Darit’s anal opening and mouth hurt from the ten men he had been force to service tonight. His Russian handler had dressed him up as an exotic dancer and took him to an apartment where the party had been held. He was forced to dance and made to beg to be used like a slut. The men didn’t even used lube at first. The first guy to get up the courage to have sex with him force his way into his anal opening. Another guy came up in front of him and shoved his penis into his mouth and nearly choked him. Between the two of them he was manhandled.
Once the guy in his ass was done, he switched with the guy who had put his penis in his mouth. During the next four hours, every sexual thing those ten guys could think of to do. He had been forced to do. By the time, he was picked up he couldn’t sit down without hurting or speaking. He had been taken back to the hotel room he shared with several other boys that had come with him from overseas that were being trafficked.
The next night he and four other boys are taken to a fishing cabin and forced to entertain the eight men there. While they were entertaining the men. Gunfire erupted from outside and bullets were hitting people. Darit had found a loose floorboard and manage to lift it and climb down. He makes sure to pull the boards back so he isn’t found and listens as men come inside and speak some language he had never heard before. He stays quiet as he listens to them walking above him. He spots a metal money box and pulls it to him. He hears crashing sounds as furniture above him is tossed around. He hears dishes being smashed and the voices he heard earlier raising in volume. Like they were angry about something.
Darit waits till he hears the engines start before peeking out to see if everything was safe. He lifts the floor boards up and come face to face with the dead body of one of the boys he had come with. He falls backwards and hits his head against the wall. He stops and notice just to the right of where he was. Was the camera that he had seen earlier tonight they used to record everything that had been done to them. He stretches his hand out to retrieve it and manages to get his fingers tips on it and pull it towards him. He could find the clothes he had been forced to wear here, but he did find one of the men shirts. He puts it on and slips out of the house. He notices that three of the four boats that they had been brought across had been torched. He notices a boat out in the middle of the lake just drifting.
Darit looks around for something to carry the metal box and camera with him. He goes back into the house and finds that there was some plastic wrap. He wraps the camera and the metal box up in the plastic wrap and goes back out and swims out to the boat. He was scared that there were snakes in the water, but he manages to get to the boat and climb aboard. He had watched the Russian handler who brought them to the cabin and saw that the boat still had the keys in it. He starts the boat and slowly give it some gas to move along.
Darit doesn’t know where he is going, but he figures he better get as far away from here as he can. At first, he has a hard time keeping the boat straight, but after a while he gets the hang of maneuvering the boat. He continues till the sun comes up and finds a safe place he could hide among so he isn’t spotted. The boat he was on has a small cabin on it so he could crawl inside and get some sleep. He does check the camera and it recorded everything that happened, including the men coming inside to look around before it had fallen on the floor. He shuts it off and then tries opening the metal money box. It was locked so he looks around on the boat and finds a screw driver he could to pry the lid up. Inside were stacks of 100’s, 50’s, 20’s and 10’s dollar bills. Also, there was a handgun with a spare magazine. He closes the box up and hides it on the boat. He crawls in the cabin and tries to fall asleep.
At first, he couldn’t sleep because he was still hurting from where the men used him the night before, but sleep finally takes him as he was so tired and worn out. By the afternoon, he wakes-up and tries to remember where he was. Then it all comes back to him about what happened last night and he cries. Once he is finish crying and trying to figure out what he was going to do. He starts the boat up and notice he is almost out of fuel. He heads further down river till he spots some where he could pull up to berth and get some fuel.
He pulls up to the fuel station and pays the attendant and fills the tanks up on the boat. He manages to find out with his broken English where he could berth for the night and how much it would it cost him. He learns that they had a small convenience store where he could buy some food and some clothes, since all he had was the guys shirt he took last night. Most of the clothes they had were too big for him. There was a giveaway box that someone had setup for people to take items from or add items too. He finds several articles of clothing that would fit his body, but they were all for girls. Since he didn’t have much choice, he takes them.
Darit felt safer at the marina he had pulled into and curled up in the small cabin. To try to get some more sleep. He was tired and his anal opening still hurt, but at least he didn’t have to worry about the men that had brought him here to America. During the night, he could hear the rain coming down hitting the hull above his head. He was lucky that the area where the Captain and passenger sat had a canopy covering it.
When morning came, it was still raining outside. There was a trash bag laying in the cabin area so he uses that to go and pay for another two days and night at the marina. While he was paying for his berth. Darit notices a picture of himself that was asking had you seen this child printed on the paper posted on the bulletin board. He knew who had put the paper up. It was one of the Russian handlers who were looking for him. He buys some water, ice and sandwiches for himself and takes them back to the boat while looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed. During the day, he takes cat naps and keep an eye out so he isn’t surprised. The cabin door on the boat he keeps shut so no one can look down inside.
Darit had a hard time sleeping from the memories of what has been done to him. He wakes up in a cold sweat and looks around trying to remember how he got here. Once he realizes he no longer a captive of the people who forced him to have sex with men and such. He lays back down and cries.
The only light coming into the small cabin was from the port windows lining the top of the cabin. He does jump occasionally when the thunder booms right overhead followed by flashes of lighting. The boat rocks a little during the night. He opens the cabin door to look out and let some of the cool air drift inside. He crawls under a blanket he had brought earlier and watch the lighting as it dances across the cloudy sky. He slowly falls back asleep while watching the storm.
Darit wakes late the next day and it was only misting outside. He walks out onto the deck and sits in the Captain chair looking out at the pier. There weren’t many people out on their boats today because of the mist. He was thinking that maybe today he should leave, but the weather man had said there was going to be a thunder storm today and since he wasn’t a skilled boater, staying where he was a good idea.
He sits there and think about what he should. He had no papers and didn’t speak English very well. He was young and not skilled in much. He stays like that just enjoying the wet morning and wondering what he should do next. He gets up and heads back into the cabin and grab an orange and the rest of the sandwich he brought yesterday. He didn’t know how to operate the mini-stove in the cabin. He did learn how to use the radio and the various gadgets by playing with them and learning what they did. He had a fish finder and a few other gadgets available to him.
He hears someone speaking Russian and looks out the port window to see who it was. There were two Russian guys he saw once walking up and down the dock. They were peeking into boats that weren’t occupied. He turns the cabin lights off as he moves to an area of the boat you couldn’t see through the port window. Just as he heard them approach his boat.
“Hey, what are you two doing? Get out of here before I call the police.”
Darit heard the man right across from his boat yelling at the two Russian guys. More people were coming out of their boats to see what all the commotion was. The two Russian guys turn and leave the pier. Darit peeks out from his cabin and climb up to see if they have left. He watches them get into a van and drive off.
The old man that had been yelling at them look over towards his way.
“You’re safe now kid. I don’t know why they are looking for you, but you might want to consider moving on tomorrow if you can.”
“Thank you.” Darit smiles at him.
“You’re welcome kid.”
Darit gets his jacket and boots and head back to the little store and buys a few more items so he could leave first thing tomorrow morning. He was going to pull out early so no one would know he had left. He searches the cabin and finds the direction to light the mini-stove and some dishes. He heats up a soup he had brought and has that to take the chill off him. It does start to rain again and well into the night again.
Darit gets some sleep and wakes up early the next day. He disconnects the shore power and water and powers the boat up and pull out being careful not to rub up against the piling that mark the berth. He gets back out onto the main river and heads left so he is going down further the intercostal water way. It does rain and the water is a little choppy as he continues to travel. He doesn’t stop for the night, but continues carefully. The last thing he needed was to damage the boat. By morning he comes to several marinas he could berth in. He picks one that is a private community and the only way you are let in is by a person who lives here or if your boat is docked here.
He pulls into a berth and goes up and pays for a few days stay and buys a hot meal. He learns he can get fuel here as well. He picks up a few groceries and takes them back to the boat. So, far no one has reported the boat as being missing. Darit wonders why no one has reported the boat as missing? When he went into the store, the clerk called him a she and said have a nice day ma’am. He wonders if he looks like a girl?
As he climbs back onto his boat he wonders if maybe it would be better to travel as a girl, that way no one would recognize him. He learned how to the turn the power on for the microwave in the cabin as well. So now he knows how to use it.
He sits out on the deck and eats his dinner. He had checked the map to where he was and found out he was out of New Jersey and down near the Northern part of Virginia. If he kept going he could end up in the Carolina’s where he would stand a better chance of being hidden among the people there. He also found out that he had an aft cabin where he could sleep and be hidden without being seen. The boat he had found drifting was a 1996 Wellcraft 26 SE Excell. He finally found the owner’s manual and learned some of its secret. Since Darit traveled all night.
He heads into the aft cabin after shutting the door that lead down into the cabin. He crawls onto the mattress and falls asleep.
Darit looks at herself in the dressing room as she twirls around in the sun dress she was thinking about purchasing. Darit figures if people are going to mistake him for a girl, then maybe he should act like a girl. That way he could hide from the people looking for him. He brought a hair dye kit to color his hair. He had blonde hair and that would always draw attention to him. His eyes he couldn’t do anything about except maybe wear sunglasses or glasses. Which he buys a weak set of reading glasses and two pairs of sunglasses.
He spends the day buying clothes and groceries for the boat. He also buys himself a satellite phone just in case he needs it while out on the water. He did bring some of the money with him and put most of it on two pre-paid credit cards. One card he’ll keep with him and the other one he leaves on the boat hidden.
As she is walking around. She spots a nice restaurant called the German Pantry. Darit stops in and has lunch. She has never had German food before, so she wanted to try it. She was being cautious so not to get to relax. The last thing she wanted was to be picked up and thrown back into selling his body again. He knew most human traffickers would inject boys and men with HIV so that they can spread it to their clients.
Darit heads back to the marina with her purchases. She needed to make sure the boat was in order as well. The gate guard allows the cab to help bring her stuff to her boat. She gives the cab driver a huge tip for being such a nice person to her. She puts the food away and puts clean sheets and blankets on the beds in the boat. She hangs her new clothes up and once she is done. She checks the things that she has access to according to the owner’s guide. Once she is done, Darit heads up onto the top deck and watches as the sun sets. She was going to spend one more day here, but Darit felt it might be must to go ahead and head down the coastal water way just in case. She’ll have to get fuel before she goes, but it shouldn’t take her long.
Darit takes a shower and slip on the baby blue night gown she had brought today and sits up on the deck and enjoys the silence. Her neighbors were nice and keep the noise down coming from their boats. Darit just sits and watches the night sky.
“Beautiful night, tonight, isn’t it?”
Darit turns around to see who was talking to him.
It was the older lady that had pulled in yesterday while he slept. He hadn’t see her till this morning.
“Yes ma’am, it is a beautiful night.”
“Do you mind if I come aboard?”
“No ma’am, please.” Darit watches as the old lady walks across the dock to his boat.
“You have a nice boat.” Margie had seen the girl earlier today when she left this morning.
“Thank you.” Darit brushes a lose lock of hair out her eyes.
Margi looks around the deck and notices how clean it was.
“Are your parents on board or are they allowing you to travel on your own?” Margie hasn’t seen any adults, just this girl.
“My parents are allowing me to travel on my own. I’m going to meet them in Norfolk, Va. At the marina, over near the naval base. They
thought it would be good experience for me.” Darit was lying, but she had to have some way to cover up why she was traveling by herself.
“Well you should be okay going such a short distance. Do you keep in touch with your parents?”
“Yes ma’am. I have a satellite phone my father brought me to stay in contact with them.”
Darit covers up a yawn.
Margie could see that the girl was tired “well I better be getting back to my boat, before my husband wonders where I wonder off to. You
have a nice night.”
“You too ma’am and thanks for stopping by.” Darit watches as the lady goes back to her boat.
Darit heads down into the cabin area and picks an orange to munch on while she reads a book she had picked up while shopping. She turns the radio on she had found in the boat and listen to one of the local stations it was picking up. She didn’t know much about the different type of music, but whatever she was listening to sounded nice. Darit covers up a yawn as she closes her book and turn the light off.
When morning comes Darit gets dress in a pair of shorts and a camisole and grab her sunglasses. She makes a stop at the fuel station to full her tanks up before leaving. She was sipping on a Pepsi as she travels down the inner coastal waterway. It was warm out and the morning was quiet. There wasn’t anyone else on the water, but Darit. There were trees along the bank on either side of Darit. She was enjoying the peacefulness and wondering what she was going to do once she gets down to the Carolina’s. Darit was glad it was just Spring time right now and not winter. Lately Darit has been thinking about getting the cabin area fully enclosed so not to worry about bugs. When
Darit arrives in Chesapeake, VA. She decides that she is going to stay the night. Instead of pulling into a marina, she finds a nice spot to drop anchor and spend the night. The place she decided to stop was right in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp. There was no way anyone was going to get close to her without waking her or having a boat.
Darit comes out with her sandwich she had made below deck and sits out on the deck. She watches as the moon disappears behind some clouds. The cool night air blow softly and loose locks of her hair tickles the side of her neck. She didn’t do a bad job on coloring her hair. She had dyed it black and wore her sun glasses during the day to hide what she looks like.
She listens to the radio while sitting there out in the water. She watches the fireflies as they blink and fly around like little angels in the night. She doesn’t remember how many times she has wish she was free and now she is, but she needs to be careful because those men were still looking for her. Maybe she should call the FBI or Homeland? Darit thinks about this and finally heads down below deck for the night.
During the night, she has nightmares and wakes up screaming her head off. She trashes about on her mattress as she finally wakes-up from the nightmare. She pulls her legs to her chest and hold them as tears run down her cheeks. She stays that way for a while before she finally falls asleep. She wakes up early and takes a sponge bath, before heading up to the deck and pulling up her anchor. She grabs an apple and a knife and cut pieces of it as she starts the engine and head down the intercostal water way towards the Carolina’s.
Darit was ready to upchuck his lunch. A storm had rolled in and the boat was bobbing up and down on the water like a roller coaster. He barely made it into a berth with the weather so bad. He gets out and heads to pay for the berth. He was up at the North Carolina and Virginia border. He needed to get fuel. Darit had gotten soaked and took a hot shower below deck. His water supply was alright. He had changed into his little pony nightshirt. Darit fixes himself a sandwich and crawl onto the mattress and listens to the local radio station. According to the weather guy, the next two days was going to be rain and thunderstorms.
