“I can, but I hate to bother you.”
“Dammit, I’m giving you permission to bother me. Would you feel better if it was an order? Fine, I order you to call me if you feel like you’re about to make a bad decision. Got it?”
“Roger that, sir.”
Cliff laughed. “Don’t ‘sir’ me, Ty Stone, just do what I asked.”
“Acknowledged. I will not leave the house without speaking to you. If things go south, I’ll call you. If I start to get swallowed, I’ll call you.”
“That’s all I ask. You have a good evening, Ty.”
They ended the call and Ty suddenly realized he was starving. He’d skipped dinner to attend the task force meeting, then gone to the gym to work out. He called in an order of sesame chicken to a local Japanese restaurant. While they were preparing his order, he swung by the grocery store and picked up a twelve-pack of Rolling Rock. He planned on an evening of food, beer, and chatting in The Wasteland For Warriors.
45
The Farm
North Carolina
When Karen arrived at the farm, she had to call Shelby for directions to the camper. After some uncertain moments of trekking through the dark, she spotted a glow and discovered Shelby and Doctor Jacoby sitting in an uncomfortable silence outside of Tonya's camper, neither man looking at the other. A bare bulb provided stark light, insects swarming it like bees on a hive. She nodded as she came into the circle of light. "Evening, gentlemen."
Shelby only nodded, sucking on an unfiltered Camel cigarette.
Dr. Jacoby stalked toward her, wasting no time digging into his grievances. “There’s not enough room inside that camper to deliver a baby,” he hissed. “I need better light and room to work.”
“Let me see what I can do,” Karen replied with a sigh. She wished he wouldn't be so dramatic. “I need to talk to Tonya first. Shelby, you come with me. Dr. Jacoby, you stay here. And I mean it. Don't try to run off or you know what will happen.”
Karen tugged on the door to the camper and went inside, transported back in time by the smell. She’d lived in places like this before. Damp squalor, mildew, and bad plumbing. The worrisome sag of the floor beneath her feet. The yellowed, bug-filled light fixture on the low ceiling. The rank odor of unwashed bodies. When she returned to the present, she noticed the very-pregnant Tonya slouched on a stained couch.
“You come to bring me more money?” Tonya asked.
Karen gave her a tight smile. Despite all Tonya had seen tonight, all she was concerned with was herself. Her money. Karen's expression was an acknowledgment she’d heard Tonya's question but was also intended to signal that she wasn’t prepared to answer at the moment. She had bigger fish to fry.
“Shelby, the doctor says we need a place with better light and more room. Do you have a place like that we can use?”
Shelby looked at Tonya with contempt. “We ain’t using my house. I reckon we could use the containment area. We have some spare cots stored there and the lighting is good.”
“Excellent,” Karen said. “I’m assuming we need to drive there? We should all be able to fit in my vehicle.”
“Uh, where are we going?” Tonya asked. “I ain't agreed to go no place.”
Shelby, despite his harsh demeanor, got a good laugh out of that.
The comment led Karen to smile too. “Tonya, you have no rights outside of those we grant you, and at the moment I’m not feeling generous. You will do everything we ask. That’s how this works.”
Tonya didn’t like Karen’s tone. “And if I don’t?”
Shelby shook his head, astonished at her defiance. “Hell, woman, didn't you see what I’m willing to do out there? You want to end up like your dead friend? I can make that happen.”
“You won’t kill me,” Tonya snapped confidently. “I’m too valuable. They want this baby and they won't let you hurt me.”
Shelby laughed again. “That was before they decided—"
"We're not discussing that right now, Shelby," Karen interrupted. "Tonya, you need to come with us. We're going for a little ride and this isn't up for debate."
"Fine then," Tonya spat, struggling to her feet.
They exited the cramped camper and Karen sucked in the fresh air. Despite the humidity of the night, the air was still better than the foul reek of the camper. The place had been making her lightheaded. It was a pox on the face of the Earth and needed to be burned down.
