Port City (An Alec Winters Series Book 3)

by Chariss K. Walker

  To anyone paying attention, the teenage captive gave off all the warning signs that she was in trouble. To Alec, she obviously was in the company of two predators. They held their prisoner against her will. She exhibited anxiety, fearfulness, and submissiveness. She also appeared to be malnourished and near dehydration. Her arms and ankles were bruised and chaffed from recent restraints. She walked as if in physical and mental anguish.

  As Alec considered the evidence before him, he also noticed that very few others paid the threesome any mind. The passersby were out-and-about on their own missions or destinies, paying little attention to anything other than themselves. They didn’t seem to notice that criminal activity was afoot. Even if they had seen the distress signs, few if any would have gotten involved.

  It pissed him off that so many were blind to the traumas of those with whom they rubbed elbows. However, he also knew that it was his job to free the innocent. He certainly didn’t need any help to do so. It was just as well that the three people didn’t attract the notice of others. After those observations, Alec began to use his gift and ‘read’ each one of them.

  Amy, the captive, was an only child of a single mother. She was often in mental turmoil as most teenagers were at that age. She thought that no one understood, especially her mother. She had only a few friends and wanted things to be different. She hoped to be noticed and respected.

  Amy dreamed of living in a larger city with more opportunities. She felt stuck in the podunk town where she’d lived her entire life. She was an honor-student since first grade. She was obedient to a fault, but ready and eager to touch the hem of rebelliousness.

  It was a fluke accident that Amy had met Ty and Jodi – the ones who held her captive. They had barely escaped arrest during the recent prostitution sting. In a panic, they’d decided to move to greener pastures and headed towards the Tennessee state line. However, on the drive there, both had second thoughts and wanted to return to Mobile.

  On the night it happened, Amy had been on a very bad date with a boy from her local high school – Jeff Flowers. Although she was very pretty, she was also very intelligent. Boys didn’t ask her out very often. That particular date had been a fix-up, and eager to feel popular, she went. Amy didn’t know much about him. She only knew that Jeff was a jock and ‘all the rage’ according to the friend that arranged the date.

  The evening had started out innocent enough. First, they’d had burgers at the drive-in owned by Jeff’s family. Then, he insisted they take a ride. Amy wasn’t happy about it when Jeff headed out of town. She was even less enthusiastic when he began to drink beer and whiskey shots while driving. When he reached across to grope Amy’s breasts, things quickly went downhill.

  “Don’t do that,” Amy said, crossing her arms across her chest.

  “Come on,” Jeff encouraged as he reached for her again. “Just let go and like it. Come on, let’s get this party rolling.”

  “Stop it!” Amy ordered as she forcefully pushed his hands away.

  “Aww, live a little,” he laughed as he slid his hand along her thigh and squeezed.

  “I said stop it!” she angrily yelled.

  “Come on, Amy. Annie Perkins lets me finger her all the time. She likes it. What’s wrong with you? Why do you have to be such a fucking prude? You’re far prettier. You could be the most popular girl in school if you’d just lighten up.”

  “I said no,” Amy replied. His grasping and probing hands had startled her, but his words had surprised her more. She wondered if that was the key to popularity. Did she have to tolerate such abuse to be liked? Was ‘putting out’ the illusive key. She quickly decided that she’d rather be lonely. “If this is the price for popularity, I pass.”

  Then, Jeff grabbed her hair and pulled her head forward, “Come on, give me a blowjob at least! Don’t be such an uptight bitch.”

  Instead, Amy emptied his cold beer into his lap. Unable to stand another second of his pawing, she demanded, “Pull over right now and let me out!”

  “Have it your way, you stupid bitch!” Jeff yelled as she got out of his car. He threw her purse out the window.

  After Jeff drove away, Amy discovered she couldn’t get any cell phone coverage. Unable to call her mother to come get her, she began to walk along the dark and lonely highway. There wasn’t any traffic that time of night. Tearful and afraid, Amy had plenty of time to regret her decision. She wished that she’d demanded that Jeff take her home instead. It’d been stupid to get out of the car in the middle of nowhere, on a deserted section of the highway.

