Child With No Name

by Franklin Horton

  He learned more about the business over time. He discovered that the girls who looked the youngest made more money and were constantly in demand. As a result, he did his best to recruit as many of those as possible. It was actually pretty easy. At that age, the offer of drugs and money went a long way, especially if the girls came from a troubled home.

  When he’d been doing it for two years, while Alli was still with him, he decided he wanted to use some of the cash he was accumulating. He purchased a piece of property to develop into a new shopping center. He’d found that his used-car business was an excellent way to launder money. A lot of people bought used cars with cash, so with a little creative bookkeeping, he managed to sell at least one completely fictitious car every day.

  While the money he was bringing in through the girls was considerable, his goals went much higher. Harrison wanted to use the money to accumulate businesses and build an empire. It wasn’t only money he desired, but prestige and legitimacy. He wanted a jetsetter lifestyle.

  He spent a few weeks researching available properties before locating a lot he wanted to make an offer on, then set up a meeting with the owner. He was surprised to find it was one of his customers, a friend-of-a-friend whom he’d met on a golf outing at a country club. His name was Ronald and he had a taste for the young girls Harrison brokered. He’d become a regular, in fact. When the two met at the vacant lot, in the company of the realtor who was brokering the deal, Harrison not only saw recognition in Ronald’s eyes but a touch of fear as well.

  Harrison was initially confused by the reaction, then suddenly understood. Ronald knew he was compromised. Harrison knew things about him that he could reveal to his associates, such as this realtor. It was a form of leverage Harrison hadn’t even understood he possessed. While he knew the girls opened doors for him, allowing him to meet and socialize with people he wouldn’t normally have access to, he hadn’t understood that the information he possessed could be valuable too.

  It could be weaponized.

  In a test of his theory, he offered Ronald half of his asking price for the prime real estate.

  “You’re wasting our time,” the realtor scoffed, walking off.

  “I’ll take it,” Ronald said, to everyone’s surprise.

  Harrison couldn’t hold back a smile. The realtor’s mouth hung agape.

  “I’ll take it,” Ronald repeated, extended a hand to shake. “We’re good, right?”

  Harrison understood what Ronald meant by that comment. He was asking Harrison to verify that his secret was safe. Harrison shook the hand enthusiastically. “Oh, we’re good alright. We’re very good.”

  Just as Harrison had discovered that selling cocaine could boost his income more than selling used cars, he’d learned that selling girls was more lucrative than cocaine with much less risk. On that day in the vacant lot with Ronald, Harrison advanced his career by one more step when he realized the information he held could be even more valuable than selling young girls. While lust was powerful, so was fear.

  From that day forward, Harrison’s business model was no longer based on the money he brought in or the connections made through his girls. It was about the people he compromised and what he could leverage from their fear of exposure. As his business grew he learned that younger children brought even more money, and not just the girls. Children that young could not easily be recruited though. They had to be purchased or stolen.

  Moving into that arena took some adjustment. At that point, Harrison could no longer deny that he was a criminal. Stealing children was not a victimless crime. Harrison was no longer bending the law to participate in the world’s oldest profession, he was outright breaking it to participate in the world’s most despicable profession. He adjusted and adapted. He accepted this about himself. It was business.

  He discovered that buying his product, actually owning it, was incredibly lucrative. By not partnering with the girls, he didn’t have to give them any money or secure the cooperation, didn’t have to consider their feelings or their willingness to work. There were no attitudes or emotions to work around. He could sell them ten times a day and keep all the money. One hundred percent of it.

  As he moved into that realm of younger and younger girls, he discovered that people paid more money for this specialty product. They were also more concerned about the risk of exposure, which made the videos he recorded of each of his guests incredibly valuable. They would do anything to keep them private. The money the young ones earned and the favors he extorted from their clients had made his wealth grow exponentially.

  In the thirty years since he’d begun this journey, he'd grown his empire. He had wealth and influence. He had power. Men in high office took his calls and frequented his estate. Despite their concerns about being compromised, some could not stop themselves. They found the risk of sampling his product to be worth the reward.

  Harrison stepped away from the window and sat down at his desk. Julie would take care of things. She'd see that the children were bathed and groomed. She’d have them dressed in nice clothes and ready for the evening’s activity. It couldn’t be pleasant for them but he didn’t think about that. He’d developed an extraordinary ability to compartmentalize his life. The pain of the children he purchased stayed locked away in a compartment he never accessed. He didn’t need that unpleasantness in his life.

  Harrison retrieved his phone book from his wall safe. He didn’t keep these numbers in his phone. He called the men who paid extra for new girls. There would be a gathering at the estate tonight. Relationships would be forged and deals brokered. Discreet video would be recorded. The one person who would come out ahead tonight would be Harrison Prescott, because that was the way this game was played. His game and his rules. His house and his toys. His kingdom and his subjects.

