Seeking Refuge

by Alana Terry

  “I know.” The girl took hold of Hadassah’s hand.

  Hadassah squeezed her hand gently and smiled at her. “You’ll need to walk more like a man than like a girl.”

  “I’ll try.” The girl gripped her hand tighter.

  When Hadassah, Zeke and the girl reached the end of the alley, Paul and Matthew were gone.

  “Where?” Hadassah asked.

  “Turn right,” Zeke scanned their surroundings. “Wait. Stand facing the wall for a moment because that guy is watching us a bit too closely.”

  Hadassah did as he suggested. She felt uneasy, though, as if she had crossed one too many lines of protocol.

  “Okay, let’s go, and don’t forget to joke around as much as you can.”

  She tried, but didn’t have a heart for it. She glanced one last time down the alley. Zeke did too.

  As soon as they stepped outside of the red light district, they caught up with Matthew and Paul. The former had been dragging his feet.

  When Hadassah explained what happened, Matthew frowned. “I can’t believe you left Priscilla there.”

  She couldn’t tell what tinged his voice more—anger or sadness.

  “Priscilla decided to stay.” She ground her teeth and stared hard at him. “I tried to talk her out of it, but she was convinced it’d be the best plan.”

  Matthew’s frown deepened. “I’m not convinced. We told Julia and Roberto just before we left. They aren’t happy, but they’ll do what they can. I’m scared for her, yo.”

  “So am I.” Zeke hung his head.

  “Me too.” Paul glared at his companions. “But can we get the girl back to the headquarters before we discuss this further?”

  “Sure.” Matthew turned to the girl. “Forgive me, friend, I’m Matt. What’s your name?”

  “Hi.” The girl didn’t say anything else until Hadassah held her hand again. “I’m Kiri.”

  Matthew looked at her and smiled, then suddenly stiffened. “Don’t turn, any of you. We’ve got company.” He fixed his gaze straight ahead as if to signal to the rest of them to do the same.

  Hadassah could feel a tremble run through Kiri’s fingers. “Whatever you do, don’t turn around.”

  “We should break up our party,” Zeke suggested.

  Matthew growled. “Not happening, dude. I’m not letting these girls out of my sight.”

  Zeke shrugged. “Then Paul and I will go.”

  Paul nodded in agreement.

  Hadassah slid one of her mirrors out of her pocket and angled it to catch sight of their pursuers. There were two. And what was that black thing when one lifted his shirt? “Looks like one’s packing a 9mm, kids,” she said as cheerfully as she could. “Remain calm, but then we’ve gotta act fast. I think Zeke suggested the best plan.”

  Matthew grunted, then handed the camera off to Paul. “Fine. This next street. You ready, Zeke? Paul? You take the left, we’ll take the following right.”

  Zeke wrapped his arm around Paul’s shoulder then pulled him close and toward the street on their left. Paul waved back at them and forced a laugh as if he was in on a joke.

  “Wave friendly then look straight ahead again,” Matthew instructed.

  Even as angry as she was at him, Hadassah saw wisdom in this and waved.

  They walked briskly along, past closed-up shops and dilapidated homes with barred windows. Every couple of feet, Hadassah checked a window beside her to see if she could catch a reflection of the men following them. All of the windows were too dirty to reflect anything.

  Kiri squeezed her hand a bit tighter. “Can I cry yet? It hurts so bad.”

  Hadassah’s eyes almost welled up as she considered the girl’s question. “Just a little further. You can cry soon.”

  Matthew glanced her way. “Did they take the bait?”

  After checking her mirror again she had to stifle a gasp. “We lost one, but not the one packing.”

  “Ten more feet, girl, then off to the right. And we’ve got to look less suspicious.”

  Her heartbeat pounded further up her throat with every step.

  As soon as they turned down the street, Matthew gestured toward one of the bridges spanning the river. It was no more than four blocks up.

  “As long as no one follows us, we’ll head for that bridge.”

  Hadassah raised her eyebrows at him. “And if someone does follow?”

