Burak fell into sex trafficking because of family dynamics. Apparently, his father before him was also in the business. The town he was born in offered few prospects for its young residents, and even though he didn’t want to follow in his father’s stead he ended up doing so, anyways. He entered the business with one goal, and that was to get out of it as soon as possible. 

He tried to play it smart, so he kept records of all his actions in the eventuality that he was nabbed. Just maybe he could provide enough evidence that would allow him to get off without doing serious time in prison. When cell phones were outfitted with cameras he started taking photos of all the individuals he trafficked. One thing he never did and that was to mistreat the victims.

He knew that some of his fellow traffickers raped the victims. His moral code would just not let him do this. He believed that it just went beyond the pale to do this. It was bad enough that they were forcing innocent children into the sex business, and then to go ahead and abuse them besides just didn’t sit well with him.

Getting out of the business also presented its own risks. He had heard of individuals who were trying to quit simply ended up just disappearing into thin air.

When the plane was met by the ATF, it seemed like he had found his way out. It took a while but finally he was was alone with one of the agents. He immediately told the agent that he wanted to talk but that it had to be kept quiet. Because his life would be in danger if it ever came out that he had told any of the trafficking ring’s secrets.

When he was finally brought to the interrogation room, he requested that he be given his phone back because he had evidence on it. The IT guys had previously cloned his phone, so they felt that they had nothing to lose by doing so. Besides, there were several files that they had been unable to access.

When he opened up the files for the interrogators, they were shocked at what was in them. He had literally thousands of photos of the trafficked individuals that he had transported with their names, point of origins, and final destinations. It was a veritable treasure trove. He also had the names of all the people he had worked with and what their jobs were.

After the first day of his interrogation was over,  Felix Weber, the  captain of the police department contacted interpol and the FBI. After doing so he uploaded all the files to both agencies.

When special agent James Pierany got to work in the morning, Thomas Fritch the night chief of his Field office, excitedly informed him of the developments that took place in Germany the day before. He further added that a batch of files that had been uploaded to the mainframe.  Fritch said, “James, you have to take a look at these files. Careers have been made on less information. There is also an unredacted copy of all the politicians that Popovic has on his payroll. You won’t believe the names that are on the list.”

When James opened the files all he could say was, “Son-of-a-bitch.” He immediately contacted his best friend and Metro liaison Detective Charles Gault.

Gault was incredibly excited, “James, let them know that I and Peter are coming over so they can get visitor badges made up. I am sure that he will want to come with me. He just got back from almost two years of undercover work in Europe. I am sure that the arrests that were made were the result of his work over there.”

All Pierany said was, “Will do.”

After Detective Gault got off the phone with James, he immediately called Peter.

Peter, in a state of total exhaustion, groaned and rolled over and looked at the caller ID on his cell phone. When he saw the name, he immediately woke up. “Charlie, what’s up?”

Charlie, bursting with excitement, quickly recapped his conversation with James. “Peter, you need to get dressed and meet me at the FBI field office in Washington D.C.  in an hour.”

Peter tiredly queried, ” Can we make it  1-1/2 hours, I need to take a shower to wake up, I haven’t slept in 36 hours.”

“Ok”, Charlie said resignedly.

Because Jojo had not seen him in almost two years, he let him sleep in his bedroom when he got home. When he picked up Jojo from Captain Smelter’s home the Mastiff just about knocked Peter off his feet because he was overjoyed. Now, the dog was giving his master the old stink eye.

Peter felt terrible because he had told Jojo that he was going to spend the day with him, and now he was reneging on his promise. As he finished up getting showered and dressed, he fed Jojo and gave him a couple of treats to placate him until he got back.

Peter met Charlie promptly at the allotted time in front of the FBI Field Office. After they went through the metal detector, Peter and Charlie went up to the reception desk and showed their IDs.  After they  were  verified, the officer at the desk handed them their visitor badges and gave them directions. Charlie felt odd that he actually needed directions to Jame’s office. Of all the years that Charlie knew James he had never set foot in the branch office.

Peter and Charlie went to the floor indicated by the security officer. Neither Peter nor Charlie were able to divulge the location of James’ office, even to their chronicler due to national security concerns.

