My Descent into Slavery Ch. 02

"They said they were only looking into Mahmoud," Edgar said thoughtfully, "but why not question the others, pass the information to whoever is looking at the slave trade in those other countries. It seemed a little odd at the time, but you never really question what the hell the police are doing, do you?"

Joshua pulled out his phone and put it on his big screen in his cabin. He did a search on Geraldo Espinoza, finding some news articles about him with photos. He put them on the screen and Sahar looked at him.

"I don't really like most men, but he looks like a liar to me. Let me see the other one," Sahar said.

Joshua searched for Fritz Shultz, found some photos and put them on the screen.

"That is the man you question. He knows where Mahmoud is," Sahar said, "then I'm going to kill him."

"How do you know?" Joshua asked, surprised at her vehemence.

"He was my first owner, and a more disgusting pig has never been born. No wonder he didn't question me. I'd have killed him on the spot or died trying."

Joshua and Edgar looked at each other. "I'll get right on it boss. It's going to be tricky though."

"Now, he's dead. He's a schmuck and doesn't know it yet," Sahar said. "Did I use that word right, Edgar."

"Close enough," Edgar said.

******

Miranda got a text from Joshua asking her to call when she got home. It couldn't be great news or Joshua would have informed her immediately.

As soon as she got home, she called her Master. When she reached him, he was sitting with Sahar and Edgar. "No luck finding Beth, sir?"

"No, they found the bug Edgar gave her, but we do have information that might help find her. The Interpol agent who might know is Fritz Schultz. Turns out he was Sahar's first owner."

"He just called my office today," Miranda said.

"Why?" Edgar said.

"There's a conference on Human Trafficking in Geneva in about a week. We're both scheduled to speak at it. He asked if I was going to be there and said he'd like to meet with me again, ask how all our freed slaves are doing."

"Boss, we need to increase security on Miranda immediately. This sounds like he's probing for an opportunity to grab Miranda as well. He probably knows what all the security measures are at the conference, but he could try to get Miranda earlier. It does let us know when and where he's going to be. Makes our job of snatching him a hell of a lot easier."

"Could Miranda ask to see him a little earlier? The faster we get the information on Mahmoud, the better I'd like it."

"Maybe a day earlier than the conference. More than that might make him suspicious. We know what we need to do and what the fortress looks like generally. We can start on the assault preparations without knowing exactly where the place is. Figure a couple days planning and at least ten days practice before we do the assault. Most of these guys won't have worked with each other before. They need to drill until they know each other inside and out. I'll give you a list of everything we need. Everything needs to be silenced. We'll need infrared gear. The more we can work in darkness, the better off we are. More security is going on Miranda tonight, starting with her physical trainer and gardener. I'll get them geared up and have more guys assigned. Even in DC, she has four minimum all the time.

"Miranda, give me a couple days to think of the approach to take with Schultz, then we'll let you call him back and say you're booked up pretty hard at the conference, but you'd love to meet him the day before and chat all he wants. We'll try to give him a reason to come quietly with you as opposed to us having to pull a snatch and grab. We don't want his superiors to get their panties in a wad when he disappears."

"Whatever you need."

"Let Felipe and Peter in when they knock on your door later, but no one else," Edgar said. "They'll be briefed on the others we'll assign to your security, so unless Felipe and Peter let them in, shoot anyone else. Maria is going to be sent home. We don't want any more females snatched. We have no clue where she'd end up."

"I'll leave it in your capable hands."

"I'd feel better about the capable hands comment if Beth hadn't been taken from me. Which reminds me, if you want to fire me after I've gotten her back, Joshua, feel free."

"Didn't you say it was her plan you followed?"

"I did. Didn't know what else to do. Thought we were all dead or we'd run out of ammo and he could stroll in, shoot us all and take the women anyway.

"By the way, William said you could have Richard," Miranda said. "He needs a couple days to brief his replacement, but then he's all yours. Bill said he's good, one of the best he's had. He helped with that slave auction thing in New York in November. I thought it was brilliant. We got most of the bad actors."

