Fear and Desire Chapter 1
He watched them through the coffee shop window long past the point where he'd grown cold and annoyed. The man touched the hand of the woman with affection, and she smiled back. The watcher wanted to be inside, too, drinking coffee and chatting with a pretty girl. But tonight, his plan was to observe the man who was so important to their plans, and the woman he met for coffee every other Saturday night. Perhaps he could use the information to his advantage to move up in the organization. He already knew the woman’s name and where she lived, that they’d known each other for years, and that she wasn’t any kind of cop. But they never went anywhere together to have sex, and he wondered what kind of frigid bitch she must be.
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If he was inside with a pretty girl, he’d find out all about her boring job, and her lonely apartment, and her parents back in Omaha. Then he would convince her to come back to his place for the night. She would hesitate, unsure. He’d encourage her to look at his driver’s license, and text her best friend with the information. Maybe he’d even recommend that her friend call the police if she didn’t check in by phone in an hour or two. All these suggestions would reassure the young woman, and after she duly made arrangements for her safety, they would leave the café arm in arm, still chatting and smiling at each other like lovers.
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Of course, the driver’s license would be fake, and the phone call would go unanswered, and the police would look in vain for a woman who had disappeared into the darkness…
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Laura:
“In the elevator? Really?” Dan’s eyes went wide and the coffee cup that was halfway to his lips hung in midair.
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“Yeah! She just gave a weird look and a loud groan, and all of a sudden, there was a baby between her legs on the stretcher. The old man in the corner looked like he’d just seen a horror movie.” Laura grinned.
“What did you do?”
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She shrugged. “Put the baby on her chest, covered it with a blanket, and exited on the third floor. The doc met us in the hall, and we got her into a room. We looked for the dad but he was so stunned he hadn’t gotten out of the elevator before the doors closed, and didn’t even know what floor his wife was on.” She chuckled and took a sip of coffee, though the caffeine couldn’t touch the fatigue from her last twelve hours of work.
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She put the cup down. “How are you doing?” He looked even more tired than usual.
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“I’m okay.” He stared into his coffee for a minute. “Laura, in two or three months, will you go away with me somewhere? Just for a few weeks?”
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She digested the unexpected offer for a moment while her heart did a flip-flop. They’d been close friends since childhood, and maybe even closer since they’d become adults. But for the last few years, he’d maintained a distance between them she didn’t understand. She’d tried to respect it, and didn’t nag for more, but it was hard.
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“Um, yes, Dan. I’d love to.”
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“I need some… I don’t know. I need something normal.”
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She reached for his hand. The occasional hand-holding, and a brief hug in greeting and goodbye, were all the physical connection they’d ever shared. But he soaked up her stories of babies, laughing at the funny ones, commiserating over her frustrations, and never judging or criticizing. In return, she gave him a quiet acceptance of his need for secrets.
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Too soon, her yawns threatened to split her face open. It was almost 2am and her shift had been over for three hours. She needed to get to bed so she could get up in the morning and do it all over again. They left a nice tip for the server who kept their coffee cups full and hot, and made their way out into the darkness. She got into her car, and he got into his, and as always, he followed her the short distance back to her apartment building. He watched until she was safely through the locked door before driving off, because ‘there’s a lot of really awful scum in this world.’
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In less than twenty minutes, she was snuggled in her soft bed, and her last thoughts were of the staff meeting in the morning.
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Dan:
Dan drove back through the darkness, the memory of Laura’s face the only thing he was really paying attention to. Every other week, he would treasure the first glimpse of her bright, open face with a ready smile. He relished staring into her mahogany-colored eyes that matched her curly shoulder-length hair and the smattering of freckles across her face. The women he saw every day usually stared at the floor. He didn’t know the color of their eyes, because they never looked up.
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He wished he could talk to her, to relieve a little of the guilt that weighed so heavily on him. Perhaps then he’d be able to sleep for just one night. But tonight, even troubled sleep would be delayed. There was a problem waiting for him.
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“What the fuck happened?” he shouted, looking at the naked and motionless woman on the concrete floor in front of him.
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“The girls say she wasn’t feeling good all day, and then she passed out just a few minutes ago. I checked her pulse and…” Josh shrugged.
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Dan looked at the other naked women cowering against the back wall. He strode over to one of them and tried not to hate himself for the way she flinched as he towered over her slight form.
“Do you know anything about this?”
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“No, sir, I’m not sure, oh god, is she dead?” At this last question, she dared to look up at him, as if hoping there was some way this nightmare had not just gotten worse. She had blue eyes. He stared into them for a long moment before shaking himself and getting back to the present problem.
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“Did you see any of the masters touch her?”
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She shook her head. Her courage fled, and she bent over to stare at the floor again.
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He swung around to address the rest of the women.
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“Did she say anything to any of you after she arrived?”
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“Sir, she kept saying she was diabetic and needed insulin,” one woman volunteered.
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He looked up at his second-in-command, who held up his hands. “News to me, boss. Master 3 brought her in this morning.”