  Amy knew she often made rash decisions. Her mother complained that she was too reckless and impulsive. Amy figured that this was another great example for her mother to use during one of their frequent spats. Still, if she could only get a cell signal, she knew her mom would come get her.

  She stopped worrying when she spotted headlight coming her way. Finally! She stepped out into the road and started waving her arms, hoping the vehicle would stop.

  When Ty and Jodi happened upon Amy, they couldn’t believe their luck. They stopped, sympathetically listened to her sad tale, and promised to get her safely home. “Don’t worry, darling. We’ll take care of you,” Jodi reassured as she locked eyes with Ty.

  It was a lie, of course, but Amy was too rattled to give it much thought. The long walk on the dark highway had been more terrifying that she ever imagined. However, when they continued towards the interstate rather than turning around and heading back to town, Amy was concerned.

  “You’re going the wrong way. I live in the other direction,” Amy said.

  “The RV’s too large to turn on this narrow highway. We’ll take the interstate back into town,” Jodi explained.

  “But this is the only exit for our town,” Amy worried. “The next one will take you twenty miles away. It will be much closer to turn around.”

  “Don’t worry, Amy. We’ve got this. Can I borrow your cell phone? Maybe I can get a signal up here from the front seat. If you’re worried about the distance, we can pull over once your phone has reception again. Then, maybe we can call your mother to come get you. We’ll wait for her to get here.”

  The suggestion made sense, so Amy handed the phone to Jodi. Once Amy was trapped in the back of the RV without the ability to call for help, Ty and Jodi headed straight back to Alabama. Along the way, Jodi prepped the innocent girl for ‘customers.’

  “We need money to buy gas and supplies. Get ready to spread your legs, little girl,” Jodi said.

  “What?” Amy croaked, the crass comment startling her.

  “We’ll stop at a truck stop. You’ll have sex with one of the men hanging around looking for action. Simple.”

  “No. I won’t do that. Are you crazy? You said you’d help me.”

  “I only help people who help me first.”

  “Well, I’m not doing it. I’ve never had sex before and I certainly won’t do it for money,” Amy hysterically sputtered. “Just let me out at the next exit. I’ll find another way to call my mother.”

  “Not going to happen,” Jodi said.

  “I won’t sell myself! I won’t have sex for money! Let me out of here!” Amy screamed.

  “Well, we’ll see about that, you ungrateful little bitch. Pull over Ty. You have to break her in,” Jodi gritted out the order.

  Ty took Amy by force, raping her while Jodi held her down. With both of them hovering over her, Amy grew nauseated by their smell, their horrible breath, and everything else about them. She threw up. Jodi brutally slapped her several times.

  “You fucking bitch!” Jodi yelled in Amy’s face as she wiped up the vomit. She tried to stuff in down Amy’s throat, screaming. “Here, eat it, you crazy bitch. I hope you choke on it!”

  “Now, Jodi. Calm down. If she chokes, we lose our meal ticket,’ Ty said. His reasoning calmed Jodi somewhat. She knew it was true.

  “Argh!” Jodi exclaimed in frustration, “I want to beat the little twit senseless!” But, for the time being,
she stopped the torture.

  As her first sexual experience, it disturbed the girl so badly that afterwards she became animalistic and savage. Each time Jodi brought in a new client, and she brought in at least a dozen that first night, Amy fought tooth-and-nail. Eventually, her captors administered just enough date-rape drugs to make her docile.

  Amy was too weak to fight any longer, but still alert enough to be interesting to the men who paid to have sex with her.

  By the time they’d reached Mobile, Amy had been sold to so many men she lost count. The RV had pulled over at nearly every truck stop along the way. There were plenty of takers.

  Amy was young and beautiful with flaxen hair, green eyes, and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Her innocent face, along with a youthful body, convinced each john she was fresh and pure. A hundred men at fifty bucks a pop was a whopping five thousand dollars.

  Ty and Jodi were so excited they could barely contain their glee. They knew they’d make double that during the first week in Mobile. They’d stumbled on a goldmine and there was no way in hell they’d freely let Amy go. They planned to use her as long as they could…until she was used up.

