With that, she could hear men walking towards the door. Maxine hurried to hide her bag back under her mattress as Mateo opened the door. He looked at Maxine knowingly.
“Nadia, it’s time,” he said.
Nadia swallowed the pill and looked to Maxine for reassurance.
She saw the anguish in Maxine’s eyes. At that moment, Nadia was terrified. She didn’t want to be raped. She wanted to die.
20
Six months later
Jen was in fits of laughter.
“Gemma, you’re hilarious!”
Tears rolled down Jen’s face as they left the supermarket.
“I know it’s cool that you are trying to use Spanish, but that is just too funny.”
Jen held her stomach, the laughter causing her scar to hurt. However, it was worth it.
“That shop assistant’s face was a picture. She didn’t have a clue what you were saying.”
“It was close!” Gemma replied through her own laughs. “Bolsa, Balsa, it’s only one letter out.”
“I know, but instead of asking for a bag, you asked for a raft. That is hilarious!” Jen laughed. “If that man behind hadn’t explained, we’d be coming out of the shop looking like Robinson Crusoe.” Jen snorted through the laughter.
“Well,” Gemma replied. “You never know when a raft could come in handy.”
Jen leant against the wall, she was laughing so hard she could barely stand up.
“But a raft isn’t going to hold our pint of milk and orange juice is it?”
Gemma fell against the wall too.
“Oh, stop it Jen, I’ll pee myself now.”
They continued laughing.
“I’m proud of you for trying to speak Spanish,” Jen replied. “You adorable nutter.”
Jen hugged her friend.
“You really are the best. This holiday is exactly what I need.”
They composed themselves and crossed the road back to the apartments.
“If we aren’t floating on a shopping bag on an adventure tonight, shall we go to that nice-looking pizza place further down the seafront by the marina?” Jen asked.
“Sounds good, it’s a lovely looking restaurant.” Gemma replied. “That waiter that was stood in the doorway yesterday looked as tasty as the food.”
“Easy tiger.” Jen said. “You’re a happily married woman.”
“Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t harm to look.”
21
Four months before
Nadia vomited into the toilet for the third time that day.
“When was your period due?” Maxine asked Nadia from the doorway into the bathroom.
“I don’t know, weeks ago.” Nadia replied.
“You are pregnant, Nadia.” Maxine replied, sorrowfully.
“I can’t be. After what happened to Cassandra, I just can’t be.”
Maxine put her finger to her mouth to quieten Nadia and walked next to the toilet.
“Quiet, Nadia,” she whispered, but firmly. “We can’t have Cassandra hearing you. It’s only the last day or two she has stopped screaming.”
Nadia lifted her head from the toilet bowl and nodded.
“They’ll do the same to my baby too, won’t they?” she asked.
“I do not know,” Maxine replied, honestly. “Some girls have had and kept their babies. Some men, they like to suck on boobs that give out milk.”
Nadia shuddered at the thought.
“Some men are more evil.” Maxine continued. “Like the men who took Cassandra’s baby.”
“What really happened?” Nadia asked.
“I sometimes wish I couldn’t understand Arabic.” Maxine continued. Her face filled with sorrow.
“You can’t tell Cassandra, do you hear me?” she continued.
Nadia nodded.
“I heard them say that they had a buyer. A man. He wanted to pay to kill the baby. It was a sacrifice. He paid twenty thousand dollars.”
Nadia’s face turned quickly from shock to horror.
“Cassandra must never know of this. All she knows is they took her baby. She can’t cope with that. She definitely can’t cope with this.”
Nadia nodded.
She hoped that she would lose the baby or that there was a chance that she wasn’t pregnant.
The consortium had given the men condoms. Most of the men didn’t use them. The men were told that it was for their protection. They didn’t care what happened to the girls.
Since the first time with Mr S, Nadia had been forced to have sex with more men than she could remember, often several times per day.
They were taken from the dormitory over to the main house. In there, instead of the cold metal bunk beds there were bedrooms, several bedrooms. Some had double beds made up with satin sheets, which would have been nice in any other world than the horror that Nadia was living. One was made up to look like a school classroom with tiny desks and chairs, feeding the paedophiles fantasies even further. The worst one was the dungeon, the one with the metal cage with restraints on a metal bed.
Whilst Nadia had learned to control her screams, she never could when she was taken to the dungeon. That was where she experienced the worst violence.
She knew that it was the dungeon that Maxine spent the most of her time. Many a night she had tried her best to clean up Maxine’s wounds as she cried out in pain after returning, battered and bruised.
It was like the men got a kick out of screwing Maxine, but then felt revulsion at themselves for finding a transsexual attractive.
It wasn’t Maxine’s fault that she was a woman with a penis. Nadia would never forget the first time she cleaned up slashes on Maxine’s testicles. Maxine was such a loving and gentle woman. She did her best to care for the young children like a mother would, nursing their wounds, hugging them until they stopped sobbing and fell asleep after being subjected to another rape.
Nadia would always try her best to look after the younger ones if Maxine was away.
