CHAPTER 22 - Adrift

The first I knew of what was happening was a hand over my face and a soft voice whispering in my ear.

“Someone’s here” whispered Jacinta.

I shot up then took a few seconds to realise what was happening.

“What the fu……”

“Shhhh” whispered Jacinta “I said someone’s here they’re over by the boys tent”

We peered out of the tent flap. The moon was casting an eerie glow across the dunes, silhouetting the grasses and plants that grew in them reminding me of ghostly fingers sticking up as if from a graveyard.

Three dark figures were standing near the tent that the guys were sleeping in moving slowly and carefully, trying not to trip over all the paraphernalia we had left lying around. I roused Jaz holding my hand over her mouth and shhhing her as she woke, her eyes wide.

I recognized the three immediately, they looked menacing and dangerous especially with guns in their hands.

I watched as the flap at the back of the boy’s tent, furthest away from the men was drawn open and Tim’s head appeared. Without warning he began to yell

“Girls, run, get the fuck out of here; Jacinta, Jade run take Jasmine!”

It was like a switch was turned on and we shot from the doorway like it was on fire. Turning left away from the men we tracked along the side of the tent then started to climb the soft sand of the dune.

No bullet came

My legs felt heavy, dead as I scrambled, pushed in absolute dread.

No bullet came

We reached the top of the dune falling in a heap together, sobbing as panic set in, scrabbling then tumbling down the back face to the bottom; legs, arms, bodies everywhere

No bullet came

We lay there our breath coming in huge rasps, Jacinta moved first and we followed and we ran, crouched into the darkness circling the campsite as three beams of light from three high powered torches held by three men with three guns began to strobe around, looking for us, hunting. We ran into bushes and through the spongy sand that clung to us, held us back like grasping hands, whispering to us that we wouldn’t make it, we kept running.

Then all of a sudden the lights went still. We climbed a dune opposite from where we had disappeared, it overlooked our camp, we lay still, watching.

What I saw made my heart stop. My brother was held upright, the huge gangster holding him by his hair, blood pouring from a cut in his head, mingled with his hair matting it making it look silver in the light of the torch. His face was bruised, one eye already closing but he looked defiant, unbroken just yet.

“Tim” I whispered

The one called Warren Melville spoke first, he was obviously the boss.

“Come in here boys and girl” he sneered gesturing with his gun “I want all of you to sit on that log just there”

The five left did as they were told, sitting together, drawing strength from each other.

“Who the fuck are you?” demanded Nick and received a back handed smack across his cheek from the skinny guy.

“Shut up mother fucker and listen or I’ll shoot a fucking hole through your kneecap”

I lay there terrified clutching Jacinta’s arm. She rubbed my hand and moved closer to me. I could see his face was already bruising up in the torch light but he held the gunman’s stare.

“How did you find us?” asked Jeff his eyes also betraying his anger and loathing of these men. The big guy pointed his gun at him cocking it, I was genuinely afraid he would pull the trigger but Melville pushed his hand down.

“Your mate Dave McIntyre told us” his smile was sinister, evil. I knew we had little chance of mercy from him.

“I don’t believe you” Jeff answered back

“It wasn’t easy getting it out of him believe me, I mean we broke every one of his fingers on his hand and he wouldn’t talk”

I took a sharp breath in choking back the tears as Melville continued “Then Carlos here” he nodded to the huge guy “broke a few teeth but still nothing.” My terror increased tenfold. If they were prepared to do that then what would they do to us?

“It wasn’t till we brought Mrs Chamberlin in, Michelle isn’t it? Then he started to talk”

Both Tim and Jeff stood up, flexing their hands their bodies rigid, ready to fight despite the fact they had no chance.

“Sit down boys, he’ll live and we didn’t harm your mother” Melville smirked; I wanted to punch his face in.

Melville turned, speaking into the night, talking to us as his goons held their guns on the others.

“I know you’re out there girls, listening to this. Are you scared? Don’t be I don’t intend to harm those pretty little faces. But…..” he hesitated then carried on “if you don’t come in right now and sit next to these others I’m going to have Carlos and Luis start on the girl first then move on to another then another. You can watch your friends be hurt, maybe lose some teeth, perhaps we might break some bones. It’s your choice girls you can simply walk on over here or you can lie out there watching us hurt them. It’s the noise you know, that’s the worst part, hearing bones snap or teeth shatter………” he left the words hanging in the air. We had lost and he knew it. He stood there arrogantly, his gun held down by his side his face shrouded in shadow as we stood, walked dejectedly toward him. Jacinta led she knew this man, she was amazing only 17 but she showed no fear and we drew strength from it. Jaz and I followed holding each-others hands. Jacinta stopped in front of him, held his gaze, no fear.

I rushed to Tim hugging him my tears running down my face splashing onto his chest.

“I’m okay Jay” he tried to smile his teeth and lips were covered in silver blood.

