Anybody's Daughter (Angela Evans Series No. 2) (31 page)

A
s Angela climbed out of her car a few yards away from Harmony House, she could hear a chorus of young voices singing at the top of their lungs. She hurried up the front walk, the smile on her face widening with each step.

She instantly recognized the melody of the Destiny’s Child song,
Survivor.
Except that the girls had apparently come up with different lyrics. The significance of the song for the Harmony House girls sent goose bumps of delight up and down her arms.

Now that we’re away from you
We’re so much better
Learnin’ to love ourselves
Is how we did it
Thought that we would fail without you
But we’re hangin’
Thought that we’d be nothing without you
But we’re something

When Angela eased the front door open and stepped inside, she found the living room packed with women—young, old and in-between. Carmen was holding center stage, standing on a folding chair, waving a chopstick through the air. Although she played the role of choir director, she was singing the loudest.

We are survivors
We’re gonna make it
Gonna survive
And keep on survivin’

Angela spotted a proud Loretha at the back of the room and snaked her way through the crowd, extending greetings along the way.

“Now this is what I call a party!” Angela said, giving her a hug.

“Thanks so much for organizing it,” Loretha beamed. “It’s so important for the girls to be exposed to women who can show them options that are different from the dysfunction they grew up around.”

Angela had kept her word about forming a mentoring program for the Harmony House residents and this was their very first gathering. The room was crammed with members from Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles and California Women Lawyers, as well as current and former residents of Harmony House.

After the group responded to the girls’ performance with rousing applause, Angela spent the next few minutes thanking her friends and colleagues for their support.

Angela felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

“I have a surprise for you in the kitchen,” Loretha said, looping her arm through Angela’s. “Close your eyes.”

“A surprise? What is it?”

Loretha grinned. “Just close your nosy eyes.”

Angela did as instructed and allowed Loretha to steer her out of the living room and into the kitchen.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

When she did, Angela found every inch of counter space crowded with food. She saw fried chicken, barbecue, potato salad, mac ’n cheese, cakes, pies and more.

“Wow. Who donated all the food?”

“Girl, that’s not the darn surprise.”

At that instant, someone shot up from behind the island, causing Angela to jump an inch or two off the ground.

“Oh my God!” Angela ran over and pulled Peaches into her arms, squeezing her hard. “I’m so glad to see you! How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” Peaches said, smiling shyly.

Angela grabbed her by the shoulders, leaned back and just looked at her. “You look so good. I love that hair.”

Peaches patted her kinky coils and laughed. “Me too.”

“What did I tell you about this girl?” Loretha grinned. “She’s back in school and doing quite well.”

Angela gave Peaches another hug, then the three of them walked arm-in-arm back into the living room. A few of the girls were now involved in a little one-upmanship.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no,” Carmen said, hands on hips, “
my
mentor ain’t just a lawyer, she’s a partner with a big-shot law firm. Let me introduce y’all to Ms. Anna Segobia Masters of Winston and—” Carmen paused. “Hell, I can’t remember the name of her law firm, but take my word for it. It’s off the chain.”

Carmen extended her arm like a game show model toward an attractive Latina in a red and gold St. John suit.

“Excuse me,” said one of the youngest girls in the room, “but I got me
two
mentors, one on both sides of the law. Let me introduce y’all to Ms. Public Defender Tami L. Warren and Ms. Prosecutor Linda Rosborough. Holla!”

The girl raised both hands, simultaneously high-fiving Tami and Linda.

Another girl threw an arm around her mentor. “This right here is Ms. Janet Swerdlow. She owns her
own
law firm. Thank you very much. Swerdlow—” The girl paused. “Give me a second cuz this is a mouthful, but I’ve been practicing. Swerdlow Florence Sanchez Swerdlow and Wimmer. How you like me now?”

As Janet clapped her approval, the girl did a short celebratory dance, swinging her hips from side to side.

“All y’all hood rats need to step aside,” Melody said, “
my
mentor is a judge. This is the Honorable Marguerite Downing. And if any of y’all get out of line, I’ma have her put you under the jail and give
me
the key.”

