The United Cartels of America, Season 6 (Queen of the South)

Part 17 - I Can See Clearly Now the Rain Is Gone

James had found agricultural equipment in the first two hangars on the dead-end street and was making his way through the shadows to the third one.

After he spotted the vehicle in question parked next to an SUV, he knew there were several people inside. He updated his location on the watch which was his connection to the two agents on standby and tested a side door, which as he expected was locked. He pulled out a picking hook from his emergency knife and opened the door in less than 15 seconds.

The front of the hangar was an open space with a few pieces of furniture lying around and a corridor to the side leading to rooms in the back.

Then he heard a gun's safety click and turned sharply back to see a man with a stethoscope around his neck point a gun at him. His hand didn't seem quite stable, so James's foot executed a fast side kick that had the piece fly off and clatter on the floor.

James saw the man launch his fist and managed to duck in time to take away the brunt. The blow ended up glancing across the top of his skull. There was pain, but the man's knuckles probably felt worse.

James was down on one knee. He grabbed the doctor's extended arm by the wrist and curled the fingers of his free hand. Most untrained fighters, like the doctor himself, hit with fists, which he tried to avoid as it could easily result in breaking his hand. The palm strike though, especially to vulnerable areas, was usually more effective. With a punch, all he needed was to flick or jab. And that was what James did. The obvious place to aim was the groin, but James figured that the man had attacked fast, so he was thinking of himself as a seasoned fighter, and he would be protecting the groin.

And he was as he raised his knee. But James went for the diaphragm instead. When the shot landed just below the sternum, the air burst out of the big man. James pulled on the man's arm and threw him in what looked like an awkward judo throw.

Then he saw the door bang open. Everything slowed down. The doctor was still in the air when James saw two men charge toward him. Another second passed.

His brain was running through his options in what was not more than a few seconds. Either the time had slowed down, or his mind was racing!

The two men were maybe three steps away now and had the advantage of already moving while if he ran, he was starting from a standing position. This was where pure athleticism would help. It was more a question of lateral movement than of speed, so he faked a step to the right, just to get them to lean. They did. Then he broke in the opposite direction sensing the steps behind him slowing down, but not seeing how one of the men lost his footing and rolled his ankle, tumbling on the floor.

The other man was only slowed by a second by his partner's fall, and now James felt he was almost close enough to make a diving tackle. He debated taking him on, then turned and waited a few seconds as inertia made the man ran right into him.

James got a hold of the man's head full frontal assault style, and then turned slightly, cradling it for leverage and smashing his elbow into his Adam's apple, nearly caving the windpipe all the way in. There was a painful, gurgling choke. Then silence. He followed up with a knife hand strike to the back of the neck below the skull just to be sure, but it wasn't necessary as the man slid to the ground like wet sand.

This is when he realized that the second man and the doctor had gotten on their feet and were approaching him slowly, pointing their guns at him.

He was ordered to drop his gun on the ground and as he hesitated the second man shot at his feet. The sound of the shot echoed loudly in the hangar, which made him slowly remove his gun from his belt and throw it on the floor.

Then he felt a hit on the head as the man who had been on the floor had crawled back up and had acted behind his back.

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