Booked to Disappear Chapter 08

Booked to Disappear Chapter 08

There isn’t much I can tell the police.

All I know is that Sarah found the tour online. I have nothing to do with it.

After obtaining Sarah’s tablet, the police uncover several crucial clues.

Their investigation soon confirms the truth.

What Sarah and the others signed up for isn’t a tour group at all.

It’s a scam designed to lure victims into a human trafficking operation.

After landing in Mexico, they have a ten-hour layover.

The traffickers use that window of time to approach them, offering to take them sightseeing while

they wait for their connecting flight.

Instead, they trick all of them into an underground scam call center.

No one knows exactly where they’ve been taken.

The police can only pose as college freshmen looking for cheap travel deals, hoping to lure the

criminals into making contact.

As for me, none of this has anything to do with me anymore.

Since I don’t have any plans for Spring Break, I decide to spend the holiday learning more about managing the travel agency and gaining practical experience.

A few days later, a large group of people walks into the agency.

I recognize them immediately.

They’re the parents of my classmates.

I look at them coldly.

“Are you here to ask about our travel packages?”

With their children still missing, there’s no way they’ve come to book a vacation.

They’re almost certainly here to cause trouble.

Leading the group are none other than Gavin’s parents.

Unlike the last time they came, the anger and arrogance on their faces are gone.

Now they look nervous, even pleading.

“Hannah,” Mrs. Bennett says carefully, “are your parents here? We’d like to speak with them.”

I lead them to my father’s office but stay inside instead of leaving.

I want to know what they’re really here for.

The moment the office door closes, several parents break down in tears and begin begging my

father.

Both of us are completely stunned.

For several long seconds, neither of us knows how to react.

“What are you doing?” my father asks. “Please, let’s talk this through.”

Mr. Bennett grabs my father’s hand tightly.

“Frank, I have nowhere else to turn.”

“I know your travel agency runs tours to Mexico all the time. You must know people there. Please… can you help us find out where our children have been taken?”

So that’s why they’ve come.

Our agency does business in Mexico, but it’s all legitimate tourism.

How could we possibly know violent traffickers or criminal organizations?

My father and I exchange a glance.

We’re thinking the exact same thing.

He sighs helplessly.

“The people I know are ordinary locals. They have nothing to do with underground scam

compounds. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

But to the parents, it sounds like he’s refusing.

“You’ve been in this business for years,” Mr. Bennett pleads through tears. “You have to know someone. Gavin is my only son. I can’t lose him.”

Watching the older man sob so desperately, my father can’t bring himself to turn him away.

In the end, he agrees to help however he can.

He isn’t reckless, though.

Instead of acting on his own, he contacts the police and cooperates with their investigation.

Through one of his business contacts in Mexico, they reach a local resident who provides severa

possible locations of underground scam compounds.

The police have been tracking these criminal operations for a long time.

They’ve simply been waiting for the right opportunity to dismantle them.

Now, they’ve finally found it.

After ten full days of planning, officers raid one of the underground compounds late one night.

The entire criminal organization is arrested.

At the same time, dozens of trafficking victims are rescued.

When the news breaks, the parents of my classmates are so overwhelmed with relief that none of

them sleeps that night.

At daybreak, they all rush to the airport, hoping to see whether their children are among those

being flown home.

My parents and I go as well.

Not because we know anyone.

Just to see what happens.

“They’re here! The police are here!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly shouts.

Every pair of eyes locks onto the terminal exit.

I soon recognize several familiar faces.

They’re freshmen from my major.

They look like empty shells of themselves.

They’re gaunt, bruised, and lifeless, their eyes completely devoid of hope.

Only when they spot their parents do a few of them finally show a flicker of emotion.

“My boy…”

A mother throws her arms around her child, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Why have you lost so much weight? What happened to all these injuries?”

Life inside the scam compound has been nothing but torture.

The fact that they’re still alive is nothing short of a miracle.

Parents and children cling to one another, crying throughout the arrival hall.

Standing beside me, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett scan every face that comes through the doors.

But Gavin is nowhere to be seen.

Unable to wait any longer, they hurry over to one of the police officers.

“Where’s Gavin? Where’s our son?”

The officer answers solemnly.

“Several of the victims were critically injured and taken directly to the hospital.”

It sounds like Gavin is one of them.

Sarah probably is too.