Heartless

by Al-Saadiq Banks

  She parks right in front of the custom rim and tire shop. She gets out and steps into the store. The chiming of the door breaks the attention of the men who stand around in the store. She is dressed very casually today, yet she still looks like a boss. The only sight of glitter is the diamond stud earrings she’s wearing. Her distressed jeans, tight fitted sweatshirt and Gucci flats have her ready for physical battle, if it comes to that. She’s dressed for a fist fight even though that’s something she rarely does. She’s always skipped over the fist fights and went right into the gunplay.

  She quickly spots the El Salvadorian dudes from last night, both still dressed in all white. It appears they haven’t changed their clothes. She snarls at the sight of them. They engage in a stare-off until the door chime sounds off again. She removes the dark sunglasses from her eyes, so they can see the savageness in her eyes.

  Mud and Breezy walk side by side until they get to Storm. They post up on opposite sides of her. A tall, thin Puerto Rican steps from out of the back room. He immediately feels the tension in the room. “Storm, what up?” he says, trying too hard to warm the coldness of the room.

  Storm looks at the man, and she can’t help but smile at him. “Cypress, what up?” She quickly looks back to her enemies. It takes all the strength in her not to start an all-out war. Out of respect for Cypress and his store, she refrains.

  Cypress doesn’t know exactly where to go from here. The silence in the room is broken when Storm speaks. “First and foremost, if it wasn’t for the respect I have for Cypress, I would leave both of y’all right here.”

  “Yo, yo, Storm, nah,” Cypress interjects, trying to keep the peace.

  Both of the men smile deviously with fire burning in their eyes.

  “Nah, you better let these motherfuckers know I don’t give a fuck about no Ms13s, 14s or 15s. Ain’t a nigga walking the earth who has waved a gun in my face and lived to talk about it.”

  The enforcer has become enraged while the other man stands cool and calm. Cypress steps over toward Storm. Before he can get to her, both Breezy and Mud stand in front of her like guard dogs, protecting their master.

  “Storm, I told him all about you. Breathe easy. I want to get this squashed right here, right now. Let’s just talk about it,” he suggests. “What started all of this?”

  “She came down to my side, throwing her business cards around, trying to take my girls home without coming to me first,” the man says. “She must don’t know the rules.”

  “Take your girls home?” Storm asks furiously. “I ain’t no fucking trick! You got me fucked up!” As angry as she is, it all makes sense to her now. This man is their pimp. Madame to pimp, she respects his handle, just not his delivery. “Yo, on some G shit, I didn’t know those girls belong to you. That’s all you had to say that night and not wave no gun in my fucking face. That shit will get you killed.”

  “Talking a lot about murder today. Not last night though.”

  “Motherfucker, I’m the same bitch today that I was last night. You caught me slippin’. I ain’t gon’ lie. I wasn’t thinking like that, but if I was and I could’ve got to my gun in my purse you or him wouldn’t be standing here today!” she says, forcing her way in between Mud and Breezy.

  Cypress steps in front of her before she can get into their faces. “Storm, let me talk to you,” he demands as he wraps his arm around her and snatches her away. Mud and Breezy are left with the enemies, all staring coldly at each other, ready to go any second.

  * * *

  Minutes pass and Storm and Cypress make their way back into the room. He’s managed to calm her down by explaining to her that he has the perfect proposition that could make both parties some money.

  “First let me formally introduce the two of you,” Cypress says while standing in between them. “Storm, this is Esto. Esto, this is Storm.” Esto nods his head at her while she looks away from him with no verbal reply.

  “Esto, Storm explained to me what she was doing down your way. After hearing it, I thought of a way that money can be made. At the end of the day, we all like money, right?”

  “Of course,” he replies.

  “Her reason for being there is trying to get hold of some girls. She’s into the same line of business as you. And I know you got all the girls. So, I’m thinking maybe you can slide some her way and everybody can eat.”

  “If she needs them for a night, we can work something out. My girls don’t come cheap though. You need them for how many hours? And how many do you need?”

  Storm looks to Cypress. He quickly wraps his arms around the man. “Let me talk to you over here for a minute.” They walk off far enough away to be unheard. Esto listens with a disturbed look on his face, but Cypress continues to talk until the expression changes. Cypress reaches for a handshake and Esto reciprocates it. They make their way back to circle.

  “We can work that out,” Esto says. “Let me first tell you, I never do this type of business with people of your color, but you come from a good reference.” He speaks in Spanish to his enforcer, who exits the store quickly.

  I have over a hundred girls to choose from. I have another ten coming in this week that have never been used yet. All shapes and sizes, young and old, light and dark. Whatever you need, I have or can get. It will cost you, though, and I don’t know if you can handle the price. I told you, my girls don’t come cheap. Some are virgins, never been touched. Of course, they cost more.”

  “How much we talking per girl?” Storm asks.

