SAVE THE GIRLS: A JAMIE AUSTEN SPY THRILLER (THE SPY STORIES Book 1) Read online

  Save The Girls

  A Jamie Austen Thriller

  Terry Toler

  Save the Girls

  Published by: BeHoldings Publishing

  Copyright ©2019, BeHoldings, LLC

  Terrytoler.com,

  All Rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written permission.

  Cover and interior designs: BeHoldings Publishing

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  First U.S. Edition: October 2020

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  BOOKS BY TERRY TOLER

  Fiction

  The Longest Day

  The Reformation of Mars

  The Great Wall of Ven-Us

  The Eden Experiment

  The Late, Great Planet Jupiter

  Save The Girls

  The Ingenue

  The Blue Rose

  Non-Fiction

  How to Make More Than a Million Dollars

  The Heart Attacked

  Seven Years of Promise

  Mission Possible

  Marriage Made in Heaven

  21 Days to Physical Healing

  21 Days to Spiritual Fitness

  21 Days to Divine Health

  21 Days to a Great Marriage

  21 Days to Financial Freedom

  21 Days to Sharing Your Faith

  21 Days to Mission Possible

  7 Days to Emotional Freedom

  Uncommon Finances

  Suddenly Free

  For more information on these books and other resources visit TerryToler.com

  PRAISE FOR THE TERRY TOLER NOVELS

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  “I couldn’t put them down and kept reading one after another.”

  “Never a dull moment in a Terry Toler novel.”

  “I love them. Every book has plenty of action and conflict.”

  “Terry Toler is my new favorite author.”

  “I love the new style of writing he has invented.”

  “Not everyone can write an ending like Terry Toler.”

  “Great writing style! Every novel captures me at the first chapter and then I can’t put them down.”

  “I love all the twists and turns.”

  “I don’t even like fiction, but I love your books.”

  “You really know how to draw an audience into your story, and I am a perfect example of that.”

  “I have to force myself to quit reading, so I can get some work done.”

  “Every time I finish a chapter, I say it’s going to be my last, and the intrigue doesn’t let me. I have to keep reading one more chapter!”

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  “I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.”

  “I love the characters. They draw me in, and I find myself rooting for them.”

  Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  About the Author

  1

  Bangkok, Thailand

  The cell phone alarm went off at the worst possible time. The alarm meant Jamie Austen was more than twenty minutes late. She should’ve already grabbed the package and been long gone from the closet of a storage room she’d been hiding in for the last forty minutes. If someone heard the alarm and came to investigate, she’d have to improvise, and who knows what would happen. She wanted to get in and out without anyone knowing she was ever there.

  Without killing anyone.

  I can’t believe I forgot to turn off the alarm.

  A rookie and possibly deadly mistake.

  Jamie listened carefully for anyone who might be coming. The only sound she heard was the rhythmic moaning of the disgusting man in the room next door, having his way with a fifteen-year-old-girl. She also heard the faint and fake moans of the girl pretending he was somehow giving her pleasure which was impossible. There’s no way she felt pleasure from any of these men. Any feelings she might’ve ever had for men was permanently damaged and left her for good several hundred men ago.

  The man was the reason Jamie was late.

  Why is he taking so long?

  What Jamie really wanted to do was walk right into the room and snap his neck, or better yet, kick him between the legs so hard he’d never be able to do what he was doing with anyone again for the rest of his life. But he wasn’t the target. The girl was. She was the package. Jamie hated calling the girls packages. A demeaning and impersonal code name.

  Necessary.

  If the authorities were listening to their cell phone conversations, which was a possibility, they wouldn’t know who or what package they were talking about.

  The girl’s name was Chang Lyn. She’d been sold into the sex trade by her mother when she was only thirteen-years old. She had the misfortune of being born to a poor family in Thailand where parents routinely sold their young girls to the highest bidder. For more than two years, Chang had been forced to service as many as ten men a day, seven days a week. It’d probably been more than a year since she’d had a day off.

  More than twenty million women and girls were exploited in sex trafficking worldwide, and Jamie was risking her life for just this one.

  The starfish on the beach.

  The story goes that a boy was walking along the beach and throwing as many starfish as he could back into the ocean. Someone told him he was wasting his time. He couldn’t possibly make a difference with so many of them stranded on the beach. The boy said he was making a difference for that one.