  “Then head for one of those rafts.” This time he angled his head toward a pier stretching into the murky river. “If I need to, I’ll distract him. Here’s my knife if you need it.” He stiffened and his mouth drew tight. “He’s behind us. Plan B. Run, girl—get Kiri on a raft.”

  Hadassah pulled Kiri as fast as the girl could go while, Matthew ran to the left, then to the right. Then he passed out of her peripheral vision altogether. A gunshot fired. Hadassah’s heart jumped into her mouth and her legs felt like jelly as she pushed them along. Come on, Matt! Please let him be okay, God!

  At the sound of the gunshot, Kiri sped alongside Hadassah all the way to the pier. Hadassah surveyed the various and primitive ferries, then jumped from the pier to the last raft in the line, hoping her splash would frighten off any of those water rats she saw in the flotsam. She tugged and pulled at the mooring rope that fastened the raft to the pier. It never budged. If only she could see where it was fastened on the raft. Too much trash covered the vessel.

  “Come on, Kiri.” Hadassah stretched her hand toward the girl. Kiri stood on the pier, frozen in place.

  The next gunshot made the girl jump. Pieces of the pier ahead of her splintered, and flying debris hit her arm. She jumped again, this time toward Hadassah.

  As soon as the girl landed on the raft, it began to sink. Kiri screamed.

  “Get down!” Hadassah ordered the girl.

  Suddenly, as if time slowed, Hadassah saw where the mooring rope was tied to the raft. When Kiri landed on the raft she had moved the piles enough to expose it.

  She whipped out Matthew’s blade and opened it. With one swipe against the rope she cut it free. And none too soon. Their pursuer stood on the pier aiming his black barrel at her face.

  How am I not afraid? Her heart pounded adrenaline, and everything she needed to do appeared so clear. She shoved debris off the raft, throwing some of it toward the man.

  Matthew jumped onto the pier and careened into the man as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet hit one of the branches overhead. The branch was small, but its crash onto the raft caused the vessel to sink faster. Kiri screamed again.

  Matthew continued to wrestle the man on the pier; the two of them were sprawled across the wood, their arms and hands scrambling for the other’s throat.

  Hadassah, now paralyzed with fear, stared at them while water gathered at her ankles.

  Suddenly, Matthew thrust against the man with both knees and arms, throwing him off the other side of the pier. As soon as she saw this, Hadassah began to toss junk off the side until the raft buoyed to the surface again. The vessel caught the river’s current and began to float downstream.

  “Come on, Matt!” she shouted in a hoarse whisper as she threw more items overboard.

  Matthew dived toward the raft, missing it entirely and plunging into the murky, polluted water. Hadassah chewed hard on the sides of her tongue as she scanned the dark, rippling surface.

  His arms appeared and then his head, his mouth gasping for air, his hands grasping for the edge of the vessel. Not much further behind him she saw the head of the man who’d been chasing them. He was swimming toward the raft instead of the shore.

  “Matt!” She leaned over the side as much as she could without it tipping and reached for his hand. Kiri cried out; Hadassah longed to comfort the girl, but Matthew needed her first. His hand slapped against hers, then slid beneath the surface again. With his next stroke he grasped her forearm, but only enough to steady himself.

  The man swam swiftly with the current toward them.

  Hadassah pulled Matthew’s body over the e
dge of the raft until only his feet dangled in the water. As she sat back panting, she saw the man reach for Matthew’s foot. She picked up a sizable bag in the heap of trash and hurled it into the water at him. The force of her throw caused the bag’s seam to break, and a rain of ripe mangoes pummeled both the water and the man. He cried out, then sank.

  When the man emerged again, he was closer to the riverbank than the raft, and he scrambled ashore.

  As the current continued to carry their vessel steadily downstream, Kiri trembled quietly under the last pile of knickknacks and fruit. Matthew panted, dirty water dripping from every inch of him. Knowing the task of getting this ferry to the other side remained up to her, Hadassah rifled through the pile around Kiri for an oar or pole.

  “Did you see a stick or pole?” she asked Kiri.

  The girl stared wide-eyed, then shook her head.

  “You looking for this, girl?” Matthew rolled onto his back and sat up, holding up a pole the length of the raft. “It was getting a bit uncomfortable.”

