Bazel stood up and walked over to her, then gave Chris a hug. “You a very nice lady. You find someone who is just as nice to you.” He held her, and Chris hugged him back, holding on to him. It was touching how he seemed to know what she needed. Once Chris let go, Bazel left the room, and soon pots banged on the stove.
“What is he doing?”
“Making dinner. I don’t know what he has in mind, but I think it’s his way of offering comfort.” Water ran and more pots banged against each other. Atlas excused himself and found Bazel with a pot for rice and some chicken out of the refrigerator. “Are you making the dumplings with chicken and mushrooms?”
“Yes. She need good food.” He turned away and got busy. Atlas figured it was best to get out of his way, so he headed back to the living room. Heaven knew what kind of mess he was goingto end up with before he was done, but it was best to let Bazel try to help in his own way.
“Apparently he’s making you dinner. You aren’t still vegetarian, are you?” He sure as hell hoped not and wasn’t looking forward to explaining that to Bazel if she was.
“God no. That was Lori. She insisted we didn’t eat anything from an animal. That just meant that I had to get my meat fix at lunch where she couldn’t see it. Why?”
“He’s making dumplings and mushrooms. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s really good and it’s something his mother made. Basically, it’s the Bazel version of comfort food.”
She drained her wine. “I hate to be such a drag.”
“You’re fine. We all go through those kind of heartaches. Being alone is hard. I know you live with your mother, and physical aloneness is one thing, but being alone in spirit is quite another.” And that was definitely Chris. The time he first spent alone after moving away from his folks was the hardest thing for him to get used to.
BY THEtime Bazel had dinner ready, the entire house smelled rich and warm. Chris had polished off more than half the bottle of wine, and the conversation switched to more pleasant subjects, at least for a while.
“Have you made any more progress nailing down the people who brought Bazel here?” Chris asked. “I keep trying to get information, but no one seems to know anything.”
“It’s become an interagency mess. We have pieces of the puzzle, and so do the feds, but they aren’t sharing very much. I suppose they have what they need and want to make a big deal about taking some sort of action. Not that there is a whole lot we can do about it here. The driver is still in jail and has been spoken to by every agency with any sort of jurisdiction. Idon’t think he knows all that much. The guy needed the money because of an online gambling issue.”
“So he just let them put people in the back of the truck?” Chris asked.
“He was good to us and gave us water when able,” Bazel said “He good person.”
Chris sighed. “I don’t know if there are any good people when it comes to human trafficking.” She ate slowly, and Atlas hoped all this talk didn’t upset Bazel too much. He didn’t like the idea of talking about him and his situation like he wasn’t there.
“Apparently we are still waiting for the ship to return to port in the US. But it should be soon, we hope. I keep wondering if they would have figured out that they’re under surveillance and will just change their plans.”
Chris shook her head. “There’s too much money in it for them to stop. They get paid by people like Bazel to bring them over here, and then they get paid by those at the end of the line who are always looking for workers of various types.” Thankfully she didn’t say the kind of work many of these people ended up in. Atlas didn’t want to think about that sort of thing happening to Bazel, or anyone else for that matter.
“What about man who come here?” Bazel asked.
“He seems to have dropped off the map completely. The FBI has been looking for him, but they don’t know where he is either. Evie messed him up pretty good, so maybe he’s gotten treatment somewhere and needs time to heal up.” It was one of the questions that kept him up at night. More than anything else, he wanted him gone.
Chris set her empty glass on the table and drank some water. “So basically this has been an exercise in futility.”
Atlas wished he had answers for all of them. “These organizations are fluid. If they do bring in more people, then they could end up in a completely different area of the country.Who knows? They could bring them up I-95 instead of using I-81. Or simply take them to Chicago or New Orleans, even LA, rather than up to New York, because they know we’re on the lookout for this sort of thing now.” It was frustrating as hell, and Carlisle was a smaller town with limited resources. They had gotten lucky with a simple traffic stop that turned into a lot more. But they didn’t have the jurisdiction to investigate beyond their borders. That was other agencies, and they had to rely on their help.
He had to pull his attention away from the things he couldn’t help and onto the things that were in his control. “I’ve added more cameras to the house, as well as some alarms on the doors and gates. I know that if someone is determined, they will be able to get in, but I’m trying to make it as hard as possible.”
Chris nodded. “I could find a more secret place for him to stay.”
“No,” Bazel said. “I stay here with Atlas. He keep me safe.” His tone was so firm. “Atlas not let anything happen to me.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Chris asked.
Bazel nodded firmly. “You eat. Food will make you feel better.” He said it as though he knew exactly what she needed. Atlas ate as well, not wanting to get scolded himself. After dinner, Atlas and Chris helped clean up, and Chris left, saying good night before walking home.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay somewhere else for a while? It might be safer.”
Bazel shook his head. “If they find me here, they find anywhere. You keep me safe, I know it.” He held Atlas’s arm, resting his head against him in a show of complete faith that Atlas hoped he could live up to. “Now we go to bed. Okay?”
“Whatever you want, babe.” Atlas leaned down and kissed him, turning before wrapping Bazel into his arms. He hated thethought of Bazel leaving, but he wondered if he wouldn’t be safer someplace else.
Chapter 14
