by JR Thompson
Love knew no bounds. There was nothing Collin wouldn’t be willing to do for his son. He stealthily made his way through the halls and eventually to the office, where he tried to get into the computer system — everything was password protected.
He began looking through the filing cabinet. He was looking for anything that could be of a help. Seeing hundreds upon hundreds of student files, he wondered how he could ever know which kids were from low-income or dysfunctional families.
Collin picked up a random file and began flipping through the pages. This kid’s got pretty good grades. He’s only been in trouble one time in three years? Must be a nerd. His picture was attached. A nerdy basketball player, huh? No indication that he’s from a low-income or dysfunctional family.
He returned the file and selected another one. The file was much thicker than the first. The disciplinary record was three times the size of the first student’s. He had issues with truancy and classroom behavior; he had horrible grades. The only thing he was passing was Phys. Ed. As he flipped through the file, he found an application form for free or reduced lunch. Collin’s face lit up, He is from a low-income family alright. He found an enrollment form that contained his name, age, address, telephone number, and even a photo. He swiped the enrollment page and returned the file. One down, eleven more to go!
He began pilfering for another file when the sound of footsteps in the hall startled him. Great! I’ve been followed.
Carefully, he slid the drawer closed. He dropped down onto his hands and knees and quietly crawled out of the office. Peeking down the hall, he saw a young teenage couple getting into a locker. At least it’s only kids.
Collin watched until the kids were out of sight. I wonder how they got in here, he thought while returning to his file cabinet research.
It took Collin every bit of an hour to find solid information on twelve qualifying boys. He could only hope he wasn’t doing this for nothing. He could only hope all of these boys wouldn’t become victims and that somehow Remmy would be returned to him safely if he cooperated. Once he had Remmy back, he could inform the police and the school of what had happened and then maybe he and his family could pick up and run to a new location where they would no longer be in danger. It was his only hope!
◆◆◆
When Collin got home that evening, he pretended everything was hunky-dory. He tried to converse with Alayna and Brock, but inside he was dying. He wanted to tell them what was going on, but he didn’t know who was watching him or how they were watching him — his entire house could be bugged for all he knew. He didn’t tell them about the phone call. Didn’t tell them about quitting his job. His lips were sealed.
Saturday morning, Collin woke up early. Folding the enrollment forms up, he put them inside his tennis shoe before heading out to his prayer closet.
As he approached, he saw a man from the back and at first thought it was Brock. He was about the same height and build — but Brock was still at the house. Collin was certain of that. The man turned to face him.
He greatly resembled Brock; he even had the unibrow. The biggest difference between the two was muscles. Brock was pretty stout but this guy looked like he could be a bodybuilder. Collin had known a great number of people in the past who had look-alikes, but this was a bit creepy. They could have been twins. Not identical, but certainly fraternal.
“Nice to see you there, Collin. You have the information we requested?”
“Yeah, I have it,” Collin said.
“Good. Let’s see it.”
“Where’s my son?”
“He’s safe.”
“I’m not telling you where I put the information you requested until I see my son.”
“Don’t play with fire boy or you might just get burned,” the man said hatefully. Collin tried to recall where he had heard those words. The pastor. Didn’t the pastor say that same thing when we told him we were investigating the disappearances?
Collin stood firm. He didn’t say a word, but with his body language, he said, “I’m not going to cooperate until I know my son is okay.”
“It’s cool, man. You can see and talk to your son on my cell phone. Check it out.”
The man tossed his cell phone to Collin. Sure enough, he could see Remington; he was blind-folded. It was obvious he had a busted lip. It looked like he had either been beaten up or like he had been fighting hard to escape. He had a cloth gag in his mouth. Three men were standing around him, each of which were wearing masks so their identities would not be known.
“Remington, can you hear me?” Collin asked.
“Daddy?” Remington cried in a muffled voice. “Daddy, help me!”
One of the men smacked Remington in the face with an open palm. “Stop being such a sissy, boy!”
“Leave him alone!” Collin ordered. “I have the information you requested. Don’t hurt him!”
The man looked at the camera for a second and shrugged his shoulders. He turned back around and punched Remington in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
“You’re not in a position to tell us what to do, Collin. Give our associate the information, NOW!”
What choice was there? There were no guarantees that Remington would be kept alive even if Collin cooperated, but these guys obviously had no character about them whatsoever. If they could beat up a thirteen-year-old for no reason, they wouldn’t hesitate to take his life either.
Collin took off his shoe and gave the information to Brock’s look-alike. The man snatched his cell phone out of Collin’s hand and laughed before grabbing his arms and forcing him to stand up.
“Whoa! What are you doing?” Collin panicked.
The muscle-bound punk let go of him and then shoved him backwards multiple times until Collin fell into the creek behind him. The water was only three or four inches deep — just deep enough to get him sopping wet.
The man thanked Collin for his cooperation, said they would be in touch, and went on his way.
