Louis Collins: A Post-American Odyssey

Louis changed into a fresh shirt and trousers after taking a shower. The women had cleaned up as well, their combat gear packed away. The RV was moving toward the main road with two armored SUVs at the front. Behind it was the van and pickup, crowded with the rescued girls. The other two SUVs brought up the rear. Two UIS vehicles followed them at a distance.

“We look like a traveling circus,” Savannah said, looking out the window. She played with a gold ring on her finger.

“A circus with a lot of guns,” Maeve said, cleaning Brother John’s knife with a disinfecting wipe. “And a clown prince.”

Louis laughed. “I prefer crown prince.”

“A crown made of sex toys and stolen jewels,” Gladice said, crossing her legs. “This is truly a royal family.”

Zhang’s voice came through the comms. “Sir, Dan Turner is awake.”

“Good,” Louis said. “Connect me to him.”

A moment later, Dan’s face appeared on the screen. He looked scared. A bruise was forming on his cheek. Dave sat next to him, looking worried.

“Hello, Dan,” Louis said. “I’m Louis Collins.”

Dan looked at Louis. “I know who you are. What do you want from me?”

“Answers,” Louis said. “Did your brother tell you about the deal I made with him?”

“He did,” Dan said. “He told me you would spare us and our families. If we cooperate.”

“That’s right,” Louis said. “I’m a man of my word. So let’s start. Tell me about yourself. What did you do at the farm?”

Dan hesitated, then looked at Dave, who nodded at him.

“I’m a guard,” Dan said. “That’s all. I just guarded the place from outsiders.”

“Why were you in the underground bunker?” Louis asked. “Why didn’t you stand guard at the main gate or the watchtower?”

“Because I was assigned to the basement,” Dan said. “Because of my leg. I can’t run fast or stand for a long time. So they put me there to guard the records and the weapons.”

“Did you know what they were doing there, Dan?” Louis asked, his voice calm. “Did you know about the girls?”

Dan looked down. “I knew. But I didn’t participate.” He looked at Louis. “It’s a necessary evil, sir. To fund our community. We need money to buy food. To pay for security. To maintain the farm.”

“Necessary evil?” Maeve’s voice cut in. “You call raping girls on camera a necessary evil, you son of a bitch?”

“Maeve,” Louis said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Let me handle this.”

Maeve leaned back in her seat. She kept her grip on the knife.

“I’m not proud of it, sir,” Dan said. “But it’s not my place to question the will of Brother John.”

“Brother John is gone, Dan,” Louis said. “So is his ‘necessary evil.’ You’re working for me now. And I have a different set of rules.”

Dan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Let’s talk about Brother John,” Louis said. “Where is he going?”

“To Salt Lake City,” Dan said. “He has to secure our future.”

“What’s in Salt Lake City?” Louis asked.

“He didn’t tell us. But he took a few of the elders with him. And the cash we had on site.”

“Did he say when he’d be back?” Louis asked.

“He didn’t,” Dan said. “He always travels on his own schedule. We don’t ask questions.”

“I bet you don’t,” Savannah said, leaning into the camera.

“When did he leave?” Angelique asked.

“Early this morning. Before sunrise. He went to the Jackson Hole Airport.”

“Why were you loading vans with girls and boxes? Where were you taking them?” Louis asked.

“We were moving them to the airport too, sir,” Dan said. “A cargo plane from Utah was coming for them.”

“So you’re selling them to the Kingdom,” Gladice said.

Dan flinched. “We are making arrangements, yes. For their future.”

“Their future as sex slaves?” Maeve said.

“That’s not how we see it.” Dan looked down again.

“I don’t care how you see it,” Louis said. “Did Brother John give an order to move them? Why today?”

“Yes,” Dan said, looking at Louis. “But I don’t know why. He said we were in danger. That we had to relocate. But we didn’t expect an attack this fast.”

“Because you weren’t paying attention,” Gladice said. “You were too busy jerking off to the videos you made.”