When they reached Jame’s office, he was waiting impatiently for them. James immediately started, “I have been combing through Burak Kaya’s files since I got off the phone with you, Charles. You won’t believe what I found. I found a picture of Yua/Yancy Thuet (Anderson-added by James). She is six years old in this photo.” He turned the monitor around as he finished speaking.

You know what the sound of total silence is, well, that is what James Pierany’s office was like. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

After what seemed like hours, Peter finally spoke up. “We have got the Thuets. This is what we have needed all these years.”

James spoke up, “You need to read his notation below the photo. The reason he knows her real name is because the little girl asked him if she could use her real name now that she was in Istanbul? We would have never been able to connect the dots if it hadn’t been for the request of a innocent six year old girl to a hardened trafficker. A trafficker who took a special interest in your sister. You can tell by the tone of his language that he hated doing what what he was doing.”

Peter exclaimed sadly, “I know exactly how he feels, I have spent almost two years as a honey trap for a sex trafficking ring just waiting for the right moment to close the trap. I will never forgive myself for the things I have done in the name of justice.”

Charlie spoke in a consoling manner, “Peter, time heals all wounds. Eventually your soul will heal. If you want to do something to help, spend a little of your wealth to help some of the trafficked individuals. I guarantee it will make you feel better.”

“Thanks for the advice, Charlie, I have been toying around with doing just that.” Peter said

“I know one thing, I think Burak seems like a person who bears further talking to. James, do you think you could put out feelers with the German consulate about me talking to him. Explain that it is nothing punitive. He showed my sister kindness when she had so little of it in her life at that time.” Peter further added.

“I think that Burak might actually welcome talking to you. Yes, I would be happy to make a call or two to facilitate it,” Detective Pierany concluded.

“I think I have seen enough, and I am starting to lose some steam, I am going back home to get some shut eye. I will wait to hear from you James, thanks again.” Peter added.

“Peter, I am going to look through these files some more with James,” Charlie said as he walked out the door.

**Note–The rest of the chapter will be in first person, through the eyes of Peter.**

I am surprised that I made it home in one piece. The adrenaline rush I got when I saw my sister’s photo had long since faded. I gave a depressed Jojo a hug and staggered off to bed.

I finally woke up in the later part of the afternoon to Jojo nudging my hand with his head. He had his leash in his mouth. I groaned when I got up. I knew what he wanted. So I changed into my jogging clothes and I went out for a four-mile run with Jojo. After I finished running with him he still had way too much energy. So I played fetch with him for another 30 minutes. Finally he started to wind down some, and we went in the house to eat a late dinner.

I felt a little more human after I took a shower and put some clean clothes on, but I wasn’t feeling up to cooking any food, so I ordered a Domino’s medium pepperoni pizza and had it delivered. I splurged and got their Chocolate Lava Crunch cakes. I had been craving some good old diabetic-causing and artery-clogging desserts from the USA. I found one thing in traveling extensively in Europe, and that is they do not know how to do desserts. The food finally arrived and I wolfed down the whole pizza and two of the lava cakes. By the time I was done eating I was feeling fat and sassy and all I wanted to do was to go back to bed. After living a hellish existence for the last two years and enduring untold indignities, I felt like I deserved a little gluttony. Besides, I might have to go back to Europe…this time to Germany. Chaulk up one more country on my ever growing list of world destinations. Thanks to this investigation for my sister, I have been doing a lot more travel then I ever thought I would do, or seeing things I never thought I would see. Life certainly does put you through the wringer sometimes.

I wasn’t expecting to hear from James for a few days, so I spent the next couple of days making up to Jojo. We went to different parks every day, we went on jogs as well, and I even wrestled with him once in the backyard. That will certainly be the last time I will do that, he kicked my ass. It was all good because he had a great time slobbering all over me. After the last few days of giving him extra attention, I finally feel like he has forgiven me. I am glad we got to spend some quality time together because events that would transpire on our next trip together would change our relationship forever.

Finally four days after our meeting, James called me up and told me the interview with Burak was a go. Though I was limited to just one two-hour visit monitored under a continuous video feed. Despite my assurances to the contrary, the German Government apparently didn’t completely trust my motives.

