Deadly Exchange

by Lisa Harris

  “And the men who originally took Mercy were experts on feeding that fear,” Kayla said.

  Levi sat down on a small ottoman across from Kayla and Ana. Some of the pieces of the puzzle from what Kayla had told him earlier were coming together. While it might not have been smart to ignore their emergency plan, a part of him could understand why Mercy had run.

  “When’s the last time you saw Mercy?” Kayla asked.

  “This morning.” Ana stared straight ahead. The fear in her eyes signaled the fact that she knew it could have been any of them living in this apartment whose lives could be in danger. “She was getting ready for work.”

  “Did she seem upset?”

  “Not upset. Distracted, maybe.”

  “Why?”

  “She didn’t talk about it much, but she was terrified her former pimp was going to track her down. I tried to assure her that she was safe now, but I don’t think she believed me. I guess we all have a hard time believing that this new life is for real. That we won’t just wake up and find that it’s all been a dream.”

  “Do you have a name for the pimp?”

  “Nicu, I think. He has a brother who works with him, but I don’t remember his name.”

  “The name sounds familiar. I brought her file with me.” Kayla dug in her backpack, pulled out Mercy’s file and handed it to Levi. “I’d like you to go through it. It’s mainly background information and interviews. See if there’s something we can use that might help us find her.”

  “Isn’t this information confidential?” he asked, catching her gaze.

  “Normally yes, but let’s say I’m hiring you as a consultant. I don’t think I could do much better than a decorated army intelligence officer.”

  “Then I accept.” He caught the relief in her eyes as he flipped open the file. “So Nicu—assuming that’s who took her—was never arrested?”

  “No.” Kayla’s brow furrowed at the question before she turned back to Ana. “Is there anything else you can think of that might help us find her?”

  “She was receiving text messages from him. He wanted to see her. It was like he was...obsessed with her.”

  “Did you see any of the messages?”

  “A couple of them. But she never wanted to talk about it. I don’t think she wanted any of us to know what was really going on.”

  “Do you know what was going on?”

  “From the text I saw, he was angry that she left. Wanted her back.”

  Enough to target the one person he believed could find Mercy.

  Ana glanced at the door. “What if they come back?”

  “I intend to make sure you all are safe, Ana.” Kayla’s voice sounded calm. Soothing. “Why don’t you quickly grab any personal items you might need for the next day or two for you and the other girls. I’ll call a friend of mine who drives a taxi to take you to the center. I’ll have Evi and Abel meet you there and ensure you and the other girls are safe tonight. Just as a precaution,” she added.

  Kayla picked up her phone as Ana left the room and quickly dialed the taxi.

  “There are a couple bedrooms with bunk beds set up at our offices that we use as a transition space. They’ll be safe there until this is over,” she said once she’d hung up. She started straightening up the mess the intruder had left behind. “I’ll also have Evi talk with each of the girls in person. See if Mercy said something to one of them that might help answer some of the questions we have.”

  Levi nodded. While he knew today had shaken Kayla, dealing with a crisis clearly came automatically to her.

  “I think we need to let the police know about the break-in,” Levi said, flipping open the file she’d given him.

  “I can have Evi file a report, but I still don’t think we can get the authorities involved with everything that’s going on.”

  “I agree.”

  She picked a pile of books up off the floor and turned to him. “When’s the last time you ate?”

  Levi glanced at his watch, surprised at how late it was. “Let’s see... Airplane food about five this morning.”

  “I’d rather not stay here. I know of a restaurant that’s not far where we can grab soup and a sandwich. I’ll call Evi and give her an update, and then we can go through Mercy’s file and see if we can come up with something.”

  Fifteen minutes later Ana was on her way across town in a taxi, and they were sitting in the back of a little café offering homemade soups, sandwiches and cakes. They’d walked the long way, weaving between shops and up and down side streets to ensure they weren’t followed, stopping only once to buy Levi a new shirt. But in the dark he couldn’t guarantee that Nicu—or whoever was behind this—wasn’t still out there. And as calm as Kayla had been with Ana, it was clear she was shaken up.

  As soon as the waitress had taken their orders—spicy jalapeño-chicken sandwiches and fries served with mayonnaise, curry ketchup and some kind of peanut sauce—he continued reading through Mercy’s file.

  “Her story is pretty much like most of the girls we work with, though they come from different countries with equally horrifying stories. Mercy was working selling pineapple on the road when she met her maman.”

  “Her maman?” Levi glanced up from the file. “I might need a few blanks filled in before I read any more. Tell me what typically happens before the girls get to you.”

  “It’s the word for madams in Nigeria. They usually work through local pimps—like Nicu—or sometimes the Mafia. Mercy thought she was doing something that would help her family back home. Her maman promised a job working in a European shop.”

  “And instead she ended up trapped in a world with no way out.”

  “Exactly.”