Dan’s face tightened. He looked at the camera. “That’s not true.”

“Where were you relocating to?” Louis asked.

“The same cargo plane,” Dan said. “We were going to get on it too. And fly to Utah. Brother John said he’d meet us there.”

“I see,” Louis said. “Do you know someone known as ‘The Bishop’?”

Dan’s face paled. “I don’t know that name.”

“He’s lying,” Maeve said.

“Answer the question, Dan,” Louis said, his voice cold. “Do you know ‘The Bishop’?”

“I’ve heard the name,” Dan said, swallowing. “He’s a very important person in Canada. He’s the one who runs Lumen Path Shipping. That’s who we get the girls from.”

“Where in Canada?” Willa asked.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” Dan said. “I never met him. I only heard Brother John mention him a few times.”

“Was the Bishop at the farm?” Willa asked.

“No,” Dan said. “He never came here.”

“Who from Lumen Path did come here, then?” Willa asked.

“His representative,” Dan said. “His name is Mr. Sterling. He came here a few times to negotiate the price.”

“Full name?” Willa asked.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” Dan said. “He was always very secretive. He wore a mask.”

“A mask?” Savannah asked, her eyebrow raised. “What kind of mask?”

“A simple black mask,” Dan said. “Like a bank robber. He didn’t want us to see his face.”

“And you never tried to?” Savannah asked.

“No, ma’am,” Dan said. “We don’t want to make trouble with our suppliers.”

“When was the last time he was here?” Willa asked.

“A week ago,” Dan said. “He came with a new shipment of girls. But he argued with Brother John about the price.”

“He wanted more money,” Gladice said. “For the fresh meat.”

Dan nodded. “Yes. He said the market was getting more competitive. And the girls were getting harder to find.”

“So Brother John refused,” Louis said. “That must be why he went to Salt Lake City. Lumen Path wanted to make a better deal with the buyers directly and cut out the middleman. Brother John is trying to stop them.”

“Seems like it, sir,” Dan said.

“How did you transport the girls from the farm to the airport?” Angelique asked.

“In a van,” Dan said. “The same one you took. The girls were given a sedative. To keep them calm.”

“You drug them too?” Maeve said, her grip tightening on the knife. “You’re a dead man.”

“Maeve,” Louis said again. “Calm down.”

Maeve let out a breath. She put the knife on the seat.

“I didn’t drug them myself, ma’am,” Dan said. “That was someone else’s job. I just guard them.”

“Someone else’s job,” Maeve said, her voice low. “You’re all guilty.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Dan said. “I truly am.”

“Save it for the girls,” Louis said. “Now, tell me if you have any more hidden compounds. Or any other assets.”

“No, sir,” Dan said. “This was our only base.” He paused. “There’s a small warehouse in Jackson Hole where we store emergency food and supplies. But that’s all. We don’t even have a man guarding it.”

“Address,” Willa said.

Dan gave them the address. Willa typed it on her laptop.

Maeve looked at Dave. “Is that the new destination we got on the radio from Hank?”

“Yeah,” Dave said. “He texted me the coordinates. That seemed to be the new location.”

“Alright, Dan, you’re done for now,” Louis said. “Be a good boy. And we’ll be good to you.”

“Sir, if I may,” Dan said. “Is my wife okay?”

“Who is your wife?” Angelique asked.

“Her name is Sarah,” Dan said. “She’s in the van or the pickup. She’s one of the girls.”

Louis looked at Angelique. Angelique nodded.

“You’ll see her soon, Dan,” Louis said.

The convoy reached the main road. They drove a few miles, then saw a tour bus waiting on the shoulder. The driver honked at them. Angelique spoke into the comms. “This is our ride.”

Yamamoto’s SUV parked in front of the bus. The driver got out, his eyes wide at the sight of the armored convoy. Yamamoto walked to him and talked to him. A guard got out of the van and opened the sliding door. Another guard got out of the pickup and motioned for the girls in the truck bed to get down.

