People Trafficker (4 page)

“Good work, Pat; I’ll move things along on my side now. What about the press in the UK, is Karen top news?”

“Yes, many have managed to get copies of the professional photos we originally had taken at a local studio for her sale. So she’s splashed across every morning paper, I would think after the live interview today, the frenzy is going to increase and not die down.”

“I have to agree with you there. It’s a mess and means the Towkey will have no use to us in the future. I’ve not heard from Assam, its captain, but if he’s heard the news he must now be a very worried man.”

“He was a fool, Saeed, letting her talk to the crew. He even gave her his own name. Armed with all that information it’s only a matter of time before the ship’s found and the crew’s arrested.”

“Yes… well let Assam’s errors be a warning not to make similar mistakes.”

“I will, I’ll speak to you soon and confirm when the girls leave the hotel.”

Saeed switched his phone off and leaned back. He felt it was ironical that if it hadn’t been for Karen and offering her for sale, he’d have never met the other private buyers who were after a top class girl. Even before she’d been finally sold he’d secured forward orders for similar girls. Four weeks of finding the right girls and planning had come to fruition at the right time. The deals he’d secured would not only cover his costs in the hospital, but return a very nice profit. He opened the folder once more and looked at the photos of the new girls, then read through the details carefully. Of course none had Karen’s self-defence and survival skills, but each was seventeen, five foot nine, intelligent, very attractive, good education, hadn’t touched drugs and came from stable homes. His only change since Karen’s preparation for sale was to secure accommodation far away from towns or villages, have the rooms set up with proper chain restraints and add a television and chair. This would mean the girls never needed to leave the room, meet and talk to any of the others and so add to the belief each was there alone and importantly had no possibility of help. His mother, along with two other women had already left for the house. He’d no intention of having men around with the chance that a girl might convince any to help her. With only a week to prepare the girls once they arrived, it was going to be tight. However, he had obtained two cattle sticks that used electric shocks to control animals. He’d had them altered to produce a higher voltage with a larger soft pad placed on the tip that would not only give the girls an instant and painful electric shock, but leave no lasting mark. This method, he believed, would avoid the use of physical and violent punishments that would render the girls unsalable to his clients if they were injured or even worse sustained broken limbs. As a final method of control he’d been able to obtain far more effective sedatives than he had used in the past. He’d had his mother make up small packs with just the right amount to subdue the girls, but not enough for them to become completely lethargic, as had happened with Karen. Satisfied everything was covered this time he leaned back closing his eyes. Soon he would have a great deal of money and already planning to take more of these very desirable and valuable girls.

“I hope you said no, Grant?” Lucy cut in, then kicked herself as she realised he must have taken it to have a problem.

However, Grant ignored her comment and carried on. “At first I said I wasn’t interested in anything not through the agency. I remember that he just smiled and pushed a small piece of notepaper towards me. It had the figure of three thousand pounds written on it. I just stared at the paper. You know we’ve never had a thousand pounds in cash and this man was offering, what to me, was a fortune. It seemed easy enough, at first. He just wanted me to spill a drink on a girl at that same wedding, offer to get her clothes cleaned, by collecting them from the girl’s house and returning them. When I took them back I was to get a date with her and that was it. Once I’d done that and I’d got the date, he met me again. This time he raised the payment to ten thousand pounds. I was gobsmacked to say the least. But I’d had a good date with her, the girl was young yes, but she was really attractive and fun to be with, however to earn the ten thousand had strings. I was to stay with her, but I was to escalate the relationship and teach her how to please a man. I was supposed to be with her for three months, and then she was going away for good. But never once did he say she was going to be abducted.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me this girl Karen, that’s on every news channel and across every paper, you pretended to be her boyfriend, went as far as fucking her and Whittle paid you?”

He nodded in agreement.

“Well you’ve done it this time. It’s been hard enough accepting you going out with other women all the time, but to do that to a seventeen year old, still at school, you’d better get down to the police station yourself and tell them what you’ve told me, before they come for you. Because Grant, you can be sure they will come, this girl’s news and if the papers catch onto what you’ve done, they’ll have a field day. You have to think of our children in all this.”

