We all climbed into Roman’s Mercedes-Maybach according to the seating agreement that we had arranged. Ed sat in the passenger seat to give the driver directions on the route that we wanted to take to get us past all of the buildings and through the neighborhoods that we needed to see. In the first row of passenger seats, Roman and I sat together and we each would have a window view in case we got ideas as we passed through different areas of town. In the back row of the SUV, Kristin sat behind me and Marcus sat behind Roman with Lori between them. I glanced back to see Marcus and Lori engaged in a quiet conversation as we neared the city. We had decided to work our way from the city center and drive around each neighborhood from there. Our first task was to loop around the public central park of the city.

"Try to keep an eye on the alleys between buildings," Marcus reminded us. "Kristin, if you see anything that might be familiar, let me know." Kristin agreed and glued her eyes to her passenger side window. Her expression was drawn and serious as she studied the buildings of the city.

"The alley between the hotel here and the neighboring apartment building may be of interest," Roman said, pointing to the alley that he was describing. Marcus was taking notes on his tablet and our trip around town was mostly silent with bursts of quick chatter about a building or a location.

"There," Kristin said suddenly. "Ed, can we go back around the block again? I want to take another look at one of the buildings." Ed directed the driver to turn and we went around the block again. Kristin stared out the window, eyes wide as she watched the building go by. We were moving into the second borough of the city. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Make a note of this building," Kristin told Marcus who noted the address.

"This is the same borough as Fitzgerald’s last know residence," Marcus said to us. "We should look very closely at this area when we begin our raids."

I did less talking, and more learning about the possibilities that human traffickers may find and use to cover up their actions. They have to find a place where those who come and go either don’t see what’s going on or turn a blind eye because they get paid off or threatened. Those involved in human auctions and selling women and children as sex slaves had to connect with others and create a network to keep their trades secret. It was likely that other people knew about the confined women in the basement of whatever buildings they were in, but there were also people who were living their lives in or near those buildings who knew nothing about what was going on right under their noses.

There was no arguing during our reconnaissance of the city and no one’s ideas were turned down. By the time we finished our trip, we were all mentally exhausted. Roman, Lori, Kristin, and I dragged ourselves into the house when we got back home and plopped down on the sofa in the main family room. Roman asked for one of the staff to bring us a bottle of white wine to share. He offered Marcus and Ed drinks but they refused.

"We still have work to do," Ed told Roman. "I know that was a long trip through the city, but now we need to map out our plan on a blank map."

"Are you recruiting help?" Roman asked Marcus and Ed.

Ed shrugged. "If you’d like to help, sure."

Roman glanced at me but I shook my head. "I’ve seen more of the city in one day than I have in my entire 22 years of living here," I said to Roman. "I don’t want to review the city anymore right now."

"Lori? Kristin?" Roman asked them.

Lori shook her head. "I’m with Hannah. I’ll sit this one out."

"I don’t want to face the fact that I can’t remember much about the place where those auction house men held us," Kristin said and Lori immediately placed a hand on Kristin’s shoulder.

"That’s not your fault, Kristin," I told her.

"Regardless," Kristen said, "I’ll sit this one out, too."

"Looks like it’s just you, Roman," Marcus said.

"I’ll meet you both in the study," Roman told Marcus and Ed and they left the room to go set up.

Roman finished his wine and poured another glass before giving me a firm kiss. "I’ll be in bed by eleven," he said to me quietly.

My brow raised in surprise. "You think you’ll be in there with them for four hours?" I asked Roman.

He shrugged. "I have no idea, but if it does take a few hours I’m promising you that I won’t be in there past eleven o’clock tonight," he said to me.

I smiled at Roman. "I’ll be waiting for you," I said to him. As Roman was leaving the room, Kristin poured herself another glass of wine and took a sip.

"I can head up to my room," Kristin said to me and Lori. "I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel or anything if you two are wanting to spend some time together."

"No, you’re welcome to stay in here with us," I said to Kristin.

"Actually," Lori interjected, "I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what happened to you?"

Kristin tilted her head at Lori questioningly. "What happened to me at The Auction House?" Kristin asked Lori.

"All of it," Lori said. "You can start back as far as you’d like."

"Of course, you don’t have to talk about anything you’re not comfortable sharing," I added, hoping that Kristin didn’t mind Lori’s curiosity about her life.

"I really don’t mind sharing," Kristin said. "In fact, I think all women, especially young women, should hear a story like mine so that they’ll be aware that these things can and do happen in their own backyards. I was in therapy for months just to be able to look at myself in the mirror again after I was rescued from my owner by Marcus and Ed. I just don’t know if this is something you want to hear." Lori nodded and waited expectantly for Kristin to begin her story.

"You’re probably right, Kristin," I told her. "Your story is one that I may not want to hear, but I feel like I need to hear it. I may have been sold to The Auction House, but I never lived it. I escaped that fate, but I saw the women waiting backstage for their turn on ’The Block.’ I may have been a rare and short-lived participant, but they lived it, just like you did Kristin."

Kristin stared into her glass of white wine, thinking. "It’s typical for many of the girls and women who find themselves involved in human trafficking to be living in terrible circumstances. Abandoned by parents, lured into prostitution or drug addiction, and even trying to leave toxic relationships that should never have existed in the first place." Kristin paused to sip her wine before she continued. "I was born to two drug addicts and taken by child protective services to live with my aunt when I was two. She did the best that she could to raise me and her four other children, but her marriage was in shambles and it was a miracle if she could get bills paid every month. My cousins were developing behavioral problems and my aunt just couldn’t handle us all on her own."

"Was she married?" Lori asked Kristin.

"She was, but he walked out on her," Kristin said. "She had a couple of boyfriends that I remembered, but they left for one reason or another. When I was seven, I ended up moving in with my grandparents and things mellowed out for me. A couple of my cousins would move in for a short period of time and then they would leave, but I was with my grandparents for eight years until my grandfather died and my grandmother’s health declined rapidly after that, so I moved back with my aunt which was a huge mistake, but she was all I had."

"Did you ever see your parents again?" I asked Kristin.

"I saw my mother on occasion," Kristin said. "She was in and out of rehab and in and out of town. I don’t know what happened to my dad. As I grew up with my grandparents they would tell me about my mom, but never my dad."

"What happened with your aunt?" I asked Kristin.

"She was stressed out," Kristin said. "She didn’t have the support she needed to raise four kids plus me. My two oldest cousins ended up in juvie while I started hanging out with my two younger cousins who were friends with the wrong people, but I didn’t want to be home alone while my aunt worked night shifts. I drank and smoked with my cousins for over a year, and one night we got some older friends to get us into a club. We got drunk and we stayed late. By the time we stumbled out of the club we were high. I just remember catching a cab with some guy from the club and me and my two cousins were in the backseat while the guy rode in the passenger seat. When we stopped, he climbed out and two men opened the back doors, grabbing me and my cousin who was seated by the other door, but they left my cousin who had been seated between us in the car, and told the cab driver to leave. The guys that took me and my cousin were collectors for a human trafficking hub in the next state over. They drove us out of town that night and no one ever came looking for us."

Lori and I were hanging on to each and every word that Kristin spoke. When she told us about how she was snatched from a cab at age 16 I wanted her to end the story. She was right, I didn’t want to know, but I was going to keep listening.