When we were a few miles from Mexicali I started to fidget with anticipation. When we got into Tijuana earlier that morning we found out quickly that we would have better luck finding a missing Chinese girl in Mexicali. The nun we spoke to in Tijuana warned us about asking people on the street about our missing Chinese girl. The way she talked to Sebastian in Spanish scared me. Her face went dark and she grabbed both of Sebastian's hands. When Sebastian translated what she said to him a shiver ran down my spine. She had advised him to be careful because this business was demonic. When she knew he was going through with this with or without her help the nun's advice to him was to blend in, appear to be at the brothel as customers and don't ask questions. The nun said they would shoot us if they were suspicious. I think that statement is what had me on edge. I couldn't fathom being shot just for trying to find a missing girl. The nun blessed us before letting us leave and forced us to take a rosary. She called out to Sebastian rattling off something in Spanish. I asked him what she said and he just shook his head that I didn't want to know.
The nun told Sebastian Mexicali is heavily populated with people of Asian origin and if we were looking for a brothel featuring Chinese girls this would be a good place to start. Mexicali was a few hours east of Tijuana and along the way I started having doubts of what we were even doing there. Quite frankly Grace could be in any brothel in Mexico and finding her would be like finding a needle in a haystack. I felt safe being with Sebastian but I couldn't shake the fear of being on foreign soil. I didn't trust this place and didn't like not being familiar with my surroundings.
"Okay Leah this is not like finding a missing girl in Orlando we are in a foreign country. We can't go into a brothel showing Grace's picture and seeing if she's there."
"I know," I answered. "You need to fill me in on this master plan you have been conjuring up."
Sebastian parked the Buick on the side of the heavily populated strip of stores and restaurants. We were in Chinatown Mexico. It made me feel a little better that there were people everywhere. I pictured us going into a brothel in the middle of nowhere.
"Listen closely Leah," Sebastian said confidently. "When we walk in we have to be very believable. They can't question why we are here. So we are here to pay for sex."
"Um okay but how are we going to sell that?"
"We need them to believe we are paying customers. When you get the girl alone you show her Grace's picture."
"Wait," I said. "Me?"
"Yes."
"Oh hell no Sebastian!"
"Leah come on." Sebastian said this calmly like I was being irrational.
"What? You want me to go in and pretend I want sex with one of the girls?" Sebastian gave me a snarky stare as if I was being childish. "That's not believable you have to do it Sebastian."
"Leah believe me these girls are forced to have sex with both genders, young, old, fat, skinny."
I was perplexed. "But what the hell Sebastian you want me to fake like I am into having sex with the girl?"
Sebastian sighed. "Leah you are not actually going to do anything with the girl."
"What if they video tape it? They will see that I am not interested and our cover is blown." My heart was beating rapidly and my hands were getting sweaty. "Sebastian!"
"Leah they won't record it. These people are not techies. It won't be live streamed. The room you will be in is going to be small and dirty."
"Oh that makes me feel so much better. Let's go get me a China girl to get busy with!"
"Leah!" Sebastian yelled. "All you are going to do is get the girl in the room then tell her you are looking for Grace and see if she knows her. That's it!"
I was silent. My mind was racing. I was trying to picture how this was going to go down. I couldn't believe Sebastian was making me do this on a moments notice.
"Leah have I ever put you in a situation you can't handle?"
I looked at Sebastian with daggers in my eyes.
"What Leah?"
"It's always your plan and your way when we do things," I shrieked. "You make me your bitch. I am always your Jesse Pinkman!"
Sebastian squinted and brought his upper lip up in a curl. "Huh, whose Jesse?"
I shook my head and hissed. Sebastian opted out of joining me in watching Breaking Bad from start to finish a few weeks back.
He rolled his eyes. "Leah just listen to me."
"And why are you springing this on me now?" I yelled. "Why couldn't we discuss this back in San Diego? Or even this morning?"
"I didn't want you to over think your role and worry about it. Look Leah this girl you will be with is going to be relieved she doesn't have to have sex with you. She is going to be very thankful. If I go in there she may not open up and talk to me at all. She may yell for the pimp and our cover is blown. You are sweet and trusting if she is going to talk it's going to be to you."
