudden panic, even as his own heart nearly burst out of
his
chest.
"Sonny, what is it?"
All at once his
partner collapsed as if his strings had been cut. Lay
sweaty and
shaking against Rico's shins.
"Billy," Sonny whispered.
Oh. Oh God. Of course.
"You think they'll threaten your family?"
Rico felt Sonny's swallow
against the gooseflesh on his legs. This was not
good. He needed
Crockett as focused as possible, not lost in a nightmare
of
worry.
"We don't even know what they want," he
protested. "For all we know, they
think they snagged Cooper
and Burnett."
Sonny shook his head, but didn't argue. The
man had a hell of a sixth sense
about these things.
"Billy's hours away, man. And Castillo will make sure they're okay."
It
sounded weak even to his own ears. All Castillo would know was that
they
hadn't checked in. If they were lucky somebody had found the
caddie by
now. Vice might be looking for them but it had been at
least eight hours
since the ambush.
For the time being, they were on their own.
