The Claiming Read Online Free PDF Page A

for the better part of two weeks. After the customer had left on that never-to-be-sufficiently-regretted day that Jana had attempted her last escape, Marty had returned. To her relief, he had seemed more contemplative than angry, however, and he had contented himself with merely threatening her.
    Jana supposed that was the reason she was so frightened she couldn’t even think straight. Satisfied customer or not, Marty had still been furious with her. Any other time, he would have beaten her until she could barely move. The fact that he had done no more than slap her a few times meant that he had something far worse in mind as punishment.
    The trouble was, Jana couldn’t even begin to imagine what it might be.
    He no longer seemed inclined toward the idea of sending her back for conditioning.
    Did that mean he did not plan to keep her? And, if he didn’t, did it mean he would sell her?
    Stupid question. Of course he would sell her! He wouldn’t just give up the credit he’d paid for her.
    The real question, the one that terrified her, was to whom would he sell her?
    There had been several rather frightening visitors since that night. Marty had told her they were potential customers and that her life might well depend upon her behavior toward them, but none had made an appointment with her and Jana very much feared that that could only mean Marty was gathering bids for her.
    Jana shook her head, sat up in bed and drew her knees up, dropping her forehead against them. She wished she could cry … really cry. She had a huge lump of misery in her chest that ached for release, but she had been conditioned not to cry. She could produce tears, on command if needed. She could feel awful, but she could not wail out loud and release her pain as she needed to.
    She was supposed to appear child-like. No one wanted her to bawl like one, and swollen, puffy eyes were definitely not allowed.
    For a time, Jana concentrated, wondering if she could make herself cry even though she wasn’t supposed to be able to, but after a while, she gave up, realizing that, even if she could, it would change nothing. It might make her feel better, but it could not solve her problem.
    She needed to think of a solution to her problem … a way to escape completely beyond Marty’s reach before she found herself in an even worse situation. She wasn’t stupid. The House was a first class bordello. If she found herself in any of the lower class establishments, that meant her life would be considerably worse than the life she now had.
    After a moment, an errant thought settled in Jana’s mind.
    She’d forgotten the strange message she’d received several days before. She had known it could not possibly have been intended for her, that it had somehow been incorrectly routed. She supposed that was why she’d put it from her mind.
    Rising, she moved to the monitor in the wall near the outer door.
    “Computer,” she whispered.
    Nothing happened.
    She stared at the blank screen in consternation for several moments before she realized the computer had failed to recognize her voice pattern.
    “Computer,” she repeated in a quiet voice. The screen blinked on. “Bring up message dated….” Jana stopped, trying to remember the date of the message. She could not. “Bring up messages for Jana WVF366 for the past two weeks.”
    “In what order?”
    “Oldest to last.”
    The computer recited the first message. It was from Marty, wanting to know why she wasn’t responding to his voice calls—dated the day she’d fled. She erased it. Two other messages played in rapid succession, almost identically worded. She deleted them, as well. The next several messages were advertisements for products Jana had no credit to buy even if she’d been allowed to have them. Irritated, she trashed these messages, too, wondering why anyone would bother to send advertisements to a bondage.
    She was so busy deleting, she almost erased the message she was looking for.
     
    Jana