Darit looks at the map and decided that Morehead City or Kitty Hawk would be a good place to pull into. He would like Kitty Hawk because of all the tourist, but Morehead city might be better. Darit watches as the rain comes down outside the boat. He lays down with a teddy bear he had bought and hugs it tight to him. He slowly drifts off to sleep while listening to the radio.
When morning comes, it is only drizzling outside. He grabs an apple and a knife and head up onto the deck. He sits on the L shape bench across from the Captain’s seat and watches as the drizzle continues. If it wasn’t for the canopy over his head, he would be getting wet right now. He checks the satellite phone to see if it was fully charged and working. He still wonders should he call the FBI or the NSA. He puts the satellite phone away. He’ll contact them later.
Throughout the day he cleans the boat and when it stops raining for a little while, he tosses his trash away and pay to get his sewage tanks empty. He spends the day basically doing basic maintenance on the boat systems like he read in the owner’s manual. When lunch time rolls around, he makes himself a salad and sit up on the deck under the canopy and watch as the rain comes down. The next time he stops, he’s going to check into getting the covers for his boat. So, it won’t matter if it rains. He can’t believe he has come so far without being caught by the Russian traffickers that brought him here to America. There was that one time they almost spotted him in New Jersey. Once he is done with his salad he goes below deck and clean his dish. He was starting to like living on a boat. He could stay where he was for a while and move on when he wanted too. Darit felt like getting off the boat for a while. He goes down and changes into a pair of slacks and a nice blouse and grab his rain jacket and head up where he signed in to order a cab. As he is standing there he looks around and hopes he is making the right choice.
When the cab arrives Darit gets into it.
“Where to ma’am?” Harry had just started his shift when he got the call.
“Is there a mall nearby?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Harry drives the young girl in the backseat to the nearest mall. When he arrives, he pulls up to the main mall entrance and drop the girl off.
“That will be $15.50 ma’am.”
Darit hands the cab driver twenty dollars “keep the change sir.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Here’s my card if you want a ride home.”
Darit accepts the card. She gets out and watches as he drives away from the mall. Darit walks around enjoying her freedom. He does stop
at a book store and see what books they have. He picks up a few books and one on sailing. Darit moves on to another store and buys a few odds and ends. Darit basically spends three hours enjoying himself. He does some shopping and goes to a movie. By the time he is ready to go back to the boat he was tired. He does stop at a Mexican restaurant and have a nice dinner. He has never had Mexican before and for his first time it tasted good. After dinner, he walks around the mini-mall. He explores a few stores and stops look through a few used movies for sale. His boat didn’t have a television or a DVD player. So, he buys one and calls the cab he arrived in. He’ll spend tomorrow connecting the television and DVD player up. He made sure he bought everything he need to connect it.
Harry shows up and notice the young girl standing with a few packages.
“Did a little bit of shopping I see?” Harry opens the trunk and loads the purchases inside.
“Yes sir. I thought I would spruce up the place.”
“Well, good lucky on that.” Harry closes the trunk as Darit gets into the backseat.
“Back to where I picked you up at?”
Harry looks at Darit in the rear mirror.
“Yes sir.” Darit sits back and watches as Harry takes her back to where he picked her up at.
Once Darit gets back, he starts putting the items he just brought away. He opens the box that has the television in it and reads the
instructions on how to mount it and how to set it up. By eleven o’clock at night he has the television and Blu-ray hooked up. He covers up a yawn as she changes out of his clothes and into his night shirt he wore earlier.
He crawls into bed and falls asleep. He had one more day here and then he was on his way to North Carolina.
The following morning not much goes on except more rain. He has his breakfast up on the top deck like he normally does. As he watches the rain come down he wonders what he should do. He wants to call and have the FBI check those Russian men out. Darit decides to chance it. He’ll be in the Carolina’s tomorrow, so they shouldn’t be able to track him.
He dials 411 for information “I would like to call the FBI please.”
“What city and state?”
“Virginia, Chesapeake.” Darit wonder why the phone doesn’t know where it is.
After a few minutes of holding he is given the number and connected.
“Federal Bureau of Investigation how can we help you?”
“I need to talk to an agent about a human trafficking group handle by a Russian gang.”
“Hold on.” Blair didn’t know what to do with this, but he was going to record everything.
“Go ahead and give me all the details.” Blair has a pen and paper ready.
“Okay,” Darit goes into everything he knows and tells the agent where they might be and how many there was last time he was with them.
The agent asked how she knows all this. In a low quiet voice ‘I use to be controlled by them, but I escape.”
“Where are you?” Blair what’s to meet this person.
“I’m on the water heading down to the Carolina. Darit thinks he just messed up.”
“Look, I know you may be scared, but we’ll need your help. Look, why don’t you call me when your safe, okay?”
“Okay. Goodbye.”
Darit hangs up and hopes she didn’t screw-up.
Darit pulls into a marina and docks for the night. She was tired and doesn’t feel like dealing with anything tonight. She walks around the deck checking the hookups and afterwards she goes down below and gets ready for bed. Darit still wonders if she should call the FBI back tomorrow. Darit takes a shower and crawls into bed. She is so tired and so lonely. As she lays there falling asleep. She wonders what she was going to do now that she was down in the Carolinas?
When Darit wakes-up the next day there was a light mist in the air. Darit grabs an orange juice and pop-tart and goes up on the top deck and sits on the L shape bench seat. She looks out towards the marina and wonders if the people on the boats live here permanently or do they move around like she has been doing lately. So, far she’s been lucky except for that one time when she first started her journey down the intercostal waterway from New Jersey.
She still can’t believe that her father sold her to the Russian Mafia. Why he did it she will never know, but all she does know. She didn’t like what she was forced to do. She didn’t like being used for sex like she was forced to. She looks down into the cabin area and wonder does she have the courage to look at the video footage from that night? She has never looked at it because she has been too scared to.
Agent Emma Williams and Agent Lucas Price have been investigating the human trafficking problem lately. Her and her partner had been tracking the Russian mafia lately operating in the states. They had investigated a murder scene in New Jersey of several dead bodies at a private isolated cabin. The only way you could get there was by boat or helicopter. They had three burnt out ship hulls and several bodies inside. One of the bodies was that of a City Council member and another one was the body of a local judge and two dirty cops. The other four bodies were of various men of different occupations and then there was the five nude bodies of the teenage boys. They had found a floor board loose and saw some footprints that headed out the door and towards the water. Which is where they stopped. There were three brunt boat hulls, but eight adult bodies and five teenage boy’s bodies. Which meant there had to be a sixth teenage person, because the foot print was too small to be some adults.
They had managed to identify the adults and some of the teenage boys. The tattoo mark on their back marked them as belonging to one of the Russian mafia traffickers. Lucas was looking out towards the water.
“Which way do you think that survivor went Emma? Further upriver or down river towards the South?”
Lucas tries to put himself into the scare teenage boys mind. They had found a couple of strands of rope and marks in the mud where a fourth boat had been.
“If I was a scared teenager and I didn’t know what I was doing, I might head South. It would be easier traveling down river, then traveling up
river and chance being spotted.”
Emma had walked over to her partner and was looking out at the water. She had grown up along the river and uses to travel it with her
father. He was a tug boat Captain and pushed barges up and down the river.
“So, we need to search the marina’s down river and see if there is a single teenage boy traveling by himself?”
“I might be able to help. I know a few of the owners along this river that might be able to help.”
“Well, let’s go and speak to these people. Also, we might want to talk with some of the people at the fuel stations and see if a young teenage boy stopped there to refuel the boat he might be traveling on?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The two of them head towards their car and start driving to the first marina and speak with people there. By late afternoon, they came to
their sixth marina which was a public one. They learned a young blonde hair girl was by herself. There had been some men searching the boats by peering into the portals of the unoccupied boats.
“A blonde hair teenage girl?”
“Why would a teenage girl be traveling by herself?”
“This mystery is getting more and more complex. Did you managed to get any more information about the girl?”
“No, not even the boats id. Number, but I did get the name of the boat itself and make. Its name is Wet Dreams and it’s an Excel.”
“Well, at least we now know whoever they are. They are heading down river.”
“True. I’m going to check in and see if anything new has come in.”
Lucas heads towards their hotel room while Emma checked in with their office.
“Lucas, I think we got a lead. Someone called in from Chesapeake, Virginia yesterday. Agent Blair had someone who called in with
information and they describe the crime scene. According to agent Blair they said they had been there and escaped. They are heading down to the Carolina’s.”
“Well, we can keep talking to a few more marina up here and see if anyone matches the description we were given or head down there.”
“Let’s make a few more stops along the river and then head down to the Carolina. Maybe someone was lucky enough to see the boat id
number and we can see who it belongs too. Because no one has reported a missing boat. Which could mean it belonged to one of our victims or is registered under an assumed name.”
“Alright, let’s check out a few more marina’s tomorrow and then plan on flying down to the Carolina and seeing if we can find the boat and the survivor.”
Lucas pulls into the Marriott hotel and parks the car.
Darit watched as a young brown hair, fair skin female agent wearing black dress pants, black dress jacket and a white dress shirt. Right behind her was a light skinned African American bald male that stood a good foot or two above her. He was wearing an identical suit like the ladies and had dark sunglasses on. Darit just shakes his head as other people out enjoying the morning watched as the two people came walking over to her boat.
Agent Emma Williams and Agent Lucas Price knew they were drawing attention as they walked down the pier towards the boat. They notice a young teenage black hair girl watching them from a boat. It was the same boat they had been looking for as they walked down the pier. They notice the teenage girl shaking her head.
“I wonder why she’s shaking her head at us?”
“Because we stick out like a sore thumb dressed the way we are. We should had dressed differently.” Agent Williams knew it was a mistake coming dress like they did.
They walk right over to the boat and notice the name of it as Wet Dreams.
“Can we come aboard?”
“Who are you?”
“FBI Agent Emma Williams, this is FBI Agent Lucas Pride and we told you not to trust anyone unless they asked to come aboard.”
“You have permission to come aboard.” Darit watches as the two agents came aboard the boat she has been traveling on for the past few weeks.
“I take it that you are Darit?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I thought you had blonde hair?”
“I do.” Darit was looking pass the female agent towards the other people out on their boat.
Lucas had notice where Darit was looking.
“We might be better talking below deck.”
Emma looks around as well and notice people looking in their directions.
“I think you might be right. Let’s take this conversation down below deck.”
Darit leads the way down below deck.
“Watch your head.”
Darit walks over and sits on the other bed while watching the African American duck as he comes down. The woman seemed to know what
she was doing.
Once everyone was down below deck and seated. Emma looks over towards Darit.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“You mean when I and several other boys were taken to that cabin for those men sexual entertainment?”
“You mean you’re a boy?” Lucas couldn’t believe it.
“Yes sir. Most of the people I came across thought I was a girl. So, I started dressing as one.”
“That’s a good way to hide in plain sight. I take it, that you dyed your hair black so your blonde hair wouldn’t draw attention?”
“Yes, ma’am. My blonde hair was easy for people to spot me.”
“Can you tell us more about what happened the night you escape?”
“I think you need to see this. I didn’t see much because I was hiding.”
Darit hands the camera to Emma to view. She still hasn’t seen everything on it.
Emma accepts the camera and her and Lucas watch it as Darit pulls her legs closer to her and bury her face against her knees as she watches their reaction.
Lucas looks over towards Darit when they see a clear picture of what was done to her and the other boys. What they were made to say and do. He felt sorry for the kid as well as Emma did. She had glanced over towards Darit and couldn’t believe someone would do something like they were watching to children of her age. She was sick to her stomach at watching the footage and the things they were made to do.
Then they saw the footage of everyone being murder and the people responsible for it. They couldn’t believe the carnage or brutality of what they did. It wasn’t another Russian group doing the killing, but a Mexican trafficking group doing the murdering. They watched the whole footage till the end.
“There’s enough information here to put away several people.” Emma couldn’t believe the gold mine they had found.
Emma looks over towards Darit and could see the tears coming down her face as she sat across from them.
“Darit, could you tell me how you ended up being force to perform sex for these men?”
“My father sold me to the Russians to pay off his gambling debts. I wasn’t born here in the United States. I was born in Austria.”
“Your father sold you into sex slavery?”
Lucas couldn’t believe any parent would do such thing.
“Yes sir. My father did. Some of the other children and women were either sold by their families to the Russians or kidnapped off the streets
and made to perform sexual services.”
“Now we need to get this information back to the office.”
Darit just happened to look out one of the portal windows and notice a group of guys walking down the pier.
“I think we have a problem.”
Darit points out the men coming down the pier looking for someone.
“Dam! how did they find us?”
“You need to hide in the other room. They can’t see in there from outside of the boat.” Darit could play it off.
The four men walk by the boat without stopping. Darit watches as they come to the end of the pier and turn around and start walking back the
way they came. Darit steps out on deck and start loosening the lines and disconnecting the shore hook-ups to the boat.
One of the guys did stop to watch Darit as she disconnected things, but then turned back to his friends and left the pier.
Darit maneuvers the boat out of its slip and head down the coastal water way.
“It’s safe to come out now.” Once Darit was a way down the waterway.
Emma and Lucas come from below deck.
Darit looks at both agents “I hope you don’t get sea sick, because I learned that when people are looking for you. You don’t stick around to let
them grab you.”
“Well, we can’t go back to our car because they will be expecting us. There’s a boat dock not too far from here.”
Darit was seating in the Captain’s chair. She looks over towards the two agents.
“You guys stick out in those clothes. We might want to get a change of clothes and shoes for you. You’re going to be slipping and sliding all
over the boat.”
“Don’t worry kid. I grew up on a boat. My father was a tug boat captain so I can handle, myself. As for my partner, I don’t think he’s been on a
boat except a speed boat.”
Lucas just glares at his partner.
“Well you guys better make yourself at home, because it’s going to be a while before we get to Morehead City.”
“Why are you going there?”
“Easier to hide among all the boats and people there.”
Darit had learned that from talking with some of the people at her other stops.
