True Mercy Read online

  “You’ve got to deliver these cars by seven o’clock in the morning,” the taller man who spoke American English told the other man. When the shorter man gave no response, he asked, “Are you familiar with Morristown?”

  “Yes, sí, I know Morristown,” he answered. He had long, dark hair wrapped in a ponytail. Marina smiled to herself: she remembered when her brother used to wear a ponytail. He wore it for years while their mother constantly berated him that he looked much better with short hair. Months before she was kidnapped, her brother had cut his hair short, saying the school he wanted to attend would not accept him with long hair. Marina remembered how her mother had broken into a satisfied smile every time she saw him with neater hair.

  But the men’s conversation broke into her happy thoughts.

  The taller man brought out and unfolded a piece of paper from his back pocket. “Here’s the address,” he said. “Help them unload half the vehicles in Morristown and then you immediately drive to Bound Brook and help them unload the other half.” He stared at the other man. “I know you’ve been to Bound Brook many times. Use the GPS for finding both car dealers. You should have no problem.”

  The man with the ponytail took the piece of paper. “All right. I have a general idea how to get to Morristown already.” He paused as he scanned the directions. “South Street. Is that near a restaurant or coffee shop? I been working two days straight and will need coffee and breakfast.” He looked up at the other man. “And I haven’t been paid yet. I’ve got no money on me.”

  The American looked down and put his hands in his pockets. Then he faced the other man again, smiling, and said, “I’ll tell you what. Somewhere on South Street is a soup kitchen. You know, for people that have no money. Go have breakfast there. No one will bother you. They won’t ask questions.”

  The shorter man nodded. “And do they serve coffee?”

  The taller man’s smile faded. He put his hands on his hips and bit his lower lip while staring at the other man. Slowly, he reached for his wallet in the back of his pants and took out two bills. Handing it over, he said, “And here’s money for coffee. Just make the car deliveries on time with no problems, will you?”

  The shorter man took the money and stuffed it in his front pocket. “No problems,” he said.

  The taller man nodded before he walked away. The shorter man with the ponytail looked at the paper as he made his way to the front of the truck.

  Marina didn’t know where Morristown was but realized this might be the perfect opportunity to escape and get something to eat. A soup kitchen? Free food? She looked up at the sky. The sun rose slowly in the distance; it would be light in an hour. Looking from side to side and seeing no security guards or anyone else, she slipped into the truck and climbed her way inside. The cars were compact, but she still worried that if one fell on her, she would be crushed.

  I’ll have to take this chance. What other choice do I have? She curled up into a ball against the side wall, trying to make herself as small and as far away from the cars as possible. She stayed in that ball until she heard the back door of the truck slam shut. Marina shuddered in the darkness and stared at the vehicles with their shiny surfaces and mirrors, praying they were securely fastened and none of them would crash down on her, killing her instantly. She bit her lower lip and tried to quiet her panic by thinking about getting something to eat. While forcing her mind to concentrate on this thought, anxious to be as far away from her captors as possible, the engine of the mammoth truck started and Marina felt the shaking of the truck slowly moving.

  Sergei heard a loud knock on his door. He rose instantly and quickly put on his clothes. Whipping his door open, he marveled at the port the ship had landed in.

  America! A country full of possibilities like bars, beautiful women, and luxurious hotels!

  The ship was docked in Newark, New Jersey, only miles from New York City. Sergei’s mind was filled with the hundreds of things he could do and all he had heard about the city when Igor approached and interrupted his reverie. Bumping the side of his head, Igor barked in an angry tone, “Enough of your daydreams of America. We’ve got a job to do!”

  Sergei stepped back. The smell on Igor’s breath of vodka mixed with sweat assaulted his nostrils, vanishing his good spirits.

  “We go check on girls, then we eat breakfast,” Sergei responded, turning around and walking as far away from Igor as possible.

  “Goodt,” Igor said from behind him.