“Take me” Jacinta was saying “I’m the one you want, leave them alone, all they did was help me, show me compassion”

“Ah yes well you see that’s the problem right there Jacinta” Melville looked down on her, he was easily 6’2” or more, his gut hung over his belt “we can’t have people thinking they can get involved in my business. That’s a bad thing” he emphasised the word ‘bad’

He went on “Lessons need to be learnt, pain needs to be felt so…… they are going to lose that which is most precious to them”

He looked over at me “Take the sister too”

Carlos the huge goon came, roughly dragged me over to stand in front of Melville. He grabbed my face held it tightly in his hand turning my head from side to side shone his torch in my eyes.

“Fuck me, she’s a pretty one. I’m going to make a lot of money out of you” I shook, petrified by his words but Jacinta’s warm hand slipped into mine and I looked him in the eyes into his soul, it was dead.

“I’m not afraid of you”

“Well maybe not yet” he said then went over to the others and squatted in front of them.

“If you try to follow us I’ll kill them, if you look for them, I’ll kill them. Do you understand?”

They stared back at him, I knew they would look, I also knew they knew where we were being taken. There was a window of time to reach us before we were moved on. I drew confidence from that.

The others said nothing just looked at Melville steadily, no emotion.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Melville screamed

“Yeah we understand” Jeff said quietly “we understand perfectly” He wasn’t looking at Melville, he was looking at us trying to convey his message. We got it; my brothers would never stop looking, they would come.

Jacinta and I were pushed along, up the pathway to the cars, stones bruised our feet and we stumbled. Melville’s goons held us, helped us along, roughly holding on to our arms. In the streetlight I saw three cars their paintwork glinting, the Kombi and another vehicle, Nick’s car, an older 4x4, raised up, chrome bullbars plus a black car off to the side sitting separately. The front tyres were slashed on the other two, flat, they wouldn’t be following us tonight unless they had spare tyres.

We were pushed into the back seat, the big goon, Carlos sat next to us the other two in the front. Hoods were secured over our heads.

“Be strong little sister” Jacinta whispered to me.

Darkness fell.

CHAPTER 23 – Losing Hope
We drove along the freeway in silence then hit the windy parts until finally we came to a sharp left corner followed by a rutted gravel road. I knew where we were and where we were going. The car stopped and I heard a fence slowly rolling back then we moved forward and stopped again. The motor was turned off and we sat in complete and utter quiet, all I heard was my breathing inside the hood.

“What do you want done with them boss?”

“Throw them in a cell; inject them tonight they’ll be ready to do whatever they’re told by the morning.”

“Sure boss, anything else”

“Yeah actually hold off on the heroin; let’s see what they’re like in the sack in the morning, both of them together, boss’s privilege. Then we can hook them up after that”

They climbed out of the car while we were pulled out by our arms and led through the large steel door. Once inside our hoods were removed and we were shoved into an elevator. It plunged down about 20 or 30 meters then the doors hissed open. A huge cavern opened before us. I stepped out quickly before I was shoved and stood looking about. The walls were concrete and stretched about 50 meters back into the earth to my right. The ceiling of the cavern was high with huge lights illuminating it reaching all the way back. Rooms had been built inside the cavern with bare framing and no ceilings to them. Cubicles really, I guessed it was where they manufactured and sorted their drugs. In the far reaches of the place I could vaguely make out doors and a windowed office; the gangs living quarters. On my left and about 10 meters away was a set of large double doors with a truck parked in front of them. Obviously there was more than one way into and out of this place. A row of cells was set back into the wall and we were led toward one near the end. Each cell had a window and as we walked past I looked in. Every room had a girl or two lying on a bed. They had lank hair, greasy and unkempt, their eyes were unfocussed and I could see the track marks up their arms. They were all in some state of undress most staring vacantly into the middle distance. A couple were obviously new here and stared at me pleadingly in the throes of their first heroin high. A guard with an automatic rifle wandered around inside keeping an eye on everything but I saw no one else. It was a vision of hell.

We walked into the cell and the door was locked behind us. It was a typical cell with a single bed on one side and a toilet on the other next to a wash basin, nothing else.

Looks like we would have to share the bed but at least it would help keep us warm I thought.

Jacinta checked the window in the door then squatted on the toilet releasing a stream of urine. I looked away trying to give her privacy in a place that afforded none.

“Sorry Jade” she said

“Don’t worry” I smiled “you’ll be watching me soon enough. So what are they going to do with us?”
“It sounds like Melville wants to rape us both in the morning. Once he has had his fill of us he will then give us over to his men to have more ‘fun’. After that I’m so sorry but they will inject us and we will be on the road to addiction. More than likely the both of us will be split up and moved once they have us hooked.”

I knew the rest I’d seen the girls on the street corner in San Diego. I was still a virgin, I had imagined I would give myself to the man I fell in love with, not this. I felt numb.

