Price of Survival

It was called just 'the farm,' and was patronised only by the extremely rich. Its wares were beautiful boys, kidnapped and held prisoner. There was no escape. Instead, usually when they were in their late teens, they were 'retired,' put to sleep, never to awaken.

But a far more cruel death was chosen for the one they called Angel. No-one could have expected him to survive, but he did survive, and his survival led to the exposure of the farm, the rescue of the boys, and to charges being laid against over a hundred of its former clients.

There were repeated attempts to have the rescued boys killed. None succeeded. The farm staff were not as heavily protected. None survived.

But Angel is not with the other survivors. The clients assume that he died years before, and that is his biggest protection, far more than his changed name and his changed appearance.

Bertrand Zappacosta is a drug lord, extremely rich, extremely powerful. He watches a video - the one he knew as Angel as the 'star' of a snuff movie. But that second part of the movie, when he gets killed? He has his doubts, watches it several times, and smiles. Angel is alive. He wants him, and when Zappacosta wants something, he nearly always gets it.