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.
*