A River Through Two Harbors Page 20

  The three of them tightened their vests and checked their weapons. On the monitor they saw two men get down from the cab of the vehicle. They wrestled what looked to be two large duffle bags from a compartment, threw them over their shoulders, and headed toward the gangway.

  “Let’s go!” Zak shouted, and the team burst out the door of the shed.

  Deidre took in the scene with a sweep of her eyes. In the halo-like glow of the dock lights she could see two crewmembers making their way down the stairs from the ship. The men with their duffle bags were near the base of the gangway, and Zak was running toward them, the FBI logo of his flak vest reflecting the dim light. He was yelling, “FBI. Stop and put your hands on your heads.”

  In that instant, Deidre saw the men throw their bundles over the side of the dock, and she heard a delayed splash when they hit the water. Zak was chasing the men, and the other two agents were following suit. She saw the other team running toward them, sandwiching the fleeing suspects.

  Instinctively, she realized what was happening, and as she ran to the dock’s edge, she stripped off her belts and her vest. By the time she reached the brink, she had removed what clothing she could, and she jumped into the water. In the time between when she leaped and the time she entered the lake, she heard a series of gun shots from atop the pier, but the sounds didn’t register in her brain.

  In December, the temperature of Lake Superior was about thirty-seven degrees. When her body hit the water, she involuntarily gasped from the shock. In seconds her fingers became numb. She saw one of the bags sink below the surface, and she grabbed it with all the strength she could muster, dragged it over to the wood pilings and kept it near the surface.

  “Deidre, grab this buoy!” She looked up in time to see a ring being thrown to her. The agent was descending a ladder attached to the dock. He wrestled the bag from her grasp and carried it on his shoulder to the top.

  Deidre, life buoy in one hand and stroking with the other, moved away from the pier. She had been in the icy water scarcely five minutes, but already her feet and lower legs were numb. She kicked as hard as she could.

  After another five minutes, she located the other bag, suspended a foot or two below the murky surface of the harbor water. Her core temperature was dropping, although she had no awareness of that. She was beginning to feel an overpowering sleepiness, along with a sense of peace. She no longer felt the cold.

  As Deidre was jumping into the water, the two suspects realized there was no way out. They decided to take a stand. One crouched behind a piling and fired at the oncoming agents, and an agent let out a gasp as he crumpled to the deck.

  From a way off, the agent with a rifle and a night scope placed its crosshairs on the shooter’s chest and pulled the trigger. He saw a body fall behind the piling.

  In desperation, the other suspect stepped out in full view and emptied his pistol, hitting no one, but the return fire riddled his body. In the end no one really knew whose shots hit home.

  At that moment, they realized they had all reacted to the gunmen, and they rushed to the spot from where Deidre had leaped. One of them hurried down the ladder to water level and hefted the bag she clutched onto his shoulder. When it was carried to the decking of the wharf, two agents cut it open, exposing the limp body of a young girl.

  By that time, Zak had made an emergency call, and ambulances were on their way. Two arrived, their lights flashing and sirens blaring.

  One agent remembered seeing a hook hanging on the wall, meant for retrieving objects from the water. She rushed to where Deidre clung to the life ring with her right arm and the other bag with her left. The agent threw the hook attached to a line and snagged the bag on the first try. Deidre felt herself being pulled toward the pier, and then her world went black. With the help of two others, Deidre and the duffle bag were dragged to the base of the dock and carried up the ladder.

  The duffle was cut open. Inside the canvas bag lay another girl. She wasn’t breathing, and the woman agent started CPR, continuing chest compressions until a third ambulance arrived. The EMTs took over.

  When Diedre opened her eyes, she was in an ambulance and the EMT was trying to get her to respond to his voice. He kept repeating, “Stay with me, girl. Don’t give up. Stay awake. Fight it.” She lay her head on the pillow and wondered if she would see Ben that night. In minutes the ambulances were on their way to the hospital.

  Above, from the ship’s railing, the sailors looked down with amusement. It had been quite a show, but now it was over, and they returned to what they had been doing.

  Zak checked on the fallen agent. His vest had saved him from serious injury, and he was sitting on a timber, holding his ribs.

  “You okay to ride to the hospital?”

  The agent nodded and struggled to rise. With two of his companions supporting him, he slowly made his way to a police car that had arrived at the tumultuous scene.

  Zak and another agent walked to where the suspects lay. “I wish they hadn’t died so quickly,” the female agent said. “They should have suffered more.”

  She walked away, turned, and looked up the hill at the city lights. “Just a bunch of damned animals,” she said, and wiped her eyes.

  Chapter 24

  Deidre was aware of being whisked through the hospital ER doors and being transferred to a bed. She was aware of her wet clothing being removed and of the blessed feeling of a warm, dry blanket being tucked around her. She tried speaking, but her words sounded garbled to her ears, and she felt an overpowering urge to close her eyes and sleep.

  She became irritated with all the people rushing around, asking her questions, urging her to stay awake and to not drift away.

