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“So we need someone on the inside. But no woman we have would fit in with them… They’re too young.” Finn sighs, rubbing a hand over his face.
“I’ll… I’ll do it.” We all turn at the same time a girl, maybe the oldest one in there, gets up on very shaky legs, and tries to walk from the back of the container. Madds rushes to her, reaching over to help, but she pulls back quickly. No one speaks, as the girl doesn’t need to be spooked more than she already has been. Eventually, she gently places her small hand in Madds’ large one and walks forward. We don’t miss the way every single soul in that container turns as she walks past. They quite literally look up to her. If she’s the eldest, she probably protected them in there.
She steps out into the brighter light of the warehouse and one of Jonathan’s men rushes away and quickly comes back with a chair.
“I’ll do it. If there’s more…” She looks back toward the inside of the container. “…I want to find them. But it has to happen fast… I can’t let them… I can’t.”
“I know… I know.” I don’t think my current, stern attitude is much comfort to her, but right now I’m blinded by the disgust I have toward this entire situation. “How much time do we have until you have to tell them the container arrived?” I turn to Jonathan.
“An hour, tops.”
“Okay. We need a tracker.” I look at Carter and he nods, rushing through the warehouse. Seconds later, we hear the car leaving. “We’re going to put a tracker on you. It’s going to be small. You might have to swallow it or—”
“It’s okay. I’ll do whatever it takes. Slice me open and put it under my skin, I don’t care. Just… help them.”
Not us, not me,them.
“What’s your name?”
“Evelyn.” Her voice is calm, not defeated, but composed, as if she’s been trying to hold herself together through all of this.
“How old are you?” Finn steps forward, the look in his eyes hard to pinpoint. Somewhere between anger, shock, and heartbreaking sadness.
“Seventeen…” She turns her head toward the container. “My sister is eleven.”
“Fucking hell,” Finn exclaims.
Everyone in this room right now is broken in some way. I swipe my eyes over all their faces and even the two men I don’t actually know, Jonathan’s men, they look as if they could cry and kill at the same time.
“We’ll get you all out. I promise. But everyone has to be very, very brave.” I want to comfort her, place my hand on her shoulder, something to make this better, make what she’s about to do better. But I don’t think some other stranger touching her will help. Madds stands beside her though, and she seems comfortable with that.
“Will they… Will they get to the children?” She lowers her tone to a whisper, looking at me with big, hazel eyes, broken veins spilled on the white, dark purple circles around them.
“I really hope not. I don’t want to lie to you.”
Tears slowly fill her eyes, but she doesn’t cry, doesn’t whimper, she just… lets them pool there until they fill and fall down her cheeks, down to her jaw, some spilling off before she wipes them all.
“I understand…” She turns to the others again, and nods once. A gentle reassurance she doesn’t really believe in.
“Where did they take you from?” Finn steps even closer to her.
“Various places. We’re not all from the same city, they just brought us all to the same place. My sister and I, they took us when I was picking her up from school after work.”
“Work, not school?” Finn squats down in front of her chair, keeping a safe distance, but leveled eye contact.
She shakes her head. “It’s only us two.” She pauses and inhales deeply, wiping more tears before they find her cheeks. “I can’t fail her.”
“You won’t. We’ll get you out before…” Finn promises. But he shouldn’t promise that at all.
Not long passes and Carter returns with a small tracker, small enough that he managed to put it in a pill cartridge. I’m not gonna lie, the advances of technology are rather scary.
“It won’t dissolve, it’s specially made. But it will pass through. Keep it in your mouth for as long as you can. Swallow it only if they try to check your mouth, okay?” Carter hands her the pill and nods.
“We should go.” I look toward everyone, and Finn gives her a crooked smile, while Madds squeezes her shoulder, helping her up and back into what’s probably going to become her nightmare.
She stops and turns before the container doors close. “I can’t have the police know of me and my sister… it’s only us. I can’t lose her. I’m not of age yet…”
Finn and Madds nod to her. Considering what we’re about to do, the police will be the last people to hear of this. Their idea of justice doesn’t quite align with ours.
