The Jahorina papers

Part 2-2: Destroyed Illusions

Part II: The Nicoleta Mosanu story

Chapter 2. Destroyed illusions.
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Six month's later. Somewhere in Romania at night. A foreign-made van was the only moving vehicle and the only sign of life in the deserted rural area. The small winding road was scarcely visible in the strong dazzling beam, produced by wrongly adjusted headlights. No houses. Only fields, prairies and trees.
Two men were sitting in front. The driver was a corpulent man in his late forties. His colleague was a lot younger, certainly not older than thirty. He was tall and muscled. The square face seamed with scars and the cold expressionless eyes completed his sinister appearance.

On the back seat sat three women. The older one was Nicoleta Mosanu. The others were Melinda and Lilia. Both were not older than 21. Nicoleta had met Lilia just before leaving Balti (* Town in Moldova). Melinda had joined them shortly after they had crossed the Romanian border. A short talk had revealed that they were all supposed to travel to Austria. They hadn’t talked so much so far and the two fellows on the front seats were not very communicative. They were just smoking all the time and the non-smoking girls didn’t have enough courage to complain. They were so exited because their life was going to change. They were right but the change would not be as they expected.

The so long-awaited chance to say goodbye to poverty was becoming reality. They were leaving for the first time their families.

Nicoleta was staring through the window, fixing the hypnotic impenetrable darkness passing by. She was just thinking on her children she had left behind under her sister’s supervision. Taking leave had been painfully and was accompanied with lots of tears. She had also abandoned her husband. No man would ever beat her again! But Boris had not taken that separation for granted. During that period of waiting for the departure signal, she had used a trick to bring her children to her sister's house and to stay with them. Her husband had tried to force her back, but her brother in law made him clear that it would be better for his health not to insist.
For the first time in her life, Nicoleta had planned her own future, and there was no place for Boris neither for any other man.
She promised her sister to send money from Austria. She would also work for her own house and stay abroad as long she didn’t have enough savings to realise her objectives. She was so determined. Her children would enjoy a better live. She would take care of it.

But Nicoleta was not a young innocent girl. Life had been hard, leaving many physical but also psychological scars. Although she wanted to believe in a better future, she had lost trust in people. The two silent individuals in front of her didn’t inspire trust at all, contrary to that young polite guy from the travelling agency who had convinced her to try her luck abroad.
Anything should be okay. She had received her passport with a visa for Serbia but not for Austria. Before getting in the car she had asked why there wasn’t a stamp for Austria but the older man just waved her concern away with a smile.
“Don’t worry. We will have a two days stop in Belgrade in order to get the visa for Austria. It’s all arranged”, he had said. Nicoleta had to accept that clarification.

This was her first travel abroad. She didn’t know anything about immigration politics, visas and human traffic. Let’s continue dreaming! Why worry, finally this travel was arranged by a respectable man working in a respectable public travelling office, so nothing should be wrong.

But doubts started disturbing those beautiful pictures in her mind. Why were they travelling exclusively at night, using only small tracks instead of the much faster and more safely main roads? The place where they had made a stop and where they had slept last night could badly be called a house. It was just a barn, furnished with a few beds covered with dirty mattresses, a table and a broken washbasin!
But who cares, in a few days she would be living in a nice house somewhere in Austria.
She turned around and peeked at the other girls.
Melinda the Romanian girl, nearest to her, was a beauty. She was wearing long, blond hair, bordering a nice looking oval face completed with a little pout, a little tip-tilted nose and blue eyes. She had a slim body but favoured with firm breasts, barely hidden behind a tight yellow sweater. She was wearing tight jeans, accentuating long, slim legs.
Lilia originated from Chisinau (Moldavian’s capital). She was a black long haired good-looking girl, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue Jeans. She had a strong muscled body, accentuated with big breasts and thick legs. She was cute but using too much make-up and mascara, which made her looking much older.
Nicoleta was wondering for what kind of job they had been engaged.

The second night passed and they were still on Romania soil. Daylight was coming up and that sinister man asked the driver, after he had checked his watch:
“Are we getting there in time?” It sounded worried.
“Ten minutes”
Nicoleta was tired and wanted to close her eyes, but hearing the last remark, she guessed that they would stop in a while. She discovered a deserted environment. There were only crops on both sides of the small track. No houses, no traffic.
After a few hundred meters they turned to the left and were now bumping over a bad cart road. They were seriously jolted, but not for too long. After a few hundred meters, she saw a wooden barn being in a miserable state. The roof contained multiple holes while the walls were half rotten and devoured by all kind of insects. After the previous night’s experience, she was afraid that this would be the place for another rest. She was hungry and thirsty, hoping that the two silent individuals would distribute some food and drinks.

