They all freeze, then send me hesitant nods.
“Are you immigration?” one bold young woman asks.
I shake my head and explain that we’re a group that works outside of the law to help people who have been taken in by human traffickers. That they would not have to give up their babies.
“But the only way we get the papers is if we give up our babies.”
I translate that to Charlie, who shakes his head. We work in tandem to explain.
“You will not have to give up your babies if you don’t want to, and we work with various groups who can help you. If you want to go home and need help getting there, we will help you. If you want to stay here legally, we will help you with that as well.”
“How much?” the bold one asks.
“We don’t charge. We just don’t want those people to win.”
“What about my baby?” asks a woman whose sagging belly makes me think she only recently gave birth.
“Was your baby taken?” Charlie asks through me.
Her face crumples and she begins to cry.
I turn to Charlie and Erik, explaining what she’s crying about. An unfamiliar voice comes in over the comms, one of the Wimberley guys. “Get her name. I think we can track her baby.”
“And my son. They’re holding my son until I give them my baby,” another woman says, heavy with child.
Charlie sends her a guilt-stricken look. “We’ll track him down as well.”
Levy’s voice comes over the comms. “We need to rethink moving them from this location. The timing’s too dangerous for a lot of them.”
As much as I’m on board with the notion, anxiety creeps into my chest. How the hell do we keep them hereandkeep them safe? What if the people Wimberley grabs at the border aren’t the whole crew?
Charlie, his jaw resolute, agrees. Turning to Anders, he asks, “Think we can take over this property tonight? How certain are we that the op in Laredo is taking out all the people associated with this place?”
Anders shrugs, unconcerned. “Pretty certain. And hell, you know Hopper and I will take care of any stragglers,” he says with a confidence that settles my growing nerves. “I can work up a team, and we’ll make sure these folks have the supplies they—”
“Shit,” Bram curses over the line. “They were driving a pair of black trucks, right?”
“Yes,” Charlie confirms, checking his weapons.
“Two black extended cabs crammed full of people just passed us. Thirty seconds out.”
“Incoming intelligence,” says the disembodied voice of Wimberley on the line. “Looks like they were warned about Laredo and turned around. Our team is scrambling back to the plane, but it’ll take an hour to get here.”
Erik’s jaw tightens. “Yeah, well, this is going down right now.”
Everybody begins talking at once, and I hold up my hands, speaking in Spanish, “We need to stay quiet. They don’t know we’re here.”
The women go silent, their eyes filled with fear and distrust.
I turn to Charlie. “I take it we’re trying to keep them out of here, correct?”
“Correct. We’ll try to draw them away from this building. Can you stay here with them?”
“Absolutely.”
“You understand, this is now a very different kind of op, and I have no idea what their plans are. If they overrun us, they’ll come straight for this building, and they’ll try to hurt these women.”
“Not if I can help it,” I say, setting my lips in a thin line.
