she became woozy.
Breathe! Breathe!
Scanning the warehouse-type building, she saw more than a dozen other cages, all containing young girls. Some were sleeping on dirty mattresses like hers, but others were sitting up, their backs propped against the metal sides of the compartments. Most of their expressions held sad contemplation.
“Hello, does anyone know where we are?” she called to the room. Her words echoed ominously.
Most of the girls looked up, and a couple of them stood. One of them put her fingers to her lips and motioned for her to be quiet. Then she pointed to a roll-up doorway and a desk manned with a guard, who was hunched over, snoring.
Kiley searched the cage and discovered her purse was missing.
And so is my computer!
She felt the pocket of her jeans and was gratified to learn that the thumb drive she’d made of her computer’s contents was still there.
Thank God!
She tried to get her bearings, listening to anything from outside that might give her an indication where the warehouse was located while several of the girls watched her. She heard freeway traffic, which wasn’t much of a help. But then she heard the sound of a train streaking by and then quickly disappearing. It wasn’t one of the long trains hauling freight but probably a passenger run.
She heard a police or ambulance siren off in the distance and then heard the sudden blast of a large vessel traveling nearby, just like the cargo ships that went in and out of the harbor along the warehouse district of Portland. There was a commuter run she’d taken many times, so she was fairly certain she knew what general area she was housed. She was within a dozen blocks of her old flat and probably had jogged past this building.
She stood and studied every cage, wondering if she’d recognize anyone. All the girls had long brown or black hair, all were very slight, young, and terrified. Most of them appeared to be either Latino or Asian. Carmen was not among them.
The sounds of a diesel vehicle of some kind came very close to the roll-up doors and then shut off. She heard several car doors slam shut.
Quickly, she looked for something she could use to protect herself. There were bottles and some shipping crates next to the wall, but nothing she would be able to reach. She did notice a crowbar someone had used to open those wooden crates. Wood shavings had spilled over the table where the box had been unpacked and had partially obscured the crowbar.
Sitting down, she examined the mattress. It was made of old ticking material and had buttons sewn into it, holding the layers together like they did in the old hotel rooms she’d seen. As the sound of men’s voices became louder, she wiggled several of the buttons back and forth until she found one that was slightly loose, enough to get her fingers under it as she pulled, and it broke off in her hand. Kiley examined it closely and discovered it was made of metal. Portions of the little disc had been clipped and folded back on itself, and that’s where she focused. She carefully pried several teeth of the metal back until she had a very small sharp edge no wider than a half inch across, but it was better than nothing. She tucked the disc inside her shoe, down by her toes, making sure nothing sharp would cut her own flesh if she had to walk.
The door opened, and four men stepped inside, all wearing suits and black gloves. One of them swiped across the face of the young boy who had been guarding the cages. The young man fell backwards, his metal chair scraping on the concrete floor and then skidding several feet before stopping. He scrambled to his feet, holding his nose and trying to stop the profusion of blood cascading down over his lips and onto his shirt.
Another car arrived, and a fifth man entered, dressed in a police uniform.
Kiley studied the tall lanky cop, considering whether she might have met him somewhere before. Then she recognized him as one of the men from the mayor’s task force on human trafficking, a man she’d interviewed for her story. At the time, she’d thought him very helpful, but when all the leads he gave her dried up, she had wondered.
Well, the answer was right in front of her, heading across the floor between the other cages and walking deliberately in her direction. He