Batya placed her hand on her heart to still it. With all her reporting, she hadn’t really told how bad it was. She had been unable to express the feelings on the ship, when she’d wake from a stupor as more men mauled her nipples and kneaded her flesh; how their rough-skinned hands pawed her and how they tore into her small body while she screamed, only to be beaten for crying. She recalled, but had not spoken of, passing out, only to wake to that throbbing pain deep in her gut, that burning below, that degradation of the person she had once been. She had reported wishing to die, to follow Shayna into the ocean, but not her frustration at hearing the ocean’s blessed roar just outside the steel walls, out of her reach.

That roar suddenly filled her head, and the world shifted. Batya stumbled.

Sergio caught and steadied her. “Are you all right?”

“No.” She took in a deep breath. “And I won’t be until I’m out of here.” She took a tentative step forward.

His hand still held her arm. “You understand why I can’t be one of those men in your chamber?”

She glanced at him and was astonished to see his reddened eyes. She took another step and then, feeling secure on her feet, marched on.

Sergio’s tone was soft when he spoke again. “Your testimony will be a great service for the entire Jewish community.”

“Was that a testimony? I thought that it would take place in a courtroom.”

“In a courtroom you’d be exposed.”

And murdered by nightfall. She snorted. “What will Señor Ramos do with what I’ve said? Prostitution is legal.”

“Prostitution may be legal, but not kidnapping and enslavement, nor is the use of brutal force. And corruption of officials is definitely against the law.”

“Zwi Migdal has spies everywhere. Moskowitz will find out what you’re doing—what I’m doing—”

“Very few people know about this investigation. Our cover—training for competitions—is good. I promise.” As he had done before, he raised his hand, his fingers split into two pairs, like a biblical Jewish priest. “In the meantime, I have news to cheer you up: your sister Keyla is making the journey to join your family.”

“By train?”

“There’s no train in Siberia. She’s probably traveling by various coaches across the endless steppes, over rivers and through forests and swamps.” He paused. “It might be shorter to travel the other direction, through Shanghai, but not less complicated and grueling.”

A surge of worry swept over Batya. “She’s a woman alone. Can’t your Baron do something?”