tim ballard, the best man. in charge of the money.arcus is a local tout who has been backing that he can arrange anything. >> what do we got? >> we got some new chickens? >> yeah, what it is, i got six chickens. >> reporter: obviously they're not talking poultry. they're after girls for the big party and the younger, the better. but they have to speak in code because what they're looking to do, hire underage prostitutes, is illegal here. marcus tells them to be careful. >> it's illegal. you can go to prison for that [ bleep ]. >> reporter: that's not to say he's unwilling to provide, if the price is right. >> okay, of the girls that we already have that are sure, how many of them are actually minors? >> we have -- >> seriously minors, i've got -- >> yeah. >> nine. >> what ages? >> i've got between 15 -- i got -- i got one 13, between 13 and 16 years old, i got. i've got one that's 13 right now. >> this is a colombian operation, i want to make that very clear. >> reporter: in truth, tim ballard doesn't want to buy these girls for sex.

earlier i spoke with laurie holden and the man who planned the operation, former cia agent tim ballardd the team behind operation underground railroad tells their story. >> laurie, i understand that you got involved in this, partially, at least, because of the writers' guild strike in about 2008, i think, where i and others were out there on the picket line, my union. and you found something worth doing at that time that the, since actors were mostly out of work because production had shut down. >> yes. during the writers' strike in 2008, i volunteered to work in south africa in crush, which is a day care center for hiv orphans. many of the children who had hiv had been raped, because there was a myth that if you have sex with a virgin, you'll be cured of aids. so-so many of these children, and i mean they were young really young. had hiv because they had been raped. and it just, you can imagine, i spent months of my life with them, taking care of them every day, and i, i was so, my heart just broke, and it kind of changed everything for me forever, and i went back to the united states

. >> reporter: tim ballard has one mission, to track down child traffickers. ago he was awent on tips that children were being sold. >> within a half hour an individual walks up to me asking what i hear, what i want, and within minutes he said i've got kids as young as 11 years old. >> reporter: ballard, a former homeland security agent now heads up operation underground railroad, a nonprofit group that rescues trafficked kids. after that first meeting colombia asked him to put up a sting. underground operation railroad spent months planning, rigging this house, putting in hidden cameras and negotiating. >> what they do is lure them in pretending to have a modeling agency. they target them at age 10 or 9 or 10 years old and by 11 they're ready for sex. >> reporter: what is it like? >> it's horrifying. giebt a smile in the face of evil. >> reporter: less than 24 hours after the operatives landed, the suspected traffickers arrived on the island and the final deal with the undercover teen began. 54 boys and girls aged 11 to 18 were ushered in for what had been bi

. >> tim ballard has one mission, to track down child traffickers.hs ago colombian authorities asked him to investigate a tip that children were being sold there as sex slaves. >> within half hour, this individual walks up to me and starts asking me what i'm here for, what i want, and within minutes he says, "well, i've got kids as young as 11 years old." >> reporter: ballard, a former homeland security agent, now heads up operation underground railroad, a non-profit group that rescues trafficked kids. after that first meeting, the colombians asked him to put together a sting. >> no men will be in here, only women. >> reporter: operation underground railroad spent months planning, renting this house, rigging it with hidden cameras to document the crimes, coordinating with columbian authorities and negotiating. he how they find these kids is they lure them in by pretending to have a modeling agency. they target them at nine or ten years old. they say by 11 they're ready for sex, they're ready to be sold. >> reporter: what is it like looking into that