Was this guy for real? He wanted to take the opportunity for us to get to know each other? He wasn’t such a bad guy? This sounded like typical narcissistic, sociopath banter.

“Okay, so you want us to get to know one another. I get the feeling that you already know quite a bit about me. Do you want to tell me about you or should I just start asking questions?” I inquired.

“Well, if there’s anything you’d like to know, you’re more than welcome to ask.”

“Okay, great! You keep saying over and over that you’re not this bad guy I think you are. What does that mean? I mean, you bought me at an auction. I’d never even heard of such a thing. How does someone other than a bad person even know about such a thing?”

“The auctions are run by a group called Black Death. You express interest via the dark web and then they send you a text message with a secure link when there’s an auction to be announced.”

I looked at him, my eyes wide, surprised that not only had he answered my question directly, he did so in great detail.

“And you said this was your first auction?”

“No, I said you were the first girl I ever purchased at an auction.”

“Okay, this doesn’t make any sense. If you’re not a bad guy, why are you searching these auctions in the first place.”

“Listen, I have to be very careful about how much information I share, but I’m just going to come right out and be honest with you. I work as a contractor for a major government agency. My job is to seek out these auctions so we can attempt to bring those behind them to justice.”

“Wait a minute, so you’re a cop?”

“No, I’m not a cop. I don’t work in law enforcement in any way, shape, or form. I’m former military who wanted to feel like I was making a difference in some way, so I contract with the government.”

I couldn’t tell whether or not he was feeding me a load of crap. My bullshit detector should have been going off, but he seemed genuine. Still, there were way too many unanswered questions.

“Okay, so you basically look for these auctions on the internet. Then what?”

“Then I collect as much information as I can and pass it along to my contacts that are actually employed by the government.”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes, I am telling you the truth.”

“So you’re really not a sex trafficker? You’re really not going to pimp me out? You’re not going to hurt me?”

“Hannah, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry that we had to meet this way, but if it weren’t for me, you would probably be in the middle of something very, very bad right now.”

“Why me, though? Why didn’t you buy the other girls as well?”

“I couldn’t.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t?”

“I wasn’t even supposed to buy you, Hannah.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s against the rules. We are only supposed to collect information.”

“So you just let the girls get sold?”

“Pretty much, although the people I contract for assure me that all the girls are tracked and will be rescued once the people behind the auctions are taken down, but I’m not sure I believe that.”

“Why me, then?”

“There are a few reasons. One, you’re an American citizen. I know that sounds shitty, but since I served in the military, it was the whole you never leave anyone behind. Two, you were in the most danger out of any of the girls. Besides those things, I really wanted to get to know you.”

I was beginning to get flustered.

“So can you explain how this happened? Did you just go to the people you worked with and they gave you the money to buy me?”

“No, like I said, that isn’t allowed. I used my own money to buy you.”

“Really? How much did I cost?”

“A little over $2 million.”

I spit out the orange juice that I was in the middle of drinking.

“You bought me for over $2 million of your own money? Where the hell did you get that kind of cash?”

“I’ve been doing high-level jobs since I left the service. There was always money being thrown at me, most of which I saved.”

“Will the people you work for eventually reimburse you?”

“I don’t think you understand what I’ve been saying. The fact that I bid on, and won you at the auction is a big time strike against me. As far as anyone knows, the auction went off without a hitch and I’ll be filing my report with them tomorrow morning. If anyone were to find out about this, I would be arrested and would probably spend the rest of my life in prison.”

“Is that why I can’t leave?”

“That’s why you can’t leave. At least not yet. Once we find out who is behind the auction, we’ll find out if any of the girls are actually going to be rescued. Once that happens, we can figure out the next steps for you.”

“So, eventually, you will let me go.”

“Perhaps, but that all depends on how cooperative you are. Who knows, maybe you won’t want to leave when all is said and done.”

I appreciated the things he was telling me, but there was still something off about the whole thing. Although I believed he was telling me the truth, I still had the feeling that there was a different side to him that he was trying to keep hidden. A side that even he didn’t want to see the light of day.