“Well kid, you’re the Captain.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Darit programs the location into her Gps unit and follows the path it sets up.
Darit looks over towards the two FBI agents. Agent Pride looks at the scenery as they traveled down the waterway. He couldn’t fault the kid for traveling this way. It made it hard for someone to sneak up on you while traveling by boat.
“So, what is next? Do we go back to your office or do we stay on the boat?”
Darit didn’t know if she could trust being on the streets.
“We planned on getting you into protective custody. That way your Russian traffickers can’t get their hands on you. Since, you’re already on the boat. This might be the best way to protect you. This boat is registered under another name and you keep moving around. Which, makes it difficult for people to guess where you might be. Do you have a phone?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Darit hands Agent Emma the satellite phone he bought. She uses it to call her supervisor and give her an update.
“Do you want to try and steer the boat agent Price?”
Darit had seen how he wasn’t comfortable with a child at the wheel.
“If you don’t mind.”
He walks over.
“I don’t mind. Just follow the route on the Gps unit has laid out for us. Also, watch the signs and you should be okay.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Agent Price had to admit that the kid knew her stuff. Darit sits across from him and watches as they go down the waterway. Emma was still on
the satellite phone talking to her supervisor at the back of the boat. After about thirty minutes she hangs up and comes back up to Darit and
her partner.
“Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news, we are going to stay on the boat. It’s the perfect hiding spot because the Russians that are after you would have a hard time trying to find you and we can always drop anchor out here in the bay if we needed to. Also, keeping you disguise as a girl is a good idea as well. The second thing is, we need to do something about that tattoo they put on your right shoulder. That is going to be a dead giveaway. There are two different ways we can do it. The first is to hide it in another tattoo or cover it up. The second option is to have it lasered off. The laser takes a few passes to remove it and we would have to wait between each pass. The bad news partner, since this is the perfect hiding spot, we need to blend in. The kid is right about us sticking out like a sore thumb. So, the next time we dock. We need to change our appearance. Which means we have to go into town and do some shopping.”
“How about the Russians that are currently looking for me?” Darit looks towards Emma and Lucas.
“We have another group of agents going after them in New Jersey. Lucas and I have been assigned to protect you. Which means we are our
going to be staying on-board the boat Lucas, so might as well get used to it partner.”
“So, where is our next port of call?”
“Morehead, N.C. we can blend with the rest of the tourist and boats.”
Darit had put some thought into it.
“Is there a place we can stop before we get there to change out of our clothes?”
“We can stop in Manteo or Wanchese. Manteo might be better, because were closer to Manteo.”
“We could take a cab back to pick-up our car or have another agent pick it up.”
“Why don’t we do this. I’ll go and get our car and we dock here in Manteo for a few days? We can stay in this area for a few days and move
onto the next set of docks.”
“Okay, let’s do that for a while. While were out let’s get a few camera’s so we can watch the boat and send a copy of this video you gave us to the office. The problem is the nearest field office in North Carolina is in Charlotte. That’s at least a six-hour drive from Manteo. We are two hours from the Norfolk field Office.”
Emma looks towards her partner.
“By the time we dock, it will be too late to drive up to Norfolk.”
Darit was watching Emma and Lucas.
“We still have to wait for a cab to pick you up as well.”
“Is that how you been getting around while in port by cab?”
“Yes, ma’am or by bus. I’ve been using the cash I found to pay for the fuel and the dock fees. I bought a pre-pay debit card to pay for
the groceries and clothes.”
Darit was proud of herself for the way she has been doing things.
“Alright, when we dock. We’ll call the cab service and go rent a car to use. The Russians probably have someone either watching our car or
have it bugged. Call the Norfolk office and have someone meet us at the border of North Carolina and Virginia.”
“We need to stop and get fuel before we dock and find out which slip is available. Pull up to the dock and we can fuel up and pay for a slip.”
Lucas follows Darit’s instruction. Darit gets off and heads inside to pay for a slip and to pay for the fuel, while Emma shows her partner how to fill the boat up. Darit comes back out and boards the boat.
“What name have you been registering the boat under?”
“The one I found down below along with all the paperwork for the boat.”
“Smart kid. Here let me dock the boat Mr. Pride.”
Darit walks over to take the wheel.
“All right kid.”
Lucas turns the boat over to Darit and watches as she docks the boat and starts tying off the line.
“You’re getting good at this kiddo.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice. A guy I met at my second stopped showed me the proper way to tie a boat off and do a quick release if I need to
haul tail in a hurry. I’ve met a lot of different people while going down the waterway. I’ve come to trust those people.”
“Here’s the number for the local cab company. I got it from the clerk inside the gas station.”
Darit hands Emma the card.
“Thanks kid.”
She uses her own cell phone to call the cab company. Since, this marina was privately owned. They were going to have to meet the cab at the gates.
Darit looks at the two agents once Emma gets off the phone.
“We need to stop and get you two some different clothes. You're drawing attention to us.”
Darit had already notice some of the other boaters looking at them.
Emma notices the same thing.
“I have to agree with the kid, partner. We stick out like a sore thumb.”
Lucas was noticing people glancing their way.
“Yay, I think you're right.”
The three of them leave the boat and start walking up to the gate.
“Why did you pick a private marina?”
“Because you have to be a register guest to enter here. No one can go aboard the boat while were gone, unless they have business here or
live here. If someone is here to see us, we have to escort them down to the boat.”
“That is smart. You’ve learned a lot since you set sail.”
Emma and Lucas both look at Darit.
“I’ve had too. There’s been to many close calls.”
By the time the three get to the gate the cab was waiting on them.
“Where to folks?”
“The nearest clothing store please.”
Darit answered for Emma and Lucas.
“No problem.”
The driver sets off and takes them to a nearby shopping center and let them out. Darit pays the cab fare with the cash she brought with her
and gives the cab driver a tip. Emma, Darit and Lucas do some shopping and grab a bite to eat as well. They arrange to pick-up a rental and to meet up with another agent from Norfolk tomorrow.
The rest of the day they enjoy spending some time off the boat. They locate a tattoo parlor to cover up Darit’s tattoo. Emma acts as Darit's
mother to give permission to the tattoo artist to do the work. The rest of the day they act as tourists to throw any one that might be following them.
Emma is woken by her cell phone ring.
She reaches over and grabs it “hello?”
“Sorry for waking you Emma, but you need to leave from where you are right away. We intercepted a phone call that describe your boat and a girl fitting Darit description. We have another boat waiting for you at Blue Marlin boat yard.”
“We’re on our way.”
Emma hangs up the phone. She gets up and goes to wake-up Lucas.
“Lucas, we need to get underway right away.”
Emma runs up on deck and starts disconnecting the lines and shore hook-ups. Once all the lines and shore hook-up was disconnected. Lucas backs the boat out of the slip and head down river towards the Us Army reserve base. The Blue Marlin boat yard was supposed to be near it.
“Did they say how they found out about us and this boat?”
“Nope, all they said was that they had a description of this boat and of a girl looking like Darit being on it. We could dye her hair a different color and style it differently.”
“Well, we might want to do something about her looks.”
“I’ll work on her when we change ships.” Emma watched as they approached the boat yard.
“Dam, that’s a nice boat they have for us.”
“It does look nice.” Lucas pulls the boat they were on next to the docks.
Emma ties the boat off as an Army sergeant comes walking over towards them.
“Permission to come aboard?”
“Granted Sergeant.”
Sergeant Williams looks around for the third person he had been informed about.
“Where’s the young girl?”
“She’s below deck still asleep.”
“Well, you might want to wake her up and start transferring your stuff over to your new boat. Come on, I’ll give you a tour of it.”
Sergeant Williams goes ashore followed by Lucas and Emma. He takes them over to a white and Blue 1995 Albin 43 Trawler.
“This should make things easier on you guys. It has two full staterooms and two bathrooms with showers, dining area and enclosed pilots fly bridge. Which you can control the boat from there or down here in the cabin area. The boat has been setup for surveillance, but we no longer have any need for it. So, it’s being given to you three. You have a full surveillance package and a hidden weapon locker. The engines have been upgraded and you have bow thruster to help maneuver the boat. There’s an emergency launch, just in case the boat starts to sink. You have a 320-gallon water tank, 620-gallon fuel tank and a holding tank of 50-gallons.”
Sergeant Williams shows everything about the boat and then they head back to boat. They spot Darit standing on the deck looking for them.
“Is that the young girl your protecting?”
“Yep, that’s the young girl we’re protecting. She handled that boat all by herself by the time we caught up to her.”
“You mean she knows how to pilot a boat?”
“Yep, she does. She had to teach Lucas here how to pilot that boat.”
Darit had woken up and no one was around. She came up on deck to see where everyone was and notice they were tied up behind another boat. She saw Emma, Lucas and some other guy coming from the boat in front of them. She waits till they closer before asking her question.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes and no. Go pack all your stuff and we’re going to move it to the bigger boat. Why don’t you take the forward Cabin? Lucas and I will take the aft cabin. Since it is near the pilot station from when we are all in the saloon. I also, think you’re going to like this other boat better, Darit. You don’t have to worry about Mosquitoes any more. The fly bridge is protected or you can pilot the boat from the saloon.”
“Cool. I’ll go and pack my stuff up. Are we taking the food and such?”
“Yep. Take your movies with you as well. Don’t leave anything on this boat.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Darit goes to the cabin she’s been using as her own and pack up all her stuff. She’s going to miss this boat. It’s been her haven since she managed to escape her captors. She makes sure she has all the money she had found with her.
Darit takes her stuff over first and couldn’t believe how much bigger the boat was. There was two full bathrooms, two full bedrooms and two single rooms. She liked the fact she has her own bathroom. She helps moving the rest of the stuff from the old boat to the new boat.
Darit stands and looks at the old boat.
“Going to miss the boat?”
“Yes ma’am. It’s been the only real home I have ever known.”
Tears slide down from Darit’s eyes. Emma notices the tears sliding down Darit’s cheeks. She pulls her close to her and hold her.
“Everything will be okay Darit. Let’s go ahead and board our new boat.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Darit and Emma board the new boat and gather on the fly bridge and watch as Lucas gets use to the way the new boat handles. Darit just watches as Lucas handles the new boat. She liked that they had a bench seat to sit on, instead of just a chair. It was going to take some getting use too, because of how much longer the boat is. It was something she was going to have to get used to.
“How far are we going to go?”
“What do you mean Darit?”
“Are we going to go all the way to Florida or are we going to head back towards New Jersey?”
“We’re heading South Darit. The only time we’ll be heading North is when you have to appear in court.”
“Well, you might want to start wearing shorts and tank tops or light t-shirts. Some of the people I talked to, said the further South I go. The hotter it is going to get.”
“We'll stop and get some clothes to wear. Since we have a new boat. Why don’t me and you change into our swim suit and enjoy the sun while my partner here guides our new boat?”
“Okay.”
Emma follows Darit to her quarters and help her get dress in the one piece she bought for her.
Darit looks towards Emma “how did you know how to do what you did?”
Darit has never been taught how to tuck like Emma did her.
“One of my friends is a drag queen. She’s been trying to get on RuPaul’s drag race since season three.”
“Who’s RuPaul and what’s a drag queen?”
“I’m going to have to find a few episodes and let you watch them tonight. Let’s put some lotion on you so you don’t burn to bad.”
Emma puts suntan lotion on Darit’s body so she doesn’t burn.
“Thank you, Emma.”
“You’re welcome Darit.”
Darit sits down in one of the deck chairs and tan. She reads a book she picked up to help her understand the English language better.
“You girls are having to much fun.”
“Well, you could drop anchor and join us.”
“Why not.”
Lucas stops the engines and drops anchor and join the girls tanning.
Darit was watching the dolphins as they headed towards South Carolina. They were out on the ocean now, instead of taking the canal route like she had orginally had done. She was spending more time wearing a bathing suit now, then what she normally wore. Even the two FBI agents that were protecting her were wearing swim suits now. Emma had found several sexy bikinis for her that she was wearing daily. Lucas was switching between standard swimming trunks and speedo’s. He sometimes wore a muscle shirt and a baseball hat.
They had bought some fishing poles and crabbing pots so they could do some fishing. Emma had to show them how to use them, since Lucas had never done either before. They looked like a normal mix couple family enjoying time together. Emma had been teaching her how to act like a normal teenage girl and helping her with her English as well. She still had a slight accent to her speech, but she was getting better.
The FBI had set-up an online school program for her so she could continue learning. She spent a few hours each day learning and the rest relaxing and enjoying the ocean air. Emma had shown what drag queens were and who RuPaul was. She had grown to like several of the different drag queens.
Darit’s fishing rod starts to bop up and down.
“I got one Lucas.”
Darit starts reeling it in like Emma had showed her. She brings the fish in and up out of the water.
“Emma look, I caught a fish.”
Emma walks over to see what type and how big.
“That’s a Red Drum fish and looks to be legal size.”
Emma helps Darit bring the fish in and unhooks it. They dump it into the bucket they were using to store the fish they caught. Lucas catches a
fish as well and manages to bring it aboard.
“If you two keep this up, we’re going to have a nice seafood dinner tonight.”
Emma ruffles Darit’s hair and helps her reload her fishing hook and toss it back into the ocean. Lucas catches a few more after Darit’s first one.
By the time four o’clock rolls around, they had caught seven fish and three of them had been caught by Darit. They had caught about a dozen crabs as well. Lucas helps Emma clean and gut the fish, while Darit puts their fishing gear away and restock the crab pots they used.
A nice cool breeze was coming in off the ocean. It felt nice against Darit’s sunburned skin. She has been using suntan lotion like Emma told her too. Darit was enjoying the life she was having aboard the new boat. She wonders what happened to the old boat. She helps Emma with dinner, so she could learn how to cook. Emma didn’t mind teaching her.
By the time the fish and crab was done, any mess they had made was cleaned up. Emma had instructed Darit in how to make hushpuppies to go with dinner. She also taught Darit how to boil and steam the vegetables they were having with dinner.
“Mmmm, good fish.” Lucas loved the fish and how Emma had prepared it.
“Thanks, my father taught me how to cook fish. He learned from the cook on the tug boat he served on when he was younger.”
