In this chapter, Joshua and his crew ransom a woman taken for ransom by Mahmoud. Before she's recovered, she's gang raped by her captors. Sahar steps up. This chapter contains oral, lesbian sex, regular sex, and non-consensual sex. There is no COVID-19 nor STD's to worry about in this story. My thanks to JohnnyGalt for his help.
My Voyage of Submission, Ch 10, Freetown
Leo arrived with the Hofflers around one. James took their luggage to the cabin Master had set aside for them with two queen beds, one for them and one for Johanna after she was recovered. Leo also brought uniform styled clothes so everyone would look about the same. Hannah took possession of those so they could be given to everyone. He also had another package of clothes that Master took possession of. I didn't know what they were. Master and I took the Hofflers to the dining room so they could eat after their trip. Everyone had to go back to non-slave mode in deference to them.
Both Ben and Marian were on the heavy side, though both looked as though they'd lost weight recently and both had bags under their eyes from lack of sleep.
As soon as everyone was seated, Ben said, "Mr. Greenbriar, thank you so much for helping us recover our daughter. We can't thank you enough."
"We haven't recovered her yet," Master replied. "In fact, we've run into some issues you should be aware of."
They looked at each other worriedly. Were they going to get their daughter back or not?
"Please eat first and we can discuss some things."
"I don't think I could eat a bite if I'm not getting Johanna back," Marian said. "Please tell us what's going on."
"Do you know why we flew you into Dakar instead of Monrovia?"
"No, Congresswoman Ward said we had to change plans and not to talk about it with anyone," Ben replied.
"We believe the man or men who kidnapped your daughter were waiting in Monrovia, hoping to take this ship and capture more slaves. Through mischance, we've managed to free seven human trafficked women, taken from several different parts of the world, four of them from North Africa by Mahmoud, the man responsible for taking Johanna. Those four were brutally trained as sex slaves, then branded with a hot iron and sold to individuals in South America. Fatima, the first woman we've freed said sometimes, the women taken were ransomed back to their families if the family could pay more than they could be sold for. That appears to be the case with Johanna.
"At this point, we think someone at Interpol we've been sharing information with has been sharing that same information with Mahmoud. It appeared that some of his men were gathering in Monrovia. That's the reason we changed your location to Dakar. They know we have to make the exchange at Freetown, so there's no getting around going there without screwing up the exchange, but I'm taking steps to keep everyone safe and recover your daughter. Through the auspices of my wife, the US Navy has sent a destroyer down here to help, but if we start shooting, your daughter could very well be injured or killed."
"Was it a Geraldo Espinosa?" Ben asked.
"He was one of the two we're concerned about, why?"
"He called us and asked when we were scheduled to arrive in Monrovia."
"What did you tell him?" Master looked worried.
"Congresswoman Ward told us to tell anyone who inquired, that we didn't know, the State Department was making all the arrangements."
"Good," Master said, breathing a sigh of relief. Might be why Leo didn't have any issues.
"We have to arrive by ten tomorrow morning, giving them a chance to put eyes on our ship. I'm reasonably sure they will know what you look like, so we'll let them get a peek at you, figure they're going to get paid. Before we get to Freetown, we're going to go to a war footing. Everyone on the ship has gone through firearms qualification and will be armed. We'll issue you ballistic armor similar to what soldiers wear. If you leave your cabin, I want you to put it on. My security guy, Edgar Reynolds, will show you how to wear it tomorrow morning. If by some nasty chance, shooting does start, one of my people will go with you to your cabin and lock themselves in with you to keep you safe.
"The other thing you should be aware of, is your daughter may have been severely mistreated, even though they agreed to ransom her. These are evil men and don't seem to have an ounce of kindness and compassion in their bodies. They try to impress on the young women they capture that they are totally helpless and nothing more than sex toys for their owners. I want you to speak to Beth and Fatima. Beth is working on her doctorate in psychology and Fatima was captured by this man and enslaved for eighteen months. They can discuss the problems your daughter might have experienced and may continue to face over the next few months."
The faces of both of them sank, their worst fears being realized. I felt so sorry for them. "Please eat," I said. "I know this is hard news, but you need to remain strong for Johanna. She'll need all the help you can give her. We'll talk after lunch. I should tell you the other young women we've freed are much stronger than I thought they'd be. I believe Johanna might surprise you."
