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  Two of the girls had been here awhile and had begun to feel safe and comfortable. The other three were new and still lived in constant fear. During lunch, those three picked at their salads and barely touched the chicken.

  Sandy was welcomed to eat with them, and she did. She didn’t talk much, merely observed. Her desire was for the girls to get comfortable with her presence and not feel as though she was intruding.

  Once lunch was over, the girls were charged with cleanup. Beth led Sandy to her office and shut the door.

  Sandy frowned. “What’s going on Beth?”

  “We’re on tighter than usual security right now. There have been two murders of prostitutes in the last three days. Both were within a couple of miles of here.”

  A tingle of fear erupted inside of Sandy. “Do you know why they were killed?” Sandy asked. She wondered if this was what Randy had told her about and the reason for his concern.

  “No we don’t. We have to assume that none of our girls are safe, and we must take extra precautions for all our sakes. This may also mean two things. Some additional girls may want to come to us for safety, others may want to run away from here, out of fear.”

  “What should I do?” asked Sandy.

  “Be vigilant when coming and going. We have security and won’t allow anyone to enter that we don’t absolutely know and trust, however we cannot keep the girls prisoner. I will allow them to go to their jobs and other necessary places. I’ve arranged male volunteers to go with them escorting them to and from work.”

  Sandy sat with concern on her face and fear in her heart. She nodded in response to Beth. “How much do the girls know?”

  “They know enough. They’ve heard gossip, the news on the TV, and what I felt was necessary to tell them. It wasn’t right to keep it from them, this is their lives. I had to explain to them why there would be volunteers taking them to and from work.”

  A knock on the door interrupted Sandy’s thoughts. It was one of the girls asking a question. Beth rose to go with the girl and at the same time, telling Sandy that was about all she knew and would keep her posted.

  Sandy rose to leave Beth’s office, her mind raced with random thoughts. She felt totally out of her depth. This was the type of thing Randy and Carrie dealt with on a daily basis, but not Sandy. She wondered if she’d made a mistake volunteering here at Safe At Last.

  “We’re having a group session where the girls can talk about their situations and also their goals. This is not a therapy session, but provides a sense of healing. Please join us. I think it will help you get to understand them better and in turn help them,” said Beth.

  In the living room sat the five residents, Beth and Sandy, and one other volunteer. Beth opened in prayer, asking God to give the girls peace and comfort. Sandy hoped for that as well.

  “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. You’ve heard about the two murders. Whoever wants to talk about that, please do,” Beth began.

  Sandy could see fear and concern on the faces of the girls, and her heart felt compassion for them, but she still didn’t know them and their world.

  “I knew Mandy,” one girl named Lisa began. Tears fell from her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Lisa,” said Beth. Sandy could see deep compassion on Beth’s face. She loved these girls as her own sisters. “Do you want to talk about that?”

  Lisa nodded and used a tissue that someone handed her, to wipe her cheeks. "I’m from south Texas, El Paso actually. I ran away from home when I was fourteen because my mom’s boyfriend beat me. My mom was on drugs. I left. I was staying at Mandy’s home for a while, but things were only a little better there.

  “We spent a lot of time out at night and before long, met up with some guys who said they would take care of us. We were young and stupid.” Lisa crossed and then uncrossed her legs, uncomfortable.

  “One night we were out and hanging in an old house. I don’t know whose it was, it was pretty shabby, but we were away from home so it was okay by us. I think those guys drugged us, because the next thing I knew, Mandy and I both woke up in the back of a semi-truck with a bunch of other girls from Mexico.

  “The truck smelled. I think those girls had been in there for days traveling in the heat. I was terrified and so was Mandy. Our purses were gone and our cell phones too.

  “It seemed like we rode forever. It was so hot in the truck that I kept feeling like I was passing out, but then it would bounce and shake me awake.”

  Lisa sat staring at nothing in the middle of the floor for a few minutes. Everyone in the room gave her time to gather her thoughts.

