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I jump out of the bus and I get low, running across the dirt path next to the railroad track, staying hidden as I try to get a closer look at what’s happening. The closer I get, I notice a bunch of people talking to Axel and Mikhail. And I recognize the therapist as one of them. I come into their view with my gun raised at all of them.
“Somebody want to tell me what the fuck’s going on here?” I ask when they spot me.
“Oh shit,” Mikhail grabs his chest and smiles. The fuck’s so funny?
“I got us some help,” Axel says.
I gesture to him to get the fuck over here so I can speak to him in private. My tone rises even as I attempt to whisper. “What the fuck do you mean, you got us some help? Who’s to say we can even trust them? Fuck, I wish Calder were here. He’d be able to run a check on them. We didn’t even think to do that before, did we? Fuck, Axel, what the hell were you thinking? By the way, where the fuck is Calder?” I throw my hand toward my forehead, rubbing it to ease the incoming migraine.
“Calder isn’t here because he tried to kill himself earlier, Julissa. You can’t keep going around doing impulsive shit like this. In more ways than one, you’re killing us. And what I was thinking was that we had hundreds of kids with nowhere to go and we didn’t have a fucking clue how to help them. So I got us some fucking help. The whole world’s not some fucking hell hole, Julissa. There are good people in it too.” He walks away and my mouth drops open.
I grab my belly and start struggling to breathe. As I try to catch my breath, tears start pouring out from me. Axel’s first few words are echoing on repeat in my head, “Calder tried to kill himself.”
I couldn’t even respond to Axel to tell him that I’m not trying to kill them and I tried to do this without them but it didn’t matter now anyway because I understand that I wasn’t open enough and honest with them. I need to make a clear cut. For me to keep doing this and to stop them from getting involved, I need to stop hiding and I need to return home to Vegas to face the heat on my own if I must, or to make sure that the work we did doesn’t just go to shit while some other fucking crime family takes over.
I need to break the news to them as soon as I make sure that the kids are okay and I bring the babies into the rescue. I run back toward the bus with the nurse and the babies and we drive over to the other buses where I go up to the therapist to let her know that I’ve got some more babies that need rescuing.
Mikhail comes over to me and hugs me. “You got the babies from the hospital?” he asks and I nod.
“Oh babe, you need a rest and a backrub after today and I promise you, you’ll get it just as soon as I get this shoulder stitched up and we get back home. You did amazing today,” he says and I shrug out of his embrace.
“Thanks.” I squeeze his hand as I go back over to the therapist telling her that I’d like to speak to all the kids before I leave. She looks at me like I’m crazy but I’m determined to make sure that I’m doing the right thing surrendering to the help they’re providing and leaving the kids in their care. Many of the kids have already been piled into fifty-seater buses so I just go in each bus, one at a time, and the enclosure of the bus makes it easier for me to be heard as I speak to them. The kids are placed in the buses according to their ages, so while I pretty much say the same thing in each bus, filled with kids who can speak and walk or understand me, I adjust my speech to cater to each age group.
Mainly, what I say to them all is, “Hi, guys. I know it’s been a long and scary day but you’re safe now and if you’re not, I’ll make sure that you are, no matter what. I know you don’t know who I am, except for the fact that I’m covered in dried cuts and blood. You also saw me fight and I know I’m pretty scary but there’s a reason why I wanted to rescue you. You see when I was a kid, I was a little like you. My father sold me to a man who later trafficked me until I became an adult. It was horrible. I hated every minute of it. I wanted to die. And one day, I couldn’t take it anymore and I escaped. And I vowed to myself that in every situation where I became aware that human trafficking was happening, I’d do everything in my power to prevent another child who was kind of like me from suffering. Adults like me too.” I’m sobbing and sniffling.
I continue. “So trust me when I say, I understand that some of you may not have homes to go to. Some of you were sold into trafficking by your parents or guardians. So for those of you who have homes to go back to and want to go home, please raise your hands,” I ask them. And quite a number of them do.
However, some of them have never even met their families. They’ve always been in foster care and I don’t feel comfortable enough sending them back to foster care because now I don’t trust any foster care environment. “How many of you want to find your families?” I ask and many more raise their hands. I make a mental note. I’m going to have to say something to the therapist about that. Maybe she can help them find their families and do a proper investigation into whether or not they’ll be safe returning to them or if she’ll have to find other homes for them.
“Okay, and how many of you don’t have homes or never want to go back home?” I ask again. Quite a number of them raise their hands.
Some of the kids are too young to take with me so I’ll have to figure out how that’s going to work out. Another thing I’ll mention to the therapist. “Raise your hand if you’re over sixteen and you’d like to do what I do, which isn’t sex work by the way, but doing what you’ve seen me do today.”
A few of them raise their hand and for the first time, I notice the girl from Anne’s Cafe. She notices me too and we smile at each other.
“Okay, for those of you that want to do what I do. How’d you like to come with me to Vegas and help me tackle trafficking there?” I ask.
And a lot of the older kids raise their hands. I also find out from the nurse if she’d like to work with me too and she agrees. I give her back her phone and we exchange numbers. It’s decided then, they’ll be my recruits. They’ll come with me when I leave. But even for the ones I’m leaving behind, the babies and the older kids, I’ve not really left them because I’ll always be watching to make sure that they’re in safe hands.
First, though, I’ve got to go see Calder. It’s already nightfall when Mikhail and Axel jump back in their car and follow me as I race back home to talk to him one last time.
Chapter 38
Calder
I’vespentall-dayworkinglike a madman to produce new IDs, passports, and other travel documents. I only stopped to show the kids Julissa dropped off earlier where the bathroom is so they could shower and dress themselves while I work. Then I sent them to Axel’s old bedroom since it hasn’t been used in a while so they could get some sleep because the poor things looked like they were about to pass out.
I’ve also packed all the things we’ll need into individual suitcases and placed them at the door, ready to leave when we are. My feet have been tapping like crazy, my palms are sweaty and my heart’s in my throat.
The front door opens and Julissa walks in looking a mess. I launch off the couch like there’s a spring under my ass and I run to hug her. “Baby! Oh, thank fuck you’re safe.” I squeeze her and she squeezes me back.
Mikhail and Axel come in behind her. Axel’s pale as fuck and he’s barely holding himself up on his leg. I run over to Axel. “Shit man, you’ve got to get that looked at,” I tell him. “I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
Julissa spins around as if she’s just now noticing how dire the situation is that he’s in. “Oh, fuck. You’re right. But you can’t go yet. I need to talk to you. Hold on.” She places a hand on my shoulder and turns away from me, taking out her phone.
“Hey, what are you doing? Can you come to my place? I need you to help take care of my friend,” she says. Friend? Isn’t he a lot more than that? She tells the person on the other end of the line what she’ll need and then she hangs up. “Axe, I’m sorry. I’ve been all over the place. So have you, I know that’s no excuse for neglecting you. The nurse from the bus with the babies will be over here soon to get you all taken care of, okay?” He pulls himself over to the couch and collapses in it.
She turns to me. “Where are the kids?”
