By the beginning of her senior year of high school, things were happening fast between us. We were getting serious about each other. I wanted to be there for her when she graduated, but I couldn’t. I was doing a tour overseas.
As a graduation gift, I wanted to fly her overseas to meet me in Europe, and I knew her parents would flip their lids, so I offered for her older brother to come along too. I smile at the memory. She was excited as shit when her folks said yes.
The guys and I had our R&R scheduled and her tickets were bought. I had no idea. She was too young, too innocent, and far too pretty.
I thought she’d be safe traveling with her older brother. The stupid bastard.
They had arrived a few days early to do some sightseeing in Europe, because I sure as hell wasn’t interested in being a tourist. The only sight my eyes were going to be on was her in my bed for three days. I don’t know how the hell Stryker did it, but he managed to sweet-talk our commander into letting us take off a day early.
When I got to the hotel to surprise her, she had left. Cellphone service was not the best back then. So my buddies and I took off to the bar down the street. I’ll never forget that night. As fate would have it, I ran into her piece-of-shit brother at the bar. I remember being out-of-my-skin ecstatic, expecting to finally see my girl. I glanced around, and not seeing her in the crowded little bar, I asked her brother where she was. He said Clarissa had taken off for the bathroom, but that had been a while ago. Instead of investigating, he brushed it off, thinking she had decided to dance or some shit.
Immediately, I started searching for her, and then panic began to envelop me when no one could find her. Quinn, with his Rambo ways, was able to extrapolate some information from a patron. Apparently he had found someone who had some intel for a price. I would’ve handed my whole life savings over if need be. It was an organized setup, and apparently there were a few guys who regularly worked the local bars, looking for pretty young women. They managed somehow to drug her drink, and when she went to the ladies’ room, that’s when they made their move.
Motherfucking human traffickers had make their move. Stole her, robbing her of her dignity and soul.
Yeah, little did I know the sex industry was legalized there, which opened the doors for forced prostitution and trafficking, and the fuckers in power wonder why sexual exploitation is out of control. They rolled out the red carpet to the Transnational Criminal Network. You can’t tell me those corrupt officials don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. They helped facilitate the lucrative business. Of course, prostitution is legal, but to purchase said prostitution is a crime. Go figure.
The slick bastards are so sophisticated and multifaceted; I found out later they’ve acquired close to five million women over time. Law enforcement could barely skim the top of that shit. Needless to say, it was up to me and my men to get her back, and I couldn’t have done it without them. They laid their careers and lives on the line for me. Yeah, my men and I went rogue. That’s a whole ‘nother story.
When we found her, with what little clothing remained on her body, she was strung out on coke and huddled in a corner with five other women who looked the same as her. I will never forget those eyes. Those eyes were fucking hollow, far away, empty, and despondent. I was surprised we were able to find her. Lucky for us, we had finally caught up to the bastards two days later, and had we been one hour later in finding her, she would’ve been gone forever on a boat to God knows where.
Unfortunately, it was already too late for Clarissa. They gang raped her, and that’s all I could get out of her. We spent the next two days holed up in a hotel room together, trying to help her cope. I know they did more, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it, not when it was too fresh and raw. I’d like to think between Stryker and me that we had her mind set in the right direction. I tried to get more time off, but my CO was not having it. I had to send her back home with her worthless brother. Why I didn’t go ahead and kill him, I don’t know.
I found out she had to go into counseling within days of her getting back home. I barely got to talk to her, being overseas, and it gutted me. Two weeks later, her parents sent word she had committed suicide. Didn’t I feel responsible as fuck for that?