Out of the Game

My first day of retirement from the agency I slept almost 24 hours. My daughter was concerned about me. She had just returned home with her two children because of a very nasty and expensive divorce. She woke me up and insisted I go to the emergency room. I go to appease her and the children now ages 11 and 14. The doctors gave me a clean bill of health and set up my appointment with a primary care physician at the clinic for disabled and retired federal agents.

Unfortunately, the children had been swept up in the middle of my very last case with the agency. I was there to observe possible sex traffickers operating in the Caribbean. While there on vacation we found ourselves fighting off sex traffickers. The hoods did not suspect that I was a law enforcement officer. At 5’5, 110 pounds with gray hair that I love to show off they thought I was just another elderly woman with family on vacation. They were caught by surprise when I had several weapons some of the high-power rifle variety in our cabin. We were successful in fighting in them off.

How did I get the weapons? Remember, I use to work for the agency I have connections all over the world. When I arrived in Jamaica I got in touch with an old friend and told her I needed protection. What did she bring over? A couple of semi-automatic rifles, five handguns and a few explosives. My daughter and grandchildren gasped when they saw the arsenal. Grandma, we knew you use to be with the Atlanta Police Department but this and how do you know her? The Atlanta PD was my cover when I was with the agency. As far as my friend, I told them we met at a law enforcement convention she was also a retired police officer. I have not yet told them about me being with the agency. The less they knew about that life at this time the better. I want to wait until they are much older to tell them.

I chose three of the weapons and some of the explosives presented to me. Good thing I did! It came in handy when we had to fight for our lives. While we were vacationing in the islands my granddaughters met two girls who were about 9 and 11 at the time. They were 10 and 13 years of age. The girls told them that the people they had introduced to us were not their real parents. They were people who had kidnapped them and now were traveling around with them in the islands selling them to old nasty men who liked to feel up on young girls, yes sex deviants! Sometimes the men would have them undress and take photos, other times they would touch them in the most inappropriate manner possible. Just nasty and disgusting old perverts.

My granddaughters came straight to me and asked if I would arrest the people. After about an hour long talk about how I was retired and had no jurisdiction in the matter they just started to cry and that was it. I was hooked and had to take action. I went to the local authorities with all the information I had. Well, the locals instructed me to continue to enjoy my vacation and they would look into it. Those sillies went straight to the couple and verbatim told them everything I had said and told them who I was. The couple was able to give them a story about the girls in their care were a bit imaginative and that was it.

The authorities did not ask for any ID did not question the girls. So that night our cabin is invaded by four men who came to kill me and my daughter and probably take my granddaughters. Not happening on my watch! We had a shootout and the four of us ran from the cabin to the pier where our boat was docked. My daughter learned how to shoot when I was training at the agency. We took turns providing cover for each other while the other untied the boat and started it up.

My dear granddaughters knew where to hide on the boat and also had been taught how to use weapons. They both have 22s and know exactly where to aim to disable someone. I keep their weapons under lock and key until an emergency situation. Fortunately, my daughter and I with the help of the explosives we had were able to get the boat away from the island. When at sea we called the Coast Guard who had already been called by some of the locals who heard and saw the exchange of gun fire between us and the men. Once rescued and questioned we returned to the states. This was a very exciting and adventuresome vacation. The girls this is how we refer to them were debriefed and sworn to silence. Yeah! Try keeping two girls quiet about a gun fight their mother and grandmother had with some bad men while on vacation. They could not wait to tell their friends at school. We had to let them know to tell anyone would put us in more danger.

In a few weeks’ things were quiet again in our lives. I started going to the senior center taking painting classes and working out three days a week. My daughter had returned to school to get a degree in Engineering so she could make herself more competitive in the job market. We had decided to live together until she remarried, or I died. This was safer for both of us and the children. We could get a larger and better house in a gated neighborhood. The girls could attend a highly recommended school that offered a lot of activities and academic enrichment that most public schools do not offer.

Their school has an Olympic size swimming pool and excellent trainers in all sports. Their teaching staff all graduates with honors from some of the top colleges and universities in the country. Our darlings love to swim so this school was perfect for them. Both excel in swimming and this school already has sent three of their classmates to the Junior Olympics. Each of these students brought home gold and silver medals. Just when we thought our lives were going to be normal (as much as it could be considering my past occupation) the agency contacted me.

I was shocked when they wanted me to return temporarily (maybe up to two years) to help unravel some cases that stumped the FBI. I know the agency is supposed to work internationally only. Well, for the most part they do. However, on some rare occasions we work officially as consultants on cases that are local or both local and international. The case I was asked to resume temporary duty on had bad actors in the US and several islands in the Caribbean. One of the islands was Jamaica. In fact, the bad actors happen to be the very ones we had the shootout with a year earlier while on vacation in Jamaica.

Since they offered 24/7 protection for my family, a fantastic bonus and our new neighborhood was somewhat secluded I agreed to return for up to two years. Remind you I was to be a consultant not in the field agent. Working in the office only! In my 24 years with the agency, I knew in the office meant at some point you would be in the field doing something no matter how minor. My team was able to trace some of the bad actors to a town just a few miles from our new home. The couple turned out to be the very couple who we had met while in Jamaica on my vacation and observation assignment with the agency.

This couple was kidnaping girls ages 9-12 for some real nasty people who in turn would lease them or sell them to men who liked to have inappropriate relations with young girls. It was easy enough for them to intimidate the children. Tell them that if they said anything to anyone, they would kill their parents or anyone whom they loved. Easy enough to conceal them and when they were seen in public, they were in the company of a clean-cut couple who looked like they were their parents. The houses these girls were held in were in neighborhoods like ours with nice homes, great schools and stellar reputations.

We decided we wanted to catch the bad actors with as many of the girls as possible under their watch. Hopefully just as they were about to conclude the transaction with the buyers, we would raid the place. This would mean getting a couple of agents to pose as a couple who liked kinky sex with minor girls. The cover was set up by the local police with the FBI on call when the time came to commence the raid, rescue and then capture the gang of offenders.

The two agents who were posing as the couple had been undercover police off and on for about 10 years rescuing young girls and women from sex traffickers. Their cases had all been resolved with the perpetrators in prison for long-terms. No chance of being easily discovered. Next, we found an informant who was ready to make a deal in exchange for getting a lighter prison sentence for providing fake IDs for the minor girls who had been abducted. He put out the word out that there were girls available for lease or sale at an underground sex club.

Once the bait was in place all we had to do was wait to hear from the informant. It took a week and then we heard from him. Several people had called the contact number left at the club. The informant was wired, our van was ready, and the local SWAT team and FBI was within a few yards of the meeting location. One couple went into the underground sex club before hours, then a van that held eight girls and three men arrived. Next a black SUV with the ringleader of the operation arrived he and his security team entered. Our informant was in the club waiting. The group did not say much. We could hear over the wire that the buyers showed a bag of money and wanted to get a closer look at the girls. Then the ringleader gave the okay. Our informant gave the signal went to the restroom as instructed to hide. The raid began with us sealing off the exits and throwing in flash bang grenades. The rescue team shouted, “every on the floor,” then they shot anyone who ran or pointed a weapon in their direction. Three men two of them with the ringleader the other one of the club security guard was shot. Everyone else followed instructions and got down on the floor. All the girls were rescued without any physical harm. Most of the bad actors turned on each other to get shorter sentences. We were able to secure enough information to shut down the whole east coast ring and their international contacts.

At the office we completed the paperwork and I decided that I had gotten out of the game in good shape, and I needed to stay out. I resigned from the assignment and received my bonus for helping to close the cases. At 57 years old the excitement was just too much for me and I had too much to lose. It was not fair that my granddaughters had to be escorted to and from school by federal agents. My daughter had already had her share of a close call. It was time for us to live a quiet normal life in peace and comfort.