"We've got medical staff on board," Master said, "a former Navy Corpsman, now a Physician's Assistant and former Navy nurse. They will examine her and determine if she needs more medical assistance than we can provide. With the Navy helping us now, we may have a doctor available and they can fly her somewhere she could receive more help if needed."
Marian started to cry and Ben didn't look very good himself.
"I'm so sorry," Master said. "I know this isn't the news you hoped to hear, but better to hear it now so you can put a brave face on for your daughter."
They both picked at their food, eating perhaps half of it. When it looked like they couldn't eat anymore, Fatima and I took them back to their cabin. I said I wanted them to see what was done to Fatima, so they could be prepared.
"How bad is it going to be?" Ben asked.
"I warn you this might be worse than your daughter's condition because Fatima's Owner liked to beat her. It helped him become sexually aroused. Many of the scars you see will be from him. Fatima would you please pull up your shirt and show them your back?"
Fatima grasped the bottom of her shirt and turning, pulled it up to show them her back. They both gasped loudly when they saw it. She lowered her shirt.
"Show them your brand, Fatima."
She lowered her pants to her thighs and pulled aside the bottom of her panties over the lower buttock to show them her brand, then pulled everything back on, tucking everything back in. Both of them were crying openly now.
"They might not have branded Johanna. Fatima said they usually did it right before slaves were sold. Johanna isn't being sold, so she might have been spared this last indignity, but we don't know."
We sat on the opposite bed facing them. "When Fatima was freed, she didn't feel free. She thought the brand identified her as a slave and she would remain a slave forever. That whoever saw it and recognized it as a slave brand could recapture her, punish her and return her to her owner or resell her to someone else. She was frightened of everyone and tried to do everything she was ordered to do, even contradictory orders. That was in mid-July, a bit over three weeks ago. It took her about a week to get her bearings, maybe a few days longer, but she no longer obeys any order she's given. She's improved to the point our Captain is training her to sail this ship. Fatima speaks Arabic and Spanish in addition to English, so she's helped with the other women we've recovered, helping them through the same ordeal. It will take a long time to recover fully from all they've been through, but no one will obey orders anymore which don't apply to free women." I sighed.
"Your daughter may require long term counseling. She will likely be emotionally scarred by her experiences in ways we don't even know. I would recommend a specialist who works with women who have suffered human trafficking. I can refer you to someone where you live who does specialize. It will be a little like your daughter was brainwashed. It's likely she'll suffer from PTSD episodes like soldiers sometimes do. I'll work with her as much as I can before you leave, though I warn you I'm not yet licensed to practice. I'm still working on my Ph.D., but I've worked with my college professor who was visiting me when we recovered all of these women so I understand the concepts."
Marian asked Fatima, "Do you think our daughter can recover if they've done similar things to her?"
"She'll need help, yes. I have wished to commit suicide because I felt nothing would ever get better. I received a lot of help from the people on this ship. They've become like family to me. She already has a family, you. As Beth said, you'll have to be strong for her. She'll be frightened of everything, and it will help if you're not. Keep telling her everything will be all right if only she fights for it and does not sink into the pit she'll want to sink into. Anger helps, not anger at the world in general, but anger at those who did this to her. She needs to place the blame on someone, but it can't be herself. I sometimes would believe it was my own fault I was taken; that I'd been too pretty, or too flirty, or too friendly. The thing is, it doesn't make any difference what I'd done or even if I'd done anything.
"They broke into my hotel room in the middle of the night, killed my parents and took me. Do I blame my parents because they couldn't somehow protect me? Do I blame myself because they found me somehow attractive enough to take? Do I blame the hotel I stayed for not being safer? Do I blame the governments of the world who allow these atrocities to exist; blame God because there is such evil in some men's hearts? There are a million things or people to blame but it is wrong to blame anyone but those who harmed me. There was nothing anyone could have done. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is no one to blame but evil men. They were evil people and evil people do evil things and life must go on. Your daughter will have to understand this. Good people still exist in this world. She will need to realize that."
"Thank you both," Ben said. "This has been hard, I know. Your kindness is much appreciated. Please give us some time alone."
"Dinner will be at seven tonight. Someone will come to fetch you," I said.
Before we left. Fatima put her hands on the shoulders of each of them and squeezed. She returned to the bridge and I went back to my room. I hadn't had time to enter the survey results from the club at Buenos Aires, so set about doing that until supper.
Around 1700, there was a timid knock on my door. "Enter," I said.