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“God fucking dammit! All right, let’s get her body out of here.” He motioned to one guard hanging around outside the cage. “I want Master 3 in my office in one minute!” The guard nodded and left. Dan reached down to grab the woman’s limp arms, and Josh grabbed her legs, and together they dragged the body out of the cell, ignoring the quiet crying coming from the huddled forms they locked in behind them.
As soon as they reached Dan’s office, they eased the woman to the floor. Dan bent over her body and probed for her carotid artery, then nodded.
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“Call Garcia. We need him to take care of this quietly.” He left the office briefly and came back with a black bag. Together, they lifted the body and placed it inside, zipping it up with care, and then lifted their still burden and then made their way out the back door. A patrolling guard raised his eyebrows but said nothing as they placed it into the large trunk of a dark car.
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“Let me know how it goes. I’ve got to deal with Marco.” Dan walked back into the building.
Josh:
Josh started to close the trunk, but then leaned over the bag, pulling the zipper down just enough that it didn’t cover her face. He said a prayer, shut the trunk, and made a call as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled off the road into a small, unlit rest area. He climbed out and unlocked the trunk, and another man emerged from a dark van to join him.
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“Goddammit. This isn’t supposed to happen!” Garcia felt for a pulse in her neck and nodded. “She’s still alive.” The two of them lifted her carefully out of the bag and carried her over to the van. Together, they climbed inside and laid her on a stretcher. Garcia began issuing instructions to a woman in scrubs. The two of them quickly hooked up an IV and a heart monitor.
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“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Garcia muttered. He slipped into the driver’s seat as the woman seated herself next to the stretcher. Josh slipped out of the van, and the makeshift ambulance spun its tires on the gravel as it sped off towards the lights of the city.
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Dan:
“You goddamn idiot! How could you not know she was diabetic and needed insulin?”
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Marco’s mouth dropped open, and the wad of gum he was chewing threatened to tumble out. “I swear, boss, she never said nothing about that when we were at the restaurant! I had no idea!”
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“What the fuck did you think this was?” Dan waved a small device in front of Marco’s face. When the man looked confused, Dan threw it at him. It bounced off his chest and skittered across the floor. “It’s an insulin pump, you dumbass! You ripped it off of her when she came in. Didn’t she say anything?”
“Sure she did, but they all say something to make us feel sorry for them!”
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“And you didn’t think this pump might have backed up her story? She couldn’t survive without it. How the fuck did you think we’d be able to train her and sell her if she could eat only certain foods and had to take insulin through a pump? Goddamn idiot! Any time there’s a body, there’s a chance of it being discovered and a chance of this whole thing coming down around our ears. We weren’t going to take any more women! It’s getting too close and too dangerous. We had a dozen to sell, which is plenty, but you think you’re above the rules every fucking time!”
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“We have plenty of time to break another bitch!”
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Dan’s stomach twisted just a little. One more woman who would have to go through hell on earth before this was over? He made his voice as cold as he could manage. “We’re supposed to train these women, not kill them. If you don’t get that, you’re useless to me. You’re on guard duty and off training.”
Marcos’ face turned purple. “You can’t do that! My uncle–”
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“–is a businessman. He knows how to take care of his merchandise,” Dan finished for him. “Don’t worry. I’ll be updating him on this little debacle. And Marco, if I find out that you’re taking out your anger on the women, I’ll make sure your body is never found. Do you understand?” He didn’t wait for an answer before waving at the guards holding Marco, who promptly escorted him out the door.
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Once Dan was alone, he steeled himself, muttered a prayer—one of many, lately,—and dialed a number. DeLeo answered right away.
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“Some unfortunate news, sir.” He gave an update of the night’s events. “I have a disposal specialist who will make sure her body is never found. I’m very sorry about this.”
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The laugh on the other end surprised him. “Dan, my boy, these things happen. Marco’s young and stupid, but he’ll learn.”
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“I’m taking him off training, sir.”
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“No, you’re not.” The hardness in DeLeo’s voice was a surprise.
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“But, sir–”
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“Dan, I like you, and you’ve moved up quickly in this organization. Don’t make me regret my decision to put you in charge. He’s my nephew and just needs to learn the business better. You’ll keep him right where he is.”
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The knot in Dan’s stomach grew even tighter. “Yes, sir.”
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“He can make up for his mistake by getting a replacement.”
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“Sir, it’s too close—”
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“That wasn’t a suggestion. Do I need to find someone who doesn’t have cold feet?”
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“No, sir!”
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“Dan, how long since you’ve had one of the girls? You’re awfully tense.”
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“I don’t sample the goods, sir.” Because that’s called rape. “It keeps me focused.”
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As ridiculous as it sounded, he wanted to keep himself untainted for Laura. Maybe when he was done, she could save him from the blackness he was going to carry with himself for the rest of his life.
“Your decision. But it might help you relax. Think about it.” DeLeo clicked off.