  36

  The Farm

  North Carolina

  The drive to North Carolina seemed shorter now that Ty knew where he was going. There was no waiting in parking lots for the woman to change rides, no indecision, and no stress. It was single-minded determination and mission-focused.

  When he realized he was going to reach the farm before dark, Ty used his phone to locate a park with a lake that wasn’t too far off the interstate. His intention was to take a nap, recharge, and burn some time so he could hit the farm at dark. It didn’t work. He parked in the shade, reclined his seat, and cranked up the air-conditioning, but his eyes wouldn’t stay closed.

  Noticing a running trail around the long narrow lake, he dug into the back and found his gym bag. He changed into some rank workout clothes, feeling a little naked without the two phone cases he usually carried when he ran. The best he could do in this case was to clip his tactical folding knife to the inside of his waistband.

  The run felt good, just what his mind and his muscles needed after the long ride. He felt like he completed the run in no time, barely noticing that he’d circled the lake, so he did it again. A sign said that the paved walking trail around the lake was 1.78 miles. It wasn’t until Ty had completed three laps that he felt ready to quit.

  He had a case of water in the truck from when he’d taken Aiden to the range earlier. He sucked down the first bottle in a single breathless drink but took his time with a second. He dried off with a musty gym towel, noting that while it did leave him drier, it left him smelling like sour milk.

  When the air-conditioning had cooled the interior of the truck to a comfortable level, Ty climbed in and changed out of the gym clothes. Instead of putting on the clothes he’d been wearing earlier, he switched into his camo and an olive drab t-shirt. When he was done, he opened the door to give himself a little more room and laced up his boots.

  With the radio on low and the air on high, Ty finally managed to nod off. He slept a little more than an hour, which was just enough to leave him feeling refreshed when he woke up. He got out of the truck and walked around for a few minutes to clear his head, then hit the portable toilet before leaving.

  For t
he remainder of his drive, he ran through his metal playlist and prayed Cliff didn’t call him. He’d never been a good liar and he didn’t want to admit what he was doing. He’d also never failed to answer a call from Cliff so if he ignored his call it was probably as good as an admission of guilt.

  Two hours later he pulled into the parking lot of a Baptist church near his target. It was the only place near the farm that had any sort of parking lot where he might leave his truck. In his experience, churches tended to be more forgiving about trespassers. They always wanted to believe the best about people.

  He’d studied the satellite map of the area after his jog at the park and noted a broad boundary of trees that ran from behind this church to the back of the farm. With the sun already below the horizon, he should have enough light to navigate his way into the trees and onto the farm. He’d wait there in the trees for the sun to go down before going any further.

  From the cab of his truck, Ty double-checked his small pack and made sure he had all the gear he was going to need. He opened his door and listened carefully for anyone who might be moving about. No approaching cars and no voices. He pulled on his long-sleeved BDU shirt and hastily buttoned it, then dropped the chest rig over his head. He buckled his battle belt and double-checked to confirm there was a round chambered in his Glock.

  With one last look around, he slung his small pack over one shoulder, locked his truck, and hurried off around the church. There was a broad picnic shelter where he could imagine them having dinners and socials when the weather was cooperative. Beyond the shelter, the woods began and Ty had a moment to reconsider his plan.

  These wooded swathes along the property boundaries weren’t like the deep forests of North Carolina with their tall trees and paths of pine needles. These were abandoned borders of dense trees laced with vines and briars. Poison oak wrapped the trunks of some of the trees and poison ivy adorned the ground. There were most certainly snakes in there and Ty wasn’t a fan of those either.

  Rather than plunging headlong into the jungle, Ty chose his steps carefully. In this flat land sound would travel, so he needed to be careful about how much noise he made. He hoped his long sleeves and shooting gloves would offer him some protection from all the toxic greenery around him. In the failing light, it wasn’t so important that he be completely concealed within dense woods. The most important thing was that he utilize the woods as a backdrop to break up his silhouette. With that in mind, he stuck to the edges of the thickets, finding the optimal balance between concealment and speed.

  With the satellite map and visual landmarks as a guide, Ty traveled nearly a mile before crossing onto the vast farm where he’d lost the RV. The satellite footage had been shot at a different time of year, when the fields were fallow. Now they were a lush green with high crops and it gave Ty more paths for movement. He’d still needed to refer to the satellite map for the location of structures and roads, but now he could move along crop rows and the travel would be much easier.

  His first destination looked like a farm labor camp on the map. Those weren’t common where he lived since cattle were more common than field crops, but that wasn’t the case in this part of North Carolina, where some crops required lots of hands. He moved slowly toward the camp area, giving the sky more time to darken.

  He ran into a derelict combine sitting in a row of soybeans. The way the soil was banked around it told the story of a machine that had been abandoned right where it quit. To Ty, it was the closest thing to a high peak around him. He climbed up on it and scanned the area with his binoculars. There were a few lights in the distance which correlated with structures on his satellite photo, although he couldn’t tell anything about them without getting closer.

