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“I got your text,” Bat said as he entered Alexander’s beach house. Alexander had texted Bat the pertinent information he got from Joe at the Blue Marlin fuel dock.
“Were you able to find anything?” Alexander asked.
“Does a priest like young boys?” Bat was off-the-charts smart but unfortunately smart didn’t translate to funny. His idioms were typically unique, rarely humorous, and often inappropriate. Alexander ignored his question and asked for details.
“Well, the first thing I did was hack that marina’s cloud account. Pretty easy. I found their video storage and checked the footage around the time the boat would have been fueling. It was afternoon when they arrived and still light when they left. You said you had the name of the boat, Miss Jana. I did see that. I saw she was from Miami too. I didn’t get anything more than what you had, except for a picture of the actual boat.” Bat tossed a couple of photos printed on plain paper on the table. “That’s the boat. Here’s a picture of one of the men on it.” He added another picture to the pile.
“That’s Nestor,” May exclaimed.
“It’s a good picture. That’ll help,” Alexander said.
“It can’t hurt, but I don’t know how much help it will be. I looked for other cameras around the marina and found a few, but none were focused on the dock you mentioned. I hacked every camera I could find, even some personal cameras from boats in the area. I never saw the black SUVs come or go. I did see some interesting shenanigans going on in some of those boats.”
“Maybe you can share those details later,” Alexander said, not wanting Bat to go into graphic detail in front of May.
“Yeah, sure,” Bat said with a wink. He glanced at May, who seemed somewhat oblivious to what the men were talking about.
“What next?” Alexander asked.
“Hacking the cameras gave me an idea. The only way in or out of the marina is via Highway 146. They had to either go north or south. It will take a while, but I’ll look for any cameras, hack them, and see what I can find. I have a good idea what time they were on the road. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get a license on one of the SUVs.”
“Hopefully. I didn’t tell you, but the man at the marina said Nestor shows up quite often. About once a month or every six weeks. He couldn’t remember how long they’d been coming, but it had been a while. Always around a thousand gallons of fuel, and they always pay in cash. Coming in that often, they may have sold hundreds of girls into slavery. It’s not many, considering the number of trafficked girls worldwide, but I’d say it’s a pretty big number for a small group. It should make the task of finding at least one brought in by them easier.”
“But how will you find even one?” May asked.
“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Bat said. “I don’t know much about human trafficking, but if I were to put myself in their shoes, what would I do? I don’t think I’d allow them to work in strip clubs, too many people in and out. It would be easy to ask a patron for help. I’m sure they’ve threatened the girls. May, didn’t you say one of the men on the boat threatened to harm the girl’s families in Cuba if they told the police the truth?”
“Sí, they did.”
“Even so, I’d keep them on a tight leash, so to speak. Make them work as escorts – incall work. The guys come to them. Usually in a cheap motel, maybe at a massage parlor. They could have several girls working at a massage parlor, and one, maybe two guys could watch them. I bet they have madams too – trusted girls to handle the girls.”
“I get where you’re coming from, Bat, but I don’t know if it helps us much,” Alexander said.
“Oh, but it does. Houston has a finite number of massage parlors.”
“That’s true. What are you saying? We should visit every one and look for Briana?”
“As fun as that sounds...” Bat said. “I mean, as difficult as that sounds, I have a better way. Again, even those establishments have security cameras. Most have in-house recorders, but the latest are using the cloud. Either is hackable, but the cloud is easier.” Bat paused. “You know, it’s way past happy hour. Got a beer?”
“Of course.” Alexander looked at his watch. “It’s seventeen-thirty. Would you prefer a Scotch?”
“A Scotch sounds nice.”
“May, would you like a drink?”
May contorted her mouth. “Yeah, I guess. I have never had much to drink.”
“Do you like beer?” Alexander asked.
“I don’t know. I have never had one. Beer is expensive in Cuba. I’ve only had rum. Rum is cheap, and that’s what most Cubans drink.”
“Make her a Cuba Libre,” Bat said.
“A what?” May looked interested. “Free Cuba?”
“It’s a simple drink. Rum and Coke. It was invented in Cuba in the early 1900s and became extremely popular. Still is. After the Cuban revolution, they couldn’t get Coca-Cola in Cuba. That’s why you don’t know it.”
“Is it good?” May asked.
“Not particularly,” Bat replied. “It’s easy. That’s why it’s popular. I mean, it’s not bad. I’ll drink one once in a while. In fact, Alex, if you have the Coke, make two. I’ll have one with May.”
Alexander poured two rum and Cokes then poured himself a mid-shelf blended Scotch. He was not a rum fan, but he kept a few bottles on hand for guests. People always want a rum drink when they’re at the beach.
He set the drinks in front of his guests. “It’s better with a lemon, but I’m out.”