  Jamie understood the deep meaning of that parable. She was risking her life for this one, and the danger was worth it to her. Chang Lyn may only be one in twenty million, but Jamie could make a difference for her.

  Her thought
s were interrupted by a loud moan signifying the man had finished, and it had finally, mercifully, come to an end for Chang. Time to get out of there as quickly as possible. Hopefully the man was thinking the same thing. They usually didn’t hang around long after the deed was finished. Like a robber fleeing the scene of the crime. Take the money and run. In this case, leave the money on the table and run.

  Jamie heard the man say to Chang, “You did good.”

  “Definitely American,” Jamie said under her breath.

  Thousands of American men came to Thailand every year for cheap thrills and the availability of young girls. Sex with minors was illegal in the United States. Illegal in Thailand as well, but the authorities generally looked the other way, as long as they got part of the action.

  The American had probably paid about 600 Thai Baht, approximately twenty dollars for the thirty minutes. Brothel girls were the lowest quality of girls in Thailand. The locations were seedy and not well maintained. Better girls were in the gentlemen’s clubs and escort services and could bring as much as 2400-5000 Baht depending on the length of time and quality of the girl. A “gik” were the higher-end girls who were considered mistresses and were available at a man’s beck and call. They demanded the most money. Chang was the bottom of the sex food chain in every way.

  That’s why Jamie was there. The giks and other girls, while exploited, had some choice, were treated better, and made some money by selling their bodies. Chang was a sex slave. She’d never see any of the twenty dollars, but her mother would. Her family got a meager check once a month, as did the crooked cops whose pockets were greased once a month as well. Chang got nothing but deplorable room and board… and constant heartache.

  Jamie would have to move quickly once the man left the room. Chang would only have fifteen minutes to clean herself up and prepare for the next man. Jamie moved quietly to the door and cracked it enough to see a three-hundred-plus-pound man lumbering down the hall and out the door.

  No wonder it took him so long.

  Jamie was unable to manage even the slightest grin at her joke.

  She waited to see if anyone came back in through the same door. When she was satisfied no one was coming, she slipped into the hallway and into the adjacent room. Chang was lying on the bed in a fetal position, sobbing. Allowing herself a few of the fifteen minutes to let her pain out, so she’d have the strength to do it all over again.

  Chang sat up in the bed, startled. Her eyes widened in a look of disbelief as she saw a young, blonde, American girl walking toward her. Jamie put her finger to her lips imploring her to keep silent.

  She sat on the side of the bed next to her and said in Thai, “I have come to help you get out of here. We have to hurry.” She didn’t speak the language well and hoped it came out right.

  No response. The girl just sat there with a dazed look on her face.

  The girl might not go with her. As horrible as her plight was, her family needed the money, and Chang was their major source of income.

  Jamie opened her backpack and pulled out some clothes and a pair of sneakers. “Here put these on,” she said with a sense of urgency in her voice.

  “I can’t go,” Chang said meekly in English.

  “I’m not leaving here without you,” Jamie said strongly, surprised but glad she spoke her language. “Trust me. I can help you.”

  “They’ll kill my family,” the girl said with a little more resolve.

  A lie.

  They always threatened to kill the girl’s family, but they wouldn’t. Harming their supply chain wasn’t good for business. The other parents might not be so quick to sell their girls if they thought there might be potential danger down the road. An idle threat, but the girls didn’t know that, and often refused to leave, or worse, they did leave and returned after a few days. If they came back, they were severely beaten, and some were even killed; made an example of for the other girls.

  Very few girls escaped on their own. Where would they go? They had no money and couldn’t go back to their families. The authorities wouldn’t help them. Most just stuck it out until they were so damaged the men didn’t want them anymore and preferred fresher meat. That usually happened around their twenty-fifth birthday. Chang would have ten more years before her nightmare would be over.

  I’m not leaving here without her.

  “They won’t hurt your family. I promise. You have to trust me. I can help you, and I can help them.”

  “I can’t,” Chang said. “My family needs me.” Her eyes were darting back and forth, and she kept looking at the door.

  “I can get you out of here,” Jamie said. “I took a great risk to help you. You don’t have to do this.”

  Chang laid back down in the bed and curled into a ball. Jamie thought about making her go, which she could easily do, but if Chang screamed and caused a commotion, they’d both be in grave danger.

  This wasn’t the first time a girl refused to go and wouldn’t be the last. She needed to cut her losses and get out of there while she still could.