  It took him ten minutes of skulking through the vegetation to get himself in a position where he could see what was going on at the camp. His binoculars had a killflash or anti-reflective device over the lenses that allowed him to scan the scene without being concerned about light reflecting off his optics. What he found was a sizable encampment of migrant workers. There was no way to tell if they were legal or illegal but the predominant language he heard from the loudest of the voices was Spanish.

  There were entire families there, gathered around campfires or sitting around the entrances to campers. Some sat in the bright interior of a dining hall structure, playing games beneath lights swarming with insects. Ty used his binoculars to scan every face and belly, finding no one that looked like the pregnant woman he’d followed here.

  When he failed to find what he was looking for, Ty turned his back to the group and used a tiny red-lensed flashlight to examine his satellite map again. There was a farm road that led from this camp toward the paved road from which the RV had entered the farm. Along that farm road were several little clusters of buildings, and a few houses and campers closer to the main road. Ty would need to check those out too. He also couldn’t write off the possibility that more structures had been added to the camp since the satellite footage was taken.

  He took a moment to again ask himself what the hell he was doing there. Not that spontaneous, poorly thought-out decisions were anything new to him, but here he was in a different state, hiding in the dark, watching migrant workers relax after a hard day. There might be nothing illegal going on here at all. Maybe the clinic worker had helped the pregnant woman find a job here. Maybe the money she’d given her was simply to tide her over until she got paid.

  Ty shook away the doubt. His gut had never lied to him. If it said the transaction he saw was shady, then it was, especially in light of what Raylene Kidd had told them. She’d felt it too.

  Ty switched to his night vision monocular, strapping the awkward skull-crusher rig onto his head. He wished he’d brought his bump helmet. It was a significantly more comfortable way to carry the optic. Once everything was in place and functional Ty “handrailed” the road, traveling parallel to it but remaining concealed in the dark trees.

  Once, he had to stop when he spotted someone with a flashlight leaving the encampment to travel the very road he was following. Ty hunkered down, remaining as silent as possible while he allowed them to approach and pass. They were easily sixty feet away from Ty but it was close enough that he could see it was a young woman. She was singing along with music that must have been playing in the earbuds she wore.

  Ty decided to follow from a safe distance, wondering where she might be headed. Maybe she’d lead him to some other camp on the property. Her earbuds worked to his advantage but he still had to be careful. He walked carefully in the grass, avoiding anything that might crunch beneath his feet or make a noise.

  The girl continued on, oblivious. She was comfortable, a country girl used to making this walk, unafraid of what might be out there in the darkness around her. She reached a large dirt lot surrounded by various farm structures. There were tractors and an array of attachments parked here. There were rows of trucks with tall stake beds for harvesting crops. There were no lights here which struck Ty as a little odd. From the farms he was acquainted with in his area, this was usually the spot where someone might install a dusk-to-dawn light on a high pole.

  The girl paused here and scanned her surroundings. At first, Ty thought she might have sensed his presence, then he decided that she was only looking for other lights. He got the feeling that she was making sure she hadn’t been followed. She’d had, but she’d have to look a lot closer than that to spot Ty lurking in the darkness in full camo.

  Satisfied that the coast was clear, she headed around the end of one of the barns and disappeared into the darkness. Anxious not to lose her, Ty hurried across the dirt lot, flattening himself against the metal barn when he reached it. He paused and listened.

  When he was satisfied that it was safe to move again, Ty crept along the same path the woman had taken. His nightvision excelled on clear nights like this, allowing him to move easily. It didn’t hurt that he’d had years of practice walking around with the awkward device.

  The
sound of banging froze him in his tracks. He paused and listened.

  “Yo!” the girl yelled before banging again.

  Ty moved up to the corner of the barn and peered around the edge. In the distance, he could see the girl banging on the door of a tiny camper sitting alone in the weeds. There was a light on inside and an air conditioner wheezed along, struggling to cool the dwelling in the oppressive heat. The old camper was hidden in the maze of broken-down trucks and discarded equipment. If Ty had not followed this girl, he’d probably not have spotted it.

  A muffled voice came from within the camper, then the door creaked open. The light escaping from the interior of the camper washed out Ty’s nightvision. He ducked around the corner and flipped it up out of the way, leaving it powered on in case he needed it in a hurry. When he peered back, the girl he’d followed was seated on an upturned log. The woman who’d been in the camper was standing on the ground now, the interior lights of the camper illuminating her in profile.

  The first thing Ty noticed was the round, pregnant belly. When he pulled his eyes away from that, he spotted the familiar face he’d seen at the clinic and tracked for hundreds of miles. It was her. The smell of marijuana smoke hit his nose. The pregnant woman had lit a small pipe, which she then passed on to the other woman.

  Ty felt relieved, but finding this pregnant woman still didn't mean anything suspicious was going on. All of the simple explanations could be true. This could be a totally innocent situation. He'd found her, and that was all that mattered now. This was the mission and he'd almost accomplished it. He only needed to plant his trail camera and then he could go home.