Samiya Cinco, rescued from an organ harvesting ring by Andres
The apartment where Kalibo organ harvesting cell is located
The cell in Kalibo presented some unique problems, one being that it was a two-story building, which did not have access to the second floor from the outside. Assaulting the first floor before gaining access to the second floor gave any assailants on the second floor way too much time to either prepare for the attack, escape via some unknown means, or do bodily harm to any innocents on the second floor. Due to their extensive intel, this cell offered the best chance to date to rescue a future organ harvesting victim. So they certainly didn’t want the cell members to have the opportunity to kill a hostage. The best and quickest way to access a second-floor balcony is via a ladder, in this case, a telescoping ladder. (I can attest to the efficiency of using such a ladder, as I have used them in the past.) Andres purchased a telescoping ladder at a hardware store in Manila during the early planning stages, anticipating such a scenario.
6 meter (19.8 feet) extension ladder
Devon was the youngest team member and was the designated climber by default. However, since a breach charge would be used, Andres drew the short straw this time. He would first set up the charges for both the front and back access on the first floor, and then he would set the charge for the second-floor door. He would then detonate all three charges while standing on the extension ladder below the front railing. Since Andres would be assaulting the second floor, it would mean they did not have a backup in case of any mishaps. It was not the best option, but it just so happened to be the only viable one. Not breaching both means of egress on the first floor would offer an easy escape route for any cell members in the building.
Waldron was waiting at the airport hangar where his plane was usually stored for Devon, Thomas, and Andres. They quickly loaded their gear on the plane, but with one addition, their extension ladder. The distance from Woodland Airpark to Kalido International Airport was 380 miles or about 1.8 hours of flying time, depending on the prevailing wind currents. The building in which the cell was housed was about 15 minutes away from the airport. Waldron had arranged for a Jeepney and a reliable driver named Humphrey Rabino to wait at the airport terminal. He had already been given the address he was going to drive to and what was expected of him when they arrived there. He almost died of a heart attack when he heard how much he was going to make for a little over an hour’s worth of work.
The flight to Kalido went like clockwork. The driver was waiting for them, and he even helped load all their gear into his jeepney. When they arrived at the cell address, there was a little surprise. They had posted a guard in front of the building. Humphrey immediately saw this was unexpected, so he hopped out of his jeepney and walked up to the guard to ask him for help with directions. Thomas, realizing that the driver was allowing them to sneak up on the guard, promptly disabled the guard. He did not kill him, just gagged him and zip-tied his hands and feet, and with the driver’s help, tossed him in the Jeepney. When they were finished, they would dump him off behind a bar on the way back to the airport. He was just hired muscle and was not a part of the organ-harvesting cell. You could tell by the state of his clothes that he was trying to make ends meet. After the guard was in the jeepney, the driver popped the hood, making it look like he was working on the motor.
Devon and Thomas were impressed with this driver. So they decided to double his pay when they returned to the airport. Andres was meanwhile setting the charges on the front and back doors, and Devon was securing the ladder to the second-story balcony for Andres’ ascent to the second floor. When Andres was finished setting the charges on the first floor, he grabbed his shotgun and climbed the ladder to the balcony where he set the third charge. When he was finished, he motioned for Thomas and Devon to move to their assault positions. He then crouched behind the railing, hanging firmly onto the ladder. The sound made by the shaped charges was muffled and barely audible from 10 feet away, certainly not loud enough to wake a sound sleeper. Just in case the cell was full of light sleepers, Devo and Thomas rushed past the destroyed doors and into the first floor, while Andres finished scaling the last few rungs of the ladder, jumped over the railing, and into the second story via the balcony doorway. They entered every room, dispatching all the inhabitants in the building. The last room on the second floor was locked, so Andres shot out the lock with his assault shotgun and entered ready to blast away any of the room’s occupants, only to find that the occupant was a barely clad young woman tied to the bed in the corner of the room. She was whimpering and begging for mercy. It appeared that she had been there for a while and had been used rather rudely. Her captors had decided to have a little fun before her life was ended for her organs. Andres pulled out his assault machete and cut the ropes that were securing her extremities to the bed frame. He then wrapped her in a blanket that had been discarded on the floor next to the bed and carried her out of the room, down the hallway, and down the stairs to the jeepney. Ever the go-getter, Humphrey grabbed the extension ladder and put it back into the jeepney.
