Chapter No.68. Abomination.

The weeks went by without any confrontations or missions. It was a welcomed chance for the Steris family to live normal lives. Janet was content to go to work at the credit union while James and Sylvia attended high school.

But a typical day was about to become more interesting. Janet was at her job at the credit union. James and Sylvia were at school, and Robert was at home doing some cleaning when the land line phone rang. He answered it.

"We have another difficult case," Mark, the FBI agent, said. "It involves child trafficking."

"I'm not doing anything important right now. I'll be right there."

He materialized in Mark and Joe's office. "What's the problem?"

"We've been working on this case for some time," Mark said. "We're investigating an ongoing child trafficking spree and it's causing a lot of pressure on us to solve it. Unfortunately, we've been at a loss as to how they're doing it."

Robert frowned. "I was under the impression that sex trafficking is a common problem that local police handle. How did the FBI get involved?"

"The trafficking is being run by a former drug cartel head. Carlos Jamal is on the most wanted list and his latest gig is causing a lot of problems for the Justice Department."

"As I recall, sex trafficking involves young, mostly underage girls, being enticed into the sex trade, usually around the places they like to hang out at. They usually end up in a motel with a customer. That's a local police problem."

"We agree," Mark said. "But this case has blossomed into a much larger operation. Young teen and preteen girls are being abducted in much larger numbers than before. Our problem is that we can't locate how they're being transported to locations all over the country."

Robert rubbed his jaw. "Are you inferring that they're abducting the victims from a common location?"

"Most of the disappearances are occurring in the suburban areas of greater Greenbriar."

"That's a huge area," Robert said. "However, it could imply that there is a specific way that they're being transported out."

"that's what we think," Joe said. "But we've been unable to locate it."

"It could be an underground conduit."

"We've investigated that possibility but have come up dry."

Robert smiled. "I might be able to detect something by simply flying over the area and scanning with my X-ray vision."

"We petitioned for trying that, but they nixed it," Mark said. "They claim that X-rays could be a health risk and it would violate privacy laws."

"That's where I have the advantage. They can't nix me and I'm not a lawyer."

Mark and Joe exchanged glances before Mark said, "We would be grateful for anything you could do to help us solve this case."

"I fully understand," Robert said before he vanished.

Robert returned home and recruited Sparky, the super dog, to help him in his quest. Sparky could help sniff out any possible locations that he couldn't detect. He and the dog flew up into the sky and began the search. After a few minutes he was joined by his wife.

"Having a boring day?" he asked her as they flew over suburban areas populated by row after row of ranch homes.

"I thought you might need a woman's touch if you find anything,"

He smiled. "Yes, that sounds appropriate."

After flying around for close to an hour with no success, Robert, Janet and Sparky landed in a large park and walked over to an especially densely forested area off the beaten path. That's when they discovered a hidden entrance. It was disguised as an old wooden covered cistern. It revealed a ladder that led to an underground cavern.

"This appears to lead to an old underground aquifer system," Robert said.

"I think it's more than that. It's been expanded."

"Yes," Robert said with a grin. "I think we've found the trafficker's underground distribution system. We should be able to trace this from the air."

They returned to the surface and began a new scanning run over the park.

"The tunnels lead out of the area," Janet said. "It appears to run to an old quarry."

"Let's check it out."

They flew to the quarry, which had been abandoned several decades ago. Old mining equipment sat silent rusting away. The main pit was rugged with old slabs of rock strewn around. However, there was something that didn't appear to be part of the old dig.

"That looks like a helicopter landing pad," Janet said. "I'll bet this is where the victims are being transported to their customers."

"Bingo!"

"Are we going to go down there and confront them?"

"Nope. We'll let the FBI do that. However, we might be able to find where they're keeping some of the victims."

They flew down to the pad and became invisible. They found an entrance to the tunnel system and began a search. Surprisingly, only a few people were guarding the place. It didn't take all that much time to locate a large underground prison comprising dozens of cells containing teen and preteen girls.

"Okay, let's photograph all of this," Robert told his wife using mental telepathy. "We'll let them do the raid on this place."

Janet wanted to release all of the girls but realized that it would lead to a problem of how to get them all out of harm. Besides, it would be better for the FBI to discover this abomination intact.

Mark and Joe were surprised to see Robert with his wife and dog.

"We've found where they're keeping the girls." Robert said. "It's in an old abandoned quarry." He pointed to the location on a map of the area that hung on their wall. "There's numerous old drainage pipes that lead to this location. We found one entrance in a park." He pointed to the park on the map.

"Transfer the photos to their computer," Robert told his wife.

When Mark and Joe saw them, they were astounded. "Holy . . . they have them in cells!" Mark reacted.

"This is your chance to catch them with the goods, so to speak," Robert said.

"There's not enough time to assemble a squad," Mark said. "Maybe you could transport us there and help us overcome the guards."

Robert and Janet exchanged glances before Robert looked at Mark. "Yeah, we could do that."

Mark and Joe donned their assault equipment before being teleported to the old quarry. The guards were taken completely by surprise when they were arrested.

Janet released all the girls from their cells, and they collectively cheered their saviors. The ultimate result of this was that the Cartel boss was arrested and charged with trafficking and several other crimes connected with it. The good news is that the superheroes were not mentioned as being part of solving the crime. Of course, Mark and Joe were most grateful for their help.

"I'm happy that we were able to release all of those young girls from there," Janet said as she relaxed on their patio with a rum and cola.

"Yes, I agree. At least we're able to help without a confrontation."

"Not all of our actions involve confrontations. What we do for NASA is without anything violent."

"Thank goodness."

James and Sylvia appeared.

"What'd you guys do today?" James asked.

"Oh, we just saved thirty-two young girls from a life of sex slavery," Janet said.

"Did you have to do battle?"

"Nope. All we had to do was show the FBI where they were being held."

"Boring!"

"We like it that way. Besides, it gave Sparky something to do."

They laughed.

"You look like you're beginning to show," Janet said to Sylvia. "Maybe it's time to go shopping for maternity clothes."

"Can't you simply create them?" James said.

"That's no fun!" Janet said. "Women love to shop for clothes."

"Amen to that!" Robert said.

They laughed.