  Hadassah used the pole to punt to the opposite shore.

  “Are we safe now?” Kiri asked.

  “Soon,” Hadassah replied between punts.

  “Are you taking me to the police?”

  “We could.” Matthew looked kindly on her. “Do you want us to?”

  Kiri trembled again. “Please don’t. Not at night. All the night police bring us back to the brothel.”

  Matt groaned as if he was trying to hide anger. “Do you want us to bring you home?”

  “No.” Kiri gulped as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Mother would be disappointed.”

  Hadassah turned to her. “What happened to you wasn’t your fault. We can help explain that to her.”

  “I don’t have enough money. She’ll send me right back again.” She curled up in a ball and stared at the garbage littering the raft.

  All the reasons Hadassah decided to join R.S.O suddenly flooded her. “We’re going to bring you to friends of ours who are working to shut down the brothels. They have a safe house you can go to.”

  “Yes. Okay.” Her tremble calmed slightly.

  Hadassah pushed the raft toward a pier, where Matthew caught hold of one of the stumps of wood and clung to it until both girls were safely off.

  Once they reached the closest street, Matthew turned to Hadassah. “I don’t suppose you have a map on you, do ya?”

  “As a matter of fact.” She pulled the playing card out of her pocket and handed it to him.

  “Nine of diamonds? What is this?”

  She took it from his hands, pulled the card apart at one of the corners, shook it, then handed an unfurled map of Manila to him.

  “Okay, I want one of those.”

  “Present from my mom.”

  “Tell her I love her.” He smiled. “Did she mark off the red light district?”

  “I did it tonight before we left.”

  He looked up at the street signs then back at the map. “I see where we are. Good work steering the raft, girl. You got us within three blocks of the office.”

  “I wish I could say I did it on purpose. I don’t suppose you have a phone to contact Paul and Zeke, do you?”

  “It’s soaked. I don’t dare touch it.”

  “I left mine with Priscilla.”

  “As you should have. I guess we better pray for them.”

  “Good call, Matthew.”

  Even as they prayed, her heart pounded in her ears. Siren-clad police cars prowled the streets and Kiri shook at the sight of each one.

  Matthew pointed to their right. “There’s the Holy Spirit College. What a landmark, eh?”

  “We’re almost there,” Hadassah assured Kiri, clasping the girl’s hand again.

  As soon as they turned the corner and saw the organization’s headquarters, Hadassah caught sight of Paul and Zeke walking toward them.

  “What happened to you?” Paul asked Matthew.

  “Midnight pleasure swim, dude.”

  “I got a text from Pris,” Zeke told them. “She says she’s still okay.”

  Hadassah sighed then turned her gaze to Kiri. “Are you still okay?”

  “Please, please take me to the safe house.”

  “In through this door, then you can cry.”

  As soon as they walked into the headquarters, Rafaelo met them and made sure Kiri was under good care in another room before he spoke with the rest of them. And he spoke harshly.

  “I don’t care what the story is, you don’t ever rescue one of the girls until either there is a raid or we give the all clear. Ever.”

  “We left one of our number behind to take her place until morning,” Hadassah explained, ready to take the fall for her team.

  “What? What is wrong with you people? Do you have any idea what those brothels are like? How could you even think of doing that?”

  “Sir, we didn’t leave Priscilla in a brothel.” Hadassah fought nervousness. She certainly didn’t need that on top of the heap of other emotions.

  “Where did you leave her?”

  “We left her—” Hadassah began.

  Matthew raised his hand for her to stop. “We left her in the alley, sir, the same alley where we found Kiri. And it was Priscilla’s idea to stay behind.” Hadassah was thankful Matthew took over.

  Rafaelo narrowed his eyes as he stared at Matthew. “Do Roberto and Julia know about Priscilla?”

  “Yes, sir, they do.” He kept eye contact with Rafaelo better than Hadassah would have been able to.

  “Hopefully they will be able to do something for your friend. I really hope you haven’t blown their cover. But what about the photos?”

  “We were able to get the pictures, sir, and Paul can download them onto our laptop tonight so we can print them out for you.”

  The lights flickered out again, leaving them in candlelight. Hadassah prayed that the laptop’s battery would last until power returned.

