Excerpted from: "Human Trafficking in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery, with illegal smuggling and trading of people (including minors), for forced labor or sexual exploitation.
...
California:
A significant leak in 2020 gave authorities the opportunity to shut down a fairly large limb of the trafficking operation located between Tecate and Campo, when a sketched map was left anonymously by a woman at a gas station in Campo. The map led to the findings of a tunnel running between America and Mexico, stipulating the location of a tunnel exit on the American side of the border.
In total 13 suspected trafficking agents and 24 persons suspected in connection with three warehouses containing illegal immigrants were arrested. The warehouses were shut down by authorities. All immigrants in the warehouses were women and the warehouse suspects are currently being tried for sexual abuse."
******
7am: Monday - Victoria
Life in Paris has been good. I don't miss California most of the time. I'm different since my relationship with Alexander and my rendezvous with the underground world of trafficking. So different.
My actions helped fight against trafficking - they had results. Unfortunately Alexander was one of those arrested last year.
After I managed to expose part of the operation to the authorities, I mourned Alex. But an intelligent fear arose in me as well. The trafficking operation is huge and big money is involved. If the exposure would ever be traced back to me, I would be killed - no doubt. What would Alexander do if he knew I had caused his imprisonment? Would he kill me?
These concerns became more and more difficult for me to live with and I made the decision to move to Paris. My life in California was small and humble anyway and my savings to buy a house with Alexander superfluous.
So I took my savings and moved to Paris. I now live in a small apartment in the 11th arrondissement on Rue Sedan. I work as a secretary and don't read romance novels. I sing and dance in my free time and have made several friends.
I still have fear that I will be found. I still have nightmares.
Back in California, Alexander never tried to contact me from prison. I drove past his apartment a couple of times and someone had cleaned it out - presumably a family member.
I believe that I will overcome my fear - these worries. I did what was right and I covered my tracks. I was extracted out of my mundane life by Alexander and maneuvered a rocky road. I handled it as best I could and will never again be mundane. It's not possible.
If I hadn't met Alexander, I wouldn't have been able to put a stop to at least some of the trafficking, as I did. And I would simply be growing older, reading romance novels and traipsing the same streets year in, year out, maybe singing at the same mediocre club. I have scars from my experiences with and around Alexander and I am trying to find peace with them.
I must find true contentment and not a rut disguised as contentment. I now value deep, calm love as opposed to frenzied, romantic love. Deep love cannot disappear. There was a revolution in myself that will never burn out. I don't just exist anymore, I live.
Imprisonment is my final task. Alexander is literally imprisoned at the moment, but I have imprisoned myself in the fear of being discovered as having exposed the trafficking - the fear of being hunted down. And I am breaking out of this prison of my mind because I know that peace will always be the victor.
PAX VICTORIA.
Written by Liz Davinci
This is a work of fiction, including the cited Wikipedia article.
Listen to Pax Victoria here: https://lizdavinci.bandcamp.com/album/pax-victoria
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