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Dan cut the connection. He was not looking forward to the smirk on Marcos’ face.
Fear and Desire Chapter 2
Laura:
“So, her Amp and Gent are both due at two. Did I forget anything?” Laura rubbed her dry, scratchy eyes. It was a good thing she’d turned her patient over to the ICU staff; she wasn’t a very good nurse anymore, not after fourteen straight hours. “Oh, and the dad is with the baby right now. Mom hasn’t seen her yet.”
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“I’ll call the nursery after I get things settled and see if they can come down.” The ICU nurse bent over the computer and finished ordering the lab work due in the morning.
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“Thanks.” Laura returned to the small room one more time, to let the woman on the narrow bed know that she had to leave now. It was tough to let go of a patient after being with her for the last fourteen hours, first as she helped the woman deliver her baby, and then as Laura and the team worked to save her life.
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The young woman, Cora, had come in with her husband, excited and nervous as all first-time parents-to-be are. And then, one after another, problems started. Cora developed a fever and an infection. The baby needed to get out as soon as possible. Laura got down on the floor with her as the panting woman knelt on her hands and knees, trying to get the baby to turn and descend. And slowly but surely, the baby moved down. The midwife stopped staring at the surgeon’s phone number and started breathing again. Laura finally pulled out the delivery equipment table, and shortly before her shift was over at eleven pm, Cora pushed out a healthy baby girl. Everyone stood back to breathe a sigh of relief.
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Until she started hemorrhaging. From there, it had gone downhill fast. She needed a transfusion. Then another. The midwife called the surgeon, and they took her back to the operating room to find the problem. Laura had stayed way past quitting time, feverishly working with the midwife, the surgeon, and the rest of the team, until at last the bleeding slowed and Cora’s blood pressure had come back up. They’d finally been able to transfer her to the ICU.
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She’d probably spend just two days here before going home. The ability of the human body to recover from trauma always amazed Laura.
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She sneaked back into the room, weaving around the ICU staff, and ducking under the lines attached to Cora. The new mother gave a tired smile at the familiar face.
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“I have to go now.” Laura took her hand and squeezed it gently. “They’ll take good care of you here.”
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The woman nodded, the action seeming to take all her strength. “Where’s my baby? Is she okay?”
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“She’s perfectly fine. She’s with Dad in the nursery, and they’ll come down as soon as you’re settled.”
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“Does she have any hair? I didn’t even really get to see her before everything happened.” Her eyes were closed now, and her voice was sleepy.
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“Yes.” Laura smiled. “She’s got a head full of golden brown hair.”
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“Thank you.”
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“I’ll look in on you guys tomorrow.”
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One nurse interrupted to attach a blood pressure cuff to her arm. With a last squeeze of Cora’s hand, Laura turned and left, making her bleary way back towards Labor and Delivery.
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She stopped in the nursery. The dad was sitting in a rocking chair, holding his newborn daughter while she slept, the little girl thankfully oblivious to how close her mother had come to dying. He looked up at Laura’s approach.
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“She’s getting settled in the room.” Laura smiled to reassure him. The poor guy was exhausted. “You can both go down in a few minutes.” She reached out to touch the tiny hand and smiled when the baby grabbed her finger.
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He reached out to take her other hand. “Thanks,” he said, as he held it tight. She leaned over to give him a hug. Some days, she and her patients would be complete strangers at the beginning of a labor, but by the time they left, they’d remember each other for the rest of their lives.
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She made her way to the break room, hoping there was something to eat. Finding only a half a blueberry donut left from the evening shift, she ate it in three bites while she finished her charting. She desperately hoped there was something in her refrigerator at home. Or maybe she’d just go to bed. That sounded even better.
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“You meeting your guy for coffee tonight?” Melissa, one of the night nurses, leaned over the counter above of Laura.
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“He’s not my guy. He’s just a friend. And no, I’m not. I texted him a few hours ago when I realized I was going to be really late.”
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Melissa cocked a skeptical eyebrow. “Mmm hmm. I bet he would have waited. I’ve seen you dump every boyfriend you ever had, but this guy seems to always be there in the background. Maybe it’s time you looked a little closer to home for what you want.”
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“Oh, God, Mel, please stop. I’m just too tired to come up with witty counter-arguments tonight.”
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“Okay, but you just think about how nice it would be to go home tonight to a steady, reliable man who’d have dinner made and probably give you a foot rub.”
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“Yeah. They don’t exist. Now please let me finish, so I can go home to my cold, dark apartment, which might or might not have leftovers in the refrigerator.”
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The older nurse reached over the counter to give Laura’s shoulder an affectionate pat before she vanished into a patient room. Laura put her face in her hands for just a moment as Melissa’s words sparked a fantasy in her mind. The front door would open as she arrived home, and silhouetted against the light would be a figure of someone she loved. He’d pull her inside and kiss her hard, causing her to drop her purse and everything else on the floor. Then he’d pick her up in his arms and carry her to the bedroom, where he’d efficiently remove every piece of clothing, despite her feeble protests that she was too tired for sex. And then he’d carry her to the shower, where he would wash and massage her from head to toe before tucking her in bed with a promise that he’d claim her in the morning after she slept.
