Chapter 16

Resting his elbows on the table, Derek asked, “Why did you run this time, Sam?”

“Why do I always run? They smother me, Mr. Clarke. It’s like they think if they don’t know where I am every second of the day something’s going to happen to me.” Sam shook his head. “You’d think I was two. ‘Don’t talk to strangers’, ‘Don’t go off with someone you don’t know’. Damn it, I’m not stupid. Who does that at my age?”

“I did,” Joe replied quietly. “I trusted…okay, I believed someone I shouldn’t have and he forced me into making sex films. It took a long time before I got away.”

“Fuck,” Sam said, looking horrified. Then he added almost sadly, “Like someone would want me for that.”

“Traffickers don’t discriminate,” Derek told him. “Especially if they can get their hands on kids who are underage. There’s a big market for child porn.”

“You should be glad your parents care enough to want you safe,” Joe said.

“Yours didn’t?”