• The door to the cabin creaked open, sending the young woman jumping away from the window with a start. A dainty little blond glided in, a tray in her hands. "Hello Miss! My name is Vivian. I'll be taking care of you till we are in port!" Her smile seemed honest enough, but her hands shook, sending the tray and its contants skitterring across the little table in the corner. Dusk moved to the bed, and watched the other woman with a hard eye.
    "Where am I?" She demanded, her anger underlinning her words. Vivian glanced at her over her shoulder,her big blue eyes looking even more upset than she had been when she had first entered the room. "You are the the 'Alexandria'. We're bound for France, then we are on to Russia."
    Confusion flooded Dusk as the other girl dashed out of the room once more. Russia? What the heck was in RUSSIA? The illegal teenage sex trade. That was in the Russia. Crap. No, She didn't want to get raped and doped up by some faceless man in some cold country. A whimper slipped from her mouth as she sank down against the wall of the room. No, no, how could I have gotten into this? How? She already know how. She had to work late. She had wanted the extra hours. She had wanted to go and try for that bloody raise. Thats how. Gods damn it all! Shaking from head to toe, she spared a glance at the tray Vivian had dropped off. Cheese and bread. A tall glass of what looked like water. Something inside her seemed to snap. Something that had seemed to be dormit for a long long time. The will to live. The will to fight. The will to force herself to survive through what ever was going to happen next and escape and run to the nearest person to help her.
    Night came fast upon the 'Alexandria'. Inside the little room, Dusk sat on the opposite side of a chess board. The ships captain sat on the other side. They had been in a war of witts for the past half hour. An open bottle of wine sat next to a plate of cheese. Neither had been able to over take the other, but the battle was a good one. "You are vera good at zis mizz Duzk. I haz neva had such a vera hard game before." His accent was thickly Russian and his thick black mustache only added to the ombiance.
    Nodding silently, she moved her pawn to capture his open knight. "I want to know something." The captain nodded, touching his pipe to his Queen. "Why are you taking me to Russia?" The night became so silent and thick that even the seagulls were silent. "There iz no real rezon zat I know of. All I know iz zat there iz a vera young man azking about you. Hiz father haz ordered you to be brought to him. I am only the mezanger zittle one." He murmured, moving his own pawn to take one of her own. "But I zu know zis zittle vone. He iz an honorable man. Hiz son vould neva allow anyzing to happen to you. And neathir vill I." His smilled, and a feeling of ease seemed to flood through the girl. Smilling back she nodded, calmly moving her knight. "Checkmate." She laughed as the other burst into curses in Russian. This was going to be a rather interesting trip. And hopefully she would be able to get home without missing anything very important to me and also find out who the heck this man and his son were.