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Laura woke with a start, her dream gone. She sighed and clicked on the last item to fill out. Transferred to ICU room 3. Report given to oncoming nurse. Done.
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She drove home through the empty and silent streets. Mel was right—Laura’s relationships never lasted. She would date one guy for a while, then tire of him and gradually stop answering the phone. A few just drifted away; one or two begged and pleaded to know what they’d done wrong, but she didn’t know what to tell them. She longed for someone—just once—to fight back, to make it clear to her she meant enough to him that he wouldn’t let her push him away.
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Dan was the only long-term ‘relationship’ she’d ever had. When they were kids, they’d spend long summer days playing in their adjoining back yards. He always had the best ideas, and she’d eagerly gone along with all of them.
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One time they’d played cops and robbers. He’d caught her ‘stealing’ and ‘arrested’ her. He tied her up, and she was having a grand time, until her mother came out. With horror, she demanded that Dan let her go immediately. Laura had been really mad that the game had been interrupted.
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They remained close during high school, but went their separate ways for college—he to study business, and she to study nursing. Both moved to other states for a while, and both came back home after a few years, to pick up their friendship right where it had left off.
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For a few years, their meetings were irregular, and she’d go long periods between hearing from him. That was when he’d started to look like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. A year ago, he told her he was home for good, and they started meeting for coffee every few weeks after her Saturday evening shifts. He was evasive about what he was doing, and she didn’t think he was in business anymore. She suspected it might be some kind of clandestine law enforcement. She knew him well enough to know what he wasn’t saying. Sometimes they just sat in comfortable, tired silence until he’d look at his watch and announce he had to go.
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The reverie she’d fallen into on the quiet trip home flew away when she pulled into the parking lot behind her apartment building. The damn security light was out again. She’d nagged maintenance to fix it for over a month, and as of yesterday, it had been working. She’d call them again tomorrow.
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Mindful of Dan’s cautions, she looked around before she got out of the car, then held her keys sticking through her fist as she hurried to the locked door. As she unlocked it, a shadow rose from the bushes next to her. Instinct made her turn to flee, but a hand grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards. Another hand went over her mouth as she tried to scream, and something sickly sweet filled her nostrils. In her fear, she breathed hard. A moment later, everything went dark…
Fear and Desire Chapter 3
Laura:
For a while, there was only a shadowy confusion of darkness, a splitting headache, a feeling of not being able to move her arms or legs, and a sensation of traveling. What was happening? The sickly sweet smell returned, and the world faded away again.
At last, consciousness seeped back in. Pain danced around the inside of her head like exploding fireworks, and nausea swelled like an ocean tide, but the hard floor she lay on was cool and soothing. She blinked and opened her eyes to the light. Her breath quickened as she took in the small concrete room with gray walls and a door.
Her arms were bound behind her and attached to her ankles, and the pain of her cramped limbs was becoming intense. Something stiff was wrapped around her throat.
She was in big trouble. She’d been kidnapped. Oh god oh god oh god, her brain chanted as her breathing sped up and she hurtled towards a panic attack.
“Help me,” she whispered. “Someone help me, please…” It was less of a cry for help than a prayer, and calling any louder might attract the attention of whoever had brought her here.
Her headache was growing worse, so she closed her eyes against the light. Losing her shit wouldn’t help. With her eyes closed, she tested the strength of her bonds and found no give.
The time wore on—it could have been five minutes, or five hours. Her headache lessened while the pain in her arms and back increased.
Suddenly, the heavy door burst open. She shrieked and shrank back as much as her bonds allowed. A man entered with equipment that he set up in silence. Another man followed, and he advanced on her with a smile that looked like a jackal about to take down its prey. She tried to wiggle away as he bent over her, his foul breath bringing her nausea back, but the wall behind her prevented any escape. Suddenly, the tension on her wrists and ankles released, and she cried out in pain. With no control over her stiff limbs, she wasn’t able to fight back, so she merely followed his movements with wide eyes.
He motioned to the other guy, and the two of them hauled her to her feet. Now she struggled, her attempts pitifully weak. She tried begging. “Please, let me go, please, don’t hurt me, please, please, don’t hurt me…” Tears of fear ran down her face.
They ignored her entreaties as they backed her against the wall. Her legs refused to hold her steady, so Bad Breath pressed himself against her to hold her upright. She tried to bite him, but his large hand covered her throat and pushed her head back into the wall. The other man raised her left wrist, now adorned with a black cuff, and clipped it to a hook on the wall above and to the side. She struggled as they fastened her right arm the same way. Then the equipment guy moved to grab her ankle. Without thinking, she kicked out, catching him in the balls and dropping him to the ground in pain. To her utter surprise, Bad Breath started laughing.
