“Dan-Dan? Are you all right?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t right. Nobody ever knew why they were there, but it wasn’t good. It couldn’t be good. The little kids were so scared and they wanted their mommies. Sometimes, when the supervisor wasn’t watching, we try to calm them down, to tell them everything was okay even though we knew it wasn’t. When the littlest ones would cry and beg us for help, there was nothing we could do. I’ll never forget their eyes. I’ll never forget the fear in their eyes.” At that, he burst out in tears and, resting his head on his arms, sobbed.
I leaned back, trying to keep my temper. It was all too easy to guess what waited in store for the prisoners. Servitude, in all too many ways. I glanced at Benny, and for once, he had a grim look on his face rather than a goofy one.
Dante cleared his throat. “Dan-Dan, you did what you could to help. It wasn’t your fault.”
“One of the guys in our unit tried to help. He tried to hug one of the kids who was scared. He was beat so bad that he died. We had to carry his body out. I’m so ashamed that I was afraid to try and do what was right.”
I sighed, realizing that Dan-Dan needed a lot more therapy than we could ever offer. Maybe I could hook him up with Seton. “How did you escape?”
“Sometimes big boxes came through and were immediately sent out again. There was a really heavy box. After I moved it, I saw that it was scheduled to be taken to the mailroom. I dragged it behind the furnace and opened it up. There were elephant tusks in it. I hid them behind the furnace and—when nobody was looking—punched a few small holes in the side and top, then carried it back to the platform. I crawled in shut it from inside.”
“How did you seal it?” Dante asked.
“I had tape with me and was able to tape it shut. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I landed hard in an alley. I could smell the rain. I waited for a minute and when I didn’t hear anything, I broke out of the box. I realized I was back in Seattle. A van was coming down the alley toward me, but I ran. The only thing I could think of was to get to Benny’s. I managed to get away before the van reached the box. That was several days ago. So, here I am. I don’t want Benny to get in trouble for hiding me, though. I don’t know what to do or where to go.”
So not only did Dan-Dan needed help, he needed amnesty.
“Wait here a minute, I’ll see if I can find someone to help you.” I crossed back to the kitchen, and leaned against the counter as I put in a call to Seton. I told him what had happened.
“I’m sending a driver now,” he said. “We have to shut down the portal. I doubt we can rescue anybody still in that warehouse, but we have to put a stop to at least one of the places they’re using to transport slaves and cargo. The fact that Dan-Dan found elephant tusks means that they’re transporting illegal goods, as well as human trafficking.”
“If you’ll call Carson, he’ll give you the background that we’ve learned about them. This isn’t the first go around they’ve had with slave trade.”
“Will do. Give me your address. The driver will be carrying a sealed note from me, so you know he’s trustworthy. He’ll be there within half an hour.” At that, Seton hung up.
I returned to the living room. “Dan-Dan, a man I trust implicitly is going to send a driver for you. He’ll get you the help you need, and a safe place to stay. You can’t stay here because they’ll target Benny if you do. I’ll wait until the driver gets here and verify he’s who he says he is. Will you please go with him?”
Dan-Dan thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I don’t want Benny to get in trouble because of me. I’ll go.”
“Good. Thank you for talking to us. We’ll try to ensure your safety, and maybe we can find a way to hide you away for good.”
As we waited for the driver, I took Benny aside and told him what was going on. He agreed that this was best for Dan-Dan. Forty-five minutes later, Dan-Dan was on his way to Seton’s place, and Dante and I were sitting there, eating cookies, thinking about how deep the corruption ran at Give A Hand Up.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Back at the office, we filled everybody in on what had happened, and I asked Sophia to contact Seton.
“See if you can help,” I said. “Maybe you can get any hits or visions off of Dan-Dan. This guy’s had more than just a scare. It feels like part of him is missing.” I shuffled through the mail, putting aside two letters that I had to answer myself.
“PTSD can alter the brain structure. Trauma leaves lasting effects, mentally, emotionally and physically. Trauma can literally trigger off certain chronic conditions because of the hypervigilance.” Carson finished off his coffee.
We were sitting around the table in the breakroom, as usual.
“True that,” I said. “Well, it’s been a productive day, as much as we can hope for. Saturn agreed to talk to my father again and try to smooth things over. Orik, if you would call Lazenti and tell him what went down on that front. I’m just glad that he’s out of there now.”
Orik nodded, frowning. “Speaking of trauma, what are we going to do about Give A Hand Up? Somebody needs to put a stop to Appleberry. I’m willing to pay him a visit, if need be. His family line should end with him.”
“I agree,” I said. “But we have to do this in such a way that we’re not targeted by the cops. They don’t trust us at any rate, and we don’t want to give them a reason to take things further.”
“By the way, Destiny called while you were out,” Carson said.
“What did she want?” I asked.
“Well, I asked her to look into Mark Ryles’s disappearance. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know if she’d have time. She took a look and said that his employer has replaced him, and they don’t want to say anything. The company’s extremely tightlipped, but she doesn’t think it’s because they know anything. Apparently they’ve had problems in the past with fudging the laws on hiring practices. Now, they try to keep as far away from the cops and the Washington State Department of Employee Relations as possible.”
“So we’re back to where we were. No sign of Mark anywhere —”