I shook my head. "But what about the unknowns Sebastian? What if the guy who runs it wants to watch? Or wants to join and he duck tapes my mouth, rapes us both. Then what? You really don't understand why I am freaking the hell out?"
Sebastian sighed and tried to gather his thoughts. He took a moment.
"Leah you have to trust me. I will be near and I will make sure it's only you and the girl. If something goes wrong when you get in there you have to act like you got cold feet. Here take this whistle. You blow that and I am in there in two seconds."
I grabbed the whistle and put it in the daisy duke's Sebastian made me wear this morning.
"Just follow my lead Leah."
I grabbed a small picture of Grace from the glove compartment and tucked it in the waistline of my underwear. Sebastian pulled out cash from underneath his car seat. Before we left he made a slit in the cushioning underneath both of our seats to hide a secret stash of cash. Instead of pimping out the car Sebastian worked on having the exterior and interior look crappy. He duck taped part of the back window and this morning we took turns kicking the trunk.
"You good Leah?"
I nodded and opened the car door. We walked along the sidewalk checking out the stores we passed by. I saw our reflection in one of the store's windows and almost laughed out loud. We did our best to look like poor gringos but I just saw a sloppy version of ourselves. We passed a Chinese restaurant and the aroma stopped us in our tracks. I was hungry but there was no way I could have sat down to eat. If we made it out of the brothel unscathed we could come back. Mexicali had a different feel from Tijuana. It was cleaner and didn't seem quite as impoverished.
"If I am still hungry after my Asian girl experience we are coming back here." I was still pissed at Sebastian and said this to make it clear he did not have a say in the matter. Awesome I thought to myself you’re choosing where we eat, way to go Leah! That will show him! I started to walk ahead of Sebastian.
"You may just want a cigarette."
I turned back. "Shut up Sebi! I am taking one for the team here. You owe me."
Sebastian grabbed my shoulder as I turned to continue to walk. "Look you're a rockstar sweetie you will do great but you have to stop moping. You have to change your mood. This is the plan and you have to agree it is the best shot we got."
He pulled me into him and kissed my neck. This softened me up. "I am still just a little in shock. And I am pissed my husband didn't tell me what the plan was."
"Sorry sweetie," Sebastian said. "You want to go eat so you can have time to digest this and get in character?"
"No let's do this now."
"Okay there is a place over there."
I looked across the street and saw a storefront with 'Rasas' in neon lights. "How do you know?"
"It fits the mold. The name means different races in Spanish. Let's go see."
We crossed the street and approached the eerie building. I had a bad feeling about it. My stomach dropped when we walked through the door. It was dim lit and smelled of smoke. There were small tables scattered around and a bar in the middle. To the right was a hallway a
nd I cringed looking at it. About half of the tables were occupied and three men were seated at the bar. I heard the door shut behind us. It was dark and a shiver ran down my spine. It was early afternoon but it felt like it could have been the middle of the night.
I followed Sebastian to the bar. We did our best to act like we belonged. I noticed the crowd was a mixture of Mexicans and Asians. I stayed standing while Sebastian sat down with a big smile on his face. A large Mexican man behind the bar approached us. He said something in Spanish.
Sebastian nodded and spoke in English. "I want my girl to have her wish, to be with a Chinese girl."
The man responded in Spanish and of course I didn't know what he said.
"No not me," Sebastian said. "Only her."
The man laughed and changed his language to English. "She like big girl, small?"
Only Sebastian and I would be in this situation. My stomach was in knots. Sebastian responded to the man in Spanish probably to protect me from getting even more uncomfortable. Sebastian started becoming animated and turned me around so he could slap my ass. I wanted to show my displeasure to Sebastian but told myself to play the game. The man looked me up and down. I was seething inside but I tried to keep a sunny exterior. Why couldn't Sebastian have been the one to do this or at least say we wanted a three way?
