I stepped into the second room. This one contained a couch, a mini-fridge, and a table with a lamp and a photo of his family against the wall. Across from that was a wall of six monitors, two keyboards, and probably the fanciest office chair I’d ever seen. I’d given him free rein on how he wanted to utilize the space with no budget in mind. I think he put most of the money toward that damn chair.
“What do you have?”
Jared briefly glanced my way over his shoulder, the light from the monitors illuminating his face. I’d offered a room with windows, but he claimed he didn’t want the glare.
“This popped up late last night,” he said, gesturing to the computer directly in front of him. “I responded as soon as I saw it, but I just got an answer now.”
I leaned over his shoulder and read the headline: “A night with a virgin: $10,000.” Below that was a picture of a girl that knocked the wind from my chest. She was gorgeous. A living version of Snow White. She had porcelain skin that made her heavily shadowed eyes stand out even more. Her eyes—Jesus—they were like silver. Such a faint blue tinged the edge of the pupil and faded to gray on the outside. And to top it all off were her full lips painted a sinful red to match the seductive smirk.
But her eyes held the truth. They didn’t hold the same come hither look, even though she tried. I could see the nerves and fear behind them. I questioned my sanity as I stared and felt like she was reaching out through the screen and begging for help.
“She’s gonna be eaten up and spit out,” Jared said with disgust. “If I hadn’t caught it when I had, she’d already be sold and last less than a week with how much they’d use her.”
My stomach revolted at the vision he painted. I squeezed my eyes shut tight trying to erase the images that haunted my nightmares. I needed to focus.
I looked down at the screen to see the exchange Jared had begun.
Mr_E (11:23pm): I’m interested
snow_white_783 (6:14pm): Okay.
I looked down at my watch to see that ten minutes had passed. Hopefully we hadn’t lost her.
“Did you track the IP address?”
“A local library.” At my furrowed brow, he explained, “Harder to track a person in a public area.”
“Cameras?” I asked.
“Already looked and they didn’t have anything suspicious that I could pick up on.”
“Let me respond,” I said, gesturing for him to pass the keyboard.
He slid it across the desk and I hunched to begin typing.
Mr_E (6:25pm): Do you have a specific place you’d like to meet?
snow_white_783 (6:25pm): Budget Inn on Eighth St.
My hand rubbed down my face, picturing the shitty part of town the hotel was located in. No one would ask questions if they heard a woman screaming for help as she was dragged to a car. Taking a deep breath, I thought of my next question. Maybe I could get more information on who was in charge of the sale. The leaders were always the bigger goal when saving the women. We needed to cut off as many heads as we could.
Mr_E (6:28pm): Who should I pay?
snow_white_783 (6:28pm): Me.
Mr_E (6:28pm): Will you be in there the entire time I’m with the girl?
There was a long pause as I waited for the response and I worried I’d lost my chance to another client.
snow_white_783 (6:31pm): I’m the girl in the photo. I’ll be the only one in the room.
Mr_E (6:31pm): Will your pimp be okay with me paying without direct contact?
snow_white_783 (6:32pm): I don’t have a pimp.
Mr_E (6:32pm): Then who is in charge of the sale? Whatever you want to call him.
snow_white_783 (6:33pm): It’s just me. I’m in charge of it.
“What the fuck?” Jared breathed next to me.
“She’s doing this alone? She’s doing this alone.” Maybe repeating it would have it make more sense.
“What the fuck?” Jared said again, apparently needing to repeat his shock too.
“Why? Why would she put herself in this kind of danger?” I couldn’t fathom why she would do that. My mind spun around the fact that she had optionally gone onto this site and chosen to sell herself.
“People get desperate.”
“That’s a shit excuse.” I jerked back from the laptop needing a minute to think. I paced the small distance to the wall and back again, trying to wrap my head around it. “Her life would be over. She’d die. And she’s doing it voluntarily.” I was almost shouting by the end.
Jared held his hands up. “Don’t have to tell me, Erik.”
“We need to set this up and get her taken down from here before someone else pulls her in.”
“Already on it. As soon as we set it up, she’ll be hidden from other viewers like she wasn’t even there.”