Stealing Childhood Read online

  “That’s not it,” the agent said, “it’s personal.”

  Dan stopped. Jason and Mindy were nearby, so were other people from the plane who were still waiting for their luggage. “I don’t even know what this case is. But I do know that I can’t work with someone who won’t let me work.”

  “What’s wrong, Dad?” Jason asked.

  “Agent Rafsky, standing back there, won’t let us do our jobs, so we’re going home.”

  Jason glanced at the two men. “What’s this about?”

  The one on the left said, “They didn’t get off to a very good start.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Jason said.

  Mindy reached for her luggage, and Jason twisted around to help her, but he didn’t take his eyes off his dad or the two agents. Once her luggage was dragged off the carousel and onto the ground, he stood facing them again. He reached out and put a hand on his dad’s shoulder. “Let’s hear what’s up before we decide, okay? After all, we’re here now. And I, for one, don’t want to get back on a plane just yet.”

  Dan cocked his head, did a quick body scan, and turned around. Agent Rafsky had a cell phone to her ear. She looked concerned, but not upset. Talking with a family member. Dan wondered what was up with her. She seemed a different person at the moment. He pulled out his notebook and jotted down the differences in her personality. He needed to find out what that was about.

  “She likes working with a tight team,” the other agent said while Dan was writing.

  “She needs to loosen up,” Dan said, closing his notebook.

  “Let’s give her that chance,” Jason said.

  “All right. But I’m not promising anything. If she gets under my skin, I’ll go.”

  “You don’t need to threaten them,” Jason said. “They didn’t do anything.”

  Mindy, still standing next to Jason, said, “Got my bag.” She smiled and looked down at it. Then she reached out for Dan’s hand. “Thank you for making me feel safe.” She turned and gave Jason a hug. “You too. You were both very kind.” Afterward she stood there for an uncomfortable moment, then said, “Bye. I have to catch a cab.”

  “That was nice of her,” Jason said once she left.

  One of the agents thrust his hand toward Jason. “Agent Blake, and this is Agent Mercer. It’s nice to meet you.” Jason shook hands with each of them.

  “Yeah, yeah, everyone’s nice,” Dan said. He looked over his shoulder. “Except…”

  Jason turned around to retrieve their luggage. They had to pay for an additional bag filled with some of Dan’s paraphernalia. It came out last.

  Agent Blake and Agent Mercer helped out. Agent Rofsky walked over while they were pulling bags from the almost empty carousel. “Looks like you packed to stay,” she said.

  Jason said, “Drums, rattles, sacred—”

  “Tools,” Dan interrupted.

  Rafsky shook her head. “Woo-woo shit.” She turned to lead the way out. Each of the other agents rolled a piece of luggage behind her. Dan walked behind them all, assessing the situation.

  Once everything was loaded into the van, Agent Rafsky motioned for Dan and Jason to take a seat in the second row. She sat in front of them, while Agents Blake and Mercer sat in the two very front seats, Blake Driving. She pulled a small red-covered notebook from her pocket, pivoted around to face the two of them, and glared right into Dan’s eyes, aggressive and confident. “This job is important to me. I’m not crazy about having some woo-woo man interrupting a mission that I have under control.”

  “We understand,” Jason said before Dan could pipe in.

  Agent Rofsky shifted her gaze toward Jason, and he edged back into his seat. She addressed him harshly. “Who are you? His handler?”

  Dan had his own notebook out and wrote down red cover. He looked up again and told Rafsky that this was his son, Jason, and that they worked together.

  “I wasn’t told anything about him. I was told that you’re able to help, although I have no idea how,” she said. “I was never told about a partner. Does the agency know?”

  “You don’t have to know how I work or who I work with. And the agency is well aware of my methods.” Dan held up his hand just in case Jason planned to say something. “I’m okay with you not liking me, or not wanting my help, but you can’t dictate how I do my job or who I include. Not at any time.”

