Chapter 5 - The Doctor’s House Call
While Mrs. Higgins wept uncontrollably in the neighboring cell and Clarissa hurled a continuous stream of hysterical insults and profanities against the iron bars, Hadrian’s phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out, glancing at the encrypted screen where a single green text message blinked from Miller: “Target two secured. Bringing him in now.”
Dr. Alistair was not a man accustomed to midnight house calls, especially not ones initiated by heavily armed tactical units that intercepted his luxury sports car halfway through an upscale residential district.
Ten minutes later, the heavy iron doors of the basement dungeon swung open once more, and two operatives roughly shoved a middle-aged man in a tailored designer suit down the stone stairs.
Dr. Alistair stumbled forward, his expensive glasses sliding crookedly down his nose, clutching a leather medical bag tightly to his chest as if it could somehow protect him from the terrifying reality unfolding around him.
"What is the meaning of this outrage?!" Dr. Alistair protested, his voice cracking with panic as he caught his footing and looked around the damp, subterranean holding area.
"Do you know who I am? I am the chief pediatrician at the Metropolitan Medical Center! I sit on the hospital board with city officials! This is an unlawful abduction!"
He turned his head and suddenly froze, his eyes widening in absolute horror as he recognized the two women trapped behind the iron bars.
"Clarissa? Mrs. Higgins? What on earth is going on here?"
Hadrian stepped forward from the shadows, his towering presence immediately silencing the panicked pediatrician.
"Welcome, Doctor," Hadrian said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register.
"We were just discussing your specialized medical expertise. Specifically, how a trained physician manages to diagnose a six-year-old child with 'severe physical clumsiness' while ignoring dozens of distinct cigarette burns, whip marks, and internal trauma."
Dr. Alistair swallowed hard, his throat going completely dry as he took a nervous step backward, only to find the unyielding chest of a tactical operative blocking his exit.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about," the doctor stammered, frantically adjusting his crooked glasses.
"Medical confidentiality... patient privacy... Sorrel’s medical history is a private matter between her legal guardian and myself—"
"Legal guardian?" Hadrian interrupted, his eyes flashing with a terrifying brilliance.
"You mean the woman currently screaming obscenities from a holding cell? The woman who paid you fifty thousand dollars in untraceable cryptocurrency to sign off on fraudulent health certificates?"
Dr. Alistair opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out; his face turned a pasty, sickly grey as he realized that the digital audit trail of those very transactions was likely already sitting on a federal prosecutor's desk.
"You swore an oath, Doctor," Hadrian continued, stepping closer until he was standing mere inches from the terrified physician.
"You swore to protect the innocent, to heal the sick, and to shield the vulnerable from harm. Instead, you sold your soul to cover up the torture of my little girl."
"Mr. Hadrian, please," Dr. Alistair whispered, his knees buckling as he slowly sank to the cold concrete floor, letting his medical bag slip from his fingers with a dull thud.
"We can work this out. Name your price. I have millions in offshore holdings—property, stocks, liquid assets—I can transfer everything to you right now! Just let me walk out of here!"
Hadrian looked down at the man with a gaze so utterly devoid of mercy that it felt like staring into an abysmal void.
"Money?" Hadrian asked softly.
"You think this is about money, Alistair? You think every single wrong in this world can be settled with a bank transfer?"
Hadrian turned his back on the cowering physician, raising his hand to signal the waiting tactical operatives.
"Lock him in the cell opposite Clarissa," Hadrian commanded, his voice echoing off the damp stone walls.
"Let them enjoy each other's brilliant company while I pay a visit to the final member of their little conspiracy."
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"No! Hadrian, you can't do this!" Dr. Alistair shrieked as the operatives grabbed him by the arms, dragging him kicking and screaming toward the iron-barred cages.
"You're destroying your own life! You'll never get away with this! The authorities will find out! The media will destroy you!"
