An hour later, Austin caught a yellowfin but it broke free from his line. Then minutes before they returned to shore, Tommy felt a sudden strong tug on his reel. “Hey! I got one!” The fish doubled his fight, and Tommy dug his heels against the inside of the boat and bent his knees. “Someone help!”
Mr. Miller rushed over. He grabbed Tommy by the waist and the two of them fought the fish with all their strength.
“It’s a marlin!” Annalee’s father was first to see the spikes along the upper part of the fish. “This is the one!”
“Reel it in slowly, gentlemen.” Hans was at their side. “There you go… that’s it!”
Ocean spray whipped their faces, but Tommy and Annalee’s father held on until the monster fish was up and over the boat railing. The two high-fived, both of them out of breath.
“I can’t believe it!” Annalee put her hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “It’s the size of a shark!”
She wasn’t far off. Tommy had seen pictures of marlin, but nothing had prepared him for the behemoth catch. Hans helped Tommy and Mr. Miller hoist the fish up for a picture. Then they dropped it into an oversized tub of ice.
Tommy was still breathing hard as he turned to Mr. Miller. “Thanks for the help!” Tommy wiped the seawater from his face. “That was crazy!”
“Teamwork.” Mr. Miller put his arms around his wife and Austin. “That is one massive catch.”
“Congratulations!” Hans measured the fish and faced them. “Biggest marlin of the year!” He grinned. “Most tourists come back with nothing. You’re a sporty group!”
Back on the beach Hans prepared the fish and cooked it over an open flame. What they didn’t eat, he would take to a nearby restaurant, where people from the village would line up for free fish.
When Hans was gone, Tommy sat with Annalee and her family at a table near the water and Mr. Miller prayed over the meal. “This day in the sun was a dividing line, Lord. I can feel it. Today we see what life is like with Your grace and goodness.” He paused. “Tomorrow we will see what it is like for the lost children of Phuket.”
The man’s words were sobering. Tommy was aware they would be working tomorrow, but until now he hadn’t thought of exactly what that meant. He looked at Annalee’s father. “You remember last summer my family and I took that trip to Africa. We painted orphanages and made bracelets with the kids.” He hesitated. “Will it be like that?”
Mr. Miller shook his head. “We do oversee an orphanage in Phuket.” His tone grew heavier. “I’m afraid another issue has taken precedence for this trip.”
“The rise in tourism has brought an increase in sex trafficking.” Mrs. Miller took her husband’s hand. “Twenty minutes from here, there’s an open-air beach market where children are sold.” She explained how Each One was working with local law enforcement officials to close down trafficking rings. “In the meantime kids from all over Asia are still brought here as slaves. We rescue them, but sometimes the young ones don’t even know where they’re from.”
Tommy thought about his younger sister. Malin was twelve now. If someone kidnapped her and forced her into… He couldn’t finish the thought. He’d do anything to protect her. “So… you rescue these kids, and then… where do they go?”
Annalee’s dad explained that Each One had recently opened a safe house. It had forty rooms and as many trained volunteers. The goal was to get the victimized children safe and fed and then to reunite them with their families. If their families could be found.
“What if the kids don’t have anyone?” Annalee’s shoulder brushed against Tommy’s. “I guess… I didn’t know how bad things had gotten here.”
Austin anchored his elbows on the wooden table. “I talked to Dad about this before we left. I asked the same thing.” He looked at his father. “What if the kids don’t have anyone?”
“That happens sometimes.” Mr. Miller was quiet for a moment. “An orphaned child is most vulnerable for this wicked business.”
“So sad.” Tommy couldn’t get his mind around it. “What happens next? At the safe house?”
Mr. Miller crossed his arms. “Some kids stay until we can find them a home. A safe place where they can have something they are desperate for.” He hesitated. “A family.”
When dinner was over, Annalee and Tommy moved to the same pair of chairs they’d sat in earlier. The sun was setting, casting streaks of pink and yellow across the vast blue sky.
For a while they didn’t talk. The sounds of the gentle waves on the beach and the wind in the palm trees nearby was enough. In the distance, the cry of a macaw echoed through the hills.
Tommy took Annalee’s fingers and brought them to his lips. The two of them had made a deal when they started dating. They could hold hands and hug, they could kiss. But nothing more. Not till they were older. Not till the time was right.
But there were times when keeping their promise was all but impossible. Last year at prom when Tommy took Annalee home, and her parents had been gone. They had stood on her front porch and he had taken her face in his hands. Their kiss had stirred feelings in him that stayed with him still. God alone had kept him from crossing lines with her that night.
Here on this beach, Tommy felt the same familiar draw.
She turned to him. “You’re going to be mad.”
“At what?” He slid his chair a little closer, so his bare knee was touching hers. “Never at you, Annalee.”
“Not me.” She stared out at the ocean. “Tomorrow. The monsters trafficking children.” Concern tinged her voice. “You can’t fight them, Tommy. They’ll arrest you.”
His heart warmed as he studied her. “You know me.”
“Yes.” She looked at him again. “Promise me.”
Now it was his turn to look at the water. If he had his way they would round up every trafficker in Phuket, put them on a boat and set them adrift in the Indian Ocean. But God’s ways were higher. He wouldn’t do any good by taking the law into his own hands. Especially here in Thailand. “I’ll follow your dad’s lead.” He kissed her hand again. “I have this strange sense I’ll know about my future after tomorrow…. You ever feel that way?”
“At times.” She stood and stretched. “Maybe we’ll both live here and work for Each One someday.” A smile lifted her pretty lips. “Then I could walk this beach with you whenever I wanted.”
The sunset was hitting its peak, the sky a canvas of colors that took Tommy’s breath. He stood and put his arm around her shoulders. “How do you feel?”
“Perfect.” She faced him, careful to keep a few inches between them. Thailand didn’t approve of public displays of affection. Tourists weren’t held to the same standard, but even hugging could be considered rude. She touched his cheek and the sensation lingered. She smiled. “Walk with me?”
“Yes.” He clenched the muscles in his jaw and hesitated. “I don’t want the sun to set.”
She smiled. “Me, either.”
They walked at the water’s edge, slower than before. “I wish we were older.” Tommy kept his gaze straight ahead. “Finished with college and sure of what we want to do.” They were out of view of the public now, alone on the most secluded stretch of sand. There wasn’t another person in sight.