  “Good.” Rafaelo shook his head again. “Mr. Cooper and Mr. Murray spoke so highly of all of you. I never anticipated something like this.”

  “We’re sorry we disappointed you, sir.”

  “And why are you all wet?”

  Matthew looked at his clothes. “I had to dive in the river to lose some company.”

  “And if we didn’t find Kiri in the place we did, if she was just on the street, we wouldn’t have done what we did,” Zeke added.

  Rafaelo merely grunted in return.

  The door Kiri had gone through opened again and one of the organization’s volunteers came out.

  “Rafaelo, if they have only one photo off their camera, we’ve got enough evidence between those and Kiri that bulldozers will follow the police and knock the brothel to its foundation,” the worker told him. She whispered to him briefly.

  “You,” Rafaelo pointed to Paul, “get those photos. You,” he pointed to Hadassah, Matthew and Zeke, “you’ll accompany me to the police station in the morning if the police can obtain the warrant tonight. I think they can. Good work. I’m not pleased by your actions, but the outcome of this might be better than what we hoped for.”

  Matthew smiled. “We understand, sir.”

  “Don’t expect much sleep for a few days. You’ll find towels somewhere in this office. Go dry off.”

  Chapter 28: First Reunion

  THE TESTIMONY FROM Kiri along with the photos off the camera ended up being enough evidence for the authorities to schedule an early morning raid. Hadassah, Matthew and Zeke accompanied the police so they could search the alley for their friend.

  But there was no sign of Priscilla.

  Then Hadassah found what looked like the wrap skirt Priscilla had worn. And carved into the dumpster beside where they left her was the second half of I Peter 2:9:

  ...declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

  Hadassah breathed shallowly and her lip quivered as she stared at the empty spot next to the dumpster. She swallowed hard to f
ight the tears and looked at her friends. Matthew’s arms hung limp. Zeke’s face was streaked with tears and his shoulders slumped.

  After a minute of staring up and down the alley in shock, Zeke’s cell phone rang.

  “Hello.” Then he paused. “Really? Praise God! We were so worried. Thanks.” He closed the phone and turned to Hadassah and Matthew. “Let’s go. Priscilla’s with Hyun and Julia. Our work here is done.”

  Over the following three days, Hadassah, Priscilla, Paul, Matthew and Zeke rested, met together, cried together and prayed together.

  “Mr. Cooper took me through a partial debrief over the phone,” Matthew explained, “and even though we didn’t do things exactly right, he said the most important thing right now is praying for one another, especially for you, Priscilla. Mr. Cooper was really worried about how you’re doing after the fact.”

  Priscilla shrugged and looked at the carpet as she sat on the floor of Julia’s apartment. “I was stiff and sore, because I was so scared to move an inch in that trash heap.” She pulled at the plush piles beneath her fingers. “The Lord really met me there, though, and I prayed for all of you. I don’t think I’d have the guts to do it again. But I knew if I died, I’d go to Jesus. I don’t know if Kiri had the same assurance.” She looked up again. “I had to take her place.”

  “We know you did, Pris.” Zeke’s face was streaked with tears again. “That was the most Christ-like thing I’ve ever seen someone do. But how did you get out?”

  “I almost didn’t. I hid inside Julia’s cart and Roberto wheeled me out.”

  “I’m sorry I gave everyone trouble about Pris staying in the alley,” Matthew said.

  Zeke wiped his tears away. “You took leadership where leadership was needed and then you took the fall for all of us with Rafaelo. Thanks.”

  “I want to say the same, Matthew.” Hadassah fought the tears scrambling up her throat. “We were all blessed by your leadership, even when we didn’t agree.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t agree with me, girl.” He gave Hadassah his glowing smile.

  TEN DAYS AFTER THE raid, early on a Saturday morning, Rafaelo summoned the team to the headquarters for a meeting.

  “Girls in two of our safe homes have requested your visit, so we’ve arranged it for today. You’ll stop by the church on the way. They are having a donations party and you’ll be taking toys, musical instruments and toiletries with you. Go have fun, and allow yourselves to be blessed by them.”