When the hoods were removed, Keen and Ressler were being escorted by the giant into dark abandoned factory. They went down a set of stairs into the basement. There were dusting old machines and cobwebs in every corner. The basement's only light came from a sole garden view window. It was cold and musty. The cement walls did not do much for heat. A makeshift cell had been constructed with chain link fencing floor to ceiling about 8x8 square feet with a single rotting wood bench against the wall.
The giant pushed them both inside, removed their duct tape, and cut their ties. He locked the down and with a grunt he was gone.
"Do you know these guys?" Ressler spoke first.
Keen did not answer but walked around examining the cell. The fence post had been drilled into the floor and sealed with more concrete. There would be no use trying to break them down.
Ressler did not ask again. He placed his hands on his hips and paced stiff and angry. Once again, he found himself being held hostage because of this woman. The leather jackets head rifled through their pockets and took everything including his phone which was immediately crushed under the giant's foot. His personal issue Sig Sauer still lay on the floor of apartment 404.
Keen finished her unsuccessful examination. She took a seat on the warped bench and watched Ressler pace. Although this man was hunting her down to arrest and interrogate her, she couldn't help but admire him. Those broad shoulders and thick arms stretched out his suit to display his frame. He kept his frame tight and his suit immaculately ironed. She did not mind his square jaw and kind eyes either. He was tenacious and relentless in his pursuit despite how many times he had missed. The definition of insanity came to mind. Or was he courageous to blindly follow leads to catch the uncatchable criminals. Well, at least one of them was uncatchable. She knew Red would not be happy about this. He warned her not to travel alone. He offered Dembe to go with, but she turned him down.
Red did not know why she was in Vienna, either. She had told him she would be in Berlin. She found many notes in Tom's things about Berlin. Although, she did not know why he was so interested in Berlin, she told Red she was going there to find out. How did she find herself in Vienna?
"Are you going to pace all day?" Keen crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. Ressler gave her a dark scowl. "I'm not saying it is a bad idea. I know you are stubborn enough to pace long enough to dig us a tunnel out of here."
"We are not us. I am me and you are you. We are not a team. It is your fault we are here." He continued to pace.
"My fault, you're the one who decided to come looking for me by yourself. If you had called back up, we would not be here. I would probably be in your custody unless I was able to escape which I probably would have, and you'd be back with your team. Don't blame me for your arrogance."
Ressler wanted to retort but swallowed his words with a bitter taster in his mouth. His mouth pursed with his furrowed brow. He grunted his response knowing she was right.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I am impressed you found me, though. What were you in town for? 30 minutes?"
"L. Scott." He said, "Doesn't take a genius." He did not want to give her any upper hand even if she was complimenting him.
"Not a genius, just someone paying attention," she raised an eyebrow to him.
"What's your beef with tomatoes?" Ressler mirrored her eyebrow raise.
"Slime and seeds wrapped in skin. No thank you."
Ressler stopped pacing. Arms still stiff on his hips he came to attention in front of Keen. "I want to make this very clear. I am a federal agent, you are a criminal. If we get out of here, I will find you and arrest you. To do that, we need to get out of here. So, for now, we need to work as a team. Understood?"
"Whatever you say teammate." Keen gave him a wink and a smile.
"Don't push it."
They did not have to wait long to find out what the kidnappers were planning. An hour or so later, the leatherjacks returned. Both Keen and Ressler were hooded and escorted up the stairs. Once upstairs, they were separated into two different rooms, tied to chairs and interrogated.
Ressler got the shotgun leather jacket. The taller of the two, he was a middle-aged man who had not aged well. Too much and sun and a knife to the knife, Ressler assumed, from the wicked scar down his right cheek. Ressler sat immobile asked questions about the FBI and their investigation into Keen and Ressler so long he didn't know even what time of day it was. Every answer he didn't like, which was most because Ressler refused to give them anything, resulted in a brass knuckle punch to his body part of choosing. Ressler stuck to his story of just being ordered to infiltrate apartment 404 and not asking why. He was the muscle if you will. Whether the leather jacket bought it or not, he didn't care. Ressler would die before revealing his country's secrets. His broken ribs and fractured face hated him for his loyalty.
