"Hello, Agent Reid," came a voice from the darkness ahead of him. He recognized the low, scratchy quality immediately, from the video. "I trust you are unarmed?"
"Y—yes," he stammered. "W—wh—where's Lorelei?"
"In time, Agent Reid, in time," said the voice. The figures, probably male because of their substantial height, began to pat his sides and legs to check for weapons.
He heard a light-switch. An incandescent bulb flickered on overhead, bathing them in a yellow light.
The figures at his sides were male, as was the man who stood before him, with yellow teeth and five-o-clock shadow.
"I'm Nate Jarvis," he grinned, stepping toward Reid with a pocketknife dangling from his right hand.
Reid's muscles tensed. He tried to back up, but the men restrained him. His eyes snapped shut.
"Don't worry," Jarvis said, opening the knife. "Just a formality." He slid the blade between Reid's wrists and yanked, severing the zip tie.
Reid lowered his hands. "Thank you," he said quietly. The men at his sides roughly removed his coat. He closed his eyes but made no protest. He heard it land, balled up, on the dusty floor behind him. The man on his left wedged a hand under his sweater-vest, yanking upward. He flinched involuntarily away, stammering, "N—no, I—I can do it."
"I appreciate your cooperation," Jarvis said warmly as Reid undressed, pulling the sweater-vest over his head and dropping it to the floor. "That will do," he said softly when Reid's hands flew to the first button of his beige dress shirt. "Just the outer layers—for security, you understand?"
Reid nodded, looking nervously from Jarvis to his two henchmen. "N—now what?"
Jarvis gave a smile and tilted his head further into the darkness. As he motioned for Reid to follow, the stocky man at his right took his wrists and pulled them behind his back.
The other man secured them with duct tape. Again Reid closed his eyes, but made no objection.
He was led down a narrow corridor and two dimly lit staircases. The air stank of stale rat carcass, and the lower they descended, the more impossibly cold it became.
"I'm grateful you've decided to join us, Agent Reid," Jarvis turned back to look at Reid. "Or, as she refers to you, Spencer."
Jarvis waited for a satisfying reaction. Reid knew this, so he did his best to calm the pounding in his heart and the rage brewing in his stomach. "Th—that's my name," he said simply.
Jarvis nodded. "So it is." He pushed open two heavy wooden doors, and when Reid saw the posts he knew they were in the right place.