“Well, I would like to meet the man. This could be served in a restaurant.”
Darit nods her head. She liked the fish and the crab. She never had them before, but now that she has, she was hooked.
The three of them eat their dinner and when everyone is done. Darit helps cleans the dirty dishes that were left and put away the left overs.
They could have it for lunch or dinner tomorrow. Darit walks out of the cabin area and up to the third deck and stare up at the night sky. She couldn’t believe how many stars there were. There were no city lights nearby to throw off any lights, so there were more stars to see then normal.
Darit heard someone climbing up the ladder to the third deck. She turns around and notice it was Emma climbing up. Darit has come to think of
Emma as the mother she should had been born too.
“It’s a beautiful night.” She was looking up at the Stars.
“I’ve never seen so many stars before.”
“The haze from the city lights block out a lot of these. You have to go to places like where we are to see them.”
Emma puts her arm around Darit and pulls her close.
Darit wraps her arm around Emma’s waist, and leans her head against her body. They stand like that for a while just staring at the stars and
acting like mother and daughter.
“Emma, have you ever thought about being a mother?”
“There were times I thought about, but my job kept convincing me that the world is to fuck up to bring a child into it. Also, I have never been
able to find the right person to settle down with either. Now, after spending time with you and seeing how you enjoyed things have changed my mind.”
“You could adopt me as your child.” She hugs Emma.
Emma was a little startled by that statement, but she hadn’t even thought about that. Was she ready to be a full-time mother and would the
agency allow it? It was something she’ll have to look into more.
“That is something to think about Darit. Is that something you want?”
“Yes, you and Lucas have been better parents to me then my birth ones have.”
“Well, I can’t speak for Lucas. I think my partner has a girlfriend already. As for myself, let me think about it and look into it. You deserve a decent family and parents who will love you. I know it would be hard finding a family that would accept you being transgender, but there are a few. However, I think it might be best if I did become your mother. We have already established a mother daughter relationship.”
The two of them stand outside for a while before heading back down. Darit takes a shower and Emma comes in and tucks her into bed. She places a kiss on Darit’s forehead.
“Sweet dreams Darit.”
Emma walks out of the room leaving the door slightly open for her.
Emma walks back towards her and Lucas’s room.
“How’s Darit doing?”
He had notices that the two of them had come back in with a look only a mother and daughter would share.
“She’s doing alright. She’s just concern about what is going to happen to her after all this mess is over with.”
“That is a question we need to ask our superiors. She’s going to need someone to look after her and made an American citizen as well. Right now, she is in the country illegally.”
“True and I hope ICE doesn’t get a hair up their ass about trying to arrest her while she is under our protection. That lying sack of shit in the White House right now needs to be removed from office. I can’t believe people bought his BS.”
“I agree with you. However, if ICE decides to do anything, they will be put under arrest for interfering in an investigation and jeopardizing the life of a witness.”
“So, how is your girlfriend handling your current assignment?”
“She’s alright with it. I didn’t tell her exactly what we were doing or how much longer the assignment will be. I think this type of life style
wouldn’t be something she could get used to. She’s more a traditional type of person. House, yard, and neighbors. This is too open for her and there would be no one for her to socialize with.”
“It does take some getting used to, but you have to admit. The night view is wonderful and being able to fish whenever you want to is a plus as well. All the fresh seafood you could want and at a cheap price as well.”
“True, you would save money just catching your food.”
Emma slips on a short night shirt and crawls in bed. Lucas just wears a pair of boxers and crawl in next to her.
“Goodnight.”
Emma turns her light off.
“Goodnight.”
Lucas turns his light off and listen to Emma as she falls asleep.
Lucas was having a hard time keeping his breakfast down during the storm they were experiencing. It had rolled in right after breakfast. They barely made it to the marina to dock. They were in South Carolina and docked at Charleston City Marina.
“Are you going to be okay Lucas?”
Sara was a little concern about her protector. They had spoken about changing her first name this morning at breakfast. Since she and Emma talked, she figured she should get a more feminine sounding name then Darit. She had searched the web for names she wanted to change her name to when she decided on Sara Ann Williams taking Emma’s last name as her own.
“I’ll be okay Dar, I mean Sara.”
Lucas found that he had better start thinking of Darit as Sara now. He looks at her as she sat on the sofa across from him. She was wearing a pair of girls baby blue shorts and a white string strap camisole. Emma had dyed Sara’s hair a brunette color this time, instead of leaving it blonde. Her ears were pierced and she was wearing a pair of silver dolphins.
“According to the weather station, we're going to have rain all day. So, why don’t we take advantage of the situation and do some cleaning around the boat and see what we need to get from the store.”
Lucas still looked a little green. Even docked at the marina, he could still feel the boat bop up and down from the storm waves hitting them.
Emma was watching her poor partner.
“You’ll live, Lucas.”
Sara grabs the broom and dust pan and starts sweeping the floor and dusting off the furniture and features.
Emma was checking their food supplies and making a list of what they needed to buy. They still had some crabs and fish they had caught that they hadn’t eaten yet. She was thinking about adding shrimp and clams to the list. Emma has gotten an idea of what types of food Sara liked so she checks to see if they had the ingredients for a few dishes she might like to eat. She knew Lucas loved fried catfish and chicken. She put those items on the list as well.
They get the boat clean in a few hours and Emma shows Sara how to separate her clothes into different loads. Lucas had complained a few times of after Emma hand washed her bras and left them hanging in the bathroom they used. So, Emma started using the bathroom Sara had to herself. The marina had an onsite facilitates where they could do laundry and take a shower and such. The rain had slowed down some.
They could go out on the second deck and look around without getting soaked.
“We could go do our laundry and grab something to eat for lunch while waiting on it to finish.”
“Why don’t we do that and plan on tomorrow going shopping?”
Emma located a grocery store not to far away from the marina. There were a few places they could do a little sight seeing at while they were out. She needed to call her supervisor and ask about becoming Sara’s permanent parent. She hasn’t talked with Lucas yet about this plan. She’ll need to do that when Sara isn’t around. They grab their dirty clothes and head to the on-site laundry mat.
“Hey mom, look. They have a convenience store here as well.”
Sara puts the quarters in to start the washer which has hers and Emma’s underwear and dedicates in it. She starts the next machine after
Emma gets done loading it.
“That should be it Sara. Let’s go and get you some lunch and Mr. Grumpy here some coffee.”
Emma winks at Lucas. He had been standing guard watching everyone while Emma and Sara loaded the washers up.
“Coffee sounds nice.”
They walk next door to the convenience store. Emma watches Sara, while Lucas grabs himself a cup of the different types of coffees. He loved several different ones and had a choice here of which one he wanted. Sara was looking through the candy section trying to decide which ones she should get while they traveled. Emma found a few items they could come back and get on their way back to the boat.
Sara spots a newspaper with headlines about the murder of a few teenage boys. She recognized the boys in the picture. She grabs it and shows it to Emma.
“Emma, I know these boys. They came with me when I was brought over.”
Emma reads the article of where the boys had been found and how they had been murder. As she continued to read the article. It looked to her like their handlers were clearing house.
“I’m sorry Sara.”
Emma could tell how sad Sara was from seeing the picture of people she knew murdered. Emma gathers her into a hug and held her as she cried against her shoulder. Emma carries her back to the boat and lay her down. She goes back and get their laundry with Lucas’s help.
Sara couldn’t get over what she had seen when she visited that school. It made sense to put everyone on even ground by having one dress code, but was it right? She was sitting by the window watching the shoreline as Lucas piloted the boat. It was overcast and was threatening to rain soon.
Emma had told her earlier that the FBI were getting some help in tracking down those few Russian traffickers that were still looking for her.
They were also stopping those that had brought more women and children into the United States.
“What’s wrong kiddo?”
Emma had just left Lucas after taking him some of his favorite coffee. She had spotted Sara staring out of the window behind the sofa as they traveled on the Atlantic Ocean.
Sara looks over towards Emma “just thinking mom.”
Sara had gotten into the habit of calling Emma mom or mommy and calling Lucas father or dad. They needed to keep up appearance that they were a mixed-race family.
Emma walks over and sits down next to Sara and holds her.
“Lucas and I have been talking and were going to pull in at Shelter Cove Marina. They have some slips available, restaurants and few places we can explore while we are in port.”
Sara looks up at Emma “how far are we going? Are we going to travel the whole intercostal waterway?”
“Getting tired of being cooped up on a boat all the time?”
“Yes ma’am.” Sara leans against Emma.
“I think we might end up doing the whole circuit. I know how boring this type of trip can be for you, but it’s the best way to protect you as well.”
Sara looks out the window as they travel further down the coast. She was enjoying being held by Emma. They sit like that for a while.
“Come on, let’s make some cookies.”
Emma gets up and walks over to the counter and start grabbing everything they needed to make cookies. Sara gets up and stand next to her.
While they are making cookies, it starts raining.
“It’s good that dad is only going to get a little bit wet.”
“True.” Emma was expecting Lucas to come down soon.
Lucas comes in after a few minutes. He had waited for the rain to slack off some, before leaving the fly over bridge.
“We made cookies daddy.”
Lucas still felt a little uncomfortable being called daddy by Sara.
“It does smell good in here.”
Lucas walks over and takes some of the fresh baked cookies.
“Mmm… They taste really good.”
Lucas was enjoying the cookie he bit into. It was still warm and gooey.
“If you ladies don’t mind. I’ve dropped the anchor for us to stay here tonight. I can barely see where I am going.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like we are on a time table.”
“True.”
Sara was eating a few of the warm cookies. She pours herself a glass of milk and sits down at the table. Lucas and Emma join her.
They sit and enjoy the cookies and watch as the rain comes down in buckets. The sea was a little rough, but nothing serious.
“It’s pouring out there.”
Sara was trying to see further out past the boat, but it was a heavy rain storm. She couldn’t see past the handrails on the side of the boat.
“It’s good we stocked up on groceries before we left port. How about we have barbecue, onion rings and coleslaw for dinner tonight?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Lucas walks over to the radio and puts some music on for them to listen to. Sara didn’t know what to think of the music at first, because she
had never heard any of it while being moved around. She sings in tune with a few songs with Emma.
After they have had dinner and the rain has slack off enough to see outside some. It was pitched black, except for the lights the boat was given off. Sara goes and stands by the railing. This part she liked the best. When they were in port the marina lights blocked the stars. When they were out on open water like they were, she could see all the stars.
Unfortunately tonight, she couldn’t because the stars were covered by the clouds. Sara walks back inside the cabin and over to Emma and give her a hug.
“Night mom.”
“Night sweetie.” Emma places a kiss on her forehead.
Sara walks over to Lucas and hugs him.
“Night daddy.”
Lucas just smiles and returns the hug.
“Night Sara.” He watches as Sara walks towards her bedroom and shut the door.
“You know Sara has changed since we first met her.”
“I know, but I think she is getting bored being cooped up on the boat all the time.”
“Do you think she’s going to be safe after that meeting we had?”
“I don’t know, but I hope so. Sara deserves a nice life now that she has been freed.”
“You know its ironic that we’re in an area that use to be famous for slavery and how Sara managed to escape her enslavement.”
“Like the slaves so many years ago.”
“Yep. Why do people always want to enslave others?”
“Because people like having power and exploiting others.”
Emma was looking out the window into the night.
“I wonder what Austria is like?”
“Maybe when all this is over, we can take Sara back to Austria and she can show us where she was born.”
“If she wants to go back there.”
Lucas heads towards the bedroom where him and Emma shared. He notices that something was bothering her, but what?
Emma just stands and stare out into the night. Something was bothering her. What it was she wasn’t sure, but she was feeling uneasy about
something. She takes a breath and head into the bedroom with Lucas.
Sara was having the time of her life. As they travel from a museum to a park where she just let the kid inside of her come out. Emma and Lucas was keeping a watch out for trouble while they let Sara just be a kid for once. The weather was nice and there was a lot of thing to do near the marina. Lucas had found the hidden security system the boat had been equipped with and could check it any time they wanted too.
Also, if someone came aboard the boat, an alarm would sound. All the upgrades the Navy had done to the boat was paying for itself.
Emma and Lucas felt that Sara needed some time to just be a kid. Since she hasn’t really been able to set a foot off the boat since they had come aboard. Short trips yes, but nothing like a full day to do normal kid things. They were killing time right now before the movie they picked started. They were going to go and see Guardians of the Galaxy Part 2. Emma had bought the first one for Sara to watch. Afterwards they planned on having dinner at a Tai restaurant that was only a few shops down from the theater.
Emma gives Sara a choice of a heavy lunch and light snacks or heavy snacks and a light lunch. Sara chose a heavy lunch and light snacks. So, they had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and Sara had her first taco’s. Emma lets her have some of her beef and chicken fajitas. Which she fell in love with. Lucas spent some time talking to his girlfriend and at lunch he Carne asada with beans and rice.
Emma let Sara have some Mexican fried Ice Cream.
When they went to the movies, they got a big bucket of extra butter popcorn and three small drinks. Emma and Lucas could tell that Sara was having fun. They had never seen her so happy like she was today. After the movies, they took a walk up and down the shopping mall. They visited a few stores and bought a few t-shirts and shorts to wear. Sara had spotted a store that dealt in plush animals named Forest Animals.
They visited that store and let Sara buy what she wanted.
By the time they left the store, they ended up spending three hundred dollars on various stuff animals, t-shirts, posters and coffee cups. They finally head to the Thai restaurant where Lucas and Emma ordered for Sara. Emma had drunken monkey with chicken and beef. Lucas had the same thing, but his had chicken, beef and shrimp in it.
They finally ended up back at the boat. Sara was happy that she could get away from the boat for a while. Tomorrow, if the weather was nice,
Emma and Lucas promise to take Sara to the beach. Emma comes in and tucks Sara in.
“Now don’t forget. We’re going to the beach tomorrow, so don’t forget to put your swim suit on.” Emma kisses Sara’s forehead.
“I won’t mom.” Sara smiles at her and curl up with her new White Heart Tiger she got today at the store.
Emma smiles at her and turn her bedroom light off and head towards the galley. Lucas bought a twelve pack of some import beer. It was a dark amber beer.
