Page 57 of Fear and Desire

He nodded as though he expected the refusal. He picked up the tray and brought it to his desk, where he settled himself in his chair and opened a book. He glanced up only once, when Laura’s stomach growled loudly, then returned to his reading. Everyone in the room stood silent as he ate and read, and it wasn’t until he had finished every bite that he closed the book.

“Every day that you resist,” he stated without emotion, “means I will make lifesomuch worse for you when you give in. I’m a patient man. Eventually you’ll break. You all do. And then I’ll have the pleasure of watching as youchooseto be on your knees, calling me Master, and begging to serve me, while I decide how much punishment you deserve.” He nodded to the guards, who yanked her around before she could reply, and marched her out the door.

They dragged her back down the halls and stairs until she arrived back at her cell. A guard released the handcuffs, yanked the dress up and off, and slammed the door shut.

She sank down onto the pallet, determined not to give in.

Nothinghappenedtherestof the day. No food arrived, and there was no noise at all. She hurt everywhere—her hip, her head, her arm, her newly pierced nipples, and most of all, her heart. She paced the cell, drank more water, then lay back down on her thin pallet and tried to sleep.

When sleep proved elusive, she made another attempt to look at the brand. But no matter how hard she twisted, all she could see was a corner of the white gauze. She ran her fingers over the dressing, wincing at the tenderness. Sergei—God rest his soul––had been right. Though it was quite painful, the deep and thorough branding hurt less than expected, since the nerve endings had been destroyed. What mark did she bear on her body? No doubt it was a mark that made it clear she was DeLeo’s property. And thanks to Dan’s training, she was well-prepared for that role.

This was not supposed to happen! Dan hadpromisedto protect her, to keep her out of DeLeo’s hands, and in the end, he’d been completely unable to do that. And along the way, Claire and Josh had both been shot. She hoped the rest of the women were safe, but as for her and Claire, it had been a clusterfuck.Some rescue. Her anger flared up and burned bright, and she punched the pallet over and over and called him every foul name that she knew, until at last the anger bled off and only exhaustion remained.

She wasn’t being fair to him. He was an honorable man, caught between two unacceptable outcomes, and would probably spend the rest of his life wondering if he’d made the right choice.

She lay on the pallet, her mind in a continuous storm of torment and fear. What would happen if Dan wasn’t able to find her? She’d try to resist, but her time at the Farm taught her that anyone’s ability to resist disappeared in the face of pain and punishment. She shuddered at the mental picture of DeLeo climbing on top of her as someone held her down, the large man’s weight pressing her down until she couldn’t breathe, and his dick invading her dry passages as she screamed in fear and pain.

Her mind switched to a memory of Dan doing the same thing during one of her ‘rape’ sessions. Master 2 had been holding her arms above her head. Dan had climbed on top of her, telling her he was going to fuck her whether she wanted it or not as he bit her nipples, and she cried out in pain. But as he forced his way into her passage, he had met with little resistance. Her pussy had responded to the anticipated violation with a flood of wetness.

She shook off the image. There was something dirty about remembering such an intimate moment with Dan, here in this hellhole.

She’d taken him for granted all these years. Somehow, when she wasn’t looking, their childhood affection and adult friendship had grown into love. And now it was more than love. Dan had raped her, for all intents and purposes, but submitting to that act of aggression was more exciting than any encounter she’d ever had with another man.

It hit her like a thunderclap. There was nothing in this world she wanted more than to kneel in front of Dan and callhimMaster, this time out of love. Shewantedto obey him. She wanted him to correct her when she was disobedient. She was still confused about what was real or not, because in that place obedience had been harshly enforced. But she wanted to find out. She wanted Dan to find her and rescue her and take her away, so they could explore it together.

She had to stay alive to do that. He would come for her.

Dan:

“I’m sorry, Dan. I really am. But we risk tainting the case if we let you talk to Harry Simpson by yourself. I promise we’ll ask him some questions as we get around to questioning everyone. We’re still looking for DeLeo. Believe me, this irritates us as much as you. The big fish got away, but we’ll get him eventually, I promise.”

Dan barely held back his growing rage. “The whole point of prolonging the horror for these women”—he ground out the words between his teeth—“was to get DeLeo. And now he’s escaped with Laura, and you’re ready to write her off as an acceptable loss, and pretend that you’ll find him eventually?”

“We got back every one of the other girls, Dan. You should be proud of what you did. We knew there might be a few who didn’t make it. I think we did pretty good.” Pearson actually looked pleased with himself, and Dan almost climbed over the desk to choke the life out of the man. He took a deep breath instead. That wouldn’t help him.

“What now?” he asked, knowing the answer. He hadn’t thrown his resignation at Pearson yet, because he needed to be part of the Agency so he could stay involved in the hunt for DeLeo.

“A very long, very detailed debriefing session. You’ll have to tell us as much as you know about Agent Contaldo’s activities, too, since he can’t. I need you in the conference room tomorrow morning at 7am. We’ve arranged for you to stay in a safe house for the time being.”

“I’ll be at the briefing. But I won’t be saying anything.”

His boss looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“You can force me into the conference room, but you cannot compel me to talk. Nor can you predict what will come out of my mouth if I do talk. There will be many interested parties there, right? Parties who have a lot staked on the truth of the story I have to tell.”

His boss looked at him levelly. “Refusing to talk, or lying, will get you many years behind bars, son. Think about it. Seriously.”

“Nothing you can do to me behind bars will be as bad as what Laura is experiencing right now. DeLeo will tire of playing with her quickly and dump her body into a river. Besides, being in jail will protectyou, too.” He placed his hands on the desk and bent close to the man. “If she dies because you kept me from looking for her, I’ll be looking foryoufor the rest of your life, which I promise willalsobe a very short one.”

This time, the pause was longer as the two men stared at each other. Finally, Pearson picked up the phone and dialed a number. “This is Agent Pearson. Agent Westbury will be coming to visit Harry Simpson this afternoon. Please place Simpson in a private interrogation room with no viewing windows. The interview will be private. Thank you.” He hung up the phone and looked at Dan. “You have two hours. Try not to leave too many marks.”

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Dan:

Intheend,ittook little more than an hour, a series of very specific threats, and a picture of the bloated remains of Marco pulled from the river to get Master 5—Harry—to spill everything he knew. Marco had talked freely to his roommate, too stupid to realize how dangerous it was to share anything about his uncle with anyone else. There weren’t a lot of details, but Dan gleaned a couple of names and a contact in another country. He didn’t even have to leave any marks.

This time, Dan didn’t bother to ask permission to act. He made a couple of phone calls and arranged to meet a small group of men and one woman within the hour at Murphy’s house. The free-lance tech guy, who had been with him early this morning when they discovered Marco’s body, was one of the best in the country. His personal collection of surveillance equipment was both bewildering and magnificent. He was also absolutely loyal to the agents, though his loyalty to their boss was definitely situational. He met Dan at the door of his run-down bungalow.

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