EDEN'S ODYSSEY


Be Anon.
>Your wife’s water just broke.
>You had both been preparing for this for two weeks now.
>You had preemptively packed your bags.
>Get her in the car.
>Call the hospital ahead of time. 
>A nurse would be outside of the entrance waiting with a wheel chair
>It really paid working for the Government now.
>Your health insurance was amazing!
>You grab your wife’s little paw and speed down the highway as she gently squeezes your hand.
>Finally you park in front of the entrance.
>Open the door for your wife.
>Let the nurse put her in the wheel chair.
>Carts her off to the Anthro delivery room.
>Your wife was a Fox Anthro after all.
>Go park your car properly.
>Sprint back to the hospital entrance.
>After a series of winding corridors you find your wife.
>Talking to the doctor.
>She smiles at you as you grab her hand.
>Nuzzle against her ear as the Doctor keeps talking.
>Standard procedure and all that.
>As the hours go on the contractions start to worsen.
>Her body was always really thin.
>Pregnancy hasn’t been the most pleasant experience for her.
>But now it’s taking to the max.
>Before you know it the convulsions start to becoming worse.
>A small team of a Doctor and nurses rush in.
>The delivery is happening.
>You stand next to the doctor.
>Mainly because you don’t feel the most comfortable having another man stare longingly into your wife’s vagina.
>Yeah it was stupid, but at this point you didn’t care.
>Soon you hear your wife whimper.
>wait no. She’s screaming.
>God damn that’s a voice!
>Could of been an opera singer.
>Wait no. Stay focused-
>You see a little head crown
>Oh…
>OH!
>Well you won’t be having sex for awhile.
>She reaches out for you.
>You grab her arm.
>Tell her to just keep pushing.
>Let her know how much you love her.
>She’s so close, you tell her.
>Just a little bit more.
>She has no air in her lungs left to scream.
>She gasps out and you hear crying and yipping.
>“Congratulations! It’s a girl!” You hear the Doctor say.
>The nurse takes the Kit away to clean up and been swathed in a blanket.
>Oh my, she’s going to look adorable.
>“Doctor…” You hear one of the nurses say.
>“Something’s wrong.”
>Wait. What?
>That’s not what you wanna hear right now.
>Hey…why’s your wife’s breath getting fainter…
>Over the next few minutes you hear a tirade of screams and orders from the doctors and nurses.
>You stare blankly at the chaos unfolding.
>It’s like time slowed down for you.
>You look down at your wife.
>She lets go of your hand.
>“A-Annie?”



>Hi!
>My name is Eden.
>I live in Wyoming with my Grandma.
>She’s pretty old, around 80.
>My Mom died in childbirth
>My Dad I think ran off afterwards.
>I don’t really know the details.
>Grandma doesn’t really either.
>Cuz my Grandpa (he died before I was born) he didn’t like my Dad
>He especially didn’t like him marrying my Mom.
>Because he was a Human.
>And my Mom was a Fox Anthro. Like me!
>So My Grandpa was pretty old fashion apparently.
>And he basically disowned my Mom.
>So Grandma never actually knew anything about him.
>I don’t even have a picture of him.
>I have plenty of pictures of my Mom though.
>She looked a lot like me when she was alive.
>She was short, around Five feet (I’m a little taller!)
>She was very skinny like me. I personally think her tail was more fluffier than mine.
>But Grandma insists my tail looks just like hers.
>We both have that dark red fur that most Anthro foxes have around here.
>And like her, I got black fur around all my paws.
>Which I secretly think makes me look really cute.
>But my Mom had black ears.
>Mine are just red.
>I’m a little jealous.
>And of course I also got her small boobs and I have practically no hips.
>Thanks Mom…
>Grandma once told me that’s how she died.
>‘Her body just wasn’t made for bearing children’ or something like that.
>I think I’m a little skeptical about all that.
>Maybe these things just happen?
>Like when my Dad disappeared.
>I knew a few kids in school who had pretty lack luster Fathers
>And they complained all the time about them.
>Daddy issues and all that.
>I don’t really see it like that. It seems kinda silly to get angry about something that happened so long ago.
>And that you had no control over.
>Maybe I would think differently if he suddenly came back.
>Like ‘yeah I wasn’t there at all but now that you’ve turned 18 here I am!’
>I could definitely see myself getting a little peeved at that.
>Still, I wish I knew even a little bit about him.
>The only thing Grandma really knew was that he worked in D.C.
>Apparently I was born there as well before Dad asked Grandma to take care of me.
>Then he just disappeared and she never heard from him again.
>Sometimes I get a little sad thinking about it.
>When I was a little kid I would see all my friends getting picked up by their parents.
>And their parents looked so young and happy.
>I feel bad thinking about it though, since Grandma is really nice.
>But even without having ‘real’ parents I know it just isn’t the same.
>I think she knows that too.
>So I think if I told her she’d understand.
>But I’d still feel pretty ungrateful about it.
>I guess it doesn’t really matter all that much.
>Because any time I would feel sad I went out and did chores.
>I live in an old house by in the country.
>Wyoming after all.
>And since Grandma is so old it’s my job to look after the house.
>Mowing the lawn, shoveling the snow.
>I’ve even learned how to fix toilets and the kitchen plumbing!
>That’s probably not work a girl usually does.
>But I liked doing it.
>Because when those moments hit where I missed my Mom and Dad I could just distract myself with housework.
>Or if there wasn’t anything to do around the house I could just go hiking.
>I love going to the Teton mountain range.
>Lots of times I take my more outdoorsy friends with me.
>But I always like to walk it alone.
>Especially right near the end of Autumn.
>I call those days the “border Season”
>Because everything is still super pretty.
>But Winter is right around the corner and any day the snow will come.
>The air feels a little stiller on those days.
>Like a big ball of kinetic energy just waiting to explode into a whirlwind of blizzards.
>I like walking through that tension in nature.
>Like I’m a spectator in a balancing act.
>And on those days whenever I think of my parents, they’re usually happy thoughts.
>Like how did they meet? And what did my Dad do to make Mom smile?
>And what made him smile?
>And how did he feel when my Mom told him she was pregnant with me?
>I know he disappeared so maybe it wasn’t the best reaction.
>But I like to think that he loved my Mom enough that he wanted her to have me.
>I miss my Mom….
>I don’t know if I miss my Dad or not.
>But either way I’d like to talk to him.
>I can imagine myself going up to him and saying “So. You’re my Dad?”
>And he would have a really low baritone voice and say “Why yes, little Lady, I am indeed your Dad.”
>It’s a bit silly I admit.
>I don’t think it would actually go that way.
>I’d probably be a little angry at him.
>And if he was a stereotypical deadbeat Dad, he’d probably make a lot of excuses.
>Which would only make me more irritated.
>Maybe some things just aren’t meant to happen for a reason.
>Not that it matters much anyway. 
>I don’t think he’s coming back.

>Its been a few days since my 18th birthday.
>I had some friends over on the the day. Which was nice.
>But the next day I packed up my bag and went out camping in the woods for a bit.
>Just for a little bit of me time and to think.
>I don’t really know what I want to do.
>I would honestly just like to live with Grandma forever.
>I don’t really have an interest in going to College.
>Maybe I could get a job as a Park Ranger or something.
>But does that require a college degree?
>Shoot. It probably does.
>I briefly considered living off the grid.
>In the woods and all of that.
>But I like hot showers and hair dryers way too much.
>Three days camping by myself and I don’t have a single clue what I’m doing with my life.
>I’m walking home a little more somber than usual.
>When I start walking up the pathway to the house I notice a black car is parked on the driveway.
>Was Grandma having visitors?
>I don’t know anybody who has a car like that in town.
>It was all pickup trucks or mom vans.
>I’m scrunching up my face in confusion as I open the screen door.
>I hear some chatter in the living room.
>“Grams!” I shout.
>I hear brief silence and then the rustling of people getting up out of their seats.
>I first see Grandma and then I see a large Human man appear behind her.
>He looks older, he has salt and pepper hair with a receding hairline.
>He’s got an ARMY shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans and boots.
>“Eedie” Grandma says “There is a visitor here for you.”
>The man stepped forward and offers his hand to shake.
>“Hello there Eden.” He spoke in a very thick southern accent. “My name is Carson.”
>“I don’t know you.” I say, confused.
>Carson offers you a smile.
>“Ah, but I know you very well.”
>Okay that’s a little bit creepy.
>He turns his head towards your Grandma.
>“Ma’am could I have a few minutes alone with your Granddaughter please?”
>I feel annoyed that this person I didn’t know was asking my Grandma to leave a room in her own home.
>Also. Still creepy.
>But incredulously she does.
>“G-grams?” I say nervously.
>“It’s okay dear” she says warmly “You can trust him.”
>“He needs to tell you things that are none of my business.”
>With that she slowly heads upstairs to her room.
>I hear her T.V. turn on.
>“Here. Why don’t we sit at the table” Carson says.
>You place your camping gear on the floor besides you.
>Maybe this wasn’t the greatest time to have a conversation.
>After all you just spent three days in the wilderness without bathing.
>But this guy just appeared out of nowhere.
>And he was a little pushy to boot.
>He looked like he was about to speak, but I interrupt him.
>“Were you in the Army?”
>He looks down at his shirt.
>“Well I suppose I was was, around 25 years ago that is.”
>“Were you….”
>“In combat? No, of course not. Not everyone in the Army goes out on the front lines.”
>“Well what did you do?” I ask him.
>If he was gonna come barging in here acting like he knew me, I was gonna know him at least a little bit too.
>He paused at this question for a moment.
>“Well I gathered information. I went around all over the world and asked different questions and brought those answers back to my superiors.”
>“That doesn’t sound very army-like” I say frowning.
>He laughs at this.
>“No I suppose it doesn’t. I didn’t fit in very well. So I left to go work in Washington D.C.”
>I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
>My parents lived in…
>“Why are you here?” I asked.
>He leans back in his and points to the coat rack.
>"There is an envelope in my carhartt, can you grab it for me?”
>I walk over and stick my paw in his coat.
>It reeked of tobacco.
>I pull out a rolled up manila envelope.
>“What is this?” I ask
>He smiles and puts his hands behind his head.
>“That there little lady is a gift from your Father.”
>What?!
>My Dad!?
>I quickly open the envelope and find a small stack of papers inside.
>He wrote a letter to me?
>Oh my God he wrote me a letter!
>Wait no…
>This is all written in a bunch of legalese.
>‘to the beneficiary…’ ‘shall be held until legal age….’
>“What is all of this?” You say, frustratingly casting it on the table.
>He chuckles.
>“For the final three years your Daddy was working in DC, he put a large chunk of his paycheck in a trust. Over the years he knew it would accrue interest and arranged that on your 18th birthday all the money would go to you.”
>Wha…
>“And as an associate of your Father’s he entrusted me to be the executor of the trust when the time came. Look on the last page and you’ll see his signature.
>I scramble to the back end of the document.
>Even a photocopied print of his signature seemed like a wealth of information to me
>Sure enough I see his penmanship.
>It was…awful. Chicken scratch handwriting at its worst.
>But I could make out his name.
>The one thing about him I solidly knew.
> ‘Anon’
>Congratulation, Eden. You are now $700,000 richer.”
>This was a dream.
>It has to be!
>Strange men with southern drawls don’t come into your house and give you money.
>That they say is from your absentee Dad.
>“I know all that money can be a little overwhelming” He starts up.
>I cut him short.
>“You knew my Father?” I ask, sounding a little desperate.
>He folds his arms across his chest.
>“Yeah, I suppose I did.”
>“Um….” I say… I don’t know where to start.
>What the hell do I even say?
>I’m not prepared for this kind of thing.
>Could anyone be?
>“W-What did he do? Like for a living?”
>He was silent for awhile, he looks up at the ceiling, trying to word his answer carefully.
>“He kinda did similar stuff to what I did in the army. He went around and asked questions and came back to his bosses with answers.”
>“Did he go around the world?!” I ask, envisioning my Dad as some world-toting romantic.
>“Sometimes” he answered “But he could get most of his questions answered in DC. It’s a pretty popular place.”
>My head is spinning.
>I could barely process what was happening to me.
>There was a man in front of me
>Who had actual proof that my Father even existed!
>“You get one more question.” He said suddenly
>What!
>How could he just dangle all this in front of me and cruelly pull away?
>I suddenly feel like crying.
>“B-but you’re the first person who-
>“I know, I know, Eden. But I came all the way here to do a job. Not to spend the whole evening telling you every insignificant detail about your Daddy.”
>“But you’re the only person I’ve met who knew him!”
>“That’s why I’m giving you one more question. So ask wisely.”  
>So many are pouring through my head at this moment.
>What was he like? What music did he listen to? How did he meet my Mom? 
>Did he truly love my Mom? What was his favorite food? Did he love me?
>“What happened to him?” I finally inquire.
>I think he was hoping I would ask that question.
>Because he was grinning.
>“Well I can’t say for certain.” He said. “A few months after your Mama died he went AWOL. Dropped you off at your Grandma’s house and left the country. Last thing I heard about him was he ended up in Chai-Ang.”
>“C-Chai-Ang” I struggle to say it, the foreign words sounded strange and twisted on my tongue.
>“It’s a small little independent City-State” He explained “It’s near the Gulf of Thailand”
>“Why?” I ask, perplexed. “That’s so random. What’s there for him to go to?”
>“Beats me.” Carson says as he sits up and walks over to the coat rack. “He went there during the city’s most chaotic period. That place was a crime-ridden dump up until around 2001 when the coup happened. He ended up there in ‘99 the same year you were born. It was probably easy for him to disappear.”
>This is all on a scale too big for me to comprehend.
>Thailand? City-State? Coup? I’m just a fox living in a small town.
>Hell I still felt practically like a Kit.
>But my Father…Why would he want to end up in a place you would probably see on the nightly news?
>But there is another, more personal question.
>Why did he want to leave me?
>“But wait!” I stammer “I…
>“Listen Eden.” Carson says, his voice sounding insultingly patronizing “The truth is almost no one knows what was going through your Father’s head when he did what he did. You’d have to go to Chai-Ang yourself to look for him.”
>Wait. Was that last bit a challenge?
>“Find Achara” I hear him just barely whisper to me
>What?
>“Last I heard she was a prostitute in the red light district.”
>Prostitute?
>Red light district?
>To my rural sensibilities those words were like daggers in my ears.
>“Yeah.” He says, his tone changed, he sounds sinister like he had pulled off his amicable disguise and revealed himself as a Devil.
>“That’s right. If you wanna go look for him that’s the kinda stuff you’re gonna be getting into. A little country vixen like you should stay put and let things lie.”
>He puts on his carhartt.
>Why does my blood feel so cold.
>“Oh! One more thing.” He says, turning back to me with that smile and overly friendly tone that I now knew was completely fake.
>“Your Grandma said that she didn’t have any pictures of Anon in the house. I’m happy I brought this with me.”
>He reaches into his inside coat pocket and pulls out a small Polaroid.
>I reach out towards it like it was practically gold.
>No.
>I think its far more precious than that.
>I bite my lip as I look at my father for the first time.
>He looked…normal.
>He was handsome. But normal.
>I guess I always imagined him as this larger than life figure.
>In fact he actually looked a little short.
>He was dressed in a suit and tie.
>In one arm he was carrying a briefcase.
>His other arm was adjusting his tie.
>He was walking down a set of large white stairs.
>He wasn’t looking at the camera,
>Rather he was looking at something to his left.
>His eyes were…very intense.
>Like a lion closing in on its prey.
>“I believe that photo was taken at Capital Hill, around ‘96 I believe, so just before he married your Mother.”
>I can’t answer him back.
>I’m too drawn into the picture.
>I wanna analyze every single detail there is to see.
>And I wanna know how old he looks right now.
>Did he age well? Did his hair gray over?
>Just how reliable was this picture of my Father compared to now?
>This photo suddenly became the most valuable thing in my life.
>But it was also inaccurate
>It was taken before I was even born.
>“Well, enjoy the money. Don’t spend it all in one day.”
>He gives me his business card.
>“In case something goes screwy with your money” he says.
>And just like that. He’s out the door and driving away in his car.
>I couldn’t say I was particularly looking forward to meeting him again.
>I hear Grandma come back down the stairs.
>I’m still staring at the picture when I feel her wrap her frail paws around me.
>“It was awfully nice of him to leave you with so much.” She says.
>“Yeah…” I reply dryly
>I don’t even care about the money.
>It seemed so inconsequential to me.
>“Did you find anything about your Father?” She asked, kissing your cheek.
>“Not…not really no.”
>I stare at the picture.
>I share blood with this person.
>What a strange and exciting thought.
>“But I think I know where to look, Grandma.”
>I grab her paw and squeeze it slightly.
>“Even if I end up hating him…I want to see him, at least once.”
>The mere thought that I might hate him made me cringe.
>Even if he had abandoned me, I didn’t want to despise the man in this photo.
>“I think I’m going to have to go on a trip soon, Grandma. Will you mind if I leave you here alone?”
>She sighs lightly.
>“It’s good for you to leave the nest and not be stuck with an old woman like me. I’ll get the neighbor boy if anything needs fixing.”
>I nod, I’m feeling more resolute about this than anything else in my life.
>Granted, maybe that’s a low bar since I’m only 18
>But I had been so despondent on that camping trip.
>‘what in the world am I gonna do with myself’ I kept asking.
>And now this perfect opportunity just plopped into my lap.
>I’m going to find my Father!
>Even if he’s on the other side of the world, I’ll find him.
>Even if I have to talk to this…prostitute.
>“And besides. The neighbor boy has a cute butt.”
>“GRANDMA!”


