Captive

Chapter 15

Nathan Arthur Jones graduated from high school a few short weeks after locking his young girlfriend in his car on a gravel road some three miles from his parents' house. He spent the summer working in a golf shop at the local country club where he made connections with big wigs who worked in finance and research-development fields for huge corporations in the city. Bridget stayed with him for part of the summer until she landed her first job and became "too busy" to continue the relationship. He was devastated for about a week: She was his first real girlfriend, but college was around the corner, and fall promised loads of drunken sorority girls willing to worship him in the bedroom the way Bridget had refused. He had not earned her virginity, but he had taken most of it by sweet-talking her into sordid situations. Sometimes, when she rejected his advances, he found other ways to get what he desired. Her natural timidity made it easy for him to get what he wanted from her. Nevertheless, there would soon be more malleable and attractive pickings. He imagined standing before a line-up of scantily clad freshman beauties begging to spend the night with him. His main goal was to lose his virginity, and he did so in July with one of the lifeguards who worked at the club's swimming pool.

Unfortunately, college was not as he dreamed. He pictured endless parties and droves of sex-crazed young ladies just waiting to get laid. His first semester was rather rough, and he nearly failed out of school altogether. When he came home for Christmas break, he ran into one of the many impressive businessmen he knew from the club. The man was successful, and Nathan wanted to be like him; he wanted the money and the power and the women, but most importantly, he wanted a way to feed the monster inside him. A formidable darkness ignited inside the young man the night he left Bridget in that car. If she were so easy to manipulate and frighten, then there had to be others with phobias that he could manipulate. Money and power would give him the opportunity to perform similar acts on random people. He wanted to save them all and watch them squirm as their conditions progressed. While he would find excitement in others' terror, he knew that with guidance, the "sick" would be able to lead normal lives. It was his duty as a human being to save these poor souls—he would enjoy the path to recovery just a little more than they would.

The next semester birthed a new Nathan. He attended every class and worked hard to succeed. Sure, he took the occasional night to drink and hook up with whatever slut he fancied, but he never took his eyes away from his goals. This transformation was as much external as it was internal, too. He became a regular at the gym, and he began to care about his appearance. Nathan spent loads of money on skin moisturizers and healthy food. He stopped drinking soda and avoided role-playing games. He learned how to dress and sought dialect lessons from a linguist. His hair was shorter and his teeth straighter. He researched the stock market and smartly invested in profitable ventures. When he came home, he made it a point to avoid classmates or friends. The familiar world did not matter anymore. All he cared about was the future he planned to design for himself.

Summer breaks between college semesters were spent working two or three jobs to make as much money as he could before he left town again. That money was also invested, and by the time he graduated with dual degrees in biomedical engineering and cognitive science, he had enough money to pay off his student loans with one check. He moved to the city and took an entry-level job as a lab rat with an unknown company where he created several cancer-slowing agents. Within a year, he was the head of research and development, and three years later, he had invested and saved enough money to build his own company. Algern Pharmaceuticals grew slowly in its first few years, but after one researcher found the cure for Alzheimer's, the company stole the spotlight and became the most successful bio-medical facility in the world.

Nathan Arthur Jones, a scientific genius with a highly profitable company, kept himself out of the spotlight. He hired a world-renown biological chemist as the Chief Executive Officer to hold the helm and guide Algern Pharmaceuticals to greatness. Meanwhile, Nathan created a separate persona to indulge his own scientific ventures. His name was Doctor Spencer Lewis, an attractive and remarkably intelligent individual. Under this guise, Nathan transformed Algern Pharmaceuticals into an umbrella corporation with two subsidies under its canopy. One of these divisions focused strictly on cognitive development. The entire venture was paid for out of Nathan's pocket, and on paper, it met the necessary requirements and followed all ethical policy and procedures outlined by the United States government.