JUSTICE!

Street signs stand like sentinels at the corner of every block, the midday sun sends heat waves dancing across the black pavement. Every inch of officer Smith is drenched in sweat as he sits in an unmarked car at the corner of Vine and Maple. The damned air conditioner quit working weeks ago , even in plain clothes, kaki shorts and white polo he is in absolute misery. A huge Hickory tree is the only relief he has had all day, the towering branches gave excellent shade throughout the morning, but with the rising temperatures near 110 degrees the sweltering heat has become unbearable. Even while serving as a soldier in Iraq, he never had to sit and wait this long for a chance at a bad guy. Two tours and several wounds later he now sits waiting in this miserable oven of a car . In all his life he has never had an assignment like this, the perpetrator is a known child molester and possible abductor. For three days and nights officer Smith has staked out this street in hopes of catching a glimpse of the suspect or suspects involved . Beside him in the drivers seat is his partner, officer Rios, Nancy Rios is one of those cops who was born to this kind of work, her father was a cop and his father before him. She is of Spanish descent he is sure, but her greenish eyes betray some ancestry from different lineage. Nancy or rather Nance as he calls her, is one tough cookie, at five foot three and 115 she looks more like a short lithe dancer than a California Police officer and weapons specialist.
Across the street in a two story duplex, the curtains stir, officer smith immediately locks on the window with hard blue eyes. The curtain stirs again and he sees a face peer out onto the hot pavement below, one instant she is there, the next she is gone. Like a pair of wolves the two officers spring into action and race toward the duplex, officer Rios calling for backup as officer Smith approached the front door. With lightning quick reflexes he slams into the doorframe with 200 pounds of angry , adrenaline charged cop. Instinct takes over as he clears each room, Rios backing him up as they quickly move through the building. A fat man wearing tan slacks no shirt and sporting a swastika tattoo on his torso , is the first they encounter, he is subdued in seconds and cuffed to the stair railing leading to the upper rooms. Officer Smith takes the stairs two at a time and is nearly floored when he enters the first of three rooms, two girls are bound to the bed posts like dogs, their vacant eyes and dirty appearance tell the tale of drug abuse and other unspeakable acts these two have survived. Rios tends to the two teens as Smith opens the door of the second room. The same faces meet him through the gloom, two dirty , drugged ,and scared teen girls stare in fear at him as he enters from the right. Someone stirs in the shadows of the room to his left, years of training come into play, officer smith ducks just in time to feel the swish of a ball bat. He comes Up with a stiff right hand and greets the attacker with a punch to the throat, a resounding groan lets him know the blow landed spot on. Two more to the face and a hard kick to the groin stops the scumbag in his tracks and ends the fight, after cuffing him a he continues to the third room, his heart racing he kicks the door in, the dark curtains shade the room in a ghostly gloom. Near the back of the room a lone bed holds the key to his ultimate fears and his finest triumph. A teen girl lays tied to the bedpost, her face a mess of recent beatings and her eyes betray the same drug induced stupor as the previous girls. Yet he can still see the small face well enough to recognize his own niece, only thirteen years old , his rage builds to the point of boiling, as he hears something stir in a nearby closet. He busts open the closet and comes face to face with a disgusting and nude man, the man looks much like any other, except for the tattoo on his arm announcing white power and his shaved head tells the tale of skinhead beliefs like the other men already cuffed. The pleading from the nude bastard and the pistol dangling from the cowards hand only helps to further enrage officer Smith, to the point where he takes aim at this vile creature and prepares to end it’s life.
A shot rings out in the room, the vile coward slumps forward and falls to the floor well on his way to hell before impacting the dirty carpet. Officer smith turns and faces the sound of the shot and sees Rios, her smoking gun tells the tale, he asks her,” Is he the one?” “Yes.” she answers. He is the one who raped me when I was a young girl. Officer Smith holsters his weapon and checks the corpse for signs of life, he already knows the answer, Rios never misses , she is sitting in the hall, tears flowing from her eyes. Another shot rings out, Rios looks up to see Smith, a fresh bullet wound through his shoulder from the vile creatures handgun. He falls to his knees and says, “looks like he nearly got me Nance.” she holds pressure on the wound as the sirens begin to wail outside.. “Thank you Smith,” she says. “No problem.” He answers, “ You would have done the same for me.“ “I suppose I would have you big idiot.” she replies. As the sirens wail and officers storm the duplex, two warriors, and five young victims wonder what the future will bring. Certainly it can only get better. Justice will prevail, and time will heal….

Every year Thousands of young women , girls and boys are victims of abduction, most are never seen or heard from again. Certain countries like China and Thailand, offer young girls to wealthy Americans on a daily basis.. Even in America the “Skin Heads” hate groups have been involved in hundreds of cases pertaining to human trafficking. The epidemic is worldwide and, no race, nationality or creed is immune to the sick perverted creatures who buy sell and trade human beings . My story is fictitious, most girls never again see home of loved ones…. Most are simply used and cast aside.. This is a subject that I have been bothered by for years and felt I should shed some light on the issue. Hawk