The People Traders (12 page)

"You will understand, my friend, in a moment, but from now on in our own language please," Saeed replied.

By now Karen was back, standing in front of him.

"Remove your t-shirt and knickers," Saeed demanded.

She quickly removed her clothes, handing them to him with a smile and feeling embarrassed with others watching her. But at least he'd not told her to remove them before sprinting up the deck.

Saeed passed the clothes to Assam, then came closer to her. He grasped her head with his hands, turning her one way then the other as he looked inside and behind her ears, noticing her already pierced earlobes. He pulled back slightly. "I'd like you to smile at me?" he asked. As she smiled, he studied the line of her teeth, satisfying himself that they were perfectly in line. "Thank you. Now open your mouth wide."

She did as he asked and he peered inside, pulling her cheeks away from her teeth, so he could check the condition of her back teeth. The smell of his bad breath so close made her want to retch, but she held her own breath and didn't move.

"Have you ever used drugs?" he asked letting go of her head.

She shook her head. "No, never."

He took each of her hands one at a time and carefully looked at her nails, besides checking along and under her arms for any signs of needle marks. "Lift your arms high above your head and spread your legs apart slightly."

She quickly did as he asked, not flinching as he walked round her, rubbing his hands over her body.

"You can put your arms down now," Saeed said, then he looked at Assam.
"Have you had to punish her while she's been on the ship?"
he asked in their language.

"Yes; I had to use the strap before she came on the ship, Saeed, there was no option after she tried to escape. The girl needed to be punished or any threat in the future would be meaningless. I was careful and only gave her three strokes on the bottom and one to the top of the legs. Garrett checked later and said her skin was sore but hadn't broken. You should understand
, this girl would not have accepted continued captivity without instilling fear of another, more vicious, strapping if she stepped out of line. But she hasn't and she has worked hard."

"I see, that could be a problem,"
he said.
"This may mean me having to change my plans, if there's been any permanent scarring."
Then he reverted back to English. "I'm told you were punished with a strap. So I'd like you to turn round, Karen, spreading you legs and bending down as low as you can, so I can check there's been no scarring."

She did as he asked, feeling particularly violated when he grasped her buttocks, pulling them well apart, while he inspected the surface of each buttock. However, she never moved or verbally objected.

"You can straighten up now and face me," Saeed said to her, then looked towards Assam.
"You're lucky there's no scars. I never strap a bottom, Assam. I always keep the strap to the top of the legs, not directly on the bottom. It's more painful, believe me, and while sometimes the strap makes the legs bleed, it never leaves any permanent scars."

"I will remember that
, Saeed. But what do you think of her? I think this girl is the best we've had this year. She's looked after herself, very fit and it shows. I've had her spend her rest time practising hard as a lap dancer, besides, as you know, she's already experienced in the ways of pleasing a man. She will be very popular with clients and is more than ready to work tonight, if you want?"

Saeed nodded his head up and down in agreement.
"You're right; she's far better than I expected, needs a little more colour, besides smelling nicer, but that's easy to sort out. Mind you, taking her to a brothel, as was arranged with my English contact, is no longer the intention. This is why I wanted to check her very carefully, particularly where you strapped her, besides making sure she didn't limp, had good teeth or used needles. The professional photos from England have aroused much interest and I've already received bids close to forty thousand dollars. This is big money for a girl, Assam, but these buyers want the best and by what I've seen, we have very close to that in her. This Saturday she'll go to the highest bidder, so come by my house on the next trip and whatever I raise, above the original five thousand offers from the brothels, there's twenty percent in it for you."

Assam smiled to himself, extra cash was always acceptable and he was relieved he'd not had to beat her into submission.

Then Saeed looked back at Karen, "Bend your head forward."

She bent her head down and Saeed began to remove the clips holding her hair up. Then he handed them to Assam.
"She used only four clips?"
he asked, continuing to run his hands carefully through her hair, feeling if she had more.

Assam looked across to Garrett.
"Well?"

"Yes
, there was only four,"
Garrett answered.

"That is good,"
Saeed replied.
"I can't be too careful with an intelligent and obviously fit girl like this. Whatever she tells you will be a lie. So you need to count in and count out what you give her. She'll use people and anything you fail to take back off her she might be able to use as a weapon. It is those occasions, my friend, and we can lose a great deal of money when she's found out and has to be severely punished."

Assam was now glad he'd said nothing about Barry. Saeed was right about this girl using people. He himself had made a mistake, believing she was under control. But a girl like her would never be under control, pretending naivety with her natural sexual attraction to ensnare a man.

By now Saeed had opened the large bag he'd brought up with him from his boat. Quickly he removed knickers, t-shirt, shorts and a jumper, handing them to her. Then he pulled a hairbrush from his pocket, handing that to her as well. "You're coming with me, Karen. Get dressed quickly, then brush your hair."

"She has clothes, Saeed,"
Assam said.
"You didn't have to bring any."

"
Yes I do, Assam. I've already checked her body and hair very carefully. By bringing my own clothes for her, I know she carries nothing I don't know about. Besides, the girl would be very cold later if all she had to wear was what she had on when I came aboard.
"

Assam laughed.
"You're getting soft, Saeed, giving them a jumper to wear as well."

The two of them moved over to the next girl, Assam telling her to undress. Saeed inspected the girl, but not nearly as carefully as Karen and again he brought out similar clothes from the bag for the girl to wear, telling Garrett to collect the brush off Karen and give it her. The little blonde girl was next and when Saeed touched the side of her face with the bruise, the girl pulled back, so he slapped her face. "Get your clothes off," he demanded.

She refused point-blank and this time Assam slapped her. "If he says strip, strip," Assam demanded, raising his hand again.

