“Alright ladies! Dinner time!” The sailor announced as he wheeled his cart into the brig. Along with the other captive women, Claudia got up from her pallet and crawled to the front of her cage. Resignedly, the former teacher assumed the position their captors demanded: kneeling, legs spread, hands crossed behind her back, head bowed submissively. She had no choice, assuming she wanted to eat.

The slaver went down the row of cages, pulling metal trays off of the cart. “Thank you sir.” Claudia said, softly, as he slid on of the trays through a slot in the bars of her cage. Another requirement the slaves had to perform in order to be fed.

As the sailor moved on to the next cage, Claudia risked glancing over at the cage on her right. Earlier that day, Natasha had resisted two of the sailors during part of the girl’s “training” and was punished for it. The younger woman lay on the floor of her cage. Her arms were pulled behind her back and bound painfully close together at the wrists and elbows with rope. Her long legs were lashed together at the ankles and knees, then bent back and bound to the ropes on her arms.

The poor girl’s hogtie was so tight, she was bent back, bowlike. Claudia could only imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for her. Unfortunately for her, a few poorly chosen words on Natasha’s part when the tied her up in the first place, meant the young woman would be spending the rest of the evening like this. The sailors had warned her she’d be kept tied up all night, if she wasn’t suitably “grateful” when they finally freed her.

The aroma of the food wafted up to Claudia’s nostrils. Her mouth began to water. Grilled chicken, potatoes, mixed veggies, with some canned fruit for dessert. It wasn’t much, but it was infinitely better then what Claudia and the other slaves had been fed in the dungeon. Her stomach growled. She hadn’t had anything to eat since that morning.

Natasha could smell the food to. She moaned quietly. A large ballgag was lodged between her teeth, making it impossible for the young woman to stop from drooling. Needless tos ay, as part of the punishment for her “disobedience” she wouldn’t be fed tonight. The poor girl could only watch as the other women hungrily dug into their meal. The slave’s message was obvious. Obey and your lives, though hard, will be somewhat comfortable. Disobey, and they could very easily make things much, much worse for you.

Along with all of the women apart from the unfortunate Natasha, Claudia wolfed down on her food as quickly as she could. This was partly due to hunger, partly because the slaves were only given twenty minutes to eat. After that, the sailors would take away the trays, along with any food left. The women were not given any utensils. They had to eat everything with their hands. Claudia quickly devoured her meal, licked her fingers clean, and lay back on her pallet, wishing for more.

When the twenty minutes had passed, one of the sailors promptly returned and went down the row of cages. As he passed by Claudia’s, the young woman passed her empty tray back under the cage door to him. Usually, after their evening meal, the slaves were taken out of their cages for ‘exercise’ mostly jogging laps along the deck of the boat, wearing handcuffs and leg irons, while slavers with whips ran along behind, to ‘encourage’ the girls who fell behind.

To Claudia’s surprise, the slaves weren’t let out. After collecting their trays, the sailor simply turned and left the hold, locking the door behind him. For a while, she wondered what was going on. Then she and the other captives suddenly felt the deck beneath their knees roll, as the yacht turned sharply and began to slow.

“That explains it.” Claudia thought to herself. The slavers were taking on another load of kidnapped women, for transport back to their base. They didn’t want any of their other captives on deck, where they might be spotted, close to land. Along with the other women, Claudia listened, hearing the muffled footsteps of the sailors on the deck above them, as the men got ready to dock the ship.

All of a sudden, a siren, piercingly loud, even in the cargo hold of the ship, howled into life. And with it, something that caused all of the women’s eyes to widen in shock and joy. “Attention vessel! This is the Patrol Ship Cordova! Heave to and prepare to be-“

Before whoever it was could finish speaking, the sailors onboard the yacht suddenly opened up with bursts of automatic fire. Even with multiple decks between them and the gunfire, the sound was deafening. Claudia clamped her hands over her ears, trying to muffle the din.

The yacht turned suddenly, the deck shifted beneath the captive women. Claudia cried out as she was roughly thrown to the floor. The ship was speeding up, trying to escape the patrol. Up on deck, the sailors continued to pour automatic fire at the other ship, to discourage pursuit. The ship started returning fire. The women squealed in terror as they heard the sharp ring of lead slugs on metal as the yacht was raked with machinegun fire. Up on deck, one of the sailors gave a cry of pain, as some of those bullets found their target.