The room vibrated with laughter as Melody and the judge embraced.

Loretha tapped Angela on the shoulder. “I have someone else I want you to meet.”

Angela followed Loretha into a room off the hallway where a woman sat alone watching TV at a barely audible level. Her head was covered with a scarf and it was hard to see her face. Angela wondered why she hadn’t joined the party.

“Angela, I want you to meet Rena.”

Angela extended her hand, then froze and turned back to Loretha. “Is this—”

“Yes,” Loretha glowed. “Yes, it is.”

“Nice to meet you, Rena,” Angela said.

Rena didn’t shake her hand, but smiled bashfully.

“Wow!” Angela said, as they headed back to the living room. “I can’t believe she’s here.”

“Me either. And guess who else is here.” Loretha pointed across the room. “See the girl in the blue T-shirt. That’s Kaylee, the girl Dre met at the motel.”

“Oh my God! Dre told me you arranged a rescue after she called him. I’m so glad you had space for her.”

Kaylee was laughing and joking with the other girls. Angela took a moment to examine all of the young faces in the room. Every single girl looked like any average, well-adjusted teenager. But they were not. They were survivors.

“I’m working with social services in the Oakland area,” Loretha said. “Kaylee’s mother told the social worker she didn’t want a prostitute in her house.” Loretha shook her head. “But it looks like they’ve found a distant cousin who’s going to take her in.”

A wave of sadness for Kaylee fell over Angela.

“I just pray the cousin’s home is a healthy place for her to be,” Loretha said.

After another hour of partying and catching up with old friends, Angela cornered Loretha in the kitchen. “I’m so sorry that I have to cut out early.”

“I completely understand,” Loretha said, giving her another hug. “You’ve been such a blessing to us. Thanks for everything.”

Angela said good-bye to Peaches and promised to drop by to check on her later in the week. Thirty minutes later she had arrived at her second celebration of the day.

Angela entered the living room of Brianna’s home and found it as crowded as Loretha’s had been. She searched through the faces for Dre, finally spotting him in the kitchen. When their eyes met, he headed her way.

“Hey, gorgeous lady,” he said, bending to kiss her. “How was the party?”

“Fabulous. I met Kaylee. She told me to tell you thanks and asked how Brianna was doing. In the midst of what you were going through, it was incredible that you took the time to try to save her.”

“All I did was give the girl my number.” Dre’s expression turned solemn. “What happened to all the other girls they took from The Shepherd’s houses?”

“Most of them were sent to county facilities. A few were reunited with their families.” She craned her neck. “Where’s Brianna?”

Dre pointed over Angela’s shoulder. Brianna was standing in the den, both arms wrapped tightly around her mother’s waist. She had a thigh-high cast on her left leg. Bruises were still visible on her face and neck.

“How’s she doing?”

Dre shrugged. “Better, but nothing like she was. She’s still jumpy and she can’t sleep through the night. She’s basically scared to leave my sister’s side. My mother’s going to home school her for now. She’s also still afraid to be alone around men.” He paused. “Even me.”

Angela gave him a hug. “It’s going to take some time for her to heal. You’ll get her back.”

“I hope so. We used to be tight. Now I can barely get her to talk to me. Every time I think about what they did to her, I want to find Wainright, The Shepherd, and everybody else in his operation and take ’em out to a field and shoot ’em.”

“You have to let that go. The system will deal with them. I’m sure they’ll get everything they deserve. I’m thrilled with all the media attention the case is getting.”

The arrest of Rodney “The Shepherd” Merriweather made national news, including a special report by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. The feds stepped in and indicted him on fifteen different charges under the federal Human Trafficking Act. He was actually facing the very real possibility of life in prison. The rest of his cronies, including Wainright, Clint, Freda, Large and Darnell, would also be facing some serious time. Unfortunately for them, The Shepherd kept such good records, a conviction for every one of them was a certainty. Demonic, who was also behind bars, was placed in protective custody after two inmates nearly beat him to death.

Dre took Angela’s hand and led her into the backyard. They sat on a long bench and quietly enjoyed the summer breeze along with the Motown sounds wafting from the house.