“That’s what you get for letting your guard down. Next time you’ll remember. Never go at ‘em by yourself and straight on. Now get up off your sorry ass so we can finish this.”
The guy on the floor struggled to his feet, looking daggers at Laura, who was regretting what she’d done. The two of them pounced simultaneously, each grabbing an ankle, and she lost her balance as they spread her legs wide and fastened them to hooks protruding from the floor. She got her weight on her feet again, but now she was stretched tight.
Bad Breath turned to her. “I’m Master 3. And though what happened to Master 5 was actually pretty funny, you are going to be punished for that.”
A wave of fear rose and threatened to cut off her breathing. This was more than just a run-of-the-mill kidnapping, if there was such a thing. “Why are you doing this?” she implored, her voice tremulous.
He ignored her question. “Master 5 is going to get the camera going. In the meantime, do you have any health problems or allergies?”
She stared at him, unwilling to answer his question. He slapped her face, whipping it to the side, and her head exploded with fresh pain.
“Do you have any health problems or allergies?” he repeated with impatience. “The last girl who didn’t tell me wound up dead because we didn’t know something.”
Last girl?
Dead?
She shook her head frantically.
“Any medications?”
She shook her head again.
He looked over at Master 5, who nodded. The recording camera beeped. Master 3 produced a pair of scissors with blunt ends, and he sliced up the middle of her pink scrub shirt and right through the center of her bra. He spread the fabric wide and nodded.
“Nice.” He ran a hand across her nipples.
She grunted in surprise. “No, stop!” He ignored her as he continued cutting, until the shirt and bra were nothing more than pink and tan shreds he yanked away from her body and tossed to the floor. He leaned down and sliced her pants legs from the bottom up, catching her underwear as he went, and with another yank, the last shreds of her clothing fell away. She was chanting a continuous litany of “please stop, please stop, please stop” with her eyes closed, though the logical part of her brain told her he would not stop, and this was just the beginning of things she couldn’t imagine.
A sharp pain in her nipple made her eyes and mouth fly open at the same time. In an instant, he shoved something between her teeth, and she tasted the bare metal of a ring gag, something she’d seen before but had no desire to experience. He fastened it behind her head and she strained to dislodge it from between her teeth, but it held fast.
He turned to the camera and started talking. “Good evening, sir. This is subject 184. Her name is Laura. She was a nurse. She is 150lbs, healthy, and taken just a few hours ago.”
He turned to her. “We’ll start the exam now.”
He ran his hands over her body. She keened a low cry as he stroked and teased her nipples, tugging on one and then the other. He pinched them until she yelped in pain. Master 5 moved the camera around the room, capturing everything from different angles.
Her heart sank as Master 3 put on a pair of gloves. He put his hand between her legs as the camera jockeyed to get the best angle and slipped his fingers between her folds. She screeched and writhed, but only succeeded in flinging drool off her chin and down her stomach. He pulled her labia apart, and the camera zoomed in for a closer look.
“Very convenient that she’s already shaved.”
Without warning, he shoved two fingers up inside, all the way to his knuckle. She screamed in pain, her body going up on tiptoes as high as possible, but his hand just followed her movement up and allowed no relief. His fingers wiggled around inside.
“Moderately tight.”
She squealed again as the same fingers sought and breached her back entrance. This time it was a burning that she fought to expel but couldn’t. Fear gave way to anger at the violations and she screamed indecipherable hate at him.
Master 3 made no reaction except to stand back out of the way of the camera with his arms crossed while she raged. Eventually her screams turned back to quiet crying. She had gained nothing except chafed wrists and a sore throat. She closed her eyes and hung her head, her breath coming in quiet, jerky sobs.
A buzzing noise pulled her attention back up. She shook her head frantically as he placed a vibrator between her legs. The shock of it made her arch up onto her toes again, but like his fingers, the device followed her up. She was helpless to escape the vibrations centered directly on her clit. She’d never been so out of control in her life as her body responded to the sensation she didn’t want and would do anything to get away from. Wave after wave of unwanted pleasure rose until she exploded, shaking, moaning, and crying all at once.
The vibrations ceased and she hung limp, her mind overloaded. She was dimly aware of being unhooked from the wall and pulled over to a long wooden device that looked like a padded saw horse. They pushed her over and restrained her hands far down in front, then spread and secured her legs. Her head hung down, the drool from her open mouth now trailing in a long string almost to the floor.
He grabbed her hair and yanked her head up. Though he spoke to the camera, he looked straight at her. “Finally, we’re going to punish her for kicking my cameraman in the balls just before we got started.”
She struggled again as she begged him not to with her mangled voice. Instead, the sick bastard smiled. “Six cane strokes should remind her not to fight us, at least for a while.” He dropped her head and disappeared behind her.
A moment later, a searing pain unlike any she’d ever felt before landed on her butt. She threw up her head and screamed. A second one landed just below it, and then a third. She struggled frantically. A fourth one landed on her upper thighs, and then a fifth landed at an angle across the other four. She was still screaming when a sixth and final one landed at the opposite angle. She sagged in her bonds, unable to fight any longer, desperately hoping her torture was over.