  Sergei rolled his eyes but continued at a brisk pace. He heard Igor muttering behind him about the woman he intended to get rid of the moment he got the chance. Sergei ignored him. They had been stuck at sea for months. Raping and abusing the scared, drugged-up girls failed to arouse him anymore. He desired cheerful, easygoing women to go out drinking and dancing with. He wanted to be viewed as a handsome, available man, not a monster. At first, Sergei got a good laugh when the woman slashed Igor’s face. But his partner’s disposition grew even more repugnant and intolerable when Igor Skyped his girlfriend and she dumped him upon viewing the jagged lines of his scar. Now he was bitter and hell-bent on revenge. There had been numerous moments when Igor had vowed to kill her off but then changed his mind at the last moment. Igor always excused his backing down by claiming his method of killing would fail to appear to be an accident or the woman had the opportunity to kill herself. Sergei knew better; Igor was afraid of losing his job or getting killed for losing one of the girls. And every time he would berate Sergei as being the reason he could not pull it off. This was yet another reason Sergei relished finally getting off the ship; he would make it his business to separate from Igor and his abusive behavior.

  They walked into the cabin where they held the women. They heard the usual gasps and chains rattling when they walked in. Today they would not be drugged; the girls had to get ready to be used for what they’d been kidnapped for. Igor and Sergei were responsible for waking up the women and herding them quietly to the dock. The women were usually too tired and drugged up to notice what was happening; in case a few of them made noise, they carried stun guns in their belts. When the women were on the dock, other men would take over, and Sergei and Igor could eat their breakfast.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ADAM

  BOTH FATHER AND SON ENjOYED EATING THE fresh, hot pizza. As they ate their slices, Adam looked outside, staring at the familiar hills, the green swaths of grass, and the narrow roads, some paved, others dirt. His daddy insisted it wasn’t a farm any longer because they grew only flowers. He didn’t raise animals on it the way his daddy’s daddy used to, but he liked the idea of living on a farm.

  Adam stared at the blossoming apple trees standing tall and grand right outside their kitchen window. If he stretched his neck out enough, Adam could catch a glimpse of the flowers his mommy had planted. She had always told him that blossoming flowers in the spring were God’s way of saying life has to go on.

  “I wish Mommy would say that again,” Adam sighed.

  “Say what, Adam?” Bruce asked.

  “That God said we need flowers in the spring to go on.” Adam closed his eyes, trying to remember what his mother used to say word for word.

  His father said nothing.

  Adam stared at him, delighted to be back home. Even though he had to come home to an empty house after work and Daddy wasn’t nearly as much fun as Mommy was, it was at least better than the Fairmount Home.

  At the thought of Fairmount, Adam blinked his eyes to shut out the memory of that place.

  “Adam, you can’t go for a walk now,” a hulky male staff member told him.

  “Why not? I always go on walks wit my mommy after suppa.” Adam stood up and stamped his foot.

  “You’re not at home no more. You have to follow the rules here. You know that,” the man said as he wiped the face of another client after his meal.

  Adam kicked his chair and it went tumbling to the ground with a loud bang. The kitchen became silent.

  “Adam, you’ve got to go to the quiet room now,” the hulky man stood up to full size and took a few steps toward him.

  “No! I go out for a walk after suppa!” he said as he folded his arms in front of him.

  “We need backup,” the man told another staff member as he slowly approached Adam.

  As the other staff member reached for the phone, Heidi appeared from another client’s bedroom and laid her hand on the staff member’s shoulder while he pressed buttons.

  “I’ll take you for a walk, Adam,” Heidi said.

  “Heidi, you’re the best! You take me on walks just like my mommy did!” Adam said as he ran over to her and locked his elbow into hers.

  They passed the big staff member as he shook his head at Heidi.

  “Heidi, you’re spoilin’ ’im! We’ll never be able to manage ’im when you’re always giving in to ’im.” He scrunched up his face as he shook his finger at her.

  “Dwayne, chill out! He just lost his mother!” Heidi said as she led Adam out the door.

