Part 5 of a 10 part story about an international sex trafficking enterprise operating in a small coastal city.
This is a non-erotic story. There are no sex scenes. It is part of a bigger story about sex trafficking.
Even before becoming involved in human trafficking, Morris had come to a firmly held conviction in the unpredictability of human behavior in dealing with other humans. Except for making him very wealthy, nothing had occurred in his 20 years of filling orders for clients to change that conviction. For complete strangers with whom that they had no involvement humans could be kind, giving, and sweet but when the other humans were closer as neighbors and family might be they could be heartless, cruel, and sadistic. And for some humans, exactly the opposite held true. A lot of humans could be mean and it seemed to him that the meaner the better.
He didn’t care what use the clients made of the packages he shipped to them. As long as they paid for the services he provided he was willing to continue supplying their needs. Price had never been an issue with clients. In fact he received little pushback from clients for any reason. His clients had confidence that Morris would provide quality packages in filling orders and not do anything to jeopardize their secrecy. The only criteria Morris had for accepting an order was to accept orders only from clients that were either established clients or were recommended by a client from Morris’s trust list followed by a thorough vetting by Morris himself.
Orders always included a specification but never indicated what the clients intended to do with the packages. Morris used the specifications to speculate what the packages would be used for. The price for any package depended on the uniqueness of the specification and followed the established market principle of supply and demand. For a young, pretty disease free female or male Morris figured they would be used for sex and the price ranged from 275,000 to 450,000. A specification for a healthy, athletic strong male carried a price tag of 125,000 to 175,000. For a male only capable of walking the price tag was 60,000 to 100,000. For a male capable of running the price bumped up to 110,000 to 150,000. Morris speculated that the range of uses included prey animals, human targets, gladiators, forced laborers, and of course sex slaves. The specifications for prey animals, human targets, gladiators, and forced laborers didn’t include any STI testing which made those orders the easiest to fill. The most lucrative part of his business was for sexy disease free females. If a woman came in and she proved to be diseased Morris would either ship her off to a client at a deeply discounted price which may mean free or kill her using nitrogen to asphyxiate her and then destroy the body. Killing them with nitrogen was fast, odorless, cheap, and highly effective. The only problem with nitrogen was its deceptively deadly killing power. A doctorate in industrial chemistry and toxicology from the university in Stonetown plus decades of industrial experience had given Morris the knowledge and skill to use nitrogen to render someone unconscious and then bring them back to full consciousness. He had a few close calls when he first started knocking people out but hadn’t had a problem with it in over 20 years.
If it was necessary to kill a woman their bodies were destroyed using a solution of hot sodium hydroxide followed by hydrochloric acid. He tried several other disposal methods but hot lye turned out to be the method of choice for initial digestion. Concentrated sulfuric acid was quicker but harder to cover up because of the stink. To make the lye digestion step faster a stainless steel vat left behind by the food processing operation had been placed into service. It could be pressurized which allowed the temperature to be maintained well above the 212 degree boiling point of water. At 300 degrees after a few hours in the lye digester what was left was a thick brown liquid with no traces of human flesh and bone shadows. The bone shadows consisted of calcium hydroxide which easily dissolved in hydrochloric acid leaving a solution of hydrochloric acid, water, and calcium chloride. About the only issue with destroying the bone shadows was the heat created by the reaction between a strong base and strong acid. But the stainless steel vat was jacketed so that the heat could be removed with cooling water and the temperature kept low enough that the smell was negligible. After the hot lye and hydrochloric acid the only remnants were bits of teeth fillings, some medical devices components, and a solution that could be just poured down the toilet. All the chemicals were commonly available and could be purchased at a local hardware store. Spent chemicals could be easily brought back up to the required strength and the reconditioned chemicals stored for future use.
Ryan’s end of the trafficking operation specialized in capturing males. Most of Morris’s orders were for female sex slaves and over the years Ryan had grown resentful toward Morris’s other collector, Jeff, because of his greater financial benefit from working with Morris. He promised himself that if he ever got the chance he would get rid of Jeff.
It was Monday afternoon. He had just come away from a meeting with Morris with 2 orders. Since the actual final use for the human’s was never indicated, like Morris he could only speculate based on the specification. For one the specification was for a healthy athletic male. For the other the specification included height and weight along with being healthy and athletic.