  The waitress set down their plates of food, then asked if they needed anything else before she left. Levi dunked a fry into the traditional Dutch peanut sauce Kayla had recommended.

  “It’s not bad, is it?”

  “I’m hungry enough that it just might grow on me.”

  Kayla let out a soft laugh. Her smile made him wish he could see her in a different setting under different circumstances. A chance to take her out and get to know her again without the stress of the situation.

  “Everything these people do is well planned out,” Kayla continued, ignoring her food for the moment. “In Africa, the traffickers usually go to remote villages where there are no options for these girls. No work. No education. In turn the girls believe they have nothing to lose. When they find out the truth about what job is really waiting for them, they don’t see a way out.”

  “No identity papers would reinforce their fear of local authorities.”

  “Exactly.” Kayla picked up a fry, dabbed it in her sauce, then set it back down on the plate without eating it. “Typically a maman holds over the girls the debt for the plane ticket, food costs and rent. And in return, they are forced to earn their keep by selling their bodies.”

  “Until you—and others like you—come along.”

  “Yes, but what frustrates me is that for every Mercy we try to save, there are dozens more out there still trapped. It’s a lucrative business that won’t be stopped simply by targeting the traffickers, or even by saving the girls. The only way to put an end to it is by stopping those who demand their services.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Lilly.” Kayla took a sip of her water, her food still untouched as she continued talking. “Her story isn’t that different from Mercy’s. She wanted something different. Something more. She met this woman who told her she was a model scout and worked as an agent for dozens of girls. Lilly came home ecstatic.”

  “And your parents?”

  “They did some research. The woman had a professional website and connections to other people in the industry. On the surface everything checked out. Then the woman convinced Lilly that if she moved to Paris, she’d have mo
re opportunities to model, but my parents told her no. Told her that she was too young and needed to finish school. They pulled her out of the agency, but Lilly...she could be stubborn. She hated living in such a small town and was convinced that she was going to miss her one big opportunity if she walked away.”

  “Which she believed would happen if she stayed in Potterville.”

  Kayla nodded as the raw memories swirled around her.

  “There was a huge blowup between her and my parents. The next day, Lilly went missing, and my family was suddenly sitting in the living room talking with the FBI about a possible abduction. They were able to trace her to Houston, but she’d disappeared along with five other girls. That’s when we found out the terrifying truth that it’s far more common than we might imagine for men—and sometimes women—to pose as modeling agents in order to traffic women. And if they are able to get them out of the country, American women typically can be sold for more.”

  “Did they make it out of the country?”

  “Three of them did. A fourth girl was flagged and picked up at the airport in Atlanta by the local authorities. To this day we’re not sure why they kept Lilly in the States, then killed her. They found her during a huge sting by the authorities. There were over fifty arrests, and twice that many young girls rescued that day. It was a huge bust. And then they found Lilly. But it was too late. The autopsy said she died of a drug overdose, more than likely forced on her to keep her in line.”

  “I’m so, so sorry, Kayla.”

  Her phone rang, and she grabbed it from the table. He listened to the one-sided conversation, trying to figure out whom she was talking to. Her frown deepened. Whoever it was, it wasn’t good news.

  “Kayla?”

  He watched her drop the phone back onto the table in front of her. Her frown deepened.

  “What is it?”

  “I have a contact at the police department. He...he’s helped us before with different situations we’ve had to deal with.” She drew in a deep breath before continuing. “A Jane Doe was just brought into the morgue. They want me to come in and see if I can identify her. They found my business card in her pocket.”

  Levi caught the tremor in her voice. “And you think it might be Mercy?”

  A shadow crossed Kayla’s face. “If Mercy is dead, what happens to my father?”

  Five

  Kayla stopped outside the cold, sterile air of the morgue, unsure where she was going to find the courage to step through the door. It wasn’t the first time she’d been here. The last time she’d worked with the police, she’d been called in to identify one of the victims. Seeing the familiar face of one of the girls they’d worked with lying on the slab had ended up haunting her dreams for months.

  Just like Lilly.

  Hands clenched beside her, she continued the prayer she’d started before leaving Mercy’s apartment, begging God to put an end to this by somehow saving both Mercy and her father. But the fact remained that someone wasn’t going home tonight. Instead they were lying there on the other side of the door. A Jane Doe. Kayla had always known her job held risks. They were dealing with men who had no moral compass. But ending this way...this was what she was desperate to stop.

  She turned to the attendant who had brought them down here. “Where did you find her?”

  “Someone saw her floating in one of the canals and tried to save her, but she was already dead. There was no ID on her, and so far we haven’t been able to match her to any missing-person report.”

  And so they’d called her, hoping she might be able to ID the woman.

  Levi squeezed her hand, making her thankful she hadn’t had to come alone. “Are you ready to go inside?”

  “I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for this, but yes.” She nodded at the attendant, then walked into the room behind him.