Because I had a feeling that I was going to be gone for a while and I didn’t want to put out my captain again I decided to take Jojo with me. So I made the same arrangements I had previously done for renting a white panel van, and I packed all of his goodies just like before. I should really have a to-go bag all set up for my big jet setter. I still had enough tranquilizer pills left for this trip, so I didn’t need to pay another visit to Jojo’s veterinarian for more. This time I decided to just buy a one-way ticket to Frankfurt, Germany especially since I had no idea where I would end up or when I would be going back home.

When I first started my extensive traveling, I set up all my bills for autopay. I put $200,000 in that account, so I was covered for quite some time. So even with being overseas for two years as an undercover agent, I had little to worry about. I had also set up a contract with a security company to make daily and nightly inspections of my property when I was away, even though I had my property surrounded by a eight-foot tall chainlink fence, I was not taking any chances. Beside, there were a lot of gangs and homeless people in the D.C. area.

Since I have already discussed a complete plane trip with Jojo, I won’t regale you with all those boring details again. Suffice it to say after a rather lengthy flight, Jojo and I were certainly happy to finally be on good old terra firma again. Because it was early fall, the temperature was quite comfortable, therefore I had no problem leaving Jojo in the back of the van with the windows cracked open. He was still groggy from his double dose of doggy Xanax, so he didn’t seem to mind being left in the parking lot while I held my interview with Burak.

When I finally met Burak I was pleasantly surprised, he appeared to be quite affable. He had not been told any details of what the interview would entail, so he did not have any time to fabricate a story. When I introduced myself to him and I mentioned that I was the brother of a six year old girl that he had transported from the US to Istanbul, Turkey there was a temporary flicker in his countenance then his expression became blank again.

When I showed him the picture from his phone he smiled. “Yes, I remember her now. She was such a sweet young child. If I could have rescued her without jeopardizing her life and my life I would have done so. She was the first one that tugged at my heartstrings. I found it quite strange that she asked me if she could use her real name now. What I am gathering from you that’s what helped you discover her in my file. If she hadn’t asked that simple question and I hadn’t chose to document it we would not be having this conversation. Hopefully this conversation will be of some help in finding your sister.”

I did not take any delight in telling Burak that my sister Yua was dead. I also told him that the person who hired the kidnappers to take my sister was also dead.

Burak’s expression saddened as he listened to what I told him. After I finished, he expressed his heartfelt condolences, “I am sorry for your loss, Peter. Though I expect she may be the better for it. It is trully hard on the survivors of this business, most never are able to return to their previous lives.”

I thanked him for his sentiment, “I am sorry to have to cut you off, Burak, but I have only been given two hours to talk to you and I have several questions that I hope you can answer for me. First, do you know who the men were that delivered Yua to you at the runway? And do you know what brothel you delivered her to and finally do you know where it was moved to after it closed down?”

Burak replied, “I can answer most of your questions. Since I have worked with the men that delivered Yua to me and my partner before, I do know their names. But I want to add one thing before I tell you their names. They are not just transporters, they also do the kidnapping and surveillance work. So they will know names of people that I am not privy to. Their names are Frank Jackson and Thomas Ward, and as far as I know those are their real names. I, unfortunately, do not have a name for the actual brothel because all it had on the sign was ‘Girls of All Ages.’ But I do know who the owner of the brothel was. Her name is Dinara Kose. I discovered that she closed up shop when one of her girls escaped in or around 2012. Our paths finally crossed when I made a delivery to her new brothel in Cheb, a border town in the Czech Republic. Again there was just a sign advertising girls of all ages. Unfortunately the red light district there is quite large and there are almost a hundred brothels in that area, but if I could find it to deliver the girls I had with me, you should be able to do so as well.” He finally added, “I am not sure what your mission is but I wish you Godspeed. I know one thing if she were my sister or daughter, I would not rest until all responsible parties were punished. If I was allowed to go free I would even be willing to help you. However, even with me helping with the investigation, I will still have to serve some time in prison. I know I have done some terrible things in my life, so I am OK with whatever punishment faces me.”

“Burak, the girl who escaped was my sister. I want to thank you for the information you gave me, I have just about all the pieces of the puzzle now. I know you showed kindness to my sister, so I forgive you for the part you played in my sister’s demise, as for the rest of them, there will be no foregiveness.”