March 31, 2017,
15:39 local
time,
Angkor General
Hospital,
Angkor,
Khimerium
Connie Hedburg
arose from her slumber with instant anxiety. She darted her head around the
room, confused over where she was and shaken by how she got there. Her heart
began to race, which caused her to cry out after experiencing a significant
dart of pain coming from her chest.
The nurse attended
to her quickly, and, after determining it was just a panic attack, worked to
sooth Connie’s worries.
“Connie,” said the
nurse, “you’re fine now. You will make a complete recovery.”
“Where am I?” Connie
asked, struggling to regain her composure.
“This is Angkor,”
said the nurse, “in the Roman Republican province of Khimerium. You were
airlifted here to the General Hospital because the Birean hospitals couldn’t
take care of your needs...you had a ton of complications arising from your stab
wound. Whoever did it to you was a very nasty man.”
“No, he wasn’t”
said Connie adamantly, “and I stabbed myself.”
“That’s not what
the police told me,” said the nurse, confused.
“They lied to you,”
said Connie, who began to get defiant. “I was married to the nicest man in the
world...and the ‘police’ took him away from me.”
“Sweetie,” said the
nurse, “you were used in a human trafficking ring...he was not a nice man.”
“That is not true!”
Connie declared. “Mason Jeffrey treated me with the utmost care and respect...I
have never met anyone who treated me better than Mason did. Did he find me
using a service one would call a ‘human trafficking ring’? Yeah, he did.
However, Birea is so messed up that Mason could not find a woman in ‘more
conventional ways’...the demographics there won’t allow it. So he had no
choice...and this ring, the Order of St. Germain Cousin, they nursed me back to
health, saved me from actual rapists in Sweden and never forced me into
anything. I chose to be a part of their program...and I talked with
Mason beforehand. In fact, I chose him from a list of men they gave me. Really,
there was no more of a way that the Order did not degrade or disrespect me.”
“You know,” said
Connie with tears in her eyes, “if it wasn’t for that stupid Ingrid coming in
and messing things up...I wouldn’t be here in a hospital bed. I’d still be in
Birea...happy...living the best possible life...with him.”
Connie then broke
down and cried, causing the nurse to take pity on her.
“Well,” said the
nurse. “Good news is you have recovered. We’ll need to keep you here one more
night for observation but after that, you’re free to go.”
The nurse then
left, leaving Connie with her lone roommate, who woke up.
“Hey,” said Connie
with a warm smile to her roommate, an athletically slender blonde woman. “You
finally woke up. I’m Connie, by the way.”
“Holly,” said the
woman, neither shaking hands because they were too tired to make the gesture.
“How long was I
out?” said Holly, scratching her groggy eyes.
“I don’t know,”
said Connie. “I just woke up from surgery myself.”
“I’m glad you did,”
said Holly. “I was worried about you.”
“You were?” Connie
said, pleasantly surprised.
“Yeah,” said Holly.
“You had a lot of infections...today is the first day I’ve seen you that they’re
not running any tests on you. I’ve been in here longer than you...I heard what
that guy did to you...I never wanted anyone more than you to pull through.”
“Well,” said Connie
with a wistful smile, “I never should have been here...truth is...I stabbed
myself.”
“What?” said Holly,
aghast. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know what
story you heard,” said Connie, “and I don’t feel like going into detail...but I
wasn’t trafficked. A charity took me away from my troubles in Sweden and paired
me with the best man I have ever met...but the police took him away from me so
I tried to kill myself.” Connie then let out a sigh. “I wish I was more
successful.”
“Oh muffin,” said
Holly, taken by Connie’s words, “don’t ever say that. Life is a blessing...you’ve
been given a chance to continue, and it’s been given to you for a reason.”
“What reason?” said
Connie. “I’ll probably have to go back to Sweden…stay with my parents, who
loved paddling me more than actually taking care of me. I might have to go back
to the streets…the cold, hard streets where there’s too many of us because the
welfare state sucked us dry. Or go bed surfing with men who simply see you as
an ‘opportunity’…my life was so much better with Mason.”