Anything else he said was a blur as he released her from the sawhorse. He pried the ring gag out of her mouth, but did not try to wipe up the spit that had run down her front. Two hands grabbed her arms, and they dragged her out of the room and down a hall, stopping in front of a large barred cell. When she saw the dozen other naked women looking out at her, she panicked again. She pulled back, kicking and clawing, desperate to flee before they put her in there. Instead, they pushed her forward through the open door, and she landed in a heap on the tile.
Master 3 followed her in. He grabbed her hair and turned her face up. “Claire will explain the rules. We’re going to train you, and when we’re done, we’re going to sell you for a lot of money. You won’t be going home ever again.” He let go of her hair. She stared at him in horror as he unlocked the chain from the collar of another woman. “I’ll be back in an hour to lock you both up.”
He walked out of the cell. As the door slammed, she launched herself at it, pulling and crying frantically, but it remained firmly shut, and Master 3 disappeared down the hall.
Fear and Desire Chapter 4
Dan:
Dan leaned back in his leather chair, the scotch in the glass in his hand almost gone. He needed a lot more than the small amount he’d consumed, yet this was the worst possible time to drink. He had to stay on top of everything, keeping the hundreds of balls that he was juggling perfectly aligned in the air. A clandestine meeting tonight to discuss some arrangements had kept him gone since before dinner.
One more month. He’d spent almost two years working his way to this point, and in one more month, it would be over. At least the hard part. The clean-up, the de-briefing, the testifying—that would probably consume him for another ten years.
What he was doing was worth it, but it was goddamn hard to keep it up. These women would be treated worse if he wasn’t involved, but he doubted anyone would agree with him save his superiors, who had promised to write him a ‘get out of jail free’ card when this was all over. He’d need it. Would even God give him a pass for what he’d done in the name of bringing a greater evil to an end?
And would he ever forgive himself? There were women who would probably curse his name for the rest of their lives—but if he hadn’t done these things, someone else would have done worse. In the end, they, and many others, would be free because of what he was doing. Physically free. He wasn’t so sure that their minds would ever be free again. The last woman had arrived two months ago, and until the other day, he’d found a reason every time the idea was brought up not to grab any more.
The reason this hell hadn’t been broken up long ago was that in exactly four weeks, there was going to be an auction. As far as DeLeo knew, it had been Dan’s inspired suggestion, and DeLeo had loved it so much he planned to be there in person, dismissing the danger of appearing in public. Almost a hundred very rich men were invited, and all of them had bought and sold women for many years. So far, thirty had accepted the invitation, eschewing the danger of appearing in public. Most of them had egos so big they couldn’t resist showing off their wealth in front of each other. They trusted DeLeo, and DeLeo trusted Dan. And the Agency would be waiting for them. Dan prayed every night that all their plans would be enough to put every one of them in deep, dark holes, forever.
He tossed back the rest of the drink and rose. This latest bit of introspection was courtesy of his talk with Marco. The sadistic sonofabitch was gloating over his uncle’s blessing to go get a replacement for the diabetic woman, who was now in witness protection until this was over. He couldn’t argue with DeLeo about Marco anymore; his boss was getting increasingly paranoid. DeLeo lived far away, hidden so well that years of searching by many governments hadn’t turned up his home. But he watched everything through the cameras that were placed all over the building and fed the signal straight to him, as well as to Dan’s office.
The cameras were a constant nightmare. There were live feeds from the cell, the dining room, the main training rooms, and the big outdoor barn. Turning them off for any reason would be suspicious. There were several rooms that weren’t used often that had cameras turned on only when needed, and both DeLeo and Dan had control of those cameras. DeLeo turned them on at irregular hours and had called Dan out of the blue to comment or ask questions about something he saw. The office had a camera as well, which Dan had insisted on turning off. DeLeo had balked, and they’d compromised by leaving the camera off, but the audio on. Dan had held his breath when he’d made that demand; there was no way to communicate with Josh if the camera had remained on.
Dan’s current, and biggest, headaches were DeLeo’s increased calls, interrogating him about plans for the auction. His second biggest headache was Marco, who held a grudge against Dan, more than once claiming his uncle should have put him in charge. Dan could only imagine the terror Marco would unleash if he was.
There was a knock, and Josh poked his head through the door. Dan motioned him in. Josh was the only person who dared to open the door without permission.
Dan didn’t know what he would have done without his partner for these last two years. Both men were experienced, practiced Dominants, which had gotten them noticed after it had almost gotten them fired. Josh had been in a casual relationship with a submissive when an indignant and moralistic coworker had outed him at the Agency. Instead of being fired, though, he was quietly reassigned and sent northwest from his native Puerto Rico.
Dan hadn’t had any relationships since college, and had little time to devote to frequenting clubs, but as luck would have it, he was seen leaving one on a rare visit. A report was made to his superiors, and he was summoned to his boss’s office, prepared to be fired. To his surprise, they presented him with an opportunity. Dan had listened only a few minutes before he interrupted.