"I wonder if that didn't make Fritz decide he needed to do something about us," Edgar said. "We might have hurt him pretty bad. Miranda's been doing damage on her own even without you. Best thing to do to someone who's a thorn in your side is remove the thorn. The Congresswoman is neutralized and you're paralyzed into inaction when he snatches both of your women."

"Don't worry," Sahar said. "He's going to regret the day he was born."

"You know," Edgar said, "when the Apaches really wanted to torture someone bad, they turned it over to the women."

"Who are Apaches?" Sahar asked. "They sound like smart people."

"A tribe of Indians in the American West. They lived in an area of the United States similar to Algeria, dry mountain desert."

"Maybe we get some Apaches to go with," Sahar said. "I like fierce warriors."

Edgar laughed. "Maybe we should, if anyone practices the old ways."

"Let Bill know that we lost Beth and we're going for the assault. Thank him for the use of Richard and all he's done so far. He let me know he's got 400 million ready for our use now and more to come if we need it. I'm going to offer a half billion dollar ransom for the return of the women, see if Mahmoud nibbles, but regardless, I'm going to end that man. I'm reminded again how many other young women he probably has at his fortress. I refuse to let him keep any of them."

"I'll let Bill know, Master. I'll be extra cautious from now on."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Miranda. We'll get her back," Joshua said.

"I'm glad Sahar is on our side."

"So am I," Edgar said, "so am I."

The call was disconnected.

"We need a muster. I need to talk to the crew." Edgar said.

"I'll let the Department Heads know. Lynn will be happy to see Richard again," Joshua said.

******

"Ladies and gentlemen," Edgar began, "We don't know how it was discovered, but the tracker Beth ate before she, Hannah and Jìngyi surrendered was found. We lost her, and have no idea where she is at the moment. The clock is ticking until they are all branded and sold around the world.

"All is not lost yet. We have a new lead to follow, but it's going to take a little time before that bears fruit. That has made our job of getting the ladies back more difficult. We now need to make an all out assault on Mahmoud's compound itself once we find it, and the assault has to be conducted in such a way that none of the women inside get hurt, which means we can't go in with guns blazing. It will need to be as quiet as can be achieved, result in as many of them being killed as quickly as possible. Considering it's a walled compound with many sentries and upwards of 50-60 armed guards inside, it's going to be tough.

"I'm going to ask for volunteers to start training for the assault..."

"Sign me up," Dave said.

"Dave, as much as I appreciate you volunteering, have you ever seen combat before?"

"No, but I went through basic."

"Basic training isn't good enough, Dave. I can't get you ready to make a quiet assault on an armed compound in roughly three weeks time with just basic training behind you. Can't be done. Sahar has managed to go through every clearing scenario on Hogan's Alley as fast as anyone else has ever done it. If you can do the same, I'll take you, but you also have to pass a fitness test of carrying a sixty pound rucksack over hilly terrain and manage four kilometers in an hour.

"That's not to say you can't help. We need to go in with more people than we have. We need more people with combat experience. Given the advantages of their fortified position, and the need to take most of them out quickly so they don't have a chance to start killing the women inside, we may need as many as three hundred people to make the assault. If you know of anyone who has that combat experience, I want to talk to them.

"I need disciplined veterans who won't shoot at anything and everything in the dark. I don't want Randy Andy's, who by the way, was instrumental in arranging the trap which allowed our women to be taken. I want that bastard so badly, I can taste it. I don't want any of the new guys knowing where we're going or why until it's time to go. Randy Andy already proved he was a fucking traitor and I don't want anyone else who can give us up for some money who we don't know intimately. Smitty is talking to his people as well.

"There will be naked slaves inside the compound, who may beg to have sex because they think their owners have changed, but their lives haven't. I don't want rapists, or people doing this for the money. I want good men. If you know of anyone who's fit and had combat experience and someone you'd be proud to know and fight beside, I need names. Even if you know they have other jobs or families they can't leave, I need names, because even if they can't go, they may know other people who can. Everyone of them will need to be contacted and vetted. They need to be paid and fed and housed. I need a core group of two hundred ready to start training in one week with another 100 before we go. We'll train a minimum of ten days until everyone is clicking like clockwork.