This time the girl didn't hesitate and then stood there shivering while Saeed inspected her, tears running down her face. Karen was appalled; nearly all her body was bruised, some even festering from lack of attention. She was glad Assam hadn't taken the strap to her more than once.

Assam quickly cut in, still using the language the girls couldn't understand
. "She was trouble, Saeed, wouldn't do a bloody thing. We had to control her after she kicked a door down and tried to climb overboard. I'm afraid Garrett got a little carried away,"
he said quietly.

Garrett glared at Assam.
"Me! It was you that beat the kid up."

Saeed held his hands up in horror.
"Enough! I don't want her anyway. I've no sale, believe me. Bleached blondes with poor teeth and already getting a big arse are no use for me. Besides, the wounds will take too long to heal. I'd have to feed her for weeks; I'm not a bloody hospital."

"You can have her for free, she can't stay on the ship
. Like I said, we could have visitors tomorrow,"
Assam said.

He shrugged.
"That's your problem, Assam. I'll not take her and that's that."

The look of annoyance on Assam's face made Karen want to laugh, but of course she remained steadfastly silent, showing no emotion. Although she couldn't understand them, it was obvious something was wrong, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Assam turned to Garrett and shrugged, still speaking in the language only they understood
. "You heard Saeed, we've no alternative,"
Assam said.

Garrett walked over to the girl and took her hand, talking to her softly as if trying to comfort her. She picked her clothes up to dress, but he stopped her and they walked towards the side rail.

Karen thought there must be a problem and she was being returned to her cabin, but Garrett stopped at the rail. He leaned on it, facing out to sea. The girl was at his side and they were talking. Garrett began pointing to something and the girl leaned against the rail, trying to see what he was showing her. He stood back still pointing with one hand as he moved behind her. She was still gazing out, trying to see what he'd seen, when he took a large knife from his inside jacket pocket with his other hand. Swiftly, he grabbed her hair, then, forcing her head back, pulled the knife across her throat. The other girl screamed while Karen watched, speechless, as the girl sank silently to the deck in a fast-forming pool of blood. Then, bending down, Garrett pushed her body between the rails; a splash came seconds later as she hit the water.

Saeed shrugged, handed Assam a large bundle of currency, and turned to the girls.

"Over the side and into my boat. Try to escape and it's a twenty mile swim. You'd not get far, by now the water will be alive with sharks from miles around, hungry for human flesh."

The two girls did as he asked and sat together in the large craft. He climbed down and rummaged in a box, removing a chain with an ankle ring attached. He tightened the ring round Karen's ankle, before threading it through the seat support, and fixing it with a padlock.

He looked up at her. "Just so you don't get any ideas about jumping overboard again, Karen. So just settle back and enjoy the ride, it'll be dark when we arrive."

He went through to the forward cabin and started the engine and soon they were speeding away from the ship. Karen turned and looked at it. She could see the name ‘Towkey', Panama, on the stern and memorised it. This was a name she wanted to remember.

The girl sat by her, touched Karen's arm to catch her attention. "The name's Debbie, Debbie Malloy. Have you been on the ship for long? I didn't know anybody else, apart from Jane, was aboard. Why did he put a chain on you? Have you, like Jane, been a bad girl?"

Karen looked at her for a moment, then shrugged indifferently. "Karen, Karen Marshall. I've been on that bloody ship since leaving England. So where did they pick you two up from then?" she asked curtly and without any emotion. Karen trusted no one anymore and the last thing she wanted was a hanger-on when she made her break.

"We were brought on for a party when the ship was off Southampton. Jane and I do an exotic dancing type of act. You know the type of thing, a bit of dancing followed by a quick strip then on to the next show."

Karen sighed to herself, that's all she needed, a good-time girl out for a quick pound or two.

"So what went wrong then?" Karen asked, trying to inject some interest in her voice.

Debbie laughed. "We accepted a drink after the act, it's usual, just being friendly, that was all. Anyway, I woke up in the same cabin as Jane late the next day. By then the ship had sailed and they promised they'd drop us at the next port. The catch was we'd have to earn the fare home. Jane wasn't on the game. She was just a stripper so she refused. Refusal didn't mean much; she was passed around the crew anyway and got a beating when she wouldn't perform. She's a kid at home and a boyfriend, so it was understandable, I suppose."

Karen looked carefully at the girl. "What about you, why didn't they beat you then?"

Debbie laughed. "I saw it as an opportunity. I've earned nearly four hundred pounds on that ship. Mind you, when they killed Jane I got a bit nervous, I was worried in case it was me next. You know, for my money."

Karen couldn't believe what she was hearing, the indifference to her friend being killed. But Karen was also thankful for them being there, convinced that if it hadn't been for these two girls she'd almost certainly have been forced to entertain the crew a great deal more than she had last night.

"Have you any idea what this is all about?" Karen asked.

"What do you mean? For me it's just a lift to the mainland."

"Lift to the mainland!" Karen sniggered. "You and I have been bloody sold to that thing driving this boat. Didn't you think it strange that he had you remove all your clothes and look at your teeth? It's a funny request by someone who's just taking you to the mainland."

Debbie grinned. "I did that for Assam. He told me last night the man liked to see girls naked, so as he'd kindly agreed to take me, he asked if I would indulge his fantasy. I told Assam it seemed strange, but Assam asked me to humour him, so I did."

Karen laughed. "So you think he's going to let you go? You're off your trolley. More like you're on the way to some brothel to be screwed God knows how many times a day the same as me. But this time there's no pay, no escape... That's until you're no longer any use, or they've got replacements, then who knows what will happen, killed perhaps, like they did Jane."