  “We stopped here in Oklahoma City. A man I didn’t know pulled four of us off of the truck in the middle of the night and shut the door on the others. Mandy and I were shoved into the back of a car and were driven to a house where we were told to bathe and change clothes.

  “We did. It felt good,” Lisa’s face remembered the pleasure of the bath after so many days in the heat. But then the smile faded.

  “The house was divided into several rooms upstairs. Like where there had been one bedroom it was maybe divided into two or three. There was only enough room for a small twin mattress in each.” Tears rolled down Lisa’s face again.

  “I thought they had abused me when I lived at home, and I guess I was, but nothing like that.” A huge sob wracked her body, but she quickly recovered, needing to talk.

  “They separated Mandy and me, but in between men, we could go to each other's rooms and talk. We tried to plan a way out, but there were big men guarding us and the rooms. There was always someone there.

  “They offered us drugs. We resisted everything at first, but after a while we felt so hopeless that we gave in. The days were often a blur.

  “Then one day there was a huge commotion downstairs. People were running and shouting. A man I didn’t know came and grabbed both Mandy and me and took us out.

  “I’m pretty sure I heard cops and cop cars somewhere in all the ruckus, but I was still pretty high, so I’m not sure. The man took us in his car to another house. His name was Gus, and he was nice to us, at first.

  “We still had to work, but he let us out to work the street rather than being stuck in a little room all day. We got to eat good food, and he eased us off of the hard drugs. We felt like we had been liberated. We were so thankful to him.

  “But then as time went on, we saw that he was strict in his own way. But it was still better than the house, so we were loyal to him. We were afraid if we weren’t that he would send us to another house just like the other one.”

  Lisa stopped for a time, and when it seemed like she was done talking Beth said, “It left you with two bad choices, two painful choices and you chose the less painful of the two. There is no shame in that.”

  Lisa looked at Beth and asked, “Do you think Mandy would still be alive if we had stayed in that house?” Lisa’s face was wracked with pain. Could it be that she blames herself for Mandy’s death, Sandy wondered?

  “Lisa, do you want to tell us how you came to be here and not Mandy?” Beth asked.

  Lisa nodded, once again being pulled from her faraway thoughts. “Word had gotten around about Safe At Last. Mandy and I had talked about it, but it terrified us. Gus was good to us, but then he used that to put fear in us. The thought of leaving him terrified us.”

  Lisa ducked her head as if she were ashamed. “And honestly we didn’t know how anyone could really help us. We were young and stupid and used up. If someone said they would get us out, then what? We didn’t even graduate out of high school. We had no place to live and didn’t know how to work anywhere else.”

  “But then one day when I was working, a lady gave me a sheet of paper, and that sheet talked about Safe At Last and that they would help us get our GED, get a job, and help us get a new life.

  “I took the paper home that night and talked to Mandy about it. She wanted to believe it, we both did. But she was so scared of Gus.

  “The night I left I had
called the number on the paper and they planned to meet us and bring us here. We didn’t know where ‘here’ was and that’s good. Mandy and I were set to meet at the right time, but Mandy never showed.”

  A deep sigh escaped Lisa’s lips. “I wanted to wait for her, and we waited for a while, but the lady said someone could catch us the longer we waited. Finally, we left. Then this morning we heard that Mandy was dead.”

  Lisa looked up at Beth. “I think Gus killed her because I left. I think he tried to make her tell him where I’d gone. He bought and paid for us and we were his property. I’ve seen Gus’ temper and I have no doubt that he killed Mandy, and it’s my fault.” Lisa finally stopped. Tears were running in sheets over her cheeks as she sat and tore her tissue to shreds out of sheer anxiety.

  “Lisa, it’s not your fault. Gus, no one, has the right to buy and sell human beings. You were not his property. I know you believe that Gus killed Mandy and that it is because of you. We don’t know that Gus killed her and if he did, that is a choice he made. The fault lies with him, not you.”

