“For a job? And now you can’t leave?” I repeated in English, hoping I understood her correctly, and Diwa nodded again. I switched back to Tagalog for my next question. “Magnakaw pasaporte?”
“Yes,” Diwa said, confirming that they had taken her passport.
“Magbigay pera?” I was asking if they were paying her. Diwa nodded, but with two fingers, she indicated a small amount, raising her eyebrows at me meaningfully.
I was about to ask her something else, but suddenly, I heard someone shouting in the distance, and what sounded like banging. The women around us seemed to hear it, too, and they became agitated, talking to each other in clipped, fast paced tones as they continually glanced at the door. They never stopped working, though, even as they panicked.
“What’s going on?” I tried to ask Diwa, but she just shook her head at me, her eyes wide with fear. I watched as she glanced around, then grabbed a bottle of bleach from a shelf and shoved it into my hands, gesturing for me to hold it.
I still didn’t know what was going on, and I was starting to get frustrated. I tried listening to the other women, but many of the words were ones I didn’t yet know, and the fast way they were talking didn’t help, either.
“Can you tell what they’re saying?” Harper whispered to me, putting down the laundry she’d been working on.
“A little bit,” I answered her. “I think they said something about a man.”
It didn’t take long to discover what, or rather who, they were afraid of. As I continued trying to listen to the women around me and find out what was happening, the door suddenly flew open, and a tall, muscular man holding some type of weapon was glaring at us from the doorway. He smacked one of the washing machines with the weapon, the sound splitting our ears and making everyone jump. He glanced around the room, his eyes narrow as he assessed each person in the room.
“Why no work?” he shouted in an accent I couldn’t identify. I was confused, though, because most of the women were still working, or were at least pretending to. In fact, Harper and I were the only ones who weren’t actively doing something productive, since we’d been too worried about what was happening. Of course, that turned us into the man’s targets. When he noticed Harper and me, he strolled over to us, and the women in his way moved quickly, as if the Red Sea was parting just for him.
“Why no work?” he said again, his voice quieter that time, but somehow more menacing.
“We are working!” I said nervously. “I was just grabbing some bleach for a stain, see?” I held the bottle up for him. Then, he glanced behind me at Harper, who truly wasn’t working, and didn’t have anything in her hands to explain herself. My stomach twisted in knots as I realized that she was about to become the target of his abuse. As I expected, he took a step towards her, but I moved as well, trying to block him. “Wait. She’s working, too. She was about to hand me the sheet with the stain on it, so that I could put bleach on it.”
“Then where is sheet?” the man asked.
I watched from the corner of my eye as Harper began digging through the laundry basket next to her, searching for a stain. She quickly found one, even though it was a small spot, and handed it to him. He seemed to study it for a moment.
“See?” I prompted when he didn’t say anything.
“This is lie,” the man said, looking at Harper. “You will be punished.”
“No, wait. Don’t punish her. I’m the one who lied. Punish me,” I said, once again blocking his path towards my friend.
He studied Harper and me for a few tense seconds, his eyes darting between us, then shook his head. “You are new. Max has rules about new women. I will not punish today,” he said, and I almost collapsed with relief. “But I will not go easy next time. You must not lie. Only work.” Then he left, grumbling something to the other women in what sounded like Tagalog as he walked out the door.
“Oh, my God, Kassidy. He was going to punish me! Why did you offer to take my place?” Harper asked once the man was gone, her eyes filled with unshed tears.
“It’s my fault you’re here. Protecting you is my responsibility,” I said.
“No. We protect each other,” Harper argued. “We have to work together. Otherwise, we won’t get through this.”
I turned back to the laundry without responding, unwilling to be caught not working again. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten out of punishment for a second time. My hands were shaking from fear, though, and as I opened a heavy bottle of bleach, the ship tilted a tiny bit, and I spilled the chemical all over my arm. It felt like my skin was on fire, and I dropped the container with a scream.
“Oh, no,” Kassidy said, grabbing my hand and looking around the room. “There’s no running water in here.”
Diwa and some of the other women joined us. They handed Harper a damp towel from the washing machine, and gestured for her to wipe the bleach from my skin.
“This isn’t as good as rinsing it under a sink,” Harper said. “If we go out into the hallway, do you think someone will let us find a sink to wash your arm off?”
“You really think they care if my skin is burned?” I asked. “As long as I can still work or be used for ‘companionship,’ it doesn’t matter how healthy I am.”
“Surely someone out there will help you,” she disagreed.
“I think your definition of help and mine are very different,” I said. “Just give me the towel and I’ll take care of myself.”
“You at least need something to put on the burn, and a pain killer. Let me ask for a doctor.”
“Why aren’t you getting this?” I snapped as I grabbed the towel from her. “They. Don’t. Care. If. I’m. Hurt.”
“But—,” Harper said. I turned away from her, done with the conversation.
It hit me just how ironic it was that I was arguing with Harper, of all people. She was the sweetest person in the world, and could get along with anyone. But now that I was in danger, now that my defenses were back up again and my argumentative side had reappeared like a shield, even Harper wasn’t safe from my hostility.
35
EVAN
Tex was a huge help to us as we tried to get Kassidy and Harper back, reaching out to his contacts and calling in markers to get a rescue operation approved. It took some time for Tex to work everything out, but once he got the green light for the mission, Nolan, Knox, Ally, and I traveled to Naval Station Norfolk to help plan Kassidy and Harper’s rescue.
Once we arrived at the Naval Base, the Admiral greeted us personally, then escorted us to a conference room. Several men were already seated at the table.
“Gentlemen, meet the Coast Guard and SEAL team members who will be running this operation,” the Admiral said when we were seated.
Once introductions were done, we were ready to discuss ideas and logistics so that the operation plan could be cemented. As I’d expected, they were excellent at their jobs, and, by bouncing ideas off of each other, they quickly came up with a plan of action. They only needed a minimal amount of input from us, mostly what Knox, Ally, and I had seen while we’d been on the cruise.