Inside the barn they found a similar interior as they already had discovered last day. They were wordless, looking at each other. The creep entered and put just one bottle of water and some chocolate on the table without any comment. His cold eyes were shamelessly scanning their bodies. The women instinctively turned away avoiding those hungry glances. For the first time since they had left, they were afraid.
There were no chairs and they had to use the bed to sit down. Both men went outside. Nicoleta tried to start a conversation.
“What will you do in Austria?”
“Dancing in a real cabaret”, Melinda answered.
“Me too”, confirmed Lilia, “and you?”
“Oh, just painting interiors.”
“Okay”.
The driver interrupted their short conversation and said:
“You should better take a rest. To night we’ll drive at once to Belgrade”
They just had one small travelling case each, stowed away in the trunk.
“The trunk is open, if you need some stuff…”
There were no toilets and they had to find a more or less hidden place behind the barn, somewhere between the long weeds, in order to find a minimum of intimacy.
The bottle of water was quickly emptied but the men didn’t provide another one and they didn’t dare to ask for. They were all exhausted and went to bed.
The two men went outside and the youngest made a call with his mobile phone. Nicoleta heard the long discussion without understanding a word, because the used language was Serbian-Croat. The discussion was still ongoing when she felt asleep.

They continued their trip in the late evening, when the dark had already embraced the area. The women felt dirty, because there had been no way to make one’s toilet. They even didn’t dare change cloths and it was obvious that the younger girls remained close to Nicoleta, instinctively searching for some protection.
The travel continued and the same scenario as the other day was repeated. Nobody said a word. Only the men exchanged from time to time some short opinion concerning a change of road or to damn the bad state of the track. Nicoleta will later find out that the guides were ordered to avoid any contact with the women.
Actually she was now too excited to think rationally, because they would soon cross the Romanian-Serbian border. That night, the women didn’t talk to each other. They seemed afraid to ask some questions, as they felt already that something was going wrong. Why driving at night, avoiding any traffic source in using dangerous field roads?
At the border, the younger guy left the car after he had collected their passports and he disappeared for a while in the customs office. He left that office ten minutes later with a satisfied smile on his ugly face. He nodded in the driver’s direction and returned the passes without any word. The travel continued direction Belgrade, where they arrived a few hours later.

There was no stop in the capital. The sun was already coming up and Nicoleta was convinced that they would stop somewhere outside the town. She was right. After a while they reached a big white house, a few hundred meters off the main road along a small field track. They stopped on the broad parking in front of the property. It could not be seen from the road, hidden by a stretch of woods.
“We will stay here for a couple of days, so take your luggage,” barked the creep. They obeyed wordless and followed him to the house. The door opened and a young woman welcomed the newcomers.
“Is Igor there?” asked the older one.
“Yes, he’s waiting inside for you. You’re on time.”

She turned towards the women and asked:
“Did you have a good trip?”
“Yes, thanks” answered Nicoleta, who felt relieved seeing a young woman speaking her language.
“My name is Tania. Follow me, I’ll show you your room.” They entered the hall of the house and followed Tania upstairs, using the broad winding stairs. On the first floor, their hostess brought them in a comfortable room, well furnished with three beds and an equal number of wardrobes. Nicoleta immediately discovered the bathroom. The bad travelling conditions were forgotten for a while. Everything would be okay, she thought.
Tania was a young Moldavian beauty with that typical long black hair. She could be no older than 25. She had a lovely figure, exposed by the scarcely cloths she was wearing. The red ultra miniskirt hardly covered the underwear and she obviously wasn’t wearing a bra.
“You had a long trip, so you can take all the time to recover, take a shower, have some rest and prepare for dinner. I’ll let you alone, but be ready at 12 o’clock”, Tania clarified with a mechanical voice their situation in a matter-of-fact tone.
The beds were covered with clean sheets. The bathroom was huge and fully equipped. The women forgot their doubts and started laughing and talking. Nicoleta remained rather distant. She was looking around, happy but not convinced that the luck was finally destined for her. Was this awaiting her in Austria?

They used the bathroom in rotation and changed their sour smelling cloths. They became also chatty and exchanged for the first time information about the way they got involved in this adventure. Their experiences were similar and their destination seemed to be the same: Vienna in Austria. Nicoleta didn’t tell about her preparation and her former life, but the girls were enthusiast. Melinda and Lilia had both worked in a bar, the better word for brothel, as a pole dancer, but the earnings were not so positive. Lilia had visited an agency after have read an advertisement in a newspaper. Melinda had visited a similar office on advice of one of her former customers.
They were enjoying every moment.
At noon, Tania appeared again, dressed in the same outfit.
“Okay, ladies, we will have dinner together and I will tell you what will happen during the next few days.”
“Are we going to stay overnight?” asked Nicoleta.
“Maybe, we’re waiting for confirmation by phone call...” The answer was everything but reassuring. The announcement made Nicoleta wondering where the two creeps were and she hoped that they had disappeared for ever. Her wish would be satisfied, but not as she had imagined.

