Chapter 8 What happened to 'Callie' Bloom Part 2

Calista was then punished for two weeks. She was forced to atone for her odious sins by locking her up in the chapel room just like how her father would lock her up in her room. She spiraled and crashed out, yelling and screaming day after day, begging to be freed.

But the only comfort that was brought to her was the news of Roger being confirmed blind in his right eye.

No remorse. No empathy. "He deserves it." She thought passionlessly.

At the end of the third month, she was suddenly adopted by a wealthy family. The Sinclairs. In six months, she found out their secret; They were adopting kids, feeding them, and nursing them to good health. Then trade them as a pet to wealthier child abusers. Traffic them as slaves to masters and mistresses, and mules to drug dealers.

However, Mr. Sinclair decided to keep Calista for himself. "She is priceless. She is mine." He once said to a high bidder who wanted her as her pet.

On Mr. Sinclair's very first sexual attempt on Calista, she stabbed his throat with a pen and pushed him out of his office window. Mr. Sinclair died instantly.

Again, Calista was tried in court. Again, she was released on the grounds of self-defense. Fortunately, there was a CCTV camera in his office. And evidence of the countless atrocious crimes the Sinclair family were accused of was found and used against them.

Still 16, she was sent back to the orphanage. Yet, she remained stubborn, defiant, and violent. She was soon tagged as a danger and a bad influence on the other children. So she was transferred to a foster home.

Within twelve months, Calista lived in four different foster homes. At 17, she ran away from her fifth foster home and traveled to Kentucky.

During the day, she worked three jobs. A waitress, a nanny, and a mobile hairstylist -a skill her mother had perfected in her. She worked her butt off every day until she could afford to pay rent for her small but comfy apartment.

At night, driven by a fierce desire to protect and fight for herself, Calista spent hours at the gym. She would pound the punching bag with a ferocity that bordered on rage, her fists flying in a blur of sweat and determination as she channeled her emotions into every punch.

With Sylvester's help, a boxer and her coach at the time, who took a genuine likeness and admiration to her, she learned to fight.

Her first self-assigned mission was finding Alice, her first friend ever. She was also her colleague at the restaurant where she worked.

One Friday night after work, Alice went home once her shift was over. But she never returned to work the next day.

Weeks passed, yet Alice had not been found by the police. Not until Calista took it upon herself to find her. She used herself as bait, following the same lonely, dark alley Alice had followed the day she went missing. It was on a Friday night, a little past 8:00 pm, hoping that whoever it was that took her best friend, would come for her too.

Unfortunately, or rather for her, fortunately, the same shady black graffiti-painted van appeared. Before she could make out the driver's face, a hood was worn over her head from behind, and a strange substance wasted into her nose, knocking her out instantly.

Once she regained consciousness, she kept her head low. She didn't beg, she didn't whimper. Her phone remained tucked away in her panties, and the location tracker and the voice recorder activated all the while.

An hour later, she found herself in an underground strip club where she was soon thrown in together with the other girls. Locked in a tight room. There, she found Alice, drugged up and subdued.

Her kidnappers, having not searched her thoroughly, she pulled out her phone from her hiding place and discreetly dialed 911. As requested, she took pictures of her surroundings, the battered, half-dressed girls included. And a picture of Alice. The girl they failed to find.

She told them to track her location using her phone number, and in 40 minutes, the girls were found.

Amongst the police officers who rescued them was Sylvester, Calista's coach. Then, he came clean and reintroduced himself as Agent Sylvester Peckham, bewildering Calista.

Just before Sylvester Peckham became Chief Director of the CIA secret services, he was an undercover agent as Sylvester, a boxer and a fitness coach. He was trying to infiltrate and expose the same child trafficking ring Callie had exposed. And she did it so easily and flawlessly.

Was it luck? He didn't know. But her courage and smartness astonished him.

He saw the potential Calista had. He admired her spirit, her bravery, and her remarkable foresight. So he made her an offer.

"I need you in my field, but I promise you, you'll never be out in the line of danger such as this." He had said.

"Come work with me, I'll train you, teach you all you need to know..." he promised. "And in return, I'll take you off the streets, I'll give your life a purpose."

Calista had smiled.

"That was my 14th birthday wish." She replied, "I'm 18 today."

"So your wish came through, then?" Agent Sylvester Peckham asked with a raised brow.

"Yes." She grinned.

Sylvester took her back to Washington DC, the CIA headquarters. She had insisted on living alone in her apartment, and not as his ward. She made it clear to him that she had a thing against people she usually lived under. Sylvester agreed and bought her a spacious self-contained apartment.

The next 2 years were spent on daily, intense combat training and education. But she also was used as an undercover agent, a mole sent to eavesdrop and extract sensitive information. Nobody ever suspects a 20-year-old nanny at the park.

Soon, she landed her first mission, and she succeeded flawlessly in it in a month. Then another mission, and another.

Being somebody else in another country, speaking another language, became her life. She became good at what she did. At 23, she was the youngest in her field, yet the smartest, bravest, and confident.