He stood and paced the room, before stopping and glaring at her.
“That’s you all through isn’t it?
You weren’t complaining when I paid the arrears off the mortgage last month. How do you think I earned ten thousand pounds? It wasn’t escorting some old biddy to a stupid tea dance.”

She lowered her head, looking at the floor, avoiding his stare. “That may be so, Grant, but never in my wildest dreams did I think you were raping a child to pay our mortgage.”

He smiled to himself as he thought back to the wild times with Karen. “I never raped her, she wanted it, in actual fact loved it. That girl was a quick learner, believe me! Besides she was seventeen and no child.”

She shook her head. “And you think that makes it okay then? Just because the kid was so besotted with you, that she’d even allow you to make love to her? No Grant, you’re nearly thirty, married and took money off someone to seduce a naive and vulnerable schoolgirl. That will be the reality in the court, and if you think ‘Miss Goody Two Shoes’ is going to say anything different, think again? Somehow she’ll have to explain this to her parents and she’ll be looking after her own arse, believe me. Her brief will claim you were a professional escort, with no intention of being a real boyfriend, and couldn’t even marry her, all you wanted was to get inside her pants. Besides all that, the real killer to your defence is that they will claim you were, along with a man who’s now dead, grooming a naive schoolgirl, destined to be abducted and used in a brothel. You’ll go down for this; the papers and public opinion will see to that, have no doubt about it. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t sue you for damages.”

“Ha...she’ll not get anywhere that way, we’re broke.”

“Not exactly, Grant, what about the house, it’s worth close on two hundred thousand, since the house prices went wild and over a hundred of that is ours?”

He downed his drink and ran upstairs. Moments later he was back, his shoes on and fastening his coat.

“Do you want me to come with you?” she asked meekly.

He sniggered. “I’m not going to the police, there’s no way I’m going down for this. I’ll get twenty years so I’m off, you and the kids can keep the bloody house. If she’ll let you that is.”

Her mouth dropped. “You can’t be serious? You can’t leave me alone with two kids, I couldn’t cope.”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious. Besides, Lucy, we’ve not exactly been getting on, and your mother will love me gone. She’s done everything to get you to leave me for months now.”

She stood and moved over to him, putting her arms round his neck. “I still love you, and we’ve had a great time this morning, I really believed we’d turned the corner,” she whispered kissing him gently on the lips. “And you’re imagining it with mum. She really likes you. It’s just that she doesn’t understand your job, that’s all. Anyway it’s between you and me and mum’s got no say. I don’t want you to leave and I’ll stick by you, Grant. We’ll fight it in the courts, say you were duped as well.”

He kissed her back. “I know you would Lucy, but it isn’t fair on you or the kids. Both you and I know I’ll have no chance; I can’t even get them to call Whittle as some sort of defence for me, so I’ll take the complete rap and go down. It’s ironical, only a few weeks back I thought we were home and dry when they said Whittle had killed the girl. With ten grand we were made, but now that’s all changed with her not being dead.”

“But where will you go? Will you come and see the children? I need to know these things, Grant? Besides, I don’t even know if you want me to wait for you.”

He shrugged. “I’ve no idea, Lucy, and that’s the truth. This wasn’t planned, you know? But I’ll probably look in on my sister, she’ll bung me a few hundred for my car, then with the money I’ll go abroad. There’s bound to be a warrant out for my arrest, when they find I’m not here. If anyone asks, particularly the police, stall them, say we had an argument or something and you’re expecting me back. They will wait a day hopefully, and that’ll give me time to get out of the country.”

She held him tight, she knew he was right but she couldn’t imagine him just walking out and leaving her and the children to fend for themselves. “Keep in touch, Grant, for the children’s sake?” she whispered, still holding him tight.

He kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll try, Lucy, look after yourself and say goodbye to the kids for me.”

With that he left the room, the front door slammed, then silence. Lucy returned to her chair, sitting there in a daze – only an hour before they’d been fooling about in the bedroom, the kids already at school. She’d run back home, after dropping them off, because he’d a rare day off and she wanted time alone with him.