  Agent Rafsky’s eyes narrowed. “You know, about two million children are exploited sexually in the commercial sex trade?” Her gaze went deep and strong.

  Dan turned his head away for a moment.

  “Ninety eight percent of them are female,” she added.

  “Human rights violations,” Dan said, bringing his eyes back to meet hers. “I’m aware.”

  “Well, little Indian girls are exotic products. They have been for a very long time, and our government has avoided dealing with it properly for just as long, leaving it to the reservations.” She cocked her head. “They’re pulled right out of their homes, schools....”

  “Besides the jurisdiction problems, Indians are still being ignored in this country,” Dan agreed.

  “Always a problem,” she said. “There are over 560 federally-recognized tribes, and many more state recognized ones. They all operate differently than the US. They have their own ways. Most of the time, all that has to happen to muddy the waters is to remove the girl from the reservation, even into a different reservation. Whether you are a native or non-native matters in how you’re tried, what the government can and can’t do.”

  “What they will and won’t do, you mean,” Dan said. “When the fuck does the government realize that genocide was bad enough? To either help or get out of the way? Stop being so half-assed.”

  Jason reached a hand up and grabbed hold of the seatback near Agent Rafsky. He said, “You have to deal with different laws and integrate with the Native American culture, then?”

  “There is no Native American culture,” Dan said. “It’s cultures. You’re changing the subject.”

  Agent Rafsky relaxed her tone, but not her body. “He’s right. There are more challenges than can be overcome easily.” She looked down at her notes. “You have to understand these girls are poor, they’re often abused in their own families, some are homeless, drug addicts, and they’re biggest dream is to be treated nicely and with respect. They’re scared and they’re vulnerable.” She took a breath. “Not all of them, of course. I don’t mean to sound like that. Even if they have an idea of what they’re getting into, it seldom stops them from getting involved. And some, I suspect, go willingly.”

  Rafsky explained how they had to jump through hoops to get anything done, how the girls are totally uncooperative, and how tightly this particular operation seemed to be tied up legally. So much so that it might take years to unravel.

  “Something else?” Dan asked.

  “I don’t have the authority or permission to go in,” she said. Before he could ask his next question, she added, “The reasons are above my pay grade.”

  “They’re afraid the girls will be killed if you rush in.”

  She nodded. “It used to be many small-time dealings: a boyfriend pimps his girl out, a girl prostitutes herself for drug money, or to feed her own kids. Maybe she stays on the street, maybe she’s sold off. But this is an operation. Someone’s organized these low-lifes. When the girls get to be a hassle, they’re sold overseas. Exotic Native American skin trade.”

  For a moment, she turned her eyes away from him as though embarrassed, then she turned back with confidence again. Her lips tightened briefly before she spoke. “I’m told you have ways of getting in.”

  “Not like you might think,” Dan said. “So, how’s it all go down?”

  “The money is handled off-shore as you can expect. The deals are made using tablets held by proxies. Direct video feeds. It’s got to be traumatic. Even if we save one, she may never talk about it, she may never help us put the perpetrators away.” She turned to her side. “And she may go ba
ck.”

  “It’s all too shameful,” Dan said.

  “Exactly.”

  “They’ll just start over again,” Dan said.

  “Are you suggesting that what we’re doing is futile?”

  “No,” Jason cut in, “that’s not what he’s saying. Are you, Dad?”

  “Nothing is futile,” he said. “I just want you to know—the job’s never over.”

  Agent Rafsky, for the first time since they’d met, edged into a tiny smile. Her cheeks tightened just enough for Dan to notice.

  “How much internal information do you have?” he asked.

  “Koko,” she said.

  Dan cocked his head.

  “She’s around eighteen, been, well, involved for a while now. For some reason she escaped. She’s in our custody. We just picked her up.”

  “She’s legal,” Dan said.

  “I know.”

  “Will she talk with you? Has she?”

  “She trusts me. But she’s very fragile. She won’t even mention her boyfriend’s name, the man who set her up with these sleaze balls.”