“Uncle Dre?”

Brianna’s voice was so soft, they barely heard her.

Dre glanced over his shoulder, his expression suddenly hopeful. “Hey, Bree.”

Brianna limped around the bench until she was facing him.

“I just wanted to say thank you again for comin’ to get me. I knew you were gonna come.” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Dre’s eyes began to water too.

“You don’t have to thank me, girl. Of course I was comin’ to get you.”

Brianna leaned forward, then awkwardly threw her arms around Dre’s neck, giving him a stiff hug. He held onto her for a long, long time.

“I love you, Bree,” Dre said. “Don’t you ever forget that.”

When Brianna hobbled away, Dre sniffed and wiped his right eye with the heel of his hand. “I think you’ve seen me cry more this week than I probably have my whole life. I don’t want you to think I’m weak.”

Angela laughed. “It’s okay. I love sensitive men.”

Dre smiled and arched a brow. “I’m not sure I would’ve found her without your help.”

“Glad to do it.”

He threw his arm around Angela’s shoulder and she snuggled close to him.

“You know, we never got a chance to finish our dinner date,” Angela said. “You owe me.”

Dre leaned down and kissed her deeply. “How about tomorrow night?”

Angela smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”

—Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist, Humanitarian

Without question, of all my books,
Anybody’s Daughter
was the most difficult for me to write. Not from a technical standpoint. The story came to me fast and furious, the characters materialized easily. The hard part was dealing with the emotion of knowing that the atrocities I was writing about are real and happening every day. Visiting the track in Compton as well as the STAR court in Watts was both eye-opening and gut-wrenching.

So unlike all of my prior novels, I couldn’t just type
the end
and move on to the next project. I plan to lend my voice to the fight to end all forms of human trafficking, be is sex trafficking, labor tracking or domestic servitude. But I must admit, that saving the youngest victims is where I plan to devote most of my energy.

It is my hope that my fictional account of what is going on in real life in cities across the U.S. and around the world will also move you to join the fight. Albert Einstein said it best:

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

—Albert Einstein, Renown Scientist

Unless we all become enraged enough to do something about this tragedy, anybody’s daughter could end up being a victim—even yours.

How can you help? One of the biggest needs is adequate housing for girls who are rescued from this horrific life. I have listed below some of the organizations I came across during my research for this book. These groups, via their website resources as well as personal contact, provided information that helped me understand this tragedy from the victims’ perspective—which is crucial. There are many, many more organizations out there fighting for our daughters and sons. And yes, we must not forget that our sons are being victimized too. Forgive me for not being able to list each and every worthy organization.

Please visit these websites and consider donating both your time and financial support.

Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSEY)
www.missey.org

Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS)
www.gems-girls.org

Courtney’s House
www.courtneyshouse.org

More Too Life
www.moretoolife.org

Saving Innocence
www.savinginnocence.org

Global Center for Women and Justice, Vanguard University
www.gcwj.vanguard.edu

The Polaris Project
www.polarisproject.org

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST)
www.castla.org

To report suspicions of human trafficking, connect with anti-trafficking resources in your area, request training or obtain general information, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s toll free hotline at 888-3737-888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733).

1. Did you approve of the tactics Dre used to find Brianna? What would you have done?
   
2. Despite Dre’s criminal past, do you think he’s a good match for Angela?
   
3. Do you think enough is being done to stop all forms of human trafficking? If not, what more should be done?
   
4. Why do you think greater focus isn’t placed on the clients who drive the demand for sex trafficking?
   
5. Do you believe under-aged girls should be arrested for soliciting prostitution?
   
6. What can be done to help young girls develop the level of self-esteem that might keep them from being such easy prey for sex traffickers?
   
7. What steps can parents take to protect their children from predators on the Internet?
   
8. What do you think the penalties should be for individuals involved in sex trafficking?
   
9. Why do you think sex trafficking, particularly minor sex trafficking, has reached such epidemic levels?
   
10. What were some of the things you liked/disliked about
    Anybody’s Daughter
    ?