Ryan thought the best possibility of finding suitable packages for either order would be one of the fitness centers frequented by out of town guests near one of Raymond’s hotels. Because the males could be quite strong and being athletic capable of putting up a struggle, capture of an athletic male was not without its risks. When he had first gotten involved in collecting for Morris one of the captures had put up quite a struggle and almost gotten out of the cab before the nitrogen knocked him out. After that incident, Ryan added reinforcements for the bullet proof window and cab doors.
It didn’t take long for Ryan to spot a potential package that would be suitable for the second specification. Miguel had just finished a two hour workout. After getting cleaned up he stepped to the curb and raised his hand showing that he wanted a cab. Ryan had been hanging around the cab stand for several hours and passed on several other hails because they didn’t seem to be ones that would be suitable. Ryan estimated Miguel’s height at about 6 foot 3 inches and he had an athletic build like a wrestler or weight lifter. After entering the cab and taking a seat he told Ryan to take him to the downtown Center hotel. He said he wanted to use his mobile phone. Ryan had the radio turned up fairly loudly so Miguel could hear and asked him if he wanted him to shut the window. Miguel said he would appreciate it. Ryan estimated arrival at the processing center in less than 10 minutes. When they were less than 3 blocks from the processing center he estimated arrival in less than 2 minutes and activated the mobile jammer. With less than 1 block to go, he pressed the button to signal Morris. The yellow signal response indicated that he needed to circle for a block or two and that Morris was not quite ready. After circling for 2 blocks he approached the center and again signaled Morris. The green light response was a relief. He saw the inner and outer entry gates open, turned left into the garage, drove into the wire cage, and saw in the side mirror that the gate was closing.
Morris was ready with mask on and breathing air flowing. Miguel had seen all this going on but thought little of it. He had no idea what danger he was in. After Ryan got away from the cab and closed the driver side door, Morris attached the hose and opened the valve to begin the flow of nitrogen. It wasn’t until after he saw Morris with the end of a hose walking toward the trunk of the cab and heard the incoming hiss of the nitrogen that Miguel thought to fight. He turned to lay down on the seat.
If I give the window or door a couple of good kicks I might be able to force the door open.
When he saw Miguel kicking the door, Morris felt a sense of relief. The extra exertion would quickly deplete Miguel’s blood oxygen. After 2 minutes, Miguel’s head dropped to the seat. He looked unconscious.
The gurney was already in place. Morris had Ryan stand away from the cab door grasping the harness Morris had put around Miguel’s chest to help him slide Miguel onto the gurney. With Miguel on the gurney, Morris strapped him down and put the oxygen mask on him. By the time he had rolled the gurney into the processing room Miguel had started regaining consciousness. After making sure the straps were tight enough, Morris put a monitor, gag, hearing protectors, and blindfold on. All the vitals seemed to be normal.
Back on the floor he shutoff the nitrogen, opened the cab’s doors, and signaled Ryan to come to the office. The monitor didn’t seem to be getting a good signal. Morris turned to Ryan,
“I need to go check the monitor a second. I’m not getting a good signal. Come back on the garage floor with me.”
Back in the processing room he checked the signal repeater and found a loose coax connector.
That’s the problem.
There. Should be fine now.
Back in the office, he confirmed that he was getting a good signal, took out four neatly packaged bundles of 10,000 dollars, and handed them to Ryan.
“Well, you got yourself a good pay day.”
Ryan responded,
“Do you pay this much to Jeff when he makes a capture?”
Morris replied, “That is really not your business.
“But I will tell you that I pay Jeff a lot less for a single capture.
“That’s because there are more costs for the packages he collects and I can’t pay more.”
Ryan felt a sense of satisfaction.
Maybe Jeff gets more total money but I get more per capture.
“Well, I need to get on with my part of the program.
“I need for you to wait at least a day for me to deal with this one you just brought in.
“I will signal you to let you know when I’m ready.”
Ryan replied, “Okay. Thanks.”
Back on the floor, Morris took a look in the cab rear seat and gave Ryan the all clear.
As he watched Ryan’s cab leave and the exit door close he thought to himself,
Why did I give Ryan so much information?
We’ve worked together for years! That’s why.
And besides there is little that I told him that is important.
Oh well. What’s done is done. No real harm.
Back in the processing room he rolled up Miguel’s sleeve and started an IV.
Need to keep this guy hydrated and healthy.
At the processing room desk Morris went through Miguel’s bag and looked through the contacts on the cell.
Nothing to be alarmed about.
Should be able to get this guy gone tomorrow.