The man motioned me to go with him. I gingerly rose and gave Sebastian a nervous smile. He winked at me obnoxiously and slapped my ass again as I walked away. When I joined the man I heard Sebastian yell 'cervezas' really loud which means beer. Glad he was toasting to this wonderful occasion. The man showed me into a room and put up a finger to indicate it would be just a moment. The room was small and dark. There was a nasty musty smell. I wanted to throw up. There was a thin twin size bed and one chair. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. I heard voices and commotion coming from down the hall. The man came back and a Chinese woman walked in. It was not Grace unless they doctored her appearance quite a bit. The man shut the wire-meshed door behind him and the girl approached me. Up close I could confirm it was not Grace.
"You speak English?" The woman said in a soft Chinese accent.
"Yes."
I noticed the AC was running. I was shivering from being cold and from my nerves. The smell in there was so nasty.
"Do you want me to take off clothes or you want to take them off me?"
"No," I whispered. "I just want to talk."
The girl looked confused. "Dirty talk? You want sexy talk?"
"No." I took a step closer and took Grace's picture out of my underwear. "Do you know her?"
The woman froze. Her eyes got big and the butterflies in my stomach turned to excitement. She must have recognized Grace. Her face changed and she got closer to me.
"What you doing?" She said this with distain. "You going to get us killed!"
She startled me. "Do you know the girl in the picture?"
"No."
The woman grabbed my wrist and put down my hand down to the side so the picture was no longer in her view. Then she put her hands around my waist and started swaying like we were slow dancing. I placed the picture back in my waistband.
"You can't come looking for girls," she whispered sternly. "This will be trouble for you and girl. And me."
I could tell she was frightened that I was there.
"You have to make sounds," she whispered. "Be loud."
I looked at her puzzled. "Sounds?"
"Make sex sounds. They be suspicious if no noise."
I didn't know what to say. I was scared and kept thinking of the big Mexican man that led me in the room. The woman started to moan and I took her queue. I felt awkward and embarrassed for both of us. She stopped so I stopped.
"Keep doing it," she whispered.
I started the fake moaning again. It was so mortifying and I felt bad for this woman who actually had to have sex with strangers all day while the owner of this place got paid for it. My heart broke for her and every other female who was going through this. The woman slowly reached into her bra and pulled out a piece of paper.
"I need your help," she whispered. "There's address on here send letter saying Li Hua Mui is alive and well."
I slid the piece of paper into my back pocket.
"Keep with the noises."
I did my best for a few minutes then I attempted to get anything else I could out of the girl.
"The girl in my picture do you know where she could be?"
"No. Can be many places."
I waited for her to provide more insight but she didn't. We kept making noises as we stood inches apart. I was in agony waiting for this to be over. Finally after what seemed like an hour the Chinese woman stepped back a bit.
"Please send my note. Please."
"Yes I will."
"Bath across hall put water on your body look like sweat."
I nodded and the woman opened the door for me. I walked across the hallway into the bathroom. I flipped the light switch on and nearly gagged. The low light revealed the disgust that I felt. It smelled yucky and I didn't want to touch anything. There were no towels anywhere. I took the bottom of my shirt and turned on the sink water. I threw the stinky water on my face and wiped my arms. There was a busted foggy mirror above the sink. I looked at myself and was thankful for the life I was living. I knew the girls who ended up in this brothel didn't end up there because they wanted to. How different were they from me? They didn't deserve this life.
On my way down the hall I walked past a man who was being escorted to a room. I cringed thinking of the torture these women have to endure. I forced a smile to sell my satisfaction when I got back to the bar area. Sebastian beamed when he saw me and continued his obnoxious male pig role he was playing so well. I sauntered up to him and sat on his lap. We made out and he acted like he was super turned on. He spoke loudly to me in Spanish with the intent of showing the big Mexican man that his customers were satisfied with the service. The Mexican man rattled off something to me with delight in his eyes. Sebastian translated telling me the man was asking me how it was. I looked at the man and said 'muy bueno' awkwardly. I pulled on Sebastian's hand. I wanted to leave so bad. He got up and we took two steps toward the door when the Mexican man yelled at us in a grizzly voice. We froze then turned around. The man smiled and said something in Spanish. I squeezed Sebastian's hand bracing for the worst.
