Page 50 of The Captive Missing

“Hell yeah I was. They had to pull me back. Kicking and screaming.” Ben gave up an ironic laugh. “I’ve got you to thank for all that.”

“No.” Val pushed herself off the wall and went to sit beside him on the bed. “It wasn’t me. People need to stop thinking that I was the reason they were released. I just did what my owner told me to, that’s all.”

“Ah, now who’s gotten into your head?” Ben reached out, gave her shoulder a little shake. “From what I read, you gave some pretty damning testimony at Sharon’s trial. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“I did it because I had to.”

“You could’ve run away before the trial.” Ben pointed out, retracting his hand to rest in his lap. “And maybe it was Jason Riggs and the Feds that steered the ship, but can you honestly tell me they could’ve done it without you?”

“I don’t know.” Val nibbled at her lip. “It’s just that people here think I’m back for some undercover investigation and I’m not. I don’t want to give everyone hope when I’m just as helpless as they are.”

“What would you be investigating, if you were undercover?”

“The missing.” Val paused. “Is it true?”

“Ah, the missing.” Ben nodded. “When I was at my lowest, I thought the guards would come for me any day. They never did though. It was always someone else.”

“What guards?”

“Cambric security. They take you out in the middle of the night and you never come back.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“I’ve seen it.”

Ben shifted his shoulders. Val plucked at the buttons on her uniform. Cambric guards were hauling off captives in the dead of night, only to have them never return. How was this happening without anyone on the outside knowing? What happened to all the new regulations? The government oversight? Ben glanced at the clock on the wall and cleared his throat.

“They only take the captives who are at their worst. The ones who refuse clients, get constant discipline, or weeks in Isolation. I’ve seen the plans they have for you, Val. I’ve seen the list. I’m afraid that if you can’t conform, you could very easily disappear along with the rest.”

“So, what should I do?”

“Well, we’re going to re-train you but I’m going to leave out the submission part.” Ben reached out, ran his thumb gently along her jawline. “We’ll go through all the scenarios but I’ll never push you past kissing me. Do you think you can handle that much?”

“I haven’t kissed anyone since…” Val’s eyes dropped to her hands, then fixed on her empty ring finger.

“If you don’t follow through with your first client, then I’m a dead man.” Ben tipped her chin up to look at him. “If you refuse to sleep with him, whoever he is, then Cambric will investigate the tapes we are about to make. They will question why there are so many holes in them.”

“I understand.”

“While we practice, I want you to visualize completing the act with someone else. Not Jason Riggs. Think about me or some random guy or whomever pops into your mind. Get yourself used to the idea that you’ve already crossed that line.”

Val swallowed hard and nodded.

“In the end it’s your choice. We can do this for real now, you and me. Or you can have a little while longer. Wait until your first client.”

“Why are you doing this?” Val asked suddenly. “Why are you going easy on me?”

“Because I owe you.” Ben stood up. “I owe you for the only free year of my life. It’s a debt that can never fully be repaid.”

Walking over to the control panel, Ben waited for Val’s decision. Sucking in a breath, she glanced again at her ring finger before clearing her throat and giving him a nod. She would accept his offer of a reprieve.

After Ben switched the camera back on, he put Val through her paces. Running different scenarios together, he reminded her where to place her hands, when to shift her body, how to use her eyes, how to best accept cues.

Cambric had a planned reaction to every action and vice versa. It was a carefully regimented script that had to feel completely natural for the other person involved. Each time Ben would bring Val to the very edge before getting up to shut the camera off. Then for the next several minutes, instead of completing the act, they would recline and talk.

He told her about the day the guards didn’t get paid and walked out of Cambric. How they left the doors open to swing in the wind. It was shortly after Sharon’s conviction and the place quickly fell into chaos. Some others were unsure at first but Ben hadn’t missed a beat. He simply packed up a few days’ worth of food and a change of clothes before hitchhiking his way south.

Several long-haul truckers had taken him across state lines tucked in the back with their cargo. One old man hid him in the bed of his pick-up truck under a pile of loose hay. It was itchy and uncomfortable, but oh so worth it. Somewhere around Kentucky he stumbled across a hippy commune and never left.

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