  Sandy felt the deep sadness that blanketed the room. Inadequacy flooded her. Randy was right, she had nothing to offer these girls. She was so ill equipped to help them.

  Then Sandy felt a tiny thin hand slip into hers. She looked down to see that the little girl beside her had reached out to hold her hand. Sandy looked up from their hands to her face, and the girl, not yet thirteen, smiled a timid smile back at her. “I like your pretty blonde hair,” the girl said.

  Sandy thought her heart would break in two. She squeezed the girl's hand and gave her the biggest smile she could offer. Then she reached out and gave the girl a hug.

  Maybe, just maybe, she did have something to offer them.

  “Jenny, I spoke with that place Safe At Last,” Pride said. It had taken her a day or so to mention it to Jenny and even now she held her breath. The last thing Pride wanted was for Jenny to think Pride no longer wanted her there. But with two girls dead, the most important thing was Jenny’s safety. Jenny looked up from the magazine she was looking at.

  “You did?” A cocktail of emotions flooded her. She had been terrified since Cami’s death, then another kind of fear came when Pride had talked about her going to that place.

  “I’m so afraid that you are going to wind up dead like Cami and Mandy.” The look on Pride’s face was pure agony. “I can hardly bare the thought of you leaving me. I love you like my own daughter, but would sooner die as see you harmed.”

  Jenny looked back down at the magazine. Beautiful ladies wearing expensive clothes looked back at her from the page. Did people really live like this, Jenny wondered. The pretty blue top one lady wore said it was $125.00, and the pants were $165.00. This was a magazine of fairytales, but Jenny didn’t live in a fairytale. She pushed the magazine away and looked up at Pride.

  “What did they say when you called them?”

  “They’re primarily for rescuing victims from human trafficking, but they also take in prostitutes and dancers if they feel they are at a place where they truly want to make a change. They don’t want to take someone in who isn’t serious about leaving the life and doing what it takes to do so.” Pride was at the sink washing dishes and now had her back to Jenny. Jenny wanted to see her face so she could read it.

  Jenny didn’t say anything for the longest time. She’d known this life for so long and didn’t know what it was like to have any other life. Gus would never let her go. He would find her and maybe kill her. She glanced back at the open page of the magazine. The smiling ladies beckoned to her. “Come join us.”

  “Pride come sit with me,” said Jenny. She wanted to talk more, but wanted Pride’s honest opinion and she didn’t know if she was getting it if she couldn’t see her face.

  Pride glanced over her shoulder, then dried the dish she was working on and sat it in the drainer. With a practiced swoop she flicked the towel over her shoulder and pulled out the chair across from Jenny.

  “What would you do Pride?” asked Jenny.

  Pride was awash with her own regrets. What would she do? She knew what she would have done at Jenny’s age. She would have made the wrong choice for the wrong reasons. But now, older and wiser, she knew what choice she would make.

  “I would get out of this life once and for all.” Pride reached across the table and shut the magazine, then motioned for Jenny’s hands. When Jenny complied, she squeezed them tight and looked her in the eyes with sincerity.

  “I’ve made too many mistakes and lived a life of regrets. I can’t change a one of them now, but I can tell you that now is the opportunity for you to get out. To get out and not make the same mistakes I made.

  “Gus will find me and kill me,” said Jenny.

  “This life will kill you if you don’t go,” Pride was matter-of-fact.

  Jenny pulled her hands away and nodded. Pride didn’t want to push Jenny. If she wasn’t ready, then it wouldn’t stick.

  “What do I have to do?” Jenny asked. Her face was pinched with worry.

  “I don’t know. I think the best thing is to just talk with them first. Before you decide, you need to know as much as you can about them and the program.”

  “Do you think Gus killed Cami?” asked Jenny switching gears on their conversation, but in her mind the decision to go into the program was linked.