Claudia and the other women could only imagine the fierce gun battle going on, above their heads. The women, listened intently, to the shouting of the sailors overhead, the muffled thumps of bullets striking the hull, trying to guess what was happening. All of a sudden, two of the girls suddenly cried out in fear. There was water in the hold! The ship suddenly rolled in a wave. Claudia looked down, as a shallow wave of water suddenly rolled across the floor of her cage, splashing against her legs.

Claudia’s eyes widened in terror. One or more of the bullets must have pierced the hull of the yacht, and now it was taking on water! She pulled frantically on the bars of her cage. There was no way for them to get out. If the ship sank, they’d be trapped down here. They would drown!

“Help! Somebody help!” Claudia shouted. “Please! The ship’s sinking!” The other women took up her cry. Maybe one of the sailors would come, and free them. They must! Surely even these men wouldn’t let a dozen innocent women drown like this! But no one came. Maybe they couldn’t hear the muffle shouts of the captives, down in the hold, with the gunfight raging up above. Maybe anyone who might have been able to help was dead. The sounds of the sailor’s fire had diminished, to only a few sporadic bursts. The water in the hold slowly continued to rise. It was now over an inch deep on the floor.  

Suddenly, Claudia heard the sounds of footsteps above her. A group of people, running across the deck. “Help! Somebody help! We’re down here!” She shouted, loud as she could. The others joined in. Relief washed over Claudia as the footsteps came closer. With a squeal of hinges, the door to the hold opened. Claudia cried out in relief, as she saw a trio of people dressed in combat fatigues, carrying guns, enter the hold.

“Madre de Dios!” The lead figure, a woman, cried out, her eyes widening in surprise. She hurried to the first cage, slinging her rifle over one shoulder. In slightly accented English, she said, “Don’t worry. We’re going to get all of you out of here!” She turned to her companions. “Andres! See if you can find the keys! Hurry!” The man saluted, and rushed out of the room. A moment later, he returned, carrying the ring of keys.  

“Don’t worry.” The lieutenant said. She grabbed the keys and started unlocking the doors. “You’re safe now…”



A little over a year after the shocking events that became known as the ‘Basement Slaver’ case, another case stunned the world. Mexican authorities, working with Interpol agents, had uncovered a minor kidnapping ring, operating in one of the country’s major tourist hot spots. The single kidnapper taken alive in the raid on the warehouse where they were holding over a dozen young women, both local and foreign tourists captive, revealed that they had been planning to deliver their victims to a small, isolated bay, where a ship was waiting to take delivery of the women, and the kidnappers would be paid.

With this information, the Mexican navy was able to intercept the unnamed ship, near the coast with two of their coastal patrol vessels, the Cordova and the Puebla. After a short chase and gun battle, the unknown vessel was taken. The sailors were shocked to find another 10 women, held captive, on board, who were quickly evacuated. During the fire fight, most of the ship’s crew were killed, the rest apparently killed themselves rather than be captured. According to the victims, there was another woman on board, a Miss Cheng who was in charge of the vessel. She was not found on board, and currently remains at large.

Though the ship had been damaged during the fighting and was taking on water, thanks to quick action, it was saved and towed back to port. The ships computers had been purged and all of its log books destroyed, however, enough information was recovered from the damaged hard drives to reveal its final destination: a small, privately owned island in the South Pacific.

The international naval task force which was sent to the island was horrified to discover a “pleasure-resort” on the island, with hundreds of young women held captive as sex slaves for the resort’s clients, who included among them many wealthy and influential businessmen and politicians.

Up until then, the public at large had considered the international slave trade to be have been a small, unorganized affair and, following the ‘Basement Slaver’ case, largely eliminated by the authorities. The Kodan affair, named after the island on which the slavers were operating, quickly put a rest to that notion. These slavers were well funded and well organized, with connections all across the world, funneling countless unfortunate women into the nightmare of slavery. Their clients included many prominent men and women, who had used their influence to help hide the awful trade in women going on, unnoticed, around the world.

Following the raid of Kodan, the authorities, armed with extensive records of sale, and testimonies from the slavers and their victims, moved quickly to track and down eliminate the internation slave trade once and for all. Hundreds of arrests were made, of kidnappers and buyers, thousands of girls were rescued from captivity. With each new raid, the evidence grew of a massive, international conspiracy of slavers around the world.

Six months after the Kodan affair, an international task force was assembled; it’s mission: discover, infiltrate and destroy all vestiges of the slave trade…