Cargo: A Leine Basso Thriller by D.V. Berkom Read Free Book Online Page B

doing now that you don’t work for our former employer?”
    Kavi frowned, shrugging. “Oh, this and that. Not anything exciting, I’m afraid. And you? Are you a friend of the missing girl’s family?”
    “Yes. But I also work for an anti-trafficking organization called Stop Human Enslavement Now, also known as SHEN.”
    “Interesting change of pace. Tell me, how did you become involved in the business of finding lost souls?”
    “I guess you could say I stumbled onto the opportunity.”
    “So many are lured into being captured. Like a spider with its prey…” Kavi stared into the distance, seemingly somewhere else. He shook himself and smiled, refocusing on Leine and his beer. “Only good can come when a person like you helps these people. Not many have your talents.”
    Leine smiled at her old friend. “I think that’s probably a good thing, Kavi.”
    “Maybe,” Kavi replied with a shrug. “Maybe not.”

Chapter 8
     
    Early the next morning Leine made her way into Chinatown, before the heat and humidity joined with gridlocked traffic and turned Bangkok into a convection oven, steaming everything by exhaust. She didn’t expect to find out much about the trafficker who had purchased Kylie—that information would hopefully come through Kavi’s efforts—but she couldn’t just stay in her hotel room and do nothing until he contacted her.
    The district was busy, with shopkeepers and customers already ensconced in the age-old dance of commerce. Everything could be found for sale here, from cheap knock-offs to fetishes to exotic fare for that night’s dinner. There was a huge market for religious statues and talismans made of “certified ivory” although most were not, along with cages filled with exotic and endangered animals for sale. Black rhinoceros horn could fetch upwards of sixty thousand a kilogram and was thought to cure cancer and magically restore men’s youthful vigor. It always amazed Leine the extent to which some men would go in order to achieve an erection. Didn’t they realize the tongue was mightier than the sword? 
    Sex was a huge industry in Bangkok. A large proportion of the prostitutes were from rural areas and had been sold into slavery by their families to send money back to support them, but there were many who didn’t have familial ties. Leine knew of several non-profits that worked tirelessly to put sex trafficking rings out of business, as did the Thai government, but like most criminal enterprises, when you cut off one head, more grew back to take its place.
    Bangkok had always been an interesting mix of modern and ancient that Leine found intriguing. Sleek, massive shopping malls with designer stores and high-end restaurants peacefully coexisted next to three-hundred-year-old temples boasting golden spires and building-sized statues of Buddha. Traffic was horrendous, and for much of the year the city was hot and exhaustively humid, but somehow Bangkok always wrapped itself around her psyche like an eel and wouldn’t let go. Even though the city was known for rampant petty crime, Thais were generally such positive and happy people Leine almost didn’t mind having her pocket picked.
    Besides, they smiled when they did it.
    Leine ordered a bowl of cow pot kai from a vendor at a food stall and stood off to the side to eat while watching the parade of humanity go by. People of all ages scurried past speaking different languages, accompanied by the clamor of the cars and three-wheeled, gas-powered tuk tuks . The colors and sounds, and especially the smells, washed over her as she sized up the neighborhood.
    She had just finished her bowl of chicken fried rice and was preparing to go back to her hotel when her cell phone buzzed. She checked caller ID—it was Kavi.
    “That’s pretty quick, Kavi. What have you got for me?”
    “You were right. Your man Wang is involved with one of the local triads. He’s directly involved in purchasing women from the US and Canada. Apparently