Innocent Girls

by Terence Mitford

  The second man shook his head. ‘I don’t have a gun.’

  Natasha glanced down at his belt. ‘I don’t believe you, turn around, slowly.’

  The man kept his hands raised as he turned all the way around. ‘You see, I was telling you the truth.’

  Natasha pointed her pistol at the man’s groin. ‘Undo your belt.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You heard me. If you want to keep what you have down there you’d better do as I say right now.’

  The man swallowed hard, then unfastened his trousers and let them fall to the floor.

  ‘Now turn around again.’

  Natasha had two reasons for her instruction. One was to ensure he was unarmed and the other was to humiliate him so he would get just a taste of what his victims had to endure.

  The man complied and then bent down to pull up his trousers.

  Natasha shouted at him, ‘Leave them there. I will tell you when you can pull them up and that will depend on how cooperative you are.’

  The man let go and straightened up.

  Scarface was still groaning and gripping his bloodied thigh, so she focused on the trouserless man. ‘During your conversation a few minutes ago I heard the term black auction. What is that?’

  The man shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Okay, you have four limbs, each time you fail to answer a question to my satisfaction I will shoot one of them. But just to show my reasonable side, I will let you choose which one.’

  The man just stared at her as if in disbelief.

  She stepped closer to him. ‘Pick a limb.’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Okay, then I’ll choose, but I’m not very good with this thing, so please forgive me if I miss your arm and hit your chest.’ She aimed again and shot through his left biceps.

  The force of the bullet as it ripped through the man’s flesh spun him around and he collapsed over a desk screaming in pain. Natasha waited for him to catch his breath.

  He looked at her. ‘You are crazy.’

  Natasha nodded. ‘Absolutely, and you haven’t seen anything yet. I’m just getting started.’

  ‘They’ll kill you when they find you.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The Kestrati.’

  ‘They won’t have to find me, I’ll find them.’

  The man pressed his hand over the wound in his left arm. ‘Fucking crazy bitch.’

  ‘Yeah, I know, your friend already told me. Now let’s try again. What is the black auction?’

  The man studied her for a moment then sighed. ‘It’s where they sell the girls.’

  ‘Why did you call it a black auction?’

  ‘Because the clients are not buying girls for the sex trade.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  He looked at her with a half grin on his face.

  She raised her pistol and pointed it at him. ‘Arm or leg? It’s your choice.’

  He held up his right hand, blood dripping from his palm. ‘Okay, okay. They are sold for their organs.’

  Natasha gasped. She’d heard rumours of girls having their organs harvested but thought they were just rumours. ‘I didn’t think that really happened.’

  ‘Oh, it happens all right.’ He bent down again, but this time pulled out the belt from his trousers, wrapped it around his arm above the wound, then pulled it tight.

  Natasha didn’t stop him. ‘How does it work at the auction?’

  ‘The girls are offered for sale on an encrypted website. Clients are invited by email to view them either at the venue or over the internet. Usually the clients buy from the main auction for brothels or their own personal collection. But at the black auction clients act as middlemen and buy girls for the medical industry. They take them to private medical facilities where their organs are removed, or sometimes they operate at the auction facility. I’ve heard they operate while the girls are alive for maximum oxygenation of the organ, but I don’t know if that’s true.’

  A wave of nausea swept over Natasha as he described this evil activity which was even worse than the sex trade. ‘Where is this auction?’

  ‘You don’t want to know.’

  Natasha raised her pistol.

  He flinched. ‘Wait, I’ll tell you. Brussels, the latest is in Brussels, but there’s nothing you can do about it.’

  ‘We’ll see about that.’

  ‘They have been reported before but nothing happens. Some of the patrons who visit the auctions are powerful men. Any investigation is shut down and the Kestrati move to another venue in another city in another country. My advice to you is to go home. Or better still, disappear. Because you are high on our list of priorities. No one ever really escapes from the organisation. They will hunt you down.’

