The Courier Ch. 03

Later Maria Elena would share her personal life with her Spokeswoman, but for the moment the Inspector's only interest was the story of her ill-fated trafficking venture. Armed with her cell phone and address book, the Inspector pushed the prisoner for names, contacts, and addresses: in Pereira, in Bogota, in Panama City, and in Frankfurt. As he expected, she didn't know anything about her trafficking group that was not related to her own experience. It was obvious that the trip was her first effort at drug trafficking and that she really did not know what she was doing or understood what she had gotten herself into.

Maria Elena's story took her from her hometown of Pereira to Bogota, where her boyfriend introduced her to his boss. After a couple of nights of partying she went from the Colombian capital to Panama City, where she met a very sinister-looking subject called Alex Mejia-Silva. Alex's girlfriend spent a couple of days training Maria Elena to swallow pellets by having her swallow grapes without chewing them. Once she was satisfied that the courier could ingest pellets without gagging, she turned her back over to Alex. Alex put Maria Elena in a cheap hotel room and booked a ticket on Flight 2298, which flew directly from Panama City to Frankfurt. He went over to the hotel and gave the courier the cocaine, divided into 100 small tight ovals wrapped in bluish-gray plastic. Upon arriving in Germany, Maria Elena was to call a number programmed into her cell-phone and ask for "El Flaco". She then would go to a hotel room and expel the pellets. Assuming she expelled 100 pellets, supposedly she would get her 15,000 Euros and be allowed to leave. Because the only language she spoke was Spanish, Maria Elena's plan was to travel to Spain immediately after receiving her money, where she would attempt to find a job and settle. In spite of what she had told people in Colombia, her plan had been to establish herself in Spain and permanently escape from her old life.

The Inspector briefly pondered what really would have happened to his prisoner had she successfully completed her trip. It was quite possible that her first venture into drug trafficking would have been her last, even if she had successfully delivered all of her pellets. It just sounded too good to be true: 15,000 Euros and a visa...for delivering a kilo of cocaine? Yeah, right...

The Inspector pushed that thought aside. He needed to finish his report and deliver it to INTERPOL. Whatever might have happened to Maria Elena Rodriguez-Torres in Germany was irrelevant, because she now belonged to the Danubian government.

Before leaving the airport, the Inspector had to formally arrest the detainee and take her mugshots. The photographer turned on the lighting for the blank backdrop and set up his camera. The Spokeswoman unlocked Maria Elena's temporary collar and ordered her to stand up. The photographer snapped his fingers to tell the prisoner that she needed to position herself to be photographed. She glanced at her Spokeswoman with a pleading expression, but Kim tightened her lips and pointed at the camera. Yes, Maria Elena would pose completely naked for her official arrest photos.

Cecilia translated the photographer's commands to turn around and assume various poses to the mortified prisoner. The first shots were of her face; one from the front, one from the back, one from above her head looking down, one from each side, and two taken from different angles.

Next came the full-body shots: hands at her side...facing the camera, facing away from the camera, facing left, facing right. Then another series of shots, this time with her hands behind her head and her legs spread: front, back, left, right.

As soon as the prisoner was released from the photo session, the Spokeswoman ordered her to kneel to allow her to put the collar back on. Once again the collar clicked shut around Maria Elena's neck.

Finally, the Inspector handed the Spokeswoman a small facial photograph of the prisoner which included her full name and her arrest number. Cecilia explained to Maria Elena that, at the moment the photo was generated with the arrest number, her legal name had been changed by the Ministry of Justice. Instead of Maria Elena Rodriguez-Torres, she would be known as, and listed in official Danubian documents as, Prisoner # 101025.

"You can have your friends call you Maria Elena if you want, but that's not your name anymore. As far as the Danubian Ministry of Justice is concerned, your name is Prisoner # 101025. After your trial it'll change to Criminal # 101025. You'll have to get used to it, because that's what everyone's gonna call you."

Maria Elena gasped with horror at this latest piece of bad news. The Danubians truly were planning to take everything away from her, her freedom, her clothing, her dignity, and even her name.

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The Spokeswoman asked for her client's arrest report and copies of her mugshot photos, which she put in a briefcase to later start a criminal file. She and the Inspector saluted each other before the three women turned to go out of the interrogation room. As she stepped into the hallway, Maria Elena instinctively covered herself. Yes indeed, she was about to be taken into the main terminal completely naked. It would only get worse, because her Spokeswoman then would take her into Danube City. How could she do this horrible thing, forcing her client to walk naked on the street? Maria Elena gave Cecilia a pleading look, but the Dominican ignored her and pointed at the staircase leading out of the basement.

Suddenly Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna spun around and snapped at her client to kneel. When the order was translated Maria sank to her knees, but still tried to cover herself.

"Listen, Prisoner # 101025, you will remove your hands from your body this instant! I already told you that you are violating your status as a prisoner by doing that. Now, uncover yourself, immediately!"

Tears ran down the prisoner's cheeks as she struggled to obey the order by lowering her hands. She turned to Cecilia and begged her in Spanish:

"Please...for the love of God...don't make me go out naked...I'd rather die than go out naked...please..."

"It's the way they do things here. You're a prisoner and you can't cover your body."

"Please...I'd rather die."

"It's not that big of a deal, Maria Elena. You'll see that it really isn't. We're not in Colombia."

