Chapter Ten

Yuri watched from the fence as he saw the three children being led inside. He saw Veronika and Alexandra being spoken to by Mr Dunstan. He was standing over them, arms folded, as they listened to his every word.

Then they nodded and went upstairs.

Mr Dunstan called into the garden, "Yuri!"

Yuri came over the fence and went towards him. Mr Dunstan told him, in Yuri's language, "Just go inside. We'll get you to another children's home soon."

Yuri asked, "But what are you doing to them?"

Mr Dunstan told him, "What I learnt ages ago is that you can not get too attached."

Then he turned round and stormed in, making Yuri feel as if there was no choice but to follow.

When Yuri went in, he saw Miranda Wright pushing a large, yellow, plastic box with a lot of holes in. Yuri asked, in English, "What is in there?"

Miranda answered, "None of your business."

But when she had left, Yuri looked inside. The box was unlocked, letting him look inside. The two twins, lying fast asleep on the blanket at the bottom. Four large canisters of water, two boxes of food and three children's books were also in there, as well as a box of kitty litter.

Yuri remembered which ones these were; their names, as well as photographs of them, were lined up on a board in the office.

The boy-girls didn't stir when Yuri shook them, making him scared. He glanced round and then had an idea.

May-Li was in the back room, where Floss and Harry were still in their cage. She was standing by the wall, Alexei holding a shotgun in her direction. Jody was grabbing onto May-Li, nervous, while Tyler sat on his floor, his legs up by his chin.

Johnny had been taken away, into another room.

Mr Dunstan came in and then told May-Li, "You are a very nosy woman. You should have kept out of it and then you would likely have survived. It's like at the other children's homes; they got too nosy and ended up dead."

May-Li demanded, "What will you do to the children?"

Mr Dunstan answered, "Four children are going on the first shipment. The twins and these two."

He then laughed slightly at their terror.

"You just won't give up, will you, you stupid..."

Then Jody argued, "Leave her alone!" but Mr Dunstan then widened his eyes and frowned. "You are in need of some manners, young lady. Where you're going, you need them."

Mr Dunstan then called outside, "Viktor! Get the box ready!"

But May-Li refused to give up without a fight. Despite the gun still being aimed at her, she walked forward and told Mr Dunstan, "You're a complete monster, do you know that?"

Mr Dunstan smiled at her. "The thing is, I see an offer for money, I take it."

He went on. "Orphans here are little better off than the orphans from the poorer parts of the world. Mistreated, ignored, always blamed, desperate for money. The difference here is that if I offer an orphan as a slave to someone in another country, they're willing to pay more."

He smirked and carried on, listening to the sound of his own voice, "It doesn't matter if I sell them to people as their personal slaves or to rich guys who want a certain kind of child or to people to use in experiments – which, by the way, I've sold for all three reasons – I just get a lot of money for each. Some are willing to pay more than others. Hey, some get a better life; like I said, a few get jobs, to be rich people's personal assistants. Those under eight years old are for adoption only."

May-Li argued, "You're still wrong. You're traumatising them! You're letting them live through agony just so you can get rich!"

Then Viktor dragged in a large, yellow crate. He stood up straight, as Alexei went forward. May-Li, Jody and Tyler all fought and screamed, as Jody and Tyler were dragged from the floor, pushed on the table and injected.

May-Li shrieked, holding her hand out as she fought against Alexei. He punched her in the jaw, making her slide down onto the ground.

Mr Dunstan and Viktor lifted Tyler and Jody into the box, before securing the top. As Alexei carried on attacking May-Li, Mr Dunstan and Viktor dragged the box out.

In the living room, Mr Dunstan saw Yuri standing over the box. "Go upstairs, these lot are going tonight," Mr Dunstan told him, as he dragged the box out.

Yuri waited, before Miranda took the forklift outside and moved the first crate down to the boat. Yuri then walked slowly to the hallway outside, picking up a ring of keys on the hall table.

Smiling, he went upstairs and swung a door open.

Inside were Alexandra and Veronika, as well as the other four children, lying around or sitting on their beds.

Yuri smiled, "I can get you out of here. Just follow me."

May-Li lay on the floor, sobbing, bruised and weak. She felt useless. Jody and Tyler had been taken off, the others would go soon. There was nothing she could do.

But then, Yuri started coming in and went right over to the cage.

Yuri unlocked it as Harry and Floss stared at him. Yuri told them, "It is fine. I am friend." After unlocking the door, he pulled the rope off Harry and Floss, before going to help May-Li up.

"It is fine," he told her, "take children to car. The Yuri will sort out evil men."

May-Li asked, "But...how could...what did you do?"

Yuri told her, "Get out. The Yuri will deal with them."

Alexei, Viktor and Mr Dunstan were all in the office, having taken Mo out and into Viktor's room. All having coffee, they sat down, happy that another operation had gone so well.

Mr Dunstan told them, "Well, there's an orphanage somewhere down in Lincolnshire that's got about twelve kids. Maybe we could go there next."

Viktor reminded Mr Dunstan, "We do have to get buyers first. I think there's a guy in Estonia that wants a preteen boy, to be his assistant."

Mr Dunstan took a sip of his coffee, nodded, then looked down at his coffee in his hand.

"Nice of Yuri to make us coffee," he told them, just as his eyes glazed over.

Yuri was now on the boat. The floor was quite small, for a transport ship, but he knew where the box with Tyler and Jody was. It had just been laid by the main doors.

Pulling the top off, he saw them, lying at separate ends, still asleep.

Yuri tried lifting Jody up, whispering, "Joe-dee? Joe-dee?"

Then he heard something bang. The door had locked.