She was taking a ten minute break after lunch room duty. Checking her fitness band, she was relieved to see her blood pressure had dropped. With her head in her hands, she couldn't see her classroom door open.
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Anna had been trying to wrap her head around the need to go back to college. Her need for a subsequent degree in education was a given. Her life had taken her all over the world, and now had sent her back to Chicago, on her most important endeavor yet.
Many times she had wondered what it would be like to be back home in Chicago for awhile; just not under these circumstances.
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After having negotiated and balanced her additional classes needed at Ohio State, in thirteen months she drove her degree in secondary education, her dog(whom had found her in downtown Columbus),her belongings(less than fifty pounds), her laptop, phone, and her sanity, to Indianapolis for the night. Sitting at the hotel room desk with Mutt on her lap, she planned the following day's schedule. She had to check into headquarters in Chicago and surprise her boss, Theo. Then, with her diploma, drop off her resumes and make appointments with the five target high schools. She then needed to call a realtor who could get her and Mutt into a local apartment near Roosevelt in the next few days.
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By the time the boys had come into her classroom, each having thrown one of her arms over her desk and dumped her onto the floor, she finally leaped into fight-or-flight mode, and proceeded to kick "green mask" with a fury breaking his arm in two places. "Black mask" received a volatile debilitating kick in the groin. Anna grabbed a knife and gun from them, ran out the door, locking the boys inside.
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When Anna checked into headquarters months ago, she wasn't prepared for the scope of this investigation. Theo told her he had already fit her science degree into Fillmore High on E. Roosevelt. She was to withdraw her other resumes. Her partner at Fillmore would be the Chemistry teacher/wrestling coach, Bruce Bishop. He had been infiltrated a year ago. They had had Anna and Bruce come in together for the background facts and the plan. Anna had it memorized, names and faces in cold-storage, in four hours.
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Girls were disappearing within the five target -school radius. The girls either never arrived at school, or they never arrived home. For two years, Chicago's best had cracked their procedure and was watching the scenario play out. They now needed some plants so they could end up with the "big guys". It was human trafficking at its worst. Eight girls were missing and two more had disappeared this week,alone.
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Anna was brought in for a reason. Her arrest record with the F.B.I. was phenomenal. In her years undercover, one case didn't hold up...just one. To her, that was one too many.
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Bruce had two guys by the arms, helping them up from the wrestling mat, when Anna ran into the gym, yelling for Bruce to phone for back-up. Bruce sent the guys to the locker room, pulling his phone from his jacket.
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Bruce was running down the hallway, ahead of Anna when they realized the hall was empty. As they ran into the office to inform principal Lane of the circumstances, they were stopped. From behind the counter, four men and three boys rushed them. Principal Lane was tied into a chair. Someone had had the smarts to put the school on lock-down, because the warning light was red. Vice-principal Karnes was behind the closet door, bleeding profusely. Anna and Bruce had initially taken down the boys and two men, but the other men had guns and one had been used on Bruce's head. With a gun to her back, they walked Anna to her classroom, to unlock the boys inside. The two gang members rushed out as one attempted to kick Anna. She put her fist in his face and dropped him.
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The gang was attempting to move out the front doors when the first sirens were screaming around the corner, thanks to Bruce's call. There were eighteen of them now. There had been twenty. Anna had left one out cold in the hall and the vice-principal had killed another.
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After six long days of exhaustive questioning, the two youngest finally cracked and went for a plea. It took six more days to locate the missing girls in the old brickyard.
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The girls were all in various stages of starvation, hypothermia, and dehydration. The huge old truck had been housing twenty-two girls, from surrounding areas. The police and F.B.I. helped the girls into ambulances. Anna would never forget the weak clinging arms around her or the
tears of relief.
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"Anna and Bruce had location decisions to make," Theo said. But Anna and Bruce loved Chicago and weren't going anywhere. Two teaching jobs made more sense for them now. Anna squeezed her sore fist around her engagement ring.