  ‘Thanks for the advice.’

  Natasha had to decide what to do with the men. If she left them alive they would call and warn the organisation in Brussels that she was on her way. So they needed to die. But could she just shoot them in cold blood like she had with Anton? She glanced down at scarface’s pistol on the floor close to her feet. It could be the answer to her problem. She had little doubt that one of them would make a move as soon as her back was turned. So she decided to leave their fate in their hands.

  She left the pistol on the floor, turned around, and headed for the door. There was a shuffling sound behind her. She spun back around to see the second man, trousers still around his ankles, reaching under a jacket on a nearby chair. She raised her gun as he pulled out a pistol and turned to face her. She fired three times. He dropped the gun and collapsed.

  As the pistol hit the floor, scarface made a grab for it. Natasha pointed her gun at him and shouted, ‘Don’t!’

  He paused with his arm outstretched and his fingers close to the handle, then looked back at her.

  Natasha shook her head. ‘Is this how you want to leave this world? A tough guy like you at the hands of a girl, because that will happen if you don’t move your hand away from that gun.’

  He stared up at her for a moment, then made a desperate grab for the pistol. She fired two shots which smashed into the side of his head. He slumped over, blood pooling on the floor next to him. She stepped closer and kicked the pistol from his hand, then watched him take his last breath.

  She returned to her car in a state of shock. Not because she had killed two more gang members but because she couldn’t get the black auction out of her mind. It was the sickest thing she’d ever heard.

  She pushed the semi-automatic pistol back under her seat and recalled the second man’s last words. No one ever really escapes from the organisation. They turned her cold because she was a target, and maybe Rosie was as well. She had to warn her. And from what the guy had just told her she was probably going to need help.

  Natasha jumped out and opened the rear of the car and searched her holdall until she found the piece of paper with the telephone number that Rosie had given her a couple of days earlier.

  She made the call.

  Rosie sounded excited to hear from her until Natasha explained the reason for the call. ‘Oh, Natasha, that sounds horrible.’

  ‘It is, so you must tell your dad what I’ve told you. You all need to be extra careful.’

  ‘He’s here, I’ll put him on and you can tell him yourself.’

  Natasha’s heart fluttered a little as she heard Mason’s voice.

  ‘It’s good to hear from you, Natasha, but is something wrong?’

  She had to choke back her emotions. ‘They took her, Mason, they took Katerina.’

  There was a moment’s silence. ‘Oh, hell, Natasha. When?’

  She explained to him the events of the last thirty-six hours, including her trip to Bucharest, Hungary, and Germany.

  ‘When I saw you off at the airport yesterday I thought it was over, and I was thinking about you today, back with your family and trying to get your life back to normal.’

  ‘It looks like this Kestrati organisation has other plans for me a
nd my sister.’

  ‘Did you say Kestrati?’

  ‘Yes, have you heard of them?’

  ‘I hadn’t until today.’

  ‘I think Stefan, the trafficker who picked me up at the airport six weeks ago, is part of the Kestrati.’

  She went on to explain what she had learned from the dead guy in Bucharest and the men at the warehouse that evening. When she told Mason about the black auction and how it worked she heard him draw breath.

  He said, ‘Tell me you are not planning to go to Brussels.’

  ‘I have to. This Hugo guy is taking Katerina and another girl there.’

  ‘I’ll make some calls and get the Belgium police involved.’

  ‘No, please don’t. The man in the warehouse told me the Kestrati have people in high places. If they get tipped off they’ll move the operation somewhere else.’

  ‘But you can’t go there alone.’

  There was a long pause before she answered. ‘I won’t be if you’re with me.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, I was wondering, if you’re not doing anything, we make a pretty formidable team.’

  ‘I can’t, Natasha, I have Rosie to think about.’

  Natasha thought about what she was asking. This man and his family had gone above and beyond the norm and had paid a high price for helping her before. She had no right to ask any more from them. ‘Of course, Mason, Please forget I asked. This is not your problem. And don’t worry about me, I’m getting pretty good at this killing stuff.’