"What's going on Sebastian?"
He pumped my hand a few times lightly. "It's okay sweetie I just didn't fulfill the 5 drink minimum requirement. Look happy."
Sebastian bought two drinks for the man he was sitting next to at the bar and we walked out of the door.
Sebastian smirked at me. "Sounds like you had a good time!"
I give him a sarcastic scowl. "Seriously Sebastian?"
"I heard you!"
"Get real Bastian. It was an act."
He laughed. "It sounded real to me. Is it an act when you're with me?"
"No with you it's real. Please Sebi I was moaning for my life in there. I can't believe those girls are forced to be sex slaves. It is unbelievable. It was tough being in there and seeing it's real. It is so depressing back there Seb!"
"Yeah I bet. It was tough being at the bar in that place. So anything on Grace?"
I told Sebastian the full account of what happened once we were seated at the Chinese restaurant we walked by earlier. Sebastian learned from one of the patrons at the bar that there was a strip joint/brothel down the street called Mujeres Chinas that has all Chinese women. Sebastian wanted to go there that night. After eating we found a hotel close by and checked in.
At 9:00 pm we walked into Mujeres Chinas. I felt as prepared as I could be from having survived the earlier experience. We both walked in confidently and it was déjà vu. The place was similar to Rasas except it was nearly full to capacity and it was part strip club. Sebastian got into character quickly sitting down at a table near a pole dancer. I sat next to him and started to scan the stripper poles l
ooking for Grace. I didn't see her. Sebastian ordered us a drink. When the waitress came back she asked us what else we wanted. Sebastian asked how it worked and the woman said they had rooms in the back. This time the woman spoke in English so I could hear how the sale goes down.
"$250 for an hour. $175 for a half hour. You have your pick from all the girls out here or you can wait until other ones come back out."
Sebastian bit his lip and scanned the girls. "I want that one for my girl."
The woman followed Sebastian's gaze. "That's Tulip. She is very beautiful. Good choice. So it's for your girlfriend not you?"
"Yes," Sebastian said. "It's her birthday present."
She looked my way. "Okay come with me."
I kissed Sebastian on the cheek and followed the young Chinese girl who spoke perfect English. This brothel was much more commercialized than the one we went to earlier. It was a little bit cleaner and definitely smelled better. Tulip got called down off the stripper pole. She grabbed my hand hard and walked me to the back. I was surprised by her force and wondered what led Sebastian to choose her. The room she led me into was about the same size as the one at Rasas but it had a strobe light in it and the mattress was thicker. Even though it was slightly cleaner than the room at Rasas it still felt the same - filthy. Tulip wasted no time she forcefully grabbed me bringing my body next to hers. She outlined my lips with her finger and looked at me with a sultry look. She ran her hand through my hair.
"You have half hour tell me your fantasy."
I froze for a second. This girl didn't seem to be someone who had been forced to do this. I got the feeling she might be there on her own will. Or it was possible she had been doing this long enough that she had accepted this as her way of life. She was much older than the girl at the other brothel.
"Tell me!"
I feared this girl would get pissed if she found out all I wanted was to ask about a missing girl. I didn't know what to say.
Tulip was getting impatient. "What do you want to do with me?"
Oh fudge I had to say something. Damn this sucks. "Cuddle?"
The girl tilted her head. "You are shy?"
"Yeah look I'm sorry." I couldn't do it. I pulled out $60 in cash. "I will tip you but I was really hoping to be with a girl named Grace. I had her last time. It was a long time ago so I assume she is no longer here."
I took out Grace's picture and showed her.
Tulip was annoyed. "I don't know her."
"You sure she doesn't look familiar at all?"
I put the picture closer to her. She grabbed my hand and brought the photo right in front of her face.
"Sorry she doesn't."
"I'm sorry I don't want to waste anymore of your time."
"You want nothing?" Tulip said sharply.
"No I don't want anything. I'm Sorry."
She grabbed the cash out of my hand and walked out the door. I released all the tension I was holding in my shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief.