by Mimi Barbour
As she led them in a merry chase, she listened to Sara crying. “Are those happy tears? You got away, they should be. You know Ruby’s promises are solid and the people she supports don’t deal with cops or government agencies, it’s just street people looking out for others. Most of them have been where you are now and they want to help you.”
“I know. The others told me, gave me her number, said to call if it got rough. But I never thought I’d have to. Roger was so nice at first. I thought he loved me.”
“Yeah, a lot of girls think the same thing. He’s a shit, like all the other pimps. And eventually, he’d have forced you into doing things you never imagined he’d ever ask of you.”
“That’s why I ran away today. He wanted me to let those men… Oh crap, they were old and ugly, one was fat and slobbered all over my chest. I kneed him and ran.”
“Good, I hope you crippled the son of a bitch.”
Sara gave a sad giggle and carried on. “They started offering me pot but it makes me sick, so they backed off. Then they had booze, but I saw them add some pills so I refused to drink it. I hate alcohol, but they kept trying to coax me and I knew why they insisted. Get me drunk so they could do whatever they wanted. Oh, God… They were so gross.”
“And we both know what they had in mind, don’t we? You would eventually heal physically but those mental scars, they’d be scored into your memory for life. Look, I gotta ask. Are you on any drugs, Sara? I need to know because you’ll be staying with me and Ruby tonight and I’ve got a kid to protect.”
“No. Sometimes, I drink beer but that’s it. I swear.” She started to cry, deep sobs that sprung from her disgust, her revulsion ripped through her throat, harsh and ugly, pain-filled and real.
Alia hoped this would happen. The cleansing needed to begin. She drove around, giving the kid time. Purposely, she headed to the busy Ala Moana Boulevard for long enough to see if they followed and sure enough, there they were, still tailing her. She took a few fast corners and headed for the parking lot where they’d make good their escape.
Once she’d backed into the slot she paid monthly rent for, she hustled Sara from the car and hurried over to the next row where a duplicate model and color SUV sat waiting. Taking a bunch of magnetic stick-ons from the floor of the front seat, she applied them to the back bumpers, the side doors and one on the hood; goofy stickers promoting the sun and fun of Hawaii.
“Hurry, get in the back and cover yourself with this blanket. Don’t look up.” While Sara did as she was told, Alia opened another bag in the front seat and took out a long blond wig with masses of ringlets. Adding pink-framed glasses and applying red lipstick, she quickly got behind the wheel, opened the window and cranked up the hot rock. While driving, she added net gloves, pink and flashy, to her costume, and as she drove past the red Camaro, she banged her hand on the steering wheel, a tourist out for a night’s entertainment.
Within a block, she knew her little circus had paid off. She’d evaded the asshole and it was safe to head home. She turned down the volume, threw the wig to the passenger seat and retrieved a tissue to wipe off the lipstick. “We’ve lost them, Sara, but it’s safer if you stay down.”
“Are we going to Ruby now?” Sad and weepy, Sara’s muffled voice had Alia gripping the wheel harder.
“Yeah, sweetie, we’re going to see Ruby. When we get there, I’ll take you in through the back door to Ruby’s place downstairs, where you can decide if you want to press charges against those bastards or you just want to start fresh, maybe grab a shower.”
“No charges.” Fear snaked through Sara’s voice. Just the thought made the volume rise to near hysteria. Alia knew she’d reached the end of her courage.
“Your choice, kiddo. You’re free to make them now.”
Chapter Ten
Alia left Sara in the downstairs room and headed up to find her eight-year-old son, Kean, still up watching TV, waiting for her. The nanny, twenty-five-year-old Ruby Cruz, lay sprawled beside him on the sofa, a half-empty dish of popcorn leaning precariously between them.
Alia bent over the brown leather furniture to fondle her boy’s hair. “Bedtime, son, it’s after eight. Pajamas and brush your teeth. I’ll be up to visit in a few minutes.”
“Aw, Mom, you just got home.”
“And yet you haven’t taken your eyes off the screen.”
“I’m watching this documentary on building ships.”
“Record it and you’ll have it for tomorrow. Scoot now.”
His grunt of displeasure didn’t deter her as he knew it wouldn’t. He picked up the remote, pressed the necessary button and gave Ruby a gentle hug before disappearing up the stairs.
Alia removed her weapon and locked it in the safe hidden in the side table. Then she moved closer to Ruby, who looked worn, the black shadows under her eyes telling a tale of sleepless nights and a worried soul.
“Don’t rush away, Ruby. Sara is fine. She’s downstairs having a shower so you can take your time going to her. Have you heard from your family in the Philippines today? How is your father?” Alia sat beside her employee.
“Not good news, Alia. He’s not getting any better. My sister, she’s worried, but her family’s so large she can only spend a little time with him. He wants to go home, only she can’t take care of him there, and in her house, there’s no extra space.”
Tears began forming in Ruby’s already reddened eyes and they tore at Alia. She and soft-hearted didn’t go together except when it came to her family and old people. Then she was pure mush.
“Ruby, we’ve been together since Kean was born and there’s no one I trust more with him, you know that. You’re an amazing woman. Not only have you taken care of us, but look at the numerous other people you’ve helped over the years. All those countless hours you put in, walking the streets, handing out your cards, urging the young ones to call you for help whenever they need you.”
Ruby’s expression lightened. “I know in the last year or so you wanted me to back off from the program in San Diego. And I promised not to get involved here in Honolulu. Then I broke my word. You’ve never given me hell for that, Alia. And I never told you I was sorry.”
“Never? Only maybe a hundred times. Look, you know why I hoped you wouldn’t get involved here. Kean is growing up and I’m not sure I want him around some of the messes we get tangled up with. So far, he’s accepted the occasional ‘friend’ staying over, young girls who are here for a short time, but soon he’ll begin to ask questions. So let’s not bring anymore stray kittens to the house, okay?” Alia grinned away her sarcasm, and Ruby’s theatrical look of sorrow melted away. The little actress kept trying but her skills needed a lot of polishing.
Besides, Alia knew that there was no way in hell that Ruby would turn her back on a call. Even if it meant paying for a hotel room herself, something she’d done many times. So had Alia, if the truth were known.
In San Diego, Ruby had set up a network of ex-street people who’d banded together to save lost souls. She’d started this arrangement secretly until one night a frantic call had come. No one else was available to pick the kid up, so she’d turned to Alia for help. After that first time, Alia had become a regular transporter. But she’d hoped that once they’d left the mainland, it would end there.
Sadly, within a week of them moving to Honolulu, Ruby had begun to organize the youngsters on the street here, and Alia was again carrying a special phone.
“I’m sorry, Alia. I can’t help remembering how you saved me when I was in a similar situation, how much it meant to me. Without you, I would have taken those pills I stole from the hospital. I meant to kill myself. You knew it, and so did I.”
“And Kean and I would have had to manage on our own, without your wonderful cooking and having you picking up the messes we leave everywhere. I don’t think we could have survived without you, my friend.”
No matter how hard Ruby worked for the discarded kids from the streets, she was totally loyal to Alia and Kean. Years earlier, Alia
had saved her from human traffickers who’d kidnapped her and others from the same village.
Only fifteen, Ruby had been ripped from her family, brought to San Diego and forced to do all kinds of horrific things to stay alive. She’d lost count of the number of men she’d been forced to service but had pushed the nightmares of that brutal life to the back of her mind, only for them to be reignited whenever she saw another poor helpless girl.
Enslaved for six month before Alia and her people had broken into the warehouse, poor Ruby had suffered horribly. Beaten for trying to protect one of the younger girls, she’d been taken to the hospital where Alia found herself almost daily, visiting, supporting the homeless teen.
Ruby’s guilt had stopped her from taking advantage of the city’s provision to send her back to her homeland. Instead, with Alia’s help, she’d chosen to stay and work in this country.
Alia, pregnant at the time, had gladly found the girl a job and even a place to live. Until after Kean was born. Then she’d moved Ruby in with them and they’d become a family of three.
For eight years, Alia had marvelled at her good fortune. But now, she needed to think of Ruby. The young woman was hurting, and Alia had the cure.
“I’m going to buy you a ticket for Manila tomorrow. You have to go home, Ruby. Be with your family and make peace with them. What happened to you wasn’t your fault. Hasn’t Father Bowen continually told you that? And so have I.”
Ruby nodded reluctantly. “You don’t understand. Maybe my body’s been cleansed, Alia. But I’ll never wash the filth from my soul. That’s why the young people we save matter so much.”
Alia took Ruby’s face into her hands and forced the other to look into her eyes. “Think of all those kids you’ve helped over the years, Ruby. Even now, you have a fifteen-year-old downstairs crying her heart out, a girl who will have a chance because of you. Do you ever wonder if the nightmare you suffered had a purpose?”
Ruby blinked, but the tears still streamed. “Alia, you save them. I only pass on their names and locations.”
“Maybe I deliver them but it’s you they trust. You who visits the streets to talk to them and hand out your card. You, not me, who cares so much about what becomes of them. You’re their savior. I just deliver. Look… you have everything under control now. I can take the calls direct rather than you passing them on.”
“No. You have too much to do. Cassie can take the calls and give you the messages like I do. She’s offered to handle the phone when I wasn’t available.”
“Okay, good. Think about my words. Think hard. In the big scheme of things, I’m about to give you the same advice you pass onto the girls you save. Those assholes who stole you don’t really matter anymore. Neither do the ones that used you. The only people who really matter are your family. If you feel regret for what happened to you now, I can’t imagine the remorse you’ll feel if you don’t choose to help your people, who really need you.”
Ruby’s soft brown eyes grew large. For the first time, Alia didn’t see the usual shutters closing off her words. Instead, Ruby listened. Her expression became thoughtful and then lightened. “I must go.”
“Yes.”
“How can I leave you and Kean?”
“We’ll be fine. He goes to school all day and I can find a babysitter for afterward. It’s only until you come back. We can manage. We have to.”
Excitement filled Ruby’s face. “I can go home.”
“Yes.” Alia hugged Ruby hard, shaking her so she’d understand the emotion. Then she whispered, “It’s time, Ruby.”
***
Explaining the situation to Kean later didn’t go quite as smoothly as Alia had hoped. “Why can’t Ruby Skype them, talk to them online? Does she have to go all the way to Manila?”
“Her father’s ill, Kean. He needs her. She has to go.”
“We need her, too. We’re family, aren’t we?”
“Yes, but families do what’s best for each other, and right now it’s best for her to go back to the Philippines and make peace with her past. You’ve asked me before why Ruby gets so sad sometimes. Well, it started there. She needs to go back and face it.”
“I guess.”
“We’ll be fine, you and me. I’ll find the best babysitter on the planet and I’ll cut back on my hours at work.”
“O-kay. I’ll miss her so much though, Mom.”
“Me too.”
She kissed him goodnight, something she forced herself to do every night even though showing the affection was so difficult. Her lips lingered on his forehead longer than usual. Then she left his room to go to hers.
The minute the door closed behind her, she sunk to the floor and covered her face with trembling hands.
So where’s your courage now, idiot? You’re sending Ruby away. Now you’ll be alone to deal with everything. Being the mommy. How are you going to survive without her? And what about this new assignment?
An image of Sloan Booker unexpectedly slipped into her head and she felt the fear swell and her muscles clench. Agitated, she forced herself to take a few calming breaths.
Having Hawaiian blood had only added to his rugged handsomeness. Amber brown eyes that didn’t stop probing were going to be hell to live with. And his tall physique and muscular frame wouldn’t bend to any woman’s demands; she knew it. Just like she knew she’d be making them.
Friggin’, shittin’, hell… Why did life have to throw so much crap at a person all at once?