“You think I’m the right man for the job of infiltrating a sex slave ring because I practice BDSM? Obviously you know fuck about it. Consent, Pearson. Consent. That’s the difference. That’s why sex is different than rape. I do not fuck women without their consent, and I never will!” He turned to leave.
“Nor will you ever have to.” A voice from the shadows made Dan’s head whip around. A broad man, almost as tall as Dan and much wider, emerged from the corner.
“AD Lawson?” Now Dan was really confused. He’d never met the assistant director—Pearson’s boss—in person before.
The AD reached a hand out to Dan amicably. After a pause, Dan took it and they shook.
“Pleased to meet you, sir.” He kept his voice carefully neutral.
“Perhaps Agent Pearson hasn’t presented this situation as clearly as he should have. We’re after the head of an organization that runs the largest sex trafficking ring in the world. Hundreds of women over the last decade, missing from all over the world, have been victims of this man. We’ve been working for years to get a fix on him, and he’s the slipperiest fish I’ve ever come across. Now, finally, we have an informant inside the organization, and he gave us some staggering information. One of the ‘Farms’, where they hold women until they’re sold, is near here. We’re not exactly sure where, but this contact can provide the necessary introductions for one of my undercover agents to join the organization. I need someone who lives in the general area to make the meeting look plausible.”
“You think one of the Farms is up in these mountains?”
“Yes.”
“So you want me because I’m local, not because of my off-hours and very private activities?” He didn’t try to hide the challenge in his voice.
“Both.”
“Sir, I just got through telling—”
“Dan, let me explain. I know damn well that this isn’t the same, but I need someone who can talk the talk and act the part. You have the confidence of a man who is used to commanding women and being obeyed, even if the obedience has always been consensual. I believe you know how to walk right up to the line where consent stops and coercion starts, and if you have to walk across it to get the job done, you’ll still know where that line is when you return. Your confidence and knowledge are going to put you miles ahead of most of the overgrown bullies we’ve had under surveillance.”
He laid out his cards for Dan, and in the end, Dan had to agree that the operation sounded like it would work. More to the point, the operation was an important one that needed to work. DeLeo needed to be removed from humanity.
The informant got him into a low-level position that didn’t involve the women at first. He’d met up with Josh Contaldo, who had been in place for a month, and the two had become fast friends. Their ability to speak the language of domination and submission got them noticed, and they moved up quickly, eventually winning DeLeo’s trust and being put in charge of the Farm near Dan’s hometown.
Dan and Josh were exact opposites of each other. Dan was tall, slender, and well-muscled, with blond hair and fair skin that revealed his Scandinavian heritage. He always dressed in a button-down shirt and carefully pressed pants, which set him apart from most of the casually dressed thugs who worked under him.
Josh was shorter but wiry because of his Afro-Hispanic background. The muscles under his brown skin filled out his t-shirts with impressive bulges. He had black hair that curled up in tight ringlets on his head—his mother used to call it ‘perma-hair’ since it never seemed to need any attention—and long eyelashes framing beautiful, expressive brown eyes. Women swooned over him everywhere he went. What kept him from being too pretty was the scar on his right chin and down his throat, a souvenir he earned a few years ago from someone who didn’t understand the difference between consensual sex and assault. He resembled many of the other men and could blend in among them without notice. Dan found him an invaluable partner.
***
The news Josh brought him tonight was not what Dan wanted to hear.
“Marco got another woman.”
Dan tried to keep the frustration from his voice, always aware that there were ears tuned to his every word. “Has he processed her already?”
It didn’t surprise him that Marco kidnapped someone while Dan wasn’t around to observe.
“Yeah. He sneaked her in just a little while ago without letting me know, either. He also punished her for kicking Harry in the balls.”
That almost made him grin. Harry, Master 5, was an idiot, and any woman who got the drop on him had Dan’s full approval.
“Is she in the cell?” At Josh’s nod, Dan clicked on the camera. It was the middle of the night, but enough light remained on to monitor the large room. It had three concrete walls and a barred front, and held twelve narrow beds. One wall had a door to the bathroom. The cell faced a large open area. A hall off to one side led to small rooms, and beyond another locked door lay Dan’s office and the men’s dorms.
Right now, all the women were locked to their beds with short chains attached to their collars. The only one sitting up was Claire, who held the new woman in her arms, her tear-stained face hidden, but her bottom clearly visible with fresh cane marks. Claire rocked her back and forth, shushing her, letting her cry, while the other women stared silently from their cots. Dan always marveled that despite their own circumstances and fear, they were always willing to comfort one another, and they were at their unhappiest when a new woman joined them in their hell.
I’m so sorry. But you will be free again, he promised the figure.
​
Fear and Desire Chapter 5
Laura:
There were no more tears to cry. Claire told her everything she knew, which was little, and all the rules, of which there were many. The tall woman with dark red hair and pale skin could not offer a single piece of comfort save her arms. Claire had been there for two months. Most of the women had been there longer. Occasionally, one was sold and would disappear.