There was no idle chitchat, only the whimpering of the young captive, as Devon and Thomas entered the vehicle, and Humphrey closed the hood and started up the jeepney. They opted not to burn this building because of its close proximity to the surrounding structures. The risk of setting a blaze that could take out a city block was just too high a price to pay to conceal their night’s activities. As they drove back to the airport, Andres continued providing ministrations to the young lady, who had finally stopped whimpering. Finally, he was able to coax out her name, Samiya Cinco. Samiya had only been taken captive five days earlier and was not on the missing persons’ list yet. Her family probably didn’t even know that she was missing. She was just 19 years old and had only recently entered a nursing program. She had been drugged at a party that she had attended on her own. This was out of character for her, and she paid dearly for this lapse in judgment. An action that she will regret for the rest of her life and which almost cost her her life. Andres gently told Samiya that she could never tell the police about how she was rescued. She would have to tell a little white lie and say that she was able to untie the knots that bound her hands and feet while her captors slept. She seemed a little confused by these instructions, but she finally nodded, indicating that she understood. Andres told her that she would be dropped off at the local hospital. When he told her that, she started getting very agitated. She begged him not to do that. It turns out that the hospital they were driving by was the one where she was doing her clinicals, and she did not want any of them to see her in this state. She was just too ashamed of what happened to her.
When they arrived at the airport, Humphrey helped them load all of their gear into their Cessna. Just before they got ready to taxi onto the airstrip, Andres gave the jeepney driver ten one-hundred-dollar American bills. Humphrey just about kissed his feet, he was so happy. This was more money than he would make in two months with his jeepney.
Andres told her that the only thing they could do was to take her with them to Manila, where they could bring her to a hospital there. She said that this was fine. She had family that lived there, so she would have some support. Meanwhile, Andres gave her a couple of hundred USD to help her with the hospital. She said that there was nothing to report to the police, since all of those who had hurt her were now dead, so it didn’t matter that she was not remaining in Kalido. As they conversed, she held tightly onto Andres, seeking solace in his strength and kindness. Despite his best efforts, Andres was drawn to this unfortunate young lady. It wasn’t anything sexual, though she was quite beautiful, even in the state she was in; he was old enough to be her father after all. It was something different; it was something paternal in nature that he felt. He had never married and had no children that he knew of, so this feeling was alien to him. He wasn’t even sure if he liked the feelings he was having. One thing was certain: he did not need this complication in his life right now. Maybe once his business was taken care of in the Philippines, he could think about following up with Samiya.
As they were flying back to Woodland Airpark, Andres looked up what facility was the closest for them to drop her off at, so that she could be treated for her sexual assault. Like antibiotics for STDs and the morning after pill for any unwanted pregnancies, and so on. The one that seemed to fit the bill was GreenCity Medical Center in San Fernando City, 2000 Pampanga, Philippines.
When they landed at Woodland Airpark, the three men unloaded their gear into the white van. Since Andres was more familiar with the island, he drove the entire time the team operated on Luzon. Meanwhile, Devon and Thomas took turns sitting in the passenger seat. Well, this time Samiya had the seat of honor. Thomas and Devon just looked at each other and smiled as they sat in the back row seats. The distance to the medical center from the airport was approximately 36 km/23 miles, or about 41 minutes of driving time. When they pulled up to the emergency room, Andres ran in, got a vacant wheelchair, and brought it to the van. Even though she could walk, he picked up Samiya and gently placed her into the wheelchair. He carefully arranged the blanket around her so that she was covered up. She was still only wearing a thin sheer slip. So he did his best to make sure that she was decent. Andres would accept no help from his teammates; he did it all himself. When he wheeled her into the ER, He gave the charge nurse his contact information and said he would be responsible for all the medical expenses. As Samiya was being wheeled to an ER examining room, he took her hands and slipped a card into her right hand. He said that if she needed anything, she should feel free to call him no matter what time of day it was. He kissed her on her forehead and left without looking back at her retreating figure.