"I'd like to go into the fight with four combat medics. Manuel, if you have any buddies you trust with your life, we need to talk to them. I also want lots of snipers or damn good rifle shots. We want to take all the guards in the guard towers at once, so no alarms can be raised. Arabic speakers would be good as we may need to pretend the guards are still alive and functioning after we occupy the guard towers, plus help calm the women, most of whom will have come from Arabic speaking nations. I want parachute trained combat vets because we'll probably need to drop a few on the roof of the compound in the middle of the night. Sahar, you can expect a large role, as we may want you going in as a servant, slave or trainer to check inside before we bring in the main force. Speak to the ladies who've been there to see what the various women wear. If you go in as a slave, it will be naked. We already know they wear nothing."

Sahar nodded.

"The Prime Minister of The Bahamas has graciously consented to our use of the island we went diving on at the beginning of our voyage. We've already got teams of carpenters working on a fortification mock up. I'm going to need Fatima, Maahnoor, Yasmine, Farah and Hibbah to go to The Bahamas and check their work for accuracy. Anything you see that needs changing, talk to the foreman in charge of construction and change it. Because it's a low island, we can't build the basement, so that will be a separate structure which we'll pretend is underground. I understand that's where they brand the women and where they had what was called dark rooms to isolate and control the slaves. Any questions thus far?"

No one said anything, not even the women. Edgar thought he had a damn fine bunch of people.

"No rush decisions. I know a few of you guys are married now. Manuel for less than two weeks. Henry, I know you've got a pregnant wife and a baby due any day now. Think it over for the night. If anyone wants to volunteer, tell me in the morning and give me any names you come up with. Anyone who can't go for any reason, I'm okay with it. We can use you to call the names on the lists and do the background checks on those we're interested in. Lynn's son, Richard, is going to be here in a couple days coordinating everything for us since we lost Hannah. I'm sure he'll need volunteers working with him because this is going to be a logistics nightmare. We have to get people from wherever they are to The Bahamas, feed them, house them, arm them, train them, then get them over to Morocco right before we're ready."

"Joshua and William Thornhill are speaking directly to the King of Morocco, trying to get approval for our mission, without telling his police forces and army anything, because we now know Interpol is rotten and can't be trusted. If they can't get it, we're going to sneak everyone in. If anyone other than us knows about our mission and tells Mahmoud we're coming, we may not be successful. At the very least, all the slaves inside may be moved or killed, including our three. Loose lips, sink ships. Assume anything you hear from now until after the rescue is classified and can't be spoken of with anyone. Dismissed."

******

Fritz Schultz was ecstatic. Congresswoman Miranda Ward-Greenbriar had agreed to meet him the day before the conference before any of the other security was in place. She said once the conference started she'd have no time. He suggested a place where he'd have easy access to her, a place where she might easily be kidnapped.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Schultz, but my security doesn't allow me to go someplace they haven't checked thoroughly. You remember Beth, from the ship. She was taken, along with my husband's personal assistant and another woman. He's completely distraught, barely able to function. He doesn't know what he's going to do. What my security will do is give me a place they've checked out beforehand and I'll let you know where it is in time for you to get there for our appointment. If you're a few moments late, it won't make any difference."

"How many men in your security detail?"

"Just two. Of course, once the conference starts, I'll have more."

"I hope you'll think of me as another person in your detail."

"Of course, sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry to hear about the taking of your friend. Do you know who did it?"

"That Mahmoud fellow. Our security officer spoke with one of his men we'd been in contact with during the ransom, so we know it was him. Has Interpol had any more luck determining where he is? You've been investigating the fellow for quite some time now, haven't you?"

"Unfortunately, no luck yet. He's quite slippery. I doubt if anyone knows where he is except for his closest associates."

"I'm sure you're right. All Joshua as been able to determine is what we knew before, somewhere in the Atlas Mountains, but that is thousands of square miles of rock and desert. Joshua's convinced he's lost them forever and we'll never see them again."

