Innocent Girls

by Terence Mitford

  She started the car but hesitated. There was a problem. She couldn’t carry on until she knew how Alison was. After all, it was because of Alison that she was sat in a hire car on the trail of the scum who abducted her sister.

  Her loyalties were pulled in two directions. She had an unwavering need to find Katerina and a growing concern for Alison. If she could only choose one it would be no contest. Katerina was the most important person in her life, bar none.

  But if the next safe-house in Munich was a nine hour drive away, then she was sure the traffickers would have to stop there overnight, which meant she could go to the hospital to check on Alison and still get to Munich before nightfall.

  She took out her mobile phone, searched for the hospital nearest to the first safe-house, and forty-five minutes later she was back in Arad where she was informed that Alison was already undergoing surgery. And she learned that due to blood loss her friend might not make it.

  As Natasha sat down to wait, with a heaviness tugging her insides, she suddenly realised she knew very little about Alison. She knew she was divorced and worked for an international magazine based in London, but she didn’t know if anyone apart from her employers would be expecting a call from her.

  She had to find out.

  She returned to the hire car and found Alison’s handbag behind the driver’s seat. She felt uneasy about searching her friend’s bag but was sure Alison would understand. She found a purse and looked inside. There were credit cards, a driving license, pound notes and Euros. She flipped an internal flap and drew breath as it revealed a photo of a pretty blonde haired girl with a striking resemblance to Alison. She pulled out the photo and written on the back was Hannah, aged 11.

  Natasha’s eyes watered as she slotted the photo back into the purse and put the purse back into the bag. She took Alison’s case from the boot of the car and returned to the hospital unable to get the girl’s happy smiling face out of her mind. Now she would have to wait for the result of the operation and would spend every minute praying for Alison to survive. If there is any justice in this world Alison will pull through and go home to her daughter.

  It was over an hour later when a doctor told Natasha that Alison had survived the operation but was still sedated.

  ‘How long before I can speak to her?’

  The doctor shrugged. ‘It will be another couple of hours before she comes around and we can assess her to see if she’s well enough for visitors. Can I suggest you come back tomorrow?’

  ‘I can’t, I have to leave soon, but I need to speak to her before I go.’

  ‘You are not the only one. The police are waiting for our update.’

  Natasha thanked the doctor and asked if there was anywhere she could get a drink while she waited. She was directed to a cafe at the other end of the building.

  She had drunk two cups of coffee and had been back in the waiting room for nearly an hour when a nurse approached her. ‘Are you waiting for Alison?’

  Natasha jumped to her feet, her heart racing. ‘Yes, I am.’

  The nurse smiled. ‘Follow me, we told her you are here and she wants to see you.’

  Natasha followed the nurse onto the ward and sighed with relief to see Alison awake and watching her as she sat down next to the bed. It took Natasha a moment before she could speak. ‘Thank God, Alison, thank God.’

  Alison’s voice was weak and shaky. ‘I think the doctors here deserve some of the credit, too.’

  Natasha laughed as the tears flowed down her cheeks.

  Alison smiled at her. ‘Hey, dry those eyes, I’m not going anywhere yet.’

  Natasha wiped her eyes with her hands. Then she placed Alison’s bag on the bed next to her. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I looked inside to see if there was anyone I needed to contact if you…’ she stopped herself.

  ‘What, died?’

  ‘Well, the doctor said you had lost a lot of blood.’

  ‘I have a punctured lung, so I won’t be running any marathons anytime soon.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me you have a daughter.’

  Alison reached into her bag, pulled out her purse, and looked at Hannah’s photo. ‘Now you know why I had to help you find Katerina. I know how I’d feel if they had Hannah.’

  Natasha nodded.

  Alison’s eyes watered as she gazed at the photo. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’

  19

  KATERINA

  For the first time since she was kidnapped, Katerina felt that she wasn’t totally alone. She watched Sabrina dealing with her abuse and doubted that when her time came she could be that strong. And the only certainty was that it wouldn’t be long before she would find out.

  She looked up at Sabrina. ‘What do you think will happen to me?’

  Sabrina seemed hesitant to answer. She looked at Katerina with sadness in her eyes. ‘I… I don’t know. This is all new to me. I’ve heard about it before but there are so many different possibilities, it’s hard to say what will happen to you.’

  ‘What have you heard?’

  ‘Well, some girls are forced onto the street to work under the threat of violence to them or their families if they don’t. Some work in brothels and although they are allowed out, it’s often under supervision of the gang or under threat of violence to their families if they run off. But the worst scenario is when the girls are locked in a room and not allowed to leave. They just have to see clients all day and night.’ She paused while biting her bottom lip. ‘I don’t know what they have in mind for you, or me, but whatever happens you must do what they say, because from what I’ve heard, it will be worse for you if you don’t.’

  ‘I’ve heard my parents talking about girls from our town being abducted, or being tricked into travelling abroad, but they would change the subject when they saw me listening.’