Kim commented to Cecilia in English:

"Look: just tell her that if she tries covering herself again, I will request a police escort and she will have to go downtown with her hands cuffed behind her back. People won't pay that much attention to her if she's simply walking with us, but they will want to have a better look at her if she's cuffed."

Cecilia, still taken aback by Kim's harsh treatment of her new client, reluctantly translated the Spokeswoman's last statement. She concluded with:

"We have to get out of the airport and get you downtown. Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna's really not that bad, she isn't. But you have to do what she says."

Maria Elena took a deep breath, looked up the stairs, and then glanced at her two escorts. She realized that there was no point in any further resistance. Her old life had ended and there was no point in holding on to values that apparently had no relevance in the life she was about to begin. She would have to uncover herself, walk up those stairs, and accept whatever her new life demanded of her.

She took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and responded:

"Doc-doc, Advodkátna Lee-Dolkivna."

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The three women emerged onto the main terminal building floor. Maria Elena, with every bit of will-power left in her, forced herself to keep her hands at her sides. She tried to ignore the stares of hundreds of startled passengers as she walked past the security checkpoint, away from the boarding area and away from any hope of escape. She cast one last look at the passenger waiting area, thinking about her flight, which had long since departed for Germany.

Kim tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the front entrance of the terminal building. Maria-Elena worked up the courage to go outdoors in the nude. She hoped that outside would be less crowded than the terminal building itself, but the thought of being outdoors with no clothing mortified her. She never had been naked in a public location in her life, and almost never had been naked, even alone, except when taking a shower. The only two people who had ever seen her uncovered body had been her two lovers: the boyfriend who had loved her, and the other boyfriend who had betrayed her.

With Kim leading the way, the three women stepped out through the main entrance. It was a hot sunny August afternoon, with the air still damp and muggy from the previous night's storm. In front of the airport there was not a parking lot, but instead a small park with a statue of a king holding a sword. Later Maria Elena would learn the statue was of the airport's namesake, the country's national hero King Vladik the Defender. On the other side of the park was a large trolley stop that was full of commuters and luggage.

The sidewalk felt hot on the prisoner's unprotected feet as she and her escorts made their way to the trolley stop. Maria Elena gave her companions a look of total despair, because she had been under the impression that "going downtown" meant getting into a car. She looked around at the front of the airport and realized there was not a private car in sight: only a couple of police vans.

Cecilia commented: "I know this is all new to you, but the only way to get downtown is in a trolley, unless you want to walk. This place doesn't have cars 'cause there's no room for them."

So, Maria Elena's body had to face a new round of public exposure as she lined up with hundreds of Danubian airplane passengers, family members, foreign tourists, airport employees, and police officers. The foreigners stared at her with wide eyes, but the Danubians only gave her fleeting glances.

Among the throng of clothed people she noticed several that were naked, all of whom, just like herself, had collars around their necks. She noticed two naked young men moving suitcases onto the trolley for several older couples who couldn't move baggage themselves.

An old man tapped the prisoner on the shoulder and started speaking to her in Danubian. Cecilia translated:

"He needs you to put his wife's stuff in the trolley. Her suitcases are over there."

Noticing the puzzled look on the prisoner's face, Cecilia continued: "If someone asks you to do something, as long as it's reasonable, you gotta help them out. Criminals have to make themselves available to serve the public. Just move the suitcases next to where the old lady is sitting. If they get off before we get downtown, we might have to get off too, so you can help them get their suitcases to their house."

Exasperated, Maria Elena struggled to carry two enormously heavy suitcases onto the trolley while the old man followed carrying a much smaller bag. Her feet ached on the hard cement and the suitcases scraped her bare legs. Her bottom still throbbed from the paddling and her stomach and throat burned from the forced vomiting she had endured during the interrogation. She was sick, exhausted, frightened, and mortified with embarrassment. Nevertheless, even in her condition she was expected to exert herself carrying someone else's belongings onto a trolley, and the only reward she could expect might be to have to carry the luggage to the old couple's house.

The trolley's seats were full by the time Maria Elena had the suitcases in place next to the old lady. Noticing that all the seats already had been taken, she reluctantly grabbed a handrail, thus exposing herself even more to the crowd in the trolley. Cecilia stood next to her, but decided not to say anything unless Maria Elena spoke first.

The old man took the seat next to his wife, as the pair looked at the three young women with total curiosity. Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna, Cecilia Sanchez, and Criminal # 101025 were the only non-Europeans in the packed trolley. Added to that detail was the fact that Maria Elena was naked, collared, and her bottom covered with welts and bruises. However the detail that most disturbed the old couple was the fact that the Colombian's thick black hair was disheveled and not properly braided. At least the other two had the decency to braid their hair. Kim, noting the old couple's look of disapproval, explained in Danubian:

"I apologize about the dishonorable condition of my client's hair, sir. She was arrested just this morning and I need to get her to the Central Police Station. I assure you I won't let her go back out like this."

The old couple's disapproving expression relaxed as they responded: "Doc-doc, Advodkátna."

Cecilia sighed, feeling very sorry for her naked companion. In this harsh and restrictive society, there were many things Prisoner # 101025 would have to learn very quickly. She would face many hardships; struggles that she would have to endure that she was not even aware of yet.