Chapter 211 - Witness Interview

The next day, Mia and Jaclyn arrived nice and early at the Munich branch of Interpol. Jackson and Halia were waiting for them in the lobby, and as soon as they arrived, they led them to a quiet room in the back.

"How are you feeling today, Jaclyn?" Halia asked thoughtfully.

"I've been feeling a lot better today thanks to the food you brought last night. The pork knuckle was particularly delicious," Jaclyn replied in a weak but thankful voice.

Jackson scanned his eyes across his sister. Only yesterday, she was trying to escape; he had witnessed it first-hand. So, he was a bit worried that she wasn't completely in her right mind yet. 

"You will be going into that room on your own in a moment. Will you be OK?" Jackson asked.

Jaclyn nodded her head. "Yes, I want to make sure that those guys are put behind bars forever."

Up to that point, no one knew exactly what Jaclyn had experienced and encountered during her transfer from London to Munich. Even Jaclyn herself had bits of memory that were still missing. But, she remembered the faces, voices, and names of the people that had taken her, and she was certain it was enough.

At that moment, Mia handed Jaclyn a bottle of water, "Have a sip before you go in. I will be out here waiting for you. If the questions are too tough, just take a deep breath and answer slowly."

Jaclyn did as told and slowly entered the room.

The room looked like the interrogation rooms seen in movies. Four walls surrounded a table with four chairs and a camera watched over the table. But, she was not a criminal, so this was not an interrogation but an interview. Thus, when the questioning officer stepped into the room, he was friendly and welcoming. 

"Hi, Miss Wu, thank you for coming today. This interview will last roughly 1-2 hours. After we are done here, you will be asked to identify the criminals from a lineup of suspects," he explained before he pulled out a stack of doc.u.ments.

"I've already read through the case files, but we are still unclear about what exactly happened to you, so I will be asking a few questions that I hope you can answer," the officer added.

Jaclyn nodded her head nervously.

"Let's start from the beginning. Can you explain how you were taken?" 

Jaclyn took a deep breath like Mia taught her and began to recall her story. She explained how she was heading out for a date, how she was ambushed at the university and how she was injected with heroin. 

"They pushed me onto the back of a truck with 5 other women. I was nauseous during this first leg of the trip and I slept through most of it, but whenever I opened my eyes, I ended up vomiting into a bucket that the men had given me. The other women seemed to be in the same state. At one point, one of them accidentally tipped their bucket and vomit spread all over the floor. By the time the truck doors opened, the truck stunk of vomit, but the men didn't care. They mustered us out like animals and distributed us onto different trucks. I did not see those 5 women again," Jaclyn recalled.

"Do you remember the faces of the men that took you from the university?" the officer asked as he recorded what he had heard.

Jaclyn thought carefully and nodded her head as she began to describe the men she saw. 

"Were you aware at any point that these men were human traffickers? Did you know that they were planning to sell you off into the s.e.x trade? Did they do anything to you apart from injecting you and transporting you?" the officer asked carefully.

Jaclyn quickly shook her head; she knew what the officer was referring to, "No! I was locked in that truck the entire time. They didn't even open the door to feed me!"

The officer quickly raised his hands to calm the woman down. "Please calm down, Miss Wu. It's just a question that I have to ask."

"What about the people that took you to the border of Belgium? Do you remember anything about them?"

Jaclyn described these men as well, but she began to feel discomfort at the pit of her stomach as the memories flooded back. The drugs had been suppressing these memories, but now that she was recalling it in chronological order, she began to remember things that she didn't want to, "That trip was quick, so I only saw them briefly, but they had strong accents and I recall them calling each other Louis and Manon. They also injected me with heroin before the start of the trip."

She then explained how she went from the border to Brussels and stopped there for a little while before being transferred to Cologne. "I was locked inside a warehouse with three other women. One woman was from Paris, one was from Moscow, and one was from Bosnia." That was when Jaclyn suddenly froze and began to tremble. She had almost forgotten about these three women.

The officer lifted his head and looked at Jaclyn. Something didn't seem right.

He passed her a glass of water and said gently, "Take your time. Can you tell me what happened in that warehouse?"

"The woman from Moscow tried to escape..." Jaclyn suddenly recalled. 

"Did she get caught?" the officer guessed.

Jaclyn nodded her head as her eyes opened wide in fear.

"There were 5 men guarding the warehouse. After they caught her escaping...they made us watch...as they took turns raping her," Jaclyn said as she began to cry. The officer handed her a tissue and she took it thankfully.

"Afterwards, they dragged her limp body out and we never saw her again. They told us that if we tried to escape, the same thing would happen to us. I remember feeling terrified and paranoid."

"When they finally packed us into the next truck, they injected us with heroin again and gave us each a loaf of stale bread for the journey. The heroin made me relax and forget about the scene I had witnessed, but when it wore off, the memories returned again."

"By the time we arrived in Cologne, I found myself begging and pleading for more. I was desperate and the men took advantage of it. I had become addicted without knowing it. They waved a syringe above my head and forced me to dance for them. I remember those particular faces the most. They were the most disgusting faces I had ever seen in my life!" Jaclyn sobbed.

"Did anyone r.a.p.e you at any point?" the officer asked after a moment of hesitation. He knew it was a sensitive question, but he needed the details.

When Jaclyn heard this question, her heart began to race and her mind became fuzzy. She remembered sleazy faces looking at her, she remembered hands running across her body, she remembered her clothes being torn from her body...

At that moment, Jaclyn jumped out of her seat and ran for the door. It was too overwhelming, she didn't want to answer this question, she didn't want to think about what happened. 

As she opened the door and rushed out, she ran into a pair of familiar arms. "What's wrong, Jaclyn?" a sweet voice asked.

Jaclyn looked up and found herself face-to-face with Mia. "I don't want to stay here," Jaclyn cried as she threw the woman's arms away and tried to run.

But, Mia quickly grabbed onto her and pinned her against the wall. "You can't run away from your problems like this..." she whispered. "Tell me, why are you so upset?"