to remain impassive as he typed, but certain
sentences continued to jump out at him:
“ He made me beg for food…”
“ Spanked me repeatedly…”
“… forced me to come.”
His report was reading
more like an erotic novel than a case file. His mind was beginning to wander again, this time toward his
last girlfriend, the one who couldn’t come unless he called her a
whore. He was starting to get hard again— Stop!
He saved the file and decided to take a much
needed break from Olivia and her relatively useless memoir and
opened his browser to search for more information on Muhammad
Rafiq. He was the lynchpin of the entire investigation.
According to the witness, Caleb had reported
his involvement with Rafiq began because they needed to kill Vladek
Rostrovich, A.K.A. Demitri Balk.
“Why?” Matthew whispered to himself and then
remembered the comment about Rafiq’s mother and sister. Were they
dead?
Doesn’t matter, he thought. The important
thing was the auction, everything else was inconsequential. So why
couldn’t he get it out of his head? Why did the story seem
relevant? It was motive, sure, but how did it lead to the location
of the auction in Pakistan?
Matthew let out a deep sigh and got up to
pour himself another cup of coffee. He’d heard the local cops gripe
about the coffee on an almost daily basis, but unlike them, he
actually enjoyed the coffee in the office. It was likely true the
coffee machine had never been cleaned, but maybe the grit added
something. He smirked. Back at his desk he grabbed his notepad and
started digging through his notes to find a starting point for his
research.
Olivia’s jerk-off story
didn’t provide much of a jumping off point, but he did manage to
learn min-fadlik meant ‘please’ in Arabic. Caleb apparently spoke Arabic with
so much ease he used it in private. He would guess people typically
spoke their native tongue while alone and certainly while engaged
in that particular activity. Lord knew he’d never yelled out in
Mandarin while in the throes of ecstasy. Of course, he didn’t speak
Mandarin.
He flipped through more of
his notes and found Caleb also spoke Spanish and his English was
spoken with a strange accent, one characterized as “…a mix of
British, Arabic, and Persian… maybe on the Persian.” Matthew pulled out a map of
Pakistan and tried to narrow down an area with such a mix. It
seemed highly unlikely he would find it. Still, an accent meant
Caleb was either born or immersed long-term in an area where he’d
have heard those languages on a daily basis. Afghanistan, India,
and Iran all surrounded Pakistan and each of those would certainly
have similarities in demographics and social conventions. The Brits
obviously had influence in each mentioned country, but he knew
their influence would be more pervasive in India. Caleb was
obviously not Indian, and if he had grown up there, he would have
picked up the dialect.
He needed to narrow the list of possible
locations for the auction and he had little more than experience,
old case files, and the internet to work with. Pakistan was making
strides toward reducing or eliminating the number of human
trafficking crimes committed within their borders, but they were
very much a long way from succeeding in any way as to impact their
society or their politics. Slavery was very popular there, though
most of it came from an indentured work force made up of women and
children.
People were bought, sold, and rented in an
almost casual way in Pakistan and it was about time the U.S.
Government started to take notice and work with the U.N. to do
something about it. Matthew was not naïve; he knew the reason the
U.S. had decided to take point on the change throughout many Middle
Eastern regions had more to do with the resources abroad. Still, if
it meant less women and children were sold into sexual slavery or
bonded labor, then he was all for it. Oil and freedom for
everyone.
The Sindh and Punjab provinces
sentences continued to jump out at him:
“ He made me beg for food…”
“ Spanked me repeatedly…”
“… forced me to come.”
His report was reading
more like an erotic novel than a case file. His mind was beginning to wander again, this time toward his
last girlfriend, the one who couldn’t come unless he called her a
whore. He was starting to get hard again— Stop!
He saved the file and decided to take a much
needed break from Olivia and her relatively useless memoir and
opened his browser to search for more information on Muhammad
Rafiq. He was the lynchpin of the entire investigation.
According to the witness, Caleb had reported
his involvement with Rafiq began because they needed to kill Vladek
Rostrovich, A.K.A. Demitri Balk.
“Why?” Matthew whispered to himself and then
remembered the comment about Rafiq’s mother and sister. Were they
dead?
Doesn’t matter, he thought. The important
thing was the auction, everything else was inconsequential. So why
couldn’t he get it out of his head? Why did the story seem
relevant? It was motive, sure, but how did it lead to the location
of the auction in Pakistan?
Matthew let out a deep sigh and got up to
pour himself another cup of coffee. He’d heard the local cops gripe
about the coffee on an almost daily basis, but unlike them, he
actually enjoyed the coffee in the office. It was likely true the
coffee machine had never been cleaned, but maybe the grit added
something. He smirked. Back at his desk he grabbed his notepad and
started digging through his notes to find a starting point for his
research.
Olivia’s jerk-off story
didn’t provide much of a jumping off point, but he did manage to
learn min-fadlik meant ‘please’ in Arabic. Caleb apparently spoke Arabic with
so much ease he used it in private. He would guess people typically
spoke their native tongue while alone and certainly while engaged
in that particular activity. Lord knew he’d never yelled out in
Mandarin while in the throes of ecstasy. Of course, he didn’t speak
Mandarin.
He flipped through more of
his notes and found Caleb also spoke Spanish and his English was
spoken with a strange accent, one characterized as “…a mix of
British, Arabic, and Persian… maybe on the Persian.” Matthew pulled out a map of
Pakistan and tried to narrow down an area with such a mix. It
seemed highly unlikely he would find it. Still, an accent meant
Caleb was either born or immersed long-term in an area where he’d
have heard those languages on a daily basis. Afghanistan, India,
and Iran all surrounded Pakistan and each of those would certainly
have similarities in demographics and social conventions. The Brits
obviously had influence in each mentioned country, but he knew
their influence would be more pervasive in India. Caleb was
obviously not Indian, and if he had grown up there, he would have
picked up the dialect.
He needed to narrow the list of possible
locations for the auction and he had little more than experience,
old case files, and the internet to work with. Pakistan was making
strides toward reducing or eliminating the number of human
trafficking crimes committed within their borders, but they were
very much a long way from succeeding in any way as to impact their
society or their politics. Slavery was very popular there, though
most of it came from an indentured work force made up of women and
children.
People were bought, sold, and rented in an
almost casual way in Pakistan and it was about time the U.S.
Government started to take notice and work with the U.N. to do
something about it. Matthew was not naïve; he knew the reason the
U.S. had decided to take point on the change throughout many Middle
Eastern regions had more to do with the resources abroad. Still, if
it meant less women and children were sold into sexual slavery or
bonded labor, then he was all for it. Oil and freedom for
everyone.
The Sindh and Punjab provinces
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