The burly man regarded him with a wry smile. Danny Malucci was shorter and much bulkier than his cousin; with a handsome face he gave the impression of being a kindly man, almost. The water in the bottle swished loudly as he transferred the plastic container from hand to hand.
"I can make this easier on you, Mr Kelly. Just tell me what I want to know."
Steel blue eyes met the brown ones of his captor, "What do you want to know?" he scowled as his eyes narrowed at the man in front of him.
"Your throat must be very dry, how about a drink of water before we start?"
He watched his captor suspiciously as he began to open the second bottle of water, removing the cap and throwing it to the floor. As Danny leant over and reached the bottle out to his mouth he turned his head away.
"What's the matter, you don't trust me, Mr Kelly?" his captor asked him, an amused grin spreading across his face. "I can't say I blame you but I assure you that the water is not tainted, would you like me to prove it to you?"
He said nothing as he returned his eyes to the man in front of him, watching as Danny took a long swig from the bottle, "See, it's just water."
He turned his head to the right as he saw the bottle being brought closer to his face again, his movements were suddenly stopped by a hand gripping his jaw tightly, repositioning his head so that he was facing his torturer.
"You will drink," the voice commanded.
Despite the increasing pressure on his jaw he continued to keep his mouth firmly shut, not allowing the other man to force his will upon him. His eyes shot to the right as he heard Danny whistle, moments later two burly thugs ambled into the room.
"Sal, hold his head please," his captor commanded as he felt two strong hands grip each side of his head.
Danny sighed dramatically, "I had hoped that we'd come to an understanding, Mr Kelly. I'm not as big a fan of violence as Gianni, I hate it really," he said as he nodded at the other man to come forwards.
He felt the air rush out of his lungs as he was punched forcefully in the stomach and was unable to hold back the groan that emanated from his lips. Before he had a chance to recover he felt the plastic water bottle being forced to his mouth, choking as the cold liquid filled his throat and made him gag. He struggled to breathe as his head was held back and idly wondered if he'd aspirated some of the fluid. He felt his head being thrown forward again as the two unknown men left the room.
"As you can see, Mr Kelly, I'm not averse to using it when it suits me." Danny sat back down on the chair and regarded his prisoner intently. "Surely you feel better for having a drink, we wouldn't want you to go and get dehydrated on us now, would we?"
The paltry amount of water that he had swallowed had felt glorious to his parched mouth and throat; he couldn't remember a time when such a simple thing as water had ever tasted so good. Unfortunately, more of the water had ended up in his lungs than it had his stomach and he found himself coughing heavily, trying to expel the liquid from his burning lungs, spitting out blood and water from his mouth as he did so.
He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the excess water that covered his face, hoping that it had served to get rid of some of the dried blood and dirt on him. He regretted the movement as the room began to swim and a feeling of nausea overcame him. Tired, weak and in pain he was powerless to stop himself from vomiting the tiny amount of water that had made it to his stomach. He tried vainly to move his head far enough to the side but was unable to gain enough distance before his stomach rebelled violently, half-covering him and the floor in bile and water. He coughed weakly as he felt the remnants of his stomach contents dribble down his chin.
"Oh dear," Danny remarked, his voice devoid of emotion. "That's unfortunate, how embarrassing for you, Mr Kelly."
He raised his head to look at his captor once more and tried valiantly to muster a sense of defiance, "What do you want from me?"
"Information, Mr Kelly. You have something I want, and I have something you want. I propose a trade."
He scowled at the man holding him prisoner, "You have nothing I want. Just kill me and be done with it."
"I beg to differ. I want you to tell me where I can find FBI Special Agent Collins."
What does Collins have to do with this? He thought, what could they possibly want with him, surely they knew Collins was the agent behind the undercover operation?
"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered as he tried to stall for time, willing himself to come up with a plan.
"I think you do, I know you've been in contact with him recently," Danny replied, keeping his voice level.
"I don't remember," he replied honestly, his last real memory of the FBI agent was a lifetime ago as Danny's uncle and father sent their heavies to do a number on him outside his apartment in Queens.
His captor laughed humourlessly, "Ah, the amnesia. That's quite convenient, isn't it?"
"It's the truth; I don't even know how I ended up in Miami. I can't tell you what you want to know even if I wanted to."
"You know, I won't be very happy if you're lying to me." Danny stood from his chair and pulled something from his back pocket causing the bound man in front of him to flinch ad brace himself for impact.
"How about we play a little game, let me show you something and see if it jogs your memory."
He squeezed his eyes shut as he refused to look at what was in front of him, his heart sank as he heard the familiar whistling noise and then the heavy footsteps of his captor's hired help. He screamed as he felt a hand on his injured left arm, squeezing it tightly as another set of hands forced his head down towards his chest. The pain that shot through his left side made him open his eyes involuntarily before he quickly squeezed them shut again, but it was too late, he had already seen what Danny held in his hands. Suddenly a thousand sounds and images flew through his mind, his weakened and dazed mind unable to put them into any sort of meaningful order. His ears began ringing and he saw spots in his vision before everything once more faded to black.