The exchange had been childish to say the least.
Doctor Tony Chong, as he preferred to be called in America, using his position of power to give him the choice between being tied on the floor if he promised to behave, or end up sprawled out with both arms tied to opposing beams, unable to move, if he were to be naughty.
By the looks of it, Steve had been rather naughty, considering that both of his wrists were tightly bound by cotton ropes, lying flat on his back, blindfold still in place, a small bruise showing on his cheek, a cut that was still seeping blood on his left temple.
A glass IV bottle had been attached to one of the beams, the plastic tubing containing clear liquid disappearing beneath the curled-up sleeve of the young Inspector's left elbow.
Upon his half-hearted promise to be good, Mike had been tied to the foot of an old shelving unit, the rusty steel nearly cutting his wrists when he tried to pull on the heavy-duty metal post, noticing it was bolted into the concrete, completely unmoving.
As expected, Gifford sat across from him, putting Steve between them. Surprisingly enough, only her left hand was tied to a thick gas pipe running along the outer wall, a black eye and bloody nose disfiguring her face.
She'd kept quiet until Chong and the goons disappeared again, locking the door twice over before their footfalls moved away from their position.
"I am so scared, Lieutenant…", the reporter whispered after a few long moments, then shifted from her position on the floor to lean against the metal pipe to get a better look at him.
"It's gonna be alright…We'll figure out a way to get out of here…", Mike muttered his automatic response, one hand reaching toward Steve's wrist, hoping to help the young Inspector come to.
"Steve!", he tried, before letting out a frustrated grunt when his fingers ended up several inches short of reaching his partner's hand, "Steve!"
"They gave him something when they first tied him down, maybe a sedative…", Gifford said and drew in a shaky breath, "He put up a hell of a fight, but has been out of it ever since they set up this…this IV and injected him with something."
Upon her words, Mike nodded slightly, his eyes travelling to the rest of Steve's body, grateful to see his chest rise and fall evenly.
"How long ago did they bring him here, do you know? And were you able to figure out where we are when they brought you up?"
He knew that there was a strong likelihood that Gifford had received the same treatment they did from their kidnappers, but he had to ask the question anyway. If there was a snowballs' chance in hell that they would make it out of here in one piece, the more he knew, the better.
"Not really. I know that this place is about 4 or five klicks away from a paved road, give or take, judging by the speed of the car, or at least what it felt like to me…"
With her hair a matted mess, Gifford brought her knees to her chest, using her free arm to pull them closer.
"Klicks?"
"It's a military term."
"I know what it means…", Mike interrupted impatiently, following the line of the plastic tubing from Steve's elbow back to the bottle, "Where'd you learn that from?"
"From my research.", Gifford said too fast, almost stumbling over her words, then stared at the floor, "I have to do research in order to publish my…stories. I have done a lot of work portraying military members and in order to make my articles sound authentic, you need to adapt a certain…lingo. Kind of like you guys. Expressions like stoolie, 10-4 or probable cause bring a story to life, giving it character and a sense of reality."
Cursing himself for asking the question in the first place, Mike nodded faintly, then glanced back at the thick cotton ropes holding him in place, trying to wiggle his way out of them to no avail.
"What do you think they're going to do to us?", Gifford asked at the lack of a response, causing him to glance back over at her, his attempt to keep his expression guarded under the circumstances failing epically.
"I'm not sure…", Mike answered and gave up his work on the ropes for a moment, "We've seen what they did to others who came too close to this operation. And I have seen what Chong is capable of before. Whatever they are planning, it won't be a pleasant outcome for either one of us."