  A doctor came in and mumbled something about ninety-four degrees, and then left. A nurse entered, carrying a bag that she hung on a stand, and Deidre felt a warm trickle enter her vein through an IV port.

  After several hours she was able to focus her eyes somewhat. She felt warm and secure under the layers of blankets, but she was far from secure in her mind. As she lay in her hospital bed, she tried to force the recollection of what had happened, but all she remem­bered was rushing from a building and removing her jacket.

  She looked around her dimly lit room and spotted someone sitting in a chair across the room. He was looking at her, and she wondered if she was hallucinating.

  The man’s image came into focus. “Ben,” she murmured as though she were drugged. Her lips felt parched.

  Ben pulled his chair closer to her bedside. “So much for being careful,” he said and a wide grin split his face.

  “How does it feel to be a hero?”

  She stared at him, a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

  Ben got up from his chair. “Just a minute.” He left the room for a moment and returned with Zak. “She’s back with us.”

  Zak sat down next to her bed and took her hand, and Ben stood behind him, still grinning.

  “So you don’t remember much of what happened?”

  “Virtually nothing.”

  “Do you remember getting my call to come out of the ware­house?”

  Deidre nodded.

  “Do you remember why I made that call?”

  Deidre thought for a moment. The cobwebs cleared, somewhat. “There were two men carrying bundles. I remember that.” A look of recognition came into her eyes. “They threw the bundles into the water.” She paused. “Oh, my God, there were women in those sacks.” A look of shock crossed her face. “What happened?”

  “We came under fire from the men, and everyone went after them, everyone but you. While we lost sight of our first obligation and engaged the shooters, you dove into the harbor. You must have known those bags contained the girls being sold to the ship’s crew.”

  Deidre tried to grasp what he was saying, but her thoughts were m
uddled. “Did I . . . are they going to be all right?”

  Zak smiled. “Yes. One of them is about where you are now. The other is in pretty tough shape, but the doctors say she’ll recover.

  “It took you almost ten minutes to locate the second girl. That’s a long time to be under water. But, and again this is the doctor speaking, we were told the body has some unusual reactions to being submerged in ice water. It shuts down and breathing is suspended. That’s why she didn’t drown. This was an extreme case. She was placed on a ventilator, and her body was gradually warmed with a heart-lung machine regulating the body temperature. The second girl is still in ICU, but her brain functions look good, and she’s expected to make a recovery, although it’ll be slow going. Asking you to come along on this mission was the best thing I could have done.”

  Deidre relaxed so her head rested fully on the pillow. She wanted desperately to remember, but all she could do was take Zak at his word.

  “Gotta run,” he said. “But be prepared for some reporters to visit you this afternoon. They smell a story, and it’s a good one.”

  Ben hovered over her, tucking the blanket under her chin. Then he bent down and kissed her forehead. “You scared the crap out of me. Try not to do that again.”

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “Seven-thirty.”

  “In the evening?”

  Ben laughed. “No, in the morning, and here comes your breakfast to prove it.” A hospital worker placed a food tray on her table. “Would you like coffee or tea?” she asked.

  As predicted, two reporters and a camera crew visited her later in the morning. It was easy for her to not reveal much about the case. She didn’t remember. All she could say was that she was glad the team had rescued two girls from a life of prostitution, probably a short life.

  That afternoon she was pronounced fit to go home, and Ben was there with her civilian clothes and a blanket. She felt babied as he wheeled her chair to his car and helped her get settled inside. He had left the engine running and the heater on, and it felt good.

  When they arrived at his home, he and the girls fawned over her until she had to say, “Enough, already.”

  The six o’clock news came on, and Deidre was chagrinned to see herself on the screen, propped up by pillows and in a hospital bed. She decided she didn’t look too bad, considering what she had endured.

  *****

  The next morning, Ben told Deidre that Zak had left a message. He was calling a meeting to review the operation, and if she was up to it, he’d like her to attend. She felt stiff all over, as though she had been steamrollered, but it was nothing so debilitating she couldn’t function.

  They met in the Federal Building, all eight members of the team, and Zak gave his heartfelt thanks for having such a great group of people covering his back. He was especially complimentary to Deidre, and she shrunk down in her chair, not liking being singled out.

  “The first girl Deidre pulled from the water has recovered enough to speak with one of our women agents. She’s pretty banged up, shows evidence of having been sexually assaulted, but is recovering nicely from the hypothermia. She’s given us a great deal of information, but unfortunately it leads to a dead end.

  “Last July in the evening she was sitting by Lake Superior, smoking weed, as she put it, and an older man she didn’t know sat down beside her and started up a conversation. He offered her a drink from a bottle of liquor he had in his pocket. The next thing she knew, she was in his pickup on some dirt road. He took her to a boat landing on a lake, and there she was forced into a canoe with another girl. Their hands and feet were bound, and their mouths were duct taped so they couldn’t shout or scream. She said it was getting dark, and two men paddled the canoe. Evidently they knew the wilderness very well, because they made their way in the dark.

