Ballistic (42 page)

The man's fine suit and clean face contrasted with the sick sights and smells of this basement hellhole.

And the man next to him contrasted with the dungeon as well. He was American. White, thin, curly brown hair. He wore a wrinkled short-sleeved dress shirt and khakis.

Court rolled his eyes.

Jerry Pfleger.

Court scowled at him as he stepped into the light. Dryly, Court said, “My fellow American.”

The young American embassy staffer looked around the room, clearly taken aback by where he found himself. He was shocked, out of his league, and frightened. He tried to mask it, but Court saw the horror on his face.

“Why is he still alive?” Jerry asked the men in Spanish as he moved into the room.

Pfleger kept looking around the room; clearly, he could smell the death, see the stains on the walls and floor. He knew what this place was. What went on there. He shook it off and looked at Court. “I'm a businessman, dude. It's the American way. I insisted on coming here to . . . protect my interests in this enterprise.”

Court said, “They are going to kill the girl; they want to kill her sister-in-law and her unborn baby.”

Jerry nodded. Clearly, he at least suspected this if he did not know it for sure. “Sucks to be them.”

“You did this for money?”

Jerry nodded then shrugged. “It's more than money, actually. I am making a statement.”

“What statement?”

“The statement is, dude, I hate it here.”

“You hate Mexico?”

“Of course. Don't you?”

Gentry did not respond.

“Yeah, well, you're banging a hot little beaner, so you'd like it, wouldn't you?”

“You are a trained diplomat? Christ.”

“Have you ever been to Denmark?”

Court lied. “No.”

“Denmark is the shit. I went to college in Denmark; I speak Danish, know the backstreets of Copenhagen like the back of my hand. I get hired by State, and where do those idiots at Foggy Bottom fucking send me? Denmark? Finland? Norway? Fuck no! Mexico! Are you kidding me? Four years punching visas for beaners. Fuck that! As long as I'm stuck down here, I'm going to make a little dough along the way.”

“And you're making money by handing Laura over to de la Rocha?”

Jerry smiled. “Oh . . . you don't get it, do you.”

“Get what?”

“I'm handing the girl to DLR, yeah. But that's a freebie. I'm making my money handing
you
to the CIA.”

Gentry shook his head. Slowly, he said, “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Think about that for a second. What is Langley going to do when they find out a consular affairs officer is working with the Black Suits? You'll never get that posting to Copenhagen.”

Jerry smiled again, like he was one thousand times smarter than the naked man in chains.

“Los Trajes Negros do the handoff to the CIA, and then they give me the reward. I get the reward, and I'm outta here. Outta Mexico, outta the State Department.”

“You've got it all figured out, don't you?”

“I have a deal with the man himself. DLR.”

“Deals with the devil usually don't pay off in the long run, kid.”

“He's a businessman. I'm a businessman. It's all good.” Then he looked to the Little Butcher, who'd been standing patiently as the men spoke English. In Spanish Jerry said, “That some sort of electricshock machine?”

El Carnicerito nodded.

“Then juice this
pendejo
once for me, boss.”

The Little Butcher smiled and grabbed an old leather wallet from the table. “Open your mouth, please. We cannot have you biting your tongue off when we still need you to talk.”

Court did as he was told; he knew what was coming, and he knew the leather in his mouth would help. He moved his tongue away from his teeth, bit down hard, and the Little Butcher turned the dial.

Current ripped through Court's body, from his toes to his anus to his neck. His back arched, his eyes protruded, and a vibrato cry emitted from deep in his throat behind the wallet.

After a few seconds the dial was rotated back down. Fresh sweat shone on the prisoner's face and chest.

The torturer stopped for just a moment. Pulled the wallet from his prisoner's mouth. “Where is Elena Gamboa?”

“¿Cómo se dice ‘
fuck you
'?”

The wallet was returned to Gentry's mouth, and he bit down. Electricity pulsed through his body again. His head slammed backwards uncontrollably, slamming his skull into the iron grate behind him.

The torture was stopped. The wallet removed. The question repeated.

“Where is Elena Gamboa?”

“Kiss my—”

The wallet was put back in place. The shocks grew stronger, the pain more intense; the muscle spasms wrenched his body in all directions.

The Black Suit and the two
federales
looked on.

Jerry Pfleger looked away.

Minutes later a technical glitch in the machinery allowed Court a respite from the agony. The Little Butcher worked on his electroconvulsive device, and the protégé returned down the stairs with a bag of groceries.

Gentry's blurred vision followed the young man's movements as he stepped to the table and pulled items from the bag.

An empty plastic pitcher, a large bag of salt, a bottle of rotgut tequila, and a large bag of limes.

Court groaned and let the now shredded leather wallet fall from his mouth to the floor. Immediately, he regretted his show of dread. It would only bolster the fat man. The Little Butcher turned his attention from the machine, and he began slicing the limes in half. The protégé sliced as well; together they looked like a couple of bartenders in a beachside cabana bar. Helped by his assistant, together the two men squeezed the juice into the pitcher and then tossed the peels in behind the juice.

The assistant poured the alcohol on top, and el Carnicerito opened the bag of salt.

Court even managed a quip. “I'll take mine with no salt.”

The three other Mexicans in the room watched with curiosity. They laughed and joked amongst themselves, but Court wasn't in the mood to concentrate on translating their fun so that he could understand it.

When the pitcher was full of tequila, salt, and lime juice, the torturer hefted it and walked forward to the naked prisoner. He held it up in front of Court's face, slapped him a few times to make sure he had Court's attention, and then the butcher fiddled with a tiny piece of broken glass stuck just below the American's right nipple.

“Can you imagine how this will feel inside your swollen open wounds?” The man smiled as he spoke.

Gentry said nothing.

