Page 1 of Fear and Desire

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Hewatchedthemthroughthe 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.

Ifhewas 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.

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…

Laura:

“In the elevator? Really?” Dan’s eyes went wide and the coffee cup that was halfway to his lips hung in midair.

“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?”

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.

She put the cup down. “How are you doing?” He looked even more tired than usual.

“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?”

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.

“Um, yes, Dan. I’d love to.”

“I need some… I don’t know. I need something normal.”

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.

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.’

In less than twenty minutes, she was snuggled in her soft bed, and her last thoughts were of the staff meeting in the morning.

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 oftheireyes, because they never looked up.

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.

“What the fuck happened?” he shouted, looking at the naked and motionless woman on the concrete floor in front of him.

“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.

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?”

“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.

“Did you see any of the masters touch her?”

She shook her head. Her courage fled, and she bent over to stare at the floor again.

He swung around to address the rest of the women.

“Did she say anything to any of you after she arrived?”

“Sir, she kept saying she was diabetic and needed insulin,” one woman volunteered.

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