The Mission To Save

So recently I haven't been posting anything - concentrating more on my exams and such! So I thought I would share with you a short story which I wrote a while back!! Enjoy!

 “What do you know about child trafficking?” The head of MI5 asked us sternly.

I blinked and Daphne shifted uncomfortably. Lucy put her hand up. “It’s the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation, most commonly in the form of slavery.”

“Well done T21. You’ve been reading. Now, some of these people run brothels where children are subjected to… ahem, forced acts of sexual indecency. We have located one through our undercover agent, a human smuggler, and we feel that it must be taken down immediately. We would have older agents going in but unfortunately this particular brothel deals only with young girls and you three are our most experienced veterans. Your mission: to save these girls.  The risks are high; we have little intel on the layout, but Simon will be nearby with a squadron of Special Forces. You have all been trained to be the best of your age group in self-defence, and I want you to recover and protect as many captives as you can. Now go and get changed.” The Head dismissed us with a flick of his wrist.

I left the Head’s office absolutely terrified. I had killed people before. I had travelled the world in search of ruthless assassins. I had seen things a sixteen year old should never see in this world, but this? This was outside my comfort zone.

I changed into an old pair of slacks and a grey t-shirt and stood waiting, shivering, in my co-ordinator’s office for the signal. Simon, my co-ordinator, invited us to sit on the hard, wooden sofa but it offered no relief for my racing heart.

It was a dangerous mission and I had every right to be scared. We had no idea what we would find inside the walls of that brothel. Simon looked anxious; he knew that he was putting us at risk, and if anything happened to us, he would be held partially responsible himself. If he tried to do anything to save us if something happened while we were in there, he would jeopardize our cover. Through the walkie-talkie came a voice saying, “Code green. Bring the girls and begin stage one!” I trembled as Simon picked up the machine and acknowledged the order.

We were herded into a solitary, black van and driven down into the most squalid part of London. I gazed out of the window at the passers-by on the pavement, going about their ordinary work-a-day lives. We drove through countless streets, busy ones and quiet ones, but everywhere I looked everyone was minding their own business. I imagined what they could be thinking. Possibly one could be regretting a row with her friend, or another who had forgotten his presentation as he hurried into work. All the same, none of them turned an eye to our car, none of them cared about what we were about to do.

Eventually, as the sky began to grow darker overhead and the streetlamps flickered on, the van slowed to a halt in a deserted alleyway. We got out of the car and stood shivering in the cold December breeze. The agent who had been working as a smuggler approached us and told us to follow him alone. Soon I found myself sitting in a gutter next to the brothel with Daphne and Lucy.

“Jen, please don’t act the hero before you can! Wait, at least until you have a little evidence, before sending Simon the signal, please…” Daphne begged me in a whisper. She knew me too well. It was so like me to want to try and get the mission over and done with before it had even started.

Presently, a man who looked suspiciously normal came out of the house and had a few words with the agent. There was an exchange of money, and then the man, who I assumed was the boss, looked us up and down and dragged us in without asking us anything. So far the mission was going to plan. He now thought we were his captives and in theory we were. It was easy to look scared for him; I did not have to act. I was already practically beside myself with terror.

The boss threw a few flimsy garments of old lingerie at us and ordered us to put them on in poor English. We stared at him like frightened rabbits until he looked away while we put them on. Fortunately however, he did not see our communication chips in our ears.

He then directed us each to our own tiny bedrooms which were surprising, considering I had expected filthy rooms crawling with cockroaches and earwigs. Obviously the boss liked his clients to be comfortable. There was a small double bed draped in relatively clean sheets, and a vacuumed carpet covering the floorboards. Attached to the bedpost there was a long chain with a shackle at the end. The boss grabbed me before I could pull away and he locked the shackle onto my wrist. When the boss was sure that I was safely trapped, he left the room and slammed the door.

For hours I sat chained to the bedpost, listening to terrified cries for help in adjacent rooms, waiting for enough evidence of lawlessness so that I could pull the plug on the whole mission and sink the brothel. Eventually I heard the uproar of drunken men downstairs waiting to be served. My heart started beating faster and faster; there was that rush of adrenaline that kept me going throughout all my missions. I tried hard to remember what Daphne had said to me earlier, and shut my eyes to concentrate.

