Vice Squad

VICE SQUAD

My name is Jack Zemora. I am a lieutenant with the Metro Vice Squad. I have a special assignment to eradicate prostitution in our city.

One day, we were called to one of the sleazy motels on the outskirts of town. We found an old white guy in bed with a young Vietnamese girl. My partner took the guy away for booking on solicitation charges. I was left to deal with the girl.

When we were left alone in the room she looked at me and said, "You no arrest. Okay?"

I asked her what her name was.

"My name Thuong. You no arrest. Thuong give you blow job. Very good. Thuong swallow. Okay?"

I just looked at her and she smiled at me. She was very pretty but was on her way to being used up. I figured she was in her late twenties.

"How old are you Thuong?"

I could tell she didn't understand my question.

I pointed at her and said, "How many years?"

She looked at me again and said, "Eighteen. Thuong eighteen." No embarrassment. Geez, so young.

And then she hiked her skirt up to her waist, showing a neon green thong with stars on it, and asked, "You want fuck Thuong pussy? Meow. Meow. Thuong good fuck. Free for you. Very good. Okay?"

I didn't respond.

She turned around and bent over. The back part of the thong was buried between her cute buttocks. She wiggled. "You like fuck Thuong ass. Thuong like fuck in ass. Very good. Okay?"

I made her turn around and cuffed her wrists behind her back. She didn't try to stop me or fight with me..

"You tie up Thuong now? Thuong like tied up. Then we fuck?"

It was tempting. But I just took her by the arm and put her in the back seat of the car.

She looked at me as I put her in the car. I think she was beginning to understand she was being arrested.

"You no like blowjob? You no like fuck Thuong? You no like Thuong?

And then a light shown in her eyes.

"You no like girl? Okay. Thuong find you pretty boy? Okay?"

When we got to the station, I put the girl in an interview room. A patrol woman who spoke Vietnamese was called in. Other than the words she used with me, Thuong didn't know any other English except cock and ten other words that meant the same thing. The police woman interviewed Thuong for almost two hours. She was given a cherry coke and a McDonald's cheeseburger which she devoured in less than two minutes. She ended by licking her fingers. She said she hadn't eaten in three days. We sent out for another cheeseburger.

The police woman finally got her story. The girl and ten other young girls were brought to this country three months ago. They were promised high paying jobs as hotel maids and would be allowed to attend school. They could send some money back to their families. Instead, the guy who brought them here turned them into prostitutes. The guy and his friends taught them how to be 'very good' prostitutes. She turned as many as ten tricks a day. And there were needle marks in her arm and between her toes.

She wouldn't tell us her pimp's name. She wasn't sure she knew it -- she only called him Big Daddy. And if she told us how to find him, he would punish her and all the other girls. Every time one of them did something wrong, they all got punished. And then she would not be given any more heroin. She pronounced it 'hero win'. She had watched one of the other girls die from withdrawal. And seen her body dumped in the river.

We booked her on prostitution charges.

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She was convicted. I mean, how could she not be?

Instead of jail time, the judge took the recommendation from me and the police woman and sent her to a halfway house that treated heroin addicts. I looked in on her twice and she seemed to be coming along. She kicked her addiction and soon looked like a pretty young girl. I'm sure she wasn't so pretty on the inside. Just another victim of the sex trade.

I forgot about her until one day four years later. I was a guest lecturer at the local college.

At the end of the class, a beautiful Asian girl came up to me.

In perfect English, she said, "Hello Lieutenant Zemora. I don't know if you remember me. I am Thuong, but I go by Honey now. I am studying to be a nurse. You saved my life."

And then she stood on tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek.

I sponsored her and attended the ceremony when she became a naturalized citizen. I ended up walking Honey down the aisle and giving her away when she was married. Her husband was Thai and owned a small grocery store. He knows about her past. It doesn't matter to him. I was godfather to their first son. She has five children now -- three sons and two daughters. All of them are A students. She is head of pediatric nursing in the hospital. She is thinking of running for city council woman. Her prostitution record had been sealed by the sentencing judge.

And we have been good friends for over twenty years now.