  ‘You’re young, they wouldn’t have wanted you to worry about it. No one ever really believes it will happen to them or their family.’

  ‘My sister, Natasha, is really pretty. All the boys in our town were chasing her. She went to London after being offered a modelling job. But before she went I heard her having a big argument with our parents about it. They were worried because she didn’t know any of the people involved.’

  ‘What happened? Is she still in London?’

  ‘No, she was coming home yesterday. But I was taken before I had chance to see her. Now I’m wondering if something bad had happened to her.’

  ‘Why do you think that?’

  ‘Because I never got to speak to her while she was away, and my parents seemed stressed after talking to her on the phone, and then we had to pack and go to my cousin’s house in a hurry. My parents seemed a little edgy all the time, then we moved again to my grandmother’s apartment a few days ago.’

  ‘What did your parents say?’

  ‘They wouldn’t tell me anything. They said it was nothing for me to worry about. Now I’m starting to wonder if there was more to it than us just visiting family. My mum has been very stressed since Natasha went away.’

  ‘But you said she was coming home?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘If she had been taken by men like these who took us, she would not be going home.’

  Katerina thought about what Sabrina had said. ‘You are right. I think I’m just being paranoid.’

  They jumped at the sound of footsteps coming down the metallic staircase. Hugo walked into view followed by the first man who had raped Sabrina.

  The girls moved closer together and held hands.

  Hugo unlocked the cage. ‘There’s been a change of plan. We are leaving now.’

  Katerina’s heart sank at the thought of spending the night in the box, alone. She turned and hugged Sabrina.

  Hugo clicked his fingers. ‘There’s no need for goodbyes just yet. You are both coming with us.’

  Katerina’s mood lifted. ‘Sabrina’s coming?’

  ‘That’s what I just said. Come on, get a move on.’

  The g
irls held hands as they followed the men up to the ground floor and out to the van. Hugo opened the back doors and stood aside.

  Katerina looked at the box and then up at Hugo wondering if he would issue that dreaded order for her to get in the box.

  He nodded his head to the van. ‘Don’t worry, no box tonight.’

  She sighed with relief and smiled at him. ‘Thank you, Hugo.’

  She knew what she was doing. She was continuing with her plan of trying to get him to see her as a person and not just property. She doubted it would make any difference in his intention to sell her but, as she couldn’t out-fight or out-run him, she had nothing to lose by trying to befriend him.

  The girls climbed into the van and were plunged into darkness when the doors were slammed shut behind them. Katerina fumbled inside the box for the flashlight, then they sat together on a blanket on the floor of the van.

  Sabrina pointed to the box. ‘Were you in that?’

  Katerina nodded. ‘It was horrible but Hugo wanted peace and quiet.’

  ‘He’s a monster.’

  ‘I know, but he has prevented me from being assaulted.’

  ‘So far.’

  Katerina gave her a half smile. ‘I’m not stupid. I know he’s only protecting his investment, but if he wasn’t, I would have been attacked by now.’

  Sabrina wrapped an arm around Katerina’s shoulders. ‘I’m glad you haven’t, but yes, unfortunately, he is only delaying the inevitable.’

  ‘But the longer I can avoid it happening, the more time I have to escape.’

  ‘The man with Hugo is called Marius. Before you arrived he told me that if I tried to escape or failed to cooperate he would kill me. That’s why I didn’t resist him earlier.’

  ‘I understand, but we need to look for any opportunity to get away.’

  ‘We will, just don’t risk your life doing so.’

  ‘They are taking me to England, do you know where they are taking you?’

  ‘No, they didn’t say.’

  20

  NATASHA

  Natasha drove back into Hungary feeling better for having seen Alison. It seemed likely she would make a full recovery and would soon return home to her daughter.

  So now Natasha could devote her full attention to finding Katerina, and God help any man who had harmed her in any way.

  Retracing the route took her past the second safe-house and the bloody scene she’d left behind a few hours earlier. She slowed to see several police cars and two ambulances in and around the compound. Her heart missed a beat as she realised she had drawn the attention of two officers out front guarding the gates. She couldn’t afford to be delayed again, and if they connected her in anyway to the scene with two dead officers, at the very least, she would be taken in for questioning. So she gently accelerated away to appear as though she was just a curious onlooker who had slowed down to see what was happening.

  She had already decided not to handover the trafficking maps again and was determined to see it through to the end. She didn’t want any more officers to die because of her, and as well as that, she wanted to be the one making the decisions when she caught up with her sister’s kidnappers.

  Natasha guessed she was probably around four to five hours behind the traffickers, but was still on course to reach the next safe-house by evening.

  She drove all day and around mid-afternoon saw the signs for Vienna and thought how, under different circumstances, she would have loved to have stopped in one of Europe’s most popular cities. But this wasn’t a sightseeing trip, so she drove on and arrived on the outskirts of Munich by mid evening where she eventually found safe-house number three.

  Natasha checked the address on the map then confirmed her location on her Smart phone. She was in the right place, an industrial area on the south side of the city.