More emotional than ever, Collin sat up. Still in the chilly, slow moving water, he began crying out to God, “It’s been months now, God. My baby is being tortured. He’s my only son, God! I just put the lives of twelve other boys at stake because Remmy means so much to me. God, you entrusted us to raise this child that you created. Please bring him back to us. Please free him today. I don’t know how much of this I can take.”
Collin stopped praying for a moment and just allowed his tears to run freely. It was then he felt God nudging his heart. It wasn’t an audible voice, but inside he felt like God was saying, “You’re not the only one who gave up his only son. There’s a big difference here though. You sacrificed twelve people to redeem your son. I sacrificed my son to redeem millions of others. I know it’s hard. It broke my heart to see my son abused as well. But I forgave the men who abused him. Forgiveness is hard, but you need to forgive just like I did.”
Collin couldn’t say much of anything. He just cried until he couldn’t cry any more. Then he headed back to the house, where he found breakfast sitting on the table waiting for him. Alayna was wearing a gorgeous black sequin dress and had her hair all made up. “Did you decide to take an early morning swim?” she chuckled.
Collin couldn’t help but to smile.
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Why are you so dressed up?”
“To impress my man. I missed you, baby.”
What was Alayna thinking? He had only been gone a short time to pray.
“While you were outside, I was talking to God,” she said. “He told me everything is going to be okay. I think something is going to happen today. I feel it!”
The two sat down together to eat breakfast and were shortly joined by Brock. As he moped his way into the room, he seemed quieter than normal. He too had been on his knees in prayer. For whatever reason, everyone in the house felt God stirring that morning. It wasn’t that they hadn’t prayed every day about Remington coming home, but something seemed more pressing that day.
◆◆◆
Later that evening, Pastor and Mrs. Brown came by for an unexpected visit.
Pastor Brown said he owed the family an apology. “Listen,” he said. “I just got wind that something is about to go down. I don’t know what all is going to come out of this, but you need to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else.”
The pastor confessing something to his parishioners? How unusual.
“It’s my fault,” Pastor Brown spoke sheepishly. “We could have done something about it, but we didn’t.”
“If you’re talking about those funny looking shoes your wife wore Sunday morning, don’t worry about it,” Collin teased.
The pastor nor his wife looked even remotely amused. “We knew about Officer Branham’s connection to the human trafficking industry. We should have told you. We should have told someone — but we were scared.”
Through more questioning, the story began to unfold. Shortly after the pastor’s son, Donovan, moved to Harmony, he crashed into a tree while driving drunk. Officer Branham took him to jail where he was to be charged with a DUI. The Browns did not want the church to hear that their son had a DUI, so to protect their reputation, they talked Branham into somehow wiping his slate clean. Those talks involved a large monetary bribe.
Since that time, Donovan and Branham had become business partners in the human trafficking business. The Browns didn’t know all of the details, but for years there had been conflicts between them, their son, and Officer Branham, with each occasionally threatening to go to the press about everything that had gone on, threatening to ruin the reputations of everyone else involved.
The threat the Browns heard the most frequently was, “Play with fire and you’re going to get burned.”
Sometimes the threats went further than that. Sometimes they included violence and so the Brown’s would know the threats weren’t idle, sometimes people were kidnapped or even killed and little notes were left that would make it clear the disappearance or death was a direct result of their conflicts.
“When we found out you all were investigating the disappearances, we got scared. We told Donovan about it and the threats against us started back immediately. Then we heard about Remington disappearing and we were told to keep our mouths shut or worse things would happen. We were scared to death! You have to believe us. We are so sorry.”
Collin was speechless. His pastor, the man he had trusted for so long, knew a human trafficker was on the loose and hadn’t done anything about it. He was more interested in protecting his own reputation and his own family than he was about anyone else.
Alayna interrupted the silence, “I’m not mad. I’m hurt. I’m scared. I’m shocked. But I’m still confused. Do you have any idea why with all of the disappearances and deaths, we weren’t killed? I mean, people came into our house and tied Remington and I up. Why are we still alive?”
“We had a deal,” Pastor Brown replied. “I would keep my mouth shut as long as Branham and his goons didn’t take the lives of any of God’s people.”
Another silence filled the room. For several minutes, no one spoke. They all looked at the floor to avoid having eye contact with anyone else in the room. It was an awkward moment.
A look of terror suddenly overcame Alayna’s face. “So the reason you came here now to confess all of this is because Branham didn’t keep his word? Are you going to tell me he took the life of our son? Are you here to say Branham has killed Remington and that’s what’s about to go down?”
“No,” Mrs. Brown said. “This afternoon, one of Branham’s goons rounded a corner too fast and nearly had a head-on collision with a state trooper. They searched his person and his car for narcotics and they found a list of boys and their personal identifying information on him — information he apparently obtained from Clayview Middle School.”
Collin thought he was going to pass out. He hadn’t told anyone about the files — not even his wife.