“Do you want one?” He held out one for Emma.
“Sure.” Emma accepts the beer and opens it.
“Did you see how much fun Sara was having today? I can’t remember the last time she was so relax since we came onboard.”
Emma takes a swig of her beer.
“Me neither. My girlfriend is wondering if I’m ever going to come home from this assignment. I called the office today and the people they arrested escaped custody. Someone informed them of the route the prison transport was taking.”
“Someone got sloppy. They should had known something like this might happened. The thing is they have no idea where Darit is any more.
Hell, if I didn’t know her, I wouldn’t even know she use to be male. She’s changed since we have been on the run. She has a different hair color and style. Even her body is filling out like a girl. I think she might have ovaries instead of testicles. Because, from what I have seen so far with her, there aren’t any. She has a very small penis. We need to take her to a doctor and have her looked at.”
“We could do that tomorrow if you want or maybe Wednesday.”
“Let’s do it Wednesday. I want Sara to have fun tomorrow. I’ll call a person I know and see if they can’t get us an appointment with a doctor down here.”
“Alright, that makes sense.”
Lucas takes another swig of his beer. He finishes that one off and grabs another one.
“So, what does your girlfriend know about the case and us? Does she know we have been sleeping together?”
“Ya, I told her. She wasn’t too happy about it, but after I explained the situation of how the boat is arranged and showed her pictures. She understood and forgave me.”
Lucas takes another swig of his beer.
Emma just sighs as she takes a sip of her first beer.
“I know it’s hard trying to have a life outside of the agency. God knows, I have tried several times and each time I was disappointed. I basically have given up hope finding a special person. Now, I’m a mother to a very special girl.” Emma glances towards Sara’s door.
“So, Jackson approved your request to become her guardian?”
“Yep, it made sense. He’s not a total jackass. I explain the situation to him and explained that having me being Sara’s mother, meant her secret would remain quiet. On top of that, Sara is already familiar with me. Putting her with someone else would create a problem of trust. Also, how many couples could deal with having a transgender child?”
“You think she’s transgender?”
“I think she’s got female internals, instead of a male’s internal. Her penis is just to small for a child her age and there’s no sign of her testicles having dropped. I think she really is a girl.”
Emma finishes her beer and grabs another one.
They just sit and drink most of the beer into the night. It's been awhile since Emma has had any beer to drink.
Before they head to bed, Emma empty's her bladder before laying down.
Sara was nervous as she sat in the waiting room at the doctor’s office Emma had taken her too. Emma had informed her, that this doctor was someone she trusted and the FBI trusted as well. Sara had picked up a good housekeeping magazine to read. She spotted a recipe for walnut cookies she wanted to try.
“Mommy, can we make these cookies one day please?” Sara shows Emma the recipe.
Emma looks at it and smiles “I think we can. Here, let me take a picture of the recipe.”
Emma pulls her cellphone out and snaps a couple of pictures of the article, so they could go shopping later for the ingredients. She had been
informed when she got the okay to take Sara to the doctor, that an undercover FBI agent was going to be at the doctor’s office as well. She wasn’t told who the agent was, but that they were there to provide extra protection for her and Sara.
Lucas was nearby if Emma and Sara needed him. They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves, so he was waiting outside at a nearby café. After ten minutes, the nurse comes and gets them and escort them to an office. They meet Dr. Christiania Mullen. She was an older lady in her late thirties and had short dirty blonde hair. She stood about 5 feet 5 inches and had a motherly face. Her dark olive skin made her to appear younger then she looked.
“Well hello, Sara and Mrs. Williams, please have a seat.” She motions to the two leather chairs in front of her office.
Her office had her degrees and pictures of her children and patients. There were pictures that was hand painted that had the artist name and one done by her.
Emma spotted the picture with her name on it “did you paint that one, Dr. Mullen?”
The pictures itself was just a seaside pictures at sunset. It was so vivid and looked so real.
“Yes, I did. It was while I was attending school over in Spain. So, what brings you two to see me today?” She had a pleasant smile on her face.
“Well, I was hoping you might be able to do a physical and a few tests on Sara. I think she might be intersex?”
“Why do you think that?” Dr. Mullen was looking at Sara as she sat quietly next to Emma and listened.
“Most of her body development. She’s not developing the second characteristic of a boy, but of a girl.” Emma looks at Sara and put her arm
around her back and hug her.
Dr. Mullen looks at Sara and could see the same thing that Emma was seeing.
“Well, it does appear so.” A smile appears on her face.
“Well, let’s see what we find.”
The door opens and the nurse comes walking in.
“Sara, if you’ll go with nurse Barrymore. She’s going to take your weight, height, draw some blood and give you a basic physical. Then when
your done with her, I’m going to give a more in depth physical, okay?”
Sara looks towards Emma. She was scared, because she has never been to the doctor’s and she didn’t trust people that much.
Emma could sense the concern in Sara “I’m going to be right here sweetie. I’ll be with you the whole entire time, except when Dr. Mullen does a more in-depth physical of you.”
“Okay.”
Sara stands up and follows Nurse Barrymore out and into the examination room. She has her change out of her clothes and into a paper
gown. Nurse Barrymore takes her blood pressure, check her breathing, weight, height and draw some blood.
Once all the basics are done, Nurse Barrymore escorts Sara into the examination room and have her get up on the table and put her feet up in the stirrups. Emma was holding Sara’s hand while she was laying on the table and had feet up in the air.
Dr. Mullen comes in and starts examining Sara between her legs. After she does that, she does an ultrasound and scans Sara’s abdomen and locates her ovaries and everything.
Sara kept holding Emma’s hand during the whole examination. She was nervous, but Dr. Mullen was gentle with her and checked her anal opening as well. She never had it done when she escaped.
Once Doctor Mullen was complete with her examination of Sara, she allowed her to get dress. Dr. Mullen did give her a few shots for some things she had found. Once Sara was fully dress, they were escorted back to Dr. Mullen’s office.
“I have some good news and some bad news for you Sara. Which would you like first?” Dr. Mullen was smiling.
“How about the bad news?” Emma was starting to like Dr. Mullen.
“Well, Sara you are not a boy. You’re a girl. Your ultrasound confirmed it. You have everything inside you to live a happy productive life. Now, the drawback is that you are still too young for surgery. However, your estrogen levels are within a normal range for a pre-teen girl. I’m going to put you on a vitamin regiment and prescribe you iron supplements.” Dr. Mullen was pleased with Sara’ results. She hadn’t contracted any sexual transmitted diseases.
All the damage that had been done to her rectum had healed and left some scarring, but overall, she was fine. Her iron levels were low and putting her on a vitamin regiment, would help her recover what vitamins she was missing from her diet.
“Dr. Mullen, how old does Sara have to be to get her birth defect corrected.” Emma was concerned about that.
“She could get it done when she is seventeen years old. Since it is a birth correction, it’s not consider to be sexual reassignment surgery.” Dr.
Mullen figure she might want it done when she turns sixteen years old instead.
“If you like, I can give you the paperwork to have her gender changed on her birth certificate. That way you won’t have to carry any medical records with you to prove you are a girl for school or sports.”
“Thank you. That would be helpful. If you could Doctor Mullen, can you send that paperwork to my boss please?”
“That shouldn’t a problem. Amy will have the pills I’m putting you on Sara.” Dr. Mullen stands up and escort Emma and Sara out.
“It’s been nice seeing you Sara.”
Sara just smiles at Dr. Mullen as they leave the office.
Emma looks down at Sara “so, what do you think about what you learned today?”
“I can’t believe I’m an actual girl. I thought I was always a boy, but it’s nice to know I am a girl.”
Sara was happy about finding out that she was a girl. She held onto Emma’s hand as they walked down towards where Lucas is waiting for them.
Lucas spots Emma and Sara walking towards him. He had stayed nearby to provide backup just in case they needed it. He didn’t spot anyone unusual near him or on the boat. He could access the security camera with his cellphone.
As Sara and Emma come closer to him “so, how did things go? Is she going to live?”
“Sara is as I thought. She’s one hundred percent girl. She’ll need some surgery to correct her birth defect, but that will have to wait till she’s
older.” Emma was proud that they knew the truth now about Sara.
Lucas looks at Sara “how do you feel about this kiddo?”
Sara thinks about it and in some ways felt different than she did before. However, it also scared her because she had seen what people will do with someone her age as a girl.
“I feel excited and scared. I know how people treat girls my age.”
“We’ll never allow anyone to hurt you again, Sara. I know we can’t stop every bad thing that might happen, but I want you to know we will do whatever it takes to protect you.” Emma promises to keep her promise to Sara.
Lucas looks at Sara and knew they couldn’t stop everything that could happen to Sara, but they would do everything in their power to prevent as much as they could.
“Since it near lunch time, what would you like for lunch today?”
They had arrived in Jacksonville, Florida last night so Sara could go to her appointment. They had docked their boat at the Naval Air Station and took a cab to downtown.
“I don’t know. What do you think, daddy?” Sara almost called Lucas by his name.
“I spotted a nice family restaurant not too far from here. Let’s have lunch there.”
Lucas had spotted it while he had been walking around waiting for them. He leads the way to the restaurant. The place was a little busy, but they were seated. The hostess gave them time to look over the menu to see what they wanted for lunch. Emma was keeping an eye out for trouble, just like Lucas was. Once everyone decided what they wanted they sat and made small talk.
Once their meal arrived. They sat and enjoyed it. They weren’t in a hurry to get back to the boat, so they did some window shopping afterwards and bought a few new movies to watch back on the boat.
Sara was out on the deck wearing a bikini that Emma had bought her. She figured while they were traveling down the intercostal waterway. She would get use to wearing one. She was still shocked that she was an intersex child. Emma had questioned Dr. Mullen a little more about maybe letting her get the operation a little earlier so she wouldn’t have a problem when she got her first period.
Dr. Mullen said she had an opening that would allow her to let her period blood out, but she couldn’t use tampons or have intercourse with anyone. The opening was very small and at first, she had missed it, but when she took another look at the images and pictures she took of her.
She spotted the opening. She would have to have surgery to make it normal.
Her skin was getting darker from all the tanning she had been doing. Emma had showed her a good spot on the boat, she could remove her suit to tan clothes less. This way, Lucas wouldn’t be embarrass seeing her nude. The estrogen that Doctor Mullen gave her to jump start her own production was playing havoc with her emotions. Sometimes, she would breakout and cry when she saw something that was cute or sentimental. Other times, she was bitchy or grumpy.
Emma was helping her deal with the ups and down of the estrogen in her system. She was also helping her to pass more like the age she was. That way she could blend in better with children and teenagers around her age. Emma also, made sure that she dyed Sara’s hair and eyebrows some other color, other than her natural color. Emma added a pair of cheap reading glasses to help disguise Sara even more.
“Hey kiddo, I thought you might like something cold to drink.” Emma hands Sara a plastic cup of cold water.
“Thanks, mom.” Sara accepts the plastic cup and takes a few sips of the cold water.
Emma had sat down next to Sara on a towel she brought with her. She takes a sip of cold water and watches as the land passes on each side of the boat.
“How are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine. I don’t feel as messed up as I did yesterday.” Sara takes another sip of her water.
“I know what you mean. Going through puberty can be rough sometimes, especially for girls. I was thinking. Once you start your period, I go ahead and get you the operation to fix your condition. That way you can go through school like a normal girl.” Emma wanted Sara to experience and interact with other girls her age.
“Mom, will I ever be allowed to go back home to confront my parents?” Sara looks over towards Emma.
“To be honest with you, Sara. It might not be a good idea to go. I know you want to know why they did what they did to you, but it might be a little dangerous if the Russian mob over there find out about you.” Emma didn’t think it would be a good idea for Sara to go.
Sara just looks straight ahead thinking about Emma’s words.
“Have you thought about what you would like to do, once this matter is over and done with? What occupation you might want to do?” Emma takes a sip of her water while she watches Sara’ facial expression.
“I don’t know. I was thinking it might be nice to be an FBI agent like you or dad.” Sara had thought about doing something like that to help other people.
“That would be nice, but it’s a difficult choice. You’re always on assignment somewhere tracking people down or trying to gather evidence to stop major crimes or even federal crimes. I know now that I have asked to be your legal guardian, I will have a desk job. That way I can come home to you every night. I’ve been thinking about switching careers and maybe joining NCIS at the Naval yard in Washington D.C. or maybe in South Carolina. I know you enjoyed the warm weather.”
“Couldn’t you do that within the FBI, mom? Still work for them, but asked to be transferred to a different office?”
“Maybe, or I might be taken out of the field and put behind a desk. You come first in my life now, Sara. You’re my daughter now and you will always come first.” Emma leans over and hug Sara.
Sara returns her mother’s hugs. As the two of them sit and continue working on their tans. By the evening they pull into a marina in St. Augustine.
Sara helps Emma make dinner. Lucas grill out on the grill on the deck as they ate outside on the deck. The Marina they pulled into was gated and had a lot of other boaters decked in the nearby slips. Most of them were retirees who had come down to Florida for the warm weather. A lot of them were living on their boats.
That night Sara stays up a little longer and read a book she picked up in Georgia. Lucas had turned in early. He wasn’t feeling too well. Emma had stayed up and was filling out their expense report. Sara was laying next to Emma on the sofa and was just reading while her mother did her work. According to the report Emma had gotten form her boss. The group that had kidnapped Sara was looking for her in South Carolina. They were given orders to continue up the other leg of Intercostal waterway. As far as the traffickers knew. She was being protected in some FBI safe house.
The other boat she had escape on, was at the naval base they had switched at. Emma strokes Sara’s hair. It had gotten a little longer, since she had paid to have it styled and colored. By midnight, Emma had finish their expense report and Sara had fallen asleep. Emma carefully get up off the sofa and slide a pillow under Sara’s head. Emma grabs a light blanket from the closet and cover Sara up.
Emma checks all the doors and windows before heading to bed. She did grab Sara’s teddy bear and tuck it next to her. She stops and look at Sara. Her parents and relatives are going to be happy she finally has a child. Hopefully, Sara won’t be overwhelmed from having so many relatives. Emma knows her parents are going to spoil Sara, because she will be their only grandchild.