Bat took a sip. “The other likely place to traffic a girl is to make her an escort. As I mentioned, they set the girl up in a cheap motel. A man comes in, they do it, he leaves, and the cycle continues. Since Backpage and Craigslist stopped allowing escort ads, advertising has been driven underground. To find an escort, you have to go looking. Still, it’s not that hard, but you can’t be looking for a car on Craigslist, notice the Escorts page and click on it out of curiosity. I had to search a little.”
Bat produced more pictures. This time the photos were of young-looking girls. All were attractive and all were somewhat dark-skinned. May had only described her sister or the girls on the boat with her as “young and attractive.”
“I Googled ‘Houston Escorts,’ and the search returned dozens of sites. I picked the first one on the list. It was probably the most popular. I didn’t even have to create an account to look at pictures. The phone number was listed as well.” Bat laid the pictures out on the table. “Recognize anyone, May?”
May took her time looking at the pictures.
“The site was pretty amazing. There were search options on the sidebar. You could choose ethnicity, hair color, eye color, language, and even services.”
“Services?” May asked.
Bat hesitated. Alexander offered no help.
“Well, that’s what you want to do with the girl.”
“Oh,” said May. “Like if you want to fuck, or just get a blow-job.”
Alexander spit his sip of Scotch back in the glass. Bat, shocked as well, said, “Uh, that, um, yeah, in a nutshell.”
“You look surprised I know what that is. We have prostitutes in Cuba. It’s not uncommon. It’s illegal, but pretty open. Pretty girls can make more spending one night with a tourist than working a month in a regular job. They didn’t talk about it much, but several of the girls on the boat with me were prostitutes. Well, not exactly prostitutes, but they’d have sex for money. That’s how they got the money for the trip. The girls who talked about it thought they were leaving that behind and would start a new life in America. They didn’t know what they were going to do when they got here. They were just glad to be here.”
May picked up the stack of pictures and looked through them slowly. After studying each image for several seconds, she set it on the table, face down. She turned over the last picture. “No, none of those was my sister. They didn’t look like any of the girls from the boat either. My sister is much prettier than these girls.”
“Don’t worry,” said Bat. “We have more to look at. I picked a few that fit the general description. You and I can sit down tomorrow and look at them on the computer. It will be easier than printing and much quicker. We won’t miss any either.”
“Yes, we can do that tomorrow,” May said. “The Cuba Libre is good, but I’m tired. Is it okay if I shower and go to bed?”
“Of course,” Alexander replied. “One more drink, Bat?”
“You bet.”
May left the room and Alexander poured another round of drinks.
“Did you catch that?” Bat asked.
“I’m not sure. Catch what?”
“May said those girls weren’t as pretty as her sister. Some of those girls were knock-outs, especially for escorts. I have my doubts those pictures are real, but the point is, they were all fairly attractive.”
“I heard. You think it’s important?”
“Hell yeah. She said the girls on the boat were more attractive too. Remember, they didn’t want May. These bastards are trading quality goods, not crack whores off the streets. We aren’t going to find them in escort ads or massage parlors. I think these girls have been stashed away in quiet, upscale neighborhoods in nice houses. There’s probably a selective clientele who pay big bucks to have sex with these girls. You’ve heard about them on TV, I won’t mention any names, but I don’t think that one guy killed himself.”
“You may be on to something.”
“I think so. If we don’t have connections, we aren’t going to find Briana or the others. Now, having said that, I think I know why they’re bringing in so many girls. These guys probably want fresh meat. Damn, I’m glad May didn’t hear me say that, but that’s what the girls are to them. Meat. Once they’re used up, they need to be replaced. Thus, the steady stream of imports.”
“What do you think happens to them when they’re, as you say, ‘used up’?”
“Good question. I don’t know. I’d think they would maybe sell them to a massage parlor or pimp to use as an escort. Some bars are fronts for prostitution too. They lock girls in small back rooms and work them all night. Maybe they don’t want any loose ends. It sounds like they’ve got a hell of an operation. Loose ends could spell trouble. Luckily, my gut tells me they’re not permanently disposing of the girls.
“Think about it. You’ve got a truly nice-looking girl. Still young. Maybe she’s been passed around to all the clients, and it’s time to recycle her. I think she’d still be too valuable to throw in a bayou. I can’t believe they’d kill the girls. It’s all about greed. They kidnap and enslave the girls for money. They wouldn’t dispose of them, not while they still had value.
“I would think it takes a while to use a girl up too. It’s not like they’re virgins and good for only one pop. They have to be passed around until no one wants them. These guys may even have contacts in other cities. They could ship her off, and the process starts over. If they can smuggle them into the country, I bet they can smuggle them out. Sell them overseas. There’s probably a nice market in Europe for young, attractive Latina girls. The options are endless.”
Alexander sighed heavily. “Do you think we have a shot at finding May’s sister?”
“I doubt it. I seriously doubt it.”