  There was an even longer pause before he sighed into the phone. ‘Oh hell, Natasha, how long will it take you to get to Brussels?’

  ‘I’ll have to check my map, but I’m guessing around five hours.’

  ‘Meet me at the airport.’

  21

  MASON

  Mason put down the phone and looked at Kathy. It was clear from the scowl across her face that she wasn’t happy. He looked around him. ‘Where’s Rosie?’

  ‘She’s in her room, can’t you hear the music?’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘What do you think you are doing?’

  Mason didn’t answer. He couldn’t find the words.

  ‘Did you just say you would meet her at Brussel’s airport?’

  He nodded. ‘I have to. Those bastards have taken her sister. I have to help.’

  ‘You should never have got involved in the first place. Why couldn’t you and Rosie have just stayed out of it?’

  ‘I was a cop for twenty-five years. Getting involved came with the job, and it’s going to be a hard habit to shake off. And Rosie’s our daughter remember, she got involved because that’s her nature and the way you brought her up. I’m sure you wouldn’t have her any other way, really.’

  ‘When I brought her up to care, I meant helping old people across the street, or handing in found property, or speaking up if a shop assistant gave her too much change, not interfering with human sex traffickers. I’m going to have to talk with her.’

  ‘It’s a little late for that, Kathy.’

  ‘But it’s not too late to stop you getting involved again. Call her back and tell her you can’t go.’

  ‘She’s going after the scum who have her twelve-year-old sister. Are you seriously saying I should leave her to it?’

  ‘Damn right I am.’

  Mason just looked at her, then left the room to go upstairs.

  Kathy followed him into the hall. ‘If you go, don’t come back.’

  Mason grabbed a holdall bag and threw in some essentials, then he took his wallet and passport and went to speak to Rosie in her room. He found her laying on her bed with her head buried into her pillows. He turned down the volume on her music player and sat down next to her.

  ‘Did Natasha tell you about her sister?’

  Rosie nodded. ‘And she told me that no one ever escapes from the organisation. Does that mean they’ll come back for me?’

  Mason shrugged. ‘I don’t think so. I rescued you from The Scarlet Club. It’s a different organisation and they are pretty much wiped out now. We rescued Natasha from the Kestrati while they were transporting her. It’s the Kestrati that are the trafficking organisation. But just to be on the safe side, you and your mum need to go and stay with your aunty and uncle for a while.’

  ‘Why, what about you?’

  ‘I have to go and help Natasha find her sister.’

  Rosie thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘I understand.’ She sat up and hugged Mason. ‘Just be careful, okay?’

  ‘Okay.’

  Mason kissed her forehead and went back downstairs where he found Kathy in the kitchen. He repeated everything that Natasha had told him on the phone and watched for her reaction, hoping it would be a sympathetic one, but she just scowled at him.

  ‘Can we please talk about it when I get back?’

  She slammed a kitchen drawer shut. ‘I meant what I said, if you go, it’s over.’

  ‘You’re angry, I get that. I’ll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime you and Rosie need to go and stay with your sister. You’ll be safer there.’ He walked over and kissed her cheek, then left the house.

  As he walked to the nearest tube station he used his mobile phone to book a seat on the next available flight to Brussels. It left in four hours.

  At the ticket dispensers he bought his underground day ticket but he didn’t go straight to the airport. First, he had to make a stop at a certain street in Mayfair.

  Derek and Angela Chambers were pleased to see him. He was invited to sit in the same leather bound chair opposite the anxious couple as they waited for him to speak.

  ‘I’m going to need a photograph of your daughter.’

  Angela gasped, jumped up, and rushed over to a bookcase. She returned with a six inch photo frame which she handed to him. ‘That’s Jessica.’