Need to get stats.
On the scale, he read the total.
Total is 560.
Less 300 for the gurney.
Net weight is 260.
That’s a big guy.
He check the blood pressure.
Blood pressure: 118 over 80.
Healthy too.
Back in the processing center office he sent an email to Esteban Garza with the package data and notification that he planned to ship tomorrow.
Morris woke up at his regular 530 am.
Time to check on my guest.
In the office he noted the monitor. All the vital signs seemed in line with normal readings. After a trip to the processing room and a visual inspection of Miguel he returned to the office to read emails.
Esteban had confirmed. Morris was happy that he only had the one guest to check on and that one would be going out today.
A call to the local airport.
“Hi Bill. This is Morris. I have a package to go out today. Chihuahua, Mexico. I aim to be there before 900. I’ll call if there are any changes.”
In the processing room he moved the gantry into position and attached the stretcher bar.
Miguel heard the sound of the crane. Once it was snugged up so that no slack remained Morris removed the gurney straps.
Miguel started kicking and trying to break free. It was no use.
Morris thought to himself.
You aren’t getting free, fool.
But if I was in your position, I would fight like hell too.
If you knew what was happening you would fight to the death.
Which is what will probably happen to you after you arrive at your destination.
Once in position over the crate Morris attached the restraints on the crate to the cuffs and lowered Miguel into the crate. He was happy that he had gotten the self-retracting restraints for the crate. The locking ratchet action allowed them to take up slack in one direction while preventing any slackening in the other. After removing the stretcher bar he disconnected the cuffs. Time to remove the gag. After making sure the inner and outer processing room doors were closed and donning his hearing protectors he removed the gag.
Miguel let loose at the top of his lungs.
“You mother fuckers. I’m gonna stomp a hole in your ass and piss in it.”
Miguel continued but since Morris had his hearing protectors on he could barely hear any sound coming out of Miguel’s mouth. About the only thing coming out of Miguel that he was aware of was his spit as he continued to rant and tell Morris what he was going to do to him. If he ever got a chance. Once the crate had been closed. Morris removed his hearing protectors. He wondered if Miguel was still screaming. Using a stethoscope he probed a little and thought he could hear some muffled sounds coming from the crate. With hearing protectors back in place he opened the crate and added a layer of sound proofing insulation to the top of the crate.
After closing the crate the second time and checking he couldn’t hear a thing. No muffled sounds. Nothing.
Time to lock up.
After backing the hearse to the processing room double doors and loading Miguel’s crate it was time to get Miguel to the airport for his trip.
815 am. Plenty of time.
20 minutes later he was at the airport. Another 5 minutes and the package was loaded. With the engines running smoothly Morris wondered to himself if the packages could feel or hear anything while in the crate.
Likely not. If you can’t hear them they probably can’t hear from the outside.
With the insulation in the crate they are cushioned but they may feel some vibrations.
Next time they feel or hear anything they will be delivered to their destination.
I wonder if they feel delivered or deliverance.
Back at the processing room a clean-up of the gurney, a trip to the incinerator, and it was time for a little relaxation.
I think I’ll go to the island and have lunch.
With a stuffed oysters and shrimp poor boy, fries, and a cold beer he took a seat at the table with the big umbrella where Jeff, Edie, and Sherry had enjoyed their lunch.
Morris finally had some time to think about something other than filling an order.
The business is going well but it’s not as much fun as it was.
I have more money than I will ever spend.
Maybe I’ll retire. If I can get away with it.
I wouldn’t need to sell anything. All that is here is a stuff.
If someone can figure out what it’s all for then good for them.
Just destroy all evidence of the business and leave everything else.
Fuck it!
Over a second beer, he called Ryan.
“You can get going to fill the other order.”
“I’m not at the processing center right now but I should be there after 6.”
“Happy hunting.”
Ryan waited until after 530.
Okay.
I am looking for an athletic male but no height or weight specified.
Size isn’t important.
