Chapter 2

Tina age 14, sister of Beth

Beth, age 8, sister of Tina

A small Seaport Town in Corsica about a year before Paul met Gina

The dock was deserted; several buildings and small warehouses dotted the waterfront. Many were abandoned. There were not many ships in port and still fewer people. Most had retired for the night, many pursued other interests. A bum or 2 searched through various trash containers and barrels looking for some lost treasure of what not that might be their fortune for the day.

Noises sounded from behind one of houses to the left of a dark and dirty man, one of the homeless men often seen at the waterfront when the sun went down. A shrill scream rang our, "Help, Help me!" a soft voice rang out. As the man quickly went over to the back of the building, several voices could be heard. As he approached the corner of the building he saw three sailors, sporting with a very young girl. Her dress was torn and they were in the process of removing the rest of her clothes. The men had lifted her, spread between them and were pawing her nor partially naked body. "Give it up little girl, be nice for a bit and we won't cut you up, not too much that is. Now stop fighting and start..." He never finished, a hand grabbed his arm and he heard, "Let her go, now"

"Bugger off." Come back in an hour or two and we might leave a bit of her to have fun with." Those were his last words, the sailor never saw the blow to his temple, he fell never to wake up as blood started to flow from his eyes, Before the two other men could react, one man fell to the ground, letting go of the girl, his hands grasping his now shattered leg. The nose of the 3rd man met the palm of the bum's hand; it broke bone and muscle pushing it into his brain. The bum reached back and twisted the 2nd man's head, snapping his neck. The fight, if one could call it that had lasted less than 10 seconds, the 3 men were dead and the young girl scooped up into the bum's arms as he began to carry her to several men running up the dock towards them, "wait mister, please wait" the girl could barely speak. "Beth, Beth, come out, please, please." A small shadow rose up from behind some crates on the dock, her eyes full of tears. Even more tears could be seen as she ran to the girl in the bum's arms. "Tina, Tina, are you OK, I was so scared, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The girl, Tina struggled down, as the two girls met they both cried and hugged each other. Then the look of fear again could be seen on their faces. "Mister, please, please don't hurt us? Don't hurt my little sister, I'll do anything you want but please let my sister alone, she stood in front of the little girl, her dress torn, small breasts bared and underwear at her knees. "Please, please take me, not my sister. Four men now had reached the trio, the bum shifted his head to the dead bodies and two of the men went to them.

The bum spoke "everything will be fine little one, no one will harm you or your sister." He took off his coat and wrapped it around the half naked girl. "We need to leave here, these men will take you to a safe place, I will join you shortly then we need to talk and get you to your parents or home." The girls hesitated then held hands, the two men left with them, one ahead and the other behind, both wore long overcoats and kept one hand inside a pocket. The girls trembled, but they followed. They had gone only a short way then saw a part of the town they recognized. To the right was the bench where the 3 sailors had taken them from. They had been with their new mum, and she had gone into one of the shops to buy them some food. She said she would be right back, then hands were put over their mouths and the 3 men carried them away.

They and the 2 men approached a small house, the door opened, a dim red light shown inside and a voice said, "come, come in. No one will harm you here." The two men stood aside, pointed to the opening but never touched or pushed inside. The bum joined them, took the younger girls hand and led them both inside, saying; "if we were going to do bad things to you, don't you think back there would have been easier than here in-town? Now come inside, warm up, eat and tell me what happened" He smiled, and as the door closed, the light grew brighter and several men and 2 women stood near a table. The men all were large, heavy set and carried long rifles with huge scopes. These were snipers with night vision scopes that had been protecting their walk to the house, 6 more had been near the dock area but positioned towards the warehouses. It had only been chance that the man, bum had been near enough to hear the muffled screams.