  “Because you are vouched for by a good man, the prices start at ten thousand a girl. I don’t own them one hundred percent. A part of the money will go to my partner. It’s like you will be buying them out of their deals in a way. After you pay, she’s yours forever to do whatever you want with her.”

  “If I give you my ten grand, how do I know that these girls won’t slide off on me?”

  Esto smiles. “You must don’t understand this business at all. I guarantee you they will never slide off. Nothing or nobody can get them to cross you. You will be their owner. You see how my girls gave me your cards? It’s because going against me puts them and others in big trouble.”

  Esto’s enforcer comes back into the store, holding a photo album. He hands it to Esto, who hands it to Storm. “Look through that and pick which ones you like.”

  Storm flicks through the album, and she sees some of the most beautiful Mexican women that she’s ever laid eyes on. Some of the girls appear to be as young as twelve and thirteen years old. Seeing them touches her heart a little, but she understands it is business.

  “As you can see, whatever you need is in that book. I will leave it here with Cypress, and when you get your money together, you let him know who you want, and she’s yours.”

  He reaches for her hand. They clasp hands with a firm grip. “If you’re serious, call me.”

  62

  One Week Later

  This has been the longest week ever for Storm, except for the days she was locked up. She hasn’t been able to sleep due to anxiousness. The thought of the money she will make has been on her mind day and night. For some reason, today feels like one of the biggest days of her life, making one of the biggest investments of her life. If all goes as well as she plans it will, she will be investing much more.

  Storm’s heart beats with anticipation as her and her whole team — Mud, Breezy, Toy, and Wendy step through the dark alley. Cypress leads them through the darkness. On both sides of them are what appear to be quiet, little, neatly kept, one-family homes. In the backyards, there are a few rundown cars.

  The stairs creak through the silence as they step onto them. Cypress taps on the door, and in seconds, it opens. An older Spanish woman holds the door for them to enter. She pays very little attention to Cypress, but she stares at the rest of them suspiciously as they pass her.

  The back porch is dark and cold
and the only source of light comes from the small table which has a few candles and a many small statues of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. A huge picture of Jesus is propped neatly against the wall behind the statues. Even with the hint of religion of the display, it still gives off a creepy aura. Storm understands the display to be Santeria, which is a religion practiced by people of the Caribbean. The display at the doorway is believed to keep the house guarded from evil and evil spirits.

  They round the display quite uncomfortably and advance into the house. The smell of cheap booze slap them in their faces. They maneuver through the cheaply furnished kitchen, and at the end of the corridor, a Spanish man stands with a few playing cards in his hands. The cards serve as confirmation of payment of the entrance fee. The man extends the card to Breezy. “Forty dollars,” he says sternly.

  Cypress stops him. “Nah, they with me.”

  They step into the living room, which is equally cheaply furnished. Sitting and lying around on the old, rundown couches are beautiful Mexican women dressed only in lingerie. At the sight of the strangers at the door, they all sit up on their best behavior, waiting to be chosen.

  It’s as if someone must have made the money call because women appear from everywhere. In seconds, there are about twenty women in this one little room. Storm and her crew all watch with amazement, having never seen anything like this before. The women are picture perfect, like the models from the Miss Universe Pageant.

  Esto and his enforcer creep through the darkness like two ghosts. Cypress has explained to Storm their reasoning behind them always always being dressed in white clothing. The white is a symbol of their religious practice, the religion of Santeria’.

  Esto and Cypress shake hands at the doorway. Esto speaks in Spanish to his enforcer, who opens the side door. He yells a few words of Spanish up the stairs. Not even seconds after the command, the sound of heels banging eventually leads to the sight of beautiful long legs in stilettos coming down the stairs.

  The man holds the door for the women to enter the apartment. They step inside with fear of the unknown covering their faces. In the back of the pack is the woman Araceli from the bar. She holds her head down in what appears to be fear. The women all stand behind Esto obediently.

  “You got the money?” he asks.

  After looking through the photo album over and over, these are the four that it is narrowed down to. There are so many drop-dead gorgeous women with bodies to die for that it was hard for Storm to choose. Although she wants many more of them, she had to settle for the best four because that is all she could afford at this time. She debated about asking Mr. Antonelli for the money, but lately he’s been acting so distant that she chose not to.

  It pisses her off that her money was caught up in the house raid because she would have much more money to work with. She’s so confident this investment will make her wealthy that she would have blown the entire hundred and fourteen thousand on it. She understands that, in business, it takes money to make money which is why she has no problem investing almost every dime she has into this. She’s scraped up every dollar that was owed to her just to make this happen.

  Her biggest fear was these women deviating once they are in her possession but Cypress explained to her the process and guaranteed her that is the least of her worries. He explained that these women all come from Tenancingo, which is a small town in Mexico. Tenancingo is known as the town that sex trafficking built. Tenancingo is the major source of the sex trafficking pipeline to the United States. They send these women here as sex slaves.

