Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 5 : Clean Up

Chloe sat in the backseat of the sedan, wrapping her arms around the trembling little girl. She hasn't spoken a word since she was freed, and Chloe could only imagine the trauma she went through. It was why she decided to wait outside the trailer, because what she left inside wasn't meant for children.

The cleaning crew arrived twenty minutes later, with a team of seven came out of a black panel van, all wearing protective clothing, covering in white from head to toe, like entering some toxic environment. The outfits were to prevent them from leaving traces of evidence, to wipe their existence from the crime scene.

"What are you going to do with them?" Chloe watched them load the big plastic drums into the van.

"They're the client's assets now."

The Regional Task Manager Isaac was a young man with slick dark hair, looking fresh out of college, or modeling school. His protective clothes strongly contradict his tailored Armani suit underneath.

"I know. I mean what's the client going to use it for?"

"We don't ask these questions, Chloe. Client confidentiality."

Isaac punched his phone, a chime indicated task accomplished, and the credit transferred into Chloe's account.

The Task Manager blew a whistle and spun his finger in the air, his crew nodded and began wrapping up. They worked in coordination, with half the men securing the drums inside the van, and the other half sweeping the ground one last time, making sure nothing could trace back to them.

"Aren't you taking him?" Chloe looked over to the trailer, where she secured the thin man in flannel, on that very spot he kept his young hostage - tied in a chair with a bag over his head.

"Sorry, our objective is the chemicals." Isaac shrugged.

"Then what am I supposed to do with him? Or her?" Chloe turned to the little girl in her arm, those little fists still clenching at her sleeve, refusing to let go.

"Sorry. Not our problem. Finders Keepers!" Isaac gave her a wink, shrugged and joined the leaving crew.

The Task Manager climbed in the front passenger seat, waved and smiled like they just had a date, shut the door and let his driver take them away, leaving the two girls on the scene.

There's an unwritten rule in this line of work, that agents are free to collect whatever they want on the scene, so long as it isn't the objective. It was what Isaac meant by "Finders Keepers". But unlike other agents, Chloe didn't like the idea of taking what didn't belong to her, she never took any valuables from the scene.

Right now, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't take the little girl with her, nor could she leave her here with the man in flannel, eventually he'll break free and do more harm to the girl, or to society, but handing them over to the police, she'll have a lot of explaining to do.

She took out her phone and activated the scrambler app, developed by the agency to make untraceable / unrecordable calls. There she dialed a number she knew would bring her trouble.