Dr. Jacoby was still outside, pacing nervously. Karen had halfway expected him to run, despite her warning, but he was apparently smart enough to understand that the effort would be futile. There was no way he could get to his family quick enough. If he'd tried to flee this nightmare of an evening, Harrison would have someone waiting on the doctor when he got home. Dr. Jacoby's night would then get even worse than it had been already.
"Shelby has a place more suited to what you need," Karen announced. "Tonya and Shelby will be riding with me. You'll need to follow us."
"Where are we going?" the doctor asked, his voice high, nervous.
"Deeper onto the farm," Shelby said. "It'll be fine for what you need. Let's go."
They waded through the deep grass, around the rusty old barn, to the parking lot where Karen's Escalade sat parked. Karen was glad she'd opted for casual clothing. The jeans and tennis shoes she wore were much better suited to this terrain than her professional manner of dress. Karen climbed in the front of the Escalade and Shelby got in the back with Tonya. He wasn't taking any chances with her.
"Drive straight ahead," Shelby instructed. "Follow the road."
Karen started the vehicle and drove deeper onto the farm, the sandy interior roads of the property quiet beneath the tires. They passed through the migrant camp, the headlights sweeping nervous faces. The smell of campfires came through the open windows. Men with tall beers and plastic cups averted their eyes, turning away from the approaching vehicles.
"Keep going," Shelby said. "Those people don't see nothing and don't say nothing."
They cut between lush fields, occasionally slipping through an open gate or crossing an earthen bridge over an irrigation ditch. Tonya had been to several of Harrison's containment centers around the country. They were all different, yet all the same too. Each was hidden in the interior recesses of large farms in rural areas. Some of the buildings were of new construction and some were older, but each housed a pod of shipping containers that had been converted to store people instead of goods.
The containment centers were a staging area, where they sorted people according to their market value. Some were pulled aside for Harrison's personal use, his blackmail, and his pleasure. Some were distributed to their networks of pimps and madams around the world. Others, determined to be of no value for anything else, were sold to low-level traffickers and organ harvesters.
The product never stayed in the containment centers for long, but it was the process of desensitization began. They played pornographic movies twenty-four hours a day to acclimate the women and children to graphic sex. After a week or two of seeing it all day, every day, they were changed. They were hardened.
"Turn left," Shelby said.
Karen saw it now, a new metal structure rising from the darkness of the surrounding fields. She pulled up in front of it and killed the engine. The headlights revealed a sparse exterior. There were some heat pumps, a tall rolling door, and a single door for foot traffic. There were no windows that Karen could see, nor was there any exterior lighting.
Seeing where they were, Tonya became agitated. "Why are we here? Are you going to lock me in those cages with those people? You don't have to do that. I'll behave. I swear I will."
Shelby got out of the vehicle and went around to Tonya's door. He opened it and grabbed her by the arm. "C'mon, darling. We're going inside."
Tonya jammed her legs against the door opening, bracing herself against his tugging. "I ain't going in there, you son-of-a-bitch! You don't need to do this."
Shelby dug his fingers into her
bicep, grinning as he inflicted pain. "Don't give me no trouble, girl. I already showed you how I deal with trouble."
He tugged on her arm again and despite all she knew about him, Tonya couldn't let herself be pulled from the vehicle. Every instinct told her to fight back. However, her fight was short-lived. Shelby fired off a quick jab, catching Tonya in the temple and knocking her out cold.
Reacting to the sound of his punch, Karen twisted in the seat, finding Tonya's unconscious form slumped beneath the dome light, her mouth gawping open. "Dammit, Shelby, did you have to go and do that?"
"I grew up with one arm. I don't fuck around. I learned early on that I either took control of a fight from the first second or I got my ass kicked. I always make the first move and I make it a damn good one."
Karen climbed out and slammed her door. "Well, you better hope this doesn't harm that baby."
In the harsh glare of the dome light, Shelby shrugged. "Shouldn't. This ain't the first pregnant woman I've cold-cocked."
