A Captive of Fear and Desire

by Sophie Kisker

  Laura felt the world spinning around her. She knew this was what Dan hadn’t told her. “No, please…” she begged, her legs threatening to buckle as Claire held her upright. “Please, don’t do that!” She was sobbing with fear now.

  Suddenly, the door to the room flew open and Josh stood there, gun in hand. He assessed the situation and swung the weapon towards the bodyguard, who was just as suddenly aiming back. They stood there in silence for what was probably a few seconds, but to Laura it felt like weeks.

  With deceptive calm, DeLeo reached into his pocket and pulled out his own gun, carefully placing it at Claire’s temple.

  “Well. It seems we have a bit of a standoff here. But I think I have the advantage. So, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to do exactly what I started to do, and you’ll just have to watch. Now, Josh, Ahmed will go with you while you get the branding irons, while Sergei here gets the torch ready to heat them up.”

  Oh God oh God… Laura struggled not to fall into a panic.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Josh stated with calm certainty.

  “Oh, yes, I think so. Or your girlfriend here will get a bullet through the brain. I don’t imagine she’ll do much piano playing when she’s dead, will she?”

  Claire let out a whimper but remained quiet. Josh’s eyes flicked back and forth between her and Laura.

  Laura knew she had no choice. “Master, uh, Josh, um, it’s okay. Go get them. I’ll be fine.” Her voice trembled, but she looked Josh in the eyes. He stared back for a moment, then nodded. The large guard approached and relieved him of his phone, turning it off. Then he motioned with his gun for Josh to precede him down the hall.

  DeLeo turned his attention to Sergei. “What are you waiting for?”

  “You said girl vanted branding.” His Slavic accent was thick and hard to understand. “You said noting about guns.”

  “Change in plans. Doesn’t matter. You will do the branding, and you will do it right. If I think for one moment you aren’t burning it into her skin like it should be done, I’ll kill you.”

  “You know noting about branding. If I do it not-deep it vill hurt more and longer. If I do it right, is not too much pain.” His eyes locked with Laura’s and she gave him a small smile in thanks for that information.

  DeLeo gave a nod to the remaining man in the room who was suddenly in Laura’s face, pulling her to the spanking bench. She struggled, but the man was so large that Laura found herself pinned face down in only a moment, all the straps in place, immobilized completely. She fought to breathe in and out, willing her body to relax, forcing back the rising flood of panic that threatened to engulf her.

  “Vere does brand go?” she heard Sergei ask. Laura jerked in her bonds at the touch of someone’s finger on the skin of her ass. “You know dat she vill not be able to sit for one or two veeks if I put it dere?”

  “Good. Then she’ll have to kneel instead. More fitting for my slave.”

  She heard Josh return just then, heard the hiss of the propane torch as it was lit, felt the cool touch of something wet as it wiped over her skin. She jerked at the unexpected touch of someone’s hand gripping hers, and glanced up to see Josh looking towards Sergei and saying something too soft for her to hear. The man nodded.

  She heard Sergei speaking. “You vill all vant to wait over dere. I have mask, but is not healthy for you to be near skin when I burn it.”

  What about me? I don’t want to be near it, either! She almost laughed at the absurdity of that thought. But Sergei was serious. Josh let go of her hand, and Sergei placed a mask over her face. He leaned down to talk to her softly.

  “Ve do four strikes. Dey vill hurt, but not as much as you tink dey vill. Try to keep dat spot relax, not tight.”

  She nodded and mentally braced herself.

  The pain hit, flared high, and every muscle in her body went rigid. And then it was gone before she could even finish the screech out of her mouth. All that was left behind was an aching soreness.

  “Okay. Ve do number two now.” Again, her body went rigid despite her determination to stay relaxed. She screamed through the mask, and then the pain vanished into a soreness again. But the third and fourth were too much to bear and she screamed and struggled through both of them, though the bonds prevented even a millimeter of movement.

  She let her breath out after the fourth. It was over. And now she had something burnt into her skin to remind her of this bastard for the rest of her life. Tears of both relief and anger trickled down her face to drip off her nose and fall to the floor.

  She felt something being taped over the newly burnt flesh. “You keep this on one veek, da?”