It was getting close to 730 and he thought that tonight he would come up empty. Just as he was about to call off the hunt, he saw Oliver walking by himself out of the fitness center. He looked to be about 5 feet 6 or 7. Not heavy. He was carrying a racket ball case and walked with a bit of spirit and spring in his step. Ryan pulled up to the curb next to Oliver before Oliver had even raised his hand. After entering the cab and taking a seat Oliver told Ryan to take him to the Lincoln hotel located close to the docks. Oliver had put on his headphones and was tapping his leg keeping time to the music. Ryan turned the volume down on the radio and asked him if he wanted him to close the window. Oliver told him to do whatever he wanted, he was having a good day, and expected to be having a great evening. Ryan knew that a lot of prostitutes hung around the docks and he expected that the guy was planning to spend some time inside some whore tonight. With the window shut he headed for the processing center entry gate. Oliver was indeed having a good day. He had closed on a big deal, won his racket ball match handily, and expected to get a good piece of ass tonight. Traffic was a little heavier than it had been on Monday night.
3 blocks from the center.
Estimate arrival at the processing center in less than 2 minutes.
The guy wasn’t using the cell phone but Ryan followed procedure and activated the mobile jammer. With less than 1 block to go, he pressed the button to signal Morris.
Green light. Yay!
Entry gate’s opening.
Turn left.
Drive into the wire cage.
Get out of the cab.
Close the cab door.
Oliver saw that they had entered a garage of some sort. He wanted to get going and didn’t want to deal with some stupid cab driver’s maintenance problems. If necessary he would get them to call a different cab for him.
After all, I am the customer.
If they don’t do what I want I will complain and won’t give them a tip.
I wonder why that guy has a mask on.
Oliver still had the headphones on tapping his leg and didn’t hear the nitrogen as it flowed into the cab. He knocked on the window.
No response. I wonder if that idiot realizes I’m here.
He hit the window again. The oxygen concentration was already less than 17 percent and dropping fast. He hit the window again. Morris thought to himself.
Keep hitting that window, you idiot.
After another 90 seconds, Oliver slumped over with his head on his chest.
Time to move Mr. Meathead.
After opening the cab door and strapping him down, Morris gave him oxygen and wheeled him into the processing room. The nitrogen had been flowing at full capacity for over 5 minutes; oxygen concentration was so low that oxygen was below a detectable limit. After the usual set up to make his guest secure if not comfortable, Morris went to the garage floor.
Ryan had already leaned into the back seat to move Oliver’s things to the cart. The same type of autonomic reflex that caused Miguel’s and Oliver’s blood oxygen to rapidly drop when the effect of breathing nitrogen was detected caused Ryan’s blood oxygen level to shoot down at an even faster rate. Less than 10 seconds after leaning into the rear seat he lost consciousness and collapsed onto the rear seat.
The procedures Morris developed called for him to keep his mask on and breathing air flowing until he stopped the nitrogen flow, opened all of the cab doors, and let the atmosphere in the cab return to a safe level. When he saw what had happened he pulled Ryan out of the rear seat onto the garage floor, slammed the cab door, removed his mask, and put it over Ryan’s mouth and nose. As soon as he saw that Ryan was regaining consciousness he closed the valve on the nitrogen and made sure Ryan’s breathing and vitals were recovering. Morris was angry and he let Ryan know it.
“The procedure is for you not to go near the cab until I give you the all clear.
“I got the air on you quick enough so it is likely that there is no brain damage.
“If I hadn’t seen you and moved you away you could be dead right now.
“You will probably have a headache for a while.
“Maybe it will drive home the point about how important it is when dealing with nitrogen to follow the safeguards and stick with the procedure. “
Ryan apologized.
“I had no idea how powerful and fast that stuff is.
“I promise to not deviate from the procedure again.”
“I hope not. I would hate to have your body to get rid of.”
“Aw man! I didn’t know we were that close.”
“Look! I am not joking! Next time you pull that crap I may not get to you in time or I may just let your stupid smart aleck ass die of your own stupidity and hard headedness. There are few people that know what to do to save you from death or permanent brain damage.
“I have told you more than once that nitrogen is not something to play with. But maybe you need reminding and I will do that once.
“It is a leading cause of industrial accidents. Part of the reason is that people can’t smell it, they can’t see it, and the body’s own response once lower blood oxygen concentration is detected by the body is to breathe faster which causes the rate at which the effect gets worse to accelerate.
“To make sure you’re okay you should probably plan to spend the night here at the processing center with a monitor on you.
“While I check on my new guest, get out the day bed and set up the monitor stand next to it. After you do that wait for me outside the office and I will give you your money after I check on my new guest.”
Morris went to check on Oliver in the processing room. The IV was going. He would stay hydrated and nourished all night. In the office, Morris noted the readings on Oliver’s monitor.
All good.
Ryan had come into the office.
“Here’s your 30,000.”