Karen gave him a wry smile. "A real charmer, aren't you?"
Shelby knew when he was being made fun of and he didn't like it. "I ain't above knocking out two women in one night so you best watch your tone with me."
Karen wasn't intimidated. "You're the one who should watch your tone. You can easily be replaced by any half-wit with a scary face, Shelby. The company has a tougher time recruiting people like me. I can have you erased from this world with a phone call so don't fuck with me." The vitriol in her glare conveyed her utter seriousness.
Shelby knew she was right but didn't flinch from her stare. When he finally broke off it was to see why Dr. Jacoby hadn't gotten out of his car. "Why the hell is he still sitting there?"
"Because he's a coward and an idiot," Karen surmised.
"Get the shit you need and get out of there!" Shelby demanded.
The doctor snapped into action and was at their side in a moment.
"You're going to have to give me a hand with her," Shelby said, gesturing at Tonya. "She fainted."
Even from outside the vehicle, Dr. Jacoby could see the redness on the side of Tonya's face. "Fainted, huh?"
Shelby spat on the ground. "You better watch your mouth. It might be contagious."
The two men hauled Tonya out and carried her between them like they were walking a drunken buddy home from the bar. They paused in front of the roll-up door.
"There's a keypad," Shelby said.
The only one with a free hand, Karen flipped up the cover to reveal a glowing numeric pad. Shelby rattled off the code and Karen punched it in. When she was done, there was a moment where nothing happened and she thought she may have entered it incorrectly. Then a motor whirred, the door rattled, and it began grinding slowly upward.
46
The Containment Area
North Carolina
As the door moved upward it revealed the interior of the containment facility. The building was framed with thick wooden posts, the ceiling spanned with wide trusses. The walls were insulated, the white plastic backing reflecting the powerful LED lights that hung overhead. Garbage bags were stacked against one wall, some of them leaking onto the floor. Vile buckets stood in a row near the containers. These were the toilets that would be switched out once a day.
The smell reminded Karen of the camper with its undertone of human waste, unwashed bodies, and trash. When they went inside, stepping into the light, she felt the eyes on her, desperate and terrified people watching from the shadows. Generally, the captives never spoke to their captors, afraid of drawing attention to themselves. Most learned early on that didn't go well. Better to lay low and fly under the radar for as long as that was an option.
Shelby shrugged from under Tonya's arm, releasing the hand he'd held to keep her in position. "I'll get a cot."
Dr. Jacoby tried to take up the slack, gathering the limp woman in his arms as if they were dancing. He was unable to hold the dead weight so he lowered her carefully to the floor. Only then was he able to fully devote his attention to the sight before him.
Karen watched him, noting his reaction. His mouth hung agape in pure shock, unadulterated revulsion. She knew he would speak in a moment. He would protest and it would be the same broken record, the same things he'd already said several times today. He'd claim that this wasn't what he signed up for. He'd say he wanted no part of this.
She should go ahead and cut that off now. She approached him and lightly touched his arm. "Dr. Jacoby, look at me."
He flinched at her touch, spinning his head to face her. The horror in his eyes reflected everything she'd already imagined was going through his head. He was overwhelmed. She understood that. It could be a lot to take in, especially if you lived a sheltered life and had not seen the ugliness she'd seen. A sound escaped his lips but never formed into words.
"Dr. Jacoby, you have a job to do here. You need to focus on the job. Ignore the containers. Ignore what's inside them. Forget what you've seen here."
He started to protest, actually getting closer to speaking this time, but she held up a finger to silence him.
"You are well-compensated and there's a reason for that. Have you really been so naive as to assume you are well-paid because of your skills? You're a mediocre physician and we can hire people like you all day long. Many young doctors would jump at the opportunity you've been given. All you need to do is keep your mouth shut and focus on the task at hand. If you continue to get distracted, I'm going to have to assume that you present a risk to our operations. Do you know what will happen then?"
"You will harm me or my family," he said flatly. They were the emotionless words of a broken man.