>Thank God I purchased first class seats.
>A 17+ hour plane trip was long!
>I spent the first 14 hours sleeping
>Now I’m looking through all my notes about this foreign city I would be combing through.
>Chai-Ang
>Carson had been kinda right to call it a dump.
>It was an Island City-State that originally been controlled by French Colonials
>It turned out that when it was given independence it became a haven for criminals.
>Anyone around the world with a shady past flocked to the place to hide away from the world.
>I wonder if that’s why my Father went there? Did he break the law and was running away?
>Carson didn’t seem to indicate that was case.
>Seemed like it would have been a slightly important thing for him to mention.
>But there was one thing Chai-Ang had been infamous for.
>Anthro sex trafficking.
>It had been running rampant for twenty years unnoticed by everyone.
>It had been an international operation.
>Vulnerable anthros were pulled from all over the world and bought and sold as sex slaves in the city.
>And it only broke out because a NGO had gotten its hands on audio tapes and accounting books listing tens of thousands of ‘sales’ and made it public all the way back in 2000
>It was a big deal.
>Turns out every facet of Chai-Ang institutions were complicit; from hospitals, to schools, to even orphanages.
>Actually, especially orphanages.
>It got so bad the Military took over the government.
>And they were pretty angry.
>They killed a lot of people and I read that they didn’t even bother giving the accused trials.
>Anyone who was suspected in engaging in trafficking were just lined up against a wall and shot.
>They still rule the city today.
>Reading all of this was like listening about some war in the middle-east on CNN.
>Except I was flying directly there.
>Which is more than a little terrifying.
>Granted, the city had calmed down over the last decade and a half.
>The standards of living had been raised.
>And crime was virtually non-existent apparently.
>Though there wasn’t anything like free speech or freedom of the press.
>Most of the websites I had looked up basically described it as a Junta.
>And as an American that kinda freaked me out.
>But I’m technically going as a tourist right?
>So they won’t do anything to me?
>They want me to have a good time and spend my cash.
>So If I keep my head down and follow the rules like a polite guest I should be fine.
>Ugghhh, except I wasn’t supposed to keep my head down.
>I had to go ask questions around this massive city.
>Thank God English was a common language in the Chai-Ang, what with all the Ex-pats.
>When I get off the plane and into the airport I’m actually really surprised.
>I was expecting to land somewhere that looked like those old buildings from Eastern Europe.
>But this whole airport is state of the art, it looks brand new.
>It looks a lot nicer than my dinky little one in Wyoming.
>Maybe…I was just overly worrying about the whole thing.
>Yeah I did feel a little crazy flying over to a foreign city I knew next to nothing about til only a few weeks ago.
>And everything I did learn about it sounded like something out of a nightmare.
>But this…this scarred and damaged city was the place my Father had decided to call home.
>And I’m going to find him.


>Be Anon,
>The year is 1999
>And it’s not the heat that you hate about Chai-Ang
>It’s the damn humidity.
>Your whole body feels like a case of swamp ass
>It’s disgusting.
>How do people deal with his?
>You were keeping all your whiskey in the fridge to keep it cool.
>Drinking anything at room temperature in this heat felt like drinking urine.
>At least in your shanty little apartment you could walk around in a t-shirt and underwear.
>Outside you had to dress the part.
>Which mean pants and three layers of shirts.
>And a tie.
>Fucking hell.
>You light up a cigarette as you hear your door open.
>“Hello Carson.” You say casually as you take a drag.
>“Christ, this is where you’re living? It’s a shithole. There isn’t even a kitchen.”
>You ignore his comment “You should really work on that shit-kicker accent. You stick out like a sore thumb around here.”
>“I ain’t changing nothing… For God’s sake Anon, you have a mini-fridge and a fuckin’ Hotplate on a table!”
>“I was told to stay low.” You reply, irritated as you walk over to the aforementioned fridge.
>“I do my business and disappear into the city. No one will look for me around here.”
>You offer Carson a glass of cool whiskey.
>He turns you down.
>His body language changes when you mention ‘business’.
>“So…did you make the payoff?”
>“Y-yeah” You take a swig straight out of the bottle, choking slightly before pouring it in the glass.
>“Their eyes fucking lit up when I showed up with two briefcases full of Yuan and Euros. I’m now considered a ‘principle investor’.”
>“What did you tell them?”
>You drain the small glass quickly, before filling it up again.
>“I said I ran a racket back in Serbia and pulled out when the war hit.”
>“That’s actually pretty good.” Carson admitted “If they go digging and find nothing on you, they’ll think they know why.”
>“Yeah, I know.” You say, irritated “That’s why I did it.”
>You’re both silent for a while. The only sound being you glugging down your third glass.
>“How often are you gonna be drinking that rot-gut?” Carson admonished.
>“For as long as I feel like!” You snap back.
>“Listen, Anon. Drinking like a damn degenerate ain’t gonna bring her-
>“Stop!”
>He actually freezes mid sentence.
>“Don’t go there with me” You glare him down.  
>Carson sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
>He chooses his next word carefully.
>“Anon…you got a baby girl and she’s not even a year old. You gotta get over this hump.”
>“Is that all this is?” You snarl “A speedbump?”
>“Now you know that’s not what I meant, Anon.”
>You grunt out an apology as you look down at your glass.
>You remember the last time you held Eden.
>She licked your nose.
>It was a painful thing to experience.
>And to remember.
>“Well, you’re my handler.” You said, changing the subject “So tell me who I’m dealing with exactly.”
>Carson asks for a smoke. You oblige, he leans closer to you as you light it up for him.
>“I called in a few favors from my old pals back in INSCOM” He explains as he takes in a drag.
>“Most of these guys are former party members of the Khmer Rouge,”
>“Wait.” You say “So they went from saying they were fighting for the people to…”
>“To selling the people. Yeah I know, it’s pretty ironic .”
>“Maybe not…considering who they were”
>It was a somber moment. Both you and Carson had visited the Killing fields a decade ago.
>They still seemed fresh back then.
>“That doesn’t explain why the boys back home want an asset here.” You question.
>“Good ol’ Pol Pot hated the Vietnamese.” You added “So he got along quite well with Uncle Sam”
>That was one of those dirty little secrets that if you aired publicly would result in an ‘accident’
>Carson leans against a wall and exhales a large puff of smoke.
>The smoke seemed to hang in the air with all the humidity. Almost like it was stuck.
>“As of last year, the remnants of the Khmer Rouge are all gone. There’s a new status quo on the way to Cambodia now.”
>“So they’re irrelevant? Fantastic. That still doesn’t explain why we got so interested in this dinky little city.”
>You could see Carson roll his eyes.
>Well maybe if he just told you the full god damn story he wouldn’t have to treat you like a lost Kit!
>“The fellas here fled way back in ‘79 when Vietnam invaded and the regime collapsed. They decided to use their connections around Southeast Asia to generate a pretty hefty income. Overtime in seems they’ve expanded quite a bit and now everyone wants in on the action.”
>He finishes his cig, you offer him an ashtray.
>“And as of the last five years the Gulf Cartel has been added to that list.”
>Well fuck.
>Now you were getting a clearer picture.
>“Your new friends here in Chai-Ang have been practically dumping truck loads of money to the Cartel, in exchange for a steady supply of girls and heroin.
>You knock back another glass of whiskey.
>There wasn’t much left in the bottle.
>“Why the heroin?” You ask
>“To get the girls addicted.” Carson answers grimly “keeps them in line and docile. They won’t try to run away if they’re hooked on getting their next fix.”
>Well. That’s pretty bleak.
>This world was just shitty in general.
>“We can’t afford the Cartel to be getting an even bigger cash flow than they already have.” Carson explains. “You’re in now. Figure out these peoples organizational structure, their hierarchy and their book-keeping.”
>You nod, walking over to your bed and collapsing on it.
>This fucking heat, man.
>“And Chai-Ang is about as corrupt as a Russian Mayor, so try to get names of some officials for us too. There’s gotta be more than a few fucks taking bribes.”
>You nod boringly.
>“You done?” you ask, yawing. “I gotta try and get some sleep in this sauna.”
>“It’s three in the afternoon, Anon.”
>“The heat makes me sleepy.” You wave him off, hoping he’ll just go away.
>“Anon… there was no reason for you to do this. We could have sent anyone else over-
>“I couldn’t stay in DC.” You shoot back suddenly. Staring out at the folded blinds covering the window.
>Only a few rays of the sun manage to bounce off your chest.
>“You’re only here for reconnaissance. Once we get what we need we’re pulling you out.”
>“How thoughtful of you.” You say sarcastically.
>“We can’t keep you here for long! If the Chinese find out about this we’re gonna look like idiots.”
>“I get it I get it. Now can I please get some sleep?”
>You roll on your side, your back facing away from Carson.
>You hear him start for the door.
>He stops.
>“Oh! I almost forgot. I have this for you. Figure you might appreciate it.”
>He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a small Polaroid picture.
>You look at it briefly before putting it into your wallet on the nightstand.
>“Thanks” you mutter as Carson finally leaves.
>This whole city was hell.
>It sure felt like it, what with your clothes being drenched in sweat.
>And with the people you were ingratiating yourself with
>They were the Demonic citizens of this City of Hell.
>But it was still preferable than being back in DC.
>You tried. You had tried so hard.
>But every time she tickled your face with her tail.
>Or licked your nose.
>Or cooed and reached out to you when she wanted to be picked up.
>It just reminded you of the Mother who wasn’t there.
>Eden looked just like her Mother too.
>You couldn’t take it!
>You chug down the last of the whiskey and throw it against the wall. Smashing it.
>You couldn’t be close to the little kit, it tore you up inside
>But nothing really helped when you were at a distance either.
>Because you felt like shit knowing what you had done.
>So the only thing you really could do was just not think about her at all.
>And that…that wasn’t an option. 
>Next best option was to drink.
>That did…something.
>God knows what though.
>Ugh, you wanted to get another bottle out of the fridge.
>Too far away.
>Fuck it. You’ll go to sleep.
>You got shit to do later tonight anyway.

