When Hope Calls: A Human Trafficking Story

10:10AM

The office was not large by any measurement, especially considering it belonged to a large international humanitarian organization; but funds needed to be kept at a minimum. A small step into the room revealed everything: three desks, one of them partitioned off into a makeshift 'room', and cabinets lining each wall stuffed full of documents and folders and paperwork. There were medium-sized windows along one wall, while the other three were blank except for a framed picture of the Thai king, and a clock.

At the moment, the scrubby office held its breath, waiting for the response of its ruling authority figure – Margaret Hall, coordinator of the Thailand office. She was in her chair, in her usual loose button-up white shirt – sleeves rolled up – and dark jeans, legs crossed and fingers forming a triangle in front of her in contemplation. An eyebrow was raised quizzically...not a good sign.

"Wait, wait, hold on a minute...you want to find a kidnapped girl based on this complete lack of information?" Morris flinched at the stark honesty in that statement: like most of Margaret's responses to his suggestions, it contained a staggering amount of rationality, and not a single iota of sympathy. Standing at five foot six, Margaret obviously did not evoke awe and fear from her physique; but what she lacked in build she more than made up for in attitude and charisma. She was the type of person you would love to work with, but not for. And so her two inferiors trembled before her, hoping she would relent.

Gathering his confidence, Jeremy stepped in: "Marg, all we're asking for is some optimism." He cleared his throat, to check if Margaret would allow him to continue. She did, so he went on, "From a technical viewpoint, this girl even having a cell phone with her is a miracle, and she might be able to call again. Just give us a chance...we're not asking for much." Not an argument that he was proud of, but then again they weren't asking for much.

She mulled over his words, jaw clenching and unclenching as if literally chewing the idea. "You guys do remember the last time I risked my job for you, right?" she finally said in an even tone. "The police are still not talking to me after that botched rescue attempt...it made headlines, remember? They lost face, I lost face, heck, I'm surprised I'm still here!" Jeremy took a half-step back in retreat, remembering all too well the scathing defeat of that event. Morris had long ago given up maintaining eye contact with their superior.

Margaret stood still for a moment, arms crossed, jaw tight, eyes boring holes in her colleagues' heads. If she only considered their last failed rescue, there would be no room for negotiation. But this time, the payoff did not seem outrageous; it might be a couple hours' worth of effort, a few phone calls, and then maybe a police raid or two. If they failed, no biggie. On the other hand, if they do manage to resolve a cross-border trafficking case...

Margaret sighed. "I am going to take this risk" – Morris and Jeremy exhaled with relief – "but I will only be making tentative calls to prepare relevant contacts for future – DEFINITIVE – updates on her location." That was enough for Morris...more than enough. The victorious duo skittered off to Morris' desk, eager to begin preparations for Mya's next call.

Jeremy, with characteristic vigor, got right down to work. "If she calls again, we'll need to ask simple questions that'll provide us with necessary information to triangulate her location," he mused, Morris struggled to capture all Jeremy's pointers in writing. "Her answers must be specific; always ask for clarification. Numbers are useless unless we know place names. Landmarks are key. Temples are useless unless they're huge ones, or famous. Stores...hmm...maybe ask her if she recognizes any famous logos? Ugh, no, no, no...don't want her to throw Nike, Adidas, or other common advertisements at us. Stick to chain stores, or malls." The list that Jeremy scribbled down was barely legible, and became messier by the second. Morris' was no better.

In frantic moments like this, the American man's quick speech became nearly unintelligible to Morris, who only began to learn English after high school. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with Jeremy, and, unknown to him, most of his jokes made no sense to Morris. It helped that he had worked as an intern at the office during his university years, which acclimatized him somewhat to Jeremy and Margaret's American way of communication. Thankfully, this language barrier never got in the way of the two men's friendship, for they were similar in their endearing qualities; however, when the situation called for speedy collaboration, Morris was still learning about the nuances of spoken English.

After digesting Jeremy's barrage of suggestions, Morris suggested: "What if we eavesdropped on her captors through the phone?"

Jeremy's eyes lit up. "That's a brilliant idea! Risky, but brilliant." A final scribble added to the mass of illegible writing.

Now all they needed was another call from Mya.

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Thank you for reading the first chapter of my novella!

I will be posting 2 new chapters a week. If you can't wait to find out what happens next, the completed ebook is available for purchase at my website https://davidluiwriter.wordpress.com/. All proceeds go to anti-trafficking NGO work!