  The building was red brick, two stories high, with two sets of double doors evenly spaced along the front, and three ground floor windows at one end. A black Mercedes and a black BMW were parked close to the end with the windows. No blue van.

  Natasha cursed under her breath. Was she too late again?

  She parked far enough away from the warehouse so as not to draw attention if anyone came out. The buildings in the surrounding area varied in size. Some were mainly offices while others were a combination of office space and storage or a small factory. Most were in good repair and no doubt operational during business hours. Many had security flood lights on the front and one by one they began to wake up and turn on for their night shift.

  Within a couple of minutes the only building in shadow was the warehouse. It just loomed there in a kind of lonely isolation.

  Natasha took the flashlight from the passenger footwell and flicked the switch. The Y shaped crack in the glass covering the reflector didn’t affect its performance, but it reminded her of its recent violent history.

  She took out her mobile phone and switched it off because an unexpected call, even a wrong number, could be fatal. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and hesitated as the full implications of what she was about to do hit home. She was about to enter the den of a ruthless gang of traffickers on her own, again. So far everything had worked out well. She had used the element of surprise to maximum effect. The criminals she had encountered had underestimated her, to their cost. But how long would that continue?

  She reached under her seat for one of the pistols then sucked in her stomach and tucked it down the front of her jeans. After checking the area was clear she got out and crossed the road. She ran to the front of the warehouse and along to the first set of double doors where she pressed her ear against them and listened for any movement inside. She heard nothing. She tried the handle. It was locked.

  She made her way to the next set of double doors at the far end of the building passing the windows on the way. Two were in darkness but one had a light on, just visible around the edge of a dark blind pulled down.

  She tried the door. It opened and her heart jumped. She stepped inside. She was standing in a darkened lobby leading to a hallway with three doors on each side and one at the end which she guessed led to the main warehouse. One of the doors on the left was cracked open and a shaft of light flooded the corridor, dissecting the shadows on each side.

  As she stood in the dark planning her next move the sound of a mobile phone rang out from the open office door. A man’s voice answered, ‘Yeah.’

  She moved closer to the door and listened.

  ‘Yeah, they arrived a few hours ago… yeah, he had the kid with him… no, Hugo decided not to stay, so he took the kid and left for Brussels. Marius and the Sabrina girl went with him… okay, speak soon.’

  There was a sound like that of a mobile phone being placed on a table. Then a different man spoke. ‘What have they got planned for the kid?’

  ‘He didn’t say, but they are putting Sabrina into the auction in Brussels.’

  ‘So they are not sending her to work in London?’

  ‘No, he said they are short of girls for the auction so she’ll have to fill a gap.’

  ‘In which one, the main auction or the black auction?’

  ‘He didn’t say but I’m guessing the main auction. That girl was hot.’

  Natasha backed away into the shadows of the lobby confused by the conversation she had overheard. He’d mentioned Hugo. This must be the same Hugo who had taken Katerina. And Katerina must the kid he referred to? But what did he mean by the black auction?

  The conversation between the two men in the office continued. One of them laughed.

  ‘What’s funny?’

  ‘I’d love to see that bitch’s face when she finds out we have her little sister.’

  Natasha’s skin turned cold. He had to be talking about Katerina, which means she must be the bitch he was talking about. She placed the flash light on the floor, gritted her teeth, and pulled the pistol from her jeans. She paused a moment as she recalled how the two men at the last safe-house had ignored her ord
ers to get on the floor. So this time she needed to increase the aggression.

  She took a deep breath, raised the pistol up, and burst into the office. ‘Get your fucking hands up where I can see them and don’t fucking move!’

  Both men froze open mouthed and stared at her. Then they slowly raised their hands. Her increased aggression seemed to have had the desired effect, at least initially.

  Natasha focused on the man with a scar down his left cheek. ‘Who’s in charge here?’

  Scarface answered. ‘I am, who the hell are you?’

  ‘I’m the bitch you were talking about. Now you can see my face and if you don’t answer my questions it’ll be the last thing you ever see.’

  The men turned white and Scarface slowly lowered his right hand. Natasha glanced down to his waist where the handle of a pistol was poking out from under his sweatshirt. She aimed down, closed one eye, and shot his right thigh. He collapsed on the floor and screamed out. The second man pushed his hands higher as if trying to avoid the same fate.

  ‘I told you not to move. Maybe now you will do as I tell you.’

  Scarface gripped his right thigh, his voice strained, ‘Okay, okay, just take it easy with that thing you crazy bitch.’

  ‘If you try anything like that again, the next bullet will be through your head, do you understand?’

  He nodded.

  From only a few feet away, she pointed her pistol at his head. ‘Okay, listen carefully. Using two fingers of your left hand take out the pistol and throw it over to me.’ She had seen that in American movies but never expected she would ever use it.

  Grimacing, and breathing heavily, Scarface obeyed, and after plucking the gun from his belt, he slid it along the floor towards her.

  She scowled at the second man. ‘Now you do the same.’