Except there is a girl. And the girl is me. We’ve just bought another girl; young, unblemished, untouched and unknown. She’s there too, the third shadow, the only one whose outline is trembling in the corridor. No one’s looking at her, not even me. Only the camera hidden in my buttonhole that’s recording the whole thing.

~~~

2‘Can we go through it again? Please? Just one last time…’

The window squeaks as I trace circles through the thick condensation. The car’s hot with nerves, but there’s no way I can open it. Even the trees are listening, rustling with judgement as they watch us sit and prepare to go inside the complex. These buildings look like they rolled off the factory line themselves, but there’s nothing as regular inside.

‘I’ve got it, OK?’ Dominic sighs as he fidgets. ‘It’s a simple business deal. We’re there to snap up hot property for sale. But the more we talk about it, the less it feels like it. I know this is your first undercover, but I’ll be doing it in my sleep soon…’

‘I won’t though, will I? And you still look like you’ve never worn those before…’

I flick a bead of water at his battered cargo pants and shirt. He thinks I’m only here because his usual producer’s black and this lot are racist. She’s drilled me at least. That’s why I can get away with being so lippy. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

‘If I get it wrong then we’re both sunk, aren’t we? I know it’s all we’ve been dreaming about but we have to do it for real this time…’

Dominic rolls his eyes, wiping the sweat off his neck before his faded collar stains. Sure, he’s worn the same costume in plenty of war zones – if the state’s news media isn’t in service of its military then no one else would join up either, would they? But Dominic’s far more comfortable in a dark suit, slithering around corridors of power – so slick he’s almost invisible. It’s easy to forget who you’re talking to when he could be any number of people. Journalists eat double dealing, hidden agendas and ulterior motives for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

‘Come on. For me if not for you. What’s our answer if he can’t guarantee she’s still a virgin?’ I draw myself another circle as I say it, glaring at the trees shaking their heads at me in the breeze. We’re about to negotiate with people farming out underage girls for money. Of course we have to pretend to be like them. They’d never believe us otherwise.3