Disclaimer: This story is rated M because it discusses the dark theme of human trafficking. If this topic disturbs you, then please do not read this story. I fully understand that people will not be comfortable reading about this. It will not be described in full but, it is a reoccurring event in this fanfic. I do not intend to offend anyone under any circumstances. -kaill

Escape

The business involved him to be strong and always on his toes. Nothing was allowed to distract him when he was on a mission. The only thing running through his body was adrenaline. Rescues were his top priority and the second was to make sure the same unlawful and sick act didn't happen by the same person twice. Lucas Scott thought that he has seen all the worst acts of humankind. He's dealt with drug dealers, murderers, rapists, kidnappers, and the mentally disturbed.

The motives were sometimes similar: control. People get a high from knowing that they can have power over another living form. It all can lead back throughout history, when dictators blamed and killed others in horrific ways. People were gassed, mutilated, and dehumanized. Taking those people down gave the world a sense of pride and accomplishment. It wiped away their fear. In reality, the fight was far from over. There are still individuals out there committing these sickening crimes. If history taught people anything, it's that the feeling of being victorious only lasted until the next villain arised.

There is a silver lining but, it's barely visible. With all the bad that swirls around, there are still the good ones. Heroism tends to fall right onto their shoulders. Children are taught to be good and if they believe, then they can do anything that they dream of. What happened along the way to the children who turn into these rapists, murderers, or sex offenders?

Humans have complexed minds and people, such as Lucas Scott, are trained to look past the formation. The task is to save the innocent and victimized prey that they have let themselves feel happy in harming.

This time his task is a big one and he only hopes that he is prepared to handle every aspect of what he agreed to get himself into. All the images that he was going to have to see could make him vomit. If he blows his cover, then he could bring on more danger than there was in the beginning.

Lucas Scott's mission was to stop a circuit in the growing ring of human trafficking. When Lucas was assigned by his boss to travel to a small town near Charleston, he could believe that it existed right in his own country. The place he called home was a carrier in the world of selling children and teenagers into sex slavery. He found himself getting angry with his own people.

They couldn't be labeled that way anymore. They had to be grouped different. Now, Lucas saw the situation as, people who live and try their best to survive and the people who are tainted in the same society.

Driving down the road, Lucas Scott rubbed at his tried eyes. He planned to make a non-stop trip to Charleston, South Carolina. It was a stupid idea but, he didn't want to waste anymore time trying to sleep knowing what was happening. Nothing about his job ever sat right with him. He wasn't one of the people who could possibly love his job. It wasn't something that he even liked to talk to other people about.

He wasn't alone in this one. Looking beside him, he watched as his younger brother slept in the passenger's seat. Lucas didn't know how Nathan was able to sleep so soundlessly.

Nathan had been in the business a year less than Lucas had. The older brother didn't understand why Nathan wanted to work in this profession. Nathan's life was good and pure. He had fiancé and his own house. The only stress he ever needed to feel was about his wedding, how to be a good husband and, someday, an amazing father. This wasn't what men like Nathan should be doing. How could Nathan leave the girl that he loves behind and see the destruction of young girls and boys being forced to perform illegal and sexual acts? Lucas knew from experience that when Nathan returned home, he wasn't going to be the same person.

Lucas focused his attention back on the road. He needed to find a gas station after driving non-stop for the past few hours. His fingers tapped against the steering wheel and he knew that when he came closer to Charleston, his knuckles would turn white from gripping the wheel.

He let out sigh when he finally saw a place where he could turn. When he pulled next to the pump, how eyes couldn't help but wandered around the area. Any of these people could be involved in the circuit.

A few seconds later Lucas heard the groan from his awaking brother. Nathan sat up straighter in the seat to stretch. Then he looked around, too. "Are we there?" His voice was thick from sleep.

"Almost." Lucas told him as he scratched the side of his neck.

Nathan nodded and looked out his window again. "I should probably call Haley." He let out a sigh. "I can't believe that I got assigned to the same case as you. I didn't think Mr. Davis would ever let us work together."

"Yeah,"

Nathan turned to Lucas. "Do you want me to drive the rest of the way? It's not a good idea if you drive and fall asleep at the wheel."

Lucas waved him off. "I'll be fine. Go and call Haley while I fill up the car."

Before he let Nathan step out, he placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Nathan turned to him and rolled his eyes. "I know not to tell Haley anything about what we're doing in Charleston. She thinks we're on some brotherly road trip."

