by R Arundel
“This is the way to the side alley, out through the houses.”
“Matthew,” says Sarah.
Matthew pulls Kevin to follow. They run and hear the sound of men coming from the side they were going to take.
“Kevin, which way out?” says Matthew.
“Follow me.”
Kevin hears bullets piercing the wooden pole to their side. The alley is deserted and the men spot Kevin. They all begin to run at full speed. Kevin leads them through an alley and into an old factory. The pursuers follow easily and close the gap.
The street is busy. The men put away their guns and nobody seems particularly concerned about three men trying to catch a group of Americans. As soon as Sarah, Matthew, and Kevin enter the warehouse, they hide on the second floor behind some old wooden crates. From here they have an excellent view of the entrance. The men in pursuit are much closer than they had imagined. They pull out their guns and begin to talk.
“Which way out?” says Matthew.
“The only way out is the way we came in. They won’t know that and we can make a break for it.”
Kevin, Matthew, and Sarah huddle in silence. The uneven floor has wide wooden planks. The factory stinks of what smells like old shoe leather and decaying meat. Crates are stacked haphazardly. Some old barrels have fallen, their contents dried on the floor.
Matthew begins to feel a pit deep in his stomach. If these men have any intelligence, they will send one in while their eyes get accustomed to the dark and keep the other by the door to call in reinforcements. As if the men are reading his mind, they act. He sees two men enter the building. The third man goes around the side of the building to check for any exits. One stands guard at the entrance. The other begins a systematic search. Matthew knows they have very little time. As soon as the third man walks around the building, he will come in and tell the others there are no exits. At that point they can be sure that there is no way out. All the thugs have to do is guard the door and eventually they will flush them out. Matthew, Sarah, and Kevin have to make a move before the third man walks around the building.
One man begins to methodically check out the lower level. He gently prods boxes. The small broken windows on the second floor let in some light. Old cigarette butts litter the floor. He shoots at large wooden carts and kicks them. He lays down to look under machines. Very methodical and deliberate. The man is in no hurry. He is a small wiry man wearing a cheap dark suit. It hangs loosely from his body. His manner, however, is relaxed. When he clears the first floor, he calls out to his partner. He walks up the stairs to the second floor.
“Any other way out?” says Matthew. He sees a six-inch black hairy spider crawling along the wooden beam on the ceiling. The small insect it follows is blissfully unaware.
“That door is the only way out.”
The man is seconds from reaching them. Matthew picks up a piece of sharp stick from a broken crate. The man stops. He tilts his head up, then moves it from side to side. He seems to be trying to smell them. He looks like a wolf getting the scent of his prey.
Sarah whispers, “There is a window across there.” She points to a large window about six feet away. It is in the open. The man will see them instantly. There is no chance to escape.
“Do you think you can take him with the stick?” says Kevin.
Matthew resists the urge to laugh. The man moves with short fluid steps. He clears each area with his eyes and is methodical. He is a professional. He will cut them all to pieces before Matthew raises his stick. Matthew is sure the man will soon realize this is the only hiding spot. He can fire a few shots into the crate, hitting at least one of them . Any survivors will scream.
Kevin says, “There is a garbage bin below that window. It should be full.”
Sarah asks, “What day is garbage day?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do we know it’s full?”
“We don’t.”
Matthew thinks. “A twenty-foot free fall into a bin of garbage.”
Kevin says, “Or a twenty-foot free fall into a metal bin if it’s empty.”
“And someone firing away from above.”
”Don’t forget the third man walking around the building,” says Sarah.
“On three, run for the window and jump,” says Matthew. “Keep running.”
Sarah asks, “What about you?”
Matthew counts. “One, two, three.”
He leaps forward and swings the stick. His blow glances the man’s arm, and the man’s weapon fires wide. Crash! Kevin is first through the window with Sarah close behind. Matthew follows. The second man downstairs does not follow as expected to help his partner; he runs out of the building. Sarah, Matthew, Kevin are all covered in foul restaurant waste. They are out of the bin and running hard when they hear the shots. The third man has completed his perimeter walk and is hurrying back to the entrance. He joins the two others.
Matthew, Sarah, and Kevin get to the bridge over the river on the far side of the park. People begin to scream as the men draw their weapons on the street and open fire. The weapons have silencers, so people are not sure what is happening. Matthew hears the vegetable fruit stand explode from one of the gunshots. Matthew, Sarah, and Kevin run to the bridge. The water is sixty feet below. A dark foam skims the surface.
They look like three synchro divers, head first and hands out in front. As they dive through the air, Matthew remembers his trauma training. Feet first the first time. They are all diving in head first. If the water is shallow they will all breaks their necks. They penetrate the surface of the water. The sound of bullets hitting the water is loud.
The water is deep. Sarah feels a bullet pass close by, so she kicks her feet to go deeper. The water is cold and dark. The silence is only punctuated by the bullets. She cannot see the others. Sarah begins to surface and swims toward the far shore. When Sarah gets to the other side, she sprints away. She is followed by Matthew, then Kevin. Bullets are fired all around them. People in the park begin to scream and run in every direction. Sarah sees a young mother grab her toddler and run for cover.
