Page 3 of Embedded
“Okay,” the young woman whispered when she came to a stop, “don’t freak out…” She pulled back a metal cover on the roof and revealed a skylight that let some of the warm sun in. It lit up the tiny space, and I blinked to let my eyes adjust then drew in a sharp breath as I looked around. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.” I saw at least seven girls huddled together who looked to have been through war and back. The angle of the light deepened the dark circles under the eyes. Their hair was wild, and I noticed none of them had shoes on. As a girl reached up to brush her hair back, I saw her hands, the nails bitten into stubs and bleeding. One girl was hunched over as if in pain. Her ankle looked purple and swollen.
“What’s going on?” My panic returned full force. “Were we just sold?” I hugged Chase a little tighter and felt the walls of the tiny tin room close in on me.
“We were hoping you could tell us that answer.” The young woman who had helped guide me behind the panel pushed back her long auburn hair and offered me her hand. “I’m Crystal.”
“You’re American?” Damn, they were barely out of high school.
“We all are.” She nodded at the others.
“I’m Nicole,” I told her.
Crystal handed me a bottle of water, and I wondered where she got it. “Please have a seat.” She offered me a pillow that, to my surprise, looked clean. I downed some water and tried to drip a little into Chase’s mouth, but it only made him cough.
“Thank you.” I tipped my head back and felt how sore my body was.
“Your baby’s sick?” one of the young girls asked. She had bangs cut super short straight across her forehead.
“Yes. I’m worried about him.” I kissed Chase’s feverish head and felt extremely protective over him. “He needs a doctor.” I tucked a bit of fabric over his face as I wondered how much trouble we were in. There was no way this could be good. We were all jammed in a hidden space at the back of a truck behind crates of fruit that Cartel killed farmers over.
“What’s your story?” Crystal asked.
“I’d like yours first.” I smiled at her. She seemed to have taken the lead among the group, as the others looked at her to speak first.
“She and I,” she pointed to another girl whose face was as pale as her hair, “were at a party in LA. One moment we were dancing and having fun, and the next we were grabbed by some guys. They injected us with some kind of drug and tied us up.” She swallowed and looked at the pale blonde. “That’s Cindy. She hasn’t been the same since.”
“Hi, Cindy,” I said softly and smiled at the girl but got no response. Her eyes were swollen like she had just had a breakdown. I would have done the same.
“We woke up inside some kind of trunk. They didn’t even give us food or water for like two days. We woke up in a truck.” She looked around. “It was smaller than this one. Then a couple of guys brought us to a tunnel where we met the rest of these girls.”
“It was in Yuma,” the girl with the bangs added. “I heard them say that. I’m Alexi.”
“Hi, Alexi. Did you hear anything else?”
“Yeah, a guy told me we were going to Mexico because we were now owned by someone else. Like we’d been sold or something.” Her eyes were wide and frightened. “We walked for what seemed like a day through that tunnel, and there wasn’t much light in there.” She shivered.
“When we came out the other side,” Crystal took over again, “there was this man who looked at us. He just nodded, and we were loaded into a really fancy car. They put bags over our heads so we couldn’t see, and after that, we drove forever.”
“Yeah, we switched cars at least three times, before being handed over to this guy,” Alexi added as she pointed in the direction of the cab of the truck. “He said he was going to take us back to the US and that his name is Charley.” I squinted as I repeated the name in my head. He’d told me his name was Chili. I decided not to question it; either way, we were now all in this together.
“They never said anything else to you?” I wondered why, with all I’d heard, they would find themselves headed back across the border. What the hell was going on here?
She shrugged her thin shoulders. “No,” she sniffed.
“Do you know anything at all?” Crystal begged. “It’s been the longest and scariest days of my life—of all of our lives.” She reached for her checked-out friend’s hand and gave it a squeeze. The girl barely registered her touch. “Then there’s you and a baby with us now, and we’re even more confused.” She gave a half laugh, half cry.
“I wish I had an answer for you, but my story is very different than yours.” I decided to share a little of my story so if one of them got away, maybe they could say I was with them. “I’m a war correspondent for the Washington Post. I do stories on the drug war between the US and Mexico. For the Cartel, to be more specific. I try to shed light on what the country and its people are going through.” My voice shook as I heard the truck’s engine start. The noise scared Chase, as he jumped and started to whimper.
“Mama, Mama.” He rubbed his fists into his eyes. His bottom lip stuck out, and my heart broke all over again for the poor little guy.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” I lifted him a little and tucked his head under my neck the way I now knew he loved and rubbed gentle circles on his back. “Um,” I fought to remember where I’d left off. “Long story short, this little guy’s in trouble, and I need to get him over this border and into the hands of someone who can protect him.” A strange coldness tightened inside my chest and made it hard to breathe. I had been so focused on getting Chase to safety that I hadn’t thought about how I’d have to hand him off to a stranger. What if they didn’t know he loved to be sung to? Or that he felt safe when tucked under my chin? Or that he only loved to rub his bunny’s left ear and not the right?
“Wait, he’s not your baby?” Crystal squinted at him, but she would have had a hard time seeing his features in the dim light. Besides, his little face was deeply tucked inside Paul’s hoodie. “But he called you Mama.”
“His mother was killed,” I pulled back my chin and kissed his little head again through the fabric, “and I don’t think he’s calling me Mama. I think he’s calling out for her.”
“I’m from a big family.” She reached out and rubbed his bare leg, “I’m the oldest and helped raise my little brother after my mom got ill. I know he thought I was his mother because I held him all the time. He called me Momma and our actual mom Nana.” She smiled warmly, and I wondered how a family like that would feel about Crystal being taken. My anger bubbled to the surface. “I can confidently say he thinks you’re his mama.”
I struggled over her comment. I knew I shouldn’t get attached to Chase, but it was practically impossible not to. He was the sweetest little thing and so helpless. I already knew I’d fight to the death for him.