Sara was sweating her ass off as she laid out on the deck of the boat as they traveled down the Florida coast. Her mother was down below inside the boat with the A/C going. Lucas was piloting the boat, but wasn’t looking to well today.
“Do you want me to take over dad?” Sara looks up towards Lucas.
“I’ll be fine Sara. It’s just a stomach bug.” Lucas didn’t know why he was feeling like he was. He woke-up with his stomach bothering him and feeling nausea. His abdomen was hurting him.
By the time they docked, he was in severe pain. Sara had to dock the boat herself, while Emma called the paramedics. Lucas had to be taken to the hospital. Emma and Sara took a cab to the hospital and waited to find out what was wrong with Lucas. After a few hours, they find out that Lucas’s appendix had burst, and they had to go in and operate on him.
Emma had to call her supervisor to let them know Lucas was in the hospital and might be in there for a while. His appendix had rupture and was in surgery right now. She was informed another agent would be sent out and would join her to protect Sara. Emma informs Sara about what her supervisor had said.
Max Gibson Houseboat:
Max watches as the sun set. He reaches down in the cooler and grabs a cold beer and pops it open. The scars on his chest stood out as he sat on the deck of his house boat and enjoys the cold beer and the sunset. He has been on forced vacation for the past week. During his forced time off, he has been thinking that it might be time for him to leave the bureau.
Things were becoming to political and he was getting tired of the dumbass in the White House. He had done his years of service in the Navy as a Seal and took a job offer with the FBI. He’s been an agent for the past seven years. He had a PhD in oceanography.
The last assignment he had been assigned too had been a rough one. It nearly cost him his life. The bomb that someone else had constructed had detonated prematurely and caught him and the people he had been sent in to gather evidence on. The explosion killed them and would had killed him if he had been any closer to it.
He takes a sip of his beer and finishes it off. He grabs another and opens it.
Max’s thoughts are interrupted when he hears a familiar voice. It was coming from the front of his house boat.
“Hey Max, you home?” Gordon had been sent to tell Max he was wanted. He had tried to call Max, but it went straight to voice mail.
“Yea, I’m around back.” Max had grabbed his gun out of habit.
Gordon walks around the pier Max’s house boat was tied up too. He finds him sitting in one of his lounge chairs drinking a beer and looking out towards the water.
“So, this is what you have been doing lately. Watching the sunset and drinking beer?” Gordon sits down in the other lounge chair and grabs a beer out of the cooler.
“Yep, just enjoying the sunset and a nice cold beer.” Max takes a sip of his beer.
“It’s not a bad life. Especially on a hot and humid day like this.” Gordon pops opens his beer and takes a sip of it. It wasn’t the brand he normally drunk, but it was nice.
Max glances sideways and wonders what brought his former partner to his house boat. He takes a sip of his beer and tosses some bread crumbs out on the water.
“So, what brings you this way?”
“Well, I tried calling you partner, but it went straight to voice mail.” Gordon takes another sip of his beer. “Director Daniel has an assignment for you. I think you’ll like this one.”
“Why do you say that?” Max takes another sip of his beer.
“Well, it’s a combination of vacation and protection. One of the agents that was on this case came down with appendicitis was rushed to the hospital a few hours ago. His partner and the person they are protecting are holed up in a nearby hotel room with another agent right now.” Gordon takes a sip of his beer.
“Who are they protecting and what is the other agent’s name?” Max finishes his beer and grabs another one.
“They are guarding a Sara Ann Williams and the other agent is from our Jersey office and her name is Emma Williams. Her partner Lucas
Price was the one that came down with appendicitis.” Gordon had been informed before he was sent to fetch Max.
“Why are they protecting this Sara Williams person?” Max looks towards his old partner.
“She’s a witness against the Russian Mafia for sex trafficking. She also witnesses the murder of a State Senator from New York.” Gordon takes a sip of his beer.
“Why aren’t the Marshal’s protecting her?” Max was curious about that.
“Because she called our office when she got down to Chesapeake, Va. Also, you won’t believe this, but she sailed down the intercoastal waterway all by herself from New Jersey and she is only twelve years old. That’s where our agents from Jersey met up with her. They have been traveling down the waterway to here in Florida.” Gordon thought this was all amusing.
Max couldn’t believe it. A twelve-year-old girl traveled down the waterway all by herself.
“Where are they now?” Max takes a sip of his beer.
“They are in Daytona Beach and docked at Yacht Harbor. Agent Lucas Price has been admitted to Halifax Medical Center.” Gordon felt sorry for Mr. Price.
“And you say the director wants me to come and take this assignment?” Max couldn’t believe it.
“Yep, he wants you to come in and take Mr. Price’s place on the boat.” Gordon finishes off his beer.
“Do you know how long the assignment is going to be?” Max figures he could get his neighbor or his cousin to take care of his place like he normally does.
“Nope. Only the director does. So, grab your go bags and I’ll give you a lift back to the office.” Gordon puts his empty bottle with the rest of the ones Max had.
“Alright , give me thirty minutes to pack and make arrangements.” Max finishes his beer and takes the cooler inside prepares to leave.
He makes arrangements with his cousin to come by and stay at his place while he's gone. He heads towards the Miami Office to speak with the director.
Sara was snuggled up close against Emma. She had her face buried against Emma’s chest and was sound asleep. Sara had a nightmare last night and had crawled into bed. She felt safe sleeping against Emma. She had cried when she was told Lucas wasn’t going to be joining them anymore.
Sara scoots closer against Emma’s body. She felt Emma hold her tighter against her body. Sara was enjoying being close to Emma. She felt extremely safe.
Emma glances down at Sara as she hugged her against her body. She had crawled into bed with her last night and could tell that she was scared. It felt weird to have Sara sleeping against her, but right at the same time. Even though she didn’t give birth to Sara, the maternal instinct inside of her wanted to protect her baby. She just lays there on the bed with her baby snuggled close to her.
She knew sooner or later, they had to get up and go back to the boat to meet Lucas replacement. She had received a phone call yesterday, that a new agent was being sent out to them. His name was Max Gibson and was a former Navy Seal and had been with the Bureau for seven years. She didn’t know much about, except he was coming from the Miami office.
Emma runs her fingers up and down Sara’s spine gently to see if she could wake her little baby.
Sara felt Emma rub her fingers against her back and just scoot closer to Emma’s body.
A playful smile appears on Emma’s face as she felt Sara scoot closer against her. She moves her finger down to Sara’s ticklish spots and tickle her. She keeps tickling her little darling.
Sara moans and tries to wiggle out from under her mother’s fingers, but she was unable to. She starts giggling and squirming under her mother’s gentle fingers. Sara wiggles some more as Emma kept tickling her.
Sara sits up and looks over at Emma. She crawls over and straddles her mother’s waist as she looks down at Emma’s face.
“Mom, do you think Lucas is going to get better?” Sara plays with a lock of Emma’s hair.
She liked playing with her mother’s hair. She was thinking next time they dye her hair. She wouldn’t mind getting her hair dye to the same color her mother’s was. Her natural blonde hair made her stick out.
“He’ll be fine, Sara. We got him to the hospital in time and they managed to save him. Lucas has to stay in the hospital for a while, so Lucas won’t be joining us. This new agent the Miami office is sending us is a retired Navy Seal. So, he knows how to handle a boat and he could teach you how to swim and scruba dive.” Emma holds Sara’s hand.
She notices that her fingernails needed to be repainted.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How do you feel about becoming a girl?” Emma could already see that Sara was developing some breast tissue.
“I don’t mind. I want to be just like you.” Sara watches Emma’s face.
“I know baby, but being a girl can be kind of dangerous. I know you already know about what some men will do to women.” Emma wanted to make sure that Sara made the right choice.
“I know mom, but I want to be just like you. I’ve found that I enjoy being treated like a girl.” Sara lays down on Emma’s chest.
Emma wraps her arms around her and just hold her. She rubs her back and kiss her forehead. Emma holds her for a little while, till her bladder forces her to get up.
“Alright, sweetie. I need to get up and use the bathroom and we need to take a shower and get ready to meet the new agent that will be replacing Lucas.” Emma lets go of Sara as she feels her roll off her body.
Emma heads towards the bathroom and relieves her bladder. Afterwards, she pulls Sara into the shower with her and wash her hair. She also checks the tattoo that Sara had been given to covered up the tattoo that marked Sara as a sex slave. The tattoo artist they took Sara too, did a good job in blending the design into something that couldn’t be recognized.
Once they were done showering, Emma helps Sara get dressed and head downstairs to meet the new agent in the restaurant.
Glover restaurant:
Max had arrived early to meet up with Emma and Sara Williams. He found out from the director of the Miami office, that Agent Emma Williams has adopted the witness as her own child. Also, that the child had originally came from Austria and had been forced into sex trafficking by the Russian Mafia. This same child was at the place where a New Jersey City Council member and Federal Judge’s body had been found. Even though they had a recording of what took place at the cabin in their possession, they still needed the child to act as a material witness on why a city council member, Federal judge and a police officer was there.
He was also given information about the boat. It had been heavily modified to act as a reconnaissance and surveillance vessel for the DEA, but the program had been cancelled. There was a hidden weapon locker, along with upgrades to the boats engines. Certain areas of the boat were bullet resistant. The hull had been reinforced.
He takes a sip of his coffee as he spots a woman with light brown hair that resemble Emma Williams with a black hair preteen girl walking beside her. The young girl looked cute in the sun dress she was wearing. Her description matched the latest picture they had of the witness. He had been expecting a boy, but that was no boy, but a preteen girl.
Emma spots a man that resembled Max’s description. She walks over towards his table, while holding Sara’s hand.
Sara was walking next to her mother and had her sunglasses pushed up on her head.
“Do you mind if we join you Mr. Gibson?”
“Please, sit down.” He watches as Sara and Emma sit down at the table.
A waitress comes over and pours a cup of coffee for Emma and a glass of orange juice for Sara. She also places a basket of muffins in the middle of the table.
“I took the liberty of ordering coffee, juice and some muffins for you two.”
“Thank you. Have you been brought up to date of what is going on?” Emma watches as Sara takes a warm muffin and break it in half and spread butter on it.
“Yes, and I have already stowed my gear and checked the boat out.” Max went down to the boat first to check it out, before coming to the hotel.
“Cool, so that means we can get underway as soon as we finish breakfast.” Emma looks at Max.
“Yep, I know you guys have been port hopping form one port to another, but I think we need to travel a little further to put some distances between us and the people looking for Sara. So, I’ve decided that we will be staying out at sea for awhile till we get to the canal and on the other side of Florida.” He takes a sip of his coffee.
“I think we have enough supplies to do that. We stocked up on a lot of groceries a few days ago.” Emma takes a sip of her coffee. She glances at Sara, who was eating the other half of her muffin.
“Good!”
The three of them finish breakfast and head towards the docks.
As they get closer to the boat, Max and Emma spot three guys looking at the boat. He could tell they were people who weren’t uses to being around boats. They had on fancy dress shoes and dress slacks. They were a little better dressed then most mafia people he has run into were.
“Stay near Sara and be prepared to jump onto the boat.” Emma saw the three people as well.
“Good morning gentlemen, what can I do for you?” Max approaches with his good ole boy charm.
“We were admiring your boat here. I was wondering if it was for sale?” Marat was sure that this was the boat he was told the boy was on, but from the looks of it. He wasn’t sure.
“Nope, I just got this beauty seaworthy and can’t wait to get her out for her sea trails. I’m thinking about heading up north. This weather is too much me.” Max wipes the sweat from his forehead.
Pavel and Nestor were looking towards the light hair woman and the little girl standing next to her. The woman looked like she fit the description of the agent protecting the child they were looking for. The little girl on the other hand, didn’t look like anything they were told about.
They were looking for a twelve-year-old boy with blonde hair. He also had their tattoo on his back.
Emma moves Sara closer to the boat. This way they could jump on and up to the pilot deck. Emma had her gun in her hand, concealed behind Sara’s back. She kept watching Max to see what he was going to do.
Marat was looking at the man. He wasn’t the male agent he was informed about. The woman he was sure about, but the little girl he wasn’t. He looks at the man standing in front of him. He looked like someone that spent a lot time out on the water. He had that weather look about him.
He motions with his head for Pavel and Nestor to move closer to the woman and child.
Max noticed the nod and moved closer towards Marat “You know, here is something you might like about this boat.”
He gets close enough to slam his fist against the guys jaw.
Sara jumps onto the boat and for the door. Emma told her that the safest place in the boat was the galley in the boat. All the windows were bullet resistant, including the door.
Emma shots the one guy coming towards her. She makes sure Sara was onboard the boat. She ducks in time as the other guy that she didn’t shoot comes after her. She blocks his fist and elbows him in the throat. He drops as she puts a bullet into him.
Max knocks his guy out and cuff him.
“Get the boat going.” Emma signals Sara as she unhooks the boat form the pier.
Max hears the engines on the boat start up and start moving away from the pier. Sara was piloting the boat from inside it. It was easier from the fly bridge, but there were controls inside the cabin. Max jumps from the pier and heads up to the fly bridge to take control of the boat.
He was in his element as he speeds the engine up and leaves the marina in a hurry. He was an experience seaman. He knew how to handle the boat at high speeds. He manages to get out of the Marina and out to open seas in no time. He doesn’t slow down till he gets close tot eh entrance to the canal.
Sara and Emma didn’t think the boat could move like it was doing. They never really brought it up to any speed, except what was required of them. Sara holds onto Emma as they moved out to open sea.
“I didn’t think the boat could move this fast, mom.” Sara just watches as they pass a few people out on jet skis and smaller boats.
“Neither did I.” Emma hugs her daughter and after a few minutes, both head up to the fly bridge where Max was sitting and steering the boat.
“Sorry for surprising you ladies like that, but the more distance we put between us and them. The better off we will be.” Max was watching their speed and fuel. When he checked the boat earlier, they had a full tank of fuel. He figures by the time they get to Coca Beach, they were going to need to stop for fuel.
“Where are we going?” Emma was curious.
“We’re heading towards Cocoa beach and we’ll refuel there and go out into the ocean for the night.” Max figure within a few days, they will be in the Gulf of Mexico.