  “He won’t stay here if he thinks he can get his way all the time!” Dwayne shouted after them as they walked out the door.

  Adam wore a delighted grin and laughed giddily as they began their walk. Even though Heidi looked nothing like his mother, when he glanced at the young woman with blonde hair always pulled back into a ponytail, he had the same warm, happy feeling he did when he used to be with Mommy.

  “Adam! I’m talking to you. Look at my face,” Daddy said.

  Adam finally turned to his father even though he’d rather be thinking about Heidi.

  “Adam, don’t forget to brush your teeth before you go to bed.”

  Adam watched his father staring intently at him. He had trouble returning people’s stares and kept looking away, but
his father’s eyes would not leave his face. He remembered working with teachers about keeping eye contact when he was little. Adam would always be delighted to earn a little piece of candy or a sticker if he looked at his teachers’ faces long enough.

  But right now he noticed that his father had the same scrunchy face that Dwayne always got when he was angry with him.

  “Adam, what did I just say?”

  “What did I just say?” Adam echoed.

  “No! What did I just tell you before? About brushing your teeth,” Daddy said as he massaged his temples and swallowed even though he was finished with his meal.

  Adam blinked and thought for a moment. Suddenly his face lit up and his lips curled into a victorious smile.

  “Adam, don’t forget ta brush your teeth before you go ta bed,” Adam repeated. To add emphasis, he wagged his finger.

  He sat up, waiting for praise.

  But instead Daddy leaned back in his chair and said, “Let’s clean up here, son, and then I’ve got to go back to the presentation I’ve got to finish on the computer tonight.”

  As they cleared the dishes and utensils and put things from the table back where they belonged, his father turned to him.

  “And what will you be doing when I’m on the computer?”

  “Let’s go for a walk!”

  But his father shook his head. “I told you I can’t take you out for a walk every night after dinner. Tonight I’ve got work to do,” his father said slowly, talking with his teeth pressed together. “Why don’t you watch TV?”

  “OK, Daddy.” Adam stared down at the floor, clearly disappointed.

  “Aren’t some nature shows on now?”

  Adam looked up and was smiling again. “Yeah, Daddy! They keep having that show ’bout butterflies.”

  Adam headed into the living room and turned on the TV. He placed the remote on the nearby table and plopped down on the couch. He watched his father cleaning dishes through the open kitchen door and occasionally shaking his head and blinking hard.

  “Why you do that, Daddy?”

  Bruce turned off the water, shook his hands of the suds, and turned around. “Do what?”

  Adam looked like a puppet held up by strings when he imitated his father blinking and shaking his head.

  “Son, I’m just trying to stay awake while doing everything I have to do,” he explained, turning red. “Working and taking care of you by myself is a hard job.”

  “I miss Mommy,” Adam blurted out, his face turning into a hangdog look.

  “I miss Mommy too,” Daddy said softly. Then he turned around and started the water again. “Hey, Adam,” he snapped, seeing the juice and a plate on the living room table. “Please put that stuff back.”

  “What an ingenious operation this is,” exclaimed Sergei as they entered the room. “It’s so easy and we make so much money. I can’t wait to spend it while we’re in the states for a few days. Atlantic City? Is that the name of the place where they gamble?”

  Igor, who took out his tiny bottle for a sip, waved away Sergei’s comments dismissively. “It’s too far away. We’re not going to be here that long and we’re going to be too busy. What? What happened? Where is she?” Igor stared, eyes bulging, at Marina’s empty bed.

  “What happened to her? What happened?” he yelled. He slammed his bottle against the wall. Some of the less-drugged women opened their eyes and tried to sit up upon hearing the tiny bottle shatter. He slapped the women’s faces who did not stir and woke them up with that question.

  “She’s gone!” Igor screamed.

  Igor shoved the woman’s table into the middle of the room, nearly hitting some captives chained to their makeshift beds. Women screamed, trying to sit up but unable to because their chains restrained them.

  Igor’s archenemy had disappeared.

  Other men ran into the room, grabbed Igor, and held him down.