After Maxine, she was the oldest. Cassandra was only a year younger at fourteen, but was so damaged by her pregnancy that she spent her whole time withdrawn on her bunk when she wasn’t servicing clients.
Sometimes, they would be taken away. There were parties that were held for rich men in Lanzarote. Some men did not like coming to the compound, but the consortium had a hotel on the island. There the paedophiles could holiday with their families and indulge in their perversions.
Three or four of them would be taken at a time, they would be taken by yacht. It would take a day and a half to get there. They would be kept in the hotel for a few days and returned. They knew they would be a week away from the compound.
These times were easier. They at least got some rest from the abuse on the boat, mostly.
Nadia remembered the first time she was taken to Lanzarote the month before. It had been her, Mei and Nikki that had been taken. Enough indulgences for any holiday making pervert. A mixed-race teenager, a young Asian girl and a pretty little blonde white girl, paraded like cattle in a market.
She has shared a bed with the girls on the yacht on the way over. Nikki had wet the bed like she always did. The abuse was the cause.
She thought back to the yacht when Biscuit had first raped her. Her skin crawled as she thought of the warmth of his breath on her neck. How his body had a disgusting, unclean odour. How he groaned as he came on top of her and told her that he wished her Dad could see her now. Sick fucking bastard. The first of many times he had forced himself upon her.
Nadia decided there and then that it was Biscuit who had fathered her child. She hated him more than she hated any of the other men, even those who had been more physically violent, she blamed him for her being there. He was the one who had taken her from Paddington. He was the one who had ensured that she had a life that was a living hell. If she thought of him as the baby’s father, she hoped that she could hate the baby that was growing inside her. Then she wouldn’t care what happened to it.
&n
bsp; 22
Four months later
Jen finished her last mouthful of pizza, she was stuffed.
“Of course, Troy wouldn’t call that a proper pizza.” she said. “Has to be a really thin crust for a New Yorker.”
“As long as you enjoyed it,” Gemma said, she was still twirling some spaghetti around a fork.
“I’ve never understood the appeal of a carbonara,” Jen continued, looking at her friend’s plate of food. “Too creamy for me.”
“It’s stunning!” Gemma replied. “You should try a bit.”
Jen, waved a dismissive wave at her friend.
“No, you’re OK,” she said, and then she seemed to freeze as she looked out of the window.
“Are you OK, Jen?” Gemma asked, seeing her friend gaze out of the window.
Jen didn’t reply, she just continued staring.
“Jen, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Gemma pressed.
Jen turned to her friend, fleetingly, before returning her gaze outside.
“Gemma, I think that is Nadia Jenkins.”
She motioned her head towards a young girl, who was being guided across the road by a man.
“Nadia who?” Gemma asked.
“Nadia Jenkins, that teenager who went missing from Roath Park about six months ago.”
“It can’t be!” Gemma said.
“I swear, I think it’s her, Gemma. What should we do?”
“Don’t be daft,” Gemma said. “What would a missing teenager be doing in Lanzarote?”
Jen watched as they headed down a little jetty towards a large yacht.
“I’m telling you, Gemma, I’ll never forget her face from when I went to the police station. It was that day that Lisa Whitney told me that Oliver was pleading not guilty, before his barrister got him to plead guilty for GBH just before it went to trial. I remember her face on the whiteboard and thinking how tragic it was. It’s her, Gemma, and she looks pregnant.”
...
Jen couldn’t settle. Gemma ordered the bill and paid. They walked outside the restaurant, and Jen crossed the road.
“Where are you going, Jen?” Gemma asked, fearful of the answer.
“I’ve got to go and see, Gem,” Jen said.
“And what do you think you are going to do? Shouldn’t we phone the police? I should phone Marcus.”
“It’ll be too late, I am going to look.”
“Jen, this is stupid!” Gemma replied.
Jen was steadfast.
“I’m telling you, that was Nadia Jenkins. A pregnant Nadia Jenkins. That child has been raped. I have been raped. I know what that’s like. I’m an adult; she’s a child. I am going to investigate. You can come with me or you can go back to the apartment, but I couldn’t live with myself if I walked away.”
Jen walked purposefully across the road as Gemma ran after her. She was regretting her heeled sandals as she tried to catch up with her friend.
“Jen, wait!” she called after her. “We should get some help.”
“We may not have time.” Jen replied.
They reached the jetty.
Jen held her finger to her lips as she reached the yacht. She tried to peer inside. She could see Nadia sat just inside the door. She motioned to Gemma to indicate where Nadia was.
She could see two men. One headed back outside and Jen and Gemma sank down, hoping he hadn’t seen them. He headed up towards the steering wheel on the upper deck.
The other man went into a back room behind where Nadia was sitting.
“I’m going in,” Jen whispered.
Gemma shook her head. “You can’t, Jen, it’s too dangerous.”
Jen didn’t reply, she took off her shoes and tentatively stepped onto the deck.
She made eye contact with Nadia, the teenager had a look of shock.
Jen motioned for the teenager to head towards her.
Nadia stepped up, she looked around her, but the man wasn’t near.
