Chapter 13: How Merlin and Mai Fought Slavers

We returned to the house and watched another ballet as Trang and Ngoc worked silently, in harmony, furling the sails and guiding Jewel into her slip without even using the engine. When we were secure, I couldn't help but applaud. The rest of the group joined in. Trang and Ngoc blushed but bowed and we all laughed.

We all pitched in and helped carry the remnants of our cruise up to the house. We had about an hour until dinner so we all adjourned to our suites and freshened up.

As we were cleaning up and saving water, Heather and I talked about the things we had learned since Mai and Merlin had arrived. It had been a lot to absorb and we knew there was more to come.

Heather hugged me and said, "I feel so good about Mai finding Merlin. She is finally getting the quality of life she deserves."

"Does it bother you that they are so young?"

She snorted, "Young? She's 16 going on 60 the way she has developed. We can't measure her in chronological years. She is the next evolution of the human race and she has found a mate who is at the same level. We can't understand, let alone judge them. They will set a new standard of culture in the world. The only sad thing is that they are so alone. I only hope they will find others like themselves."

"Yes, we are the dinosaurs now. I wonder how long until they become the dominant species on Earth? We must do all we can, to protect and aid them until they don't need us. Although, I don't think they need a whole lot of protecting. My only concern is that they maintain a low profile until they are invulnerable as a species. If Mai and Merlin are any example of the ethics and values of the species, they will be a vast improvement over the culture we have now."

Heather agreed and we finished cleaning up and headed for the courtyard. Our philosophy is, if it's a nice day in paradise, go outside. We spend as much of our time outside as we can.

When we got to the courtyard, we saw we weren't the only ones with that idea. An, Tim, Merlin, and Mai were all in the pool. Tim and Merlin were swimming laps and An and Mai were standing in the shallow end together talking. The twins were in the kiddy pool nearby splashing and playing with toys. You can't live in Florida without having water babies.

Heather went over and sat on the side of the pool and started chatting with the girls. I grabbed a lounge and just kicked back watching the guys swim their laps. Swimming laps is a great form of exercise. It utilizes many muscle groups and is easy on the joints. I normally do an hour a day, but earlier in the morning. These young guys obviously didn't get enough exercise snorkeling. I felt a beer calling me.

Tim got to the near end of the lane and popped out of the pool.

I called to him, "Hey, want me to get you a beer? I'm heading in to get one now."

He gave me a high sign as he was drying off and I started heading inside.

A voice in my head said, "Would you grab one for me too, Sean?"

I jumped and stopped, looking back at the pool. Merlin was still stroking away. It was going to take some time to get used to this stuff!

"Sure, what would you like?" I thought.

"Whatever you're having will be fine."

Shaking my head, I went into the cabana and opened the refrigerator. I grabbed three Harps, opened them and made my way back to the lounges. By the time I got there, Merlin was out of the water and dried off. We all kicked back and watched the ladies talk/talk while enjoying our beer.

We talked about housekeeping stuff mostly; how we get re stocked on food and supplies and security issues when moving around the area. I explained to Merlin that Tim and I had a routine set up. Tim would escort An and Mrs. Pham when they shopped for household items. Sometimes, if all the ladies had that shopping urge, we would all go. Tim, Heather and I were all licensed to carry a concealed weapon in Florida and we had coordinated with the local law enforcement, informing them of our exposure to risks after winning the lottery. They had been very cooperative and worked with us on our security.

Tim and I had spent some time with the local officers and had become friends with many of them. As is common, they were underpaid and under equipped. We had provided all of them with ballistic vests that were superior to what they had been using. Tim and I worked with them, to train them on the tactical applications of deadly force, in an unofficial capacity. We provided ammo in many cases and gave them an opportunity to try out some of the diverse weapons we had.

Our weapon systems were all legal, and in fact, we had no use for full auto weapons. As far as we are concerned, they are a waste of ammo. There are some applications for weapons with burst control, but for our needs we could do without. Any need we had for firearms would probably be in a crowded urban environment and we had no intention of contributing to civilian casualties.

Merlin stated, "You have an entirely different method for handling confrontation than I am used to using. I haven't had to use any physical means to protect myself or to act upon and enemy. I can see that we will have to look at an amalgam of different tools when we act together to battle slavery. I have seen Mai use what I consider physical means to accomplish an end, but of course she does it in a non-physical way."