“I will ask you where Señora Gamboa is hiding. But please . . .
please,
I beg you, do not tell me. I
want
to do this to you!”

The
narcos
back by the elevator just laughed. Jerry looked away.

Court nodded, took in a long breath, and then spit in the face of the cruel little Mexican. The Little Butcher's assistant ran forward and punched Court in the nose.

The fat man did not wipe the spit away. Instead he smiled and said, “You only make my job more enjoyable. In a couple of hours when I saw your head off of your living, breathing, flailing body, I will feel pity. A pity that the day is done.”

And with that he lifted the pitcher, slowly poured the pungent mixture down the American's nude and abraded body, rubbed the liquid with his hands into the open cuts, smeared it in, and cackled almost as loud as the prisoner's screams.

A minute later the elevator was called up to the surface. The two
federale
gunmen in the room put their hands to their earpieces, and the Black Suit looked down at his phone and saw that he'd missed a call, unable to hear the ring over the wails of agony in the small chamber.

Before he could identify the call, one of the cops stiffened slightly, looked to el Carnicerito, and said, “DLR is here.”

Court continued to moan in agony.

Seconds later the elevator started back down; it took thirty seconds for the car to arrive with a thud. The wooden door rose. Three men in black suits emerged, appearing dim in the light.

Court writhed in pain, forgotten by the others in the room. It was several seconds before he could recover from the residual twitching in his muscles enough to recognize Daniel de la Rocha at the center of the three new arrivals.

DLR looked the gringo up and down. Jerry, el Carnicerito, his young protégé, Spider's number-two man Carlos, the two police who had brought Court down from the car, stood to the side in the dark cold room. Daniel, Emilio, and Spider stepped up closer to the prisoner.

Daniel stopped three feet from the tip of the American's nose.

“You?
You?
”

The American stared back.

In Spanish the impeccably dressed man said, “I was expecting . . . I don't know. Rambo, maybe?” The room erupted in laughter. And then in English. “You've caused me some problems, amigo. I'm just curious . . . Why?”

The Gray Man did not respond. He wasn't sure if he could speak; he felt his teeth chattering.

De la Rocha shrugged, looked down at the rolling cart with the machine and the surgical instruments, then up at the prisoner.

“What kind of fun have you been having with my friend here,
gordo
?”

“So far just some shocks. I also took advantage of the lesions on his body from the broken glass.” He held up the pitcher, now empty, and de la Rocha sniffed it. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, and then he smiled.

“A gringo margarita.”

“
Sí
, Don Daniel.”

“Muy bien.” Very good.
“You have not yet used the donkey prod?”

“Not yet. Would you like to watch?”

Daniel rolled his eyes and looked back to his men. “Would I like to watch?” Back to Gentry. “Only a
maricón
would like to watch that. I pay him so I
don't
have to watch a cattle prod shoved against your
huevos
and then electrified.”

Court bit his lower lip to stop the quivering.

DLR looked to his torturer. “Anything about the Gamboa woman?”

“No. He spoke to the other
norteamericano
in English. I did not understand, but he has not said anything of value to me. This one is very strong.”

Daniel regarded Pfleger for just a moment, then looked to Carlos. Carlos spoke English, and he had been in the room during the conversation between the Americans.

“Nothing,
jefe
.”

DLR turned back to look over the man shackled to the fence. “That is a beautiful scar on your hip there. I see an old bullet wound on your thigh, too.” He stepped forward and looked at it. “A year old at most.” He then turned Court's head to the left with his fingertips. “A burn on your neck. Much older. Five years?”

No answer.

“These little cuts on your face and arms? The bruising on your chest?” Daniel shrugged. “You are no stranger to pain, I see. You may resist our efforts to pry information from you.

“No matter. We have the sister-in-law. I hear you two slept together last night. Did you enjoy your taste of our culture, amigo? Latin women can be very fiery, very passionate, yes? If you don't talk, we will start work on her. The techniques at our disposal will remove that passion within minutes. We will turn her into a zombie in an hour.” DLR smiled at Gentry.

Then asked, “Where is Elena Gamboa at this moment?”

Court shrugged as best he could with his arms pulled wide.

“Obviously, we know you were attempting to arrange for her to get into the United States.”

Nothing from the tortured man in front of him.

“She will not leave Mexico.” Then the handsome man in the black suit said, “Why do you care? She is not your family. Do you have family?” No response from Court. DLR continued, “I believe family is the most important thing in the world. Don't you?”

Gentry took a moment to control himself. Tried his best to sound strong. “I believe your family is going to miss you when you're dead.”

“Ha, ha. A threat? He finally speaks and he threatens me? Carnicerito?”

“It's cold down here. Turn on the heat.”

“Sí, patrón.”
The fat man turned the dial without placing the remnants of the wallet in his victim's mouth, and Gentry went wild: his body was out of his control, his mind cleared of all thoughts except a frantic desire to escape pain and find relief, his heart pounded in his chest like when he was underwater with the crocodile above him and he could not find his shotgun and the gnashing teeth were coming closer and close—

The Little Butcher eased back the dial.

Gentry's head dropped forward in exhaustion. Looking down, he saw he was pissing all over the floor. Sweat dripped off his nude body along with his urine and drips of blood. He was thankful he had managed to avoid biting off his tongue.

When he finally pulled his head back up, he saw Laura being shoved into the room from the stairwell, her hands bound in front of her, a single Black Suit pushing her forward from behind. The man handed her off to Spider, then turned around and disappeared back up the stairs.

Even in agony, Court felt the shame and humiliation as his bladder emptied in front of her.

She was dressed in simple blue cotton warm-up pants and a white tank top. Her right eye was black and red. Her lip fat. Even in the dim light where she stood, Court could see her fists were scuffed and bloody.