>You rap on the metal door.
>you see a small hatch slide open and two cat eyes peer at you.
>“Piss off!” It says with a thick accent.
>Sounded Laotian.
>You glare at the pair of eyes and curl your lips into a snarl.
>“It’s Anon. Let me in.” You demand.
>You hear a tiny shriek and the hatch close, followed by the door opening properly.
>You’re greeted by a small spotted cat Anthro.
>“I’m very sorry!” he says cowering under you. “You new guy! I don’t know!”
>You raise your brows.
>Southeast Asians in general had a tendency to exclaim everything when they they were speaking in English.
>You sigh at the pitiable feline.
>“Whatever. Where are the others?”
He points to the room at the end of the hallway.
>“Over there! They play game now!”
>You nod and walk down the corridor.
>It felt like you were walking into a whole other dimension.
>And the portal was just on the other side.
>As you open the door you’re immediately hit with a wave of tobacco.
>The whole damn room was smoked up.
>Jesus, its like a fucking fog in here.
>You see three anthros sitting at a table playing cards.
>There’s a bar behind them.
>The bartender is a naked deer anthro.
>She looked young, around 19-20
>She wasn’t even wearing any underwear.
>She did a good job putting on that fake smile.
>But you could tell she didn’t want to be hear.
>Her eyes were red and puffy. Not from crying.
>But from all the god damn smoke in the room.
>The three Anthros at the table look up at you casually.
>Last you had met them they were rather stern with you.
>But after you handed over about 1.5 million dollars in Yuan and Euros they did a complete 180.
>The first of the trio was a tall, sleek male Leopard, named Tuol.
>He had dyed white fur with black dots coating over his entire body.
>His fur was dyed to probably not show how old he really was.
>The second anthro, was a billy goat named Sleng and was much shorter in stature.
>He was actually slowly losing his gray fur, you noticed patches that weren’t bald but less thick.
>Like someone had taken a electric trimmer over random parts of his body.
>The third was a giant Bison well over seven feet tall who called himself Ben-Ra.
>He had a constant scowl on his face and eyes that seemed to scan everything around him.
>As if checking for any weakness he could exploit.
>“Your doorman gave me shit.” You say as you walk over to the bar.
>“Sorry.” You hear Tuol say “That’s my idiot cousin. His mom asked me to find him a job.”
>“This isn’t a charity we’re running here.” Ben-Ra snorts.
>“He’s family. What the fuck can I do?”
>You ignore the bickering and approach the naked dear.
>You ask her for whiskey.
>A bottle, not a glass.
>“You don’t gotta be so polite around her.” Sleng says.
>His voice sounded gravely, but high pitched at the same time.
>It was weird.
>“Go on. Give her rack a squeeze.”
>As the others chuckle at this you see the deer eye the ground as she hands you the bottle.
>“No thanks” you try to sound indifferent “I’d rather not play with the merchandise.”
>You pull the cork off with your teeth and give it a swig.
>Fuck! That was strong liquor.
>You sit at the table already feeling a little dazed.
>You might have to actually pace yourself.
>Especially around these guys.
>“Oh, she’s not one of ours.” Sleng corrects you “We borrowed her from Blacky’s club downtown.”
>“We could buy her from him though.” Tuol remarks “Couldn’t we sweetie.”
>The deer looks away.
>“Hey. You don’t like that?” Tuol says, his tone becoming much more aggressive.
>He gets up quickly, tipping his chair onto the floor and he struts over to the girl.
>Apparently this is normal, no one tries to stop him.
>Hell, they barely even look at him.
>He pushes her against the wall and pins her there with one arm.
>He sticks his paw between her thighs.
>Her hands are covering her chest and she’s shaking only slightly.
>“Well you shouldn’t, bitch.” He growls at her “You don’t wanna know where our girls end up-
>“Tuol!” Ben-Ra shouts “Shut up and play the game or go home. I’m not in the mood for this.”
>You see the Leopard pause for moment before retracting his hand.
>He walks back to the table, picks up his chair and resumes playing,
>“Baby.” Ben-Ra says without looking at the deer “make Tuol here a Mojito. He’s just pissy because he’s losing.”
>“Oh fuck you!”
>The table is silent after that. With only the sounds of the bartender making the drink in the background.
>You just watch the game of cards go buy, as the piles of money get bigger and bigger, until someone wins a hand and takes it all. Leaving the other two cursing.
>You just sit there silently nursing your bottle of whiskey.
>It hadn’t occurred to you til now that these three were actually highly educated.
>They had an accent but they spoke practically perfect English.
>You guessed that the Khmer Rouge had invested in educating its higher ranked party members.
>While killing anybody else who even looked like they had read a book in their lives.
>Finally, after what seems like a half hour. Ben-Ra speaks to you.
>“What did you get up to in Serbia, Anon?”
>You shrug.
>“It’s been a chaotic time for my homeland. I made people feel safe, I made sure no one robbed them. Got them hot meals and assured them some soldier wouldn’t knock on their door and fuck with them.”
>“Well aren’t you the good Samaritan.” Sleng said mockingly.
>You frown at him.
>“It was a rough for everyone. You do what you can to survive. I helped a few people and made a some money to keep myself fed. Nothing more to it.”
>Ben-Ra nods at this approvingly.
>Sleng doesn’t look so convinced.
>“I don’t hear any Serb accent on you.”
>Tuol takes his eye off of his cards and looks at you too. Wondering about that discrepancy.
>Once again, you just shrug it off.
>“When things were getting really bad.” You explained. “I got the hell out. I first went to England than ended up in the States. I picked up a Yankee accent on the way there.”
>Truth be told it was a really paper thin reason.
>But you said it so casually that they didn’t question you any further about your origins.
>The general rule when criminals were making business partnerships is…
>only ask and only tell the bare minimum about yourself.
>Anything else was just asking for trouble somewhere down the line.
>“Tomorrow” Ben-Ra began “We’re heading over to one of our brothels to do a check-up.”
>You nod silently, gulping down more whiskey.
>You drank about a quarter of the bottle now.
>“After that we’re meeting up with Ronnie.”
>“Oh, fuck that guy.” Tuol bursts out before being silenced by Ben-Ra’s stare.
>“Who’s Ronnie?” you ask.
>Ben-Ra huffs
>“He’s got a little seafood joint downtown. But he knows a lot of wealthy individuals. People who are looking for a unique…product that we can offer for a high price.”
>“Isn’t that what you…we do in general?” You inquire.
>“Not really.” you hear Sleng answer “We make our living mostly on the brothels here and shipping off the storage containers in bulk to the mainland.”
>Storage container?
>What the fuck was he talking about?
>“We sold six containers over to the Burmese military as comfort women last month. We made a killing.”
>Tuol nods.
>“Yeah, those Mexicans are a boon. We’re practically paying pennies on the dollar for what they bring us.”
>This was the chance you needed to jump on.
>“I heard about that.” You said, pulling out a cigarette “In fact that deal was why I decided to come to you in the first place.”
>Tuol raises his brow at you.
>“Oh?”
>“I heard that you boys made a deal with the Cartel, I figured I had the money and it was a good idea to uh…introduce myself.”
>Sleng sticks out his tongue at you.
>“Don’t get too carried away now. You are a principle investor. But you’re still only a minority shareholder here.”
>Wait what?
>Ben-Ra notices your confusion.
>“You did buy in with a sizeable portion of capital.” He explains “But what you brought to the table is a mere pittance compared to what we’ve put in over the the last 25 years.”        
>The bison notices your slight frown and chuckles
>You didn’t like it when he smiled or laughed.
>You much preferred it when he kept that scowl on his face.
>“Don’t worry.” He says. “You’ll get what you put in and more…it just won’t be as much as what we get.”
>You nodded at this understanding
>Ben-Ra puts down his cards and looks over at the deer.
>“Get dress and head on out.”
>She makes a small nod and walks out of the bar towards a room in the back.
>But not before Ben-Ra grabs her and pulls her in his lap.
>She squirms against his touch.
>He takes a small wad of cash and places in her hand.
>“You’ve been a good girl today. Tell Blacky we enjoyed you company.
>You hear her say something in another language before the Bison lets her go.
>He turns back and looks at you, giving you that same putrid grin.
>Even his tongue is sticking out a little bit.
>He looked like some twisted wax statue.
>You felt like you were looking into the void.
>“See you tomorrow, Anon.”

>It was a little tricky to get through customs.
>The Rabbit at the booth was very strict with me.
>I gave him my passport and he ask if I was here short term or long term.
>Long term I had to provide things like a proof of residence in the country and stuff.
>So I just asked him how long I could stay here as a tourist.
>He gave me the stink eye.
>Made my tail droop a little bit.
>He said the longest I could stay “as a guest” was three months.
>Three months.
>I have three months to find my father.
>Maybe that seems like a decent enough time.
>But this city is awfully big
>So many people from all over the world lived here.
>It felt really overwhelming and discouraging.
>The biggest city I ever went to was Cheyenne back in Wyoming.
>And I’m certain it didn’t even have 100,000 people living there.
>But Chai-Ang had millions upon millions living here.
>All crammed on this little island.
>But I’m not totally lost!
>I have a lead!
>I have to find this Achara woman
>The prostitute….
>That was still such a loaded and scary word for me.
>I don’t wanna think about that right now.
>I still need to find a place to stay.
>I ask the Customs official if he knows any nice place I can go to.
>I give him my wide puppydog eyes.
>er fox eyes, whatever!
>His grumpy demeanour changed to stammering as he wrote down a name and address of a hotel.
>Hee, giving them the good ol’ cutsie routine works every time.
>Oh wow, this hotel was kinda expensive.
>But even if I stayed there for the full three months it would barely dent my bank account.
>Having all this money feels weird to me.
>Thanks Dad…I guess?
>As I’m looking out the window of my taxi I notice one thing about the city.
>It’s really clean.
>Like almost pristine.
>And all the people looked so well dressed.
>I had even heard there was a massive active Buddhist Temple near the ocean that acted as a cemetery for the whole city.
>All maintained and paid for by taxes.
>Yeah, the government here was super authoritarian. Nothing is perfect.
>But was this really the lawless capital of Anthro sex trafficking years ago?
>.…when Dad lived here…
>It all seemed surreal. 
>I arrive in front of the hotel and pay my cab fare.
>The clerk at the front desk was a little floored when I asked to book a room for the month.
>She was even more astonished when I just casually paid it up front.
>Maybe I should have paid for three months instead of just one?
>But what If I got lucky and found Dad immediately?
>That almost certainly won’t happen, but if it did I’d feel rather silly paying for three months worth of hotels in advanced.
>I’ll just do things on a month by month basis.
>Oh wow my room is pretty cozy.
>Nice big bed.
>OOHHHHH the shower looks amazing!
>It’s shaped like a giant cube with the shower heads on either side.
>awesome! 
>Kitchen was okay. A little small.
>It suddenly dawns on me just how tired I am.
>Yeah I slept a lot on the plane.
>But come on no one ever sleeps WELL on a airplane.
>Plus jet lag…
>Yeah my sleep schedule would be a little out of whack for a bit.
>Am I wasting the day?
>Maybe….but I’m so tired.
>I’m not even bothering to take off my jeans as I plop on the bed.
>I do remember to reach down for my purse on the floor.
>I grunt slightly as I fumble around blindly.
>I finally pull out the picture of my Dad.
>I place it up against the lamp on the nightstand.
>I wrap my tail around myself and hug it.
>I imagine he’s standing over me. Tucking me in.
>It’s silly I know. To think about stuff like that.
>But it still doesn’t mean I didn’t want it.


>I’m really surprised that prostitution is legal in Chai-Ang
>That’s not something super authoritarian countries tend to do.
>Er… City-States I guess.
>I read up on it back in the hotel.
>I guess they figured that with all the trafficking going on it was better to just make it legal and out in the open.
>I read what the “official position” was on the whole thing
> “Technically legal, but socially shameful”
>Can’t say I really agree on that.
>But I guess I’m thinking that with my rural American sensibilities.
>And given the context of Chai-Ang’s past…maybe it makes sense for it to be this way.
>Still can’t say I’m happy to go wandering in the red light district.
>I’m doing it in daylight though!
>I don’t wanna go in the night.
>When they’re…working.
>Ew.
>The whole area is actually pretty abandoned right now.
>I feel very self conscious. Call me crazy but I don’t really wanna be spotted in the ‘hooker neighborhood.’
>I was hoping that there would be so many people walking by I’d just blend in.
>But nope I’m like the only one!
>Most of the um…shops are closed for the day.
>And all of the curtains to the windows are drawn too.
>There are a few that are…open for business in the day.
>It’s really awkward to go in and there’s a just an older woman sitting at a chair or behind a desk.
>She’s like the manager or the the boss or something of the uh…establishment.
>They call her a “madam”
>I guess she was pretty surprised too seeing a young foreign girl walk into her place in broad daylight.
>But I tell her I’m looking for a person named “Achara”
>She asks me why I’m looking for her.
>She doesn’t sound too happy to hear her name mentioned.
>I tell her innocently enough that I’m looking for someone and she might know where he is.
>She suddenly gives me a pitying look.
>Maybe she thinks I’m a young wife trying to track down my husband.
>That makes me feel a little depressed.
>I’m told that Achara is a Madam of another shop a few blocks down.
>Oh. I guess that’s why she didn’t like to hear Achara’s name.
>She was a competitor.
>She gives me an address and sends me on my way with a pay on the head.
>It felt nice…even if it was a little patronizing.
>After about a ten minute walk I come upon the shop.
>The door was closed and white curtains were drawn over the window.
>It felt like I was knocking on a stranger’s house.
>After a knock I get no response.
>Please don’t make me ring the doorbell.
>I cringe as I push the button and hear the ring echo inside.
>After a few moments I hear a voice.
>Oh…there was little speaker box installed near the door.
>The voice sounds tired…and grumpy.
>“Listen joker, we’re closed. Come back this evening.”
>I frantically click and hold on the little button next to the speaker.
>“Ummm” I say nervously “I’m not a…a customer. I’m looking for someone and I’m told you might know where he is.”
>I hear the voice sigh.
>She had a deep, husky voice. But still oddly feminine.
>“Listen, a lot of guys come through here, I can’t remember all of them.”
>It’ hard for me not to blush at this frank statement.
>“But-But I was told you knew him.”
>“I had a long night.” She said angrily. “Now go away before I call the cops.”
>“His name is Anon!” You practically yell into the speaker.
>You hear nothing for an excruciatingly long minute.
>Finally she speaks.
>“I don’t know who told you what. But you should stop whatever it is you’re doing. That’s not a name you go searching for.”
>I hear her click off.
>My eyes start to water.
>But…but I just got here.
>It can’t just end like that.
>This was the only lead I had.
>I click the button as tears start to roll down my cheeks.
>“P-p-please.” I beg “He’s my….He’s my Dad. And I don’t know where else to look.”
>Great.
>I’m crying now.
>I’m scrunching my face and squeezing my eyes.
>I’m letting out little yips as I try to muffle my voice.
>I grab my tail and hug it.
>I have…nowhere else to go.
>I hear the door open.
>I open my eyes and try to blink the tears away.
>She’s a…fox anthro like me.
>Maybe a vixen is a more appropriate term.
>She’s beautiful.
>She’s got huge boobs!
>And she’s very…curvy.
>Makes me frown when I think of my flat chest and no-hips syndrome.
>I try to wipe my tears away with the end of my tail.
>Oh god I think she’s about to cry!
>She takes me and pulls me into the shop.
>“Sweetie, what are you doing crying out in the street!” She says frantically.
>She leads you by the paw upstairs to her living quarters.
>You know that short gasp little kids do when they cry but are trying to speak at the same time?
>Yeah…I do it too.
>“I-I-I….I’m sorry!” I manage to spout out.
>She sits me down in a chair and takes a small towel to dry my face with.
>She sounded so abrasive over the speaker.
>Now she was…motherly.
>It was a nice feeling.
>“Shh, Shhh, there now baby. Stop crying alright.”
>I sniffle as I nod my head slowly.
>She had emerald eyes.
>I just want to stare into them endlessly as she dabs my cheeks.
>I felt like a little girl who scraped her knee and was being coddled by her Mom.
>I didn’t want her to stop, I just wanted to be tended to forever.
>“Do you want me to get you anything?” She asks sweetly.
>“A…glass of water.” I murmur.
>She nods and pulls back to her kitchen.
>I look around.
>Her apartment was very spacious.
>“Who told you to come to me?” She asks as she fills up a glass from the tap.
>“Umm, a human man named Carson. My Dad left me some money in a trust and Carson gave it to me when I turned 18.”
>You thank Achara as she hands you the cup.
>“He said if I wanted to find Dad I had to…look for you.”
>She frowns slightly at your explanation.
>“I’ve never heard of a Carson before. But I guess it doesn’t surprise me, Anon had a lot of connections.”
>I practically chug the water down.
>Crying makes me thirsty.
>I look down at my lap.
>“Did…did you know my Father?” I ask sheepishly.
>Achara nods.
>“mmhhm. A little bit.”
>I look further down at the floor.
>“Did you umm… well ya know..”
>Achara puts her paw over her mouth as she giggles.
>“My, you’re an awfully sheltered child.”
>It’s hard for me not to squeal in embarrassment.
>“Well Don’t worry your sweet little soul. I did stay the night with him a few times, but we never ‘did it’.”
>It felt ridiculous, but I was relieved at hearing that.
>I didn’t really want to imagine my Father hiring a prostitute.
>Even if she was really nice.
>“Well” You ask “If you stayed the night, what did you do?…”
>She lingers in this question for a little bit.
>“I think after a while he just got lonely. He wanted someone to keep him company.”
>She tilts her head slightly at me.
>“I’m going to assume that your mom was a fox? She died right?”
>“Yeah. she uh died in childbirth” I stammer.
>“Hmmm, interesting. I never knew that before.”
>She rests her head on her paws and sighs.
>“I think your Father desperately missed her. He mentioned her once or twice to me and I could tell it really tore him up.”
>It felt like a gust of wind just slapped me in the face.
>He…He missed my mom?
>“Do you think…he loved her?” I ask warily.
>“Most certainly!” She exclaimed. “Now that I know who your mom was, he probably asked for me specifically because I reminded him of her.”
>Dad loved Mom.
>Knowing that alone made this whole trip worth it.
>But I need to keep pressing.
>I know he’s out there somewhere.
>“Do you know what happened to him?” I ask bluntly.
>She chews her lip.
>“I’m sorry hun, but I can’t say I do. I only saw a little bit of him. At best he would call me over to his house once every few months. By the time all the scandals hit and the military took over, he had disappeared a long time ago.”
>I grip my knees tightly.
>Had the trail really gone cold this quickly?!
>I hear Achara click her teeth in frustration.
>“There’s somebody…who might know more.”
>I shoot my head straight back into her face.
>She suddenly looked a little frightened.
>“But you must be absolutely careful around this person. Do not tell him you’re Anon’s daughter. That’s information you do not want him to have.”
>“Why” I ask “What’s so dangerous about him?”
>“His name is Ronnie.” She says slowly. “He’s a Rhino who owns a seafood place downtown. He used to have some really shady connections with the criminals here.”
>I’m confused.
>“I thought that the new government killed all those-
>“Some slip through the cracks.” Achara interrupts. “As far as I know, Ronnie is clean now. But he was pretty close with some of the nastier parts of this city back then.”
>I’m still confused.
>“But why would someone like that know anything about my Father?”
>She gives me this sad, pitying look.
>“You…You really don’t know anything about him do you?”
>I shake my head.
>She stands up and gently places her hands on my shoulder and draws me into a hug.
>Her boobs are really nice pillows.
>“I’m sorry. I don’t want to be the one to tell you this…and I don’t know all that much about anything.”
>I suddenly felt the air leave my lungs.
>“But your Father was involved with some really bad people.”


