“The bell ringers only operate in America, so they don’t usually leave the country, but I remember one time they did take a few of us on a plane to meet a client. I don’t know where they took us, don’t even know if we left America or not, but Iremember the experience very clearly and looking at that kid is basically like looking in a mirror from back then.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but the kid looked so much like me, it was almost painful to watch. He moved with a slight sluggishness, like his limbs weren’t quite cooperating. It could have easily been mistaken for exhaustion, but I was certain that the boy had been drugged to keep him docile while he was moved. Kids couldn’t just be shoved in a suitcase and smuggled through customs, after all. They had to be walked through on their own legs. However, there were ways to keep them awake but cooperative.
The slightly glazed expression in the boy’s blue eyes was the most damning evidence. His gaze darted around but never quite focused on anything. I remembered the feeling. All of my senses were muffled, like I was half asleep. My thoughts slowed to a crawl, which made the whole world seem to be spinning too fast. Everything had a floaty, dreamlike quality to it, but not in a pleasant way. Maybe some people found that kind of drugged state to be pleasant, but the one time I’d experienced it, I’d just been left with a vague feeling of paranoia that I couldn’t shake off until the drug worked its way out of my system.
“See that guy standing next to the boy…” I pointed him out to Kitt as I shook off my own memories. “That’ll be the kid’s handler. He’s in charge of making sure the boy passes through security without catching any unwanted attention and that everyone gets to their destination.”
“So, they’re a combination of bodyguard and jailer,” Kitt summed up.
“Yeah. When traveling, they usually pose as someone innocuous, like a parent or older sibling, but don’t be fooled. They’re dangerous. These are the people who do the real “dirty work” of the operation.”
The boy and the man were moving on, following the flow of the crowd deeper into the heart of the airport.
As casually as we could, Kitt and I left our table and followed them.
“Usually, this kind of operation would be spread out,” I explained as Kitt and I pushed our way through the other travelers, always keeping the boy and the man in our sight. “One kid and one handler per flight. Never more. That way, if someone gets caught, they don’t lose too much product at once. However, since Calderon is in a hurry, she might be taking more risks.”
Farther into the airport, the crowd dispersed down different hallways as people headed for their gates. This meant that the crowd was thinner and easier to navigate, but that also made it harder for us to follow the boy and the man unnoticed. We had to fall back even more to keep out of sight. Thanks to my height, I couldn’t even see our targets anymore, but I trusted that Kitt still knew where to go.
“Calderon isn’t just fleeing America,” Kitt said as he kept a hand on my arm. “At this point, she’s also running from the bell ringers, since she’s apparently stolen some of their kids, and she clearly doesn’t have the money for a private plane. She can’t afford to take her time and spread out her escape over multiple flights. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky, and she’ll be on the same flight as these two.”
We followed them all the way to a gate at the very back of the airport where the biggest planes were kept. Double-decker monstrosities casually rolled by the windows, large enough to easily be mistaken for a building. In a different situation, I would have loved to stop and marvel at them. I’d never been on such a large airplane before and wondered what they looked like inside.
The few times I’d been on a plane left much to be desired.
If only Kitt and I were here for a fun trip. This airport could take us anywhere in the world so long as we had the right ticket. Thinking about it brought such a sense of freedom that I felt myself choke up.
I wanted to see the world. I wanted to travel to new places, try new things, and finally feel free for the first time in my life.
But no. Instead, I was running around hunting down pedophiles and traffickers that the law failed to take care of.
I’d said it before, and I’d say it again. It wasn’t fair.
Clenching my fists at my side, I bit my lip to keep myself from shouting in frustration and stomped down the hallway after our targets with renewed purpose.
Our target stopped at the fifty-third gate in this section of the airport, and it was here that we hit the mother load. Not only was Grace Calderon there, sitting off by herself as if she were just an ordinary traveler, but there were at least half a dozen other children that fit the description for trafficked victims.
She must really be in a hurry to take such a risk moving so many people at once. I wondered who she feared more, American law enforcement, or the bell ringers themselves. She’d managed to make an enemy out of both.
Kitt and I stepped off the main path into the seating area for gate fifty-two, right across the aisle for gate fifty-three where Calderon and the others were waiting.
“What do we do?” I asked Kitt as we took seats in the too small chairs, pretending to be passengers waiting for their flight. “According to the info on the bulletin board by the gate, their plane leaves in less than two hours. What can we possibly do in two hours to stop Calderon from leaving? We can’t stop the plane. We can’t even get security to detain her. We still don’t have any evidence that she’s done anything wrong.”
“Maybe we do.”
Kitt pulled out the book he’d been reading earlier and propped it up in front of us, pretending to show me something on its pages so we had an excuse to keep looking in the direction of the other gate.
“Calderon’s got the kids with her. They’re witnesses. If any of them could speak up against her, accuse her of kidnapping them and holding them against their will, it might be enough for security to at least detain her while they investigate it. That’ll buy us time to come up with a more permanent way to keep her from escaping.”
Peering over the top of the book, I studied the kids scattered around the gate. To an oblivious observer the kids would have looked completely unconnected. They didn’t sit together, didn’t even look at each other, and showed no signs of knowing each other. Literally, the only similarity between any of them was that most of them were blond, which was hardly suspicious by itself.
Their handlers were the same. Some were men. Some were women. All were dressed different, and all played a different role. Some were pretending to be a child’s parent, some a sibling, and there was even one who was old enough to pull off the role of a loving grandfather.
“I don’t know,” I said as I watched the eerie scene of pretend. “Even under the best circumstances, these kids are trained to be obedient. Plus, they’re drugged right now, so they won’t be in the best mindset. They probably won’t be willing to speak up. Trust me. I’ve been there. It’s not so easy.”
Kitt squeezed my hand.
“I know its not easy, but is there anything we could do to convince them? Is there anything that would have convinced you back then?”
