People Trafficker (2 page)

On her part, Karen had only just reached eighteen, living a relatively sheltered life, where boyfriends were concerned, and she was using this opportunity to practise how to be relaxed among men. In particular, how to make them want to be with her, and how to make them do what she wanted. For Karen though, with the submarine crew it was just a game, but with the background reality of a serious agenda. She’d no intention of letting any man get as close as her so-called boyfriend again, but she needed to understand how far she could go with a man and still keep his interest. This need had suggested itself during her forced captivity when promises of help often came with sexual demands, making for particularly difficult situations, in that she risked giving them everything, but in return would have received very little or even nothing, if she had done what they initially wanted of her.

Why was this so important for her? It was because Karen had every intention of going after the crew who’d raped her during her time on a ship called the Towkey, which had taken her to the Lebanon. Then there was Grant and Susan who’d pretended to be her friends, when in reality they were helping in the setting up of her abduction for money. However, to pursue these people, Karen was convinced she’d need assistance, and to ask for that required confidence in her ability to control a situation.

The Captain had also begun to realise Karen was playing up to his crew. He’d never been an advocate of using females on a submarine, although to be fair, the ones he had aboard were hard working, professional and no trouble. But this girl was very different. He’d expected a real problem with a girl who’d been through such an ordeal, but she showed no such after-effects. However, Karen was the sort of girl who could turn men against men, cause arguments and increase tension to the point that discipline may become a serious problem. He was very glad she was leaving the ship; because to have her for the entire exercise, might have caused discipline problems resulting in her being confined to her cabin.

“So have you found today interesting, Karen?” the Captain asked, avoiding any reference to her actions over the day, when they had all sat down for dinner in the early evening.

“Yes, Sir, it’s been fantastic and everyone’s been really kind and helpful. Would you thank them all for me, after I leave?”

“I will of course, but we’d all be very interested in how you managed to get to the cove alone. Not all the details Karen, just the general story.”

Karen had no intention of telling the complete truth - or even the complete story - after all most of the problems encountered by the SAS were caused by her. “It’s a bit of a long story but I’ll try,” she began. “First you need to understand that it wasn’t me that the SAS had come for initially, they had come to destroy warehouses belonging to a gunrunner called Sirec. But this Sirec was also my new owner, so in reality my rescue was an afterthought. Two SAS soldiers from the main group were sent to rescue me from Sirec’s house, where I’d been taken. The two SAS soldiers destroyed Sirec’s house when they came to get me, but they had to pinch a car because the one they had ran out of fuel. I suppose the car they pinched must have been reported stolen because we were chased. We turned off the road and tried to make a run for it across some fields, but there were gunmen in the car chasing us and one of the SAS soldiers was shot. He died and we were forced to leave him and move on. Then later during another gunfight the other SAS soldier was injured very badly. He told me to go on alone, rather than be captured; after all it was only a few miles to go before joining up with the leader of the SAS troop, Commander Farrow. I was with them a couple of days, but they’d had a hard time trying to destroy Sirec’s warehouses, and had lost their transport. That’s when they pinched a helicopter.

She hesitated for a moment, collecting her thoughts, everyone listening intently. “You have to understand I cost my buyer around forty thousand dollars and the SAS had destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and weapons. Sirec, had put up half a million dollars for my capture, along with the SAS soldiers as well. The whole of the country was looking for us, so it was hard going. The captured helicopter was shot down. There were so many injured and some dead that the only two uninjured SAS soldiers decided to move on, with me of course. In fact it was hopeless; the searchers had spread out for miles and were approaching us in three directions. We’d no chance of escape but they as soldiers in uniform would only be arrested, perhaps made to stand in front of cameras and admit what they had done, before being sent home or exchanged. I had no such option. I’d have been returned to my owner if I was lucky, otherwise I’d have been given to the searching soldiers for the night. Either way I would never have gone home so they decided we should split up. They would head them off while I hid - until the searchers past my hiding place - then I’d move on. I was buried and breathed through a straw while the SAS soldiers diverted the searchers. They stuck a radio in my ear and told me over the radio when the searchers had passed. I lay there ages, my hand around a hand grenade in case I was found. If that had happened I’d have pulled the pin. With twenty or so miles to go, a map and compass, I’d not much of a problem navigating, but I could only travel at night and hid during the day.”

She again hesitated for a moment. Now was the time to change her story of how she finally ended up at the cove, in order to protect Martha, a local lady who’d helped and looked after her while on the run in the Lebanon. “I was caught by two conscripts, we had a fight and I was injured when one threw his knife at me. I’d no real problem as my self-defence training meant I could down them quite easily, but it was a stupid mistake to get myself injured. After that it became more difficult with the loss of blood. I fell into a ravine hiding from a searchers helicopter and banged my head. But further on I found an abandoned farm and managed to get water out of a well and clean myself up. There were still searchers everywhere so I hid, but I realised that if I waited too long, you’d be gone and I’d have close on a hundred mile walk to get to a border. Anyway all of a sudden the search was off, why I don’t know, but it was. The last six miles were simple, I was in pain yes, but it was easier without having to hide all the time.”

