The Man with the Vampire Smile

--Agent West

--Agent West POV

 

 

He’d never seen a group of victims so defeated and mentally drained. He’d seen a lot of kidnap victims over his years but that was usually at least a day or a week after their rescue. After they’d been to the doctor and showered. Most of the time, if the victim wasn’t found within two weeks it was unlikely they would be found at all so there was hardly any victim that he came into to contact with that hadn’t been in captivity longer than nine days. So the long-term damage was minimal.

But there was no telling how long some of these people had been held hostage or how many died at the hands of this sick man. All of them were undernourished and had hollows under their eyes. There were no screams of joy as the FBI agents led them out of the partially underground compound. They all seemed like they were in a haze. Agent West wasn’t sure what the compound looked like because the sun was only just about to come up. He looked at the last of the victims that were still waiting for ambulances to arrive to take them to the hospital. They were wrapped in blankets and there were water bottles at the feet of all of them. They stared at the sun as it climbed the horizon. He vaguely wondered how long it’d been since some of them had seen it and felt its warmth.

Twenty minutes ago, he’d been thrilled with what was happening. There seemed to be no casualties with the FBI agents and none of the victims looked like they would die on the spot. It was turning into a wonderful rescue mission.

Then he’d heard a young teenage girl screaming for someone named Dane.

This had confused him because it seemed like none of the victim knew about each other. How did this girl know there was someone named Dane? Let alone what he looked like. A tough looking girl with jet-black hair and pink and purple highlights with a bad bruise on her face told him that they didn’t know each other at all. One of his agents quickly ran over to the screaming girl and asked her who Dane was. She said that he been in the cell next to her and they’d spoken a few times. She said that the Doctor didn’t like him because he caused trouble. Then she became hysterical. She was afraid he’d killed whoever Dane was.

Agent West had Lassen give him phone numbers that she’d been able to gather. He had agents call them until someone answered.

“What?”

“Hello?” That was all he had time to say.

““I want your men out of here. Leave me and my blood alone! I’ll kill this boy right now if you don’t get your men out of here.”

“You have Dane?”

“Of course I have Dane! I’ll always have Dane.”

Agent West heard footsteps and a muffled groan of pain.

“Listen, what do I call you?”

“Doctor. Everyone calls me Doctor.”

“Alright, well, Doctor. I’m head of this operation and I want both you and Dane safe. I’m watching your hostages leave as we speak. There’s no way you can run your business with just one boy. You and I both know that. What can I do for you that will convince you to let Dane go?”

“Nothing! I want Dane. I need Dane. Dane is mine. Dane is all I have.”

A death sentence. That’s what you will have. Agent West thought to himself.

“I know how things like this work. You have me make my demands while you send someone in to rescue the poor little boy, right? That’s not happening. I will keep Dane with me until the day I die.”

“I’m sure you have a way to get out of that building without us knowing. I’ll propose a deal. I’ll turn my head the other way while you make your escape if you leave Dane behind.”

There was no answer.

“Hello? Doctor? Can you hear me?”

The line had gone dead.

So much for a bloodless negotiation.

He looked around for Lassen. So far, no one had questioned her being there. It was too chaotic for anyone to have really even taken notice of anything out of the ordinary. Everything about this was out of the ordinary. Besides, there were many new faces.

“Lassen! I need your help.”

A few seconds later, a tired looking twenty something year old emerged from one of the FBI vans and grinned.

“How’s it going, West? Are they all out? Is that creep dead yet?”

“No. He’s taken one of the victims hostage and it seems he has advanced feelings for this kid. I need you to go in through the air ducts and see if you can give me any information. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“I’m game.”

“I knew you would be. Here,” Agent West handed her an earpiece and a fully loaded gun. “I’m counting on you here. So is Dane.”

“Dane? That’s who he has?”

“You know him?”

“Everyone knows him. He was beaten and the Doctor showed every one of the hostages him. He basically said that if anyone rebelled, this was what would happen to them.”

“All more reason for you to save him.”

“Yes sir, it is.” With that, Lassen turned and ran.