The men pursuing them did not jump into the river and people are now filling the road. The men holster their weapons. Someone has called the police, and sirens are now blaring. The three men separate and dissolve into the crowd.
Sarah and Matthew run quickly. They stop because Kevin falters. He holds his abdomen.
Kevin says, “Go, I know my way out of the city. I suspect there are plenty more where they came from.”
Matthew and Sarah run back to help him. They see blood pouring between his fingers. Soon they are in a cab. The cab driver looks warily at Kevin’s bleeding abdomen.
Sarah pulls out the equivalent of half a year’s salary. “Do you know a cheap hotel where they don’t ask questions?”
The man’s eyes light up as he looks at the money. He takes a second look at Kevin. He grabs the money and drives off.
The hotel owner seems not to notice or care that Kevin is bleeding. The cabby did a good job. Anything can be bought or sold here. As long as the price is correct. Matthew has put pressure on the wound. A bullet to the belly. One of the slow, painful ways to die. They are all physicians; they all know it without saying a word.
Matthew whispers to Sarah, “At least Kevin is conscious.”
Kevin speaks. “Manhattan State Bank, on Fifth and Forty-Ninth, I have a safe deposit box. My code is 030405, the box is 24344. The key is in my left pocket.”
Matthew reaches into Kevin’ pocket and takes the key. It is covered in thick, clotted blood.
“When you get back to the States, give the contents to Shelley, my ex-wife. I have a son. Tell her to live well. She didn’t deserve me.”
Sarah says, “You’ll tell her yourself.”
Matthew puts the key in his pocket and commits the information to memory. Kevin is not long for this world.
“Whoever is behind this, my boss, he’s a genius. As dark as the night, but a genius nev
ertheless. Assume he knows where you are and what you know. Thanks for getting me this far. Leave now.”
Matthew and Sarah go to the other room. After a brief discussion, Sarah leaves. She returns a short while later with some clean white towels, syringes, needles, a dark brown bottle, and two vials of white liquid. In her other hand, she has some crude surgical instruments.
She asks, “How is he?”
“He’s in and out of consciousness.”
Sarah says, “We’re too late?”
Matthew looks at the crude surgical instruments. “Are they at least sterile?”
“Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“That’s what the man said when I asked the same question.”
“Great.” Matthew washes his hands and begins to arrange the instruments. Sarah prepares the bed to be an operating room table. She now has to give a manual anesthetic, no computer assist. She has to inject the medicine herself. Too much and she will kill Kevin in his weakened state. Too little and he will scream in pain and move during the surgery. There will be no chance for Matthew to perform the delicate procedure. She has to monitor Kevin’s vital signs. Feel his pulse, look at his skin. Check his breathing. All with none of the machines that make those tasks easy.
Sarah has done well. In a relatively short time, Matthew has the basic tools to try and save Kevin’s life. He wastes no time in cutting open his abdomen. The bullet has sliced through Jason’s colon. Matthew delicately moves the tissue away to see the position of the bullet. He is about to make one more sweep with his clamp when he stops. The bullet has lodged right beside the large artery that supplies blood to the organs in the belly.
What should he do? If he moves the bullet, it might tear the vessel open, nor can he get above and below the artery. He will not be able to stop the bleeding. The location of the bullet is such that only one part of the artery is visible. If he loses control of the vessel . . . Professor’s Rule Two: Bleeding you can hear. Matthew looks at his hands. They seemed steady. He looks again. Definitely no tremor. The thought of the last patient who had a difficult vessel floods into his mind. Is he going to kill Kevin like he killed the transplant patient Mr. Glock brought him?
Here it is even more difficult because he has no robotic assistance. He has no choice. If he doesn’t remove the bullet, it will erode through the vessel and Kevin will bleed to death. But at least he wouldn’t die from my hand, Matthew thinks.
Matthew is fixed over the abdomen. Sarah watches him intently. It is clear he has a decision to make. Matthew begins to remove the bullet. Very slowly and with great care. By fractions of an inch, he nudges the bullet from its location. It teases out. Silence. No bleeding. He has done it. He tosses the bullet into the metal garbage can, where it makes a loud clang.
Sarah laughs. “That’s the sound I like to hear.”
“Much better than the last time I had to do this sort of thing.”
The tension lifts and the mood brightens. Matthew closes the abdomen. The suture is very coarse, so the scar will not be optimal.
Matthew says, “We’re done.”
Sarah injects Kevin with an antibiotic. He wakes in a short time and is lucid, but he is ghost white.
Matthew tells him, “We’ve paid for the room for one week. The manager’s agreed to bring food three times a day.”
Sarah adds, “Take these: one a day.”
The antibiotic will hopefully prevent infection. They operated without sterile conditions or proper instrumentation. If the blood loss doesn’t get him, the infection could. Kevin has a slim chance of surviving the next twenty-four hours. Even if he does survive, he has to hope the owner of the hotel doesn’t give him up. How much would his pursuer pay for the knowledge Kevin has? Can they really expect the owner of that hotel to keep his word, live by his honor?
Matthew says, “If all goes well, you will be able to leave here in five days. Leave as soon as you are able. Whoever is hunting us will know you were hit and will be counting on us hanging around.”