"That's right. This is a test, Dr. Jacoby. It wasn't intended to be so, but that's what it's become. It's a test of who and what you are. Do you have the strength to be what we need? If so, you will grow wealth at a rate that exceeds that of your counterparts. You will get investment opportunities available only to a select few. You will be able to travel anywhere you want to go. The world and all it offers will be at your fingertips. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and do your job."
Karen could see that there were things he wanted to say. There were thoughts in the dark pools of his eyes that wanted to become words, but he restrained himself. That was excellent. That was exactly what he needed to do to stay alive and remain a part of their organization. He was learning. He was adapting.
"Set it up there!" Dr. Jacoby snapped. "Directly beneath the light!" He jumped into action, helping position the cot Shelby was dragging across the floor.
With the cot in position, the three of them lifted Tonya onto the thin mattress.
"You stay with her," he instructed Shelby. "I think she's waking up and we need to get my supplies."
Shelby nodded and lit a cigarette. Dr. Jacoby and Karen hurried out to the vehicles. Dr. Jacoby grabbed his medical bag from his vehicle and joined Karen at the Escalade.
"I thought I was just doing an exam," Dr. Jacoby said, his words rushed from adrenaline. "I hope you were able to find all the things on my list."
"I got all of it. There are boxes in the back."
Dr. Jacoby hurried around to the rear of the vehicle. He balanced his bag on top of a box and carried it inside. Karen selected a different box and followed after him. It took several more trips to get all of the items inside.
The doctor immediately dug into the boxes, sorting through the equipment and mentally cataloging it. Karen dug into a different box and extracted two sets of handcuffs. She cuffed the semi-conscious Tonya to the frame of the cot. It was a lesson she'd learned the first time she'd been party to something like this.
The ratcheting sound of the cuffs snapping shut caught Dr. Jacoby's attention. He met Karen's eyes briefly, then returned to his work. He pulled a handful of glass vials from one box and stared at them. "I'm surprised you were able to find this. Without the Pitocin, I couldn't make this happen."
Karen lit her own cigarette now, watching the doctor or
ganize his tools. "My job allows me to meet lots of drug addicts and to know where they work. If you call a drug-addicted nurse and offer her a thousand bucks, you'd be surprised what they can get for you. Most of this was sitting in a hospital six hours ago."
Dr. Jacoby looked startled at that tidbit of information but continued his work. He cleaned Tonya's arm and put an IV in place. Shelby looked for something they could use as an IV stand while Karen stood there with the bag held aloft in one hand, her cigarette in the other. When the doctor was certain the IV was flowing, he injected a solution from one of the vials into the line.
"There are so many things that can go wrong here," Dr. Jacoby muttered, as much to himself as to Karen. "We don't have oxygen. We don't have blood. We don't have access to a surgeon."
"You'll be fine," Karen assured him.
Dr. Jacoby didn't seem convinced. "As long as you understand the risks. We could lose mother, child, or both."
Shelby returned with a mop and a rolling yellow mop bucket. He propped the mop in such a way that it stood upright and they taped the IV bag to it. Dr. Jacoby shook his head at the crude device but said nothing.
With that taken care of, Karen returned her attention to the doctor. "Let's just concentrate on making sure the child is okay. Not to sound callous but Tonya's survival is of no consequence at this point."
As she spoke, Karen's eyes flickered to the pregnant woman's face and found that she was no longer unconscious. She was awake now and staring at Karen. She'd heard what Karen said about her life being of no consequence. Gone was the defiance and the attitude. All that remained was sheer terror.
47
Abingdon, Virginia
Scared of sleeping on the couch because of his troubled relationship with that particular piece of furniture, Ty spent the night in his recliner. He fell asleep with his laptop in his lap and an empty beer bottle on the table beside him. It had been his fifth, not enough to make him stupid but enough to make him sleep past his normal wake-up time. When he stirred, he slid the laptop over to the end table, knocking the empty bottle onto the carpet.
Child With No Name Page 22