  All of them are here unwillingly. Some have been kidnapped and sent here while others have been manipulated, by what they believed to be their lovers. The predators of these women who are called Romeos are handsome men. These Romeos pick up the women from parks and bus stops. They pretend to be wealthy businessmen and they seduce the women into following them.

  The Romeos even impregnate the women, tell them they love them, and even promise to marry them. They never have a clue of what’s going on until they go away for vacation with their lovers and their lovers take them to their new owners and tell them from there on they will be sex slaves and do whatever their masters command them to do. The incentive for keeping them in check and not running away is the babies that they have left behind in Mexico. They are threatened that, if they flee or tell the police, they will kill the babies as well as their family back in Mexico.

  Back in Tenancingo, this is a family trade, multigenerational. You have families where the grandfather, father, son, and grandson are all engaged in trafficking. They pass down the tricks of the trade. Many kids aspire to be traffickers.

  As Storm looks into the eyes of these women and sees the fear and helplessness, she kind of feels sorry for them, but it’s all business. She made sure that all the women she chose were of age because she couldn’t stand doing this to young underage girls. She knows exactly what it feels like to be taken advantage of as a young girl, and she would never do anything of the sort. But these grown women, she has very little compassion for. She justifies it all by saying to herself that these women are better off with her than with these men who will only mistreat them.

  Cypress has told her that these type of houses in Tenancingo are called ‘Calcuilchil’ (Houses of Ass). In these houses, women are forced to have sex with approximately sixty or more men a day. When they don’t meet their quota, they are beaten like dogs. The price for sex with them is a measly forty dollars for fifteen minutes. Of the forty dollars, twenty of that goes to the house and the other twenty goes to the girl. Her earnings are sent back to the Romeo back in Mexico.

  Storm plans to take better care of them. She will introduce them to another world where they can make thousands at a time and keep more of their earnings. She believes the men of Mexico obviously don’t know the value of sex to sell it for so cheap. She does, which is why she’s sure she will get rich in no time.

  “You got the money?” Esto asks, cutting to the chase.

  Storm hands over the bag. He speaks Spanish to the women and they all go into another room. When they return, they all have small overnight bags in their hands. Storm is amazed that all of their possessions are packed in such small bags.

  Esto steps next to the woman in the middle. He looks to Storm. “This here is Maritza, the one I told you who speaks English. The other girls can’t speak much English, so she will be your translator and keep all the other girls in check.

  Storm walks around the girls, looking them up and down, examining them, like a plantation owner inspecting a new shipment of slaves fresh off the boat. She wants to make sure they look like they did in the pictures. They look better in real life. Their bodies are perfectly sculpted without a blemish in sight. They stand there for her to view them like the slaves that they are. This whole experience would be unbelievable to Storm and her crew had they not witnessed it for themselves.

  Storm signals to Esto that she is completely satisfied with the work. Esto then looks to the three other girls. “This is your new owner,” he says in English. The woman translates word for word to them in Spanish.

  “You are to respect her, just as you have respected me. You will do whatever she tells you or suffer the same consequences.” The translator translates word for word. “When you are sent onto jobs, you are to call her and report to her every hour on the hour, just as you did with me. All the same rules still apply. If you break any of the rules, I will be contacted, and I will make the call back home, and you know the rest,” he says with threatening eyes. The fear that these girls display is saddening.

  Esto shakes Storm’s hand. “Thank you for the business, and I look forward to more business in the future.” He turns around and exits the room.

  Storm is now the proud owner of four grown women, as crazy as it may sound. They are her own personal pets who have to obey her every command. They are hers to do whatever she wants with, which seem
s unbelievable to her. Now that the ownership has changed hands, there is one thing left to do.

  She steps in front of Araceli, face to face. She looks to the translator, Maritza and points to Araceli. With all of them awaiting Storm’s word, she hauls off and backslaps Araceli. Araceli stumbles back dizzily, holding her face in shock.

  “Tell her, that is for what she did the other night. She put my life in danger, and if she ever does anything like that while under my ownership, the punishment will be worse.” Maritza translates quickly. “Comprende?” Storm asks.

  Araceli nods her head with the same fear in her eyes that the rest of the women possess. Although she understands that, while under Esto’s command she had no choice but to report to him, her life was put at risk. She can’t forget that. That loyalty that she displayed to Esto is the reason that she was chosen.

  There were many women in the photo album equally as beautiful as Araceli, and some were more beautiful. That loyalty to Esto out-shined her beauty. The reason for the vicious slap was partly for revenge. The other part was she knows she had to instill fear into the women outside of the fear that they already have due to the circumstances of their ties back at home.

  In no way does she want them to show her any different respect than they would an owner who has direct ties to their original traffickers. In order for her to get the best out of them, she knows they must fear and respect her. She has no plans of ever mistreating them as they have been mistreated. Her only plan is to make money with them and lots of it.

  63

  One Week Later