Emma goes back down on the main deck and checks everything. Sara remains up top with Max and watches what he was doing. She had to teach Lucas what some of the controls did on their last boat. But as she watches Max, she saw that he seemed to know what everything did and how to use it. She sits down next to him on bench seat.
“So, how old are you, Sara?” Max already knew, but he wanted to make the girl comfortable around him.
“Twelve years old, sir.”
“I have a niece that’s around your age. She lives out on the West coast with her my brother and his wife. How about you? Do you have any siblings?”
“No sir. I don’t have any brother’s or sisters. The only family I have now is Emma’s family.” Sara pushes a loose lock of hair behind her ear.
“Sorry to hear that. What hobbies do you have?” Max glances at Sara as he kept a lookout in front of him.
“I like reading, listening to music and fishing. Lucas taught me how to fish. I also like history.” A smile forms on her face.
“Do you like eating seafood?”
“Yes sir. I never had it before and when I tried it, I fell in love with it. What do you like to do?” Sara was curious now.
“I enjoy swimming with dolphins and feeding ducks. I use to surf, when I lived on the West coast, but I haven’t done any surfing lately.” Max
use to go everyday with his brother.
“You swam with Dolphins?” Sara was amazed.
“Yes, I use to swim with Dolphins. They are amazing animals.”
“I hope I see one while we are sailing. I haven't seen one before.” Sara would love to see one up close.
“I think something can be arranged.” He smiles as he kept them on course.
Max docks the boat at the Kennedy Space Center for fuel and to dock for one night. He looks towards Sara and Emma.
“This is going to be the last time we stop for fuel till we get to Fort Myers, so if there is anything you ladies want to do. This would be the time to do it.” Max looked over towards Emma and Sara. They were standing on the fly bridge in their bikinis.
“That’s fine. We’re stocked up on everything. So, we can relax while we are here.” Emma had done inventory and they were fully stocked.
“Why don’t you join us, Max?” Sara was wearing her bikini that Emma bought her.
“Alright.” Max climbs down to the second deck followed by Emma and Sara.
Emma puts some suntan lotion on Sara’s slightly tan skin.
“Max, would you mind putting lotion on my back please?” Emma lays down on her beach chair on her stomach.
“I don’t mind.” He grabs the lotion and start putting it on Emma’s back.
“How often has the Russian mafia found you guys?” As he leans down to talk with Emma.
“Not often. Most of the places we stop. Have are private and you have to have a boat docked at the piers to search the docks.” Emma was enjoying Max’s hands on her back.
Max finishes putting lotion on Emma and goes into the cabin and over to a hidden panel to retrieve a bug detector. He searches the boat and finds one someone had put on the boat. He heads back to where Emma and Sara were sun bathing.
“We’re leaving now ladies.” He unties the boat as Emma stands up.
“Why are we leaving so soon?” She starts helping Max with the boat.
“Because I found a bug hidden on the boat.” Max goes up to the fly bridge and start the engines.
He backs the boat out and heads out to open seas. He tosses the bug in the water as he leaves the area. He heads out to open seas
“How would you ladies like to visit Key West tonight?” Max figures they could be there later tonight.
“Sounds like a plan.” Emma goes back and lays down on her stomach.
Later in the evening she gets up and heads inside the cabin to make dinner for everyone. It was a simple meal. Something Max could eat up
on the fly bridge.
“Thank you.” Max accepts the plate Emma had put together for him.
“You’re welcome.” Emma sits down on the bench with Max.
She watches as he ate his food. The boat was on autopilot, so she didn’t need to do anything. Darkness started falling as they continued into the night. Max managed to get them to Key West and dock for the rest of the night.
Sara had eaten and watched a movie while Emma and Max piloted the boat. She liked Max. He was willing to tell her things about the ocean and teach her how to tie different knots. He gave her a piece of rope to practice with. She heads towards bed, after she takes a shower and let Emma and Max know.
Emma comes into her bedroom and tuck her in “sweet dreams little princess.” She places a kiss on Sara’s forehead.
“Thanks mom.” She watches as Emma leaves the room and turn her light off.
Emma leaves the door cracked a little for Sara. She knew that Sara still had nightmares from her ordeal. She heads back towards the front of
the boat.
“You can sleep with me Max or we can pull out the spare bed in the other room in the back. You could also sleep out here on the sofa. It’s not uncomfortable. I’ve done it a few times.” Emma didn’t mind sharing a bed with Max. She shared it with Lucas and nothing happened between them.
“I’ll sleep out here on the sofa for now.” Max didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with his new partner.
“Suit yourself.” She heads into the Master bedroom and gather up some clean sheets, blankets, and pillows for Max.
She takes them back out to Max and help him get the sofa ready.
“Well, that should do it. I’ll see you in the morning.” Emma heads towards the Master bedroom.
Max lays down on the sofa and is surprised that it is comfortable. He figured it might have been hard or uncomfortable. He tucks his handgun close by, so he can grab it if they get boarded.
Max opens one eye when he hears movement near him. He spots Sara in her night gown going out the door and heading up to the second deck. He gets up and follows her discreetly. He spots her just sitting and watching the sun raise as it comes up.
“She does this every morning since she had been free.” Emma had spotted Max following Sara up to her favorite perch.
Max knew Emma was there. He backs down the steps and looks at her.
“How long has she been doing this?” Max was curious about Sara.
“Since I first met her. She used to be a sex slave for the Russian Mafia till the cabin she had been taken too was attacked by a Latino gang.
She didn’t see who attacked, but there was a camera that had been hidden that recorded the whole event and it caught the attack.” Emma still couldn’t believe what she had seen was done to all the young boys that night, especially Sara.
“She used to be force to provide sex for the Russians?” Max hadn’t been told everything, especially the recording.
“Here let me show you something. Also, did your supervisor tell you that Sara was mistaken for being a boy?” Emma wonders if Max’s supervisor told him everything.
“They told me she used to be a boy and that you have adopted Sara as your own child.” Max follows Emma inside the cabin and into the master bedroom.
Emma lifts the mattress to the hidden storage compartment under the mattress and put combination in to unlock it. She pulls out a usb drive and hands it to Max.
“Everything you need to know about Sara is stored on that drive. I have the original stored in a safe deposit box. Me and my old partner thought it might be best to have a few back-ups.” Emma had another usb drive protected in a water proof container.
They spot Sara coming in from outside.
“How was the sun raise this morning?” Emma comes walking out of the bedroom towards Sara.
“It was nice mom till, it started drizzling while I was out there. I think it’s going to be a rainy day.” Sara’s hair was damp from the rain.
“Well, we’re not sticking around here. We are going to be heading towards Fort Myers and then to New Orleans and up the Mississippi river.
We might spend a day or two in New Orleans.” Max had a few friends in New Orleans he could trust.
“Well, why don’t I make breakfast for everyone then?” Emma heads towards the kitchen to start breakfast for everyone.
Emma fixes breakfast for everyone and afterwards everyone gets changed out of their night clothes. Rain was coming down by the time they finish breakfast. Max didn’t care as he and Sara untied the boat and head towards the fuel depot to fill the tanks up and empty the waste tanks.
Sara couldn’t believe she was in New Orleans. They had spent a few days in Key West, where Max showed her how to scuba dive some. He said that he would allow her to do more diving. She was having fun so far in New Orleans. Emma and Max were taking her around to different places. Max met up with some friends of his that he trusted with his life. He introduces Emma and her to his friend’s family.
They were invited to a huge Cajun cookout. Sara pleaded to Max and Emma for them to go to it. She wanted to experience what she had seen on television with Max’s friends. Max and Emma both thought it was risky, but Max knew his friends and knew if trouble did decide to rear its ugly head here. It would get chopped off. You never make a Cajun mad.
Sara couldn’t believe Emma and Max had agreed to let her interact with Max’s friends. She had fun playing game against some of Max’s friends and their children. She was enjoying the food, the music and the stories. They were invited to spend the night and against Emma’s better judgement. She agreed to it. They were going air boating in the morning with Max’s friend.
Sara sleeps with Emma. That way Emma would feel okay about them staying. Sara didn’t mind sleeping with her mother. It wasn’t the first time she had done it. Plus, she always felt safer sleeping with Emma.
She is woken early in the morning by Max’s friend wife along with Emma. Emma had to help Sara get ready so, they could go air boating and crawfish hunting. She leans against Emma as they drove to where they were unloading the airboat. Sara stayed by Emma’s side as they stood and watch as the airboat was put into the water. Once they were aboard the airboat, Sara sits next Emma. They were upfront, so she was being sprayed by the water as they moved through the swamp. They spend the morning hunting crawfish and enjoying the airboat.
They return to Max’s friend’s house. Max’s friend teaches Sara how to cook the crawfish and then, once they are cooked. He shows Sara how to eat the crawfish. He watches as Sara eats her first crawfish.
“Now, you’re a Cajun.” Cirilo liked the young girl his friend Max had brought with him.
He knew it was against the rules, what Max was doing. However, if anyone was dumb enough to tried to take her from Max and Emma while she was here with his family and friends. They would have trouble coming their way. Several of his friends and family have come to see Sara
as a member of their family and would protect her.
He watches as she plays a game of horse shoes against several of his kids. He notices that Max and Emma weren’t too far from her either. He walks over towards Max.
“She’s safe my friend. None of my family or friends here will allow anyone to come near her.” He hands Max a beer he had grabbed.
“I don’t doubt it Cirilo. Your oldest son Damas seems to have taken a shine to her.” Max had noticed that Damas has been staying close to Sara.
He knew Damas was fourteen years old and Sara was just twelve years old. He thought it was cute and maybe one day they might be a couple, if Sara ever comes back to Louisiana. He was happy that they had moved the boat nearby.
In the morning, goodbyes are said. Just as they were leaving, Damas gives Sara his cellphone number and email address. Sara was liking the attention she was getting from Damas. He was a nice boy. Once they were aboard the boat and heading up the Mississippi river.
“Did you enjoy yourself, Sara?” Max looks over towards Sara as she sat near him up on the fly bridge.
“I loved it. Your friends were so kind and treated me like one of the family.” Sara had enjoyed every minute she had spent with them.
“That’s good to hear. I think they have taken a shine to you. If you ever need help or anything. You can always count on Cirilo and his family.”
Cirilo had joined at the same time he had and were stationed together.
Sara leans against Max as he piloted the boat upriver. They pass barges, tugs and even an old fashion river boat. Sara had a camera with her, so she took pictures of the river boat.
“So, this is where your hiding?” Emma hadn’t seen hide or hair of Sara since breakfast.
She knew she normally sat out tanning on the second deck. Emma sits down on the fly bridge with Max and Sara. She watches Sara take pictures with the camera they had picked up at the pawn shop they had visited. Emma had seen how much Sara had fallen in love with photography. She really had an eye for things.
Max pushes their route further then he had originally planned. Something, was nagging at him and he didn’t want to stop till he had some distance up the river. They pull into a marina for the night, after stopping at a refueling station and loading up on fuel.
Sara helps Emma with making dinner. It was a simple meal they were having. Sara set the table outside on the second deck, so they could enjoy the stars. Max had a beer, while Emma and Sara drunk sweet ice tea.
After dinner, they just lay out and enjoy the stars overhead. Max tells them stories about some of the places he had been and some of the things he had done. He knew Sara loved the stories he told, and stories Emma told her. Before she falls asleep, Emma makes her go downstairs and change into her night shirt.
“Sweet dreams, Sara.” Emma and Max make sure Sara is tucked in, before they leave her bedroom.
Emma helps make the sofa up for Max.
“Sleep tight, Max.” Emma heads towards the Master bedroom.
“You too Emma.” Max makes sure he has his gun and knife hidden nearby.
Max slowly falls asleep. The security system installed on the boat was on and everyone was safely tucked in. Max knew that no one could get them out here right now.
In the morning, Max wakes-up first and looks outside. There was a mist on the water and the water was as smooth as glass. He gets dress and unties the boat from the docks. He moves out under the cover of the morning. He was going to head further up river. They weren’t to far from Fort Adams, Mississippi.
It was a small river port community, where they could pick-up some more supplies. Since, Sara likes to fish now. They pick-up some fishing gear as well. Max buys a new hunting rifle from a store that catered to the hunting and fishing community. The rifle he buys is the Bergara B-14 HMR. He buys plenty of rounds for the new rifle and checks out the scope he buys to go with the rifle.
Emma had looked at some of the weapons on display. She then moved onto looking at the fishing gear and buy some new things for Sara. By the time they leave the store. They had spent couple thousand dollars at the store.
They spend the night at the marina and then head out in the morning. So, far the plan Max has been working on, has been working. He knows sooner or later. Whoever, was after Sara will either ambush them on the return trip or wait till they get back to New Jersey. Then try to kill them there. He hears movement behind as he turns around to see who it was.
“You left early this morning.” Emma hands Max a cup of coffee.
“Thanks. I’m just making sure no one is able to follow us.” He takes a sip of the coffee and it was just like he liked it.
Emma sits near there and watches as they travel down the river. She was starting to enjoy living on the water. No neighbors to bug you, the peace and quietness that surrounded you.
“Is Sara up yet?” Max takes a sip of his coffee.
“She's, still asleep. She had a rough night last night..” Emma takes a sip of her coffee.
“Nightmares again of what happened that night?” Max knew Sara still suffered from her ordeal.
“Yes. So, what’s our port of call tonight?” Emma was curious.
“We’re not stopping at a marina tonight. We.re going to be stopping near St. Catherine National Wildlife Refuge.” Max figures he could hide the
boat near the coast.
“Sounds like a plan.” Emma stays up on the fly bridge till her and Max finish their coffee.
It’s been a few days since they started up the Mississippi River and were approaching Memphis, Tennessee. It was raining, and Sara had a cold. She hadn’t been feeling well lately. She threw-up last night and she had a slight fever.
“Max, we need to pull in and take Sara to a doctor.” Emma was concern about her daughter.
“Alright. I’ll pull in at Memphis.” Max didn’t like this, but Sara was sick.
