Page 18 of Fear and Desire

WhenLauralooked straight at the camera.

“Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh fuck,” he whispered. Josh looked at him, alarmed. Dan pulled out his cell phone. When they needed to talk to each other and weren’t sure of their privacy—which was almost always—they wrote text messages on their phone and then erased them without sending.

Dan typed,It’s Laura.

Josh’s eyes bugged out.WTF?YourLaura?

Dan nodded. They erased their messages and stared at each other before continuing.

This is who Marco took?Dan asked.

Josh nodded.I knew her name was Laura, but I never—He looked up at Dan.

He knew exactly who he was taking, the motherfucker,Dan typed.He did this to get me to screw up so he could convince DeLeo I wasn’t capable of seeing this through.

What are you going to do?

Dan put his head in his hands. Laura was theoneperson in his life who was untouched by this evil, who reminded him that good people existed in the outside world, and who would be there when this was over. How many times had he longed to take her in his arms, but had held back, afraid he’d somehow contaminate her?

She’d become a very important part of his life, and because of that, she’d been kidnapped. This was his goddamn fault, and he was ready to walk out the door, grab her, and turn his back on it all.

Josh typed and shoved the phone in front of Dan.I know exactly what you are thinking and you CANNOT DO IT. You wouldn’t get past the gates, and if you did, you’d have a death sentence on your head. And you’d be leaving all these women behind.

He erased the screen and typed more.Why do you think she tried to bolt in full view of us? Why did she look at the camera?

Dan looked up and grabbed his own phone again.She probably saw me outside a while ago and figured it all out. She needed to make sure I knew she was here.He erased.

He and Laura needed to talk. But first, he was going to unload on someone else.

Afewminuteslater,Marco knocked on the door and walked in, unsuccessfully repressing a smile.

Dan met him in the middle of the room. Without warning, he pulled his fist back and punched the other man squarely in the stomach. Marco fell backwards onto the floor and curled up around himself, grunting and gasping. His ever-present wad of gum went skittering off in the opposite direction.

“Get up, you motherfucker, or I’ll kick you in the goddamn balls!”

Marco struggled to his feet. His face was twisted into rage, and Dan prepared to be rushed.

“What the fuck did you think you were doing?”

“My uncle said you needed to get laid. I thought she might be a good fuck for you.”

Dan’s fist connected with Marco’s face this time, and the smaller man landed back on the floor, blood oozing out of his nose.

“Your uncle knows I’ve known her all my life, and he knows I see her from time to time, andyouknow family and friends are off limits!” He walked around Marco, who was using his shirt to staunch the bloody flow. “If anyone is fair game now, what do you say I grab your sister and bring her here and fuck her a few times while you watch?”

Marco’s bloody face turned purple with rage. He staggered to his feet, glaring at Dan, but said nothing.

“Goddammit! This woman has family and friends! They’re going to be looking for her! You’ve just puteverythingwe’re doing here at risk. But I can’t send her home. No matter how I feel, she has to disappear just like the others.”

Marco started to protest.

“Just shut the fuck up and get out of my sight.Now!”

He shuffled out the door, hunched over and still trying to wipe the blood off his face with his shirt. Dan slammed the door behind him. Then he walked over to an open cabinet and poured himself a large glass of whiskey. His hand trembled so badly that it sloshed as he raised it to his lips, but there was enough left to make a decent swallow.

Scratch that. There was not enough whiskey in the entire world for what he had to do next.

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