Does the Feeling Go Both Ways?

Chapter 1-5

“Here!” shouted Thompson. He stood in front of a metal door. He tapped his ear bud and said “Blue one, we found him.”

Trey jogged toward him and peeked through the window of the locked door. He could see a man slumped against the back wall of the small room. The T-shirt the man wore was splattered with blood and there were obvious bruises on his arms. It looked like a couple of his fingers were broken and some kind of laceration ran the length of the man’s right arm. Blood pooled on the floor beneath it.

Thompson yanked at the door and then spent several minutes attempting to pick it, without success. “It’s electronically locked. It’s going to take too long if I keep trying to do it this way. We need something bigger to get it open. Stay here.” Thompson headed back up the hallway, presumably to find tools.

Trey rapped softly on the door. It would have been easier if he could have blown the lock off the door with his gun but the damn thing had some sort of internal locking system like a jail cell.

Trey knocked again.

The man inside slowly turned his head to look at the door.

Trey’s gut clenched. It was Landon, the dark shoulder length hair and the narrow features. One eye was blackened and swollen shut. His lips were crusted with blood. “Landon! It’s Trey. We’re gonna get you out.”

“What?” Landon’s voice was weak, almost a mumble.

“It’s Trey, Trey Jernigan. It’s been a while. Anyway, hang tight, we just have to get the door open.” In all his years of rage and hurt, Trey had spent many an hour wishing all sorts of revenge on Landon. Now…seeing the man lying there, so damaged, most of the anger fell away. Nobody deserved that kind of torture, maybe a good hard punch to settle a score between two ex-friends, but not this.

There was a faint hysterical giggle from Landon. “If you really are Trey, then you must be highly amused by my present state.”

Silver tongued and sarcastic even when his mouth was bleeding, Trey thought that was so damn typical of Landon.

Joe came jogging back with a crowbar. “I hope this works. If not, Kransk is getting the ram.”

It took several minutes of prying and wrenching at the door to get it open, finally doing so with the screech of bending metal.

Trey went in and knelt beside Landon. Damn it, the guy looked even worse close up. Trey shed his back pack and immediately began to assess Landon. Pulse- weak and fast. Blood pressure -low. Judging from skin color and temperature, the man was dehydrated and hypothermic. Trey began a hasty bandage job of the long gash on Landon’s arm. He really would have preferred to lay Landon out flat and cut the filthy clothes off to get a better idea of what other injuries were present.

The earbud in Trey’s ear said, “Jernigan, we have eight minutes ‘til extraction. Can you make it?”

“I’m assessing. Give me two minutes,” replied Trey “Any chance you can walk?” he asked Landon.

“Maybe.”

Joe leaned into the small room. “I’m setting charges now. I’ll start the timer as soon as you give me thumbs up.”

Taping the bandage on Landon’s arm, Trey ran his hands down Landon’s torso. Landon grimaced and his breathing sped up. Broken ribs seemed likely.

“We have to go,” said Trey. “I’m sorry, but moving you is probably gonna hurt like hell.”

“Just get me the f**k out of here.”

Trey pulled Landon to his feet as gently as possible. Landon teetered and braced one hand on the wall. Trey drew Landon’s arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around Landon’s waist. Landon let out a stifled moan and let Trey lead him out of the cell.

“Activated, we’ve got ninety seconds to get clear,” said Joe. “I’ll get your bag.”

Trey half dragged Landon along the narrow corridor at a stumbling hurried pace. Landon made sounds of pain but was obviously doing his best to keep up. The three men made it to the outer door of the building just in time to feel the edge of the blast. Landon would have fallen flat if Trey hadn’t been holding onto him so tightly.

The choppers landed a couple hundred feet in front of them, and the entire assault team headed for them. Trey realized Landon had completely expended what little energy he had left and was sagging to the ground. Heaving the man over his shoulder, Trey took off toward the nearest helicopter. Joe and another teammate lifted Landon into it and laid him on the floor as Trey scrambled in. The helicopter lifted off moments later. Landon lay unconscious. Trey suspected getting flung over his shoulder had caused Landon to pass out from pain.

In the air, the medic continued his assessment of Landon, checking pupil response and cutting the filthy, bloody t-shirt from Landon’s body. In the dim lighting of the helicopter, Trey could see shadows on Landon’s torso that had to be deep bruising. How many bones were broken? Were there internal injuries?

Handing Joe his penlight, Trey said, “Hold it up for me. I need to get a line in.” It was as much by feel as by sight that Trey started an IV. Fluids would help stabilize Landon. He took another blood pressure reading. It was still way too low. “He’s in shock. We need to get him warmed up. Help me get a Mylar blanket around him. Did anyone tell the ambulance we have incoming?”

“It’s been done. The hospital’s been notified, too. We’re a green light all the way in.”

* * * *

This had to be the weirdest nightmare Landon had ever experienced. Almost his entire body hurt and every breath cramped his chest. He kept seeing Perez sneering at him and somehow that overlapped with the image of a guy he had known almost the entirety of his growing up years. Except Trey Jernigan wasn’t the lanky blond who barely needed to shave anymore. Trey was a muscular grown man, still blond, but sporting a closely trimmed full mustache and beard. And the fucker had just stabbed something into his arm. It must have something to do with pay-back.

Landon made an attempt to push away the hand that was skimming down over his side. The hand grabbed his own and held it.

“Stop flailing around, Landon. I’m trying to figure out if you have a collapsed lung.”

It was dark and a heavy thudding vibration shook whatever he was lying on. It took another few seconds for him to process the fact that what he was seeing was real. He’d been rescued from the clutches of the cartel. He was wrapped in a foil blanket and there was an IV line snaking from his arm. The blond man was pressing a stethoscope to the side of Landon’s chest. “I’m not hearing any breath sounds on the right side. I think heaving you over my shoulder may have collapsed your lung.”

“Trey, is it really you?” Landon asked. It was awfully hard to breathe.

“Yeah, it’s me. I think we need to save the reunion conversation for later.”

“I look like a baked potato.”

“I would’ve said tenderized meat. Now shut the f**k up, you need oxygen.” Trey placed a mask over Landon’s face.

Landon lay looking up at the other man. Of all the people to send to rescue him, he had to draw the one who probably would have rather pulled the trigger than save his life.