I finished my beer, looked at him and said, "Merlin, you're giving me a head ache! What you just said brings to mind all the possibilities we have for tools in this fight. We will have to spend considerable time just deciding which tools we will use and when and how we will use them. We can't fight the whole war using just your and Mai's talents. We also can't go around shooting all the bad guys. That gets you noticed and leaves debris around for someone to pick up. We will have to design a balanced and subtle blend of abilities and resources if we are to be successful in this."

We three just sat mulling that over for a time.

Mrs. Pham called from the doorway, "Dinner is just about ready. Are you coming to dinner in bathing suits?"

I laughed; she was hinting that dinner should be with everyone dressed in normal clothes.

I said, "OK, let's meet at the table in ten minutes."

All the bathing suit crowd scattered and Heather and I went into the dining room and helped Mrs. Pham finish setting up.

We enjoyed Mrs. Pham's great cuisine and had lively conversations around the table during dinner. Everyone seemed much more relaxed after our day of sunshine and sailing.

As we were finishing up, I asked Mai and Merlin if they wanted to continue with the story of their L.A. adventures.

Merlin said, "OK, Sean, why don't we grab some after dinner refreshments and adjourn to our usual places in the great room?"

Everyone was in agreement and after grabbing refreshments, we met in the great room. An and Heather had put the twins to bed and An had fed Kim and she was out for the night.

Merlin started their story off.

"When we broke off our narration earlier, we had just met and had our bonding experience in Mai's condo."

Merlin looked at Mai and smiled. She returned his loving look.

Merlin continued, "For the next few days we continued to deepen our relationship and share our earlier experiences with each other. During this time, we didn't forget what each of us had been involved in before we met.

"I was still concerned about what to do with the 12 girls being held in the brothel I was monitoring. Mai and I talked about that and decided the situation had priority for our next action.

"The situation with the 12 girls was time sensitive. We had to get them out of there before they were healthy enough to start training. The only question was what do we do with them?

"We discussed our options and came to the conclusion that we did not want to turn them over to the U.S. Authorities. They needed to be returned to their homes. They had been outright kidnapped and had families agonizing over them.

"The ideal solution would be to return them to their homes with the least trauma and insure that the slavers who originally kidnapped them were disposed of. That's when we decided to 'do it ourselves'.

"As I mentioned earlier, I have my own private Gulfstream V. Mai mentioned that you had chartered one when you moved to Florida. It is a great aircraft for the type of travel I do.

"It has a range of 6500 nautical miles and I can vary the passenger cabin to hold from a few to as many as 19 passengers. Nineteen is stretching it a bit though.

"What we decided to do was to free the 12 girls, fly them home and dispose of the slavers in their home area. We knew they would crop up again like those cockroaches but it would take care of the immediate problem."

Mai looked at Merlin and said, "Merlin and I went back to our Starbucks."

She grinned at him and giggled.

"We snuggled together over Merlin's laptop and a couple of Chai spice teas and started a detailed recon of the brothel the girls were being held at. Merlin handled the minds of the occupants and I moved my presence into the brothel and detailed the physical layout.

"Merlin can see what other people see but does not receive the physical detail that being there can give you. I went through the building room by room and did a layout in my head of where everything was. I looked for security features and any traps that could hurt or block us when we took the girls out.

"From my detailed survey, I laid out a route for ingress and egress and an alternate also. We had to remember that we may have been confident and felt impervious but the young girls were not. We wanted a safe and clean way in and out with the most subtle impact on the facility.

"Of course by subtle we intended to just evaporate the guards or pimps and not leave strangely configured bodies."

She started giggling again. Merlin gave her a hug.

Merlin said, "While Mai was doing that, I did a thorough and deep examination of the minds of the handlers looking for any information that we could use, both in this operation and later in any other missions we might contemplate.

"I determined what the schedule was in the facility and when they intended to start training the girls, from scanning the handlers and pimps. I found we didn't have much time. They were going to start training in two days.

"Mai and I discussed this development and decided there was no time like the present. I called the flight center where my Gulfstream was stored and told them to make the aircraft ready for take off by midnight that day. I also had them tell the caterers to provide enough meals for 14 people for two days.