  “If she escaped, then are they suspicious? Seems odd. Are the other girls in danger already?”

  “Not yet. But a second escape could cause a stir.” She raised her eyes to meet his. “A lot of these girls don’t want to escape, or don’t know how much danger and humiliation they’re facing.”

  “Any stirring could cause trouble,” Dan said with authority.

  Agent Rafsky nodded. “It would become very volatile. But I have a plan.”

  Chapter 4

  One lane of I5 was blocked off with heavier than normal traffic. What should have been a short trip to downtown Seattle took over an hour. Dan noted the holdup.

  Agent Rafsky’s temporary offices were in the Columbia Center, the tallest building west of the Mississippi with seven stories below ground and seventy-six above. The five of them traveled to the twenty-seventh floor, walked down a short hallway, and stood in front of a suite of offices labeled The Swan Group, all in relative silence. Agent Rafsky punched seven numbers into a keypad, and the door lock clicked. She pushed the door and let everyone enter.

  “Fancy digs,” Jason said.

  “Temporary,” Agent Rafsky said as though embarrassed by the comment. “Several groups work out of here, all with a different assignment.”

  “The water cooler conversations must be interesting,” Dan said.

  “We don’t talk with one another about our missions,” Agent Rafsky said.

  “That’s what I meant,” Dan told her.

  She scoffed and led them into a small office with windows on two sides overlooking the roofs of several shorter buildings. More buildings were going up, too. Men in hardhats scuttled around as though they knew what they were doing.

  Dan walked to the end of the room and turned around. “What are we supposed to do here?”

  “Relax for a short while. Would you like coffee, something to eat?” she asked.

  “I’m hungry,” Jason said over his shoulder while looking out at the view.

  “I’d like to see this girl you mentioned,” Dan said, “or go to a hotel room where I can actually relax.”

  Agent Rafsky turned to Agent Mercer. “Get their order. I’ll be back.” She jerked her chin toward Dan. “I’ll bring the girl a little later.” Then she left.

  There was a four-foot square, black plastic-topped table in the center of the room with four black plastic chairs around it. In two of the corners sat lounge chairs. Another, longer black-topped table sat against one inside wall and was equipped with a computer, printer, and router, as well as other desk utensils, stapler, tape dispenser.... Dan sat in one of the corner lounge chairs. Jason swung a plastic chair around and sat facing his dad.

  Agent Mercer cleared his throat. “Is there anything specific you’d like to eat?” He stood a few inches taller than Blake, good looking, blond hair, muscled under his suit.

  “Something light,” Dan said. “Soup and half a sandwich.”

  Jason smiled at Dan.

  “What?”

  Jason told Agent Mercer that they’d both like a ham and cheese club, “Mine a whole, his a half. And tomato soup would be good.”

  “Make mine clam chowder, New England if you can,” Dan said with a hint of defiance in his tone.

  “Be back in a few,” Agent Mercer said.

  “You thinking about Shari?” Jason asked. “You’re a bit pensive.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. Things have been a bit different lately.”

  “Different how?”

  “Me. Now that I’m doing more of this work, I don’t want to get her mixed up in it.”

  “I did notice that you got a sitter for the cats instead of asking her. Nonetheless, Shouldn’t it be her choice if she’s willing to be mixed up with this?”

  “Look what happened between me and your mother,” Dan said.

  “Not fair. Shari is not Mom.”

  “Still.”

  “Well, I don’t agree. I think Shari should be consulted if you’re feeling differently. You need to talk about it.”

  “God, why is it everyone thinks you have to talk about things all the damn time?”

  Jason laughed. “Because you should, that’s why. That’s what makes for a good relationship.”

  “You’re not even in a relationship.”

  “Don’t be rude. I dated Maria—”

  “The voodoo girl? Long distance? I’m not counting that.”

  “Fine, if you don’t want to listen…” Jason got up and walked to the window. He stared for a long time. “What do you think about all this?”

