People Trafficker (10 page)

“I’m sorry, but the plane was delayed in landing and I got held up waiting for my luggage,” she retorted to his offhand tone.

He urged her to join the others and they made their way through to the departure lounge. Angela was looking at the other winners as they passed through security. She knew it was a holiday competition but they all were tall, slim girls, like her, all particularly attractive and well spoken. How did a competition end up with similar looking girls and no lads? However, another point that disturbed her was the man had a photo of her. She wondered how they’d got it and he seemed to be checking she was who she said she was, by comparing the photo. However, once in the departure lounge Angela put her concerns behind and telephoned her mother to say she was safe with the group, and also tell her that she’d met Karen.

When everyone was in the vehicles they were off. The girls hung on for dear life as the vehicles sped through the still deserted streets and out on the open road. For three hours they never stopped, finally slowing and turning off the highway, pulling to a halt in a clearing.

“There’s Cokes in the hampers girls, if you want the toilet it’s behind the bushes I’m afraid,” their driver called back into the vehicle.

Dawn stood at the side of the vehicle and lit a cigarette, after offering one to Angela who declined. “It’d better improve this trip; otherwise I’m out of here and taking the next flight home. I’m not into squatting behind a bush,” Dawn said, drawing on her cigarette.

“I think I’m with you on that. I ache all over with the banging about in the back of that vehicle and the noise of the engine’s giving me a headache. Besides, it’s a bit embarrassing to have to go behind a bush to wee; we’re not lads who couldn’t care less,” Angela replied.

“Right girls,
time’s
up, back inside,” the driver shouted.

This time when they set off they never returned to the main highway but travelled slowly down a long, narrow track towards the coast.

Dawn grasped Angela’s arm. “Look it’s the sea, which means a beach and sunbathing.”

“How, Dawn, I’ve got no clothes for the beach with me. We’re supposed to be going into the desert; this is a bloody funny way,” Angela replied.

Dawn frowned. “Oh! I never thought of that. Hey driver, why are we going down to the beach?”

“You’ll see,” he called back.

Now they could see in front of them not so much a beach, more a very stony and deserted cove where only a small boat was moored up. The vehicles stopped short of the cove and the driver in Angela’s vehicle turned to the girls.

“Okay girls lunch is served, and then the adventure begins,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

“Are we going in a boat? I hope not, I get seasick,” one girl sitting opposite Angela asked.

“No you’re going into the desert, Sammy, but this is a small surprise beach party the agency arranged before we turn inland,” he replied.

No one objected, or rather didn’t have time as the girl sitting alongside the driver, had wound down her window then hurriedly begun to unfasten her seat belt. “Come on you lot, can’t you hear the music, there must be a beach party going on,” she called back.

As the girls piled out of the vehicles they too could hear the music and they ran down to the cove to find a barbecue smoking away with three African chefs dressed in whites calling everyone over for food. Alongside the barbecue an oversize ghetto-blaster was thumping out the music they’d heard. Soon the girls and their drivers were sitting around with huge platefuls of sausages, burgers and salad including cans of cold beer and Coke. For the girls, it was at last beginning to be the start of a fantastic adventure. Besides which all the concerns many had of it being a pretty naff experience, had gone out of their heads.

However, rather than what was the intention of many of the girls, to dance after the food, everyone who’d eaten was beginning to feel very sleepy, so much so, already some had lain down and closed their eyes with the final ones following quite quickly. Within fifteen minutes none were awake. Boats began to arrive at the beach, more men climbed out. Among them was one carrying a briefcase. He set the case down on the now empty barbecue table and opened it. Inside were a row of glass capsules, a syringe and rubber gloves. Quickly putting the gloves on he drew all the liquid from a capsule into the syringe. Then he walked over to the first girl, injecting her in the arm before filling it again from the next capsule. Finally he came to the last girl, stopped and looked back at the ones he’d already injected.

“We seem to have six girls, I thought there were only five?” he asked a chef who’d just finished packing the barbecue items into a large box.

He shrugged. “Five, six what’s it matter we get paid per person.”

The man never replied but drew some more liquid from the last capsule, injecting the sixth girl.

After each girl was injected they were carried to the waiting boats and laid down on hastily fitted flat boards across the bench seating. Once they were aboard, the man who’d injected them walked over to the sleeping drivers, who’d brought the girls. Pulling a gun from his jacket he fired twice into the head of each then went back to one of the boats, climbing aboard quickly. Within a few minutes they set off at speed.

The small boats came alongside a ship. This was old, the hull rusting, desperately needing a coat of paint. The crew looking over at the boats were of African descent, many from Nigeria. Their usual pastime was modern piracy, boarding cargo boats in the dead of the night, sometimes holding out for ransom, other times stripping them of any valuable cargo. And of course if payment was offered they have no qualms about collecting human cargo for delivery anywhere in the world.

The small boats had ropes attached fore and aft then were winched up into their normal position. Each girl, now heavily drugged was carried into the hold and taken to individual containers set out in a line. Inside the container was a bed, a table and chair, with a chemical toilet set in a corner. A single bulb was set in the ceiling and was the only source of light. Angela, like all the others, was laid on a bed. Then she was stripped of her clothes and jewellery including the clips holding her hair back. Once the two crew members, who’d carried her in, had completed this task they left the container slamming the big door.

It was nearly four hours later when Angela awoke. She lay there shivering, staring up at the single bulb, rocking slightly. In the background there was the constant thump of an engine running. Getting off the bed and standing gingerly she looked around, not understanding where she was, why she was naked or how she’d got here. Automatically she looked at her watch. What watch! It was missing, so too was her grandmother’s ring which she’d worn since the age of sixteen.

“Hello…” she said softly, “is anyone there,” in some way afraid of a reply.

Of course there was no reply, and then she became bolder and shouted louder and louder, still no response. Grasping the single sheet on the bed, she wrapped it round her naked body and sat on one side of it. Slowly awareness dawned as all the warning signs she’d been concerned about came together. Everything that had happened, the competition, the man looking at the girls’ photos, then the girls themselves, all the same age and particularly attractive, then the leaving very early with no one around to see them go. Their money, passports and other valuables including phones left behind. Now even her clothes, ring and watch had gone as if none of it mattered any more. She was sure they’d been abducted. Tears began to form in her eyes; she couldn’t forget the images on television of Karen, then meeting the girl in the airport. But in Karen she had seen a strong girl, very capable, athletic and fit, where she had always relied heavily on her parents and now she was alone.

How long she sat there she’d no idea, then the door of the container opened and two men came in. One carried a stick, the other a tray with a carrier bag in the other hand. He placed the tray on the small table and opened the bag. Pulling out two tatty looking books he put them on her bed. Then he pulled out a pair of knickers and a t-shirt which he handed to her.

“These are what you wear from now on. The books are to help pass the time. You will be taken to the bathroom once a day, where you can clean your teeth and shower before being returned to this room. Shouting, screaming or kicking the door will mean nothing. No one will come and no one will hear you. You eat, we will return in fifteen minutes. The food will be taken away finished or not,” one man said.

They turned to leave.

“Please... where am I, why am I here?” she asked hesitantly.

However they ignored her questions and left, slamming the door behind them.

Sitting on the small chair, she finished the food quickly, the stew was spicy, the bread dry and the hot drink a very weak coffee. After a short time, which she could only imagine was fifteen minutes, they returned and took the tray away. Again she tried to talk to them but they ignored her and left her alone. With nothing to do she lay back down on the bed and soon fell asleep.