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Once we reached Felixstowe, I was tasked with assisting the medical triage setup while K19 mapped out the raid.
When their meeting ended, Cayman, one of the Shadow Ops operatives, briefed us on what to anticipate. “Right before the ship berths, the terminal, including the vessel itself, will go entirely dark. At the same time, ear-piercing sirens will blare through the loudspeakers.” He handed each of us over-ear protection. “Both of these tactics are intended to distract and confuse the traffickers guarding the victims. Thermal imaging will be used to confirm the containers to be raided. Each of them will then be liberated simultaneously. Any questions?”
My mind was reeling with them. However, none of them were need-to-know at the present time.
Before he could tell us more, Ridge burst through the back door of the warehouse where we were assembled, saying we’d been misinformed and the ship would be arriving earlier than our latest update.
“I overheard the terminal manager say he’d switched the SSA numbers, giving whoever he was talking to an extra twenty-four hours to get everything off-loaded,” he said.
“If those receiving this cargo think they have twenty-four hours, it means we can anticipate the ship arriving at nightfall,” said Doc in a hushed voice. “Find the damn thing,” he said to Cayman before turning to those of us standing within hearing range. “Only those you trust with yourownlife get briefed on this.”
“It’ll be berthedin less than an hour,” said Cayman, watching via overheads—or satellites—as the tugboats pulled the vessel in. It was shortly after nightfall, as Doc had predicted.
What followed could only be described as organized chaos. Assembled teams donned tactical gear, tested communications systems, and readied firearms.
As Cayman had forewarned, the entire terminal went dark and sirens began blaring. We listened via the comms as teams moved through the containers, each with a Doppler device for thermal imaging.
“Team three in place,” Ares reported.
“Four in place,” said Cayman.
“One in place,” said Doc.
This continued until the first eight units were in position and ready to open the containers. Since the other two were mid-stack, they took longer to find. It also took additional time to move the elevated platforms where they needed to be. Once those team leaders announced they were ready, Gunner issued the command to start opening doors.
While I’d anticipated shouting and some gunfire, I picked up on neither. Instead, one by one, I heard the team leaders shouting to stand down.
“Jesus Fucking Christ,”we heard Gunner say. “All clear. Get your asses over here.”
The victim-assistance teams moved out one by one. Shortly after Gunner’s signal, I heard several of the other teams calling out Luisa’s name.
“We got her. She’s in container three,” said Ares right about the same time the sirens went silent and the terminal’s lights came on.
“Condition?” Ridge asked through the comms as Beau and I raced out to the container beside this one.
“Stable.”
My brother reached our destination first, and when Ares pointed to Luisa, he rushed forward and wrapped her in a blanket. He was leading her out when Seraphina ran up and met them at the door.
“Luisa!”she shouted.
I stood back, watching the sisters embrace.
“You take them in,” Ridge instructed Beau while I followed him over to the container.
“Good God,” I muttered when we reached its entrance. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand. Ridge did the same.
While I could see blankets and piles of garbage, it was the stench from waste that overpowered my senses. I rushed in when I saw a woman attempting to stand and looking as though she might pass out at any moment. With Ridge on one side and me on the other, we got her off the ship and into the triage center.
Once she was safely inside, he and I returned to assist more victims. It took two hours for us to move those rescued from the containers into the triage center and for them to be examined by the intake staff.
When there were no more victims to escort, Ridge and I walked over to where Doc sat with Ares and Kodiak, another agent on K19’s team.
“Is there an arrest count?” he asked.
It occurred to me that I hadn’t heard anything about the traffickers who’d been in the containers.
“Zero,” said Gunner. “The fuckers locked them in. The only trap doors were epoxied shut and painted over on the inside, so there was no way for them to escape.”