>“Yeah, I’m at the corner now” You say on the phone before hanging up.
>A few minute later a small limo pulls up in front of you.
>You quickly get in the car before it speeds off.
>“You’re late” Sleng says grouchily at you.
>“Sorry” you mutter in between a sip from your flask “I had some errands to run.”
>“It’s all that booze you’re drinking.” The goat spat out “It’s gonna turn your brain white like an egg!”
>“Enough of the lecture.” You say, wiping your mouth with your sleeve before turning to Tuol and Ben-Ra
>“What’s the deal with tonight?””
>“It’s just a maintenance check” Ben-Ra says casually. “Just to make sure the place is running smoothly.”
>“A place you now have a stake in” Ben-Ra adds.
>You nod as you take a large swig of whiskey.
>“Sleng is right. You need to stop drinking for the moment.” Ben-Ra pulls out a pack of cigs and offers you a smoke.
>You sigh as you put the flask back inside your coat pocket and pull out a cigarette from Ben-Ra's pack.
>“We’re here to look for any irregularities” Ben-Ra explains. “Like any girls not sufficiently doped up or the liquor being watered down, or the Madam skimming before she hands the cash over to us. If you’re boozed up you won’t pick up on stuff like that.”
>You nod dumbly at the lesson you were being given as you light up the smoke and take a long drag.
>Nicotine was nice. Not as good as alcohol, but it would do nicely.
>“Hey Ben.” You hear Tuol say casually as he slowly wiggles his tail back and forth.
>“What’s the deal with that fucking NGO shitting up the place?”
>Wha…
>This is the first you’ve heard of this.
>Ben-Ra huffs.
>“Just a bunch of dumb Americans looking to take care of poor third-worlders. It’s not a big deal.”
>“Yeah but the work they do could be a problem in the future.”
>“They got a small dinky office somewhere in the city they rented last month!” Ben-Ra said, irritated at the discussion in general. 
>“They got to talk to some cops and some assemblyman who are smart enough to not say a fucking word. They’ll get bored and head back to Thailand or some shit eventually.”
>After this small outburst the car is silent.
>Finally you decide to ask.
>“Who the hell are we talking about here?” You try to ask the question as politely as possible.
>Ben-Ra grunts, obviously annoyed at the question.
>“They’re called Love286. They’re some fucking tax exempt organization from the US that…
>“That wanna fuck with us!” Tuol says angrily. “We should of had some guys come over there and smash their fucking office.”
>“Don’t be a moron.” Snarls Ben-Ra “All that does is prove there is something here worth investigating. Just let them shuffle their feet and let them go back home of their accord.”
>Tuol growls at this response but otherwise says nothing else.
>Eventually you hear the car park.
>Ben-Ra knocks on a tint window and you see the driver in front slide it open.
>Ben-Ra hands him a small wad of bills
>“Keep driving until we call you. When we do be back in five minutes, no later.”
>The driver nods quietly and shuts the window.
>When you get out of the car your hit with the smell of smoke and urine.
>The building in front of you looks like a small apartment complex.
>You can hear the faint sounds of dance music inside.
>At the front door is a small Canine anthro sitting on the porch.
>You could tell he was hiding a pistol.
>He looks up at the four of you and hastily stands up.
>Ben-Ra eyes him annoyingly as the guard dog opens the door for them all.
>“Try not to slouch on the job.” he says, irritated.
>The guard dog stammers an apology.
>When you enter the foyer you notice that all the lights were a dim red.
>It was like you were caught in a fever dream.
>You saw a rather voluptuous Raccoon Anthro standing in the large hallway.
>She had a slick, black cocktail dress on.
>She looked rather old, her black and brown fur had started to gray.
>But she still looked easy on the eyes.
>“Hey fellas” She says with a low, sultry tone before eyeing you.
>“Is this the new boy you told me about before? He looks cute.”
>Ben-Ra crosses his arms.
>“Hello Holly, This is Anon, he’s one of our new principle investors.”
>She walks up to you and offers you her hand.
>You take it and kiss it.
>She smells of strong perfume and cigarettes.
>“My my, he’s so polite too. What a charmer.” She laughs quietly as she turns back to Ben-Ra
>“Here to sample the goods, baby?”
>He shakes his hand.
>“Just here to collect and make sure the machine is well oiled.”
>She frowns at this and sighs. 
>“You boys always come for business. Never to have any fun.”
>Ben-Ra steps closer to the Raccoon, making sure he’s practically towering over her.
>“We’re busy Holly. Now are you keeping these girls on a schedule?”
>Holly’s seductive front collapses as she starts to shake in front of the massive Bison.
>“I-I-I doped up rooms 1-40 this morning, 41-85 were doped up yesterday. and-and 86-120 aren’t scheduled to get a hit til t-tomorrow evening.”
>Ben-Ra relents and steps back from Holly, satisfied.
>“Tuol, Anon. Look around and check on the girls. Make sure everything is right. Me and Sleng are gonna go over the book-keeping with our lovely hostess here.
>You nod and begin to descend into the hallway.
>But not before you had to hear Holly explain to Ben-Ra she had to spend quite a bit of money on lubricant.
>The bison doesn’t sound happy.
>You nudge Tuol’s shoulder.
>“What’s with spending all that cash on lube?” You ask
>The leopard shrugs.
>“The heroin we get from the Cartel is fucking amazing at keeping these girls in line. But it does come with a side effect that it can absolutely dry them the fuck up. That ain’t good for customers so we’ve had to spend a little extra on lube in bulk.”
>You nod silently at this.
>You wish you could just take a fucking drink right now.
>As you pass some of the rooms you hear grunting behind the closed doors.
>The men are making noises.
>The girls are not.
>“Listen, I can handle the first two batches.” Tuol says “You head up to to rooms 86-120. They might be tweaking a little bit but just give them a slap and they’ll back off.”
>You nod as you gab another cig from your pocket.
>You loosen your tie slightly as you walk up the stairs to the rooms.
>As expected, they were already suffering from withdrawal symptoms:
>Shaking, their fur is damp from excessive sweating.
>Most of them are groaning or whimpering. Either from bone aches or abdominal pains.
>They’ll most likely be given their fix before the vomiting would kick in.
>Like Tuol said, some of them have the strength to walk over to you.
>They ask if you have any dope for them
>You tell them no and gently push them back into their rooms.
>Their cramped dirty rooms that smell disgusting.
>You assume the sheets haven’t been washed in months.
>If of course they even have sheets
>Most of them just have a bare stained mattress on the floor though.
>You take a long drag from your cigarette to prevent yourself from gagging.
>But the smoke can’t mask a new smell that invades your nose.
>Vomit.
>Oh fuck, did one of them-
>You freeze.
>It’s the room all the way at the end.
>A small arctic wolf slouched against the wall.
>Her snow white fur stained with acidic bile that also splattered the floor.
>Her body is limp.
>Her eyes are rolled back so far you can see the red veins.
>Her tongue is lolled out to the side.
>You walk in slowly, taking a deep drag on your cig.
>You felt that if you took it out of your mouth the world itself would end.
>You squat down to her.
>She was really small.
>Just how old was she?
>Maybe just barely a teenager?
>She was even smaller than your wife had be-
>No!
>Do not bring her here.
>Not in this place.
>You try your hardest to ignore the vomit and piss as you get closer to her.
>She had stopped breathing a while ago.
>Than you notice it.
>The needle still digging in her arm.
>Now you understand.
>Your hand shakes as it reaches up to touch her muzzle.
>“HEY ANON! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!”
>“You barely register the shouting as you scratch her whiskers.
>Her fur felt so soft.
>You hear somebody behind you.
>“Watcha got there, Anon?”
>You still hardly hear the voice as you repeat one single sentence over and over in your mind.
>“OH GOD DAMMIT, What the Fuck!”
>This was somebody’s daughter.
>You feel a paw firmly place on your shoulder to jolt you out of your trance.
>You see Tuol staring down at you expectantly.
>You say nothing as you reach down and pull the needle out of the wolf’s arm, drawing a small prick of blood.
>You show it to Tuol, who scowls at it.
>“Looks like she got some somehow.” You say so casually you even surprise yourself. “I guess she was so desperate for it she wasn’t being careful.”
>Tuol scratches his chin as he growls at your explanation.
>“Holly. That stupid bitch.”
>A few minutes later, you’re subjected to a scene of Ben-Ra throwing Holly down against a wall and kicking her repeatedly in the ribs.
>Hard.
> “YOU FUCKING SAGGY COW!” He roared “HOW DOES A TWEAKING TEENAGER GET INTO YOUR SUPPLY?”
>Holly covers her head and tries to roll into a ball to protect herself, screaming out apology after apology.
>Ben-Ra lifts her up with one hand and slams her head against the wall.     
>“I got some buyers from fucking Qatar coming later this week! Do you have any idea what they would have paid for a little snow white beauty like that?!”
>He grabs her cocktail dress and rips it off of her and pushes her down the hallway.
>She attempts to cover herself with her hands but is rebuked by the large Bison, who punches her in the face.
>He definitely broke her jaw.
>“At the very least I could have sold her up in Mongolia!”
>Wait, Mongolia?
>What’s up there?
>He grabs her bra and yanks that off too.
>He pulls her by the ears and throws her back on the ground before all of us.
>She’s sobbing hysterically now
>You pull out your flask and take a sip.
>You don’t think Ben-Ra really cares right now if you indulge yourself.
>He points to the guard dog before, who was watching helplessly as his boss just got the shit beaten out of her.
>“YOU! Get a few guys and check every room here for syringes. Also go down to the basement and make sure the padlock hasn’t been tampered.”
>The dog nods and quickly scampers away.
>Holly is laying on her stomach, squirming and crying.
>Ben-Ra squats down and digs his knee into her spine.
>Then he grabs her head and pulls it up.
>Her eyes bulge slightly as he strains her neck.
>“Back in the 70’s, Holly, this was the fastest way to kill people.” He says slowly.
>“All I had to to was slit the throat. And after awhile if my wrist was getting tired, I’d just stab the neck until it was done.”
>You were trying really hard not to blink right now.
>You wouldn’t dare blink when looking into the void.
>Ben-Ra grinds his teeth.
>“If they find one single syringe in any of those rooms. I’m gonna bash your fucking dumb cunt head until your brains are oozing out of your skull.”
>He lets go and her face smacks against the floor.
>“And you should know. I have plenty of experience smashing heads.”
>He stands up and looks at the rest of us.
>“You three get out of here. I’ll take care of this.”
>“What about the body?” Sleng asks
>“I’ll take her to the cleaners.” Ben-Ra answers “They’ll turn her into pig food or something.”
>Tuol and Sleng shrug their shoulders and start to head out towards the car.
>You turn but Ben-Ra calls out to you.
>“Before I forget. Here.” He pulls out a thick wad of cash and throws it to you.
>“That’s your cut.”