  Jamie touched Chang’s hand and squeezed it. A slight consolation but maybe one she’d remember.

  She put the clothes and sneakers back into her backpack and went to the door where she cracked it slightly. Convinced the coast was clear, she slipped out the door and down the hall the opposite direction the man had gone. A back entrance opened into a dark alley. Always locked, Jamie had easily picked the lock and entered the building through the same door about forty-five minutes before. She had left it unlocked for a quick getaway.

  As she reached for the door, someone placed their hand on her back. Already on edge, Jamie turned around ready to strike.

  Chang!

  “Can I still go with you?” she whispered.

  Jamie gave her a quick hug and said, “Of course you can. Put these clothes on.”

  She took everything back out of the backpack. Chang stood there in only a tee-shirt. The clothes would likely fit perfectly. Most of the girls were generally the same size, but Jamie had this process down to a science, including what they would wear to be as inconspicuous as possible on the outside. The pants were black, one-size-fits-all leggings, and the shirt was a black pullover that stretched to fit any sized girl. Chang probably barely weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet. The shoes were slip on and ended up being too big for Chang but would have to do.

  They slipped out the door undetected and into the alley. Not out of danger but out of the building. The dark alley was a blessing. Jamie had left a small Honda Phantom TA 200 motor scooter around the back of the building behind a garbage dumpster. She climbed onto the scooter, helped Chang onto the back, and told her to hang on. Jamie didn’t bring helmets. They could slow down a getaway. She waited until the girl was securely on before starting the motor bike. Chang wrapped her arms tightly around Jamie’s waist.

  The noise would likely draw attention, and Jamie wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. She prayed it would start. It did. An older model, it had seen better days but at least it worked. She revved the engine and took off. The bike wasn’t very fast but quick enough to get them out of there before anyone could react. The perfect getaway vehicle. Thousands of them were on the road, and it also allowed for maximum maneuverability. Jamie could steer it through a traffic jam, or even drive it on the sidewalk if they really needed to get away from someone chasing them.

  She looked in her side mirror and was satisfied no one was following them. She’d already planned out the route and had made several practice runs. Meticulous planning had saved her skin on more than one occasion. One left, then a right, and then two lefts when the road ended. After the last left, she went one mile where a small SUV was parked on the side of the road. They quickly jumped off the scooter, and Jamie rushed Chang into the back of the waiting SUV.

  Chang mouthed the words, “Thank you” as Jamie closed the door, banged on the roof signifying all clear to go.

  As the SUV sped away, Jamie wished they were all
that easy.

  2

  Somewhere in the Caribbean

  Jamie sat by the swimming pool on the upper deck of a massive Carnival cruise ship, with headphones covering her ears, a large, thick hardback book resting on her lap, and a refreshing drink in her hand. While enjoying the sunshine, she was oblivious to everything else around her. The headphones weren’t playing music—they were for show so no one would try to talk to her. Twenty-five years old, this was her first cruise, and she’d already decided it would be her last.

  An occasional look out at the pristine Caribbean Sea provided a gorgeous view of the sun glistening brightly off the turquoise, almost green, silky, smooth water. Jamie barely noticed. The sea was boring to her. The water looked the same every time she bothered to look that way. Nothing exciting about it, at least compared to her last three months in Thailand. The horrific memories and images were still seared in her mind. Of course, that was the purpose of the cruise. To relax and be bored for a while after living on the cutting edge of danger almost daily for three straight months.

  Yet, she couldn’t help but think about the girls who were going through unspeakable pain at that exact moment while she sat in the sun enjoying the life of luxury. She couldn’t escape the guilty feeling. That’s why she wouldn’t allow herself to enjoy it. This would be one of the few times she’d disobeyed the orders of Brad, her CIA handler. He’d given her strict instructions to get away for some R & R and to not think about anything but men, sun, and fun.

  Jamie admitted to herself she needed the break. She was in a beautiful, exotic location, surrounded by hundreds of people laughing and having fun, and she was thinking about the girls in Thailand and what they were going through. She also had trouble sleeping at a night. More evidence the job was getting the best of her.

  Jamie was a CIA officer. A spy really, trained in special operations. Her last assignment in Thailand had been particularly stressful. She was sent there to work with a Christian organization called Save The Girls. Her job was to rescue the girls. Save The Girls provided them with counseling and a place to stay until they could get back on their feet.