Is this destiny?

Outside…

The members of the Army of Chaos who arrived from Los Angeles are lined up neatly in front of the main entrance to Akmal's mansion (or should we call it the new base of the Army of Chaos?).

Sarah and Aiden are present with Ernesto by their side.

Sarah introduced the newcomers with the current situation and instructed Ernesto to help them settle in two back houses. "These people will stay at this location until further notice…" 

Noah said that it will take a few days for him to provide the necessary staff for the mansion.

Two soldiers who arrived from Los Angeles have a rank of private, and Sarah decided that those two will report directly to Ernesto. 

Ernesto beamed. The number of his subordinates just increased by thirty, and two of them are privates!

Among thirty newcomers, four are women, and Sarah asked them to come to the family room as soon as they settle in, because girls are not comfortable around men.

Sarah was happy with this arrangement. Now they have enough people and the situation with girls is stable (almost).

The units from Los Angeles arrived with two helicopters, and Sarah hopes that some of the girls are from the nearby area, and they can send them home as soon as possible. Right now, they have forty-five army members and thirty-nine girls. With Aiden and Sarah, that makes it eighty-six people, not including the prisoners. And that is a lot more people than Sarah thinks it should be in this mansion. No wonder Ernesto said earlier how the pantry and kitchen have enough food only for breakfast.

Aiden called Michael and they are coordinating with people from the White foundation to come and take over most of the prisoners. Mason can interrogate them and decide what to do with those people. 

Sarah and Aiden will personally interrogate Akmal, his customers, and three people from Akmal's security for whom they found out that they have some rank.

"What's next?", Aiden asked Sarah when Ernesto and other army members went to handle their assignments.

Sarah knows that there are people locked up in the basement, but there is one thing which is lingering on her mind. "Let's go to the study and find out what is in that safe."

Aiden had a different idea. "How about you go to the study and see what's in that safe while I go and check those boxes in the basement?"

Aiden's words reminded Sarah that they found one room in the basement with unmarked boxes. She agreed. 

"Just be careful. Let Eve scan everything before you crack it open…", Sarah warned Aiden.

"Yes, ma'am…", he responded with a warm smile. He loves when Sarah expresses her concern for his safety.

When Sarah and Aiden entered the mansion, girls who were lingering at the windows in the hallway, rushed back into the family room.

Sarah and Aiden exchanged glances and smiled. It's good that those girls are acting like kids. At least some of them will recover quickly from this bad experience.

In the hallway, in front of the study, Aiden had few warnings to Sarah as well: "Be careful. If you don't know what it is, don't touch it. If you need a second opinion, I am in the basement, available..."

Sarah smiled and glanced at the four girls who were not-so-secretly eavesdropping on them. "Got it. See you soon..."

Sarah went to the study and cracked the safe open in no time. She took a mental note not to ask Eve for assistance next time because she does not know if her skills are improving or Eve's algorithms.

In the safe Sarah found about $200k in cash, a box with few antique-looking necklaces and bracelets and three deeds (originals). 

Sarah was interested in those deeds and used Eve to find out more about them. One deed is for the current property they are on, the second one is for 20 acres in Phoenix, Arizona, and the third one is for 23 acres at the outskirts of Salt Lake City in Utah. 

Eve informed Sarah that the properties in Phoenix and Salt Lake City have luxurious mansions on them as well. 

Sarah checked the security footage from the other two properties and even though there are no cameras inside, she could see armed bodyguards patrolling around the mansions. 

Sarah frowned at the fact that those two appear to be similar to this one. Does that mean that there are girls imprisoned there as well? There is only one way to find out.

Sarah contacted Noah and sent him information about those two properties. The army of Chaos will go there, observe, attack, and seize. 

Sarah wondered if taking away from a bad guy makes it a good thing? Or is that double bad? She dispersed that thought. So far they seized so many properties from Lebedevs and whoever got in their way, that it's too late to think if it's the right thing to do. They will disrupt this heinous business, and it will be used for a good cause, and that's what it counts. While on the thought of disrupting Akmal's business, Sarah took a mental note to find out who his suppliers are. They deserve punishment as well.

She was giddy at the thought of how Akmal gave them three new bases! She will make sure to rub it in when they go to chat with that misogynist. 

Sarah went to the family room and observed the girls. Based on their skin tone, Sarah can see that they are from different parts of the world. Her observation is that each of the girls speaks English, and she concluded that probably that was one of the requirements Akmal had when he picked his 'goods'.

Sarah checked the current progress on getting information related to the girls. Out of thirty-nine girls, twenty-eight finished giving their information to the members of the army of chaos, and eleven of them already called home and got in touch with their family members.

Sarah was troubled at the information on how all the girls are between fifteen and eighteen years old. High school girls who didn't get to see much of the world. 

She sighed when she looked at the countries from where they are coming from: China, Brazil, Venezuela, Turkey, Egypt, India, South Africa. Ah, it will not be a quick trip to take them home. Venezuela is one of the closest ones, and it will take more than ten hours one way with their helicopter (if they don't stop to refuel), so her idea about using the helicopter will not work. 

Sarah took a mental note to talk with Aiden and figure out if they will use their jet or get plane tickets for commercial flights. Sarah paused at the thought of commercial flights. For that, the girls need passports. Ah, it's one thing after another. That makes it another thing to ask Akmal: does he have passports of these girls in his possession or not?

Sarah's eyebrows shoot up when she saw that seven girls refused to give their information, because they don't want to be sent home. Immediately, Sarah assumed that those girls are from the last room, and that due to shame girls can't face their family, but she was surprised to see that four of them came from the first two rooms. Sarah decided to talk to them. She will not force the girls who were assaulted to talk, but others are a different story.

Sarah went with four girls to the study room: Esma, Azra, and Merve from Turkey and Panya from Egypt. 

"I hear that you don't want to go home.", Sarah started the talk. "Do you care to explain?"

The girls lowered their heads.

"Don't you have a family? Or you want to go somewhere else?", Sarah started guessing.

Azra shook her head and met Sarah's gaze. "I am away from home for three months. My family will not take me back."

Sarah was surprised to hear this. "Why?"

Azra hesitated for some time before answering: "Honor is important. My purity means honor. They would rather proclaim me as dead that take me back as an embarrassment."

"We can have a doctor to provide you with a certification that you are…", Sarah paused while picking the right word. "…untouched."

Azra pressed her lips into a line. "That does not matter. People will talk. And if my father waves a doctor's certification, they will say that it's fake."

"Do all of you think the same?"

All four girls nodded.

Sarah puffed her cheeks in frustration. Is it really so bad, or are these girls just dramatic? "Do you have other plans if you don't go home?"

The girls shook their heads.

"OK. You can stay…"

A girly scream from the outside interrupted Sarah. Now what?

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