>You get home shortly afterwards.
>You spend an hour in the shower.
>You felt disgusting.
>You wanted to burn your clothes and just buy new ones.
>Actually why not…you have the money now.
>No…
>No you can’t spend a dollar of that cash.
>You’re not incredibly optimistic about your prospects of getting into Heaven.
>But shit you didn’t wanna just give up.
>Eventually you get out of the shower.
>You don’t even bother to dry up as you walk around wet and naked.
>You chug down what’s left in your flask before tossing it on the floor.
>You reach in the fridge and grab another bottle of Jack.
>You frown slightly as you nurse the bottle.
>Something was bugging you.
>You reach into the drawer on your nightstand and pull out your second phone.
>You carefully dial the number and count the rings.
>Quickly you hear the other line pick up.
>The voice sounds tired, you probably woke him up.
>You don’t don’t really care.
>“Anon.” Carson says “What’s going on?”
>“Mongolia.” You say sternly
>“What’s in Mongolia?”
>You hear a distinct pause on the other line.
>“You tell me what you know.” Carson says “And I’ll give you the scoop.”
>Fucking Carson, always playing bullshit games.
>“A teen OD’ed at a brothel tonight. One of my…associates got pretty mad and slapped around the Madam. He mentioned he could have sold her in Mongolia. I wasn’t aware they had that reach.”
>You hear Carson utter a small “shit” under his breath.
>“I didn’t think they had it either.” He says grimly.
>“So tell me, whats up there?”
>You can hear Carson sigh.
>You could tell he wanted to apologize for what he was about to tell you.
>“Near the Chinese border, there are a few…international merchants up there who have cornered the market on organ harvesting.”
>You rub your hands over your face as you fully process this information.
>“Considering that majority of the women that are trafficked are rather young they would be a valuable commodity to harvesters.”
>“Jesus fucking Christ” You say. Screw Jack Daniels, you needed fucking paint thinner.
>“I need to report this. We didn’t think they had connections that far up. Are you certain they mentioned Mongolia?”
>“Yeah” You say, suddenly feeling very weary. “I heard it crystal clear.”
>There is a stilted silence over the phone.
>“How are you holding up? Carson asks finally.
>You take a large gulp of whiskey.
>“What do you think?”.
>Before he can respond you hang up the phone.
>You pull the picture out of your wallet and look at it for a brief moment.
>You place it on your nightstand.
>It was only during these moments after a long day when all the lights were off could you just let go and wallow in your drunkenness.
>You take your pillow and pull it between your arms.
>You nuzzle against it and give it a small kiss.
>You hold it tighter, pressing your fingers against the fabric.
>As you desperately pretend it’s your wife instead.


>I like the marketplace of the Chai-Ang.
>It seems a little bit more ‘real’ than the rest of the city.
>It’s just a little bit dirty, a little bit used.
>There are street vendors all over the place.
>People are constantly walking around.
>It’s really bustling and active.
>I think I’m feeding off the energy this whole area emits.
>Because I feel jittery and restless.
>Is this what it’s like to drink coffee?
>This Ronnie person wasn’t a street vendor.
>He actually owned a small building where he operated out of.
>I’m nervous thinking about walking into his establishment.
>Achara made it clear he wasn’t exactly a person to be trusted.
>But he knew my Father.
>And those…bad people.
>A part of me doesn’t want to know what my Dad got up to.
>But that’s what it’ll take to find him?
>I think…I think I can pay that price.
>I walk into the tiny restaurant and hear the bell ring.
>Behind the counter I see a massive Rhinoceros Anthro.
>He looks easily 8 feet tall, maybe more.
>He’s a lot older too.
>He’s wrinkly all over and he’s got dark bags under his eyes.
>Besides his height, he didn’t actually look that threatening.
>“Can I help you?” He’s got a rough, crackly voice.
>“Um…I’m looking for someone, and I heard you might know where I can find him.”
>I see his eye twitch for a brief moment.
>Was he nervous?
>“I sell food here. I got a business to run. If you’re not gonna order anything I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
>I put a thousand US dollars in cash on the counter.
>Achara said I should be prepared to grease his palms.
>He looks at the money curiously before greedily taking it and stuff the wad of bills in his greasy shirt pocket.
>“Who do you want to know?”
>“A human man….named Anon.”
>His eye didn’t twitch.
>It looked afraid.
>“Why does a girl like you wanna know about him?”
>I slide another hundred dollar bill across the counter.
>“Uh…don’t um, worry about it.” I say awkwardly.
>He raises his brow before taking the money.
>“You’re pretty bad at this” he says.
>“Just tell me what you know?” I shoot back impatiently.
>He folds his arms.
>I can tell he’s being very careful about what he says.
>Achara did say Ronnie was involved in some sketchy stuff.
>Maybe he’s trying to cover his butt.
>“Anon popped up in Chai-Ang around 18 years ago back in ‘99.”
>“He rolled with a small crew of people who had uh…influence over the city”
>I interrupt him suddenly with a question.
>“Do you know where I can find those people?!”
>Ronnie chuckles to himself.
>“Afraid not. They’re all dead. Most of them were killed in the purge. In fact, Anon was the only one who I didn’t hear about dying.”
>“So he’s definitely alive?” I ask urgently.
>Ronnie shrugs.
>“Who knows. He kept a pretty low profile, he was more in the background than anything else. It was hard to notice him among the crowd.”
>At this answer I start to twiddle my thumbs.
>“Um…so when was the last time you saw him?”
>He scratched his horn, thinking on the answer.
>“He came in here all urgent. This was around late 2000 when all the arrests were being made. I told him that his uh…associates had already been caught and he ran out of here as quick as he had come in.”
>I frown at the prospect my Father being chased by the law.
>Wasn’t very respectable that’s for sure.
>“Listen kid. I don’t know that much and I don’t really wanna be talking about this stuff with you. Times are different now.”
>He grabs a pen from his apron and writes down an address on his napkin.
>“Go talk to Kingsly, he’s a quack lawyer who was the defense at the show trials for a lot of the people arrested.”
>I nod as I take the napkin and stuff it in my pocket.
>“Did he represent my Father’s er…”
>Ronnie cuts you off before you can finish your sentence.
>“No.”
>“Those three didn’t get a trial.”


>Come one! Come on, hit the blue one!
>No don’t fucking run away from him!
>God dammit.
>You throw down more money.
>The Green one, the green one had got to win!
>Green is a rare breed. Better stock.
>What? No! Push forward you dumbass!
>Fucking Siamese Fighting Fish!
>You toss your ticket on the floor angrily and walk out of the small bar.
>Man, fuck today.
>You walk around the marketplace until you run into Tuol.
>“What’s up with you?” He says, noting your scowl.
>“Nothing. Let’s just meet up with the others.”
>The leopard shrugs as you meet up with Sleng and Ben-Ra near the edge of the Market.
>You’re standing in front of a dingy beat up building.
>Didn’t look like it was in great condition.
>“Someone makes food in this dump?” You grumpily ask.
>Ben-Ra huffs at you.
>“What are you so pissy about? We’re not eating here.”
>You roll your eyes as the four of you enter.
>Holy fuck that’s a big Rhino.
>He’s even bigger than Ben-Ra.
>As he adjusts his apron he gestures towards you.
>“Who’s he?”
>Ben-Ra leans towards the counter and ignores the question.
>“You got clients for us, Ronnie?”
>The Rhino slowly nods.
>“A couple minor princes from Qatar are stopping by. They’re looking for high quality.”
>Ben-Ra frown.
>“Are you saying we don’t offer high quality?”
>“I’m saying that last time the girls on display were practically skin and bone. Try to make sure they’re not on death’s door this time.”
>Ben-Ra rolls his eyes and acquiesces as this demand.
>“Have them taken to the LampShade club later tonight. We’ll have everything set up for them”
>Ronnie nods as Ben-Ra gently slides a small stack of cash over to the Rhino.
>“For your troubles.”
>Ronnie nods as he stuffs the money under his apron.
>With business settled the four of you walk out.
>“Sleng.” Ben-Ra says “Go look over what we have and make sure they’re healthy and hosed down. These royal types can be pretty picky.”
>Sleng nods quietly as Ben-Ra turns to you.
>“Anon, head over to the nightclub and get it set up. Make it look a little more presentable to our guests.”
>“Sure. Whatever.”
>You hear Ben-Ra growl.
>“Seriously. What’s your fucking problem today?”
>You sigh.
>"I lost five thousand dollars gambling on fish.”
>Ben-Ra stares at you.
>“What the fuck.”

>Your eyes glaze over as you watch behind the one way mirror as a small Jaguar Anthro steps out onto the runway.
>Across from your room you could see another one blocked off by another one way mirror.
>That was where the clientele were, watching from afar.
>There was a large red light next to their doorway.
>If it lit up that meant they wanted to buy the girl.
>If it stayed dim, then no luck.
>The Jaguar anthro was naked, her only covering was a small sigh around her neck that said what her number was.
>She had been walking out in front of the runway for about a minute now.
>They weren’t buying.
>“Fucking picky shits.” Tuol complained, “The hell do they want?”
>Sleng’s eyes light up. Apparently inspired.
>“Anon, call out number 137.”
>You shrug as you press the button and speak into the mic.
>“Bring out 137 please, Designated asking price…1.2 million.”
>Shortly afterwards you see the Madam, gently bring out the girl.
>She was a small canine Anthro, with large round floppy ears.
>Also massive breasts. like insanely huge.
>“She’s only 15 and yet she’s got fucking EE jugs” Sleng says proudly.
>You take a sip of whiskey.
>“Problem with that” Tuol responds “Is by the time she’s 25 she’s gonna sag like an old woman.”
>You see the red light blink.
>They bought her.
>“The thing is” You explain “These idiots just see big tits on a young girl and they think its gonna be the land of milk and honey forever.”
>Tuol nods in agreement with you as you call out the next girl.
>“Number 148 please, asking price is…700K”
>“Why so low?” Sleng asks.
>“She’s around 22, that’s getting a bit too old and used up.” Ben-Ra explained between drags on his cigar.
>And he was right too. They didn’t want to buy her and she was shuffled back off quickly.
>“I don’t think I can sell her” Ben-Ra says “I think I’m gonna have to cut my losses and just throw her in bulk with the rest of the lower quality assets.”
>You grunt out a neutral response as you order out another girl.
>“I’m still fucking mad that wolf OD’ed at Holly’s joint. I could have sold her for 3 million.”
>“To be fair.” Sleng rebuts “She shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. Why didn’t we pick her up before?”
>“We get so much volume” Tuol explains “It’s just natural we miss a few diamonds in the rough.”
>“Speaking of which” Ben-Ra says “We’re meeting the Cartel again in a couple of months. They said they’re cleaning up the remnants of the Medellin so they’ve got a high volume for us.”
>“Have Anon do the book-keeping” Sleng suggests to Ben-Ra “I think you and me need to negotiate with them for more heroin. We’re gonna end up with too many girls and not enough dope to keep them in line.”
>Ben-Ra nods before looking back at you. 
>“That okay with you, Anon? You don’t mind doing a bit of math?”
>You shake your head before you call out the next girl.
>“It’s not a problem.”
>You spend four hours calling out girls and auctioning them off to a couple of people you can’t even see.
>Thank God you brought a large stockpile of whiskey.
>At the end of the night you had brought out 148 girls.
>They bought 18 of them.
>“That’s a nice little harem” Tuol says.
>Ben-Ra nods.
>“It was a good night, Ronnie brought in solid clients. Hope they come back again.”
>As you all get in the limo, Tuol slaps Ben-Ra’s chest.
>Hey, I heard that fucking NGO is gonna be packing up soon.”
>“Yeah?”
>“Well there’s no reason for them to be here. No one is talking to them. What’s the point of them being here if there isn’t any evidence?”
>Ben-Ra smiles.
>“That’s good to hear. Remind me to visit the police chief. I'm sure they bothered him and he stayed tight lipped, I’ll take him and his wife out to dinner sometime this week.”
>The bison turns to you as you take a long drag of your cig.
>“You okay, Anon?”
>“Yeah.” You reply “just tired. Working mic wears me out.”
>He nods.
>“I’ll count your share of the money first and send you on your way home.”
>You mutter a thanks as you look out the window to the dark streets.
>This was a filthy city.

>You practically stumble into your doorway you’re so tired.
>And drunk.
>You’re also carrying a briefcase that has roughly 3.5 million dollars in it.
>You chuck it across the room.
>You felt sick even looking at the damn thing.
>You collapse on the bed, hearing the springs squeak and moan under your weight.
>You shuffle over to your night stand.
>Out of the drawer you grab a third phone.
>This one you had installed a voice modifier.
>You were overstepping your boundaries here.
>This was not part of the job description that Carson laid out for you.
>You pulled out the small picture from your wallet and stared at it as you dialed the number.
>You breathe heavily as you hear the phone ring.
>After awhile you hear someone pick up.
>“Hello.” she says.
>She sounded tired.
>It was 4:30 in the morning after all.
>“Are you from Love286” you say slowly.
>“Y-yeah, who is this-
>“Everyone you talked to lied.”
>“Listen, what are you-
>“Tonight alone there was a sale of 18 million women alone sold for roughly 30 million dollars.”
>Now there was silence.
>“And most of them were under 18.”
>“Can…Can you prove this?”
>“I need time. But you can’t leave. Promise me that.”
>“I don’t know who you are-
>“Promise me that!”
>“….okay, we’ll stay here.”
>“Start snooping around hospitals.”
>“Hospitals?”
>“Their records have holes that no one bothers to take a closer look at. Certain people disappear. Records of checking out have been faked. Things don’t match up.”
>“O-okay.”
>“Don’t believe anything anybody in this city says to you. They are all lying.”
>“Well, what about you?”
>You’re silent for a brief moment.
>“If you ever meet me in person. You shouldn’t believe a single word I say. “
>It’s lies. All of it are lies.”
>Before she can respond you hang up the phone.
>Could you keep this hidden from Carson?
>Not forever no. But hopefully by the time he found out it would be too late for him to do anything about it. 


