A cold splash of water brought Kim Bauer back to reality. The combination of adrenaline, cold water, and terror along with the after effects of the drug she'd ingested was not one to be envied. Coughing and sputtering her eyes widened, and she tried to thrash her way free, discovering with horror that she was handcuffed to a pole. Taking a moment to quickly assess her position, taught by her Father to always know her surroundings, and unfortunately she had enough experience with abductions that she knew she needed to assess weaponry and escape options.
She had a moment to take in her surroundings, and she paled. Her wrists were chained above her to a pole. Running water moving through the pipes above her led her to believe it might be the basement of an apartment building or industrial complex. The ceiling was low. She was in the center of what appeared to be a vast basement, and she noticed that cold porcelain was below her. Realization that she was in a bath tub came at the same time as she realized she was nude, she gasped in horror, drawing her knees up to cover herself as much as possible as her eyes sought the source of the water that had been thrown on her. She craned her neck, her wet dyed ebon hair obscuring her view, seeing the shape of a man just outside of the periphery of her vision.
His hand was coming closer, forming into a fist, and she realized too late that he intended to hit her and she cried out with the impact, feeling like her face was shattering like a mirror below his hand.
He laughed at the cry of pain, and his Russian accent was thick, making her struggle to pick out the English below it. "Kim Bauer. You've decided to join us. We thought for a little while that my assistant had been a little, how do you say… overzealous with her dosing to get you here. Didn't your Father ever teach you not to get into cars with strangers?"
She grimaced and struggled from the hold of her pounding headache for words. Managing with the taste of blood on her tongue. " You have the wrong person. My name is Susan Peterson!" She struggled against the chains, desperate to convince him of her lie. The smile that formed on lips convinced her that her desperate pleas of innocence of her name had fallen on deaf ears.
" Let's not lie. " He opened his cellphone and clicked a couple of buttons before presenting her with a picture of her daughter. The preschool photo from earlier that year. Kim's blood ran cold and she paled, raising her terror filled eyes to him. His cold smile widened further. "No reason for little Ramona to get hurt. Or little Teri. And then there's your husband…"
Swallowing hard she steeled herself. "What do you want from me?"
He moved to bend over the tub, reaching down to stroke her hair. His hand tender, goosebumps rising on her exposed flesh. " Information…." HIs hand tightened in her hair until he was straining the locks at their root, a whimper of pain escaping her lips as she tried to move up with his hold to prevent the strain on her scalp. He bent down to whisper against her ear. "And then, to see you suffer. I'm not your Father, I prefer not to kill children. I will leave your little girl alone unless you give me reason not too. Know this, Kim. If you ever even contemplate escape, you will have no family to return too. I will enjoy bathing in their blood."
His words struck her as hard as if he had punched her in the stomach. The promise, and her terror mixed with the after effects of the pharmaceutical potion she'd been given all churned together in her stomach, and she gagged, surprised as he was by her own visceral response to the situation. He thrust her foreword, releasing her hair just in time to avoid the vomit. He watched as she heaved violently. Three times, until there was nothing left in her stomach, and still she wretched.
Turning the silver knobs of the tub he moved to fill the tub once more with the water. She flinched as he poured bucket after bucket of the water until the sick had disappeared down the drain. His voice quiet. " Part one. Answers." He corked the tub and turned off the cold water so only the hot began to fill. " And remember.. the life of your child is in your hands. Be careful with it. A child is a precious gift. To lose one… it can turn you into a Monster."
Kim shuddered and murmured quietly, attempting to placate him. " I am sorry for your loss…" Grimacing all the while as the tub began to fill, exposing more of her flesh to the scalding water pouring down from the faucet.
His laughter was cold. "Your Father killed my little girl… and for that, I will see his daughter destroyed."
" You don't have to do this!" She pleaded, struggling against the chains, certain that she was going to die in this tub. In the future, there would be time that she would wish she had.
He smiled, moving to kneel near the tub, and producing from somewhere out of her sight a serrated switch blade. She withdrew as far as the tub and chains would allow, her eyes locked on it.
" I don't have too, darling girl. But I want too. And I always get what I want." He used the dull side of the blade to stroke down her cheek as a lover would. She shuddered, but barely breathed, afraid he would cut her. "Now tell me what you know."
She swallowed, keeping her words as level as possible as terror planted roots in her soul. " I haven't seen my Father for three years. I swear it. I cut ties with everyone, even Chloe after I went into the Witness Protection Program. Ask me anything and I will tell you what I know!"
Her tears streamed down her cheeks, a single one cascading it's way down his blade. Pulling it back abruptly and lifting it to his lips she watched as his tongue snaked out to lick the salty droplet.
His palm replaced where he had been pressing the blade to her cheek, his thumb moving to stroke her tears away. His voice rough with his own emotion and something else. Something she identified too late as desire. "Delicious."
She began to tremble as he reached to turn off the water, his hand moving to trail down her exposed breasts. She gritted her teeth in response and turned away from him as his hand began it's inevitable descent.
" Part two… You must begin to suffer. And we'll take our time with this part."
Her screams echoed to the street above for several hours, but only those on the payroll heard, and perhaps a sympathetic glance was exchanged among them, but no one came to Kim's aid.