Page 47 of Fear and Desire

“No, not exactly. I really was kidnapped, just like you.”

“Not exactly?” She would not let Laura off the hook.

“Claire, please. I can’t say anything more.”

She didn’t push the subject, but turned over the information in her mind. And just before lights out, she turned to Laura.

“Master 2,” she mouthed.

Laura didn’t answer, which told Claire everything she needed to know.

“Iknewhe had a secret! I knew that he just couldn’t be the kind of man who’d do these despicable things.” Her whisper was full of desperate hope, and something else.

“Claire… do you care for him?”

She turned over on her back and stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t honestly sure.

“Claire, honey, you can’t say or doanythingthat’s different. You have to act just as scared and sad tomorrow and the next day as you have been for months.Pleasetell me you can do it.” Laura was begging now, louder than she should have.

“Don’t worry, I can do it.” She turned to face Laura again. “How long have you known?”

“I realized what was going on the second day, when I saw Master 1.”

“When you saw Master 1? But how did you know he… wait—him, too?” Her eyes went wide and angry. “He—they—have done all this to us and they’re supposed to be thegoodguys?”

“Claire, shh! They didn’t have any choice. Someone much higher than them decided not to help us so that they could get all the bad guys together at the auction and take them all at once. They only stayed because they knew they could keep everyone safer than if they left.”

“So we’re just collateral damage.” Claire lay back down, bitter and feeling used. “The end justifies the means.”

“Claire, it’s been killing the two of them. I didn’t know what Dan—Master 1—had been doing until I ended up here. But every time we met for the last few years I could see the toll it was taking. He’s lost weight. He doesn’t smile much anymore. He’s been doing the most he can to keep us from harm for a long time.”

“Yeah? Tell that to the woman who died right before you arrived. They dragged her out of the cell like she was trash to be thrown away.”

“Did you check her pulse, or did someone else?”

“Master 2 did. He said she was dead.”

“What better way to get someone sick out of here than let everyone think she was dead?”

Claire turned once more to stare at the ceiling, trying to work it all out in her head. “What about Staci? And all the other women sold in the last few months?”

“I don’t know anything about the others, but I was the one who told Master 2 that Staci was talking about suicide. They arranged the ‘sale’ so that they could get her out of here.”

“Staci is safe?” Claire whispered. That was too much. She rolled over and shed silent tears, which turned into the flood she’d been holding back for so long. Laura slid off her bed and knelt at the side of Claire’s, the chain from her neck to the bed just long enough to reach. In a switch from the first day, it was Laura who held Claire as she sobbed.

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Claire:

Thenextday,Clairetried to channel the usual sadness into her music; she was afraid her hope would become obvious through her playing if she didn’t. She was pleasantly surprised when Master 2 let himself in.

“Hello, Master,” she said softly, unable to stop herself. He gave her a sharp glance as he walked over to the chair.

“Master!” she exclaimed. “The chair’s broken. Don’t sit in it.” She pointed to the front rung, now fallen loose on one side from the movement of his hand on the back of the seat.

He leaned down to examine it, and the sharp piece came off in his hand. He looked up at her.

“Thanks. How did you know about this?”

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