Meanwhile in the other room, Keen was keeled over a bathtub of sorts. Knees numb on the concrete floor, water dripping onto the floor as she coughed up another mouth full of water. She was soaking wet, breathing hard in between water boarding sessions. Her lungs burned and were partial filled with water at this point. "Where is Raymond Reddington?" It was the question they continued to repeat. If she told them, they'd kill her. If she did not tell them, they would auction her off back to him, plan a meet to exchange her and kill them both. Keen chose not to answer. The giant grabbed the back of her head, a fistful of hair jerked her backwards, then shove her face under the water.
She held her breath, blowing massive air bubbles from her nose. She never knew how long she was under. Her lungs would scream for air but not receive any. Eventually, she be about to gasp for air and get a mouth full of water before being yanked above the surface. Her head was spinning, dizzy, light-headed and delirious. Keen did not know if she could even think of any answer let alone speak anymore.
Bleeding and beaten, Ressler was yet again escorted by the giant to another room. All the windows in this room were blocked off by cardboard or newspaper taped up. A flood light in the middle of the room lit up a chair in front of a camera. Time to make his hostage video.
The giant sat him down in the chair with a hard shove that almost tipped the chair over. Next thing he knew, the barrel of a gun was pressed against his temple. He was starting to become comfortable with this, how sad was that? The giant had left momentarily and returned with Keen in tow and the other leather jacket. He pushed Keen against the wall and told her not to move. Her hands were tied behind her back. Ressler was wondering if she had been tossed off a boat. Her eyes were blood shot, and she was drenched and breathing hard. Keen didn't think Ressler looked any better as someone's punching bag.
"You two will sit and read the script. Don't deviate from what's written or you get a bullet to the skull." He shook his gun at them and then returned it to Ressler's temple. The second leather jacket turned the camera on and held up a piece of cardboard with permanent markered script on it.
"Action," the red light turned on.
Ressler began trying to read the messy handwriting, "My name is Agent Donald Ressler of the FBI. I have been captured and my captors are asking for 10 million dollars for my safe return. You have 48 hours to comply or my dead body will be shipped to your doorsteps," the script ended but Ressler kept talking, "Whatever you do don't pay, it's not worth it."
The back of the gun met his head once again and the red light turned off. "I said no funny business," the leather jacket yelled. He pointed at the giant who picked Ressler up out of the chair with ease and threw him against the wall next to Keen. Ressler crumpled to the ground and moaned in pain. Head, ribs, arms, back, everything hurt.
"Hey, what was that for?" Keen found her voice and took a step off the wall. The gun came across her face, too.
"Start following orders or both of you won't live to see tomorrow."
Ressler could barely breath nor think, but had Keen just stood up for him? He stayed on the ground, too broken to attempt to stand. Keen was forced into the chair and another piece of cardboard was held up. The red was turned on and the gun returned now to Keen's temple, "Speak."
"My name is Elizabeth Keen, daughter of crime lord Raymond Reddington. I have been captured and my captors are asking for a straight exchange. My life for Reddington's. If you meet these demands, I will be unharmed. If you don't, I will be killed in 48 hours." The red light turned off before Keen could add her own twist as Ressler did.
"Take them both back to their cell."
The giant had to dragged Ressler to his feet and even then, he could not find his footing.
"Help me, woman." The giant let go of Keen's arm and she went on the other side of Ressler. They cut her hand ties and she ducked her head under Ressler shoulder and helped hoist him up. Her right arm went around his back grabbing a fistful of his suit jacket while her left arm rested on his chest to balance him. She did not know if he was even conscious at this point, his eyes were rolling back in his head.
She and the giant carried Ressler across the factory floor and down the stairs. The giant opened the cell door and let go of Ressler whose full body weight then fell on Keen as she capsized and tried to drop him carefully on to the concrete floor. And it was there he rested. If he was conscious before, he wasn't anymore.