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  “If you have no money,” she said, “this is for you. You get one bowl with rice, and don’t let them catch you trying to eat any extra. The guards get very angry if you try.” She used her plastic spoon to flick a couple of bugs out of her own bowl.

  Sarah shook her head. “It has bugs in it,” she said. “I’ve got some money on my account, when do I get to buy food?”

  The French woman looked at her, her eyes going wide. “You can buy food when the cart comes this morning. Is there anything you need that I can do, so you might buy me some food?” Sarah could sense the desperation in her voice, and knew that she could probably ask anything at that moment.

  The pitiful tone in her voice touched a soft spot in Sarah’s heart. “I don’t have a lot of money,” she said cautiously, “but I can help you out a little bit. But the only thing I need is—I heard about another American girl here, Sharon Ingersoll. Would you happen to know her?”

  The woman’s eyes went wide for a moment. “Sharon? Yes, she works with me in sewing room.” She looked around. “But she sleeps in another room, and her room will be next to come in here.” She turned back to Sarah. “I am Jacqueline,” she said. “If you stay close to me, I will show you which one is Sharon. And you will buy me some food?”

  Sarah smiled. “Jacqueline, I’ll be happy to,” she said. “Just stick with me until we get the chance.”

  The two of them sat and talked for a few minutes, and Sarah noticed that Jacqueline pushed her rice bowl away, even though she’d only taken a couple of bites. Obviously, the prospect of getting some decent food was more appealing than the demands of hunger.

  Sarah learned that Jacqueline was serving a twenty-year sentence for selling drugs. She had actually been caught in the act of selling yaba, which was why her sentence was so much more severe, but her attitude was good. She blamed only herself for the situation she was in, and was looking forward to completing her eighth year in a few months. After that, the French government would have her transferred to a prison in her own country, which would result in her immediate parole.

  It was at that point that they heard the sounds of new inmates entering the room, and those sitting at the tables began to leave. Jacqueline turned in her seat and watched the door for a moment, then broke into a smile and pointed. “That is her,” she said.

  Sarah looked at the woman she indicated and it was all she could do to keep the relief from showing on her face. This was definitely Sharon Ingersoll, and Sarah was struck by the thought that she was one of those young women who looked beautiful no matter what.

  “Just a moment,” Jacqueline said. “I will bring her over here.” She rose from her seat and hurried over to Sharon, and Sarah saw her pointing back at herself. A moment later, the two of them came and sat at the tables. Sharon glanced at the bowl of rice that Sarah had pushed away, but then she raised her eyes and looked Sarah over.

  “Jackie said you wanted to talk to me?” Sharon asked.

  “Yes,” Sarah said. “I’m Kayla. I heard about you last night, another American girl. You’re not going to eat that rice, are you? That’s the bowl I pushed away when I got here.”

  “They don’t bring up fresh ones,” Sharon said. “That bowl was most likely sitting there for a couple of hours before you got to it.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Gotta eat something.”

  “If you can hold out till the food cart comes, I’ll buy you some good stuff. I’ve got a little money.”

  Sharon looked at her suspiciously. “Yeah? And what’s it going to cost me?”

  “Not a thing,” Sarah said. “I don’t speak the local language at all, so I want a friend who’s American, like me. No strings attached, I promise you.”

  Sharon looked into her eyes for a long moment, then slowly pushed the bowl away again. “Okay,” she said, “as long as you understand I’m not into girls.”

  Sarah laughed. “No problem,” she said, “neither am I.” She glanced over at Jacqueline. “Any idea when the food cart comes?”

  “In about an hour,” Sharon said. “Mostly they sell fruits and vegetables, but they do have little packages of tuna and sardines, and some little things they call cookies.”

  Sarah nodded. “Okay,” she said, “I can probably get us each enough for a week or so.”

  Jacqueline shook her head. “Do not buy so much,” she said. “Only buy enough for each day, or the others will steal it. Some of the Toms can get to the lockers in the night, and they will take any food they find. Only buy what you can carry each day.”

  Sharon nodded her agreement. “She’s right. If you set something down or put it in your locker, it will be gone before you know it. You only want to get enough to get you through the day.”

  “So the cart comes every morning?”

  “Yeah, about the same time. We’ll have to get in line as soon as we see it, or we might end up waiting an hour or more while they refill it.”

  “Okay. Where does it show up? Maybe we can get in position before too many others do.”

  A guard walked toward their table, eyeing Sarah and Jacqueline. The Frenchwoman tapped Sarah on the arm. “We should go now,” she said. “We are not supposed to stay here after our room has finished eating.” She looked at Sharon. “You come with us now, yes?”

  The three of them rose from the table and walked out the door, and Jacqueline led the way to a day room that had several televisions and numerous tables where women were playing games. “The cart will come here,” she said. “After we get done with the cart, we must go to work. Do you have a job yet?”

  “No. Will they assign me one today?”

  Sharon grinned. “You can assign yourself,” she said. “We both work in sewing, just come with us and the room boss will put you to work. Where are you sleeping?”

  Sarah shrugged. “Last night, they put me in the room Jacqueline is in. Do I have to stay there?”

