Stacy Matthews - Dear Mary 01 - Think Twice Before You Order by Stacy Matthews Page B

needed Tatiana’s
cooperation. Since the only people that really knew about it where Charlie, me,
and Mark they were trying to keep it as low key as they could. Mark was only
talking to the higher ups in his department. What do you do?
    Besides, the hospital wasn’t going to let me out until I
could complete a series of tests. A very nice woman came by and gave me the
first shot at taking these tests. Now I’ve always been very good at tests but
this was more motor function than true or false. There were ten tests in all
and I could only do five. They won’t discharge you until you can do at least
eight of them by yourself. Most of them had to do with balance. I wanted to get
out of there more than anything, but I have to admit my balance was off more
than just a tad. It took another two days to get my score up to a nine and I
got to go home. By that time they had moved Tatiana to a safe house, and no
they weren’t just talking about getting her away from me. I told Charlie I
didn’t really care where she was I just wanted to concentrate on Grandpa’s
funeral.
    When I got home I called the funeral home and went over the
arrangements. It was a lovely service. I think everyone in town showed up at
the funeral home and then back at the house. There was enough food to feed a
third world country, and enough leftovers that I won’t have to cook for a
month. After they had all left I realized I was really alone. No parents, no
other blood family, just me. That’s going to take some getting used to.
    Charlie came over the day after the funeral to check on me.
After he got through the barrage of questions Mrs. Houtz and Mrs. Berger had
for him, they finally let him back to see me. I asked him if they had gotten
any more information from Tatiana. She had told them this particular “Mail
Order Bride” agency was nothing but a scam. She was from Russia but she hadn’t
been back to that country in ten years. She and some of the other women had
answered an ad in the newspaper that promised a new and better life in the
United States.
    Charlie said from what Mark could understand this “company”
had told the women, about ten to fifteen, he had gotten a lucrative modeling
contract with a company in the U.S. She said looking back they were all so
anxious to get out of Russia they didn’t stop to think why this agency in
America didn’t get the models from the states. They all signed their contracts,
packed their clothes and jumped on the plane that was to take them to their
freedom. Once at the airport a man named Tyler Moran met them. She said he was
cordial to all of the women, asking each of them if they needed anything before
the flight. It was a chartered flight. Moran and the other women were they only
ones on the plane. Once they landed they were handed their luggage and got into
the waiting van. It was then he informed them the modeling company had backed
out. He told tell them they were in debt to the company to the tune of fifty
thousand dollars apiece. He said they would have to work off the debt and he
would explain how they could do that when they got to the townhouse.
    Tatiana said there were ten women that came over with her.
Once they were at the townhouse and settled, Moran had everyone gather in the
living room. That’s when he lowered the boom on them. He said they owed the
company so much money they would all have to stay here and do what they were
told, and to make sure they would stay put there would be a couple of his guys
there day and night to make sure none of them tried to leave or contact any of
their family. He told them the company had come up with a way that would let
the women work off the fifty thousand and save some money. He told them about
the mail order bride scam they had come up with.
    Moran would pick out a man, the target, for each of them and
they were to strike up a relationship with this man. If everything went
according to the plan they would marry him. Tatiana said each of the