Connie sighed as Holly
sat up in her bed, struggling to do so.
“What happened to
you?” said Connie, seeing Holly’s struggle.
“I,” started Holly,
wincing in pain. “I was in Birea too…on assignment. I don’t know if you know of
the Spitzenkrieger, but that’s who I am.”
“Spitzenkrieger,”
said Connie, “you’re a Vandal superhero.”
“Yup,” said Holly
as proudly as she could with her strained voice. “Born and raised in
Saldae…there were rumours floating last year that the Soldiers had abducted
some girls from the city so I went…on my own…to the country to investigate.”
“The Academy let
you do that?” said Connie.
“I told them I
would do it,” said Holly, “and they were okay with it. Understand, we’re given
a lot of latitude as Spitzenkrieger…we work alone, so we don’t need ‘clearance’
like other police departments do. We just follow our leads.”
“Of course…it
leaves you vulnerable,” said Connie
“Yeah,” said Holly.
“It’s tough…but I knew the risks…and the reward is great…”
Connie picked up on
Holly’s facial expression.
“Sounds like there’s
a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” said Connie.
“There are just
some problems I can’t solve,” said Holly with a sigh.
“Not even Birea?”
Connie asked.
“Birea isn’t the
Vandal Kingdom,” said Holly. “The Vandal Kingdom…despite how weird our
criminals get, we still have order and respect. In Birea…it’s a dog eat dog
world…only the strongest of alphas survive there.”
“Mason told me it
was no picnic,” said Connie. “I’ve seen a few times…Mason taught me
self-defence to get through it…I mean, it wasn’t the greatest society to live
in…but if you found a way to be comfortable in it, you could manage. It’s
probably no worse than a lot of countries…heck, it’s better than Sweden.”
Holly let out a
sigh.
“Birea is a ticking
time bomb,” she said gravely. “The country only succeeds because James Dowell
ruled with a fair but strong hand, but since Ingrid Fjallsdottir came around
and forced his hand, the people have been getting restless. You don’t
understand what the world created.”
Connie looked on,
intrigued by what she was hearing.
“There are what,
ten, 15,” said Holly, “30 million Birean men unable to find a wife simply due
to demographics…I don’t think the world truly
understands what kind of social problems that creates, especially when those
are exacerbated by Nathanism.”
Connie was about to
protest before Holly stopped her.
“I know,” she said,
gesturing to Connie, “it’s really the people who choose to interpret the
religion in the worst possible way…but, given what happens in Birea, it only
compounds the problem.”
“How so?” said
Connie.
“When you have an
entire society that is literally told
that, as men, you are owed a woman and you are to be dominant over her,” said
Holly, “and you suddenly can’t find a woman for yourself that…creates issues.”
“So you don’t think
human trafficking is wrong, then,” said Connie.
“Not quite,” said
Holly. “I don’t agree with human trafficking…I’m just not sure the solution was
to round up all the customers. Sure, there were a lot of bad ones, but there
were a lot of good ones too, and besides, arresting them doesn’t address the
actual societal pressures.”
“Good ones left
with no other choice,” said Connie with a sigh. “Like Mason.”
“…and then there’s
Andrew O’Baley,” said Holly wistfully. “I was simply following a lead…I found
that a woman from Saldae had gone missing…tracked her via the Order of St.
Maria Goetti.”
“Ingrid’s ring,”
said Connie, “the one where she employed all kinds of abusers just so that she
could give the Birean traffickers a bad name.”
“Which worked,”
said Holly with a wry smile.
“Don’t get me
wrong,” said Connie, “there are a lot of traffickers who were bad people…but
bad operators doesn’t mean the concept is bad.”
“That’s fair,” said
Holly, “but I still think you got lucky.”
“Anyway,” continued
Holly, “I come up to Andrew’s house and right away something was off.”
Holly paused to
collect herself before continuing.
“I heard the
screams of a woman from outside of the house,” said Holly. “I decided to forgo
pleasantries and just kicked down the door, my gun drawn. As soon as I enter, a
security guard bashes me in the head with his fist, but before he struck me
again, I took out his legs and slammed him to the floor. I then tried to move
towards the screaming but the guard got up and tackled me from behind. He was a
clumsy guy so after a bit of wrestling, I was able to knock him off of me.