  In the beginning, when lucid enough to speak, Amy tried to get someone to help her. She begged customers to let her go or for his assistance, “Please help me. Untie me. These people have kidnapped me. Please, just help me. I want my mother, please.”

  The men used her anyway. Most, told her to shut up. Their usual response was, “I didn’t pay to hear your troubles; I paid to fuck you.”

  Only one man walked out, letting Jodi know the reason, “I refuse to have sex with someone against her will. I’m not asking for a refund, but this is simply wrong.”

  “She’s crazy. You shouldn’t pay any attention to her insane ramblings. Of course, it’s your decision to be taken in by that innocent looking face and not get what you paid for,” Jodi easily responded.

  When anyone complained to Jodi, she took out those grievances on Amy. She painfully twisted Amy’s hair at the roots or burned Amy’s armpits and groin with the hot, glowing coal of a cigarette.

  During the torture, Jodi taunted, “Keep your damn mouth shut and I won’t hurt you. Much. Don’t you understand that no one is going to help you? No one gives a damn, Amy. That’s the way of the world. People are desensitized. They only want to do what they want to do. They don’t care about anything else. No one wants to get involved. Those days of helping out a neighbor are over. You’ve been with scores of men now. None of them has lifted a finger to help you. None of them ever will. If you keep this up, I swear I’ll sew your mouth shut.”

  Amy was too frightened to reply. She didn’t want to believe Jodi and she knew she couldn’t stop begging for help. It was the only thing that gave her hope – maybe one day one of the men would listen. Maybe one of them would help stop this nightmare.

  “There!” Jodi exclaimed as she ground out a cigarette in Amy’s armpit.

  Most of the men ignored Amy’s pleas. The ones who listened, and refused to get involved, seemed to have a reason for not helping her escape. Her heart sank and tears ran down her face. She realized that Jodi was correct in her assessment of human nature.

  Most simply didn’t want to be drawn into a conflict that appeared to have no resolution. They didn’t care enough to be bothered. As one man explained, “If I report that you’re being held captive, I’ll have to explain how I know. I’ll be implicated too. Then, my wife will find out that I use roadside hookers. I can’t do it, little girl. I simply can’t get mixed up in your problems. Believe me, if I did, it would hurt me far worse than this hurts you.”

  Chapter 24

  Ty, the man in the small party, was in his thirties. He was tall, almost six feet two inches, and very thin. He had always been thin and was often called, ‘Skinny’ or ‘String-bean’ by his family. His long, greasy, dirty-blond hair only made him look thinner. His horribly decayed teeth revealed many years of drug abuse.

  Ty had been in trouble with the law since his teens and had a long rap sheet in northern Alabama. It was the primary reason the couple had moved south – to avoid any further arrests that might impose stiffer penalties. Ty already had two-strikes. A third felony would ensure a very lengthy imprisonment.

  Jodi, his partner, wasn’t nearly as tall at five feet nine, but she was almost an exact replica of Ty. In her thirties, she was also extremely thin with dirty-blonde hair, bad teeth, and a longtime addiction.

  Jodi was given a chance for a good life when her own incarcerated mother gave her up for adoption. A wealthy Jewish family from New York adopted Jodi when she was three months old. She had attended good schools and had privileges that Ty couldn’t even imagine, but none of it did her any good.

  Even as an adolescent, Jodi was always into something illegal or immoral. Whether drugs, boys, cheating, lying, or stealing, she did it all – it broke her family’s heart to see her throw her life away. After a final check fraud scheme, Jodi went to prison. At that point, her adoptive parents finally gave up. The years of trouble, lawyers, and rehabs had taken its toll and they considered her a bad seed. They refused to talk to her again and cut her out of their lives, but they didn’t forget Jodi. They left a small trust fund for their only child. It would be available to her upon her release. Jodi had used the money to buy the RV and a shitload of coke. The nest egg was gone in only a few months.