>I knock on the door lightly.
>The sign on the door window said ‘Edward Kingsly, Attorney at Law’
>I hear an enthusiastic “Come on in!”
>When I open the door I’m greeted with a small Koala Anthro.
>He was even shorter than me.
>I didn’t even think that was possible.
>He gives me a warm smile.
>I wouldn’t call it a fake smile, more like a salesman’s smile.
>Where they’re genuinely happy to see you.
>But only because you’re a potential client.
>“Well sit down Madam, how can I help you?”
>He had a pronounced British accent.
>It sounded very upper class.
>“I’m…I’m not here for legal advice.” I say, slightly unnerved by his friendly demeanour.
>“I’m looking for someone, and I was told you could help me.”
>Kingsly gives me a curious smile.
>“Well I’ve had quite a few clients over the years. So I can probably point you in the right direction.”
>I chew my lip.
>“His name is Anon, he’s a human male.”
>I see a small glimmer in his eyes.
>He kicks his stubby legs up on his desk and puts his paws behind his head.
>“Well that’s certainly an interesting name to be asking around this city.”
>I see him lick his lips.
>“But before we can continue this conversation any further, I’m gonna have to know why you’re looking for a guy like that.” 
>I pause for a moment.
>Achara warned me to be careful telling people who I really was.
>With Ronnie I understood, though he looked innocent I could tell he had gotten his hands dirty.
>This Kingsly though….could I trust him?
>He wasn’t a criminal…but I knew he had worked with the new government.
>Could telling him who my Father was put me at risk?
>Maybe…but I couldn’t walk away now.
>I was in too deep.
>Hee, I feel like a hard boiled detective.
>“I’m….his daughter.” I say cautiously “I’m trying to find him.”
>I hear Kingsly click his tongue.
>“My goodness, I wouldn't imagine that such a scenario would plop into my office.”
>He takes his feet off the table and folds his paws on his desk and leans in towards me.
>When I was the defense attorney after the Coup, I had worked the Junta quite a bit on the case-
>“I’m sorry, but about that!” I say suddenly, my curiosity was getting the better of me.
>“Before I came here I…read up on the history. And I didn’t think they’re were any trials. I thought everyone just….
>“Got a bullet in the back of the head?” Kingsly said “Well don’t worry, that did happen. It’s just that for some of them we tried to give it all a air of legitimacy to justify the purges.”
>“So when you say you were a defense attorney” I asked “You were just…
>“In on the scheme? Yup. Sure was. Made a fortune doing it too. It’s real funny. When I was defending them, the international media gave me so much flak for representing child sex traffickers and pedophiles, even though someone had to. Yet those very same people then did a 180 and said I was ‘an affront to justice’ when it turns out I was just a voluntary actor in a show trial.”
>He shrugs his shoulders.
>“Honestly, you just can’t please some people.”
>I’m silent at this frank revelation.
>I guess as an American I was pretty sheltered to all of this shady legal stuff that happened in other countries.
>“So um….about my Father.” I ask quietly.
>“Right! Well I was working with the new Government on the case, had to put on a good show and everything. But I kept hearing stuff about your Father.”
> He leans back and scratches his ear.
>“He was always in the shadows, his other cohorts were all out in the open and were easily caught. But we really knew nothing about him. Didn’t mean the Government tried as hard as hell to capture him.”
>“Do you…” I ask apprehensively “Do you still think he’s here. In the Chai-Ang?”
>Kingsly rubs his chin in thought.
>“Hard to say. I honestly don’t know how he would have stayed hidden underground with the Junta being as tight assed as it is. But here’s the thing. We know he didn’t take a plane out of the country.”
>“How’s that?”
>Because there were at least a couple dozen people incriminated in the leaks trying to get out. Some of them even did, but we extradited them all back here and had them ‘taken care of’”
>I shiver at the implication of those last few words.
>“The authorities were combing over every scrap of security footage at the airport to find these people. Way I remember it…your Father never popped up in any of them.”
>That was all I needed to hear.
>“Granted.” Kingsly added “He could have maybe taken a boat and smuggled himself out of the country that way. But that would have been tricky even back then.”
>I didn’t care.
>I know he’s here now.
>He’s somewhere in this City. I’m sure of it.
>But there is one more question I need to ask.
>The one that puts a pit in my stomach.
>“Why…Why were the authorities searching for my Dad?”
>“What did he do?”
>For once I see Kingsly’s smile fades
>That sadness in his eyes makes me panic inside.
>“You really don’t know, do you?”
>I shake my head.
>He takes out a pen and writes down a address and a name.
>“Go talk to detective Kiet, he works down in the 2nd District. He’s an old friend of mine. I’ll phone him ahead of time to let you know you’re coming.”
>“Why don’t you just tell me?” I say, failing to contain the fear in my voice.
>His eyes look down at his desk.
>“We can both tell you…but he’s got the proof.”
>Proof?
>Proof of what?!
>“But I guess the real reason is I don’t wanna be the one to tell you.”


>Tuol pulls up on the curb.
>This time it’s with his own car.
>“Get in, Anon. We got some inventory to stock!”
>You nod as you hop in the front seat.
>“Where are we going?” You ask.
>“To the large Docking bay and holding center up north. It’s actually right next to the beach, and that Buddhist temple is just up the road.”
>“What are we going there for?”
>“Jeez Anon, to stock up the inventory. We just made a sale to Vietnam so we gotta keep the books updated”
>You nod as you look in the back of the car.
>You see a sack of potatoes and a five gallon jug of water.
>“The Hell’s that for?” You ask, raising a brow.
>“Oh that’s a little present from me.” He says casually.
>“I like to help out a little.”
>You shrug at his cryptic answer as you begin to head towards the outskirts of Chai-Ang
>The city, despite being on an Island, didn’t actually have many beaches.
>The geography was mostly cliff faces with sudden, drops into the ocean below.
>You looked out towards the ocean.
>It shimmied blue against the clear sky and bright sun.
>As if it was indifferent or unaffected by the events taking place within the city.
>That thought brought you a small amount of comfort.
>“Oh, I totally forgot.” Tuol says as he reaches into his glove compartment and hands you a small pistol.
>“Take this, you’ll need it for today.”
>“What for?” You ask, getting suspicious.
>Tuol takes a drag of his cigarette.
>“The chief customs officer of Chai-Ang is on our payroll. This docking bay is basically his cashcow. And he likes to make sure it’s protected. He’s always got around 5-6 guys on duty with rifles and whatnot.”
>You frown slightly as you stick the gun into your belt.
>“I just feel that when you’re dealing with guys with guns, it’s just better to be armed.”
>You nod, agreeing with his sentiment.
>“We’re gonna get a lot of kids from this next shipment with the Cartel.”
>“How do you figure?” You ask casually.
>Tuol chuckles.
>“Over the past few years they’ve been cleaning up after the Medellin collapsed. They wanna be the biggest dick in Central American, that means a lot of orphans which is better than fucking gold for us.”
>You suddenly forgot you had forgotten your whiskey.
>“Kids are niche market.” you explain “Most people wanna screw something that’s got some tits and ya know..meat on the bones.”
>Tuol shakes his head.
>“Did Ben-Ra ever tell you what our first big score was?”
>You tell him no.
>“You’re Serbian, so you probably know about that guy that was in charge of Romania about a decade ago? Ceaușescu?
>You nod, you did in fact know who Nicolae Ceaușescu was.
>“Well this guy had the brilliant idea that he wanted to create a young work force that could sustain the glorious communist state. So he made all birth control illegal, condoms, pills, everything.”
>Tuol opens the window and flicks out the cigarette butt.
>“Problem was that he ran the country to the ground. Kids were dumped off in orphanages by parents who couldn’t afford ‘em. We started picking their little asses up and that money train didn’t stop til Ceaușescu got his dumb head blown off.”
>As Tuol begins to drive up a small hill, you see a large warehouse.
>Next to the warehouse were the actual docks, big enough to hold huge cargo ships.
>It was empty today though.
>There wouldn’t be another shipment coming in for a few months.
>You see a few guards wandering around the perimeter.
>Like Tuol said, they were armed. Mostly with old type 56 rifles from China or basic hunting shotguns.
>“Guns make me nervous.” you say anxiously.
>Tuol shrugs “It is what it is. Just keep your cool.”
>You nod as you both park and get out of the car.
>Tuol takes the five gallon just go water and sack of potatoes under his arm.
>You see a tall, skinny ferret Anthro step out of the warehouse.
>“Who’s he?” you ask
>“That’s Decha, he’s the Chief Customs official of Chai-Ang I was telling you about.”    
>You watch as Decha walks over and shakes Tuol’s hand.
>He hand a slender body, but you did notice he had a slight potbelly.
>“I hope the shipment to Vietnam went without problems.” Tuol asks.
>Decha gives toothy grin.
>“It’s fine. We had no issues.”
>Tuol huffs.
>“Twenty years ago those shits invaded and I had to run for my life, now I’m selling them women to fuck. The world just isn’t fair.”
>Decha laughs at this as he looks over at you.
>“This your new business partner?”
>You put a cigarette in your mouth.
>“Yeah. I’m the new investor” you say smoothly.
>Decha nods. 
>“Well lets not waste any time.”
>As he opens a door, you’re led into a small room that is cutoff from the rest of the warehouse.
>It was a loading area, with a few forklifts and a small office.
>There was also a large metal door that led into the rest of the warehouse.
>All around you could see guards, both human and Anthro meandering around, mostly playing cards  
>With some effort, Decha pushes a large lever and the door slowly begins to lift and the lights come on.
>The whole place was packed with massive metal storage containers.
>The kind that huge freight ships would carry across oceans.
>Wait…so when Sleng had mentioned storage containers….
>“You making sure they get enough water?” Tuol asks “We can’t make money if their corpses.”
>“Yeah, yeah.” Decha says, annoyed “They’re all filthy, but we keep them fed.”
>“Do you mind if I check a few?”
>“Whatever, go right ahead.”
>Tuol stops randomly in front of a container and whistles for one of the guards to open it.
>You are immediately hit with a rancid odor of B.O. Urine, and feces.
>It makes you nauseous instantly
>You gaze into the darkened abyss before you.
>There was no light inside those containers.
>Just dozens of eyes staring out at you
>Nameless furry shapes either naked or dress in dirty, rotting rags.
>Some of them had the strength to stand up as the door was opened.
>Others lay still. Sitting against their prison.
>But they all looked emaciated, even the traditionally stockier anthros were just skin and bones.
>“How many per container?” You ask stoically.
>Tuol shrugs, completely unmoved by the sight before him.
>By the sight he had created without any remorse whatsoever.
>“We generally try to stuff as many as we can, makes it more economical that way. Generally it ranges from around 15 to 35 per container.”
>You look around.
>This warehouse.
>Was bloated with over a hundred containers.
>And just as quickly as they were shipped away.
>More would take their place.
>An endless loop of Hell.
>That’s what Hell was to you.
>This fucking place.
>With a swing of his arm, Tuol chucks the bag of potatoes inside, knocking one of the Anthros back down on the floor.
>He throws the five gallon jug next into the container.
>“EAT UP LADIES! IT’S FEEDING TIME!”
>He motions for the guard to close the door again.
>Robbing them of the few sparse rays of artificial light they would see for a few weeks probably.
>You felt sick to your stomach as you kept staring into their eyes.
>All two dozen of their eyes looked exactly the same to you.
>They looked like your daughter’s eyes.

>You hear a knock on your door.
>“It’s unlocked” you say wearily.
>You don’t from your bed to face the Anthro Fox coming into apartment.
>“Not to be rude…but are you sure you got enough to pay me.”
>You sigh and finally turn to face her.
>She…looked nothing like your wife.
>Your wife was shorter and had a flatter chest.
>This one was a real vixen. With a tight dress she used to show off her wide hips and bust.
>It made you depressed.
>“I have the money.” You say tiredly. “I just like to live cheaply.”
>“I can see that” She says as she closes the door behind her.
>“My rates are 150 an hour, you always gotta wear a condom-
>You get up from your bed and interrupt her.
>“I don’t want sex.” You say frankly.
>She frowns at this.
>“You do know I’m a prostitute right?”
>“I just want you to stay the night with me.” You tell her.
>The truth was that even if your wife had come back from the dead…you don’t think you could have sex with her either.
>You had seen too much. Your libido was ruined.
>Sex in all it’s aspects seemed disgusting to you.
>Just thinking about it yourself made you reel.
>“Just sleep with me tonight.” You tell her “and nothing else.”
>Her eyes soften as you say this.
>You wrap your arms around her waist and pull her in.
>She rests her muzzle on your shoulder and takes you in her arms.
>At least she smelled good.
>“There is only one thing I ask of you.” You whisper in her ear.
>“What’s that babe?”
>“Your name is Achara right?”
>“Yeah?”
>“Tonight….your name is Annie.”
>She nods at your request as you both sway side by side in your small squabble of existence.
>This silent dance continues for a while before she looks up at you.
>“I shouldn’t ask but…before we continue…who is Annie?”
>You look into her eyes.
>You couldn’t find beauty in those shining emeralds.
>They all looked liked those eyes staring back at you in the container.
>“She was my wife. She died in childbirth.”
>She press her head and your chest and you scratch her ears.
>She gently presses you onto the bed.
>“That’s not true.” She says.
>“I’m right here.”
>You nuzzle your face into her neck.
>You gave into the fantasy.
>“You smell good, hun” you whisper out.
>Annie giggles as she pets your hair.
>“I know what my man likes.”
>You stroke her back before she pushes you down into the mattress.
>She crawls into your arms
>“You should go to sleep, darling” She coos “You look tired.”
>I’m always tired” You wrap your arms and legs around her as you kiss her forehead gently.
>“I miss you.” your voice is shaking
>Annie whines briefly as she snuggles against your body.
>“I missed you too.”


>I walk into the police department.
>It was really big.
>I also got kinda nervous when I saw four empty SWAT vans just parked outside.
>I have a feeling this is a militarized police force.
>I mean this Chai-Ang is run by a Junta, so I guess it makes sense.
>Still, it’s pretty intimidating.
>The police officer at the front desk is nice though.
>His English isn’t very great, but he did get that I was here to see Detective Kiet.
>He nods and picks up his phone.
>I think he’s speaking in Thai, I can't be sure though.
>I sit on the bench and wait.
>Eventually a short, bald human man walks up to me and shakes my hand.
>He introduces himself as Detective Kiet.
>He’s very polite.
>He takes me deeper into the police station and into a little room.
>I see a tape recorder on the table, along with a box of tissues.
>He closes the blindfolds, dimming the light in the room.
>“I’m very sorry.” He say’s, awkwardly smiling. “This is technically one of our older interrogation rooms, but it’s soundproof. I hope you won’t mind.”
>I tell him I don’t.
>“Did um….Mister Kingsly tell you who I am?”
>He nods.
>“He said you were Anon’s daughter and you were looking for him?”
>I’m a little concerned since he said this like he felt bad for me.
>I nod my head.
>He sighs.
>“Well, we were looking for him for awhile. But we closed the case on him about 15 years ago.”
>I’m grip my pants tightly as I look at him.
>I’m suddenly very scared.
>“What…what did my Father do? I’ve heard hints but…no one has told me anything.”
>He nods grimly.
>“Eden…Your Father was involved in Anthro sex trafficking along with three other individuals who were the original kingpins of the operation.”
>I feel a thousand screams in my head.
>“Your Father joined up with them in around 1999. When everything was leaked the next year his three associates were caught, but we never found Anon.
>No.
>This wasn’t happening.
>NO NO NO.
>“I understand this might be all a bit much to take in, Eden. But someone had bugged the club where they organized their operations. We have hundreds of hours of them on tape…I brought a small tidbit here.”
>He points to the tape recorder.
>Was this a nightmare?
>It had to be.
>Soon I’ll wake up in Wyoming and I’ll give Grandma a big hug and tell her how much I love her.
>This wasn’t…this wasn’t reality.
>“Would you like to hear it?”
>I nod silently.
>He clicks it on.

