Explanations

“No, that’s fine. Believe me when I say that I wish I could hit the guards like that. Especially after some of what they’ve said,” Christy answered.

“I don’t speak Spanish. What have they said?”

With a huff, Christy said, “Okay, where to start. Well, basically, we got taken last Saturday and they’ve been keeping us in some basement somewhere. They took two girls from our room, an older lady, around forty, and a girl, about my age, with a clubfoot. They… never returned, but the men left the rest of us alone, except for some tortillas and beans that they gave us and washing the poop down the drain in the floor once a day.”

I had to remind myself that forty probably seemed old to a girl two weeks out of high school and I asked, “Do you know anything about who they are?”

“The ones who first took us seem to be their own little gang. Since they brought us here, I’ve been talking to the other girls and it seems that several groups kidnap people and bring them here to sell in some sort of auction, possibly to the cartels.

“I convinced one of the guys who works here to tell me a bit more. Firstly, we’ll be taken out in groups and given an opportunity to appeal to the audience.”

“Why would we want to do that?”

Christy sighed and hung her head.

A half minute passed and I was regretting my question when she raised her head. With eyes that seemed to be on the brink of tears of sadness, frustration, rage, and impotence, she said, “Because anyone who isn’t considered valuable enough will be sold as a ‘commodity’; they use the English word.”

David had used the same term in the briefing and, given Maria’s reaction, I was afraid to ask, “What happens to the commodities?”

“They’re sold like livestock. For a few thousand dollars, some evil fuck gets his own personal fuck toy. And, when he is finished, she’ll be thrown to his minions to be **** to **** or she’ll be knocked out and sent to die on an operating table as her organs are stolen.”

My imagination got the best of me as it provided visuals to accompany Christy’s explanation and I fell to my knees and nearly retched, except that I hadn’t had any real food since I was taken.

When my gorge stopped trying to climb out of my neck, I looked to see Christy had moved away and was crying to herself.

I decided to give her some time.