"Good. I'm sorry that you have to lie to her." Lucas apologized.

"Me, too. It's all just part of the job, though." Nathan agreed, gripping his cellphone in his hand. Without a second glance, he hopped out of the car and went to call his clueless fiancé.

The hotel was only a few miles down from the gas station. Lucas and Nathan we're now in the room looking up information on the reports of some of the missing teenage girls that were recently posted. During the drive, Lucas turned on the local radio hoping he would hear anything about any of them.

Nathan peered over his shoulder and shook his head. "What's the next step?"

"What we need to do now is find out if any of these sex slaves match any of the recent missing persons in the area." Lucas explained to Nathan as he scanned through the pictures of all the possible victims on the hotel computer. He shook his head in frustration while he looked at the beautiful young girls who have been reported missing. He just hoped that he was able to get to them in time.

Nathan nodded. "How are we going to do that?"

The answer made Lucas almost sick to his stomach. "We have to go undercover." He paused, giving Nathan a serious look. "We have to pretend that we're clients and we want one of the girls."

Nathan's face grew with concern as he registered what Lucas had told him. How could he pretend to be one those fucking scumbags who buy other people for sex? In this case, he would have to pretend to be interested in rape.

Lucas stood up from his chair and put his hands on his brother's shoulders. "Nathan, you have to take this seriously. You can't let your anger towards any of them get the best of you."

Nathan searched Lucas' eyes. The reflecting blue irises held nothing in their gaze. Nathan knew how serious this was and he wouldn't have agreed to do this if he wasn't ready to. Nathan wasn't going to let his older brother or his career down no matter what disturbing things he would find along the way.

Lucas dropped his hands from Nathan. "I already went ahead and got fake IDs." Lucas explained as he walked over to his duffle bag. He began digging around inside of it to search for them.

"Why?"

"Because, if these people are smart enough to keep their circuit out of the public's eye, then they'll card us before letting us know anything. You've got to think like the criminal sometimes, Nate. It's the only way we can be a step ahead of them." He found them and passed Nathan his. "For our time here, you are Garrett Duncan and I'm Joshua Parker."

Nathan studied the ID. It looked pretty reasonable. "Are you sure they'll fall for this?"

"If they want any business from us, then I hope so." He zipped up his back after replacing his real ID with the new one. "I'm going to make a call and tell Mr. Davis that we're here and then I'm going to find out where we can find these fucking bastards. Print out those photos of the girls."

Lucas stepped into the hallway and checked to see if anybody was around. Pulling out his cellphone he dialed his boss. "I just wanted to let you know that we arrived in Charleston."

A sigh was heard from the other end. "Okay. Don't screw this up. We've been on their trace for a few months now. You have to be extremely careful when dealing with these people."

"I know. Nathan and I are going to head out soon and check out some of the girls they have. I already know that they won't have all of them but-"

"You need to pace yourself and take some time to think things through. They'll catch on if you just brag in there and start demanding girls." His boss warned.

"I can handle it." Lucas ended the call with his boss after receiving the number that he needed. he held up the phone to his ear and waited to hear the voice of one of the individuals he already hated.

"Hello?" The voice was of a female.

Lucas cleared his throat. "This is Joshua. I wanted to know if you had any girls that are willing to pay me and my coworker a visit. We're on a business trip and we could use some fun." Playing the part was already disgusting to Lucas. He didn't know how others could say these things with such ease.

"How did you get this number, Joshua, was it?" She asked.

"A friend of mine gave it to me and told me that you have girls willing to do anything a man wants. We're going to be in town for awhile and probably stuck in our hotel room." Lucas waited for her to respond. His nerves grew a bit because he thought maybe she could see right through his bullshit lies.

"What hotel are you at? We can send a few of them over to you."

"I was actually hoping to come visit you and see some of the girls. I can be quite shallow when it comes to looks. Is there anyway my coworker and I can come to you?"

The voice remained silent but, Lucas could hear the hitched breathing from the other line. "We rarely allowed anyone on the property and you can probably guess why but, if you insist on our services, you'll have to bring a payment. It's not going to be easy to get the kind of money we're looking for."

"I can promise you that my friend and I are quite wealthy. We can be there in an hour." Lucas swallowed.

"We'll gather up our best girls for you." The voice almost sounded wicked as it told Lucas the exact address and then it quickly cut off the call.

