A Ruthless Victim by Nadia Siddiqui (best chinese ebook reader txt) 📕

has fucked up for a second time, the second case in a row, he doesn’t know. He’s not sure if they are going to punish him for this. Honestly, he's a little surprised that they didn’t punish him in the first place for having disappeared for as long as he did. Three days and nothing more than a warning and a new assignment? Nathan can’t say for sure, but that feels like a very light punishment. Not that he's willing to see what a harsh punishment was. He can't deny that the company is terrifying. Just knowing that they have gotten inside of his mind and tampered with his memories, his sense of self is enough. He doesn’t know if he had the visions beforehand, if that is why the company chose him in the first place or if it simply was another gift that they chose to give him in order to make him a more proficient soldier for their cause. Nathan supposes that those are all things that he will have to worry about later, because the task at hand has him with a throbbing, pulsing headache that’s blurring his vision and making it difficult for him to open his eyes properly.

Everything smells like bleach and plastic. Nathan is sitting on top of a thin, twin-sized mattress and missing his shoes. His feet are cold. That seems needlessly cruel to have taken his socks as well. Otherwise, he seems to be physically unharmed. There’s a plastic barrier between him and what seems like a walkway. Nathan wasn’t certain before but now he knows for sure that this man, Alex Paulson, absolutely kidnapped Bradley Kramer’s wife and daughter. Why did he bother starting a car fire? Why did he bother letting Bradley presume them dead? No doubt he could have extorted Bradley for a very hefty ransom. He could have asked for anything, and Bradley would have done it. No doubt, he could have gotten Bradley to totally and completely exonerate Alexander just for shits and giggles if it meant that his wife and daughter would come home.

Now Nathan needs to figure out what Alex did with them and where their bodies are actually located.

Slowly, he starts to look around the room for anything that might be useful to him. The concrete floor slopes downward into a drain, and there’s a bucket with a roll of toilet paper in the corner. Moderately disturbing and more than a little disgusting. The lights are protected by metal cages holding the fixtures in place, and the ceiling is just high enough that if Nathan stood on the tips of his toes, he couldn’t touch the light cage anyway. This is a proficiently designed holding cell. In the space just outside, he can see a concrete pathway leading down some distance to a set of concrete stairs. Where could this be located? Where have they brought him? There is no fear; he knows that the company will have noticed that he hasn’t made his check in, and they will ping his phone. Nathan knows that he will not be here long. How interesting this is going to play out. Nathan ponders for a long moment about who they will send to come in here and execute them all.

Nathan keeps his breathing steady and presses his back into the soothing coldness of the concrete wall next to his thin mattress. He doesn’t even bother attempting to escape as there’s no obvious solution for that here.

Sometime later, arrogantly slow footsteps start to make their way down the stairs. A self-satisfied shuffle if Nathan has ever seen one. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he watches as Alexander moves into the walkway and pulls a chair from the darkness beyond to sit in. He takes his time crossing one leg over the opposite knee, a glass of red wine in his hand. No doubt he feels very triumphant. Nathan doesn’t beg; he doesn’t comment or question; he just sits, allowing his eyes to stay closed because he knows by being complacent, it’s the surest way to irritate his new captor.

“This used to be a veterinary hospital,” Alex starts, and he doesn’t stop because Nathan doesn’t acknowledge him speaking. “This was once a surgical suite. I can’t imagine the time where this would have been state of the art, mind you, but it certainly does suit my purposes. There are three rooms in all, and then at the end is the one that I updated. It’s still a surgical suite, but the tools are all new and never sterilized, so you can be sure to catch lovely little infections. It’s a hobby that I never expected to have, but hey, what can I say, I’m a natural.”

It makes sense that this dilapidated building probably sold for next to nothing. This was likely one of those low cost places where they crank out surgeries like nothing. It makes sense that he has kept this building if he has decided that playing around in people's bodies is his hobby as he says. This place would be off the radar and generally overlooked. It is casual enough to not draw attention, and it’s used to having random people in and out of it given the bail bondsmen side. Really, it’s a decent little murder setup if he’s being honest. Not that Nathan would have ever wanted to live this life. Whatever he chooses to do with his retirement, it’s not this. That much is certain.

“So who are you really?” Alex asks, taking a sip of his wine. Nathan wanted to punch him before, and he really, really wants to punch him now. Nathan doesn’t dignify his question with any sort of answer. Alex is a person who likes to get what he wants, whenever he wants to get it. He doesn’t like to be told no, and he doesn’t seem to have a wealth of emotional intelligence really. “We tried to