Might want to talk to the local authorities to see if a guard is needed.
That’ll be hard to do with so many women.
Right, and they won’t be particularly worried about it because they’ll think everybody in town is safe now.
“Damn!” Jerricho said, as he closed the chat window with Diesel. He looked up to see Killian come out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his hips and another scrubbing his hair to dry it off. Obviously he’d chosen a shower first after all. “Diesel is a little worried that we’re not safe even yet.”
Killian nodded. “Yeah, I was considering that,” he said. “I won’t be happy until we get ours back home again.”
“I sure hope none of the women are taken again,” he said. “I think they’ve all been through enough.”
“Yeah, we don’t have any way to guarantee that. It’s not a very stable situation here.”
“And, even with consulates, I wonder if they would help everybody to get home.”
“I would hope so, but it might also be a case of having to buy your way.”
“In which case, most of these women won’t have the money needed.”
Killian thought about that for a long moment and nodded. “We might have to help them.”
Jerricho winced at that. “I really don’t want to take nine months to travel around and deliver people to their homes.”
Killian burst out laughing. “I was thinking more of the money issue. Making sure that we pay the right people to get them onto the right flights.”
“Could cost a fair bunch of money,” he said.
“I know, but, if any of them were my sister, I would want somebody to step up and to help.”
Jerricho quickly pulled out his phone and sent Diesel a message, asking if there was any money to help the women.
Diesel came back with Maybe. Let me check into it.
Jerricho nodded and said, “There’s a good chance we can do something.”
“That’s why I like this outfit,” Killian said, with a smile. “They’re not just about the mission and the end of that goal but about the end result. In this case, these women need to go home.”
“And thirty-eight of them is thirty-eight flights so already a bunch of money.”
“Some of them might drag up some support, but the others?” he said. “The consulates and the countries might help.”
“Maybe, if we can get people to step up.”
“It’s always that problem, isn’t it?” Killian said in an amusing voice. “We can only do so much. We can only take people to water, but they still have to step up and help a little more than normal.”
“I suggest we go find law enforcement, or what passes for law here, and see what help they’ll provide for these women.”
On that note, Killian quickly redressed in his least-dirty jeans and his not-as-dirty T-shirt and said, “We need to do laundry overnight.”
“I was considering just asking for a change of clothes as well.”
“Then order me a set too.”
With that, he sent Diesel a quick text and said they were going to check out law enforcement. They locked up the hotel room and headed downstairs. As they got to the main lobby, there was a commotion with so many women standing in the center. Jerricho walked over, finding Jessie in the middle of it. “What’s going on?”
She looked at him with relief. “The law enforcement doesn’t appear to want to help some of these women get back home again.”
“That’s what we’re just coming to check about,” he said. “Who’ll have trouble getting home?”
“Some of the women live a long way away,” Jessie said. “And the flights are expensive, and they don’t have the money.”
“Of course not,” Jerricho said. He frowned and looked at Killian. “I left a bundle of cash I took off the pirate leader with the captain for the two families of the men who were killed by those pirates,” he said, “but, if we find anybody here who’s connected to the kidnapping ring or the pirates, I suggest we take whatever money they’ve gotten to help these women.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Killian said, “but we don’t know for sure anybody connected is even here.”
“They’ll be here,” he said. He looked at Jessie and said, “We’ll go talk to law enforcement to see what we can come up with.”
She nodded and quickly turned to one of the women beside her. The word passed through the group quickly, and they all turned to look at him with hope.
He held up a hand. “We can only try.”
At that, the women all nodded, although he doubted very many actually understood what he said. But, on that note, they headed out onto the main street and, using their GPS, managed to make their way to local law enforcement office, and they stepped inside.
As soon as they entered the building, Jerricho asked for a translator. Giving his name, several men stepped forward and helped. Very quickly they understood that the hotel itself would have a guard stationed in the lobby, but that was it. They were doing their best to help the women, four of whom were still in the hospital, as it was easier to keep them there under another guard than the bulk of the women who were in the hotel.
The authorities were already contacting consulates in several countries and were busy making arrangements for the women who could leave. Apparently twenty-four of them could be easily moved out and would be doing so in the morning, after they had had a chance to recover and to rest. Out of the other twelve—not counting Jessie and Brenna—two in the hospital would need a little bit more care, and that left ten, who they were still struggling with. He looked at Killian. “Twelve is not bad.”
“Twelve is fine,” Jerricho said, and it took a little bit to sort through costs to get the women home, who could pay for it, who could help these other women, and when could they actually get out. And very quickly, with Jerricho’s and Killian’s assistance, they had flights booked for the women and contact information for them at the hotel.
The police station contacted individually all twelve, knowing the two in the hospital would be flown home later. For the other ten, by the time all their flights were booked and they had a chance to call people at home, already several hours had gone by.
Jerricho looked down at his watch, frowned, and said, “I need food.”
“I agree,” Killian said. “Shall we head back to the hotel?”
He thought about it and said, “I guess. Still feels a bit odd.”
“Yes,” he said, “but it’s what we need to do next.”
The men were forking over the money themselves, and the local authorities looked confused. The cops had initially been delighted that it wouldn’t fall on them. But, when it came out of Jerricho’s and Killian’s own accounts and credit cards—faster than Diesel wiring the money—the local cops looked more than stunned and confused, as to why these American guys would even bother.
Once the authorities had all the info they needed from the women, they were all sent back to the hotel to await their flights.
As they walked out, Killian said, “it sucks in a world where the women have so little value that helping them out is considered to be a shocking thing.”