Waking was definitely not fun. He was scraped from being dragged across the asphalt, bruised from being stuffed into a trunk and whatever his assailant had injected into him left him dizzy and nauseated; this did not seem like a particularly good way to start what he assumed was going to be a hostage situation. Instead of giving in to his discomfort, the agent told his stomach to knock it off while he partially opened his eyes to peer around and ascertain his circumstances. The five-sense-rule-of-capture went thru his mind. What can I see; large room, open floor plan, residential, sparse furniture, clean and neat. What can I hear; TV set to CNN, boat horn, little traffic noise, and echoes. What can I feel; hands restrained behind back with plastic cuffs, feet unbound, lying on hardwood floor, cuts and scrapes but no major trauma. What can I taste; metallic flavor in mouth but no blood. What can I smell; left over Italian. Putting it all together, he formulated his first guess; he was in a mid-priced apartment with high ceilings, by a marina, probably inhabited by a single or divorced, who is or was in the military, did more take out than cooking and considered the apartment a place to live but not a home.
Having learned all he could so far, he decided to open his eyes all the way and fully engage in the game. Upon doing that, the first thing he noticed was his captor was a male who was sitting in an arm chair staring at him and, Callen added to his growing situational list, was armed. Callen studied the fit man from his position on the floor, while trying to decide how to best handle the situation. His observations lead him to believe his captive was indeed military, could handle a gun and was pissed at someone, probably him. 'Great', he thought. Deciding to go direct, he authoritatively asked, "Wanna tell me what this is about?
"It's very simple," the man replied. "You killed my brother and now I am going to kill you."