Windy called Jimmy to give him an update though her timing couldn't be worse for Jimmy. Two heavily armed security guards were walking close by Jimmy's location in the shadows when Adia's phone went off.

Jimmy hurriedly tried to silence the cellphone, fumbling with the lockout password. He knew it but knowing it and getting the four number password to work were two completely different things altogether.

The security guards rushed to where they heard the ring tone but Jimmy managed to slip around the corner and into a small door alcove.

He spoke in a hushed whisper. "Not a good time."

"Jimmy, what's happening?"

"Win, the guards are onto me." Jimmy looked up to see the two security guards approaching with handguns drawn. "Come ASAP, Babe." He ended the call.

One security guard held his hand out and Jimmy obliged by gently placing Adia's cellphone in the man's hand.

Windy started the algorithm and started her car she nicknamed Breezy. "Come on girl, time to get our man!"

She pulled the gear shift down to drive and drove the ball of her right foot into the accelerator instigating smoke to build under Breezy's rear tires. When the tires had enough traction the car took off like a rock from a slingshot.

The nearly deserted city streets made it possible for the woman in love to get to the docks in under five minutes from her motel. Windy slowed as she approached the docks. Ahead were the warehouses but she parked and packed a backpack with her tools of the trade.

At forty-six Windy could still run like a woman half her age and with what was on the line, she ran like a track star. She passed building after building her feet barely making contact with the ground until she was closing in on warehouse three-zero-one.

Windy used the shadows to stay undetected by security and the Port Authority Officers. She circled the building staying close to the bordering warehouses. Looking up she noticed the same second storey window Jimmy balked at earlier.

Windy tilted her head."Shouldn't be too difficult."

Unlike Jimmy, Windy loved rock climbing in nature and at the gym only here she will not have a safety harness. One mistake will leave her injured or worse. Even with that, the woman did not hesitate.

Her first move was to get her right foot to the top of the hydro meter. Windy slipped on tight fighting rubber gloves on then reached up to the hydro meter with her right hand while simultaneously pressing her left shoe against the ridge of the metal siding.

She raised her right foot four feet and pressed outwards providing stability by force and straightened up. She pressed down on the meter and raised her left foot. Her fingers of her left hand found a hold under the over lapping siding.

Windy dug her fingers as deep as she could get them in then quickly but smoothly raised her right foot to the top of the hydro meter and pressed up again. With her body tight against the building she reached her right hand up, this time finding a siding bolt to press her thumb against while pressing her fingers towards her thumb.

She moved quickly knowing from past experience that her body would only last minutes. Once her right hand was firm she raised her left foot. Without looking she pulled the fingers of her left hand out and reached up and buried them in the seam again.

Now it was time for her to trust her grips and raise her right foot from the meter. There was no going back after she raised her right foot.

Windy pressed the fingers and thumb of her right hand like a vice and raised her right foot bending her knee at almost ninety degrees before pointing her toes down jamming her heel between the corrugated ridges.

She breathed deep twice controlling her heart rate. Then repeated the motion with her left foot before sliding her body upwards, staying as close to the building as she could. She found a system and repeated it until she was next to the second storey window.

She peeked inside to see a lunch room of sorts with messy folding tables and several folding chairs. She repositioned her body at the base of the window pulled a utility knife from her belt and cut the nylon screen as far up and to her left.

Using the "J" trim she found a secure grip for her right hand then ripped the screen and let it dangle below the window. She immediately raised her left foot and placed it on the outer window ledge, no more than an inch and a half.

Windy then pulled a sixteen inch slotted screwdriver from an outer pocket of her backpack, quietly jammed it under the top ridge of window. She pried upwards hearing a snap of the plastic locking mechanism.

The noise was heard by a security guard who was in a neighboring office. He called out. "I thought everyone was down stairs?!" He stopped at the door and frowned when he looked into the empty room. "Must be the fucking rats eating their leftovers. Fucking pigs!"

Windy held on outside the window with her fingers tiring. She peeked in again witnessing the guard leave the room. She breathed deep then pulled down slowly on the top portion of the window. Wasting no time she swung her left foot into the open window. Then reached inside with her left hand feeling for a solid hand hold. It found shelving. She checked for sturdiness. "Okay Windy, it's go time."

Windy gripped the frame of the shelf and pulled herself inside finding a chair to step on then down to the floor. She squatted in the corner and flexed her fingers to bring feeling back to them. "Now to find you, Jimmy. But first the guard to the right."

She checked both ways at the door. But the sight of hundreds of cages caught her attention. She gasped at the sight of women moaning and groaning. Windy headed back into the lunch room and called Adia's phone.

The ring tone was distinctively Adia and it came from right next door.

"What the fuck?" The guard scoffed but answered Adia's phone. "Yeah?"

"Where's my man?" Windy asked angrily then stood at the door watching the guard.

"In a fucking cage!"

Windy ended the call and continued past the guard who slammed the cellphone onto the desk. "He's fucking lucky the woman wanted him alive!"

Windy frowned as she slipped by the guard and to the stairs. The captives in the cages looked up at the mysterious woman in black. She put her finger to her lips to quiet the victims but it wasn't enough.