  “A week?” DeLeo protested. “I’ve never heard of it being on that long! I want to see it!”

  “One full veek. My clients never have infection and never vill. You take it off den, vash it good, and den look at it.” Laura, too, thought that was strange advice for a brand; she knew keeping it covered would actually help it heal, making the brand less visible. She was suddenly grateful to Sergei for whatever help he was giving her. Josh was back at her side, releasing the straps and helping her stand. Her butt and hip ached but she got her feet underneath herself, though the world was shaky at first.

  “You okay?” Josh whispered. She nodded, uncertain how else to respond to him.

  “All right! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to leave.” She looked up to DeLeo, and time seemed to slow down. He still had the gun pointed at Claire as he started to drag her out of the room. Ahmed grabbed Laura from Josh. Josh launched himself at DeLeo and managed to knock him away from Claire. They both landed on the floor and the gun went skittering away. A gunshot rang out and Laura saw Josh jerk backwards and cry out.

  “No!” screamed Claire as she scrambled for the loose gun. She raised it up towards the burly bodyguards, but one of them was faster and Laura watched in horror as he shot Claire and she was thrown backwards to the floor. Laura tried to rush to her but was held fast by the other bodyguard. She twisted and cried and tried to get free as DeLeo stood up and calmly brushed himself off.

  “You bastard!” she screamed.

  Claire lay on the floor, curled up and gasping next to Josh, who stared up at Laura with blank eyes, his hands covering the large wound in his stomach. There was so much blood she couldn’t tell whose life was flowing out across the floor.

  “Goddammit! Leave her.” DeLeo motioned to Claire, then jerked his head towards the door. His men grabbed Sergei. Marco took Laura and dragged her screaming and protesting out the door. The group moved down the hall to a closet whose door stood ajar. The wall at the back opened into a space behind it, and they dragged her through the narrow opening into the darkness.

  ~ ~ ~

  “No sign of him anywhere? Where the hell is he?” Dan whispered with growing alarm. He scanned the sea of faces in the audience. About fifty actual bidders had shown up, along with several hundred retainers and bodyguards. Sprinkled among them were about two dozen undercover agents, some of whom would also bid to keep up their cover, though none would stay in long enough to win.

  Each bidder had been given a small zippered bag with a numbered paddle for bidding and a color catalog of all of the women. There was also a small bottle of very expensive scotch in the bag of each bidder. That made the bag just as heavy as the bag of each undercover agent. Their bag contained a Smith and Wesson SW9 handgun with an extra magazine. In addition, undercover hired security with their guard dogs roamed the perimeter. They made everyone nervous, though the agents had been reassured that unless they were running away, the dogs would ignore them.

  The man Dan had arranged to run the bidding was also an agent, his background carefully planted electronically by the tech experts at headquarters. Dan had no doubt that DeLeo had researched every one of Dan’s choices for different roles, and so far he seemed satisfied that Dan had excellent underworld connections. The undercover auctioneer had no doubt been surprised that he’
d actually had to run the auction—he’d been told he was the backup plan and unlikely to be needed.

  Nonetheless, the bidding was happening. Ten of the twelve women had been sold and were now separated from each other, standing in the stalls, most of them tethered to the restraints hanging from above, and all of them crying in fear as they were fondled and examined by the winning bidders. Dan’s heart was breaking. The only thing that kept him from calling a halt to this himself was that there would be confusion among the agents, both the undercover ones inside, and the dozens secreted among the trees outside, and the likelihood of a firefight and bloodbath was high. Hang on, girls—it’s almost over, I promise.

  Dan was starting to worry that he hadn’t seen anything of Josh for quite a while. Josh’s job was to do everything that Dan needed doing without interrupting Dan’s appearance of presiding over the auction. But he hadn’t been visible in so long that Dan was getting worried.

  He ducked out of the main auction area and down the hall to the room where Laura and Claire were being kept. Dan had checked on them earlier himself, looking through the little peep-hole in the door and seeing them talking on the floor. Now, though, the room was empty.

  With a string of curses issuing from his mouth, Dan strode through the empty room and out the open door. As he crossed the area between the two buildings, one of the hired guards with his dog came around the corner. Dan motioned for him to follow and the man became instantly alert.