Jen motioned again, the urgency clear in her body language.
Nadia tip-toed towards her, when she reached Jen, Jen whispered into her ear.
“I know you’re Nadia Jenkins, I’m here to rescue you. Quick!”
She guided Nadia off the boat towards Gemma.
“We need to move fast.” Gemma said to Jen, “We need to stay low until the end of the jetty.”
Jen nodded, looking at Nadia to see if she understood.
They took small low tentative steps until the end of the jetty, a few steps later they were back on the main road.
“Now we run!” Jen said.
“What about the others?” Nadia asked.
“There are two more on board, Maxine and Abdul. Abdul, he’s only five.” she continued.
Gemma looked at Jen, her eyes pleading. “We have Nadia, we have to go.”
Jen held Nadia with both arms, squaring to her face to face. “Where are the others?”
“They are in the back room, next to the room where Mateo went. They’re locked in.”
“Jen, no!” Gemma begged. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You take Nadia back to the apartment; I’m going back for them.” Jen turned and headed back to the jetty ignoring her friend’s screams after her.
Jen reached the boat and stepped back onto the deck, she was just inside the boat when she could see a man on the deck down the side of the cabin. He was untying the boat from the jetty.
“Shit!” Jen thought. She’d have to be fast.
She was about to open the door that Nadia had told her to go to when she heard, “We are clear boss.”
The engine roared into action and the boat began to pull away.
23
Gemma let out a scream. She could see the boat starting to pull away, and Jen was still on board.
She stood there, the realisation of what was happening dawning on her in one horrific moment that seemed to pass in slow motion.
She looked at the teenager, who was shivering despite the heat. Gemma guessed she was in shock.
As much as it pained her, there was nothing that she could do for Jen now, but she did have a teenager to save.
“Come with me, you’re safe now.” Gemma said.
“What about your friend?” Nadia asked.
“She’ll be OK, I’m sure,” Gemma lied. “I need to get you back to the apartment.”
The woman and the teenager walked in silence. Gemma battling with her mind on what she should do. She would get back to the apartment and she would phone Marcus. She didn’t know what else to do, what else could she do? She felt hopeless.
They turned up the side road to the apartment block. Some men were sat outside the restaurant at the bottom of the road, one laughed a raucous laugh and Gemma saw Nadia recoil. Gemma couldn’t even begin to imagine what the teenager had been through.
They reached the apartment, and Gemma opened the door.
“Can you sit in here while I make a phone call?” Gemma said, gently.
Nadia nodded and went and sat on the bright orange sofa.
Gemma stepped into the bedroom, and pressed the first number on her favourites, Marcus.
“Yes, I’ve fed Mavis!” Marcus laughed at the other end, before waiting to hear his wife.
Gemma burst into tears, “Marcus, I need you.”
“Oh, my god, Gemma, are you OK?” Marcus asked.
“Jen has been taken, and I’ve got Nadia Jenkins!” Gemma babbled.
“Slow down, Gemma, slow down. Jen has been taken? What? By who?”
“She recognised Nadia as a missing teenager and she followed them to the boat to save her, and now I have Nadia and the boat has gone with Jen on it.”
“Gemma, you are not making any sense. What boat? Who are they? Who’s Nadia?” Marcus said, sounding both frightened and exasperated.
“Nadia, the missing Cardiff teenager. We’ve found her. She’s pregnant. I have her, but now I’ve lost Jen.”
Marcus tried hard to calm down his hysterical wife.
<
br /> “Gemma, breathe. Start from the beginning again.”
...
Gemma walked out of the bedroom, and tried to compose herself before she reached Nadia.
She sat next to the teenager and went to place her arm around her. Nadia flinched so Gemma placed her hand back in her own lap.
“Nadia, I’ve spoken to my husband. He’s a solicitor. He’s going to ring our friend in the police. Then he’s going to ring me back. We’re going to get you home, Nadia.”
Nadia looked at Gemma, her face seemed full of confusion.
“Really?” she asked.
Gemma nodded, and Nadia began to sob. The relief pouring from her eyes.
24
Jen wasn’t sure how long she had been back on the boat, ten minutes, maybe fifteen.
The man who had untied the boat had gone straight upstairs. Jen knew she needed to open the door, but she was hesitant. She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t see any way out of this situation.
Against her better judgement, she headed to the door that Nadia had told her to go into. She undid the bolt and opened the door to see Maxine and Abdul huddled together on the bed.
Maxine looked at her, a mixture of shock and confusion spread across her face.
“Who are you, and why are you here?”
“I saw Nadia and I rescued her, and I thought I’d come to rescue you too,” Jen replied. “Then the boat started, and now I don’t know what I can do.”
“You kind but foolish lady,” said Maxine. “You have to hide.”
Jen could hear footsteps coming from behind her.
“Quick!” Maxine whispered, the urgency in her voice.
Jen looked around, there was nowhere that she could see where she could hide.
She tried her best to hide behind the door.
No Escape (Sinister Minds Quick Reads Book 2) Page 6