Before he could say anything, Pastor Brown continued where his wife left off, “It’s just a matter of time before they get a confession out of that man. It will be linked back to Branham, which will link it back to Donovan, which will link it back to us.”
Oh, what a tangled web had been weaved.
Brock, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation, finally spoke up, “I feel it is expedient that we pray for Remington — it has been impressed upon my heart that we have all become narcissistic here! Now that we know Remington is with a human trafficker, it is of paramount importance that we pray for his invulnerability. Horrible things could be happening to him right now. He could even be… well, deceased already.”
“He’s not dead,” Collin replied softly.
Every eye in the room turned toward him.
CHAPTER 39 - INTERROGATION
Collin began telling his story of how he too had been blackmailed. All of the pieces were starting to come together. Human trafficking was a growing field. Officer Branham probably had dozens of people working under him and they were all getting filthy rich at the expense of innocent families.
Honoring Brock’s request, everyone in the house got down on their knees and began praying fervently for Remington’s safe return.
Brock began the prayer, “Most precious, mighty, glorious, loving Heavenly Father, we know your Word says to approach your throne boldly. It says where two or three are gathered, you will be in the midst. God, we are faced with a dilemma that is well beyond our maximum capacity of withstanding. We have been fervently petitioning you for months. We have acquired unsettling information and are exceedingly distressed about Remington’s welfare. God, we need him to be released from those wicked, evil hands today. Please honor your Word and our prayers. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
While everyone was still kneeling, Collin prayed next. “God, we thank you for being faithful to hear and answer our prayers. God, you saw that man beating on my little boy. I don’t know where he is. I don’t know how to stop that abuse. But God, you do! You are an omnipresent, miracle working God. What are you going to do about this, Lord? Will you get glory out of this situation? Please get my boy out of there alive. Please return him to us. In the meantime, please protect him both physically and mentally. We will anxiously be awaiting your handling of this matter. We’re asking this in the name of your amazing son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Alayna, already feeling the moving of the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, “God Almighty, we need your intercession. You heard the prayers of my husband and of Brock. Lord, please don’t delay our answer to this prayer. We need action and we need it now.”
Before she could continue her prayer, a car was heard pulling up in the driveway — it was the police. They could only hope the officer was bringing them the answer to their prayers.
Collin and Alayna practically raced out the door to see if Remington was in the cruiser. The officer wasted no time in getting out of the car and approaching the house.
“Sorry to bother you folks so late, but I’m looking for a Collin Russell.”
“That’s me, officer. How can I help you?”
“I have some questions I need to ask you about a break-in down at the middle school.”
“Am I under arrest?” Collin asked.
“Not yet. But I need to take you down to the station with me.”
As the words rolled off his tongue, two more vehicles pulled into the driveway — the news media.
The press got out of their vehicles with their cameras rolling. Seeing Collin was being questioned, they went directly toward Alayna. “Mrs. Russell, did you know about your husband providing information about Clayville students to human traffickers?”
“Yes I know about it, but —”
The reporter cut her off. “Did your husband sell your son off to human traffickers as well as or was he only trying to make a prof
it off of other people’s children?”
Pastor Brown walked out onto the porch. Addressing the press he said, “This is private property and we need you all to leave at once.” Next, he turned to the officer and said, “Perhaps we all need to come to the station with you. There is a lot going on here and you need to question each and every one of us.”
The press refused to leave. The reporter addressed Pastor Brown, “Why do you want us to leave, Pastor? Are you in on this as well?”
“I’ve asked you to leave. You are not welcome here. Officer, we are going to go inside to get away from the press. You are welcome to come inside to question us if you would like.”
Fortunately, the officer did not object. He decided to do the questioning inside of the Russells’ house. Fortunately, the press left once everyone had gone inside.
One by one, the Russells, Brock, and the Browns poured out their heart wrenching stories and confessed their wrongdoings. The officer got teary eyed himself on several occasions; he didn’t know what to do.
That is, he didn’t know what to do until his cell phone rang. The officer excused himself for a moment and walked out on the porch. He came back in with a grin on his face that would have lit up the entire White House. “Remington has been located! He’s alive and in the care of the Houston Law Enforcement Office. Who wants to talk to him?” the officer asked, holding the phone up in the air.
Collin grabbed it first and put it on speaker phone, “Remington?”
“Dad! God answered my prayer. I have been asking God to deliver me from those people and He did!”
Alayna broke down in tears, “We serve an amazing God, honey! Don’t you ever forget it!”
The police officer fell to his knees. The Russells had never trusted any government official. That was about to change.
“Dear God, oh Lord, where do I even begin? I have been calling on your name ever since I heard about that little boy’s disappearance. I was doubtful that you were going to come through. You know that. But you were faithful! You were faithful to me. You were faithful to that little boy’s mommy and to his daddy. You were faithful to this man staying with them. You were faithful to that little boy. Oh, God Almighty, help me to never forget this incredible moment. There is certainly no mountain you cannot move!”