>“Hey Sleng, we’re sending the bulk of last month’s pick-up over to Vietnam again right?”
>“Yeah. But I ain’t bothering cleaning them up. They can fucking hose them down themselves.
>“God I hope those whores are carrying a few bugs. Fuck those Yuons.”
>“Save your curses. They won’t mind, those fuckers are so desperate they’ll fuck anything.”
>“ahahahahaha”
>“What do you call diarrhoea in Vietnam?”
>“What?”
>“Lubricant!”
>“BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
>.…
>“Hey who’s that?”
>“It’s just me.”
>“Anon, did you get in contact with the Cartel guy?”
>“Yeah, they’re not happy about asking for more dope at such a short notice. But they’ll try to accommodate us during the trade.”
>“That’s good to hear.”
>“Hey Ben-Ra, I got some bad news.”
>“What’s up, Anon?”
>“I got word that that NGO is sticking around.-
>“God fucking dammit”
>“I think they’re gonna sniff around and talk to some bureaucrats. I wanna take the initiative and talk to who we have on our payroll so they don’t say something stupid.”
>“Good thinking, Anon.”
>“….But I don’t know everyone you guys all have on board. I need names.”
>“Oh fuck, yeah sure. Sleng, can you write down some names and phone numbers for him to contact?”
>“All of them? We must have like 150 people.”
>“I just need the big names. I’m sure when I talk to the head-honchos my…advice will trickle down.”

>I feel Kiet’s hand holding my forehead as I throw up into the toilet bowl.
>No. I feel dirty.
>Disgusting.
>I’m the daughter of a monster.
>Where…
>Where did all that money Dad gave me come from?!
>I’ve been spending his dirty, evil money.
>“I’m sorry.” I pant out in between dry heaves.
>“I’m so sorry.” I can’t help but cry.
>My own Father abandoned me to….
>To sell women into sexual slavery.
>I had read all about the dark history of this city.
> I didn’t think…I didn’t think..
>Oh God.
>“Nothing is your fault.” Kiet save as he brings your head out of the bowl.
>“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
>I stumble against him and he catches me.
>“When…When I turned 18 I was given a trust with a large amount of money that apparently was from him.”
>Kiet is silent.
>“I can’t…I can’t keep that money. I’d rather be poor for the rest of my life than have any of it.”
>I don’t care…
>I don’t care if I find my Father.
>I don’t think I want to see him anymore
>I can’t confront something like that.
>That’s right. A thing!
>He’s not a person.
>How could anyone like that be called a person?
>How can I make this right?
>I can’t…. I can’t make any of this right.
>“I don’t know what to do.” I say as tears roll down my cheeks.
>Mom…why did you marry such an awful demon?
>Because he’s my Father now.
>And you’re dead, but I have to live with this for the rest of my life.
>I don’t understand.
>I don’t want to understand any of this.
>I just need…need to make amends.
>Kiet cradles your head in his arms.
>“That NGO mentioned on the tape is called Love286, they were the ones who broke out the story and smashed the system your Father was apart of.”
>I stare out at the bathroom lights. The fluorescent lights hurt my eyes.
>“Go talk to them. Tell them your story, they can...they can point you in the right direction.”
>I nod dumbly.
>“I feel…weak.”
>He slowly brings me back to my feet.
>“I’ll go call you a cab that’ll take you back to the hotel. Get some sleep and go see them tomorrow morning.”
>I barely register his words as I stumble out of the bathroom.
>“Why…Why would he do something like this?”
>There was another question I had but I didn’t say it.
>I felt too guilty and shameful to air such a question where the vibrations of my sound waves would make it public to the whole wide world.
>Why would he do something like this to me?


>“You’re way out of your fucking, jurisdiction, Anon!” Carson said in your apartment.
>You only shrug mildly at his outburst as you light up another cigarette.
>“What’s done is done, Carson. Might as well go along with the flow.”
>“You were to report back to us? Not fucking feed everything to some charitable organization at the same time!”
>Carson paces around the room before stopping and sighing loudly.
>“Listen. I get it, Anon. I really do. But you have your orders, this needed to be tight lipped. The way things work is too fucking delicate to throw in a variable we have no control over.”
>“All that was gonna happen.” You say, your voice steadily rising “Is that I was gonna put up with all this awful horse shit and then you or some other guy down at the Fed was gonna type up all of this into a little document and let it sit there in a fucking filing cabinet for the next 20 years!”
>Carson remains silent, he walks over to your fridge and grabs a bottle of whiskey before sitting down next to you on the bed. He takes a swig out of the bottle before offering you a drink.
>“Anon…” He says softly.
>“No!” You shoot back “You haven’t seen the shit I’ve seen.” 
>In one gulp you drain a quarter of the bottle.
>“Just the other day I had to do another fucking auction for some shitheads from Malaysia. I called out a number and watched a little pup barely seven years old get walked out onto a runway by her little paw.”
>Carson wraps his arm around your shoulder as you break down.
>“Jesus Christ…I auctioned off a fucking girl only a few years older than my own daughter!”
>Carson grip gets tighter.
>“Anon…I think it’s time you head back to the States.”
>What?
>Is he seriously…
>“It’s been over a year, Anon. Time to come back and be a Father.”
>You still remember exactly what Eden looked like.
>And sounded like too.
>You missed her coos
>And in that moment, your heart skipped a beat when you imagined her asking to pick you up.
>Or when in a few years from now, she would say her first word.
>When she would finally look you in the eyes and call you Daddy.
>“You’ve done nothing wrong, Anon” Carson said sympathetically. “Everything you’ve done up to this point has been to eventually stop these fucks. You’ve done your share of the work. In fact you’ve done more than enough.”
>You take one more brief sip of the whiskey before placing it down on the floor.
>“When I left, it was because…because I couldn’t stand looking at my Daughter. That’s an awful thing to say….but whenever I looked at her I just saw her Mother. And I couldn’t…I just couldn’t do it.”
>You break away from Carson’s embrace.
>“I’m over that now. But the thing is, If I don’t do everything in my power to make this right, I still don’t think I could bare to look her in the eyes. I wouldn’t have the right to call her my daughter.”
>Carson nods and stands up, looming over you.
>“You better understand that we’re pulling out. Completely. The Chinese are starting to sniff around and we can’t afford to have them catch one of ours in their backyard. If you don’t come along with us, we’ll be forced to completely deny everything. You’ll be on your own and trapped in this city with no resources.”
>You take out a cigarette, the last one in your pack.
>“I understand. I only have one thing to ask of you.”
>“Hmmmm?”
>“I haven’t touched the last three or so years of my paychecks. They’re still in my American account right?”
>“That’s right.”
>“I want it all put into a trust. When Eden turns 18, I want it all handed over to her…Can you set that up for me as its executor?”
>Carson folds his arms.
>“That’s a lot you’re asking of me.”
>“Consider it the Olive Branch for abandoning me here.”
>Carson frowns at your response.
>“I really am sorry about this.”
>“It’s fine.” You reassure him “This is simply how things are.”
>Carson sighs and begins to walk towards the door.
>“Don’t do anything stupid.” He says before he leaves.
>You look out your window and watch him hail a cab.
>It was probably taking him to the airport.
>You reach for the phone in the drawer.
>“Hello.” the voice on the other end says.
>“It’s me.” You say, knowing the phone was masking your voice.
>“We’re busy combing through all of records you sent over to us. This is astonishing.”
>“You can’t make it public yet.”
>“Why not? This needs to stop now.”
>“If you release it prematurely it can be pushed to the side. Right now what you have are financial records that for obvious reasons aren’t on any tax records in any government. At this point it’s nothing more than pieces of paper you could have just made up.”
>“Well what else do we need?!”
>“I’ve bugged their offices.” You say. “And I’ve bugged anywhere else where they have influence. You’ll have hundreds of audio logs for all the necessary proof . I just need more time.” 
>You hear silence on the other end for a brief moment.
>“We still don’t know who you are.”
>“And you never will.”


>“Thank you for meeting with me at such a short notice.” I say as I take a seat.
>The large lioness in front of me smiles gently as she flicks her tail back and for in her chair.
>She looked very professional with her blue pant suit contrasting nicely with her yellow fur.
>“Well you said you wanted to make a sizeable donation to Love286, so it felt necessary to see you as soon as possible.”
>“I’m sorry.” I say “…but do you have any tissues.”
>Surprised at the request, she reaches into her drawer and pulls out and small box of tissues.
>I thank her as I dab my wet eyes.
>“Is everything okay?” she says with a concerned look.
>I look down at my wallet in my lap.
>I have the picture of my Father out.
>I don’t know why I didn’t throw it out.
>I never wanted to see him.
>“No…not really. The truth is I came to this City a few days ago to look for my Father…my Mother died when I was born and my Father just up and left. I heard he had come here.”
>At this moment I don’t even have the strength in my body to crumple up the picture.
>He’s just staring at me. Mocking me.
>I feel so pathetic.
>“I found out….I found out he was one of the sex traffickers you had put a stop to all those years ago.”
>I don’t look up at the lioness, but I could hear that I had left her breathless.
>“My…Father had set up a trust fund for me to take when I became an adult….but I know where that money came from now. I feel sick in my stomach having it. I was told…to come to you.”
>The tears flow and drip over the picture of my Father.
>I know…I know he’s not worth my tears.
>God Dammit.
>The Lioness, stands up from her chair and holds me close to her.
>She gently licks my cheek.
>“I’m sorry.” I mewl out “I’m sorry for all the suffering. I just wanted to find my Daddy.”
>I bury my muzzle against her chest.
>“But now… I don’t even wanna think about him.”
>She places her hand on the back of my head.
>“You don’t have to apologize for anything, dear.”
>I can’t believe that.
>How can I believe that.
>That evil son of a bitch’s blood is running through me!
> I’m half him.
>If I have children, could they end up like him?
>Can I end up like him?
>I hear a light purring from the Lioness.
>It’s very calming.
>I like kitties…
>“I know I’m going to regret this later.” She says “But I think I know a better place where you could donate the money?”
>“Huh?” I ask between sniffles.
>“We took in all the girls that were being held and got a lot of them back to their families. But there are around 200 that were basically orphans. The Abbott of the Buddhist Temple to the north of the city, by the beach, took them all in. They own a lot of the nearby land so they had enough room for the girls.”
>She pulls back from me and goes back to her desk, writing something down.
>“A lot of the girls there are still very psychologically damaged… the Temple is the only place they feel safe in. The Junta usually pays the Temple just enough for the upkeep but I know they would accept and appreciate the donation. If you wanna directly help these girls…that’s the place to go.” 
>I dry my tears and steel myself.
>I can’t be crying anymore.
>“I have to do anything, no matter how small, to fix what my Father did.”
>She hands me the address.
>“Could I visit the Temple today?” I ask.
>“I don’t see why not. The grounds and cemetery are always open to the public.”
>I practically fling myself from out of the chair and politely excuse myself.
>I thank her many times over before I run out of the building and hail a taxi.
>This all needs to be amended as soon as possible!
>At least as much as can be amended.
>The money I have…wouldn’t be enough to cover a fraction of the pain he caused.
>But it’s all I can do right now.
>I’m gonna do everything in my power to make this right!


>It had broken out this morning
>Everything.
>Love286 had leaked everything to every single newspaper and government.
>Chai-Ang was in chaos.
>The citizens were fucking pissed.
>There was rioting in the streets.
>You had heard a few police officers had been lynched.
>Along with a bunch of other people implicated.
>In fact the only facet of Chai-Ang that hadn’t been affected by this was the military.
>Which now that you think of it was a bit of a surprise.
>But they were really fucking mad.
>You knew because the civilian government was begging them to assist quelling the riots.
>And the Army told them to fuck off and reap what they sowed.
>You hadn’t heard anything from Tuol, Sleng, or Ben-Ra.
>You guess they were panicking pretty hardcore right now.
>You had stayed in your room up to this point.
>But now you needed an update about the word on the street.
>Walking through this trash heap of a city was wonderful.
>Everything was looted or on fire.
>Tires were stacked up and burned.
>It was like watching a cleansing.
>You took a gulp from your flask.
>This time not because you needed to forget.
>But because you were so damn happy.
>As you stroll into the market place it’s weird to see it practically deserted.
>Everyone was off protesting near the government buildings.
>You could hear sirens echo throughout the city.
>What music to your ears to hear this place collapse.
>You walk into Ronnie’s restaurant.
>You smell burning.
>You waltz into the kitchen where you see the large Rhino throwing box after box of papers into a makeshift fire he had made in his oven.
>He looks at you and jumps in surprise.
>“Anon! What the fuck are you doing here! Everything is fucked! You need to get out of Chai-Ang.”
>“I’ll be fine.” You say as Ronnie stops to glare at you.
>“Do you not realize whats happening? They had everything, Anon. Christ there was fucking audiotapes of Ben-Ra talking to the Police Chief!”
>“Really?” You say smugly “Who would have guessed.”
>He ignores you as he continues to toss more documents into the fire.
>“You know what happened to the others?” I ask him calmly.
>“Tuol and Sleng got arrested in their homes. They didn’t even know what the fuck was going on.”
>“Ben-Ra figured it out at the last minute and tried to run. They put 87 bullets in him. Fucking 87.”
>“What a shame.” You say, not even bothering to hide your contempt.
>“That’s pretty cold, Anon. But I guess all you businessmen are.”
>He wipes the sweat off his brow as he brings out another box of papers
>“Lord knows what Decha’s gonna do. That warehouse of yours is gonna be a bloodbath.”
>You freeze.
>You’re not smug anymore.
>“What do you mean?”
>“I mean there is proof that you idiots have 1000+ girls in storage and Decha is the fucking bagholder. He’s gonna clean that warehouse up of evidence.”
>Oh Fuck!
>You hadn’t considered….
>“See you later Ronnie! I gotta get going!”
>“Fuck off! And don’t ever come here again!”