You will, Fritz thought. You'll see her very intimately as you both put on shows for an enthusiastic audience. I'll make sure Joshua will get lots of photos and videos showing in graphic detail the degradation I'll put you both through. And I will be the first one to shit in your mouth.

His thoughts his own, Fritz said, "Yes, it's all we've got so far. We keep hitting dead ends."

"I'll see you in three days then. Some of our freed slaves are doing quite well. Two of them are married, about to have children. One wants to go into medicine and another into aviation. But those are stories for another day. I need to get back to work now, since I'll be gone to this conference for several days."

"I look forward to seeing you again, Congresswoman."

"As do I."

As Miranda hung up the phone, she thought to herself, 'You're dead, asshole; you just don't know it yet.

******

"Congresswoman Ward-Greenbriar said she can meet you at Café Bourg-de-Four in forty-five minutes. Is that a problem for you?"

"No, I can be there in around fifty minutes. Should be okay."

It would take about 75 minutes for his kidnap team to get there, which should be right about the time they were finishing the salad. Not a problem. He could keep her occupied until then. He rushed out after sending a text to the team with the address.

******

"Inspector Schultz, it's so good to see you. I apologize for the short notice on my location. My security is being much more cautious after the attack on me in France."

Shultz was looking at two fucking hardcases who were forever alert. The one who was watching the door, could also watch him and the Congresswoman. He didn't know about the other twenty who were hidden around the area, or that everyone else in the restaurant wasn't who they seemed to be.

"Did they ever find out who was responsible?"

"Never heard. They were all hired gunman, didn't know who paid the bill." She looked at the menu. "I'm thinking a nice chardonnay, and by the way, I know you hard working law enforcement officers don't get much in the way of per diem, so the meal is on me."

They chatted while Rene went for their wine. Rene wasn't really a waiter, but he was dressed as one. None of the people in the restaurant now, worked there. Even the other guests were security people.

"Thank you, Congresswoman."

Of course, you'll be in my custody by the time the bill comes due, he thought.

Their waiter, René, had just brought their bottle of wine, when three big men with combat gear with FBI patches on their vests came in.

"Congresswoman, the NSA has just had word there may be attack slated here in this area. You need to come with us immediately. We've got a chopper waiting right down the block."

"Is it Jihadists?" Miranda asked.

Did they know about my planned attack, Fritz wondered.

"We're told it's a massive bomb attack. We don't know exactly where the bomb is planned to go off, but we need you to get out now? Up in the air may be the only safe place from an explosion."

No, Fritz had nothing to do with any bombs. They didn't know. He'd have other opportunities to capture her at the conference.

"I'm sorry, Fritz. It would have been nice to catch up. I hope they don't cancel the conference. We'll see you later."

"Is there any chance you could take me with you?" Fritz asked.

"He is an Interpol Officer," Miranda said. "Surely there's a little police cooperation to be gained."

"You have to come right now, sir. We can't wait. The Congresswoman is our first priority."

Miranda tossed a hundred Euro note on the table and said, "Let's go. Hey, René, I'm taking the bottle."

They were hustled to a waiting helicopter, with the rotor already spun up. They all hopped on and the bird took off.

As soon as he settled into his seat, Fritz took a look around. There was a hard looking young woman sitting behind him.

"Hey," he said, "how are you doing?"

"Great, Master."

"Master. What the hell you talking about?"

"Yeah, I looked a lot different then. Goodnight, Master."

Sahar jabbed him with a needle and it was lights out.

******

"Okay, Sahar, this is important," Edgar said. "Torture is an effective way to make people do things, as you well know, but on the whole, it's a lousy way to extract information. A person who is being tortured will say anything they think you want to hear whether it's true or not, just to make the pain stop. They'll tell you complete nonsense. Nonsense doesn't help us in the slightest. We not only need to know where Mahmoud is, but we'd also like to stop Schultz's international slave trade in its tracks. That means, we need the names of the other slave traders he does business with, where all the training centers are. How to access the information on his phone and computer, access to his bank accounts. He might have traps set up so that people are warned if certain things don't happen in a certain way. If we enter the wrong passcode on his computer, mass emailings may go out warning people he's been taken. That can't happen.