Flesh and Blood a serial by William Todd

When a bunch of people go missing, FBI agent Matt McIver goes undercover, only to be caught by the man who took them. His reason? He had a hungry son. Matt was about to find out just how hungry he was.

Eight people missing - Eight people missing, gone. If there had been bodies then maybe the case wouldn't have proceeded so slowly. Instead, there had been nothing but incorrect assumptions and dead ends for months. Hopefully, agent Matt McIver would help change that. He was anxious--a trait that rarely seemed to leave him--but never in his life had he pictured himself being anything but an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After leaving Quantico, he was determined to prove he was as competent as his training had shown him to be, and this case would be his rite of passage.

Alone - Matt pulled alongside the curb in an inconspicuous place just down from the doctor’s driveway but still had a clear view of the entire dwelling. Even hidden under a brooding blanket of autumn clouds, Matt could tell the house was a fortress sitting on its sloped lawn; it was a high, quadrate structure assembled in thick stone with sharp angles everywhere. It was girded by meticulously manicured bristlecone pines and tall hedges on all sides but the front. The houses on either side were at least fifty feet from the property line so the house stood practically alone--a monument to the doctor’s eremitic disposition.

The Basement - As the pain slowly receded and he began to regain consciousness, Matt felt violent tugs on his arms but could do nothing to fight it. He heard the labored breaths, felt himself being awkwardly lifted into the air and slapped down onto something cold and sticky. He tried to shake his blurred vision away as his coat then his shirt was ripped open, but the pain on top of his head was too great.