With that Sarah and Matthew leave immediately.
Liam had outlined in detail their exit plans before he went back to the United States. He had obtained false passports for both of them and paid a local gang to arrange Sarah and Matthew’s exit. Sarah will be able to use the false passport at a private airstrip and follow the escape route Liam had planned. Matthew, on the other hand, has a big problem. He is now too hot. By the time Matthew arrives at the extraction point, the gang members tell him that false documents will be of no use. His photo is all over the local news and in every law enforcement agency data bank. The US government has labeled him an international fugitive. A generous reward will be given to anyone with any information on his whereabouts. Worse yet, they have heard that a rival gang has been contacted to find and kill Matthew. Probably some of the men who had chased them earlier.
The people helping Matthew are experienced at moving things in and out of Macau. He has to trust their improvised plan. His fear is that he will be sold out. They will take the money Liam has already paid them, and then take another sum for turning him over to the rival gang or take the government reward.
Sarah and Matthew ride in the back of a dirty cargo van.
Sarah says, “This van stinks of something rotten.”
“I think it’s dead fish.”
“Good thing it’s too dark to really see what’s on the floor.”
“At least they got a plan to get us both out.”
“I don’t like leaving you behind. We came together—we should leave together.”
“I’ll be fine. They’re dropping you at the airstrip. You’ll be home in no time.”
“Do you have any idea how they’re planning to get you home?”
“They are making it up as they go now. At this point they probably don’t know. I just have to trust.”
Matthew puts his foot down on something soft and squishy. A foul gas fills the cargo hold. “I think it’s time for you to stay in the safe house.”
“What?”
“When you get home, go to the safe house in New York. You’re going to stay there for the rest of this thing.”
“Really? And who said you get to give me orders?”
“It’s just too dangerous now. No matter what we’re uncovering.”
“Last time I checked, I’m an adult. I get to do what I want.”
“Sarah, I have no right to involve you any further.”
“I’m in it to the end.”
“Please, Sarah, I’m afraid for you. Please go to the house and wait.”
“We’re all afraid. We still have to do our jobs.”
Matthew mutters, “The heart bleeds the worst.”
“What?”
“The heart bleeds the worst. Someone said that to me a long time ago. It didn’t make sense, not until now.”
“Look, I understand how you feel. I’m scared too. But you don’t really know me, not all of me anyway. I make my own choices.”
“I got you into this. It’s a lot more complicated now.”
“I get it.”
“Sarah, this thing is deep. The face of the former Secretary of Defense, George H. Brown, was in that canister. He was supposed to have died in a climbing accident on Karakatura. That’s how Quentin Taylor got sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense.”
“We were going to put the head of the Secretary of Defense on someone?”
“Precisely. We thought we were transplanting some thug who wanted to conceal his identity. No, the face in that canister was the key.”
“It was the face of the Secretary of Defense.”
“This thing is big. I’m not risking your life.”
“It’s my life. I choose how I live.”
“That could have been you—you could have been shot instead of Kevin.”
“But I wasn’t.”
Matthew hugs Sarah tightly. “ I won’t take that chance. I won’t let that happen to you. Not even to find Tom’s killer.”
Sarah looks at his glassy eyes. His voice sounds thick. She is about to say something, but she stops. They embrace tightly.
“I am asking you, please, just go back to the safe house. Just wait for my call. When I get back, I can transplant back to Steven Jardine and do some more digging.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The cargo ship container Matthew is in had been used many times for this purpose. He spends his time sleeping and thinking. They bring meals three times a day. The food is from the crew’s rations and is surprisingly tasty. Probably a little heavy on the salt, but in his position, Matthew will be lucky to live long enough for high salt intake to be a problem. Maybe the crew knows the food is salty because they bring large jugs of water with each meal. Matthew’s thoughts wander from Sarah to who is after them, to George H. Brown, to the new Secretary of Defense, Quentin Taylor. He wonders if Jason is even close to tracking him. He wonders if he made the right decision to ask Sarah to stand down. She was proving to be very useful, but it is now too dangerous. He can’t keep risking everyone’s life. He senses that even if he tries to walk away, he will not be allowed to. He knows too much. The mastermind will have no choice now but to eliminate him. But Sarah can move on.
Matthew, Kofi, and Liam can handle the rest of the investigation wherever it leads.
The cargo ship finally puts Matthew ashore. At around two a.m., he is told he is on US soil. He leaves the cargo container and is greeted by two characters. What is the best word for them, he can’t decide: characters or caricatures? Jim Bob and Bean have been assigned to drive him in the back of their transport truck to Palo Alto. Liam and Kofi will be there to meet him.
Matthew, “Where are we?”
Jim Bob has a short crew cut and a large round tummy. His jeans rest comfortably below it. His complexion is ruddy, with some broken blood vessels on his nose.
“We’re in the US of A, fella.”
Bean is his associate; he is short and thin. His eyes dart back and forth. They make a comical pair. Matthew hops in the back of the truck and away they go.
Matthew hears a lot of classic rock blaring from the front of the truck. Bean seems to like old country. They constantly bicker over the radio station.