“Why do they do this, I mean we could easily be their sister or cousin”

“Slavery has been around for hundreds of years Jade, do you think just because we live in the 21st Century that it has been abolished? Sure we don’t keep African people to work on plantations anymore instead it is now young women who are the slaves and pimps use them to make money. One pimp with a stable of a few girls can bring in up to 2000 dollars per night per girl. Do the math, he keeps most of that money too or it goes to the cartels that operate the sex trade in this country. In America alone these cartels make over 1 billion dollars a year”

“But it’s wrong; we’re human beings what kind of men could do that?” I was distraught, not at my own fate but at the callous way a man could do that to women, to girls no older than me.

“Some men are like that, they are not all kind and loving, like your brothers” she said it with so much sadness I think she had fallen in love with Jeff. I could see how easy that would be to do.

“So most of the girls are like us just teenagers, forced to sell themselves every night?”

“Most of the girls are under 18 and you have seen what lengths these men will go to, to recover their ‘property’ if we try to run away, so yes we have to sell ourselves”

“How do you know most this?” I frowned
“Google” she smiled forlornly, “doesn’t take a genius to look it up, just someone who cares.”

I sat on the bed huddled together with Jacinta, contemplating, thinking, planning. I could see no way out but I was determined to find one, I wouldn’t give them my soul even if they tried to take my body. We fell asleep like that cuddled together to keep warm but also to find security in each other, comfort.

It was maybe 4 o’clock in the morning when I heard a key in the door, the smooth mechanism slipping open and I saw a figure enter the cell. At first I thought I was dreaming that it wasn’t real then I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking us awake.

I looked at the man and drew back in horror; it was the tall skinny one Luis standing over us looking down as we crouched in fear. Was he here to hurt us? Squatting beside the bed his eyes watchful, flicking between us and the door he began to speak in hushed whispers.

“My name isn’t Luis its David, David Manual, I’m D.E.A.”

Our eyes shot up, D.E.A. that was Drug Enforcement Administration, what was he doing here?

“I’ve been working undercover for a few months trying to crack where the drugs are coming from and how they distribute them around the country. You girls were low priority for me, my main mission was the drugs but I couldn’t let them fuck you up like the others. I’ve had enough of seeing young women passing through here like cattle being turned into zombies just for a man’s few minutes of pleasure”

We were dumbfounded; I think I felt my chin hit the floor.

“So you have been working here pretending to be a thug but really you are a police man?” Jacinta asked

“Kind of, I’m more a federal agent; we’ve known about these guys, their drug business; prostitution and stuff for ages. These are some really dangerous fucked up individuals here” he looked worried, anxious “Sorry about before, but if I wasn’t believable they would never have taken me on”

“Would you have shot us?” I whispered angrily

“Probably if it meant getting the drugs off the street, yeah I guess I would, sorry” he looked sad, conflicted “We need to get you out of here, I have a way”

“Not without the others” I looked him squarely in the eyes

“Others, what others?”

“The other girls, the ones in the cells, them”

“Are you crazy? There’s at least another eight or ten of them”

“Your plan was to get us out using the truck I bet so why can’t we take them with us?”

“No actually I was just going to take us up in the elevator, I didn’t consider the others. Besides we don’t have enough time, everyone’s asleep right now, there’s only one guard on and I can take him out but it will take a long time to get those girls awake and on to the truck, it’s a huge risk. Once those doors start to open people are going to start to notice. There’s another four guys back there if you include that fat shit Melville and it’s all going to hit the fan. Do you want to take the risk?”

Jacinta and I looked at each than back at David. He was the real deal, a man who cared, who was putting his life on the line for a couple of girls he hardly knew.

“Yup” I said

He sighed exasperated but nodded his head.

“Alright we have to work fast. I’ll take out the guard then I have to find the truck keys and get the doors opened. Once that happens it’s going to make a huge noise and all hell is going to break loose. We have to have all the girls loaded in the back and ready to go before I open the door. That’s your job; you have to get the girls into the truck before I hit that button. If you don’t we go anyway and leave them behind understand?”

We nodded together. I was determined to set them free despite the risk.

“Okay here’s the key to the doors, it’s the same key for every door. The hard part is going to be waking them up and getting them into the back of the truck quietly. I want you to wait here for me and count to one hundred, slowly” he emphasised “I should have taken care of the guard by then. You need to move fast after that, I’ve got to get to the end of the building near the sleeping quarters. The truck keys are kept in Melville’s office. I have to find them and get them back here. Can either of you drive a manual transmission?”

“I’ve ridden my brother’s motorbike” I volunteered “that’s manual”

“Not quite the same kid but it’ll have to do. I’ll get you the keys, you’ll have to start the truck and drive it out of there after I go back to open the doors. I’ll be running my ass off to catch up with you and jump in so don’t go too fast okay” He smiled, it made me feel confident, I nodded yes.

“Let’s do this then” he said “Ready?”

We nodded again; I was scared to death but determined, I could see Jacinta was the same, a mixture of fear and determination etching her face, he disappeared out the door. I began to count under my breath; slowly.