Page 54 of Fear and Desire

Laura was half aware of what was going on. She’d tripped on the stairs and fallen, banging her head hard on the concrete wall. She had an uncertain memory of being flung over someone’s shoulder, then emerging after a long time in the dimness into bright sunshine, before being dumped into the trunk of a car. The car was shuddering down a bumpy road, throwing her around inside as it turned left and then right, before turning onto a smoother road and speeding up. The air inside the trunk rapidly filled with exhaust and she started choking and coughing. She banged on the trunk lid and yelled for help.

After an eternity, the car slowed and veered to the side of the road into gravel. She redoubled her banging, desperate to get fresh air. Then a gunshot, followed by a scream, made her freeze. She shrank back, no longer sure she wanted to get out of the trunk.

Nonetheless, a moment later, the trunk opened and Marco stood looking down at her. “Noisy little bitch, aren’tcha?” he asked rhetorically. He reached in and grabbed an arm and hauled her out, oblivious to how her bare skin banged and scraped on the trunk. She landed on her feet, the pain from her new brand racing down her leg and threatening her ability to stand. She grabbed the edge of the trunk for support as she cried out.

They had stopped on a bridge over a river just outside of town. A moaning off to the side drew her attention, and Sergei lay on the ground, blood running from a large wound in his chest. As Laura watched in disbelief, Pitir picked up the man and carried him to the railing. Sergei furiously clawed at this arm before Pitir tipped him backwards and let go. A moment later, there was a splash, and the screaming ceased.

Oh dear God…Both of her knees buckled, and she sank to the ground.

“Get up!” Marco yanked on her arm and tried to haul her to her feet, but she fought him, sure that he was going to toss her over the railing, too. He pulled her tight against his chest, and she almost vomited with the overwhelming stench of sweat and cheap cologne. She shoved herself back and her fingers landed on something hard that was tucked into his waistband. She yanked on it and to her surprise a gun came loose in her hand. Without thinking, she pressed it against him and pulled the trigger.

The noise in the close environment was surprisingly muffled. Marco stopped yanking on her and looked down at the gun, then back up at her. She backed up a step, unsure of what had happened, and the gun dropped from her hand and clattered onto the ground. Time stood still. He placed a hand over a slowly spreading red stain on the shirt above his belt.

“You fucking bitch,” he whispered. Suddenly, he grabbed her by the throat. Her hands flew up, frantically scratching and clawing at his thumbs pressed hard into her trachea. She didn’t miss the small smile on his face as her world went black.

There was a deafening noise and his head flew back. Something wet splattered her face as Marco’s hands abruptly released their deadly grip. She fell to the ground, coughing and gasping, unable to draw a full breath through her injured throat. She was vaguely aware of his body being dragged away from her and a moment later, there was another splash.

She was still struggling to catch her breath when a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see DeLeo looking down at her as he chewed on a toothpick.

“He would have died within the hour with a belly wound like that. I just made it faster. Congratulations. I probably should have done that a long time ago.”

He nodded over her head. Pitir hauled her to her feet. This time she didn’t resist as her hands were bound at her back and he propelled her towards the rear seat of the large car. With a hard shove, she fell face-first onto the seat, her nose pressed into fake leather that smelled of cigarettes and unwashed bodies. Something was wrapped around her ankles and then her legs were folded towards her head and clipped to her wrists, and she was hogtied.

There was a beep to her side and a murmur from Pitir, who held a device with a blinking red light.

“Yeah, I thought so. Take it out.”

Pitir advanced on her with a small knife in his hand. She screamed and cowered back in the seat, then screamed again as the knife sliced into the skin of her upper arm. When he squeezed the skin, her birth control implant popped out. Pitir handed it to his boss.

De Leo’s voice pierced through her pain. “I suppose you had no idea that your boyfriend put a tracking device inside with your birth control. Looks like he was hoping to make sure you didn’t disappear. Well, he’s going to be really disappointed when he finds it and it’s not attached to you anymore.” He threw it over the railing. The rushing water below was too noisy to hear the small splash this time, but it didn’t matter. She hadn’t known Dan could find her, but now knowing that he couldn’t any more somehow made it worse. Pitir placed a bandage over the cut on her arm, and then with a hard shove, he rolled her off the seat and onto the floor. She banged her head hard as she landed, and for a while, things went blessedly gray.

31

Dan:

Danhitthebackdoor of the ambulance twice to signal it was shut. It peeled out of the cleared area and down the road, Dan’s prayers going with it. The last glimpse of his partner had been his pale, unmoving body, hooked up to two IVs and a heart monitor. The blood was being soaked up by large pressure dressings placed over his wound, but nothing was really halting the dark red blood soaking into the white gauze. Claire sat in a corner of the same ambulance, dressed in scrubs again, with a bandage rolled around the bullet wound in her lower leg. She refused to let go of Josh’s hand.

Dan turned back to the surreal view behind him. A dozen agents with semiautomatic rifles in their hands and guard dogs sitting by their side stood over about fifty drivers and bodyguards, all face down in the dirt with their fingers locked behind their heads. They were being frisked one by one before being handcuffed and left in place for the moment.

Anxiety about Laura and Josh circled his gut like a steel band.

He walked back into the auction building, where there was even more controlled chaos going on. Two agents stood watch at each stall, keeping the occupants under guard. Dan had ordered the release of the slaves who were already sold, and he observed the female agents move quietly from stall to stall, placing a blanket over the shoulders of the terrified women and shepherding them through the crowd and out a side door. He had no doubt that they wouldn’t understand that they were free yet.

Now wearing a badge that identified him as an agent, Dan pushed his way to the front of the stage where Lawton was standing, directing the agents and answering questions.

“Anything?” Dan asked tightly.

The Assistant Director shook his head. “Not yet. Once they got on the main road, their tire tracks vanished. And no one saw their car while they were here. At least, no one who will admit to it. Our agents on the main roads saw nothing but in-state vehicles driving by for the last hour, which suggests they rented something locally. We have all the airports in a three-state area on high alert, but if they keep a low profile and stay on back roads, we won’t be able to track her for another eleven hours.”

Dan held the urge to scream under tight control. The birth control implants in all the women’s arms held a small tracking device. A buyer might be on guard for such a thing, and if the signal turned on immediately after leaving the Farm, someone might detect it. The Agency hoped a new owner would relax once she arrived at his house, so the signal was automatically activated after twelve hours. The five women who had been sold since Dan took over had all been located, and they were being rescued right now. Dan prayed they were all right.

Laura:

Once more, just like the night she’d been kidnapped, Laura was vaguely aware of movement, of travel, and of a splitting headache. When she finally came awake and could stay that way, she was in a metal cage that looked—and smelled—like one that had previously held canine occupants. The thick wires were about an inch apart on all sides, including underneath her, and there was no pad. The cage was covered and all she could see was the floor underneath.

The loud vibrations confirmed her fear that she was in the luggage compartment of an airplane, currently in flight.

Every movement brought a wave of nausea and made her head pound harder, so she held in her urge to scream for someone’s attention. It was warm in the cage. She curled up on the metal grating with her head pillowed on her arm and tried to concentrate on not throwing up.

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