Louis went out to join them. The girls stepped out of the van and the pickup. They looked at the bus, then at Louis. Some of them seemed relieved. Others looked lost.

“Who among you is Sarah?” Louis asked.

A woman with brown hair and a round face stepped forward. “I am.”

Louis gestured to the SUV. “Your husband is here. He’s safe.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. She ran to the SUV. Dan looked out of the window. Their eyes met. He smiled. She started to cry. A guard opened the door. Sarah got in and hugged Dan.

“Get on the bus,” Angelique said to the other girls. “We are taking you to a safe place.”

The girls started to get on the bus. Rachel stared at Louis. He nodded at her. She lowered her head and got on the bus too.

Angelique looked at Sarah and Dan in the SUV. “What about them?”

Louis turned to Yamamoto. “Let them stay together in the SUV for now.”

Yamamoto nodded. “As you wish, sir.”

The bus driver started the engine. He looked at Louis, confused. “Sir, where are we going?”

“Idaho Falls,” Louis said. “Just follow us. We are going there too.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver said.

Louis turned to Yamamoto. “Have two guards on the bus. Just in case.”

“Yes, sir,” Yamamoto said, gesturing to two of his men. They nodded and boarded the bus.

“What about the warehouse in Jackson Hole?” Willa asked. “Should we check it out?”

“Let the UIS handle that,” Louis said. “Consider it a gift for them, if they don’t mess with us again.”

“I like that,” Gladice said, grinning. “How about the van and the pickup? Are we just leaving them here?”

“Let the UIS handle that too,” Louis said, looking at the two UIS vehicles that had stopped a short distance away.

“I want to throw a stink bomb in them before we leave,” Gladice said. “To give them a nice welcome.”

“They have been patient enough.” Angelique smiled. “And unfortunately we don’t have a stink bomb in our inventory.”

“I will get one for the next trip,” Gladice said.

“Alright, let’s go,” Louis said.

He got into the RV with the others. The convoy started moving again, with the bus following behind.

Louis looked at the landscape outside the window. “So, here goes our vacation in Yellowstone. I hope at least one of us took some pictures.”

“I took a few of the bison,” Cherish said. “And the geysers.”

“Good,” Louis said. “At least we will have some memories.”

“I will have better memories,” Maeve said, examining the guitar. “This is a fine instrument.”

“Are you going to play it for us, Mae-Mae?” Donya asked.

“Maybe,” Maeve said, strumming the strings. “My sister Rebecca used to play. She taught me a few songs.”

The RV went quiet. Maeve looked at the guitar, her fingers still on the strings.

“She would have liked this,” Maeve said, her voice soft. “She would have liked you all. And this life.”

“She would have, Mae-Mae,” Donya said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Maeve nodded. She put the guitar aside and picked up the knife again. “Fuck it. I prefer the memories of blowing up a truck and taking down a farm full of bastards.”

“It was an exciting day,” Savannah said, turning the gold ring on her finger. “But I’m glad it’s over.”

“I’m not,” Maeve said. “I want more.”

“We will have more, Mae-Mae,” Louis said. “I promise.”

“Where to now, Louis?” Willa asked, looking at her laptop. “Idaho Falls, and then?”

“Then we will have a feast. I’m thinking of a whole roasted lamb and a lot of wine.”

“A feast sounds good,” Gladice said. “I’m starving.”

“I will call the restaurant,” Angelique said, taking out her phone. “Have them prepare the food for us and the girls.”

“Thank you, Angi,” Louis said.

Angelique smiled. “Anything for you, my love.”

Louis lounged on the sofa. “This vacation is exhausting. We should have stayed on the beach and drank all day.”

Gladice sat next to him and put her legs on his lap. “We can still do that. After we take care of Brother John and the whole network.”

“You want to fight more?” Louis asked.

“Always,” Gladice said.