Chapter Eleven
Swiping at the unexpected tears, Alia gave herself a mental kick. Okay, stop it. Booker’s not Paul. He wasn’t anything like her ex-husband. That asshole had screwed up her life enough and she refused to give him any time in her head or let him have any more power in her life.
Her last conversation with Paul, the one that had made her flee San Diego, had almost convinced her to pull her weapon. Silly bastard couldn’t believe she’d refuse his offer.
It had only taken two years of living in hell with a workaholic drunk, for her to throw in the cards. Young and naïve, she’d never known a person could be both but it turned out she was wrong.
She was also wrong about him being an upstanding citizen; his work mostly hovered on the borderline between criminal and shady. She’d never regretted her decision to leave him, especially after Ruby had entered the picture to help her raise Kean.
Veering back to their conversation, the one that had prompted her to relocate as far away from San Diego as possible, Alia felt the anger rise yet again. The same fury that had flooded when she’d sat in front of him… her mouth hanging open and disbelief raging at his stupidity.
“You want me to—what? Be a surrogate for you and your new wife? Are you insane? Working all those hours, drinking all that booze and hiding your business dealings from the law has finally disintegrated the last of your smarts. You’re over the edge, pal.”
Paul had leaned forward, earnest, the hot-shot dealer selling the biggest deal in his life. “We just want you to donate your eggs for the IVF process. You have Kean, my son, and I’ve never intruded or interfered in your life with him, have I? I knew he was happy with you and Ruby, and during those years, I’d have been a piss-poor dad anyway.”
“Hey, bud, if we’re being real here let’s at least be truthful. You never interfered because work came first; it’s your mistress, your fun… hell, your whole reason to get out of bed every morning. You didn’t give a shit about me or your son. Give me a break; as long as we didn’t interfere with things important to you, life was good. ”
“Okay, true. But that was eight years ago. I’ve changed, remarried to a lovely girl and she wants a baby. I mean, she really needs a baby… my baby. Adoption won’t work for her. I’ve tried everything, trips, gifts, big brand new house, pets, hell I’ll do anything, but she’s miserable for a baby. And the final tests prove she’s infertile.”
“You’re breaking my heart.”
“Look, I’ve made a lot of money. I know you haven’t
taken any from me; my lawyer has come back time and again to say you’ve refused and that you only signed the trust papers for Kean.”
“As if I didn’t know you were using us as a way to shield your profits.”
Paul had waved away her reply. “As his biological father, I have rights too.”
Furious, she’d pointed her finger in his face and spat out her anger. “You gladly signed those rights away in court to give me full custody.”
Paul had smiled sadly. “Something I’ve always regretted. Nowadays, with all my influence in the political arena, Alia, my pet, I could have that overturned just with a snap of my fingers.”
Hardly able to breathe, she’d hissed, “You’d go that far?”
“He’s a good kid, strong and smart. Any man would be proud to be his dad.”
At that point fear had paralyzed her. “What are you talking about?” She’d moved to San Diego after Kean had been born for just this reason—to keep Paul out of her and her son’s life. “When did you see him?”
“Oh, don’t get your shit in a knot. I haven’t broken our agreement. But I could so easily. Drop a few lies, talk to some valuable allies I’ve amassed along with my fortune, and things could be totally different. You and I both know it, so don’t mess with me, Miss Bigshot FBI Agent.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re blackmailing me for my eggs, so you can give my child to a woman half your age to raise. It ain’t gonna happen, bud. And if you so much as touch a hair on my son’s head, I’ll come for you and I’ll be carrying my bigshot FBI-issued weapon.” She’d stood to leave but he’d held her wrist, leaving a bruise to remind her of that conversation for many days.
“Just think about it. You’ve had Kean all to yourself. The baby I gave you. Now I want a baby for me. It’s not too much to ask.”
“You’re crazy, Paul. Nuts! Loonier than a bat with rabies. What you want from me is more than I’d ever be willing to pay. Leave me and Kean alone. Get yourself another donor and lie to your wife.”