Page 53 of Fear and Desire

“You okay?” Josh whispered. She nodded, uncertain how else to respond.

“All right! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to leave.”

Pitir grabbed Laura and shoved Josh, who stumbled backwards into Claire. DeLeo, still holding his gun, grabbed Claire’s arm and yanked her towards the door. Josh launched himself at DeLeo and punched him in the jaw. He staggered backwards and let go of Claire.

Laura swung around on Pitir and kneed him hard in the balls. He let go of her and doubled over.

“Run!” Josh yelled as he and DeLeo grappled. They fell on the floor, and the gun went skittering away. Claire dove for it.

The second guard aimed at Josh and fired. Josh jerked backwards and cried out.

“No!” screamed Claire, as she grabbed the loose gun and aimed it at the burly bodyguard. Laura watched in horror as he aimed back at Claire. They pulled their triggers at the same moment, and both flew backwards.

Laura screamed and tried to rush to Claire, but Pitir had recovered and grabbed her again.

“You bastard!” she yelled, twisting and fighting in his grip.

DeLeo stood up and brushed himself off. The guard, who had hit the wall behind him, was missing most of his neck.

Claire lay on the floor, curled up and gasping next to Josh, who stared up at Laura with blank eyes, his hands covering the large wound in his stomach. There was so much blood she couldn’t tell whose life was flowing out across the floor.

“Goddammit! Leave them!” DeLeo jerked his head towards the door. Marco grabbed Sergei, who was staring at the scene in horror. Ahmed yanked Laura out the door as she cried and begged. The group moved down the hall to a closet whose door stood ajar. The wall at the back stood open into a space behind, and they dragged her through the narrow opening into the darkness.

30

Dan:

“Nosignofhimanywhere? Where the hell is he?” Dan whispered with growing alarm. He scanned the sea of faces in the audience. About forty actual bidders had shown up, more than they’d expected, along with several hundred retainers and bodyguards. Sprinkled among them were two dozen undercover agents, some of whom would also bid to keep up their cover, though none would stay in long enough to win.

As they entered and passed through the metal detector, each bidder was handed a small zippered bag with a numbered paddle for bidding, and a color catalog of all the women. It also contained a small bottle of very expensive scotch. Each undercover agent was given a bag as well, though theirs contained a Glock 19 semiautomatic with an extra magazine. In addition, Agency security with guard dogs roamed the perimeter.

Dan knew DeLeo had researched every one of Dan’s choices for different roles, and had seemed satisfied that Dan had excellent underworld connections.

The auctioneer was also an agent, his background carefully planted by the tech experts at the Agency. He’d been told he was the backup plan and unlikely to be needed. Nonetheless, the bidding was happening. Ten of the twelve women had been sold and were now separated from each other, standing in the stalls, most of them tethered to the restraints hanging from above, and all of them crying as the winning bidders fondled and examined them. Dan’s heart was breaking. The only thing that kept him from calling a halt to this was that there would be confusion among the agents, both the undercover ones inside and the dozens secreted among the trees outside, and the likelihood of a firefight and bloodbath was high.Hang on, ladies—it’s almost over, I promise.

He hadn’t seen Josh for quite a while and was concerned. He ducked out of the main auction area and down the hall to the room where Laura and Claire had been put. It was empty.

Letting loose a string of curses, Dan strode through the empty room and out the open door. As he crossed the area between the two buildings, one of the hired guards with his dog came around the corner. Dan motioned for him to follow, and the pair fell in behind.

As they eased into the dim building, listening for sounds, they heard a woman’s voice, begging for help. They made their way cautiously towards the sound, checking every room as they passed. They arrived at the door and Dan took out a key ring, quietly inserting it into the lock. On the silent count of three, the guard flung the door open and stepped into the opening with his gun raised high.

Claire was bent over an unmoving Josh. Another body lay in the corner, more than dead.

“Master!” Her voice was weak. “It was DeLeo. He was here and he took Laura.” Dan rushed to her side. She was pale, but the wound on her leg wasn’t pouring blood, and she was sitting upright.

Josh, however, was bad. There was dark blood all over the floor. He lay still, though his eyes flickered to Dan and he whispered, “He’s gone. Sorry, boss.”

Dan pressed the button to the mic on his headset. “This is Agent Westbury. DeLeo was here and now he’s gone. Repeat: DeLeo was here, in the other building. He shot an agent and a victim, took a hostage, and is gone. Start operation Mandria. Repeat: start operation Mandria. I need medical in the main buildingnow. I have an agent and a victim down.” He listened for a moment and nodded. Josh was trying to talk. Dan knelt down in the pool of blood.

“He branded her.”

“Were you able to–”

“Yes. The guy who did it put a dressing over it and said don’t touch it for a week.”

A week. He had one week to find Laura.

Laura: