My Descent into Slavery Ch. 19

"How much do you want to kill Mark Spagnoli, Kadina?" Sahar asked

"Very much," Kadina said.

"Enough to work your ass off for the next three to four weeks so you're prepared?"

"You know where he is?" Kadina asked, almost breathless.

"We know, and if you're ready to go, you can come with. Otherwise, I will go without you. As was clearly pointed out to me, what we're going to be planning, is to commit a murder in a foreign country with the death penalty. Not that I want to spend the rest of my life in a cage either, but I'm not going to risk my neck, just so you can enjoy killing the bastard. You will work like a dog to get ready, or I'll leave you behind. Fatima, do you know you're coming?" Sahar said.

"I knew I was leaving the ship in the near future, but didn't know why," Fatima replied. "Why me?"

"Apparently, Joshua and Björn trust you enough to sail valuable cargo from where we're flying, to where we need to go," Sahar said. "They don't want any record of us ever entering the country where Mark is living. Obviously, this information never leaves the group. That includes Angela. She doesn't need to know where we're going, and what we'll doing there. I want the rest of you to start training with me as well. I never want some asshole laying a hand on any of you again, without the man suffering a broken arm at the least. This particularly means you, Ateefah. There is no way anyone should have had to save your bacon. Every one of you can expect to spend four hours a day in physical training, two hours shooting and four hours in unarmed combat, watching and participating. All of your other duties are suspended. The only exception to that is Hannah and Fatima. Hannah has other duties to perform for this op, and Fatima only needs to be training on the guns for two hours every day. She won't be leaving the boat. She will be planning the whole sea approach with Björn, so she can find her way in the dark.

"Training starts now. I want everyone in exercise clothes. Expect to ache like a bitch when you're done. Your loved ones can rub you when you're done."

She was right, I did ache like a bitch when I was done. Not enough to not to be licking Sahar when Master claimed her ass to pay for this morning. Then she left me alone with him for his last night. He did rub my back, and a few other things, that wouldn't be affected by my markings. I sucked him off, then slept alone with him.

******

I began a period of training almost as severe as the that I'd gotten in The Bahamas, except without the damn spanking three times a day. No swimming, more running with a heavy pack, more shooting, and more getting beat up on the mat. I had a leg up on everyone because I'd gone through it before. So Sahar worked me harder, with heavier packs and faster runs.

We'd all had basic firearms training, except Kadina, learning to defend ourselves against pirates. We went more into clearing buildings, running the Hogan's Alley with the Spec Ops weapons. At this point, we didn't know how many people would be in Spagnoli's house when we got there. We started the scenarios with two bad guys, essentially Spagnoli and one bodyguard, and one slave. You failed if you shot the slave, and got extra points if you didn't shoot Mark with anything other than a tranq gun. If you got proficient at that, two more bad guys and another slave was added to the mix, and you went through that until you didn't get shot or kill a slave, then added two more bad guys and another slave.

Sahar wanted perfection out of Kadina and me. We were the ones going. The others could get away with a passing score. Kadina and I practiced until our trigger fingers hurt. Edgar spent a half hour of every day working with the four of us, Ethan included, talking about approaches, team tactics, supporting your teammates, high-low, and left-right room clearing, using silence as a weapon. Like the attack on Mahmoud's, we could expect to execute our attack at dawn, when their circadian rhythms were fucked up. As we got details about Mark's residence from surveillance photos from drones Smitty's guys were sending up, and building plans, Hogan's Alley got updated to reflect the new data.

The unarmed combat left us bruised and sore. Roberta and Sahar would demonstrate various moves on Ethan and Art, then we'd have to practice on various and sundry men, all bigger than we were. Ateefah asked why we couldn't practice on each other.

"Because with training, you'll never have a problem with 97% of the women you run across, but you can flip that if you're fighting a man. They'll all be bigger, most of them stronger, taller, better reach, and they may have had some fighting experience. Some will have weapons. That skinhead in Target had a gun. If the man gets a gun pointed at you, you can probably kiss your ass goodbye. If he reached for his gun, I was going to rip out his throat. You can't pull a trigger without being able to breath.

"When you fight men, you can probably flip the number. You won't have problems with 3% of the men you have to fight, but you will with 97%. There's probably not a man on this ship you can safely handle. They're all ex-military, even Dave can probably whip your scrawny asses now. I'd like to get you to the point you can give as good as you get with half of them. I can't beat all of them with any regularity. There's about ten of them I can only take about 30-40 percent of the time in unarmed combat when they know I'm coming. I've lost the element of surprise with them. They don't look at me like I'm a woman anymore. They fight me like they fight each other. When you meet a stranger on the street, they won't be expecting trouble from a girl. That gives you an edge, which you can't give up. You have to go at someone, you go until they're not moving."

"What about a gun?" Maahnoor asked. "Can't I just shoot someone?"

"You can't carry guns in a lot of different countries or places legally. You all got stun guns. You can use them if attacked, but unless you have it in your hand, you will probably have to hurt someone enough to get away from them, or create an opportunity to reach for it. That means hurting someone enough you can get a hand in your purse. But if you don't know this stuff, you might find someone taking your gun or knife and using it on you.

"You can't get stronger than most men, so you have to be faster, nastier, and without an ounce of 'give up and die' in you. You will fight until your dying breath. Kadina, that goes for your father, too. If he tries to hit you, you put him on the ground. Never take abuse from anyone again, and I don't care who it is."

Kadina nodded.

"Can anyone beat you on Hogan's Alley?" Hibbah asked.

"Not even Edgar can take me on the gun range consistently. I can beat him 95% of the time. No one worked as hard as I did to get better. While you guys were sleeping, or fucking your husbands, I was practicing, ten to fifteen hours a day. I'd practice when I was tired, in the middle of the night, first thing in the morning, after exercise, when I was breathing so hard I could scarce catch my breath. I never wanted to be helpless again. I never wanted to stand by and see someone else get hurt. You have to want to get beat up a little now, so you don't get beat up worse later."

We went at it again.

Lynn or Björn or Hannah would spend an hour with Kadina every evening, instructing her on how to treat her new slave. Angela eagerly complied with everything Kadina wanted her to do. Those closest to Kadina's room often heard Kadina moaning as her new slave serviced her, and Angela often came to breakfast with a fresh glaze of girl cum. Kadina didn't often have time to do much more with her slave, Sahar was driving us so hard.

Three days after I was pierced, I could have regular sex again. Sahar licked me, but sad to say, I fell asleep after my first orgasm, I was so tired.

Five days after I was pierced, Lynn and Manuel checked me over and declared I could be punished again. So could Yasmine and Angela. Angela got hung up on the wall in the playroom under Lynn's supervision, and she had a sign hung around her neck that said 'slave owner'. All of the freed slaves except for Hannah, Jìngyi and me, picked out something to punish her with. Even Sahar picked out a paddle similar to the one used on me in The Bahamas and whacked her a few times. She got a few welts, but no one broke her skin as promised. She squealed a lot because it hurt, and she hadn't learned to go into subspace. No real need for it yet.

By the time we got to Lima, ten days after leaving San Diego, I was regularly dealing with seven bad guys and three slaves. I was running five miles in forty pound packs, and I was getting beat up half as bad as when I started. It's a good thing Master wasn't on the ship, I would have been too exhausted to fuck him most days.

******

Master was back on the ship before Kadina's parents arrived. We were tied up at a pier in Lima, with no extraordinary security measures being taken any more. We had a driver and Fatima meet their plane at the airport with a sign in Arabic. Fatima because she spoke both Spanish and Arabic, and could deal with anything that might crop up.

Pierre was cooking traditional North African food to serve at supper. Kadina had chosen to dress American, despite Maahnoor offering to loan her the clothing Master had purchased for her parental meeting.

"I don't want them thinking I'm anything but different now. I'm not that person anymore. I can't be that person anymore."

She was waiting at the top of the gangway with Angela, Master, Sahar and me. I wanted Sahar there so she could interpret for me. Fatima stood beside Master so she could interpret for him. Her parents didn't recognize Kadina at first. They were looking at the hairless girl standing beside her. It was strange seeing a woman without hair. It had been over four and a half years since they'd seen her, and Kadina's hair and clothing were different. She had to say something before they realized who it was and rushed to her, crying in joy. Sahar didn't really have to interpret much of that conversation.