  As Alec watched them, he could see that the colors of Ty and Jodi’s auras were completely different. Ty’s energy was brown with orange tinges signifying that he was in this purely for the payoff. He didn’t care how dirty his hands got in the process as long as he had money for his next fix. It’s what he lived for and his partner took second place to getting high. Before they’d gotten into sex trafficking, Ty had sold anything and everything, including himself. Jodi had done the same. They’d both done many disgusting, dirty deeds to feed their addictions.

  Jodi, on the other hand, enjoyed her role in the sex-slavery trade. She drew great pleasure from watching as her captives were sold to men who would pay big money for young, fresh-meat. If there was cruelty involved in the transaction, she considered it an additional perk. ‘Big money’ to her was fifty dollars a pop. If she’d had her way, she would have kept twenty young women enslaved. As it was, she and Ty could only handle one at a time, especially with their current living conditions.

  The RV they shared was their living quarters, pimpmobile, and transportation. For the time being, one girl brought in enough money to keep them in drugs. It also paid for gas, booze, and necessary supplies. One girl under her cruel thumb gave Jodi the thrills she sought and the cash she needed.

  Jodi’s light was dark red with two additional layers, orange and yellow. It indicated that selling young girls for sex served two purposes for Jodi: First, it kept her from having to sell herself, and second, it satisfied a sadistic need to abuse those under her control. If she’d been locked in a room with Amy, or any of the other girls she’d used over the years, she would’ve taken great pleasure in relentlessly torturing them. As it was, she had to temper those impulses in order to keep her product fresh and producing the cash she needed.

  Alec saw an image of Jodi when she was only eight…she pinched the heads off bugs and spiders. Each time she squeezed the insect too tightly, she gritted her teeth in exultation exclaiming, “There!” Soon, she moved to larger prey such as mice and birds, but it was never enough. Jodi always desired to inflict more pain and suffering on anything or anyone under her control.

  Next, Alec turned his attention back to the young captive. Amy, was terrified, but couldn’t get away. Sedated, she didn’t even know where she was most of the time. Ty and Jodi, fearing it would drain their stash, were too selfish to get Amy fully addicted to drugs. However, they did dose her with a small amount of ketamine.

  When awake, Amy was too disoriented, confused, and weakened to figure out what to do next. Amy’s aura, once a bright yellow, was now a dull
, hazy golden shade, almost the color of her hair.

  Alec had gathered all the information he needed and he was ready to begin.

  Chapter 25

  Now, more than six weeks after Amy’s capture, Jodi paraded the youth along the streets near Cathedral Square in an effort to attract new customers. She’d spruced the girl up a bit and brushed her hair until it now glistened in the lamplight. Jodi whispered to interested men, “Come to the RV parked in a lot off Claiborne Street for a piece of ‘the freshest tail you’ll ever have.’ Don’t wait for the crowd to gather. You’ll want to taste this morsel first.” A natural born hawker, Jodi was efficient at drumming up business. Soon, a line would form at the RV’s front door.

  Finally, in an attempt to win points with Amy and make her more agreeable, Jodi bought a taco and soda from one of the street vendors. It was the first food the child had received in a couple of days. Real food and regular meals took a backburner where addicts were concerned, but there were plenty of salty and sugary treats along with a case of beer cooling in the RV’s refrigerator. Jodi, never accused of being considerate, simply hadn’t thought to feed her captive.

  Amy ravenously ate the food, wolfing down the crunchy, filled-with-more-lettuce-and-taco-sauce-than-meat, shell. Then, she wiped her mouth with a sleeve that partially hid her bruised wrists. In spite of the treat, Amy glared at Jodi with undisguised hatred.

  Amy held Jodi primarily responsible for the pain and suffering. In all reality, Ty was barely present for any of the decisions regarding Amy. He was either zoned out or anxiously moving too fast as if jerked about by the unseen strings of a puppeteer. Amy rationalized that Ty was bad, but he wasn’t nearly as devious as his partner. After the first assault, he hadn’t come near Amy again.

  Jodi was a different matter altogether. Amy had already discovered that her female captor took great pleasure in watching the men rape and abuse her. If the customers only wanted sex, Jodi looked away, disinterested. The moment that any of the men liked rough sex, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the punishment they gave Amy. She only drew the line if the violence would require medical attention or leave visible signs.