They went downstairs and entered a huge diner room. Nicoleta concluded that this house must have been a hotel in another decade, because there were no signs of other guests.
The dinner was excellent and all problems were brushed away. The dream was going on, becoming reality. But the awakening was so close…
“I have good and bad news” Tania suddenly said, during the dessert. They had been enjoying some sweet cake made in Belgrade but the tree women immediately stopped eating, facing their hostess in growing terror, expecting the worse announcement they could imagine: have to return.
“We got the phone call from Austria and we were informed that the vacancies are not available anymore.”
The dream came to its final stage. The cake didn’t taste anymore.
“But we are a serious company, so we already have made arrangements.” Tania continued.
“And that’s the good news: the solution we are proposing you may finally be more profitable!” she said grinning.
She could literally see the question marks appearing in their terrorised eyes.
“What do you mean?” Nicoleta asked after a short reflection.
“You know Kosovo? The war is over and the country is actually controlled by UN troops. Dozens of International organisations operate there and will probably stay for a long time. All those Internationals are earning big salaries and they all need help. They need cooks, cleaning woman, painters for their offices and apartments …”
“Where should that be?”
“Mitrovica, this is located in the Northern part of Kosovo. It is also a Serb area…”
“But we don’t speak the language!”
“That’s not a problem. In fact, you’ll have to learn some English, which is the language all Internationals speak.
Don’t forget, in a few months you’ll have collected enough money to return wealthy to your families”
“Will we do the same work as we would have done in Austria?” Nicoleta was really concerned. She knew about Kosovo and she also understood that after any war there’s only chaos left. She didn’t think that working in those areas was a good idea.
“Yes and much better paid for sure” Tania replied quickly.
“And if we don’t accept your offer?”
“Oh, you don’t have to. You’re free to refuse and to go back to the misery you wanted to leave! But you have to understand that you’ll be on your own. You will have to pay for your travel back. We do not have any shuttle available to return people home. Keep in mind that we already spent a lot of money in order to prepare your documents and transport. We voluntary agreed to bear those costs, because they would normally be paid back by our Austrian contact Agency. Unfortunately, in this case we’ll loose our investment.”
Everything was clear. Although nobody forced them to continue the adventure, they had to. Without money to pay the trip back there’s no alternative.
“Are you sure we’ll get a job in Mitrovica?” asked Nicoleta again. She was hesitating and wanted confirmation for that promised job. The other girls were speechless and they had accepted Nicoleta as their spokeswoman.
“Don’t be worry. As I already told you, the Internationals will need your support.” Nicoleta didn’t notice that suggestive undertone in the last remark.

During the rest of the day, they were free. They relaxed in their room, but they didn’t feel comfortable neither were they reassured. Nicoleta tried to be positive, but she was not so happy with the actual situation. But what else could they do? They were prisoners in a foreign country. They had left poverty, promised heaven and wealth to their families. What a shame to go back with empty hands. No way. They had to go on.

They didn’t stay a few days as was said.
In the late afternoon, Tania told them that a new phone call had again changed plans and that they had to be prepared in order to leave in the early evening with other guides.
Another team, another van and another destination.

The young driver was dressed in a black leather suit. He didn’t speak Romanian. His partner was wearing a blue jeans combined with a white T-shirt and he just knew a few Romanian words. He was a good looking guy with almost female delicate features.
They formed the new team which picked up the tree women. The younger one stowed the luggage in the trunk and they drove off without having any conversation. Tania stood in the doorway with a forced grin on her face, waving goodbye. That was part of her job, reassuring newcomers.
The two men were smoking all the time while loud telling dirty jokes, from time to time exuberantly laughing. Although the girls didn’t understand, they could guess the nature of their jokes. The men didn’t bother about their passengers and they just respected the rules of the contract. They were paid for it.
They drove the whole night and arrived in the early morning in Mitrovica. The scars of war were still visible. They encountered a lot of French and British military KFOR vehicles. Soldiers were everywhere, heavy armed and dressed in flag jackets and helmets.
Was this the Promised Land where the money could be gathered so easily? The van left the main road, driving up to the outskirts of the town. Ten minutes later, the young playboy type turned around with a dirty smile on his face.
“There we are, ladies…” The car had stopped in front of a two store high, small building. Nicoleta discovered a board above the entrance, fastened with two small chains on a metallic bar and flapping in the wind. The words were written in Cyrillic, but her Country had once belonged to Russia. During that period she had learned the Russian language including the Cyrillic alphabet.
She was not stupid and she understood immediately. On that very moment she knew that the entrance to that building was not the gate leading to the paradise. The name on that board didn’t need further explanation: “Erotic Bar”
This was a bar.
This was nothing else than a brothel.