The conversation then changed. Apparently they asked if Kadina was ready to go back to Algeria. Sahar started interpreting for me at that point.

"I'm not going back to Algeria."

"Why not?" her father asked.

"Because I was treated like a whore for four and a half years, having sex with whoever my owner wanted me to have sex with. If I go back to Algeria, I will always be treated like a whore. Here, no one cares about my past. They know I had no choice in the matter. There are several freed slaves on this ship. Some are married and have children."

"Why did you have no choice?" he asked. "Could you not kill yourself before you were defiled?"

"I had no opportunity to kill myself. There were no weapons, and I was always chained or under guard. I fought. I fought hard at the beginning. I was not allowed to disobey." She turned her back and Angela lifted up the back of her shirt, showing the scars on her back. Her mother started wailing. Angela dropped her shirt and Kadina turned to face them again. "My ass was branded. It cannot be removed. Do you think any Muslim man will marry a whore, branded as a sex slave? I cannot go back."

"You have found a man here?"

"I have not found a man. I don't want a man touching me any longer. I was taken by a Muslim man, trained as a sex slave for six weeks, then sold to a brutal man who took my virginity. I was raped and beaten by men for four years. If you think I could have a man touch me and bear him children after that, you're mistaken. I have chosen to love a woman instead."

She put it out there, and her mother put her hand over her mouth. Her father raised his hand to slap his daughter. Sahar tensed beside me.

"Stop!" Kadina yelled. "If you strike me, father. I will break your arm. If you think that I have finally found my freedom, only to be struck by another man, even my father, you are wrong about that as well. No man will ever again strike me, without paying a price for it."

He slowly lowered his hand, and Sahar relaxed, smiling. She continued interpreting.

"I am sorry to tell you this. I know it's not what you wanted for me growing up. It's not what I wanted for me either. I'm not the same woman you knew. I'm irrevocably changed. If you cannot accept the way I am now, you may announce to family and friends that I am dead. That daughter is dead. Only this one remains. Not all of the other freed slaves have even told their families they're alive, since they knew they would never be accepted. I wanted you to know I am alive, even if I'm forever changed."

"This is the woman you love?" her mother asked, pointing to Angela. "Why doesn't she have hair? Does she have lice?"

"She is my love. This is Angela. She is my servant. She doesn't have hair because I had it removed. She doesn't get it back until she earns it back."

"Your servant?" her father asked.

"Angela has offered to serve me for six months for a harm she did me."

"What harm?" her mother asked.

"She assumed I was a slave voluntarily, and treated me as such. Yet, she is also the only person who showed me any love, kindness and affection while I was a slave. She loved me."

"Is she the one who taught you to have sex with a woman?"

"I had sex with many other women before her. I was given to many, men and women. It started when I was first captured since they didn't know who would buy me, so I was trained for both. I was only a sex toy to other women. I enjoyed sex with them no more than sex with the men I was with, knowing I was in violation of the laws and traditions of Islam. This woman was different because I wasn't just a sex toy to her. I was a person who she cared for. That is why I love her, and will continue to love her. In respect to you, I won't show affection to her in your presence, but she will share my bed tonight."

"They allow women to marry women in the West," her mother said, "will you marry this woman?"

"I'm not sure. I would like to introduce you to my counselor, Beth Wilson, and her wife and bodyguard, Sahar Hafeez. She believes that I should wait and take the opportunity to heal emotionally before making such an important decision. She believes that my slavery has altered me, but it's too soon to tell if the changes are permanent. That if I wait until more healing occurs, my feelings may change again. Sahar is the one teaching me to defend myself. If you had struck me, she would be tempted to kill you. Beth, Sahar, this is my father, Dawud Safoud, or David in English, and mother, Safiwah, which means Tranquil in Arabic."

We stepped forward. "Beth was taken as a slave by the same men who took me. She was rescued by the people on this ship before she was branded. Because they had rescued and freed other slaves, she recognized the brand I had and helped free me. She is studying psychology. Beth understands us because she too was enslaved."