Closing his phone, Lucas closed his eyes. They opened again when they heard the hotel door close behind him. Lucas looked to his brother. "We got a deal."

"I can't believe this. Are you sure this is the right place?" Nathan asked in shock as he looked around what appeared to be a normal neighborhood.

"It's the address the woman told me on the phone. Do you have the story straight?" Lucas told him as he parked his car beside the house.

Nathan nodded. "Let's just get this over with." He said coldly as he got out of the car.

"Don't act like this." Lucas warned Nathan as he caught up with him.

"I'm sorry. I just can't believe that we're actually here right now doing this."

"I know. I feel the same way but, we have to do this. Now, act like you're interested in what these girls can provide for a client."

"You make it sound so easy." Nathan tried to hide his shudder.

Lucas was about to tell him that it was one of the most difficult things he had yet to do but, both brothers stopped when a man met with them in front of the house.

"Who are you two?" He accused.

Lucas stopped Nathan from walking forward. "I can handle this, Garrett." Lucas took a few steps towards the man. "I'm Joshua and I talked to a woman on the phone earlier. She gave me this address. We're here on business." As much as he didn't want to, Lucas offered the man his hand.

"You're the man who called from the hotel?" He asked.

Lucas nodded and forced a smile while he shook hands with him. "Where do we get to meet these girls?"

"Hold on," he withdrew his hand and let out a delightful chuckle. "If you would two come and follow me, I can show you the girls."

Lucas turned to look back to Nathan and sent him a look to remind him they were on business and it wasn't allowed to get personal. "Lead the way. We can't wait to meet them."

The two followed the older man to the back of the house and entered through the back door. In the kitchen Lucas saw a woman and guessed it was the one he was on the phone with earlier.

The man opened a door that revealed stairs and motioned for them to go first.

Nathan sent Lucas an unknowing look and felt that they could be the ones who in danger. Lucas ignored him and walked down the steps. Nathan had no choice but to follow.

Once at the bottom, Lucas looked around. He noticed a few chairs that sat in front of a poorly built wooden stage. There were sheets used as curtains. The basement was sectioned off by sheets as well. The place smelled musty.

"Have a seat up front." The man appeared from behind them. He stepped aside and motioned over to the chairs. Nathan was the first to obey his orders and when Lucas went to follow his brother, the man pushed him back with his hand. "Do you have the money that we asked for?"

Lucas nodded and pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket. Then he placed it in the filthy palm of the man's hand.

Satisfied, the man stepped aside. He walked behind on of the sheets and didn't return.

Lucas sat beside Nathan. "This place looks awful. I think we have our circuit leaders." He whispered.

"I just want to leave and call Haley." Nathan told him behind his teeth.

"Don't do this to yourself." His voice murmured.

Lucas heard footsteps and a muffled voice. The man who greeted them came back and took a feet next to Nathan.

"Sit back and enjoy the show, my friends." He shouted something in a different language and a different man came out from behind the curtain, walking on stage leading a found blonde.

Her hands were tied behind her back and a ripped piece of cloth was used to gag her mouth. Her skin was dirty and her ribcage could be seen through her skin. The young girl was stripped of wearing clothes and she stood clad in a white bra and underwear.

The man's hands titled her head back to rest on his shoulder to move the hair from her face. "Why don't you give them a little dance, sweetheart?" He placed a kiss on her cheek and stepped away from her.

The blonde stood still nervous and afraid.

"She's a little shy this morning." He announced before slapping her on the ass that caused her jumped and closed her eyes.

The leader rose his hand to stop him from trying to make her do anything further. "Why don't you take her back and grab the next one? She's a little more feisty."

He nodded and forcefully pushed the young blonde forward. They both disappeared behind the curtain.

The next girl that came out made Lucas' eyes bulge. The blue bra and matching panties made her skin look a tone lighter than pale. Her hair almost covered her entire face and from what Lucas could see, she looked terrified of these people. Looking closer, he tried to remember where he recognized her from. Then it hit him like a punch to the gut. In his clouded mind he could see a picture frame sitting on a desk. The young girl was smiling in the photo. He had seen the picture many times and he couldn't help but smile back when he looked at it.

"She has your eyes, sir." Lucas commented aloud. He placed the picture down on the desk when he heard the door close behind him. Then he turned to greet his boss.

Brooke Davis.