>Thank God all the cops were preoccupied.
>Because you were speeding down the road going 80mph at a minimum.
>Finally you got to the outskirts of the city and drove up the road to the warehouse.
>You had to be in time.
>If you weren’t…
>You would have indirectly killed those girls.
>No. That will not happen.
>As you get to the dock you see only one guard outside.
>You palm your pistol up your sleeve.
>He walks quickly over to you as you park the car.
>“Hey! You can’t be here. You need to go-
>You shoot him in the head.
>You quickly grab his rifle and slip the strap over your shoulder.
>The rifle was in your right hand, your pistol was in your left.
>As you walk towards the door, you can hear Becha.
>“What you do is open the freight container, hose it down with gasoline, light the match and quickly shut it. It’ll be easier for clean-up.”
>“COME ON OPEN THAT FUCKING DOOR WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME! Once the city calms down they’ll be coming here.”
>You slam your shoulder into the door and practically snap it off the hinges.
>Everyone turns and points their guns at you.
>You have your pistol aimed right at Decha’s head.
>“Anon. What the fuck are you do-
>“Shut the fuck up” You snarl.
>“You got two options, Decha. You and your boys all drop their guns and get the fuck out of here. Or I kill you.”
>Decha looked like he would have laughed at you if he wasn’t in a hurry.
>“Anon, are you fucking delusional? I’m sorry but the merchandise has got to go. Everything is fucked. Christ, Ben-Ra is dead.”
>“You really are a fucking disgusting piece of shit.” You bellow at him. “I’m here for the girls. Not for the ‘merchandise’.”
>“What the fuck are you talking about!” He begins before the revelation hits him.
>“You…"
>“YOU MOTHERFUCKER”
>“You leaked everything! You made copies of the books! You…
>“Bugged the warehouse, and two dozen other places for the audio? Yeah. I did. So fuck off.”
>Everyone takes aim at you.
>“You’re fucking dead, Anon.” Decha mutters under his breath.
>You took a mental note of everyone in the room.
>Eight in total.
>Five had rifles.
>Three had shotguns.
>You look at Decha from down the sights of your pistol.
>You squeeze the trigger.


>The Temple really is beautiful
>There is so much green.
>But I can’t really appreciate it.
>Because I see all of these girls walking around
>Victims of my Father.
>Most of them are in their early to mid 30’s now.
>But some of them are in their 20’s
>Which means that my Father…tried to sell them when they were just toddlers.
>I’m trying to suppress the urge to vomit.
>Now’s not the time for that kind of thing.
>The beach is close by.
>The view of it from the Temple is stunning.
>I wish I could admire it more.
>It’s like my view of the world has been tainted.
>Everything lovely in life is ruined for me.
>Like I feel like I don’t deserve to enjoy anything.
>I get closer to the Temple where I see a group of monks huddled together, having a conversation.
>I don’t know the language they’re speaking though.
>“Um…excuse me…” I say shyly “Do any of you…speak English?”
>One of the Monks, a badger steps forward.
>“I speak little. What may I help?”
>I try to say simple words to help him understand me better.
>“My Father was…bad. I found out he hurt many of the girls here.”
>The badger grunts and takes a long nod, absorbing this information.
>“He left me lots of money. Money that came from these girls…I don’t want it. I’ll give it to the Temple.”
>The badger raised his brow at me and holds up his paw for me to wait a moment.
>He speaks to his peers in that language that I can’t understand.
>I think that it’s Thai? I can’t say for certain.
>He turns back to me.
>“What is Father’s name?”
>“It’s Anon.”
>Merely saying his name felt like a dagger in my chest
>His eyes widen in surprise as I mention the name.
>He quickly runs back to his friends and I can hear the name said over and over again.
>Anon
>Anon 
>Anon
> After several minutes the other monks leave and the Badger turns to me, slightly bowing.
>“We do not want money. Anon has done enough.”
> I practically feel my heart jump out of my throat.
> But I understood, he was an evil man.
>And they don’t want anything from his guilt ridden daughter.
>But why is he smiling at me?
>Wait, why did he bow to me?
>“You must come with me! Meet with Abbot!” he says rather impatiently for a Buddhist Monk and scurries along into the depths of the temple.
>I’m curious and confused, but I follow along with him.
>As I pass walk along I see more girls wandering throughout the Temple.
>Like ghosts haunting a mansion or something because of a past sin.
>My sin.
>I’m ushered into a small room where I see a small, elderly human man sitting and eating on the floor.
>He also has a small notebook and a marker next to him
>The badger kneels on one knee and says something rapidly in that unknown language to.
>With a wave of his hand, the old man sends the badger away.
>With another gesture he invites you to sit next to him as he picks up his notebook.
>He jots something down and hands it to you.
>[I cannot speak. You say English?]
>I look up and nod at him. He smiles.
>[You are Anon Daughter?]
>“Yes…I am. I know all the terrible things he’s done.”
>The Abbott frowns at me.
>[Terrible?]
>I’m a little flabbergasted.
>“Of course! He did all those horrible things to those girls! I have to take responsibility…”
>He tilts his head at me as I look down.
>“I have lots of money from him…Money that I know came from…from selling people like farm animals. I want to donate it to the Temple. To help those he hurt.”
>The Abbott scratches his chin as he listens to you explanation.
>He hastily scribbles something in his notebook.
>It’s actually a little hard to read it this time.
>[Anon did not hurt.]
>[Anon saved]
>“What?” I say, getting slightly angry. “I don’t understand!”
>With this minor outburst he stands up, and frantically scrawls another note.
>[I WILL SHOW YOU]
>“Show me what?!” I demand impatiently
>Was he just crazy?
>He wasn’t making any sense.
>[Want to meet Father?]
>He offers me his hand.
>I can’t breathe.
>I don’t think I want to see him.
>I wasn’t prepared to confront the monster.
>I….I’m scared.
>I’m scared to face him.
>I tentatively grab his hand and he pulls me up.
>He links his arm under mine.
>“Take me to him.” I mutter.


>“Wait. Wait man. Don’t kill me! Decha is dead man, I’m just working for him, I’m a nobody don’t fucking-
>You pull the trigger.
>That was the last one.
>The whole fucking loading bay was full of bullet holes.
>And so were you.
>Your shoulders and legs were hit, along with your chest.
>The fingers on your left hand were completely shredded. Your thumb only held on by a few strands of flesh.
>You hobble over to the lever and with great effort you pull it with your one good hand.
>Finally you get the big door to start rising.
>You duck under it as soon as you have room.
>You almost pass out from the strength needed to open one of these fucking containers.
>You look out at those familiar eyes that stared out at you.
>You take a few steps back and wave to them.
>“Who speaks English?”
>You get no response.
>“ENGLISH! WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH”
>You hear a small voice pipe up.
>It was a small Puma Anthro.
>Probably not much older than 13.
>“I speak little English.” She squeaked.
>You step into the abyss of the container and grab her little paw.
>You’re hiding your mangled hand under your jacket.
>“I need you and anyone else to open the rest of these up and free everyone. Can you do that?”
>She nods, staring at the blood running down your face.
>“But you can’t leave here alright? You have to wait for help to come.”
>“Aren’t you help?” She asks.
>“No. Not really” You say as you pat her shoulder.
>You hear her speak Spanish to some of the others in the container.
>They all nod and step out as they begin to push open more of the freight containers.
>You’d help them….but you have no energy.
>Plus you can’t be seen here.
>You pull out your phone.
>Thank god it hadn’t been damaged in the shootout.
>It was covered in blood though.
>You dialed the number.
>The female voice on the other line sounded frantic.
>“Yes. Hello!”
>“It’s me…” You cough out blood “Listen. There is not much time.”
>“Are you okay?! Everything is going crazy.”
>“Listen! The girls at the warehouse near the Buddhist temple are freed. I told them to wait here until help arrived. Get here with your people as fast as possible.”
>“Okay…” She said.
>“There are 8 dead bodies here. One of them is the Chief Customs official of Chai-Ang. They were planning on killing the girls to cover their tracks.”
>“Oh my God.”
>“It’s fine….I’ve…I’ve taken care of them. Just warn your people that it’s a pretty gruesome scene.”
>“Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?”
>“Don’t look for me.”
>Before she can respond you hang up and throw the phone on the ground.
>The gun too.
>You didn’t need either of those things anymore.
>You stumble out of the warehouse and back on to the road.
>The pain from walking on your shot out legs was agonizing.
>But you gritted your teeth and decided to suck it up.
>You had to move.
>They couldn’t find you there.
>You see the Temple in the distance.
>But that’s not where you were heading.
>No.
>You wanted to go to the beach.
>And look at that great blue ocean
>The water that was never once corrupted by this City.
>This awful, horrible city.
>You fall to your knees.
>Your blood begins to stain the sand.
>Oh well.
>With a great deal of effort you dig through your wallet and pull out the picture.
>You stare at it and smile.
>Eden would be what? Almost two years old now?
>You couldn’t deny it.
>You were a bad Father.
>Hell, you could barely be considered a Father.
>You couldn’t deal with the sadness of losing your wife.
>So you decided to subject your own child to the sadness of losing her Dad.
>You would never hear her first word, or watch her take her first step.
>You would never watch her graduate College or walk her down the isle.
>This…this is all you could do for her.
>The world in general was a rough, nasty place.
>And you made it less than one percent better today.
>That was the only gift you could give her.
>Something that would never affect her life.
>But it was something…right?
>You press your lips against the picture.
>“Eden.”
>“I love you.”
>“I’ve always loved you.”
>“Please be good. Okay?”
>Anon took a deep breath. He collapsed on the sand. And died.


>If I let go of the Abbott’s arm. I’ll fall.
>I’ll keep falling.
>And falling.
>And I’ll never recover.
>He pulls me closer to his side as I stare.
>I feel like I’m sick and high on drugs at the same time.
>As I stand there, staring at his tombstone.
>It doesn’t have a name on it.
>But it had the most flowers decorating the lavish grave.
>The girls pick the flowers daily and bring them to him.
>So do the Monks.
>The Abbott hands me one final piece of paper.
>[This was in hand, when died]
>He pulls a small Polaroid picture out of his robe and gives it to me.
>The film of the photo had been worn down from it being handled constantly.
>But I could still make out the picture.
>It was me…as a kit.
>My hands were stretched out.
>I think I wanted to be picked up.
>I wanna be picked up right now.
>I want him to pick me up right now.
>Me and the Abbott sit by the grave all day.
>A few of the girls came buy and told me they saw him firsthand as he rescued them.
>He was really hurt.
>And there were apparently dead bodies after he left.
>Then he had apparently walked to the beach and died there.
>That made me feel a little better.
>That he died somewhere nice and peaceful.
>The Abbott tells me someone had picked up his body and brought him here.
>I asked him who.
>A man named Carson.
>That both surprised me…and completely didn’t whatsoever.
>But before I know it the sun has set.
>I ask the Abbott if I could stay here for the night.
>He says I could stay here for as long as I wanted to.
>I didn’t know about that. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.
>But I didn’t wanna be away from Dad.

>That night as I’m sleeping I find myself waking up constantly.
>I can’t stop feeling so selfish.
>It’s just that…I lost my Dad.
>He won’t play with his Grandkids
>And my children won’t know him.
> I…I don’t know him.
>He did so much….and I don’t have a single memory of him.
>I cursed him under God only a day ago.
>Now I could only imagine him tucking me in bed at night with a good night kiss.
>And how I had been robbed of that.
>By the time it hits five in the morning. I give up trying to sleep.
>I put on my shoes and walk out towards the grave.
>I’m hugging my tail, nuzzling it.
>I’m pretending it’s the scruff of my Father’s face.
>Assuming he even had scruff.
>I see some of the girls out and about this morning.
>They’re staring at me as I walk towards the cemetery.
>It’s a cool evening out, but I feel nothing.
>I just want to be near him.
>I can’t sleep and I want him to put me to bed.
>To tell me a bedtime story.
>To sing a lullaby.
>To cradle my head in his lap.
>I fall to my knees in front of his grave.
>I wrap my arms around the tombstone and bury my muzzle against the stone.
>“Daddy…”
>“I miss you Daddy”
>I can’t stop crying.
>I lost my Daddy.
>I lost my wonderful, amazing Daddy.
>I suddenly feel a pair of arms wrap around me
>Then another.
>And another.
>I open my eyes and see all of the girls. All anthro were hugging me.
>at least two dozen of them were nuzzling into my fur and saying the same phrase over and over again in another language
>It was only later that I found out what they were saying.
>“Thank you.”


>I take a deep breath as I dial the number.
>“’ello.” I hear that familiar distinct southern accent.
>“Carson. This is Eden.” I say firmly.
>“Well howdy, Eden. Say where are you calling from? I don’t recognize this number.”
>“I know.” I say, cutting through the chit-chat.
>The phone goes deathly silent for a few brief seconds.
>“Where are you right now, Eden?”
>“I’m in front of his grave. The girls and I have picked out some more flowers for him.”
>“Well that’s quite heart warmi-
>“You lied to me! You knew all about this and you said nothing to me.”
>I hear him sigh.
>“Well, two things sweetheart. First off, this is all classified information and it won’t be declassified for another 45 years. Now your Father was a dear friend of mine, and I did my best to do right by him. But my loyalties are to Uncle Sam first and foremost.”
>I’m fuming at this dumb Texan’s excuses.
>“And secondly, I’m going to be honest with you. Chances are your Dad never wanted you to know the truth. He would have preferred it if you had lived your whole life not knowing a damn thing about this.”
>“Then why?” I ask “why tell me about Achara?”
>I hear him yawn.
>Asshole.
>“I figured I’d give you one chance to see this thing through. Frankly I didn’t tell you anything, I just gave you one little breadcrumb to follow on. You did the rest.”
>I want to yell at Carson.
>But I feel better the moment I place some more flowers on the grave.
>“You’re going to make this up to me.” I say sternly
>“Oh? And what do you have in mind, Eden?”
>“You’re going to fly here. And tell me all about my Father. Who he was, what he was like. You will go through every little insignificant detail to my heart’s content.”
>I hear him grumble on the other end.
>“I’ll fly out tomorrow.”
>“Good. I’ll see you then.”
>I hang up the phone as I smile at my father.
>I gently kiss the stone.
>“I love you, Daddy.”