  “You must be quiet!” one of them barked. “We look for her now!”

  “Where is she?” Igor snarled, foam streaming from his mouth, his bloodshot eyes gawking furiously at the men.

  “We look,” another man said. “The only trucks that left here were loaded with cars, most being shipped to somewhere called Morristown.”

  Igor strained to turn his head toward Sergei. “If we cannot find her here, we go to Morristown! You and me, Sergei! We find her!”

  Sergei’s eyes bulged upon hearing his boss’s command . . . His plans of going to nightclubs and partying were slipping away and turning into mere fantasies. He struggled to control the urge to shout at Igor, his boss, “No!”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  MARINA

  MARINA REMAINED LYING IN A BALL IN THE BACK of the truck surrounded by cars. She yearned to stretch out and lie flat but feared she had a better chance of being crushed by one of the swaying automobiles chained to its steel rack. Too uncomfortable to drift off to sleep, she huddled and waited with a pounding heart, wondering if this would indeed be her opportunity for freedom. Her body swayed every time the truck stopped for a red light, and pain shot up her knees. Her body nearly lurched back when the truck resumed driving or rode over the occasional bump in the road.

  She felt her legs cramping and was about to take a chance with her life and lie flat when the truck slowed down, pulling into a driveway. It seemed like the ride had lasted for hours, but as soon as the truck came to a full stop, rather than feeling relieved, Marina held her breath, her body quaking in terror. Within a minute she heard the back door of the truck being hauled open. She silently covered her face with her hands as the light entered the back of the truck.

  She overheard men talking outside, and when she dared to peek, she found them surveying the cars. She didn’t dare breathe. Her body shook even more now at the thought these men were about to leap into the truck and find her. But no one entered, at least not yet. Marina shut her eyes hard, awaiting the end.

  When she gathered enough courage to open her eyes, the men were gone. Marina took a long breath and sat cross-legged while she wondered where they were. Crawling to the edge of the back of the truck, she spied men exchanging papers a few feet away. They stood in front of a rectangular glass building that displayed similar cars inside and outside. At the center of the top of the building was a large sign reading Don’s BMW. The men put away their papers and pointed toward the truck before they entered the building. Now was her moment.

  Marina slipped out of the truck, careful not to make the slightest sound. The sun was just beginning to rise, so she hoped they wouldn’t notice her. The men continued chatting as they left the building and approached the truck. Marina tiptoed silently to the front of the truck. Seeing no one, she proceeded to run, forgetting about the soup kitchen despite her empty stomach. Her only goal now was to run without anyone tracking her down.

  Despite weariness and hunger, Marina kept running. She surprised herself by still being able to move despite the long journey being chained to a bed most of the time. Igor’s words still rang in her ears. Often as she fell asleep at night on the ship, he would stare at her with pure, unadulterated hatred and mutter, “I will never rest until you pay for this scar you gave me.” Hearing his menacing words in her head propelled her to run even though her legs resembled toothpicks without an ounce of fat or muscle. She felt her hair—so dingy and dirty, with so many knots she couldn’t even run her fingers through it. Even though she was grateful she had no mirror to look at herself, she was sure she’d scare anyone with her appearance.

  Marina had no idea where she was going, but she felt safer the farther she ran. She was risking her life, but she couldn’t go through any more torture. Marina still felt heartsick leaving the other girls behind. She silently vowed she would do everything in her power to help the other girls escape. But for now, she ran. She had no idea how long she had run, but soon the sun rose.

  Besides her appearance, Marina was relieved she hadn’t seen anybody because she feared whomever she encountered may have ties to the human trafficking ring. Fortunately, she had mastered English in school, even winning several prizes for her fluency, so when she saw a sign that read Welcome to Morristown, New Jersey, she was relieved that at least it confirmed her present location. Marina hadn’t seen any police cars, but she was afraid to trust even them with her newfound freedom. She had no food, money, or anywhere to go, but she felt exhilarated that she had regained her freedom at last.