Chapter 18

Time passed slowly as the traffic in the streets gradually dwindled. At first it was difficult but as the people on the streets got less it was quite easy to pick out the agents. Some dressed as drunk peddlers, one was near the trashcan right next to Paramount clinic and went through the trash for the past half hour as if he was out there digging gold.

Some frequented in and out of the clinic in pairs, probably to get as much info about the situation inside the clinic and also to know the room where Dell Santos was currently staying in. 

The building gave the best vantage point for Nick as he saw most of the personnel inside the clinic were quietly moved out and a black van entered the scene at high speed and a total of 6 masked FBI special division agents with assault rifles hanging over their shoulders ready to enter the building. The driver alone waited inside the Van ready to roll out once they had captured the suspect. 

Most of the actions which were happening inside the building were unknown to Nick as all he could hear were banging noises, followed by muzzle flashes and some noise of door getting kicked in. The street was so quiet that even Nick, who stood a few hundred metres away could hear it clearly. 

Within a span of 2 minutes the group dragged out Dell Santos who looked like he was half dead. This division worked perfectly together as they practically threw Santos inside the Van like a piece of garbage and entered the van together with him. Dell Santos didn't look like he was capable of struggling. 

'Well that ties up one loose end' thought Nick as he proceeded to leave the rooftop. 

Nick slowly drove out of the neighbourhood and drove his car on the highway and into the intersection which led to the city but made a U-turn to drive back out on the highway. The windows to his car were down and the chill breeze which hit his face made his mind gradually calm down. His mind had gradually made a decision however his heart was not fully committed to this decision as Julliete's face kept popping up letting Nick face a dilemma.

By the time Nick had calmed down the sky had just started to brighten up and suddenly the face of the assassin who came to kill him popped up making Nick change the direction of his car and made his way to the woods where he had stashed the assassin up.

Well inside the woods Nick kept his eye out to spot the marking he had made before and after a fifteen minute drive he spotted a kerchief which was tied at one of the branches of a huge banyan tree and Nick got down from his car and took down the kerchief.

He had been changing the marking every week to make sure that no one figured out that it's a mark. He had even changed the spot where he marked thereby expanding his familiarity with the woods. If this continued Nick could say with certainty that this woods would become his homeground. 

Making a few turns Nick arrived at an inconspicuous place, which looked like every other part within the woods. The only difference being that this place had an underground bunker and it was something Nick came across by chance when he caught a drug dealer who built this along with a few of his mates to stash his products.

Knowing the presence of such a bunker while he was tailing the suspect, Nick planned on taking this bunker to himself and hatched a plan which ended up in the death of the drug dealer as well as his crew. After burning their stash Nick turned this place into a safe house and had many weapons both cold and modern along with instant food stash just in case of a rainy day. He had also dedicated one of the rooms to act like a cell in case he needed to stash prisoners and inside this was the assassin who came to his house.

His initial plan was to interrogate the assassin to get info on Dell Santos and possibly neutralise that threat but things panned out quite differently. He no longer needed info on Dell Santos but was more interested in the organisation this assassin was working for. In other words he was interested in the Juarez Cartel which seemed to be run by Balam, after all it doesn't hurt knowing more about your potential enemies. 

After parking his car at a remote location, Nick entered into what looked like an opening to the sewage system, he came before an electronic locked steel door, the possibly only contribution he made to this place just as a means to fortify his hold. Punching in the numbers a beep sounded before the steel door moved allowing Nick to enter into a rather dark and dingy pathway.

Walking down the floor which was uneven with walls having many protruding rocks Nick reached a door which was quite isolated from other doors. The ceiling to the place was at best just over 7 ft making the whole place look cramped, fortunately the place was wider making him capable of moving around freely. 

Nick inserted a key inside the lock to enter this isolated room. The room was square shaped and its walls looked worn out. A stale stench permeated from the very room and right in the middle of it was chair with a man tied up to the chair. 

The man had his head low, clearly unconscious from whatever the fuck he was shot up with by Nick. Entering the room Nick walked up to the man and opened a bottle of what looked like gel-like substance and brought it closer to the guy's face.

The gel gave out a menthol-like smell, so strong that Nick even with his nose and mouth covered using a kerchief felt his throat ache from the sharpness of its smell. 

Nick had previously obtained this from the famous Spices and tea shop which was currently being run by Freddy Calvert. Well, over the few months he had made an attempt to become acquaintance of certain people who frequented the Grimm show, in other words the allies of Nick according to the canon.

Though they still weren't his friends, he could pass on as an acquaintance and that was enough for now. Nick brought his mind back to the present as he heard a grunt from the prisoner.

The prisoner's eyes opened slowly and he made an almost scratching sound using his throat indicating that whatever he smelt was painful for him.

With its job finished, Nick closed the lid of the bottle and placed it inside the bag he carried. Fishing out one of his tactical knives Nick played with a bit before placing it against the man's neck. 

The once unconscious man slowly opened his eyes with a groan but was soon met with the image of the man he was supposed to kill, the only difference was that he was about to be killed.

Looking around only to find himself in an unfamiliar surrounding, the man just kept his mouth shut while using his brute strength to break away from the zip tie he was tied in but much to his shock a total of 3 zip ties were keeping his wrists tied together.

"Dell Santos was captured today so I have no use of you. Still, you tried to kill me. I can't exactly kill you without you experiencing some pain. However the level of pain you go through depends on yourself. If you want an early ticket to hell you had better spill everything you know about the people whom you work for. If not your ride is going to be a bumpy one." Nick said while having a cold smile on his face. While up against criminals who have had rodeos to prison and are killers by profession there was no use in negotiation. If there is a way to break them, that's by torture or straight up threats to kill them. 

Giving them a news which would break their morale and spirit would also work as a scare tactic and psychological pressure in the begining. 

How did Nick know these shits. Well he had researched up some black op tactics on interrogation and with using them while interrogating regular criminals, Nick quickly built up experience though not to the point where he could break assassins. 

Serving a news which essentially was the assassin's moral support to hang on to the upcoming torture, Nick went onto break the spirit of the assassin and him being a newbie in the field of interrogation did not help the assassin's pain. If anything it increased the painful experience up by a notch. 

By the end of the interrogation cum torture session the now almost in vegetable state assassin had spilled even his underwear size and the girl with whom he lost his virginity much less about the Tijuana cartel and about the lieutenants.