  Kayla hesitated while he pulled back the sheet covering the woman’s body. She shut her eyes for a moment before taking a step, then gazed at the body. Her breath caught. There was nothing familiar about the dark-skinned girl who couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen. Her hair was pulled back and her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping.

  Kayla pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and shook her head. “It’s not Mercy.”

  “Are you sure?” the attendant asked before covering her up again.

  “I’m sure. I’ve never seen this girl before.”

  Tears flooded her eyes. She hated the relief, but any relief she felt was combined with a deep hurt. This girl had to have a family. Someone who cared about her. Someone who would notice when she didn’t come home. That alone was heartbreaking.

  But it wasn’t Mercy or one of the other girls she’d worked with. Which meant they still had a chance of finding Mercy alive.

  “I need to go,” she said, taking a step backward. “Thank you for calling me.”

  She pushed open the heavy door and stepped out into the dark hallway. The smell of death hovered along the green walls of the building, threatening to suffocate her.

  Levi grasped her elbow. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  A moment later Levi had led her out of the building, his hand still protective on her arm as they stepped out into the darkness.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Don’t be, but you’re shaking.”

  She hesitated before responding. “I’ve been here before. It’s a chilling reminder that we can’t save them all. She had my card, Levi, and yet I don’t even recognize her.”

  “This wasn’t your fault.”

  “I know.”

  But if the girl had called her, they might have been able to save her. Instead, they’d lost her. And if they didn’t figure out where Mercy was, they were going to lose her—and Max—as well.

  “You said you’ve been here before?”

  She nodded. “I told you about the girl who was murdered three months ago. They called me to the morgue to identify her body. I still remember every detail of that night. The sound of my boots hitting the cement floor. The flicker of the fluorescent light sputtering above me. The smell of bleach. I remember standing over the body when they pulled down the sheet so I could look at her face. The shot of horror when I recognized her. I couldn’t believe it was Kim. She’d been doing so well.”

  The outside temperatures had dropped, leaving a damp chill running through Kayla’s body. She tried to push away the haunting memories. Memories that kept her up at night. Memories that only made her determined to fight harder to save these girls.

  Her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Evi. She’d almost forgotten she’d promised to let her coworker know what they discovered at the morgue.

  “Was it her?” Evi asked before Kayla could even say hello.

  “No. I didn’t recognize her.”

  “I’m so sorry you had to do that.”

  “Me, too. Have you found out anything from the girls?”

  “Not yet. Whatever Mercy was planning, she kept it to herself.” There was a long pause on the line. “And I’ve done what I can to reassure the girls that they’re safe, but they’re scared.”

  “I know. Listen, Levi and I are on our way to the office right now and should be there in about twenty minutes. I plan to talk to the girls as well. We need to figure out where Mercy would go if she was in trouble.”

  “Okay, just promise you’ll be careful.”

  Kayla hung up the phone. She blew out a deep breath as they started walking again. “I know we need to head to the center, but can we walk partway? There are still a lot of people out, so it should be safe. I just need to clear my head for a few minutes.”

  “Sure,” he said, glancing at his watch.

  Restaurants were serving the dinner crowd. People sat outside drinking coffee and eating despite the chilly temperatures. To their left, the canal was lit up wi
th streetlamps and shops next to an old row of canal houses.

  “Some people call this the Venice of the north.” The air was clearing her head, and for the moment, talking was the only way she knew how to cope with the situation. “I went on a tour of the city when I first arrived. Amsterdam’s actually built on millions of wooden poles and has over a hundred kilometers of canals.”

  “I can’t say that I knew that.”

  “There are also hundreds of bridges.”

  “What about bicycles?” he asked, skirting out of the way of one. “There’s got to be thousands of those.”

  She let out a low laugh. “I’ve heard that there are actually more bicycles than people living in the city.”

  “Maybe when all of this is over you can show me a few of your favorite places.”

  “I’d like that.”

  When this was over.

  Is it ever going to be over, God?

  It was as if it were happening all over again. With Lilly... With Kim...

  “Kayla?”

  She felt his hand against her arm and looked up.

  “Are you okay?”

  She started to say yes, then shook her head. “Honestly? No. I’m not okay. I realized when I took this job that there were aspects of it that were potentially dangerous. But that isn’t what scares me the most. I stepped into my position with my eyes wide-open. It was my choice. But these girls... The girls we help didn’t choose this life. Mercy didn’t choose this life.”

  She turned to face him, tears pooling in her eyes. She needed to stay strong. Needed to keep her head clear, but all she could see was her father and Mercy lying on that slab in the morgue if they didn’t stop these men. And they couldn’t let that happen.

  “Hey.” He tilted up her chin with his hand until she was looking at him underneath a streetlight. “We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

  “And if we don’t?”

  He shook his head. “We have to. There’s too much at stake.”

  He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, a hedge of safety surrounding her. She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to both focus and relax. Because he was right. The stakes were too high for them not to figure this out.