“I thank you. And it’s what we agreed on. But would you mind telling me why the last guy was 40,000 and this guy is 30,000?”
“It’s supply and demand. There aren’t that many as big and athletic as the 40,000 guy.
“Guys like this one are pretty common even though they think they are a special gift to the world.
“This guy will probably be a prey animal to be hunted and killed. Nothing too athletic about it except being able to run fast for a long time before they are hunted down and killed. I imagine that the people doing the hunting will be using bows or spears. Maybe dogs. Something slow and entertaining. Guns would be too quick. If the guy was only to be used as a target your cut would be a lot less. Not too much required for someone to just stand there and get shot.
“The other guy is probably going to be a gladiator.
“That’s the reason for the spec being for a bigger guy.
“He needs to be strong to survive in the pit.
“The client plans to use the bigger guy for fighting. Kind of like cock or dog fighting.
“Both these guys are destined for death and it won’t be from old age.”
Ryan thanked Morris for saving him from dying. Morris blew it off.
“Don’t mention it.
“But you really scared me.
“Now I need to get some rest.”
After helping Ryan set up his monitor and making sure he was getting a good signal in the office he turned out all lights and got into bed at his usual 930 time.
530 the next morning he was up.
Ryan’s monitor indicated everything to be okay.
A check of his guest’s monitor showed his pulse to be up a bit.
Other vitals are okay. He’s probably a little scared.
On the garage floor Morris turned on the lights over the day bed.
“Time to wake up sleeping beauty.
“I have a good number of things to do so I need you to leave now.”
“Okay. Thanks again for taking care of me.”
Morris took a look in the cab rear seat and gave Ryan the all clear.
As he watched Ryan’s cab leave and the exit door close he thought to himself,
That was close.
I probably need to get a spare oxygen supply and keep it next to the cage.
And maybe a remote cut off for the nitrogen.
Or maybe next time, I put Ryan in a crate and ship his ass off.
After sending an email to Indio in Nicaragua to let him know that he would be shipping the package today he went about getting Oliver ready for his one way trip.
Morris congratulated himself for setting things up so well.
The cuffs and crane made it easy to load these guys.
With the help of these machines and equipment, I can do this stuff myself.
After a call to the Redville airport he loaded Oliver’s crate.
On the way back after Oliver had been shipped he decided to take the rest of the day off. Back at the crab burger shop on the island he saw that Jeff was sitting by himself at an outside table. Jeff saw Morris and signaled for him to come over. He thought that this might be a good time to ask Morris if he could talk to him sometime about his future. After talking a seat at the table with Jeff, Morris broke the silence.
“I like your choice in restaurants. This is one of my favorites in the area.”
“It’s one of my favorites too.”
They continued to carry on a conversation about what other restaurants in the area they liked, the weather, and the upcoming storm season. Jeff wanted to somehow move the conversation to asking Morris if he might be willing to advise him. He decided a tricky approach wouldn’t work with Morris. Morris was way too wily for that and it might piss him off. He decided a direct approach would have the highest chance of success and decided to just jump in.
“I’ve been thinking about my future. Working with you has provided me with a good amount of money but I think I need to look beyond now and to the future.”
“I think that’s a smart thing to do. I don’t intend for this business to continue much longer. Do you have any ideas about how to go about it?”
“I think it would be good for me to get advice from someone I admire and respect. I just don’t know exactly how to ask without offending someone.”
“When I was about your age, I went through the same thing. What I found out and what I still believe is the best approach is to just be direct and honest. If it’s really someone you admire then they are probably wise enough to know if they are being played.”
“Thanks. What if the person I admire and would like to get advice from was you?”
“We have been working together for years. Sometimes you can be a bit of a pest but I chalk that up to curiosity and a willingness to learn. I am not so busy on all days to not be able to break some time out. So I would certainly be willing and even glad to help you out.”
“Wow! I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Why don’t you start by thinking about what you want your future to be and what you are willing to do to achieve that? A lot of people will say they want this or that. But they are unwilling to do much to get it. I expect that they still believe in the tooth fairy and Santa.”
Jeff asked Morris, “Do you want another beer?”
“Yes I would.”
As Jeff was getting some beers, Morris thought to himself.
Jeff seems to be at least interested in moving forward.
I’ll help for sure.
I don’t know if I should or how to let Jeff know what our history is.
Maybe in time.
But I am running out of time.
I wonder if he even suspects.
It would a surprise for him not to wonder sometimes.