  Mason focused on the cute innocent face smiling up at him through masses of auburn shoulder length curls. A wave of anger rippled through him as he thought about this child in the hands of a criminal organisation that treated girls as commodities.

  Angela pointed to the photo. ‘You can take that with you, it was taken less than a month ago.’

  Mason pushed the small brass retainers to release the back then slipped the photo out and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

  Derek shuffled to the edge of his seat. ‘What made you change your mind?’

  Mason hesitated a moment. ‘It’s a long story, but after leaving here yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about what you told me. Then I got a phone call from someone I care about dearly. She told me her young sister had been taken by the same organisation. So I have no choice. I have to get involved.’

  Angela’s excitement showed all over her face. ‘Thank you, Mason.’

  Derek glanced at his wife, nodded his agreement, then turned back to Mason. ‘The deal is the same, one hundred thousand pounds no strings attached and I’ll double it if you bring Jessica home.’

  Mason frowned. ‘That’s not necessary, Derek. I’m not doing this for money. I have to go to Europe to find my friend’s sister, Katerina, and as that note says they have taken Jessica out of the country, I should be able to get some information on her.’

  ‘How will you get them to talk to you?’

  Mason gave Derek a half smile. ‘Don’t worry about that, I can be pretty persuasive. A few minutes with these traffickers and they suddenly want to tell me everything they know.’

  Derek glanced at Angela and gave her a look that said, I think we have the right guy for the job. Angela nodded.

  Mason got to his feet. ‘I will do everything I can to find Jessica and bring her home but….’ He hesitated, trying to find the words. He knew what he was capable of, but he needed to add a qualifying statement before he left.

  Derek stood up and slowly nodded. ‘I know what you were about to say, so don’t worry, I understand you can’t offer any guarantees. Your best efforts are all we can ask for.’

  Mason gave Dere
k a grateful smile.

  Derek hurried over to a sideboard and returned with a small holdall bag. He offered it to Mason. ‘There’s fifty-thousand in here, take it for your expenses.’

  Mason shook his head. ‘That’s too much.’

  Derek pushed the bag into Mason’s chest. ‘Please take it, you may need to buy information.’

  Mason thought about that. ‘Okay, but I’ll bring back what I don’t use. I told you, I’m not doing this for money, these organisations need to be stopped.’

  A few hours later Mason walked out from arrivals into the meet and greet area of Brussels International Airport and headed straight for the pretty dark haired girl frantically waving at him.

  Natasha flung her arms around his neck, reached up on her tiptoes, and kissed him. ‘Did you miss me?’

  ‘Of course, and you haven’t changed a bit.’

  Natasha raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s only been two days.’

  ‘Maybe, but they were a long two days.’

  She gave out a short giggle, tossed back her hair, and shot him a look with those big brown eyes that took his breath away. She must be just about every man’s idea of the perfect girl.

  ‘Seriously though, thank you for coming, Mason. Now the fucking Kestrati are in trouble.’

  ‘When I dropped you at the airport I had a feeling we’d meet again. I just didn’t think it would be this soon.’

  Her expression became solemn, her voice serious in tone. ‘Me neither, but I didn’t expect those bastards to take my sister. Stefan must have told my ex-stepdad, Stephen, that I’d escaped, and Stephen must have given him my grandmothers address in Bucharest. The man who took her is Hugo Savic. He’s an experienced kidnapper and must have been watching my grandmother’s apartment and saw Katerina leave.’

  ‘Well, we’ll make sure he regrets ever laying eyes on her.’

  Natasha smiled and nodded. ‘I second that.’

  In the hire car, Natasha showed Mason the maps with the location of the next safe-house indicated by the number four. ‘I suspect this is the location of the auction.’

  ‘But didn’t you say the guy in Bucharest told you this Hugo was taking her to London?’

  ‘That’s what he said. But from the one sided phone conversation I overheard at the last safe-house, it seems that there is another trafficker and a second girl with him now. So they may be dropping off the other girl there. If I remember right, her name is Sabrina.’