Chapter 41

Ashley fumbled her way across the shipping container until she reached a mattress. This is something she remembered from her dream. If she remembered correctly it also meant that only Kayla’s mattress could be viewed easily through the camera. In the blackness Ashley could not see a camera and had no idea where it was mounted.
Crawling across the mattress she hit the opposite side of the container. Then crawled her hands up the wall feeling for a camera. She couldn’t reach the top even standing on her toes but still she ran her hands across the wall as high as she could feel. She moved slowly trying to avoid hitting Julia with her feet. She wasn’t successful.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry, I’m looking for something.”
“There’s no way out. We’ve already tried.”
“I’m not looking for a way out.” Ashley reached down and felt Julia’s shoulder. She used her to guide her way down to the mattress beside her. “Julia, can I get your help with something?”
“I don’t know.” The words were more grunted then said and Ashley just barely made them out.
Ashley sighed. All her years of training had not prepared her for this. All the children she had ever met with had been in her office at the time. They were in a safe place. They had people who cared for them. While the threat of danger wasn’t completely gone it wasn’t standing over them at that very moment waiting to eat them alive. And the truth was Ashley had no idea whether these girls would live. Three of their peers had already turned up dead. Although Ashley did not yet know what had occurred to Julia she knew that it wasn’t good.
“Have you noticed any kind of daily routine?” Ashley was sitting close enough to Julia to feel her shrug. “What I mean is do they come in to feed you at regular time?”
“They bring food sometimes,” Kayla said. Ashley only knew it was Kayla because the voice didn’t come from right next to her.
“Do you see who brings you food?”
The girl’s silence was the only answer she got. Ashley didn’t want to pressure them with questions but she also knew their knowledge might provide the opening she needed to get all of them out of this alive. Ashley sat quietly and waited. Waited for something to happen.
And waited.
The silence and darkness were already messing with her mind. She had no idea what time of day it was or how long she had been there. Neither girl spoke though from time to time she heard one or the other of them crying. The door never opened.
Wait.
Ashley had an idea. There was a chance that the video feed was still being broadcast over the internet and there was a small chance that Nate or someone else at the FBI would still be watching that feed. Maybe she could mouth something to them or sign something and they would understand.
“Kayla. Kayla, are you awake?” Ashley asked as she began her crawl to the opposite side of the shipping container.
“Yea,” came the small reply
“Listen, I’m coming your way and I don’t want to bump into you. Can you sit up with your back against the corner?”
“Yea.”
“Okay, before they took me I was working with an FBI agent. His name is Nate Zimmerman. He called me from Maryland to talk to Kyle. So I came to help him and while we were looking for you we found something.” Ashley paused to feel the ground beneath her. She had reached the end of Julia’s mattress, hit the metal bottom of the container and then found a second mattress that she assumed to be Kayla’s.
“What did you find?” The question came from behind her. Must have been Julia.
“We found a camera that was watching you girls.”
“What? No, no. They can see us?” Julia again.
“Yes.” Both girls began to cry. “Now I know it sounds like a bad thing but it’s not as bad as it sounds. And it may work to save us. If I sit next to Kayla I can try to talk to Nate through the camera.”
“What if someone else sees us?” It appeared that Julia was the only one in the shipping container who would talk. Kayla’s only noises were to whimper in the corner.
“I’ll say it was my idea and that you had nothing to do with it.”
“It was your idea.”
“Julia, you are one smart girl.” Ashley reached Kayla and stopped. She squeezed the girl’s arm, the only affection she would allow herself. While she hadn’t seen Kayla removed from the container it was still plausible that she was. Which meant it was possible that Kayla had already been raped and would not appreciate being touched by someone she didn’t know in a dark and putrid shipping container.
Ashley sat with her back against the metal wall and looked up to where she assumed the camera would be. How she wished she knew sign language. She made a large gesture with her thumb and pointed to her chest then she pointed to Kayla to indicate that she was being held prisoner with Kayla. Of course that much was obvious but it seemed like a good place to start. What else? Ashley made a waving motion with her hand to indicate water, hopefully. What was the sign for boat?
She had no idea.
This was not going as she had planned. “Do either of you know the sign for boat?”
No answer. Not that she had expected one. These girls were nine and eleven how could they know?
“I know the alphabet.”
“Julia, is that you?”
“Yea. My cousin is deaf and I learned it last summer before I went on a missions trip with her and my church.”
“Do you want to teach me?” Ashley said.
“No, but I can do it. Just tell me what to spell.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I hate these creeps. What can they do to me that they haven’t already done?”
Kill you. But Ashley didn’t say it out loud. This young girl had more courage then most people Ashley knew. Heck, she had more courage then Ashley. If Julia did survive this she might just be one of the lucky ones whose life isn’t destroyed because of it.
Ashley waited for Julia to reach her and sit beside her. “I don’t know where the camera is. I only know that it’s above us and it’s pointed at Kayla’s bed.” Ashley searched for Julia’s hand and when she found it she pointed it up in the air towards the direction she hoped the camera was. “Can you spell the word ‘port’?”
“Okay, what else?” Julia asked after she finished.
“Spell boat and water. Before they blindfolded me I got a glimpse of the water so I’m assuming we’re at a port. Plus this shipping container makes me think we’re somewhere waiting to be shipped out…” Ashley caught her train of thought. “Or just be held here.”
Neither Julia nor Kayla responded but Ashley could feel Julia making movements beside her and assumed she was spelling the words Ashley had asked for. “I’ve heard boat horns but every time they take me out they blindfold me so I don’t know where I am.”
“Where do they take you?” Ashley didn’t hold out high expectation for an answer but thought she would ask anyway.
“They take me to some apartment. I don’t see anything. The windows are dark so I don’t know what day it is.”
“Do you see anybody?” Ashley asked.
“I try not to look. It’s never the same person. They touch me, it’s weird.” Julia moved away from Ashley. They were no longer touching.
Silence engulfed them for a time before Julia said, “Miss Ashley, do you believe in God?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because I believe in God but I don’t understand why I’m here. My dad left us but he was coming back and then my mom died. Why would God let that happen?”
“I don’t know Julia. Those are hard questions. A long time ago I was married and had a little boy but God took them from me. I still don’t know why.”
“Do you think He had a reason?” Julia said.
“If He did I don’t know what it was.”
“Maybe it was so you could be here with us.” Julia definitely had more courage then Ashley. But as Ashley sat there she thought about what Julia had said. Maybe Julia was right. Maybe God was there. Maybe He did care.
Before Ashley could ask Julia where she got her faith from the door squeaked open and a shadow fell across the floor. There was no daylight behind the shadow so Ashley assumed it was now night. A man that Ashley did not recognize entered their prison without a word. His large hands reached down next to Ashley and grabbed Julia.
“No! No! Don’t take me.” Julia’s screams. She tried kicking her abductor but he didn’t loosen his grip. When she bit his arm he simply switched sides and cursed at her.
“Don’t you touch her!” Ashley jumped up and ran towards the man holding Julia. “Put her down!”
“Get off me.” Julia’s abductor cursed again and pushed Ashley to the ground. She felt a sharp pain in her backside but pushed herself up again anyway.
“Let her go,” Ashley yelled. But she wasn’t quick enough and the metal door closed in her face. “Let her go!” Ashley pounded on the door as the tears began to fall down her cheek. “God, save her. Save us all.” Ashley slouched down to the ground and began to pray. What was that old saying? There were no atheists in foxholes? Ashley decided she had to agree and for the first time in eleven years Ashley cried out to the God she once knew. To the God who could hear beyond these metal walls and answer. She could only pray He would answer soon.