For an instant, I can’t believe my eyes. Shock is a battering ram against my brain. Three girls, teenagers, dirty and clad in little more than rags, sit on the floor, spaced about three feet apart. Two of the girls are little more than skin and bones, with sunken, haunted eyes. I see tangled, greasy hair, faces smudged with grime, bare arms covered with scabs and cuts.

The room is about six feet square and as damp and dank as a grave. The smell of urine and feces and unwashed bodies wafts over me as I move closer. The girls are chained to the wall, their wrists shackled with rusty steel bands and smeared with blood. What in the name of God is going on?

For the span of several seconds, three pairs of eyes stare at me as if I’m some kind of apparition. I see in the depths of those eyes a tangle of primal emotions I can’t begin to name.

“I’m a cop.” I whisper the words, put my finger to my mouth in a silent plea for them to remain silent. “Shhh. I’m here to help you. But I need for you to be quiet. Do you understand?”

“Katie?” The girl farthest from me lunges to her feet, the chain at her wrist clanging. “Katie? Oh my God! Katie!”

Sadie, I realize. She’s barely recognizable because of the dirt. “It’s going to be okay,” I tell her. “But you have to be quiet.”

“I’m scared,” she whispers.

“I know, honey.” I move toward her, my eyes taking in details I don’t want to see; details I’ll be seeing in my nightmares for a long time to come. The steel band around her wrist has cut to the bone, exposing the ulna. Her hand is swollen and streaked with blood. The wound is bad; it’s worse that she doesn’t seem to notice.

“How badly are you hurt?” I ask.

“They’re starving us. I’ve cut my wrist.” She motions toward one of the other girls. “There’s something wrong with her. She’s feverish and out of her mind.”

Without warning, the girl she indicated lets out a bloodcurdling screech. “Awwwwwwwwer,” she wails. “Awwwwwwwwer . . .”

Those were the screams I heard earlier. Quickly, I cross to her and bend. “Be quiet,” I whisper. “I’m here to rescue you.”

The girl scrambles away, yanks against her chain, screams again.

“Shut up!” Sadie hisses, and lashes out at the girl with her foot. “Shut her up! She’s going to get us all killed.”

Tossing Sadie a warning look, I holster my weapon and grasp the screaming girl by the shoulders, give her a shake. “Quiet!” I make eye contact with her. “Please. Be quiet. Do you understand?”