The Book Club Rescue

Chapter 6 Book Club Rescue

6

The White House

Six months later

"Who's most likely to go to the Oval Office?" Blossom asked.

"We are!" the ladies squealed with delight.

Much too loudly, since they were in the halls of the White House on their way to tour the Oval Office. A cute little perky White House staffer was leading them to the West Wing where the President's offices were.

Secret Service were everywhere in that wing. Along with dozens of staffers bustling through the halls in every direction. The staffer stopped when they came to door of what Harriet assumed was the Oval Office.

She could feel the excitement in the ladies. The staffer opened the door and invited them in.

"Is the President in there?" someone asked.

"No," the staffer answered. "He's preparing for the ceremony."

The ladies were at the White House to receive an award from the President. For what they had done in rescuing Carmen and bringing down a nationwide sex trafficking ring.

The whole thing had been remarkable. Piper's husband contacted Colt Smart and he was the one who blew everything wide open. He traveled to Springdale and met with the ladies from the book club and to interview Carmen.

When he heard her story, he was appalled and vowed to do something about it.

Did he ever!

The man had contacts everywhere. He found a whistleblower who claimed that more than 85,000 unaccompanied minors, who crossed over the border of Mexico into the United States and were processed through border security, were unaccounted for. He broke the news on his podcast and the floodgates opened.

Congress held hearings demanding answers. The White House denied the number, but Smart provided proof. For three months, he discussed the issue on his podcast shedding much light on the problem.

Still, no one was doing anything about it.

Until Smart travelled to Branson Missouri and confronted Yasar Kaan. The owner of the restaurant and Carmen's sponsor. Of course, he denied the allegations, but Smart showed up at the industrial park with the cameras rolling. They filmed man after man entering the facility.

Smart played an interview on his podcast with Carmen where she described the horrors she went through in vivid detail. She verified that it was the same facility where she had been taken and had been forced to service men. She even recognized one of the men on the tape.

Carmen's face wasn't showing. She wanted to remain anonymous. The viewers could only hear her voice, but it was powerful, nonetheless.

The mainstream media ignored the story, but the videos went viral. All the radio talk show hosts were talking about it. The blogs were writing about it nonstop.

When the local police got wind of it, they raided Kaan's establishment and rescued two girls being held there. The girls were unaccompanied minors from other countries who had been given to Kaan by the immigration authorities.

Kaan was arrested and the story made national headlines. The mainstream media covered it for the first time. They were forced to.

Smart turned up the pressure on the President and his administration and blamed them. He showed up at the immigration headquarters with cameras rolling, and the immigration official interviewed did not come across in a good light.