  They eased into the dim building, listening for sounds, and immediately heard a woman’s voice, sounding weak and begging for help. They made their way cautiously towards the sound, checking every room as they passed, and every turn of the hall before proceeding. They arrived at the door and heard Claire’s voice. The security guard silently tested the knob of the door, finding it locked, but Dan took out a key ring and just as silently inserted it into the lock and turned. On the silent count of three, the guard flung the door open and stepped into the opening with his gun raised high.

  The only two figures in the room were Claire, bent over an unmoving Josh. She scrambled weakly to the side until she saw Dan.

  “Master!” Her voice was weak. “It was DeLeo. He was here and he took Laura.” Dan rushed to her side. She was pale but the wound on her leg wasn’t pouring blood and she was sitting upright.

  Josh, however, was bad. There was dark blood all over the floor. He lay still, though his eyes flickered to Dan and he managed to whisper, “He’s gone. Sorry, boss.”

  Dan took it all in and pressed the button to the mic on his headset. “This is Agent Westbury. DeLeo was here and now he’s gone. Repeat: DeLeo was here in the other building. He shot an agent and a victim, took a hostage, and is gone. Start operation Mandria. Repeat: start operation Mandria. I need medical in the main building now. I have an agent and a victim down.” He listened for a moment and nodded.

  Josh was trying to talk. Dan knelt down in the pool of blood. “He branded her.”

  “Were you able to–”

  “Yes. The guy who did it put a dressing over it and said don’t touch it for a week.”

  A week. He had one week to find Laura.

  Chapter 27

  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 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 she felt it veer 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 managed to land on her feet, the pain from her new brand racing down her leg and making her knee buckle. She grabbed the edge of the trunk for support as she let out a cry.

  They had stopped on a bridge over a river just outside of town. A moaning off to the side drew her attention. Sergei lay on the ground, blood running from a large wound in his chest. As Laura watched in horror, Ahmed picked up the now-screaming man. He carried him to the railing, balanced him there for a moment while Sergei furiously clawed at his hands, then tipped him backwards and let go. A moment later, she heard a splash and the screaming ceased.

  Oh dear God… Both of Laura’s 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 smell of sweat and cheap cologne. She shoved herself back and her fingers landed on something hard tucked into his waistband. She yanked on it and was surprised when 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 seemed to stand 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 at her throat. Her hands flew up, frantically scratching and clawing at the muscular hands whose thumbs were pressed hard into her trachea. Her eyes locked with his and she didn’t miss the small smile on his face as her world started to go 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, she heard 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. Once more, she was hauled to her feet by someone behind her. This time she made no effort to resist as her hands were bound at her back and she was propelled towards the rear seat of the large car. A hard shove caused her to fall face first onto the seat, her nose pressed into fake leather that smelled of cigarettes and unwashed bodies. She felt something being wrapped around her ankles and then her legs were folded towards her head and clipped to her wrists. She was effectively hogtied.

  She heard a beep to her side and a murmur from Ahmed. She twisted her head to see him holding a small device with a blinking red light.

  “Yeah, I thought so. Take it out.” Ahmed 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. She screwed her eyes shut with pain, but when she felt him squeeze the skin, her eyes flew open just in time to see a small cylinder pop out. He’d just removed her birth control implant. What?

  As if he heard the silent question, De Leo’s voice pierced through her pain. “I suppose you had no idea that your boyfriend didn’t just put a birth control implant in your arm, did you? He put a tracking device there, too. Looks like he was really hoping to make sure you didn’t disappear. Well, he’s going to be really disappointed when he finds this, and it’s not attached to you an
y longer.” She vaguely made out his throw 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, and now knowing that he couldn’t any more somehow made it worse. She barely noticed the bandage Ahmed placed over the cut on her arm, and then with a hard shove she was rolled off the seat and onto the floor. She banged her head hard as she landed and for a while things went blessedly grey once more.

  Chapter 28

  Dan hit the back door 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. His 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 was tucked into a corner of the same ambulance, still upright, though she now had a sheet pulled tight around her body that hid the bullet wound in her 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 now.

  The anxiety in his gut over both Laura and Josh was 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. They had already ordered the release of the slaves who had been restrained, and Dan watched as female agents moved 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 yet that they were free.