Justice Unserved, Nadia Siddiqui [brene brown rising strong .TXT] 📗

is that most of the people in this small town are on the government-funded forms of health insurance and the facilities simply don’t make enough money to sustain those sorts of security measures long term. Perhaps that’s why Nathan has been called out here to pose as a reporter in hopes of shining a brighter light on this entire situation. If a national eye is drawn then there will be more resources afforded to this small town from the state. At least that’s the impression Nathan wants to give.

In reality, he just wants to ensure the suspect that his employer has pegged is the true suspect here. Where all of these facilities might have been lacking in funding to fuel their technology, his company certainly isn’t. Where the local police might have been reluctant to look into things for any number of reasons offered to the public, his company has pieced all of the bits and pieces together to form what seems to be a very damning report. Only, unlike the police or other traditional forms of government-approved legal recourse, his company has a whole other method of dealing with things. Those are usually the ones that call for Nathan’s special talents.

Zeta and Nathan have come to a very particular agreement for the outcome of this case. As his previous mistake was something so strange on his otherwise unblemished record, she was approved to make him a unique and one-time offer to validate his conditioning. Something to make sure that his mental programming, for lack of a more suitable term, hasn’t been tampered with. They are dangling a piece of information about his real life, identity and how long his contract is supposed to remain active for in exchange for this job being completed as quickly as possible.

Until his last job, he hadn’t even been aware that was something he even wanted. Now the temptation of knowledge about his real self is too tempting not to chase. He would have done the job anyway. He likely would have done it exactly as the plan is laid out for him now, but he likes the idea of having a reward waiting for him. Perhaps this will be the last job; he’s not an old man but now the idea of retiring, of having a contract with an end date anywhere in sight is a worthy goal in his opinion.

Nathan checks in at the hotel and it has already been paid for by the company. He takes the room key and heads up to his room after smiling pleasantly at the man behind the counter. Nathan isn’t an unattractive man. He’s just handsome enough to be glossed over. He has an ordinary face, which can be charming enough in the right light or downright intimidating if that’s how he would rather be seen. A five o’clock shadow is nearly always on his face with just the bits on his jawline starting to show any of the first signs of starting to age. He’s of average height for a man of his build, standing at five foot ten with a lot of lean muscle on his frame. Presently dressed in a three-button shirt and slacks, Nathan doesn’t stand out in a crowd at all. He looks like any other man waiting to attend any number of conferences held in the large hall that is the only claim to fame in this small town.

He places the duffle bag on the luggage rack in his room and resists the urge to find the nearest vending machine. There will be one where he is going, but his stomach is on the verge of loudly protesting just how long it has been since his last meal. Nathan is supposed to be having lunch with a woman named Emma Claire while pretending to interview her for a local color piece on the rising crime rates. Really he is going to be pressing her for information about her father Archie who is a permanent resident at one of the senior living communities in the surrounding areas.

This will provide him with a good reason to go inside without raising alarms. With any luck, since Emma has lived here her whole life, he will be able to talk her into showing him around a couple of the other locations as well for comparison purposes. Nathan’s company was able to get a hold of some very random video footage and he would like to see if he can figure out which clips came from which locations and if there is perhaps any other footage floating around there; though, as the bastard criminal has been this careful so far, it’s not overly likely.

Only recently have there been any murders. Three private citizens in the surrounding areas that all died alone in their homes. Events were labeled natural causes even with their strange circumstances and having read the reports Nathan was a little confused as to how some of them could have passed for natural causes. One was found with ligature marks around her wrists and another had bruises all up and down his thighs. Not the broken blood vessels of the elderly but in handprint formations. Things like that weren’t caused from bumping slowly into tables or items as they passed, but they are indicative of something truly more heinous. And yet, the town’s coroner chose to ignore all of those facts. Nathan can’t wait to get to the bottom of that.

Changing into the clothing that was provided for him, a simple cardigan to tie around his shoulders, fake glasses and a black T-shirt and slacks, Nathan heads with his pen and paper to the restaurant that was agreed on, a quaint little bistro where he is unlikely to find anything filling other than perhaps the bread bowl.

Emma doesn’t arrive on time, something that she apologizes for profusely when she arrives. She is stumbling over her words and speaking a mile a minute. Nathan