​
Claire answered Laura’s questions before she even asked them. Yes, they had tried to escape—from time to time someone would make the attempt, and the punishment was severe. Deep woods surrounded the compound, and somewhere out there was an invisible fence. Any woman who got that far found herself flat on her back after being shocked into temporary paralysis by her collar contacting the fence.
​
Master 1, who ran this place, was not too bad, and Master 2 was harsh, but reasonably fair for a slaver. Master 3, the man who had kidnapped Laura, was a bastard. There were rumors he wanted to take over. He was a sadist, Claire warned her. Try to stay out of his way and be very obedient around him. He and Master 5 were buddies, and they liked to torment the women for no good reason. Master 4 and Master 6 were not too bad. There were other men around, big men with lecherous, hungry looks. They were guards and didn’t take part in the ‘training,’ and they weren’t allowed to touch the women.
​
“But why are we here?”
​
“There’s a big auction coming up in a month. We’re going to be sold.”
​
Laura stared at her, the words as shocking as when Master 3 had uttered them the first time. “But—but—this is the twenty-first century! They can’t do that!”
​
Claire gave her a tired smile. “I didn’t believe it, either, when I arrived. I’ve been here long enough to realize that those who are stronger can always do what they want to those who are weaker. And sex makes men do horrible things.” She sighed. “You won’t understand this for a while yet, but most of us have stopped fighting, for now. Not just because we get punished if we do, but because it’s exhausting to fight all the time when there’s no hope of winning. We have to wait for a better opportunity.”
​
“So in the meantime…” Laura prompted, not really sure what she was asking.
​
“In the meantime, we train. To be pleasure slaves.”
​
Laura shook her head. “No. No. They can beat me all they want, but I’ll never be a pleasure slave.”
​
“They’ll beat you, yes, if you fight and disobey. But what Master 2 will probably do first is give you an hour or two of continuous orgasms. And then he’ll turn around and get you so aroused you’re desperate to have another one. It’s—well, it’s addicting, and frankly, confusing. It didn’t use to be. Some of the other women who are gone now said it was really awful when they arrived. They were just beaten into submission until they were broken. When Master 1 and 2 came along, everything changed. They started giving us pleasure, whether we wanted it or not. And they started teaching, really teaching, how to do things like deep throating. Or they use plugs to gradually open us up to take a cock, instead of just shoving one in there. Some women are training in massage, others in cooking; there was even one woman who painted. They insist we take care of ourselves and eat enough and keep ourselves clean and groomed. I understand now that our price has increased quite a bit.” Her face twisted in an ironic smile.
​
“Are you training in something?”
​
Claire chuckled once. “Piano. Believe it or not, I was pretty good in my previous… well, before this, and so they gave me a piano and ordered me to practice every day.”
​
Laura shivered. “Really? But—don’t you hate piano playing now?”
​
“Surprisingly, it’s the one time of the day I feel like a real person. They let me play whatever I want. I wouldn’t give it up for anything. It holds me together when I want to come apart.” She paused. “Sometimes Master 2 comes in to listen. He never interrupts, and he always compliments me after I’m done. I enjoy playing for him, even if he’s one of the men who is keeping me here.” She shrugged.
​
“But you all get punished,” Laura prompted.
​
“Yes. When we disobey, we get punished, and it’s awful. We also get lessons on how to handle the pain. They’ll start off slowly and gradually build up and encourage us to breathe and not tense. They insist we not fight it, that we accept the pain. They tell us it’s part of our new identity and we can’t avoid it. We can make noises and cry out, but we’re not allowed to plead for them to stop. When we do, especially at the beginning, they start the lesson all over again.” She looked down at the floor. “That’s the worst part.”
​
The door banged open and they jumped. “Bed time for little girls,” Master 3 announced. He re-locked Claire’s chain and grabbed Laura by the arm, dragging her over to an empty bed. He fished a chain out from under the pillow and locked it to a ring on her collar. “Any more talking and I’ll whip you good. Go to sleep.” He turned and left.
​
She stretched for the one blanket that was folded down at the bottom of the bed, but the chain was too short, and it was tucked too tight to pry loose with her toes. Eventually, she gave up and curled onto her side, her naked body trying to warm itself as the tears started again, this time quietly. At some point, her exhaustion won out, and she drifted off to sleep.
​
Josh:
Josh stopped outside the cage, watching the new woman’s quiet breathing, and noting she hadn’t pulled the blanket up. Marco delighted in petty torments, and had probably chained her before she could get to it.
​
As quietly as he could, he let himself in and walked over to her bed. He tugged the blanket out from under the mattress and drew it up over her huddled form. With a start, she awoke and looked up in fear at the man looming over her.
​
“Shh. Here’s the blanket,” he whispered, tucking it around her. As he let himself back out, her wide and frightened eyes stared at him from the other side of the bars.