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***
"Dammit!" I shout as I slam on the brakes of my car. I come to a screeching halt nearly halfway into a four-way stop. Thankfully, the intersection is empty.
Pay attention, Mari!
How could I be so stupid? So naive and reckless? And why am I even surprised?! Of course, a guy like Josef is only going to be interested in one thing. And then I had to go and kiss him after having officially known him for an entire day, like some dumb slut.
Sluttiest virgin in town!I hear Honey's voice in my head. I’m so distracted that I hardly notice when I turn onto the one-way street where Siren Sounds Music Studio sits. I can see the building to my right, on the east side of the road, just a few hundred yards ahead of me, so I still have some time before I need to slow down to turn into the parking lot. But just then, something catches my eye.
I see someone emerge from the emergency exit door just to the right of the main entrance, directly facing the street. I’m still too far away to make out any details, but I can tell from the body shape and long, dark hair that it’s a female. As I gradually get closer, I recognize the girl I saw in Sonomi Sagawa’s waiting room just a few days ago, Connie.
She looks around for a second as if scanning the lot to see who’s around and then takes off running toward the street. As Connie gets closer, I can see what little clothes she’s wearing are torn, and blood is running from her nose.
Something about this feels off, so I slow my car to a stop on the right side of the road but leave it running. I lower my driver's side window and unbuckle my seatbelt. I position my left hand on the car door and my right on the steering wheel for support and try as best I can to stick the top half of my body out the window.
“Connie!” I yell to her as loudly as possible. She immediately stops, and panic takes over her face as she frantically looks around. I reposition myself to get my left arm up and waving as I call out to her again, “Connie!”
This time she sees me, and I watch the look of panic on her face slowly turn to one of recognition. She starts toward me but then hesitates as if reconsidering. I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn slightly to see two men in charcoal-colored suits burst through the emergency exit door. Connie must have heard them as she bolts straight for me without even turning around to look behind her. I wriggle my way back through the car window and into my seat as quickly as I can. I push the button to unlock the front passenger side door just as Connie reaches my car. I beckon quickly with my right hand for her to get in as I reach for my seatbelt with the left.
“Hurry!” I say urgently but in a low voice. As Connie opens the passenger door, I’m assaulted by the pungency of her perfume, but I quickly shake it off. I don’t know if the men in the charcoal suits saw where she went, but I don’t want to risk them hearing me if they’re nearby. Not wanting to waste any time, I check my left to make sure no cars are coming and slowly pull back onto the road.
“Do they see us?” I ask her. I don’t want to call any attention to us, and a car screeching and speeding down a one-way street will definitely attract some attention. Connie slouches down low in her seat and peaks out the window.
“I don’t know. They’re looking in this direction, but they’re just standing there. I think one of them has a walkie-talkie or something,” Connie answers.
“Should I drive to the police station? Or a hospital?” I try my best not to overwhelm her with too many questions at once. I’d like to know who exactly those men are and what they did to her. But she’s visibly panicked, and I don’t want to make it worse.
“No! No, please don’t go to the cops!” She says as she scrambles to prop herself back up into a sitting position while turning to face me. So much for not making it worse.
“Um, ok… Why?” I ask, doing my best to navigate my way off the one-way street as quickly as possible while having no idea where I’m headed. I glance over at Connie and see tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“Fuck!” She shouts as she throws herself back against the seat and begins to sob. “I’m so fucked!”
After turning right onto a much busier four-lane street, I’m forced to come to a stop at a red light. I shift in my seat to face Connie and lightly rest my right hand on her shoulder, startling her a little.
“Hey, it’s alright. You’re safe now, ok?” I say softly while trying to maintain eye contact.
Connie’s shoulder is shaking ever-so-slightly under my hand.
“Now, can you tell me who those guys are and why you’re running from them? I need to figure out where we’re going, so the more information I have, the better, ok?” She nods her head, seeming to calm down a bit.
“The Depths. Those guys are security for The Depths. I was sent down there to do side-work, but I refused. I told them I’ll do anything else to pay off my debt. I’m not above doing grunt work. But sex work is where I draw the line. I refused. But they said I couldn’t refuse, that I don’t have a choice, and that Sonomi was going to recoup her losses one way or another. I fought back and ran when they started to rough me up,” My heart drops as Connie speaks.
"Wait, forced prostitution? You mean…" Uncle Suki hinted that there was sex work going on behind the scenes at Siren Studio, but I’m sure he couldn’t know about girls being forced to do it.
HONK!
The car behind us blares its horn, causing us both to jump. I quickly turn my attention back to the road and get moving again.
"Some of the girls have no control over who they see or what they do. They're told who they'll be fucking on any given night, and they have to do it. I can't do that. I just can't," Her voice cracks as she says the last bit. She takes a deep breath and continues, "And I can't go to the cops ‘cus I have a warrant out with the tribal police back home. If they run my name, they'll see the warrant, and I'll be arrested and sent back to the reservation in cuffs."
After a few moments of deliberation, I decide against asking her what the warrant is for. Of course, I want to know, but right now, I need to focus on getting us somewhere safe. I can ask Connie about the details later. This area is so busy that it’s nearly impossible to tell if someone is trying to follow us. We obviously can’t go to my apartment, and Dad is usually home this time of day, so there’s no way I’m taking her there.
Uncle Suki will help if I ask him, but I know he’ll end up calling the police even if I tell him not to. I feel guilty for breaking my promise to go to him if I’m in any danger, and I’m starting to think I might be for helping Connie. But I wasn’t about to let those men get their hands on her again. There’s only one person I can think of who may actually be able to help and who definitely won’t call the cops.
“Ok. It’s ok. We’re going to get you somewhere safe. Grab my purse and take out my phone. It’s right on the floor there,” I say, nodding toward Connie's feet. “Now, go to my contacts,”
“Okay. Who should I call?” she asks.