My door suddenly burst open and a ravenous looking man stormed in. He was very drunk and seemed extremely violent. I was completely taken aback but still managed to press the alarm button on my earrings. The man leered at me in a sick sort of way. He smelt like an ashtray and looked like he’d been fighting. He lunged but I was too quick. His drinking gave me the edge. I kicked him in the stomach and he stumbled over. I would have run then but tied as I was to the bed, all I could do was avoid him until the police sirens could be heard. He stood up and roared at me furiously. I promptly kicked him again twice and he buckled over, moaning and cursing at me. He was leaning against the back wall clasping his stomach protectively.

After a few moments, the man leapt up and pinned me down on the floor before I could kick him again. His heavy hands were crushing my shoulders into the floor. I shut my eyes and prayed hard to a God I’d never prayed to, defenceless against him. Suddenly, as if in answer to my prayers, a loud police siren suddenly went off down the street and the man scrambled out of the room. I was left in a daze, suddenly thinking that the man had rendered me unconscious and I was dreaming! Soon enough Daphne came to my rescue and unshackled me; just before I let my thoughts get the best of me.

Together, we raced to Lucy's room, just in time to see her be carried off by a large brutish man. My insides squeezed nervously. I was angry and scared, but I was letting my emotions take over. Daphne and I threw ourselves at the kidnapper and tried to take him down, but he ran off with Lucy screaming hysterically over his shoulder. Daphne looked at me and I looked at her, and then we chased after the man quickly. He stampeded down the stairs and out of the house. We were slowed down by a crowd of scared and unhealthy teenager girls pushing to be free. I forced myself through the crowd, clinging on to Daphne's wrist, and we finally made it to the bottom of the stairs.

My heart pounded as I ran through the house in pursuit of Lucy’s captor, while the sound of Lucy’s screams rang in my ears. There was a door in front of the ogre-like man, and he smashed it open with all of his weight. Daphne, who was just in front of me and managed to jump at the man as he was slowed down by the force of the door, and she clung onto his ankle tightly. I flew at the man with my foot aimed at his spine, and he fell forwards, releasing his hold on Lucy. Daphne twisted his leg, and he cried out in pain, lying in a defensive position on the floor. The struggle ended almost as soon as it had started, as Lucy rendered the man unconscious with a sharp tap to the base of his skull with the heel of her foot. Together, the three of us heaved the beastly man up and dragged him back to the bottom of the stairs to be tied up along with the other captives. Simon had arrived, and he looked up at us as we dropped the insentient man to the floor carelessly. Simon stooped to bind his wrists together and then followed us outside.

“How did the mission go? I didn’t really notice…” Lucy asked quietly. Her eyes were still wide with frenzied fear.

Simon nodded. “The girls we could rescue have all been cared for. Some had to be taken to hospital, and the others have been taken back to Headquarters.” He said. “Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do. We weren’t expecting more than fifteen girls, and there were twenty four!”

“What do you mean the girls you could rescue?”That was all I had picked up from everything that Simon had just said. My ears blazed with disappointment and regret for the girls we had not saved.

“Some of them were taken away before we could stop them, in the same way Lucy nearly was.” He sighed as he saw my expression. “Jen, we can’t dwell on the sad things. Think of the girls we saved. Only a few were taken away, and they’re being followed. We’ll find them, I promise. You all helped to save lots of young girls with their whole lives ahead of them. You helped them have a second chance, to taste sweet freedom again!” We started to walk to the van that was waiting for us at the end of the road.

“What’s going to happen to them now?” Daphne asked.

“The girls can decide for themselves. Some will probably want to go back to their countries to be re-joined with their family if it’s possible, and some will stay here” Simon shrugged and came to a stop as we reached the van. “We’ll do what we can for them. You three don’t need to worry about it. You did well today. You rescued twenty four girls’ lives. They’re free. You should be proud of yourselves.”

“I’m not sure proud is the right word.” I muttered as I slid open the doors of the van and clambered in. I was relieved, yes, and tired. However I was not proud of myself. I was never proud of myself if we left someone behind. I tried not to think of those girls, and instead focus on the achievements of tonight’s mission. Maybe the success we had tonight would influence the way missions of the same type were carried out in the future.

As the driver turned on the engine and began to drive away, I looked out of the window silently with Daphne and Lucy, and we all kept our eyes on the street until it was out of sight and out of our minds forever. 

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