CHAPTER 60

Yazidi Strike Force Compound

Kurdistan

September

LANDRY’S NERVES WERE COMPLETELY shot. He wasn’t sure which was worse, the exhaustion or the cold. The hunger was bad, but it didn’t compare to the lack of sleep and constant state of near hypothermia. He hadn’t eaten in days, and his metallic breath indicated that his body was in a state of ketosis, burning his fat stores to stay alive. As his body transitioned to fat as a fuel source, a blinding headache was added to his list of agonies.

Keeping track of time had become impossible, but Landry estimated that it had been close to a week since his captivity began. He knew that the bitter cold and the sleep deprivation were part of a well-scripted interrogation regimen. He also knew that it was working; he simply didn’t have much will to resist at this point. Whatever it is they wanted to know, they would soon find out. Besides, he was in this for the money, not some ideology. His best plan would be to cut some kind of deal. At least they’d traded his wrist and ankle restraints for hand and leg cuffs that provided some level of circulation to his extremities; he’d been afraid that he would lose his hands and feet due to the lack of blood flow.

The door opened and Landry heard the familiar sound of boots on the wet floor. They’d entered the room more than once a day to give him water and, as best he could tell, he was due again. The water was the only thing that he had to look forward to in this hellish cycle of cold and heat, and his dry lips pursed to accept his drink. To his surprise, instead of the liquid refreshment he’d been craving, he was jerked aloft by strong hands on both sides and found himself seated on the cold steel of a chair that had been carried into the room. Each leg was secured to the chair with restraints and the same was done with his hands. That he didn’t hear the multiple sets of boots enter the room was yet another sign that he was losing his grip on reality.

The door slammed but Landry could tell that he was not alone. He could smell the food, some type of fresh meat with onions coupled with nicotine clinging to his captor’s clothing. The smell caused him to salivate. He sat in silence for what seemed like minutes before the tape that had covered his eyes since his capture was torn from his face. His skin was as soft as tissue paper from the constant cold water soaking and he was sure that he’d lost some skin as well as his eyebrows when the tape was removed. Strangely, it didn’t hurt. The room’s bright lights were blinding to his senses and he squeezed his eyes shut, bowing his head to avoid the shocking LEDs that ringed the room like crown molding.

“Look at me, ” he heard the man say. He knew the voice instantly.

Landry blinked his eyes and tried to focus on the floor, his naked body brutally exposed by the room’s illumination. Slowly, he turned his squinting gaze upward and took in the slim figure of Major Mohammed Farooq, formerly of the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Special Tactics Unit. Farooq was dressed in winter clothes, toasty warm in a room that felt like a walk-in freezer. Landry had worked for years to trick Mo into working for his employer under the ruse of helping the American government, and now the shoe was on the other foot; Mo had Jules Landry by the balls. Landry had seen the calm, sophisticated Iraqi officer display serious brutality toward his enemies and knew that he would show no quarter. Now was the time to make a deal and preserve what was left of his physical self before Mo decided to cross the line from “enhanced interrogation” to downright torture.

“Tell me about the girl that you raped, Jules. ”

“What? What girl? I didn’t rape any girl! ” Why does he want to know about some stupid girl?

“The girl in Louisiana, Jules. Before you joined the Marines to stay out of jail. ”

How in the hell. . . ? “Oh, that. That was a long time ago, Mo. . . I. . . ”

Mohammed Farooq rose from his chair without saying a word and as the steel door slammed shut behind him, the room went totally dark. A second later, the cold shower was activated. All Landry could do was scream.

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