Chapter 5

Douglas lowered the camera and stared down at Reid. His heart was pounding. He wasn't even sure if the other FBI agents had been watching the video, yet he was still filled with adrenaline after the broadcast. He would finally get justice for what that FBI agent scum had done years ago... No matter if they had been watching the video feed or not, he would get his justice, what he was owed. An eye for an eye, he heard himself say and he smiled at what he had come up with on the spot.

Looking down at the boy on the floor he felt a slight twinge of pity; the young man was whimpering quietly and crying, sounding like a wounded animal. There was a small cut on his face and his eyes were squeezed shut tightly.

"How did you do that, huh?" Douglas muttered under his breath as he stared at the cut on Reid's face, the blood dripping... "My wife used to be clumsy too."

He knelt down and ran a finger over the cut, wiping away some of the blood. The man merely sat still as a statue, trembling ever so slightly. Douglas didn't know why the boy was so scared; he hadn't done anything to him! He sighed and began stroking his soft hair gently.

"I used to do this for my daughter when she had night terrors, it would help her get to sleep," he whispered, knowing this would soothe the young man, just as it had his daughter. However instead of drifting into a peaceful slumber, they boys eye's shot open and he squealed and looked right up at Douglas, fixing him with a distressed scare. Douglas yanked his hand away at the sudden movement. He'd only been trying to comfort this emotionally unstable kid and he had reacted as if he'd hit him! God, that was so typical of FBI agents, they would just take and take and take and do anything they want, regardless of the consequences, or who they would hurt.

"Typical!" he spat in Reid's face and yanked his hair sharply. The boy yelped in pain but didn't move away so Douglas slapped him, hard. Yet the boy just remained motionless, as if he was daring Douglas to continue, do more! So Douglas wrapped a hand around the thin, milky white throat that was bared so blithely in front of him. The younger man's eyes widened in fear and he made strange strangled noises... Douglas let go after a few seconds and looked at the collar around the boy's neck. He was obviously a dog, he was wearing a collar for Christ's sake! This made Douglas giggle to himself; he had a little FBI agent pet dog! This would show the FBI, they thought they were so powerful and intelligent, but here was a so-called genius behaving like a dog, right here in his house!

Douglas mulled this over for a few minutes more and then realised what he was going to do. He got up, leaving the dog tied to the radiator (his rightful place!) and fetched a blanket from a cupboard, carrying it down to the cold basement. Once there he arranged it in the corner to look like a dog basket. He smirked to himself as he grabbed an old dog water bowl, filled it up and set it down next to the make-shift basket. Perfect.

Back upstairs the FBI agent was twisting and turning where he kneeled, trying to make an apparent escape, to no avail of course. He would only choke himself on his own collar. Douglas strode over and unbuckled the leather collar. Reid slumped forward, groaning in pain.

"Get up," Douglas commanded, nudging him with his foot. When the younger man didn't respond, Douglas started kicking his shoulder. Now he looked up, except he looked confused and helpless, "I said, get up!"

Reid struggled a bit to stand but only ended up falling again so he was lying on his side, just staring up at Douglas.

"Jesus, do I have to do everything myself?" he shouted, causing the boy to flinch and cry some more. Douglas snorted, "Some FBI agent you are...I thought you were s'posed to be a genius?"

He grabbed Reid around the waist and began hauling his skinny body down to the basement; the FBI dog didn't resist.

"Now, this is where the pets sleep! More accurately, where the dogs sleep!" Douglas threw the kid to the floor, in the dog basket. He curled up into a ball and lay, shoulders shaking, with his face tucked away.

Douglas got an idea that would further taunt the other FBI scum as he stared down at this pitiful excuse for a man. He ran to get his old Polaroid camera from his bureau upstairs in his bedroom and gleefully jogged back down the stairs of the basement. He snapped a single shot of the dog. He would send it right away, first class, so it would reach them by tomorrow morning! Laughing at his own ingenuity, he walked back up the stairs, calling down to Reid before he locked the door.

"Good dog!"