For He said, “Surely, they are My people, Children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior. Isaiah 63:8
When fighting ensued, Asia grabbed the hand of the girl who’d given her the clothing. “Follow me!” They crawled on hands and knees in the sand, retreating toward the bushes. The men who were transporting them had taken cover. She wasn’t sure which direction they went, but she prayed they weren’t fleeing toward where she was. As she gauged where the friendlies fired from, she crawled in their direction. Battling overgrown weeds and smelly kelp, dried driftwood and rotten tree branches and other debris, she crawled deeper away from the shore and into the bushes. Sticks, rocks, and sharp grasses scratched and gouged her palms and knees. The girl panted as she crawled behind her.
They came to a puddle in the ground, and Asia splashed through it, whooshing away the mud from her mouth, still crawling, still going deeper. The soft drizzling of rain that had been whispering over the land quickened into a downpour, coming hard and fast in the approaching darkness. Hearing the Ramirez team nearer, she rose to a crouch and had taken a few steps when something snapped beneath her. She screamed and tumbled into a depth she couldn’t clearly see. Someone yelped above her as the girl toppled in too. Asia hit the ground with a splash and blinked.
A cave.
“Great.” How did she fall into a cave on an island overrun with armed and dangerous human traffickers? “But, of course.” She smiled. “Watch your—”
The girl crash-landed beside her as she dodged the thump right next to her.
Asia wiped the water from her face and brushed the hair from her eyes. “I was warning you, but I guess I was too late.”
The girl scuffled closer. “I was struggling to follow you and didn’t see you fall. Are we dead?”
Despite the circumstances, Asia chuckled. “I pray not.” Then she mumbled under her breath, “I seem to be praying a lot these days.”
“Not a bad thing if you ask me. Maybe that’s why I didn’t break a leg.”
She had a good point. Asia hadn’t been injured either. She’d better pay more attention to these little miracles or else she might be a tad ungrateful to God. Farther in the cave, a jutting piece of rock seemed to point its fist toward the opening. She shuddered. If she’d found herself in contact with it… Well, that’s not something she wanted to think about.
She rubbed shivers from her arms and breathed in the mustiness of raw earth. “If these traffickers used this island, they must’ve used this cave to move girls without being seen. Let’s have a look around and find a way out. Come on.”
“I can barely see my hand.”
“That’s a good thing. It means no one can see us enough to shoot. Grip my shirt and raise your feet high enough with each step so you don’t stumble, then step down lightly and make sure the ground is solid under your foot before trusting it with your weight. We—God—will find us a way out.” She might as well keep trusting in God.
They pressed forward, passing signs of recent human presence—water sachets, cookie wrappers, water bottles, and toilet paper—strewn about. The level of trash suggested a significant number of people went through the cave. She pressed ahead, sped up by the urgency of the danger above and the fast-fading sunlight. The rain still pelted above, and mud trailed through holes in the ground into the cave. The rock boulder wedging the large portion of the cave ended, and the wall went from hard rock to moist earth. She bent when the cave narrowed, and they walked through until they discovered a narrow opening. She held up a hand and stopped the girl behind her.
Listening for any approach, Asia heard only the rain. It had slowed to a drizzle, but she knew not to be deceived. It could easily flood the ground and sweep them to the open sea.
She walked forward, ears sharp. They emerged into another part of the island—neither the part with Ramirez’s team nor the traffickers. Had she known which way led to where, then she’d know which direction to go.
She thought about praying yet again. But hadn’t she prayed enough? She should expect to find her way, especially when nobody was shooting at her. “Let’s go right. Maybe we can find a way through.” The bushes were sloshing wetness to them, and she kept wiping her face. The smell of grass and petrichor—the scent of the ground after rain—filled her nostrils, and she felt deep in her gut that she needed a vacation. She’d worked for so long, and her passion for finding missing girls was still her priority. But maybe June and Latricia had a point. She was so focused on her work she seldom rested. Trudging through a traffickers’ cave and overgrown brush on an island created a craving for rest, relaxation, swimming—by choice not by force—and getting a mud bath in a massage center without gunshots exploding around her.
“You’re quiet. Are you okay?” the girl asked, a shiver lacing her voice.
“I’m not choosing to be quiet,” Asia said. “I just felt I needed a vacation, on an island that’s not this one.” Her shoulders sank, curving in around her chest. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.” She’d better address her shiver. “Are you cold? I can give you—”
Asia had only taken a few steps when a crash behind her had her spinning sharply. “Are you alright?”
The girl screamed as she stumbled on a piece of rock jutting out of the ground. She tumbled into a thorn bush and shouted again. “I’ve got thorns all over my body. Please help.”
Asia rushed to her side and pressed a finger to her lips. “You need to stop screaming. I don’t want you to draw any attention.” She leaned over, ankles steeped in mud, pulled her out of the thorn bush, and tried to get the thorns off her body as quickly as she could—all while her heartbeat thundered. Had they been heard? And if so, was it by the wrong party? As she finished plucking the thorns off the girl’s back, something rustled behind them.
Then someone spoke. “I’ve got two of them. Good.”
Her heart pounded harder in her chest.
“Lift up your hands where I can see them.” A man emerged from the bushes, his weapon trained on both of them.
Asia raised her hands and tipped her head toward the girl who did the same. “We’re unarmed. We’re not a threat.”
“I don’t care,” he said with a Mexican accent. “If you move, I’ll shoot.” Then he grabbed her shirt and shoved her toward the left. “You girls thought you could run away, huh?” He grabbed the other girl, slammed her against Asia’s back, and shoved her forward even farther. “Well, you didn’t get too far, did you?”
Asia acted ignorant. “What are you talking about?” She tried to buy them time, hesitating, but he slammed her back with the butt of his gun. She winced in pain but didn’t scream.
“Stop asking questions. Just move your feet. We have to go to the boat. If only I could find those other girls…”
A whoosh of air escaped her lungs. At least, some of the girls had successfully escaped. She’d gladly pay the price for them to remain free if she could keep this man’s focus on her. “You won’t get away with this, I promise you.”
His laughter came out harsh and long. “Said the girl with a gun to her back. Shut up and keep moving, will you?”
She kept moving. They had just a little light left on the horizon. They trudged along till they came to the stretch of sandy beach again. The water seemed calm from a distance, a contrast to the turmoil she waded in on land. “Where are you taking us? You have no right to take us anywhere. We are free.”
He laughed harder. “Lie to yourself. There’s a price on your head.” His words grated against the isle’s deceptive tranquility. “We will get our money’s worth. Keep moving.”
“Isn’t there a better way to make money?”
The gun slammed her back again. This time, she didn’t wince.
“You know, a lot of business opportunities don’t require trading in innocent girls, killing and maiming, and conducting illegal activity. You can use all of your intelligence toward something professional and lawful.” Asia made sure to keep talking. If there was any chance for a rescue, someone needed to know they were in trouble, although that just looked lame since she saw no one around them.
This time he didn’t hit her, and he didn’t say anything. He just led them forward.
A few moments later, as her hope nearly faded as fully as the waning light, she spotted streaks of blood on his face, arms, and on his neck. He seemed to have tumbled through some thorn bushes himself before reaching them.
How did this man avoid Ramirez’s men, especially if he was alone? She now remembered he was one of those guarding them on the ship before they came to the island. She didn’t bother to think too long about that, focusing instead on watching her next step.