  “I’m pretty familiar with it. All we can do is chip away at the problem, maybe take down this larger group she’s talking about, but ending this sort of thing, the sex trafficking, the prostitution, it’s pretty much impossible. I’m not sure how much it’ll change anything in the long run.”

  “It’ll change some girls’ lives for now.”

  “And that’s what matters,” Dan said. “That’s what always matters. We were called here for a purpose, and we’ll have to find that purpose and do what we’re asked to do. But that’s all we can do.”

  “Pretty pragmatic, don’t you think?”

  “I have to be. You have to understand, we can’t save everyone.”

  “Doesn’t mean we can’t try.”

  “Want some advice?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “If you focus on the one thing you can save, you’ll most likely save it and change everything around it; but if you focus on trying to change everything, you’ll most likely lose the thing you came to save.”

  “Is that supposed to be sage advice?”

  “You don’t have to listen, Jason. You never have to.” Dan closed his eyes and took a breath.

  “You leaving, going into an altered state?”

  “No. Just resting, like Rafsky said.”

  After they ate and Agent Mercer cleaned up, Agent Rafsky came back into the room.

  Dan stood.

  She looked at him. “I’m going to bring Koko in to talk with you in a few minutes. I’m going to stay. When I say it’s over, it’s over. Is that understood?”

  “Only if I get the information I need,” Dan said.

  She shook her head. “No. She’s the only person we have right now. I know her and when I see that she’s too fragile, it stops. I don’t bring her in until you understand and agree.”

  Dan stared at her for a long time.

  Jason chimed in. “We agree.”

  Both Dan and Agent Rafsky looked at him.

  “Seriously?” he said. “You two want to spar all day?”

  “Fine,” Dan said, “I agree.”

  Agent Rafsky wore a smirk as she walked out of the office.

  “I can talk for myself,” Dan said to Jason once she was gone.

  “But you weren’t talking.”

  “I was testing her.”

  “Do you always have to test everyone.
Can’t you, once in your life, let things go?” Jason threw his hands in the air. “I mean, you talk about following the signs all the damn time, yet you get with people and you’re testing them, teaching them, or annoying them—often all three.”

  “The world speaks only truth to you. People always have an agenda. Always. She wants to control everything here and if we allow her to do that, we’ll never get this done. It won’t work. You know why, because it can’t work that way. We have to follow—”

  The door opened and agents Mercer and Blake walked in and stood on either side of the door. The next person through was a very attractive and well-dressed young woman, a little too much makeup, though. Her jet black hair circled her face and was cropped just below her shoulders. Behind her walked Agent Rafsky, who closed the door once inside.

  Jason’s eyes were wide as he stared.

  Dan stood up quickly and walked over to Koko. She looked familiar, but it could be her Native features. He’d once lived a long time with Indians. He introduced himself and Jason then held out his hand.

  She reached up tentatively, her eyes averted and looked down.

  Her grip felt cautious, weak, unsure.

  Dan sensed something wrong. He glanced at Agent Rafsky but got nothing. He stepped aside so that Jason could shake her hand as well. “Please sit down.” He guided her toward the corner chair he had been sitting in. “Would someone bring that other chair over for me.” He pointed to the second plush chair in the opposite corner. Agent Blake dragged it across the carpet. Dan sat directly in front of the girl knees to knees, not touching. She wore a tan blouse and matching skirt, several bracelets, a plane thin necklace, and rings on three fingers of her left hand. She wouldn’t look him in the eye—on purpose. She looked older than eighteen. “I’d like to ask a few questions if that’s all right?”

  Her voice was soft. “I’ve told them everything I could remember.”

  Dan smiled. He pulled out his small notebook and a pen and sat back in his chair, knowing that if he could relax at this distance it would help her to do the same. He did a body scan to check on her energy as well as his own. Hers was not as jittery as he expected. Instead it felt smooth and dry. That’s the word he wrote down anyway. Dry. The light from the tinted windows softened some of the harsh lines of her makeup.