  “No,” Jacqueline said. “We can go to any room to sleep, as long as we get there in time to find and the empty pallet to sleep on. They count three times every night to make sure we all here, but as long as the numbers add up they do not really care where we are. We can all go to one room tonight. We just need to go early, before they tell everyone to go to bed. That way, we can find maybe some beds together.”

  “Okay, good,” Sarah said, though she worried a bit about how to talk to Sharon alone. She decided to play it by ear and watch for an opportunity.

  It was almost another hour before the food cart appeared, but Jacqueline had managed to get them close to the front of the line. Sarah let the other two choose the items they would buy, then they helped her to sign for them, using the inmate number on her bracelet. They shoved the oranges, bananas, carrots and cookies into their pockets, and then Sarah followed the other two toward the sewing room.

  As Sharon had predicted, the woman running the sewing room simply told Sarah to start carrying bolts of cloth to where other women were cutting it into parts for pants and shirts. They worked steadily for about three hours, and then Jacqueline told Sarah it was lunchtime, but rather than returning to the room where they’d had breakfast, Jacqueline and Sharon led her down a hallway to a smaller room. A few women sat on the floor, there, and they each took a spot and did likewise, leaning against the wall.

  They each ate some of the fruits and vegetables they had bought, careful to make sure they left enough for dinner. The lunch break lasted half an hour, and the two women told Sarah more about the prison and how it worked until it was time to go back to their jobs.

  During the afternoon, the room boss sent Jacqueline after more cloth and thread, and Sarah decided to take a chance on trying to talk to Sharon. She waited until the two of them were in a corner together—Sharon was doing the kind of sorting that Sarah had done in their practice sessions—then glanced around to make sure no one could overhear.

  “I need to talk to you about something,” she whispered. “But you have to trust me and not tell anyone what I’m about to say.”

/>   Sharon looked at her suspiciously. “What is it?”

  “Sharon,” she began softly, “I’m not who I claim to be. I work for the United States government, same as you. I’m part of a secret rescue mission to get you out of here.”

  Sharon’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I was actually wondering about that,” she whispered back. “Somebody told me someone was coming, but I didn’t know whether to believe them or not. Are you serious?”

  “Yes. The rest of my team is waiting for me to signal them that I found you, and then they’ll come and grab us out of here. We have to be sure that we’re sleeping in the same room, because they’ll come in during the midnight shift change.”

  Sharon stared at her for a few seconds, then composed herself and went back to sorting the clothes. “Okay,” she said. “What about Jacqueline?”

  “She’s not part of this, and can’t know anything about it until it’s too late. Besides, she’s about to get out of here legally. You and I will have new identities to help us get out of the country once this is over. If she escapes now, it would probably ruin her life.”

  “Okay, I won’t say anything. How long, do you think? Before we get out, I mean.”

  “I can’t be sure,” Sarah replied. “It’s possible it could even be tonight, as long as we’re together when the shift changes. Is there any way you can know when it’s about to happen?”

  Sharon nodded. “Yes, they lock our doors about ten or fifteen minutes beforehand. The locks are loud, so it’s obvious.”

  Sarah grinned. “That’s what our intelligence said, but I wanted to be sure. Okay, as soon as we hear that lock, I can signal my team. About ten minutes later, they’ll be in here to get us. They’re going to give you a piece of gum, and you’ve got to put it in your mouth and start chewing as fast as you can. They have some special little guns that shoot out a drug that just sort of turns off the brain. The gum is an antidote, so it won’t affect you if it hits you. Chewing it gets the antidote into your bloodstream in a hurry, so chew it fast. I’m going to get back to work so nobody notices us talking.” She walked away and began carrying cloth again.

  Jacqueline returned a bit later, and they continued working through the afternoon. It was getting close to six by the time their shift ended, and they went back to the room where they had breakfast to eat their dinner.

  Sharon acted normal, and Jacqueline seemed none the wiser. When they finished eating, they went to the day room and played a game of spades with some badly battered cards until it was getting close to bedtime.

  Jacqueline stacked the cards and rose from her chair. “They will call bedtime in just a little while,” she said. “We should go now and find a place to stay together.” Sarah and Sharon also rose and followed her out the door. She stopped at the first sleeping room and pointed inside, indicating that it was nearly empty. They were able to take pallets that were just inside the door, and Sarah began to feel excited. If all went well, she knew, she’d be back with Noah before morning.

  THIRTEEN

  “Heads up,” Neil said at just past 9:30 that night. “She just settled down into a sleeping room. Think she might have found the target yet?”

  “No way to tell,” Noah said. “All we can do is be close to our entry point and ready to move if she sends the signal. Let’s head out now, I want to be in position long before the shift change begins.”

  With the special guns slung under their arms and covered by light jackets, and the second grapple launcher stuffed down Marco’s pants, they left the hotel and caught a taxi. It took them to the restaurant where they’d had dinner after cutting their entryway, and they went inside to order a snack while they waited. The restaurant was open until midnight, so they were able to sit there and sip coffee after they finished eating.

  At 11:30, they left the restaurant and began strolling around near the wall they would have to scale. There was no one else around, so after a few minutes of surveillance they slipped behind some bushes close to the wall. Neil carried the tablet and activated the program that would tell him when Sarah snapped the panic button.

