The Legacy Enslaved. William Speir

      Ralph and Alasdair nodded and finished their drinks.

      Tom and Emily drove home after Alasdair locked up the Commandery. “I never realized that you carried that much fear around,” Tom commented. “I’ve known you for over twenty-five years, and you always seemed so confident in your own abilities to protect yourself. I know that you’re confident in Jamie’s, too.”

      “I’m confident because I train every day to make sure that no one can harm me,” Emily stated. “But I trained that hard originally because of fear. I encouraged Jamie to train that hard for the same reason. I joined the Order because I wanted to help make the world safer, so women like me wouldn’t have to live in fear.”

      She turned to face Tom. “It’s different for women than it is for men. We’re targets every time we step outside of our homes. Whether it’s thieves, rapists, murderers, sexual predators at work, or even something as simple as salesmen and repairmen who look at women as easy marks, we’re considered to be weaker and easier to take advantage of. By now you’d think that it wouldn’t be so, but it is, and it shows no sign of changing any time soon. I had a choice to make: be a victim or be someone who could stand up to men and teach them that I’m not a woman to underestimate. Obviously, I didn’t choose to be a victim, but there are women all over the world who don’t have that choice, or at least don’t realize that they have that choice. We must intervene on their behalf, or the Order is failing in its duty.”

      “I agree.” Tom reached over and took Emily’s hand, squeezing it gently.

      Changing the subject, Emily asked, “How many intervention teams do you think the Commandery will have?”

      “Dozens, eventually,” Tom replied. “There are so many facets to this problem. But I think it’ll start small until we can identify all of the players in the area.”

      “You know Jamie will want to be on one of the teams.”

      “I know.” Tom sighed. “We raised her to run toward danger, and now we have to live with the consequences.”

      Emily leaned back in her seat. “And that’s something else I have to be afraid of.”

      5

      The faces of the Grand Priors from across the globe filled the video monitors on the wall of the Grand Magistry’s conference room. Each had received a copy of the human trafficking report and proposals, and Tom and Alasdair outlined the new initiative and how it would work.

      “This is a huge undertaking, your Excellency,” the Grand Prior from Taiwan said. “It’s unfortunate that we don’t have any members of the Order in mainland China. So many of the young girls sold into slavery around the world come from there. There’s hardly a cargo ship afloat that doesn’t have at least one container filled with exploited young girls being sent to a life of slavery in brothels or sweatshops. I’ve often wondered if Chinese officials don’t turn a blind eye to the problem because it helps reduce their excess population.”

      “I agree,” the Grand Prior from Japan stated. “But it’s not just China that we have to worry about. Here in Japan, young singers and models are tricked into coming here, but once here they find that they can’t leave until they’ve worked off the debts incurred for the flight over here, housing, clothing, food, booking gigs, and so forth. These girls are paid so little that they find it’s impossible to pay off the debt without prostituting themselves. It’s been going on since at least the 1970’s, and in spite of the warnings, young girls flock here every year – duped by false promises of fame and wealth.”

      “It’s a global problem,” Tom admitted, “and it’s compounded by the fact that slavery is still practiced openly in several places around the world. Many of the situations like the one described in Japan aren’t technically illegal as long as the girls aren’t forced into sex slavery. When the girls are given a choice of a way to pay off their debt quickly, even if there’s really no other choice, it’s their decision and therefore falls outside of the legal definition of slavery. It doesn’t make it right, but it does make it harder to prosecute, compounding the difficulty of what types of interventions we can mount against it.”

      “We need to raise the awareness of potential victims so they won’t get suckered into these schemes,” the Grand Prior from the Philippines suggested.

      “I agree,” Tom responded. “But I’d hate it if our principal approach to curtailing human trafficking is by sowing fear, when what we’re trying to do is help people stop being afraid by ending what they’re already afraid of. We may have no choice in the short term, but as part of our long-term strategy, I want to concentrate on eliminating the need for people to fear the threat of human trafficking.”

      “Just how long do you think it will take to achieve that?” the Grand Prior from Egypt asked.

      “It could take decades,” Tom answered. “Friends, this isn’t a short-term initiative. It’s possible that this initiative will become part of our permanent activities, both in terms of interventions and in terms of intelligence gathering. It’s the largest criminal enterprise on earth, and until its back is broken, we’ll never be finished working against it.”

      Tom saw heads nodding across the video monitors. After a little more discussion, the Grand Priors agreed to meet with their Commanderies and start formulating plans to begin working on the initiative.

      Tom, Alasdair, Max, and Patrick left the Commandery an hour later. As Tom drove home, the early morning fog mirrored his spirits.

      Am I doing the right thing? Is this too big for us? Can we really make a difference in a year? In ten years? In twenty?

      Tom turned left at the traffic light and headed away from downtown.

      What’s the alternative? Let it continue unchecked? They’re operating in our own city! We know that these monsters have already butchered four women. How many other victims have there been that we don’t know about? What about my daughter? What kind of a world am I leaving her if we do nothing to stop this? What kind of a world are we leaving for all daughters, and sons, if we do nothing? What’s the use of the Order if we can’t intervene against traffickers who are sowing death, slavery, and terror in every corner of the world? It may never be over, but if we don’t start, if we don’t try, then we condemn thousands of people each year. I can’t do that.

      Tom turned onto the parkway that led to the community where his house was located.

      We’ll put the initiative into motion, and then we’ll monitor it closely. If, after six months or so, we haven’t made any progress, we’ll re-evaluate things. It’s possible that we’re just not equipped to take on human trafficking. But we’ll never know unless we try.

      He pulled into his driveway and parked in the garage. When he entered the house, Emily was waiting for him in the kitchen. As he walked over and kissed her, he thought about how he’d feel if he lost Emily or Jamie to human traffickers. It made his blood boil.

      What choice do we have?

      Later that same day, Jamie sat at her desk in SignalCorps’ marketing department when her phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she recognized the number immediately.

      “Hi, Lori!” she said when she answered the call.

      “It’s Thursday, Jamie! Girls’ night!”

      Jamie laughed softly. “What do you have in mind?”

      “You, me, Susan, and Lynn getting together for dinner and drinks at that new place on 25^th, Griglia Rustica. Seven o’clock?

      “I’ll meet you there!”

      “Okay! ’Bye, Jamie.”

      “’Bye, Lori.”

      Jamie hung up the phone, smiling. Lori Vargas was her best friend from business school, and they tried to get together as often as possible. Susan Chambliss was also a friend from business