"The Gulfstream has a galley with microwave and other food preparation facilities. I figured that, even with the so called 'healing' the handlers were doing with the girls, they would be hungry. We also had some long segments to fly en route to their homes.

"With that out of the way, it was just a matter of walking into the brothel, neutralizing the guards and pimps, finding the girls, and walking out. Oh, and we needed ground transportation to get them to the airport; a piece of cake!"

Mai laughed and took over, "We turned in Merlin's rental and rented a 12 passenger van from the car rental agency at the flight center where the Gulfstream was. I had a car I bought in L.A. and left it at the condo in my parking space.

"It's handy to have a man who can make you invisible when he wants to. Just think how handy it is if you're having a 'bad hair day' and don't want anyone to see how you look!"

Everyone laughed.

"What Merlin did was make our presence invisible to anyone when we pulled up in front of the apartment house/brothel. We sat in the van and scanned the building determining how many enemy were in there and their locations. We talked about the best way to take them out.

"The question was, should we do it now or take them out as we run across them? We decided on a combination of the two strategies.

"They had a guard at the front entry to the apartment building. He sat behind a bullet proof glass window adjacent to the inside door.

"He was the easy one. Merlin scanned him and found he was also one of the abusers. We walked into the front entry, masked from his awareness and I evaporated him.

"I then examined the inner entry door. It had an electronic lock operated from the guard position and an alarm that activated if the door was forced. There was also an indicator that went off upstairs in a secondary guard post every time the door opened.

"It was a simple matter to disable all of those features and enter. I made the modifications necessary and we entered the inner hallway. At this point you can take the elevator or stairs.

"I scanned the stairs and elevator for surveillance devices and found them on both. This place was really tight!

"The monitoring on the stairwell was only video cameras while the elevator had measures that indicated its use and could immobilize it between floors if necessary. We chose the stairs.

"The apartment building was three stories and the girls were on the top story in the back. The first story was comprised of 'client rooms' where the prostitutes would meet their customers. The second floor was housing for the prostitutes. The third floor was the administrative offices and 'training center'.

"I caused the video cameras to show empty stairwell and we headed up. We got to the third floor without seeing anybody. It was still before ten on a week night so I guess business wasn't picking up yet.

"We paused on the landing at the third floor and we both did a scan of the floor for current activity."

Merlin spoke up, "This was when I found something sickening going on in one of the 'training rooms'.

"I was scanning for minds in each apartment from our position going toward the rear and came upon two people in a room across the hall and down three apartments from the stairway access we were on.

"One person was a male and he was in the act of sodomizing an unwilling thirteen year old female. Scanning his mind, I learned that the female had been kidnapped in L.A. earlier that day from a shopping mall and she was scheduled to be transported out the next morning en route to Japan to serve in the prostitution industry there.

"He was using her in the only way he could that would not make her unusable for the sale. She was a virgin and had to be delivered in that condition. Young virgins brought very high bids when they were auctioned off by the organized crime groups in Japan."

Tim spoke up, "There is an active slave trade going on in Japan? I thought they were the most advanced country in Asia."

Merlin answered, "Tim, that is what is so sickening about the whole worldwide epidemic of slavery. Just like people here in the United States have their heads in the sand and don't want to know just how bad the problem is, so it is in Japan and other First World Counties.

"Many of the routes slaves take from their home countries end in Japan. Japan, along with Australia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and South Korea is a major destination for forced prostitution from Indonesia and the Philippines. They are also a major destination country for victims of sexual exploitation from other parts of the world, especially Latin America and recently Eastern Europe. Now, I see they are adding victims from the United States.

"Though illegal, prostitution is provided in 'restricted sex-related businesses'. Powerful organized crime groups control the sex industry and are also at the center of human trafficking. Some sex workers are brought in by what appear to be legitimate job offers only to be forced into prostitution upon their arrival. Since Japan has attempted to crack down on this with closer examination and enforcement of entertainment visas, forced transport has increased.

"I was aware of the Asian problem because of my research before I came to the United States. The problem is pervasive everywhere. I will admit I was surprised to find that an American was being transported there."

I said, "It just gets deeper and deeper. What happened next, Merlin?"

"I guess I came to understand how Mai felt when she was freeing the slaves in her sweatshop. I saw red."

