CHAPTER NINE

"This girl is going to need more care than we can provide," said Ashley. "She's grown up with no knowledge of anything outside of the hell she was living in. She can't read or write, she's never seen a television or radio, she's never read a newspaper or book."

Nine looked at Kelsy and the other women.

"When you helped her to bathe, what is her physical condition?"

"Like I told Dad," said Kelsey, "it's some of the worst damage I've ever seen. That's only the outside. I didn't dare attempt to do a pelvic exam. Not here. I asked her. I asked her if she would let me look at her, down there. I tried to explain what I was going to do, and she thought I'd paid for her. She thought I was going to touch her like those men did."

"Jesus," muttered Wilson. "She said she swam to that lifeboat. Swimming through an ocean with coral reefs, sharks, jellyfish, everything, isn't something for the faint of heart."

"Wilson, she had no clue what was out there. In this case, her ignorance was her friend," said Faith. "She didn't know what a shark was or a coral reef. She said she'd learned to swim in the water by where they kept her. They were allowed to wash off every few days in the water."

"That's helpful information to pass along to Trak. That means where they are held is near the water, a lake or maybe even the ocean," said Ian. Erin came down the steps, looking exhausted as she fell into Nine's arms.

"She's asleep. She spent ten minutes turning the lamp on and off. She didn't know what it was like to have light when she slept. She's never slept on a mattress before."

"That means she may have trouble if there's a lot of noise around her," said Wilson. "We'll need to be careful if we take her back to Belle Fleur."

"If? We have no choice now," said Faith. "We took that woman from the hospital and assumed care for her. We may not be the most qualified, but she is our responsibility now. She wouldn't survive out there on her own."

"When we brought her out of the hospital," said Ghost, "she wasn't afraid of the car. She's seen cars before."

"That makes sense," said Ashley. "The men would have driven to their location in a car or in a taxi of some sort."

"Kels, Ashley? What's your opinion? Should we bring her back to Belle Fleur tomorrow or stay here? Or should we take her back to the hospital?" Kelsey looked at Ashley, nodding at her to give her opinion based on the girl's psychological state.

"I think we have to take her with us, but she's going to struggle with all the people. She has no social skills at all."

"Maybe being around Irene and Matthew will make a difference," said Wilson. "We all know that they're special. I think we try."

"I'm in favor of that as well," said Ian.

"Same," said Gaspar.

"Okay. Let's do what we promised her tomorrow. We'll take her to get her nails done, buy her some clothing and other things. This will give her the chance to see what the world is like out there."

"I'll go with you in case she panics about anything," said Wilson.

"Honey, I don't think this is a girl who will panic. Do you remember when Winter came? Her emotions were so suppressed she couldn't even scream on her own. Mama Irene had to coax that out of her. I think April is even worse. She doesn't know what that looks like. She has been trained not to scream, cry, fight, or anything. The world out there may terrify her, but we will have to look closely for the terror," said Erin.

"Everyone still awake?" asked Ace.

"We're here, brother," said Ghost. "What do you have?"

"Nine years ago, the Navy was doing a joint training operation with Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia. It was the typical exercise of rescuing ships at sea, finding men who were lost, blowing shit up, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like fun," smirked Nine.

"It was until they had to plant targets on a remote island, two hundred and twelve miles from the Philippines. They found a cave that had the bones of an estimated ninety-seven men. No women at all. Only men. The bones were taken to a laboratory to be examined, and they were a mix of ethnic backgrounds. Through DNA, more than thirty were identified as POWs."

"Shit. No one was alive?" asked Nine.

"No one. But that gives us a place to start. They might have been keeping POWs and moving them if they thought the island had been discovered. I'm sending the coordinates of the island to Trak and the others. While they're out there, they can check it out."

"Nice work, Ace," said Ghost. "Listen, I know this is a shot in the dark, but any reported missing women in the area?"

"You're joking, right? They're not exactly concerned about missing women in their area. Kids, women, all go missing all the time. No one reports it. No one seems to care unless someone sticks their big fat American nose into it. We were the last ones to find missing kids there. Us!"

"Okay, okay, Ace. I get it," said Gaspar. He could hear the man's breathing and wondered if this had triggered his own childhood trauma. "Are you okay, brother?"

"I'm good. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get angry. I know what that girl went through. I know what it's like to be told not to cry or scream and what would happen to you. They're playing mind games with these women."

"You have a right to get angry, Ace. We all do," said Ghost. "This is the kind of shit that shouldn't be tolerated anywhere. Someone knows about this. Someone is allowing this to happen."

"We're talking about POWs and young women, seemingly not connected at all, yet our girl was connected to them," said Nine. "She was brought to an island where those men are located. If we spook them, they're going to move them or kill them, and we'll be right back where we started. I just hope Trak and the others can use some tact."

All eyes turned to stare at Nine as if he'd lost his mind. Erin kissed her husband, standing to go upstairs.

"I love your optimism and delusional beliefs, but Trak isn't a man who understands tact in situations like this at all. Neither are Jean, Whiskey, and Rory. We'll be hearing about it on the news. One way or another."

Erin went upstairs with the other women, all checking in on their young patient. Kelsey and Ashley took the room across the hall so that they could hear her if she got up. The others went to their assigned rooms. Ghost followed them until they were gone.

"What do you think?" he asked the others. Gaspar shrugged.

"I think she's absolutely right. The four of them are about to make headlines."