  Noah had his phone in his hand, ready to tell Darrell Knapp to drop the body into the alley as soon as they got that signal.

  * * * * *

  By the time the men had left the restaurant, Jacqueline had already drifted off to sleep. Sarah and Sharon were lying on their pallets side-by-side, so close that they were actually pressed against each other, but both of them were wide awake. Sarah had one hand inside her shirt, waiting for the sound of the lock. Her nerves were jangling, and she was whispering silent prayers that the rescue would come off without any problems.

  Suddenly, there were voices in the hallway, and Sharon looked toward the door in surprise. Some of the voices were male, a surprise since she’d been told it was very rare for men to appear in the women’s prisons. They were speaking in Thai, so neither of them could understand what was being said, but the looks on the faces of some of the other inmates made them nervous.

  Jacqueline was roused by the chatter and raised up on one elbow. She listened for a moment, then looked at the other two. “It is the snatch,” she said. “It’s happened a few times before since I have been here. Some men, they are pimps, they pay the night guards to let them take a few of the pretty ones.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”

  “Oui, yes,” Jacqueline said. “Lie down and hide your faces. Sometimes they take Western girls.”

  A light was suddenly shined through the bars of the door, striking the three of them full in the face. Sarah and Sharon ducked quickly, holding their breaths as the door was flung open. A rough hand grabbed Sharon’s hair and yanked her up, and the light was shined on her face again.

  She panicked. “Kayla, help me!”

  Sarah reacted without thinking, rising to a kneeling position and staring at the man who was dragging Sharon to her feet. “Hey!” she yelled, and the light was turned on her.

  A second man laughed and reached for Sarah’s hair. Like Sharon, she was jerked cruelly to her feet and dragged out the door as Jacqueline stared on in shock.

  Thinking quickly and praying it would do some good, Sarah pressed her hand to her ribs and felt for the panic button. She pressed hard on it a couple of times, and felt a sudden twinge as it snapped. Oh, God, she thought, please let Noah see that I’m moving in the wrong direction! Please, let him get the message that something is wrong!

  Once they were in the hallway, both girls’ arms were wrenched behind their backs and their wrists quickly secured with zip ties. Hands grabbed their upper arms and they were pushed roughly forward. Sarah started shouting at her captor, but a hand smacked the back of her head and she didn’t need an interpreter to know she had been told to shut up. With the guards paying no attention to what was happening, she had no choice but to comply.

  Moments later, they were hustled out the front door and pushed into the back of a van. Four other young women were already there, all of them Asian. The doors were slammed shut and they were in darkness.

  “Is this it?” Sharon asked. “Is this part of the rescue?”

  Sarah turned toward the sound of her voice but could not see her. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  * * * * *

  “She’s moving,” Neil said. “Not sure why, but she just came out of the sleeping room and—Bingo! There it is, we got the signal.”

  “That’s good,” Noah said, “but where is she going? Once she sends the signal, she’s supposed to stay put with the target.”

  “No idea. She’s still moving, though, headed toward the front of the prison, up by the intake office. Still moving, same direction—What the…” Neil said. “Noah, something’s wrong. According to the monitor, Sarah just walked out the front door!” He held the tablet out to show Noah.

  Noah looked at the monitor, noting that the blip indicating Sarah’s position suddenly started moving rapidly down the road outside the prison and would pass their position in only se
conds. He looked up to see the lights of a vehicle, but there was no time to take any action. A van drove past them, and another glance at the monitor confirmed that Sarah had to be inside.

  Noah broke into a run with both of the other men right on his heels, but the van was already moving at more than forty miles-per-hour. It was out of sight within seconds, and the blip vanished from the monitor at the same time.

  “Holy crap,” Neil said, “do you think her cover was blown?”

  Noah shook his head. “No idea.” He looked around behind them and saw no sign of any activity from the prison, so he lifted the phone and pushed the call button to contact Knapp.

  “Wong Ho’s Pizza,” Knapp answered. “Can I take your order?”

  “Camelot,” Noah said. “There’s been a situation. Abort the drop. I need immediate pickup.”

  There was a split second’s hesitation, and then Knapp came back on the line. “We see you. Be there in ten seconds.”

  Headlights came on in an alley to their left and a van pulled up beside them. Side doors opened and let Noah and his men climb inside. A short Asian man was driving, with Knapp in the front passenger seat. He was facing toward the back. “What’s going on?”

  “My operative was just taken out of the prison,” Noah said. “She was in the van that just went down this road. Any idea what this could mean?”

  Knapp looked at the driver and an expression of dismay crossed his face. The driver shrugged, and he turned back to Noah. “Question,” he said. “Is she a really pretty girl?”

  “Yes,” Noah said. “Why?”

  “Oh, Geez,” Knapp said. “Listen, about once or twice a year, a few girls go missing out of the prison. They’re always the exceptionally pretty ones, some of them downright beautiful. Local authorities deny it ever happens, and those women just disappear off the face of the earth. You’ve heard about the Thai sex trade? Well, we’re pretty sure that’s what happens to them.”