Chapter 5

The door to the interrogation room in the Customs and Border Protection building swung open.

Bella spun around. She backed up a few steps when the same CBP officer entered the room. He closed the door behind him. The lock clicked.

“Get against the wall,” Officer Walker said.

Bella looked around and walked to the nearest wall. She stood with her back against it, her eyes locked on the man who once again scanned her body from head to toe without trying to mask his lust.

“Turn around and place your hands on the wall. I need to frisk you.”

“You? Shouldn’t a woman do that?”

“We’re short-handed. Now do what I say.”

“But that’s not right.”

“Are you going to make trouble?”

Bella lowered her eyes and shook her head. She dropped her pocketbook onto the floor and turned to face the wall, leaning forward with her weight on her hands. The officer stepped up to her and kicked the inside of her right foot.

“Spread them,” he said.

Bella shifted her feet further apart. He placed his hands on her head. She cringed. His fingers slid through her long hair and along her scalp. He pushed her hair to the side and looked inside her right ear. He did the same with her left one. The officer placed a finger under her chin and turned her head to face him as he stepped to her side.

“Open your mouth.”

When she did, Officer Walker pried it open more and peered inside. He put a long finger into her mouth and ran it over her tongue and all around the inside. Bella wanted to vomit. He didn’t even put on gloves or wash his hands. But she stood still while her stomach churned. It was disgusting. His finger inside her mouth and his breath on her skin gave Bella the creeps. Releasing her mouth, Officer Walker stepped behind Bella and placed his hands on her shoulders. He slid them up and down her arms. Maybe he was simply doing his job. Maybe she was just being paranoid. It would soon be over. Bella relaxed with a soft sigh.

His hands went around to her front and cupped both breasts. Bella pushed off the wall, slamming into his body. She spun around as the officer stumbled backward.

“Are you going to cause trouble?” Officer Walker said.

“It’s just that you touched— Isn’t there a woman officer around?”

“Just me, lady. I’m either going to search you or your car. Your choice.”

Not the stuffed animals! The thought filled her with dread.

With slumped shoulders, Bella turned and resumed her position. She leaned forward with hands flat on the wall at shoulder height and spread her feet. Marco had told her what she might have to do. This was better than that. She closed her eyes and sucked her lower lip into her mouth.

The man reached around her and placed his hands on her breasts. He squeezed them a couple of times before sliding both hands over them. Bella clamped her eyes tighter. His hands finally left her breasts and traveled up and down her sides and onto her belly, which hollowed with an intake of air. Then his hands slid up onto her breasts again. He squeezed.

“I feel something,” Officer Walker said.

“There’s nothing there.”

“Like you’ll tell me the truth. I need to look closer.”

Officer Walker’s hands left her breasts. Bella felt them on her upper back. Tugging the dress’s zipper down. The cool air hit her skin as the back of her dress parted. She rested her forehead on the wall. Willed herself to be strong. When his fingers fumbled with the hooks on her bra strap, she chewed her bottom lip. The bra opened and hung loose. This couldn’t be happening.

The man stroked her back, pushing the ends of the unhooked bra strap out of the way with each pass of his hands over her skin. There was no longer any pretense of conducting a search. He was fondling her. Then his hands crept to her sides underneath the dress, over her ribcage, sliding all the way to her belly. He pulled her toward him as his body pressed against her back, his hot breath on her cheek, his hard dick pushing into her buttocks. Bella cringed and squeezed her eyes shut. His hands traveled up her front, sliding under the loose bra onto her bare breasts. Something came up from her stomach causing a foul acidic taste in her mouth. Bella held it back and swallowed. She groaned.

Officer Walker squeezed her tits. Sometimes gently, sometimes hard. She clamped her teeth together when he did that, groaning when she couldn’t hold it back. It wasn’t that he hurt her. It was the humiliation. She felt cheap. Used. He pinched her nipples. Pulled them. Stretched them. Twirled them between his thumbs and index fingers. His hips rocked, bumping his hard-on into her soft buttocks.

Officer Walker removed his hands from inside her dress and backed up. “Can’t find anything there.”

Thank god, Bella thought and let out a long sigh.

“But there are other hiding places,” he said.

Bella gasped. Held the air in her lungs. She knew what the other places were. Her children needed her to be strong. This would be over and forgotten and she would go on with her life. Not forgotten. She’d never forget it. And would it be over? There would be more trips for Marco Perez. Damn the new mayor. Why had he stopped going after Marco? He had been a ray of hope. If he had finished what he started, Bella wouldn’t be up against the wall with a stranger taking liberties with her body.

Officer Walker placed his hands on Bella’s hips outside the dress. He patted them like he was frisking her. Did he believe she was that naive? He tugged on her hips.

“Stick your butt out,” he said.

Bella shuffled her feet back one at a time as she lowered her hands on the wall. Her head hung. Her hair flowed over her face. And her ass stuck out.

The man put his hands onto her butt. He moved them up and down and side to side and then squeezed both cheeks. Bella scrunched her face and clenched her asshole. His left hand remained on her butt as his right one moved back to her hip. It kept going. Around to her front, over her thigh, between her spread legs. He cupped her pussy from outside the dress. The thin, flimsy material was no barrier. She felt every finger. Bella’s stomach churned. Bile came up, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. He squeezed both her buttock and pussy and moved a finger back and forth over her mound.

Officer Walker pulled his hands away. Bella sighed, but the relief was premature. He dropped to his knee and ran both hands up and down her right thigh over the dress. Again feigning frisking her. He did it to her left leg, but this time his hands continued down past the hem of her dress onto her bare skin. When they slid back up, they were underneath the dress. He continued higher. All the way up. The edge of his hand bumped her crotch. He sawed it back and forth.

“I feel something,” he said. “It needs further examination.”

Bella wanted to scream, Just get it over with, you fucking pervert! but she held it back behind clenched teeth.