"Miss south?!"

Windy turned to see two women. "Lana?"

"In the flesh." Lana smiled like a cheshire cat. "Here for your precious Jimmy?"

Windy raised her nose. "Who's your friend?" She stood with her hands on her hips.

"Windy meet my sister Annika. Annika this is Jimmy's new girl." Lana smiled.

"You were the one leading Jimmy all over Asia during the pandemic." Windy shook her head.

The woman spoke with a Russian accent. "For his age, Jimmy is as naive as a little school boy." Annika laughed. "Gullible."

"Naive, huh?" Windy scoffed. "He found your sister, and he recognized your voice in the alley."

"You want to see, Mr. Gullible?" Annika laughed. "Come on."

Lana pointed her light handgun down an aisle lined with cages of young women and men. For as many victims as were in the cages the warehouse was dead quiet.

Annika walked with a strut.

Windy sneered. "You have no conscience, do you?"

"The West has strangled my country with sanctions." Annika stopped Windy. "This is nothing compared to what women go through in Odessa."

"Doesn't make this right." Windy shook her head. "You believe these people had anything to do with the sanctions in your country?"

"They voted the old white men into office, spread lies about Russia, and expect us to starve." Annika raised her finger to Windy. "I will not starve. Not for anyone!"

Windy pointed at the young people in the cages. "It's unlikely any of these people voted for old white guys!"

"I didn't vote for the old white guy." Jimmy chirped from a cage further down the aisle.

Lana laughed. "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy. Show your woman your new tattoo."

"You do understand Win is so much better than you."

Lana chortled. "In what way." This time Lana strutted as if she were on the catwalks of Europe.

"Every way, Lana." Jimmy laughed. "Should I elaborate?"

Lana pointed her handgun at Windy. "Time for your tattoo."

"Oh, I don't think so." Windy stood firm.

Lana waved her twenty-two calibre handgun in Windy's face. "This way to your new life. I think they will love a lady of the sun in Siberia."

Jimmy rippled the cages. "Lana?!"

"Jimmy, she'll be a hit there!" Lana approached his cage and laughed.

"That's not funny, Lana." Jimmy rattled the cage again. "Just let us go and we'll...."

"You'll what?" Lana cut Jimmy off.

Jimmy tilted his head. "We'll think twice about bringing you down."

"You are headed to Mexico." Lana chortled. "I know how you hate the heat. It'll be difficult to do anything when you're picking vegetables all day, every day!"

Jimmy slapped the cage. "You slow played me from the day we met in the coffee shop didn't you?"

"It was so fun playing with you!" Lana's mood changed quickly. "Move it Miss South, time for your tattoo. You will go out on the next container ship."

"Win!" Jimmy called out to the woman he loved.

Windy did not to look back.

"Crap." Jimmy held onto the cage watching Lana and Annika lead Windy to a room near the loading doors. "Think, Jimmy. There is no way Win and I will see each other again if you don't get out of here before that ship leaves port."

"Hey." A young woman called out to Jimmy. "Hey." She kept her voice low.

Jimmy turn but could not see the person. The lights lit the aisles but the cages were virtually in the dark. A few second storey windows provided some sun light in during the day time. But this was mid-December with only about nine hours of sun on a clear day.

"Hey." Jimmy responded. "Who are you?"

"Liza. Elissa Major."

"I'm Jimmy, about to..." The name startled Jimmy. "Major?"

"Yeah why?"

Jimmy sat on the cold floor before giving out a half laugh. "That name takes me back to my university days."

"You went to university here?" Liza quizzed Jimmy.

"Yeah, a half of lifetime ago."

"My father went to university here." Liza spoke proudly of her father. "Political science. He teaches up north now."

"His name wouldn't be Eli, would it?"

"Yes it is." Liza made her way to the door of her cage and into a sliver of light.

Jimmy made it to his feet. "How is he?"

"He is a professor but he's also on the Haida council."

"How did you end up here?"

"My friends and I were invited to a party that got out of control. The next I knew we were forced into a police car."

"A baby-faced officer?"

"How'd you know?"

"You have a friend named Adia?"

Liza looked at the older man. "You are starting to freak me out."

"Wanna know something even more freaky?"

"I once put that crazy woman in charge into a body bag. I swear she was dead."

"Are you a cop or something?"

"No. Too many rules." Jimmy changed the topic. "Three women escaped this place a few days ago. A guard forgot to lock the cage. Tell me ~ why do the guards open the gates?"

"They come by twice a day with a shop vac and empty our buckets." Liza looked away. "Or they come in and violate us. Like we were here for their personal pleasure."

"I am not their type, so that's not an option. I wonder what they'd do if I pissed on the floor?"

"The guards beat anyone who defy them."

"Well, let's see what they think of me." Jimmy pulled the zipper down. "You may want to get out of the light." He waited for the two guards to get close before he started to urinate into the aisle.

The two guards waited for Jimmy to drain his bladder before unlocking his cage and dragged him out. They both pulled their batons and began to beat him until he fell to his knees.

"Let's take this fucker to the hole!"