Max pulls the boat into a slip and heads to the office to plan for a few nights. While he was inside, he gets the number for a taxi company. He calls them and heads back to the boat to grab his gun and to help Emma with Susan. Emma and Max slip on their vest under their clothes and help Sara to the cab.
Sara was leaning against Emma as they headed to the nearest doctor’s office. Sara shivers as she pulls her coat tighter around her. She was cold, and her stomach was upset. She couldn’t hold down dinner last night. She was coughing a lot and her throat was hurting. She did the salt gargled like Emma suggested for her throat.
They manage to get Sara to an Urgent Care to be looked at. There was a lot of people waiting to be seen. Once they were called. Sara is taken to the back and examined. The doctor checks her over and pronounces that she has the Flu. He prescribes some medicine and gives her a shot. Emma gets a flu shot while she is there and Max decides to take his chances.
Once Max pays the doctor visit and goes to a pharmacy not too far from the Urgent Care place. They stop at a local grocery store to pick-up a few items for Sara. While they were in the grocery store, Max thought he saw a guy looking at them and Sara. Even though her tattoo has been changed and was covered up. She still stuck out because of her accent.
Max keeps an eye on him, while Emma stays close to Sara. The same cab they took last time shows up to pick them up. Max was looking at him and something seemed odd about him. Max glances out the back window and notices a car was following them.
“Pull into that shopping center please.” Max watches as the driver ignores him and continues onward.
The driver ignores Max and continues onward. He was told to deliver them to a house.
Max pulls his gun out “I said, to pull into the shopping center right now.”
Max puts his gun to the side of the cab drivers head. He would pull the trigger if he didn’t do what he was told. He glances towards the rear-view mirror to see if the car he spotted was still following them.
Dave was told to take them to the house or he would be killed. He knew Luka would kill him and his family if he didn’t do what he said. He
glances at the man holding the gun to his temple to see if he would pull the trigger. He decides that this man meant business. He pulls into the shopping center parking lot.
Max noticed the car that was following them pulls in behind them. He looks towards Emma and notices she had her gun out.
“Get ready to run with Sara.” Max looks towards Sara and could tell she wasn’t feeling well.
As soon as the cab comes to a stop. Emma pulls Sara out of the cab and hides among the parked cars. The car that was following them pulls in and several men get out and start chasing after the girls, while another comes after Max.
Max makes his way around a car to come up behind the guy looking for him. He cold-cocks him behind the head with the butt of his gun. He falls to the ground and feels around his wallet and car keys.
Emma spots the two guys chasing after her and Sara. She knew Sara wasn’t in any condition to do any running. She spots a truck high enough off the ground that Sara could crawl under and hide.
“Get down and crawl under the truck, Sara.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sara drops down and crawls under the truck.
She takes Emma’s purse and pulls it to her. She tries to keep from coughing. She watches as Emma runs off.
The two guys that got out of the car lost sight of the girl and the woman. They were told to bring both them back alive. They look around and spots the woman, but not the girl. They start chasing after the woman.
Emma smiles as she gets the two guys to chase her. She ducks near a car and waits for one guy to walk on the other side of the car. She shoots his ankle out.
Andrei falls as his ankle is shot. He falls to the ground. He doesn’t see who shot him. The next thing that happens, he is knocked out.
Makar looks around for Andrei but doesn’t see him. He spots the woman and fires at her. His bullet strikes the car window beside her.
Emma heard the glass beside her shatter as a bullet hits it. She spots the person firing at her and fires at him. She hits him in the chest.
Makar saw the woman turn and fire her gun at him. He felt two bullets hit him in the chest and drops to the ground. He takes his final breathes as he closes his eyes.
Emma runs back over to where she left Sara and helps her out from under the truck. She saw Sara shiver.
“We need to find Max.” She looks around and spots him running over to her.
Sara was in the middle of a coughing fit. She was coughing so hard, that she felt light headed and ready to pass out. She stops after a few minutes.
“We need to get her back to the boat, Max.” Emma was worried about Sara.
“Come on, I got us a car.” Max picks Sara up and carries her to the car the bad guys came in.
He keeps to the speed limit, but knows he needs to get Sara back to the boat. He parks the car as close as he can and carries Sara down the deck, while Emma protected them. When they get to the boat. Emma tucks Sara in bed and gives her some of the medicine as she feels the boat moving. After Emma makes sure Sara was tucked in bed and asleep.
She heads into the galley is and lift the hidden floor panel and pull out two M4A1 Carbine for her and Max. She also pulls out a few grenades for them to use. She puts the floor panel back in place and heads up to the flybridge to give Max his M4 and a few grenades. She was glad that they traded ships when they did. This one was equipped to do surveillance and had a few hidden weapons to protect it.
“Here you go Max.” She hands him the rifle and grenades.
“Thanks.” Max had the throttle at full as they moved up the Mississippi River.
He was trying to put as much distance between them and whoever came after them. How did they know they were in Memphis? Did they have someone following them?
“Emma, take the controls for awhile please.” Max moves aside to let Emma take the steering wheel.
He heads down to the Master bedroom where his bag was and grabs his bug detector. He starts outside around the boat and checks all the way around the boat. He doesn’t pick-up anything and just as he was heading up to the second deck. He picks up a tracker. It takes him a few seconds to locate it, but he finds it. He tosses it overboard into the river. He searches again and locates another one, but this one allowed the listener to listen in on their conversation.
“Why don’t you chickenshit come and get us, instead of hiding?” He crushes it in his hand.
He heads back inside and put his bug detector away and head up to the flybridge. Max notices that Emma had her rifle within arms reach and was watching the radar unit.
“What were you looking for?” Emma had spotted Max looking around the boat.
“Bugs. Somehow, they figured out what boat we are on and bugged the boat. I’m expecting whoever they are to be coming for us soon. We need to end this. I want to know who the jackass is. So, let’s lay a trap for them so we can find out.” Max was getting tired of this cat and mouse game.
“I agree with you. Sara isn’t feeling good and this needs to end.” Emma slows down and wonders what Max had in mind.
“Pull the boat over and pretend we are having trouble. We’ll play possum and let them get close to us.” Max heads down and changes into his wetsuit and his snorkel.
Emma sends a call out for help saying they were having engine problems. She gets a response that someone would come out and check their engines out and if need too. They would tow them to the nearest marina.
Max waits till he hears a high-speed boat coming towards them, before slipping into the water. He uses the boat as cover. He watches as they pull up close to the boat. He spotted three people in the boat. They didn’t look like people that worked on boats. He swims under their boat and comes up behind their boat and throw a thick chain around the propeller blades of the boat.
One of the guys in the boat raises and points his gun at Emma.
“Where’s your partner and the boy?” Nikolay had his gun pointed at the FBI agent.
His partners Pavel and Ruslan were looking for the other FBI agent. They knew the boy was sick, from the cab driver they threaten and kill. Pavel and Ruslan were looking hard for the other agent.
Emma just smiles “right behind you with a grenade ready to throw at you.”
A grenade lands right at their feet and a smoke cloud blocks their vision. Max climbs aboard and starts knocking them out. He wasn’t going to kill them, till he finds out who keeps sending them after them.
“Here’s some rope for you.” Emma tosses Max some rope.
“Thanks!” Max catches it and starts tying each guy up.
Once they were tied up. Max secures the boat they used to get to them to their boat and removes the chain from around the propeller. He and Emma drag one of the guys into the water.
“Wakey-wakey!” Max dunks the guy they put in the water, under.
Valery wakes after he was dunk under the water. He spits out the water that he had a swallow. He couldn’t move his arms. His legs were still
free, but he couldn’t get at the guy in the water with him.
Max looks at the Russian guy as he realizes he is in the water. The only reason he wasn’t underwater, is because Emma was holding a rope tied to his bound hands. She was stopping him from going under.
“Кто послал вас за нами?” Max was speaking in Russian to him.
“Пойди сам себе американскую свинью!”
“Ты не очень умный.” Max nods to Emma as he dunks the guy underwater.
Max holds him underwater for the count of ten and brings him back up.
Valery was trying to keep from drowning as he tries kicking the guy in front of him. He kept missing each time he tried. He is pulled back up as he gasps for air.
“Feel like talking now?” Max was ready to dunk him under again.
The water was his element. This is where he felt alive and comfortable. He just smiles at the guy.
Valery doesn’t respond and holds his breath.
Max punches him in the breadbasket and dunks him under the water.
Valery gasp as water enters his mouth. The guy had punched him in his stomach, causing him to exhale. He starts choking as the water goes
down his throat. He tries to push down, but there was no ground under him. He coughs as he is pulled up for air.
“Последний шанс.” This was going to be his last chance.
Valery looks at Max “Karaulov Nikolay (Kolya) Timofeyevich, he sent us to retrieve the boy and to kill you. He wants the boy.”
“Who is Karaulov Nikolay (Kolya) Timofeyevich?” Max was curious about this guy.
“He’s the Brigadier of the Mkhedrioni Mafia. He wants the boy because he likes children. He also wants the boy dead because gave the FBI information about what happened at the cabin. He’s the only witness left that could testify against him.” Valery knew he was dead.
“Where can I find this Karaulov?” Max wants to make this personal and kill this man.
“172 Cedar Street, East Hampton, New York, You’ll find him there or at the Maxim Caviar Boutique & Bar. He normally conducts business there.” Valery knew he was a dead man now.
“Pull him up, Emma.” Max climbs aboard their boat and helps Emma with Valery.
“Radio ahead Emma and have a team meet us in Granville.” Max heads up to the flybridge after helping Valery inside the boat.
Emma watches Valery as she takes her cellphone out and calls the Memphis office to have them send a team to Granville, Tennessee. She’ll call back to inform them which marina they are docked at. She hangs up and grabs a towel to dry Valery off.
By 8:00 pm they pull into Wildwood Marina. They get two slips. One for the boat and one for the other boat that has the other two sleeping men in it. It takes the Memphis office half-n-hour to meet them. The FBI agents that show-up take the three men away.
Max calls their supervisor and tells them who is behind this whole mess and that he wants in on the capture of Karaulov Nikolay Timofeyevich. He also informs his supervisor. That Emma wants to stay by Sara’s side.The reason she wants to stay, is because Sara has the flu. Emma doesn’t want to leave her side while she is sick.
Max and his team were attacking the New York house. The Intel they had pointed to Karaulov Nikolay Timofeyevich was at his home, instead of going to the club. Max had been flown back to New York and met up with the strike team that was going to storm the house. The men in the strike team that had been chosen were some of the hardest hitting people the FBI had. They didn’t care about who voted for who or any of that stupid stuff. They were just for the law. They believed in what is right and wrong. Since, this guy was a known pedophile. They wanted to bring him in for justice.
Max checks his gear along with the strike team. Most of these men he knew personally, either from his time in the service or his time as an FBI agent. Him and Emma spoke before he left, and she had said that she was going to retire from the FBI once this assignment is over. She may go to work for a family friend or join the local sheriff’s department.
She doesn’t know yet. All she did know, was that she wanted to be there for Sara. She just wanted to help Sara adjust to being a normal teenage girl. She just knows that she wants to be around to help Sara. Her time as an FBI agent pretty much helped her make her mind up.
“You ready, Max?”
Max looks up at the team leader, Chuck.
“You bet. Let’s go and get this bastard.” Max has wanted this guys hide for a while.
Agents surrounded the house and as one they moved towards the house. The agents moved in being careful of any electronic surveillance or guards that might be watching or in use. Max encounters a few guards. He quickly and quietly dispatching them. His training as a Navy Seal gave him an edge over the men he took out. He made sure their bodies wouldn’t be discovered any time soon as he made his way towards the house. He wanted Karaulov for what he did to Sara and the other children.
He hears gunfire as he moved through the house towards where Karaulov would be. He spots him running towards his den. Max chases after him and spots Karaulov pulling a gun from his wall safe. Just as he turned to fire at Max. Max fires at his shoulder. He wasn’t going to kill Karaulov. He was going to bring him in and let him experience what prison life in the United States like.
Once Karaulov is down from being shot.
“Suspect is down. Going to need paramedics.” Max just looks at him.
“Я оставил тебя в живых по причине. Я хочу, чтобы вы увидели, что значит быть кем-то в тюрьме.” Max made sure he understood every word.
(Translation: I kept you alive for a reason. I want you to see what it is like to be someone else’s bitch in prison.)
Max checks with the rest of the task force to see how they did. None of their people had been hurt or killed. The same couldn’t be said about Karaulov’s security guards. The majority of them had been killed.
Max calls Emma to give her the good news and to check on Sara.
Six Months Later:
“Mom, Dad watch.” Sara dives off a very high dive and into the pool below.
Emma and Max watch as Sara dives off the tall diving board and into the pool below. Emma and Sara moved in with Max down in Florida. Sara was enrolled in a private school and the operation she needed to fix her birth defect had been done. Emma took a job working at an insurance agency and Max retired from the FBI and was working for a Marine Institute.
Emma’s old partner Lucas had made it in time to the hospital. His appendix had burst, and they had to do emergency surgery on him. Once he was healed and back with his girlfriend. They got married and he left the FBI. He took a job with the local police department.
His uncle was on the police force in Internal Affairs and could use an agent of his qualifications. So, he joined the police force and was working in IA now. He and his girlfriend were expecting their first child.
Sara swims over to the side of the pool and lifts herself out of the pool. She looks at her new parents and felt so happy and blessed. Max and Emma had gotten married last month, and Max officially adopted her as his own daughter. Ever since Emma and her moved in with Max. He had been teaching her how to swim and scuba dive.
Max had gotten a small sailboat and they would go out diving. He had taken her with him a few times when the company he worked for sent him out. She had a swim with the dolphins like Max had promised she could.
“Did you see?” Sara was excited she had survived the drive.
“Yes, we saw, sweetie.” Emma was proud of Sara.
She was turning into an excellent swimmer under Max’s tutelage. She was already talking about joining the swim team when she goes to high school. She was taking gymnastics and learning to surf.
Sara lays down in her lounge chair and just smile. She was finally free to be herself. She had parents that loved her very much. She gets up and hugs Emma and Max.
“What was that for sweet pea?” Max was curious.
“For being the best parents any child could ask for.” She jumps back into the pool and has some fun.