The room was silent as they all tried to take in what she’d been through to get out, then the Medical Officer spoke. “What about the injuries, Karen? When I checked them over for you last night, I was very impressed in the way they had been stitched. Who was it who stitched them up for you?”

She looked at him indignantly. “I did,” she lied, as in reality it was Martha who had stitched the wounds.

He shook his head in wonder. “I’m impressed, but I don’t know how you had the nerve, Karen; it must have been very painful?”

“Tell me about it, in fact it took me the best part of a day, with a few swigs of whisky from a bottle I’d found in the farmhouse, besides pouring some on the wound, and even then I nearly passed out,” she replied, hoping her explanation sounded feasible to the medical officer.

However, it was not the medical officer who spoke but the captain.

“It’s a fascinating story, Karen,” the Captain said as he leaned across and refilled her empty glass of brandy. “You’re certainly a very resourceful young lady.”

“She is, Captain, we should get her to sign up,” the First Officer added.

Karen raised her hands. “Oh no, this is it for me. I just want to go home, find a boyfriend and do what normal girls of my age do. From now on I’ll leave the soldiering to the professionals.”

“That’s a pity. You’ve displayed some remarkable skills. But you could be right. The services are more a vocation these days and require commitment and working as a team. You sound a loner rather than a team player,” the Captain replied.

“Tell me, Karen, what sort of lad are you looking for in a boyfriend?” one of the junior officers asked.

Karen liked the fishing question; after all she’d really laid it on today, so she began to think about what sort of lad she was looking for as she sipped her coffee.

“I don’t know really. He’d have to be quite tall; after all I’m close to six feet in heels. Not so bothered about him being really good looking, it’d be a bonus for any girl, but I’d rather have someone with a sense of humour, great personality and who’s able to control me. I prefer a man to take the lead. I’m not some background control freak.”

Karen had lied in her last sentence; she would always be in control of her destiny and never the man.

“There you are then, Karen, the forces are for you. There are strappingly fit and tall commandos, well educated officers trained to lead and most have great personalities, besides being up for a laugh,” the Medical Officer added.

Karen looked at him with mischief in her eyes. “You know you could be right there, I never looked at it that way before. I’ll have to seriously think about it. What do you think, Captain, should I become a soldier?”

He smiled. “I’d keep to the civilian bit, Karen. You’d be a disturbing influence with the troops. They’d all want to go partying with you every night, you’d wreck discipline.”

Karen grinned at the thought. At that moment brandy was brought round.

The Captain stood. “Gentlemen, I propose a toast.”

They all stood holding their glasses.

“To Karen. A remarkable and very brave young lady.”

The press surged forward, cameras flashed constantly and she paused for a moment, looking towards them with a smile.

“How are you feeling, Karen?” a reporter shouted.

“Very well thank you, a little tired perhaps,” she replied.

“When do you plan to go home?”

Karen smiled. “Hopefully very soon, but I’ll miss the sun, I believe it’s raining back home.”

“Have you been in contact with your parents?”

She shook her head. “No, not yet but I’ve been told they are on their way here.”

“How did the authorities know where to find you?”

“I telephoned home and gave dad my address. Even I didn’t believe the traffickers would have been stupid enough to let me get at a phone, let alone give me the address of where I was being taken.”

“So what do you think of the SAS now love?” another asked.

She looked directly at him, for a second the mask slipped and Sirec saw the real Karen. Her eyes gave her away, they suddenly seemed cold, her features with no hint of emotion as she looked at the reporter. “Excuse me, I’m not your love. My name’s Karen, thank you. But why should I think anything about the SAS?”

“Well they got you out didn’t they?”

She smiled, but it wasn’t a warm smile. “I’m sorry, you’re mistaken. I was smuggled into the country, but came out alone. I got myself out, not the SAS. Everything I’d learnt in survival was useful, but valueless without one other thing. That was a determination to be free and the belief in myself that I had what it took to achieve it.”

“Well you certainly did achieve that, Karen, besides looking very fit. What’s the plan for the future, modelling perhaps?” another reporter asked.

Silence fell over the reporters, every one very interested in her reply.

Karen stood a short time before answering. “It’s very flattering for you to suggest I could become a model. Thank you for the compliment, not that I believe I could for one moment. It does, though, bring me to a proposition I’d like you all to consider. You see I’ve been close to death a number of times over the last weeks, once it was only seconds away when I had a gun at my head, which I’ll never forget. I’ve also seen and experienced a grey side of the world and that sickens me. Because of these experiences I’m prepared to tell the world the real story of my abduction, what happened during my captivity and preparation for sale. Then finally my escape.”