  “They traveled all night, and the next morning, pulled the canoe into the brush where they spent the day. At dusk, their journey continued. Just before dawn, the canoe crunched up on a gravel landing, and she and the other girl were taken to a waiting pickup where they were transported a distance—she’s not sure how far—to a place that had a number of log cabins by a river. All she can remember is that they were old and rundown.

  “The two of them were shoved into a cabin and discovered there were six other girls already inside. All of them were shackled to makeshift beds by an ankle bracelet and a chain.

  “She has no idea where the cabins are. She didn’t even know she was in the United States. You see, the kidnappers must have come through the Quetico Provincial Park, crossed the unmarked border into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and then departed from one of the entry points on our side of the border.

  “I checked. It is only a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Thunder Bay to lake Saganaga. They could have paddled to the U.S. side of the lake and from there made their way to Knife Lake. It would have taken them another six hours or so to get to Moose Lake landing, from where they could travel by pickup anywhere south.

  “It’s evident that we have stumbled onto a well-organized human trafficking ring. Unfortunately, we are at somewhat of a standstill right now for lack of evidence, and lack of knowledge. For now this is all I have for you, but hopefully we’ll be called together again to continue our work on this case. I hope that time is days from now rather than weeks.”

  Zak dismissed the group, except for Deidre. “Can I see you in my office for a few minutes?”

  She followed him down the hall.

  “One of our only links to what our girl has told us is Kimi. Will you stop and see her today? See if she’s talking at all about what happened. The other two girls are in the same hospital. I’d like you to try to interview them today. You have a link to them that our people don’t, and if anyone can get through, I think it’ll be you.

  “Also, because you have a relationship with the leaders of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, I’d like you to be the liaison between our two offices.”

  Deidre wasn’t quite sure how to react. She’d assumed that because the case was now under the FBI’s jurisdiction, her job would be done. She was glad it wasn’t, because she had some unfinished business with a certain attorney.

  “What about Gerald Colter, II?” she asked.

  “We have to be a little patient at this point. I’m thinking once we get this onion peeled to the core, he’s going to be found near the center. We’ll get him if he is.”

  Deidre drove the few blocks to the hospital where the girls were patients. She went to the room of the first girl she had pulled from the water.

  “Hi, Allison,” she said as she entered the room. “You don’t know me, but my name is Deidre Johnson.”

  The girl’s eyes widened, and then filled with tears. “You rescued me.”

  Deidre was a little flustered. “Well, we all rescued you. And there’s a young man you don’t even know who gave us the informa­tion that allowed us to step in when we did so we could rescue you.”

  The girl motioned for her to come by her bedside, reached up and hugged her. “Thank you so much. I’ll never be able to say that enough.”

  Deidre sat down. “You can thank me by trying to answer some questions as honestly as you can. Was there a girl in the camp where you were held named Anna Woodsong?”

  As soon as she asked the question, she saw Allison go rigid. “Yes, she was there.”

  “Can you tell me about her?” Deidre pressed.

  “Anna was strong, stronger than the rest of us, I suppose. She refused to give up. All day and night she worked on ways to free herself. Because of her struggles, she developed a bleeding sore where her shackle fit around her ankle. Another girl was just as determined to get free. One night, Anna worked a nail free from the frame of her bed. Somehow, she used the steel of her shackle to hook its head. Over a few days she managed to work it loose.
She used the nail to rid herself of the piece of steel. I remember her asking who else wanted to go with her. One other said she would. The rest of us were too afraid. We didn’t have jackets, and it was winter outside. We didn’t even have shoes.”

  Deidre stopped her and asked, “Was the other girl named Kimi?” Allison’s eyes widened. “Yes. How did you know?”

  “She’s in the hospital, one floor up from you. Do you know what happened to Anna?” The girl nodded. “Can you tell me about it?”

  Allison shook her head and began to sob. All she could say was, “They killed her. They made us watch what they did, and they killed her. They tortured her, and then they killed her. After she was dead, one of the men who guarded us said, ‘This is what happens if you try to get away.’”

  Deidre was so shocked and repulsed she had difficulty asking her next question. Evidently, Anna was so traumatized that she appeared dead to the other girls. They didn’t know she was alive when the torturing was over.

  “Tell me, Allison, do you remember a man named Jason Leder?”

  Allison shook her head.

  Deidre opened a folder she had brought and produced a picture of Jason, and panic overtook Allison’s expression. “He was one of the men who kept us locked up. He’s the man who picked us up at the canoe landing last summer. He’s the man who killed Anna.” She began to shake.

  Deidre said, “Allison, you don’t have to be afraid of him anymore. He’s dead. I want you to know I think you’re incredibly brave, Allison. Thank you so much for answering my questions. I do have to go now, but may I come back in a day or two so we can talk again.”

  Allison nodded.

  “I’ll arrange so we can go up to Kimi’s room and see her. Would you like that?”

  Again Allison nodded and buried her face in the bedcovers.

  Deidre climbed the stairs to the next floor and knocked on a door. It was open a crack, and she inched it open a little more, enough to stick her head in the room.