Sahar took over for interpreting for me.

"It is true what Kadina said," I explained. "She has been free for less than two weeks. Her natural innermost feelings have been suppressed by her slavery. It's possible that she may slowly change some more, and eventually find herself caring for men again. It's too soon to say if she'll remain the way she is now forever. All of the women initially freed from slavery didn't want to be touched by men again. Yet all of them save three, are now married to men, and those three are now engaging in sex with men. There's no way to tell if your daughter will remain as she is or find herself evolving some more."

Sahar explained and her father said, "Yet you are married to a woman."

"I enjoy sex with both, but could not marry any man, thus chose a woman to love," I replied, honest enough, but not explaining why I couldn't marry a married man.

"You are of Islam?" he asked Sahar.

"I was," she replied, translating as she went. "I cannot now, nor could I ever marry a man. It was either love a woman or forever be without love. I chose to love again. I've killed people, sir. I have sinned in so many ways. I could choose to live as a sinner under Islam, or choose to leave the faith. I chose to leave. I claim no religion now but my own beliefs."

"What happened to the men who took you, who took Kadina?" Asking me again.

"They are all dead," I said. "I killed the leader myself. Kadina's first owner is also dead."

"How many owners did she have?" Dawud asked

"Two that paid for her."

"What happened to the second one?"

"He fled the country when he knew slaves were being freed and their owners arrested."

"He will die a horrible death as well," Sahar added. "Pigs like him don't deserve to live."

"Who will kill him?" Dawud asked.

"Who knows, but Allah will see justice is done," Sahar said.

"I would like to know he is dead," Dawud said.

"Kadina will write to you and inform you of his death," Sahar said.

When she got like this, Sahar's eyes appeared soulless. Dawud pulled back, suddenly realizing who Allah would choose to mete out justice.

"Allah khayr."

Sahar translated, "God is good."

Kadina then introduced her parents to the other freed slaves and their families. All except Hibbah and Ateefah could converse in Arabic. Fatima they recognized from the car ride. They hadn't realized she was a freed slave. Kadina introduced Yasmine as someone she'd met when they were both owned by the same man in France. Yasmine introduced her Master, Björn.

"Master?" Dawud said.

"My slavery also changed me," Yasmine said. "You cannot go through something like that and not be changed. All of us have problems of one sort or another. I did not want to live without someone in charge of me anymore. I chose Björn as my Master. He agreed to care for me and treat me well. He is very kind. I know it must be hard for you to accept what has happened to your daughter, but none of this is her fault. No man or woman could come through their slavery unscathed. Please accept the woman she has become. It is so hard for us. None of us wanted these things when we were young. None of us wanted to be beaten and raped repeatedly. It would be so much easier for us if we knew our families would not reject us in addition to all of the other horrible things that happened to us. Praise Allah that she is not dead, as so many others died.

"Your daughter is a good woman. When I was sold to our first Master, she helped me, comforted me, helped me to survive. Many were too afraid. Kadina was not. She was beaten more than anyone else because she resisted. I could not care for anyone more than I care for her. She was always a friend when I needed one, and I was so afraid for her after she was sold. I thought I would never see her again."

Master said, "My name is Joshua. This is my ship and I paid for you to come see your daughter. There is no obligation to me. I did it for Kadina. I know this is hard for you. It was hard for Maahnoor's parents and Ateefah's parents, to know what had happened to their daughters, that they were having children from their rapists. They were lucky. Men of my crew grew to love them and wed them to ease the pain their parents felt. Know that however long your daughter chooses to stay with us, and I suspect it won't be much longer, she will be cared for and treated well by everyone."

Kadina translated.

"What is to become of her?" Safiwah said. "What will she do without a husband?"

"There is a fund, begun from the ill gotten gains of the slavers who took her. Kadina received around 71 million Algerian Dinar from this fund, (Safiwah gasped, it was an almost unheard of sum) and from me. Her servant, Angela, has a good job. As long as they remain together, Angela will help Kadina. She may go to school, get a job, whatever she wishes to do, will be available to her. I, or a friend of mine, will pay to have Kadina's scars removed. We cannot do anything about her brand. It's too deep.