“I picked up my gun
and moved from the front towards the basement, where the screaming was coming
from. There was another guard, who was much more of a capable fighter than the
other guy, and we fought for quite some time before I could subdue him. I then
went for the door, but, noticing it was locked, I drew my gun on the guard I
had just subdued and got him to give me the key.”
Holly took in a
deep breath and let out a heavy sigh before continuing.
“I got in,” she
said, tears beginning to form in her eyes, “drew my gun and pointed it at
Andrew. When I saw what he was doing, my rage got the better of me.”
“What happened?”
Connie asked, with grave concern.
“He had the girl,”
said Holly, “the girl I was looking for. She was...” At this point, Holly could
barely keep her composure. “She was naked, spread eagle on the chair...and
Andrew was doing...oh gosh I don’t want to get into it...but believe me when I
say that Andrew was a sick, sick man.”
“Oh gosh,” said
Connie, horrified.
“I ordered him to
stop,” said Holly, “showed him my badge and everything. He just...kept going.
So I cocked my gun and that’s when he decided to stop.”
“That allowed you
to arrest him, right?” Connie said. She was gripped, hanging on to every word
Holly was saying.
Holly lowered her
head and let out a heavy sigh before continuing.
“It,” said Holly,
stammering, “it happened so fast…one of the guards I had knocked down earlier
clocked me from behind…I fell to the floor…I tried to get up but soon I had
Andrew and another guard all over me sending me a fury of fists and kicks all
over my body…I become so weak…helpless. In my daze, I see them ripping off my
clothes and being unable to stop them.” Holly then began to breathe heavily,
the toll of the story getting to her. “They rip open my legs, their hands so
strong keeping them apart…then Andrew…Andrew…”
Holly then hunches
over, wincing and grimacing, all while hyperventilating. Tears began to flow
liberally from her eyes and she buried her head in her hands. Connie was shaken
by Holly’s show of emotion, and it was not long before she cried too.
“It’s okay Holly,”
she said, wanting to comfort Holly but unable to do so from her bed. “You don’t
need to tell me what that…monster…did to you.”
Holly raised her
head, appreciative of Connie’s words.
“It’s okay,” she
said. “I…I have to make peace with it. Fortunately the pain was so unbearable
that I passed out while they did their worst…I woke up here, in this hospital
bed. Told me I was lucky to be alive…I was beaten beyond a point where most
would have died…I needed weeks of physical therapy just to regain any kind of
movement in my limbs…and…I’ll never have kids in my life.”
Holly sighed.
“I wanted to die
too,” she said. “I don’t know how I made it here…but I did. Maybe to meet
you…and tell you to fight for me…because it’ll be a while before I can fight
for myself again.”
Connie sat in her
bed, contemplating what she just heard.
“Fight for you?”
she asked, intrigued. “I’d love to, because I hate what those monsters reduced
you to. I’m just not sure how.”
“I have friends who
work for Global Citizens,” said Holly, referring to the worldwide human rights
advocacy group. “I don’t always see eye to eye with them…but, like you, they
want to challenge worldwide conventions and hold governments accountable for
their policies.”
“Policies that have
led to you and me in these beds,” said Connie with a wistful sigh.
“Global Citizens
want to work with governments through,” said Holly. “Because governments can
get caught up in their idealism...we just make sure they get things right.”
Connie nodded her
head.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll
do it. What’s my first task?”
Holly smiled at
Connie’s eagerness while sending a text message.
“While I was in
Andrew’s house,” Holly said, “I saw a file folder that had simply the word ‘Bessarion’
written on it. It may be nothing, but it could be tied to something. You’ll be
going back there…Danel Hanno will assist you.”
“Danel Hanno?” said
Connie. “The lawyer?”
“He’s helping the
Birean government review the bust of the human trafficking rings,” said Holly,
“so he has access to Andrew’s files. He’ll be here tomorrow afternoon to get
you started.”
“Sounds good,” said
Connie as both women smiled.