  “I don’t know,” said Pride, and she didn’t know. But someone was killing those girls and even if it wasn’t Gus, Jenny could be the next one.

  “If I’m not doing this — what I do now, what will I do? I didn’t finish high school. No one will hire me.”

  “I think the program will help you with that.”

  Jenny got up and walked to the coffeepot and filled her cup, both she and Pride let their conversation rest for a moment.

  “When can I talk to them?” asked Jenny.

  Pride turned around in her chair to face Jenny. “I’ll give them a call.”

  The man used his left hand, the one with the diamond ring, to smooth back his greased hair. It was in order as usual, so he lowered his hand slowly back down to the arm of the black leather chair where he was seated.

  “Gus, we’ve been patient with you,” the man, Alexander, said.

  Gus was sitting in the chair opposite of Alex, the man who had snared him and his life over twenty years ago. His blood pressure was high and pressing against the top of his skull. This meeting with Alex would not end well.

  Alex uncrossed and recrossed his legs in the opposite direction. He looked down and ran his fingers along the sharp crease of his expensive gray trousers.

  He spoke again without looking at Gus. “Why are my girls dying? Are you not in charge of protecting them?” His voice was eerily calm and smooth. It made shivers ripple up Gus’ spine.

  Gus willed himself to remain calm. Panic would only prove that Alex had something to worry about with Gus. “You’ve known me for a long time. I’ve never failed to do anything you asked me. I have men watching these girls. I don’t know who’s killing them.”

  Alex looked up at Gus. His black eyes were as cold and lifeless as Gus’ were, but unlike Gus, pure evil radiated from them like tractor beams sucking you into the hell they came from. Gus had to look away for fear of losing his soul.

  The man used his thumb to rotate the diamond ring on his finger; its facets catching the light. Gus watched the dance of light and wished he was anywhere but here.

  “Gus you are failing me. What? We now have two girls dead and I suspect that one is missing and maybe dead. Two of them lived right underneath your roof. You will die if you do not tell me the truth.”

  The man tilted his head back and looked at Gus downward as if looking down his nose at him. His eyes had narrowed into slits and Gus could not look at them.

  “Why would I kill them? They did their jobs. They made us money. I had no reason to kill them.” Gus was clenching his jaw. He tried to reconcile his fate. Today he knew he was going to die.

  �
�What am I to do with you Gus?” Alex grinned and stood. He walked over to Gus and patted his cheek full on with his palm. The pats felt like slaps to Gus.

  With a nod of Alex’s head the two goons who stood in the corner, dressed in suits that cost more than Gus made in a year, walked over to Alex. With unspoken understanding the two men easily pulled Gus up from the chair with their bulky arms.

  Gus hung in the air suspended between the two brutes, face to face with Alex. “You will die. Not today, but you will die and it will be at my hand if this does not stop. Find the missing girl and bring her back.”

  Gus nodded. He did not want to appear weak, but for all of his hardened demeanor, he was terrified.

  The two men carried Gus to the front door of the dimly lit restaurant, each holding one of his arms up under the armpit. Then without ceremony, they literally threw him out the front door.

  Gus landed on his feet after a stumble, then looked up and down the street to see who had seen. He took a deep breath and then stood tall as if he had not just had a meeting with the devil himself.

  His two men had stayed in his black SUV as instructed. It was parked on a gravel lot to the side of the building, so they hadn’t seen Gus’ humiliating exit. A cauldron of terror and anger danced throughout his body as he opened the passenger door, sat down, and slammed the door closed.

  They sat with the engine running, waiting for Gus to give them instructions. Then suddenly, Gus began beating the dash with both fists, screaming and cursing. Once his tirade had ended, he commanded the driver Vince, to take him to Pride’s. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

  Chapter 7

  Beth’s Safe At Last dedicated cell phone rang. She was walking down the hall to her office after their group time.

  “This is Safe At Last. How may I help you?” She unlocked the door to her office and tucked the key in her pocket.