Mai took Merlin's hand and leaned into him.

"Go ahead, hon. This is our family." She said.

Merlin took a deep breath, "I'm just going to say this quickly. I grabbed his sorry mind and pulled him back from the girl. I put her to sleep.

"I put his right hand on his penis and marched him to the sliding glass doors to the patio. I had him open the door with his left hand and walk over to the railing.

"I had him then, simultaneously rip his penis off and dive over the third floor railing head first to the ground. I kept him from making a sound."

We all just sat there. The silence was deafening.

Finally, Heather got up and walked over to Merlin and Mai. She slid in on the other side of Merlin and wrapped her arms around him and patted his back. Mai held him from the other side.

Tears were streaming from Merlin's eyes. He looked around at us and I could see he was afraid of our reaction to his story.

I made eye contact with An and Tim and got the positive response I was looking for. I already knew how Heather felt.

Turning to Merlin I said, "Merlin, you are a young man and despite your talents you have human feelings. Having those feelings, you have human reactions.

"We are engaged in a war. You and Mai are the leading element of our force. None of us wants to engage in violence, but in a war you have to. I have seen many young people during my years in the Army who were thrust into situations where they needed to use ugly violent means to accomplish their missions. Combat isn't pretty.

"The average citizen has no idea that, when we send our children off to war, we expose them to things that no one should see in a perfect world. But it is not a perfect world.

"What you and Mai have seen, and further, the minds that you have had to enter, can't help but have an effect on you. You have been in combat. All people involved in those traumatic activities have a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.

"There is no shame in that. To be affected and show a reaction to that trauma only makes you civilized and human. It is a natural reaction to what you went through. The trick is to heal afterwards.

"Our family is here to help you both heal after these traumatic events. We will not judge you for your actions in this war. Hell, if it had been me in your place I might have lost it and started a little creative carving on the prick; literally.

"We can't always help our reactions to horrible events. We can only learn from them. Let's get re-fills for our drinks and continue the story after a break."

We all took off and made pit stops and such and gravitated back to the great room. Merlin looked a lot better.

I said, "Well, are you guys up to continuing?"

Merlin and Mai sat with their arms around each other and Merlin looked a lot more cheerful. Heather, An, and Tim had talked with him a bit during our break.

Mai started, "Anyway, after the swan dive...

Laughter broke out all over the room.

"I checked the girl that had been assaulted and did a medical scan on her. She had severe tearing in the area inside her rectum and symptoms of shock. I repaired the damage to her rectum and adjusted her chemistry to counter the shock."

Merlin said, "I entered her sleeping mind and made some slight adjustments to hopefully reduce the emotional trauma of what she went through."

An asked, "Couldn't you just erase the memory of the whole incident so she wouldn't have to live with that the rest of her life?"

Merlin shook his head, "I wish it was that easy. Despite what you read in fiction and see in the movies, modifying someone's mind is an extremely delicate act. The old saying that 'we are the sum of our memories' is true. You can't just leave blank spots in a person's past. It causes unresolved subconscious conflicts.

"The best way to deal with traumas is to face them and overcome them. This is very much like I am trying to do, to come to grips with the things I have done. The mind must be balanced.

"What I did with her sleeping mind was to ease her mind of the irrational guilt she was suffering and start her along the way to healing. Victims feel guilty for being victims. Somehow, they feel they are responsible for what has happened to them. This is a common reaction. Once you start them realizing that it isn't their fault, they start to heal.

"Ultimately, you want them to get mad; mad at the evil doer. This focuses the blame and guilt outside of themselves and puts it where it belongs."

Mai said, "After Merlin was done with her, I cleaned her body, removed her pain and aches and conjured clothes for her."

I said, "Did they consist of a light blue t-shirt and dark blue shorts?"

Mai raised her eyebrows, "Yes, as a matter of fact. How did you know?"

"You're in a rut, Mai. That's what the twins were wearing when you sent them here."

Mai laughed, "So, I like blue; sue me!"

That lightened things up a little.

Mai continued, "I teleported the girl into the van outside, leaving her asleep. We would figure out what to do with her later.

"We scanned the balance of the apartments on the third floor and found no other 'training' or people of any kind. We proceeded down the hall to the back where the girls were.