Chapter 183 - Jaclyn Wu

"Jean Louis?" Jackson said.

He had heard this name before.

After all, he had been a part of the gangs in France for almost 8 years: first in Paris and then in Marseille. 

There were a few ways to get between England and France. Back in the days, the ferry used to be the popular option, but after the introduction of the Eurostar train and the Channel Tunnel, people began to opt for these faster and more convenient options. After all, ferries couldn't take a person inland to places like Paris.

As ferries began to drop in popularity, border control also became less strict. Thus, smugglers like the one that Freya worked with, preferred to use the ferry to move people. 

The ferries were big enough to transport vehicles, so it was common for smugglers to drive onto the ferries with their trucks. All they had to do was give a small bribe and no one questioned what they were transporting. Unfortunately, it was a long and arduous journey that some people did not survive.

Of course, most smugglers took the opposite direction, from France to the UK as many illegal immigrants from Asia and the Middle East believed they could live a better life there. But, Freya's smugglers were moving in the opposite direction. After all, they weren't just normal smugglers, they were human traffickers. The difference between smugglers and traffickers were the fact that traffickers kidnapped people and moved them without their consent. They were much more dangerous and coldhearted because they weren't helping the people they were moving, they were selling them off into the drug and s.e.x trade.

After Jackson heard the name, Jean Louis, he immediately gave Amelie and Alexander a phone call. They were likely back in France. Perhaps, they could lend a hand.

"Amelie, do you know anything about the smuggler, Jean Louis. I'm pretty sure Jacques worked with him in the past," Jackson queried.

Amelie thought about the gangster boss that she dated while she was undercover. She never liked the man, but she had to do it as a part of her cover. 2 years ago, Jacques had discovered her identity and tried to kill her, so Interpol faked her death. But, after that, they struggled to put her on other missions for a year because Jacques was so well-connected in France that everyone knew about his 'Interpol girlfriend'. In the end, they made her watch over the safe house where she eventually met Alexander and reunited with Jackson.

Even though Jacques ended up dying late last year, the thought of the man still disgusted her.

"Yes, I remember Jean well. Apparently, his operations have grown bigger and he recently started working with a group of Italians," Amelie replied. "Why? Is he somehow involved with your sister's disappearance?"

"Nightingale passed her onto him," Jackson replied. "We're going to take the Channel Tunnel over to the Port of Calais right now. Hopefully, we can get some information on what he's done to Jaclyn."

"OK, I'll help you check the ferry records and see if any mysterious trucks passed through our borders today. Call me again when you get to France," Amelie offered.

...

Jaclyn Wu had lived separate to her family since she was 8 years old and spent the last 15 years in London. Because of this, she was quite independent, but at the same time, she was used to doing whatever she wanted and had become quite spoilt. This was further spurred by her mother sending her money every single week as well as the latest designer clothes and handbags. In a way, Auntie Lily felt guilty for leaving her daughter on her own, and Jaclyn knew this, but she didn't understand why her mother did it.

Of course, her mother had never told her how evil Emma Wu was. Sometimes, Jaclyn Wu was so oblivious that she was even jealous of the way that Mother Wu treated Emerson.

Jaclyn Wu had never worked a day in her life. She had nice clothes, she ate nice food, she went to a top university and she drove a nice car. The only thing that was a little normal about her was the fact that she lived in the dorms with other average students. This was something that she specifically requested. After all, life was lonely in London on her own, and having roommates was the only thing that kept her sane. It was because of this decision that anyone even noticed that she was missing. If she had lived on her own, she may have already disappeared without a trace.

Jaclyn was heading out to meet a boy on the day that she was taken. He was a student that went to the same university as her but he was from another faculty. The first time they met, she almost hit him with her car when he was crossing the road without looking. The young man was handsome. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, and a dazzling smile, and Jaclyn was immediately drawn to him. Above all, he was charismatic, smart, and charming. So, when he asked her out on a date, she agreed without hesitation.

But, on the night that she went to meet him, she never arrived at her destination. Before she even left the university campus, she was knocked out, dragged into the bushes and injected with drugs. Then, she was thrown into the back of a truck and taken to a warehouse where her captors waited for the right time to smuggle her out of the country.

Her captors treated her like an animal, apart from feeding her and allowing her to go to the bathroom, she was chained up the rest of the time. But, she was never truly in her right mind to know what was happening because they continuously injected her with something that threw her into a continuous state of euphoria. The first time they injected her, she vomited, her head spun and she thought she was going to die, but the second injection made her feel calm and relaxed. By the third injection, she actually felt a sense of warmth and safety, something that she lacked while living on her own all these years. She didn't like the injections at first, but it didn't take long before she started to look forward to it...

What was this magical concoction that they were injecting into her?

She didn't know how much time passed, but her captors soon unchained her and forced her into the back of a truck with a few other women. They were in the truck for half a day, rolling around as it moved them to some unknown place. She didn't know where they were going and she didn't care. All she knew was she wanted another shot of whatever they injected her with.

She was eventually led out of the truck and forced onto another truck. Along the way, she begged for another injection and they gave it to her. It made the next leg of her travels much more bearable and she was grateful for it.

She had no idea that she had already left her luxurious and comfortable life in London and was traveling through France in the back of a truck en route to Italy where she was about to be given a fake identity so she could be sold off as a s.e.x slave. Worst of all, if she wasn't rescued soon, she was about to do it willingly like many women before her, because the concoction that was being injected into her...was heroin. A highly addictive opioid that addicts were willing to do anything for...