by Day, P. J.
“You fool,” I yelled, as his contorted body laid on the resident’s rusted barbell. “I told you it was slippery.”
“Fuck, my back,” he said, as he slowly lifted his upper torso from the cracked, leather bench.
A muffled voice from inside the house began yelling. “Come on, we were supposed to be inconspicuous,” I said.
I reached down and helped Milton back up onto the roof. He dusted himself off and we continued to cross the rooftops under the cover of the morning darkness, this time, a little bit more carefully.
We stopped and hid behind a large smoke stack, which stuck out from the roof like warship’s cannon. An old lady across the street stepped out on her balcony for an early morning smoke. Milton cocked his neck and pointed toward a thin, two story home, with hanging planters, and red shingles three houses ahead. “That is where Hu lives. Trust me, he’s amazing. We’ll bust through the door in the balcony which leads to his room. He smokes a ton of pot; hopefully, he’ll be so high he’ll just let us do whatever we ask.”
The old lady, dressed in only a robe and slippers, leaned over the railing watching the cars pass by on their early morning commutes. Two soldiers with AK-47 rifles hanging on their shoulders walked past her house. One of them stopped and looked up at her. He held up the same flier Kai had brought up in the mountain.
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
“He’s asking if she’s seen any of the people on the flier.”
The old lady shook her head and the soldier lowered the flier. The other soldier, who looked rather emaciated and no more than 140 pounds soaking wet, asked her another question.
“Come on, Milton, I need some play by play,” I anxiously said, peering from behind the chimney.
“He asked her to keep on the lookout for suspicious, pale, nocturnal men.”
“They really are sweeping Guilin City, aren’t they?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Milton.
The old lady flicked her butt toward the street below and retreated into her bedroom. The soldiers continued on their beat, looking in between alleyways and peering inside residents’ windows. I stood still and the morning sun began to illuminate the concrete streets and buildings of the city.
“Come on, let’s go,” said Milton, as he scaled the rooftops in front of him, effortlessly and nimbly landing on the lady smoker’s home. I followed him onto Hu’s rooftop, which had a ten-foot-tall parabolic antenna. We slipped into the balcony, which was rather unkempt. Styrofoam containers were strewn about the floor. Empty cans from coconut juice were lined up on the balcony’s edge.
Milton slowly rotated the doorknob to Hu’s room. “It’s open,” he gleefully said.
We walked in. Hu’s room was a disaster. More Styrofoam containers, this time with nasty old noodles sitting inside them, more cans, dirty clothes, and of course, Hu snoring away on his stained mattress, which had no linens to speak of.
Milton and I took off our masks. Milton kicked Hu in his lower back, startling him from his slumber.
“Hey...whoa, whoa,” he said, as he went from agitation into a state of panic. “Wait, Milton...please, I...I was going to pay you this weekend, no need to bring your sword.”
Hu was skinny, but had a small protruding gut. He had a full head of nappy dreadlocks, and a wispy goatee. His teeth were exceedingly yellow and looked like they were on the verge of decay.
“Oh, this thing?” Milton said, grabbing the handle of his sword which was tied to his back. “I wouldn’t use it on your pathetic, deadbeat bag of meat.”
Hu rubbed his eyes and squinted at me. “Hey, you’re that guy the news has been talking about.”
Milton looked at me and smiled, “You’re famous, Jack.”
Great, it looked like all of Southern China knew what I looked like, based on a shitty drawing.
I turned to Milton. “I’m sorry but that picture looks nothing like me, they gave me a double chin. I don’t have a double chin.”
“It’s okay, Jack, we all know you’re good-looking,” Milton said, facetiously.
“You’re not here for my money? asked Hu.
“No. We need you to tap into all the security cameras around Guilin City. We are looking for some friends who have gone missing.”
Hu stood up and was only wearing a pair of black underwear. He picked up a joint from his nightstand and began lighting it. “I don’t know, Milton. If the government finds out I’m hacking into the city’s surveillance cameras and aiding you freaks, I’ll be imprisoned. Or you can, you know? Forgive my debt?”
Milton smiled, realizing the morning sun was minutes away from rising, he gave into Hu’s suggestion. “Debt forgiven, but you still know those students from the exchange at UCLA?” Milton asked.
“Yeah, what about them?” Hu took a long deep toke from his joint.
“Jack here has given me an address to something I need to get my hands on, think they’d be up for the task?”
“They do need to pay off their loans,” Hu said, raising his joint at us.
“We’ll talk details later, you just need to prep them for their next job,” Milton said.
“No problem,” Hu said.
“Can you tell us a little about your setup?” asked Milton.
“With the system I have set up, you can see everything,” Hu said, proudly. Hu put on a black robe and led us down the stairs and into his living room. He had large gray receivers stacked up on top of each other against one of the walls. A stack of old 9-inch Philips and Magnavox screens sat, in a pyramid formation, on top of an old wooden table. With one flick of a switch, all ten screens immediately turned on, initially showing static. Hu began rotating a knob on one of the receivers and coherent images began to appear on the screens. “Just keep turning this knob to get the frequencies from a different set of cameras. I need to get ready for work,” he said. “Have fun, guys.”
Hu ran upstairs, presumably to get ready for another day at the university. Milton and I grabbed a couple of chairs and sat in front of the cameras. “Let’s see, Binjiang is empty, not a soul on Nanhuan, Putuo, the Ximen Bridge, also no one. Zhongshan, too,” Milton said, as he scrolled through the cameras. “Jack, keep on an eye on those screens,” he said, pointing to the stack on the right-hand side.
“How many cameras does the city have?” I asked Milton.
“There are over a thousand active security cameras in Guilin City. We are under constant surveillance. Most of the residents are used to it or unaware,” remarked Hu, walking down the stairs while buttoning his shirt.
“When was the last time you were looking at these cameras?” asked Milton.
“Yesterday afternoon, why?”
“Did you happen to see a Chinese woman with a blonde woman and a scruffy, slightly overweight white guy?” asked Milton.
“Was the white woman very pretty?”
“Yes, of course,” I said.
“Was she wearing a gray sweater and black tight yoga pants?” asked Hu.
“That’s her, where did you see her? Was she with someone?” I asked.
“Nope, all alone,” said Hu. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“No, well...it’s complicated,” I said.
“Good job,” Hu said, giving me a fraternal punch to the chest.
“In all seriousness, you need to tell me where you saw her,” I asked.
“There is a campground on the north outskirts of the city. There is a camera right outside one of the bathrooms where the female campers can take showers and freshen up. I love that camera because there is a small window where you can peek into the showers if you focus in with the camera,” Hu said with glee.
“You’re a sick pervert, you know that,” remarked Milton.
“Technology is powerful, my friend,” said Hu with a smile.
“We must go there now,” I said to Milton.
“No, we will wait until sundown, we can keep an eye on the campground,” said Milton.
“You can stay here then,”
I said. “I’ll just go by myself.”
“Jack...”
“Listen, I will go get them. Their faces are plastered all over Guilin City, it’s just a matter of time before someone finds them,” I said.
“Are you kidding me, Jack? There are patrols everywhere in the city. The daylight is too risky, not only because it will fry you, but it will also be easier for them to recognize you in the daytime.”
I looked at Hu with an intense gaze. “Do you have a car, a motorcycle...anything I can use to drive there?”
“I have a scooter in the garage,” he said.
“Let me use it?” I asked.
“Um...no,” he said.
Milton scowled at Hu. Hu drew down his eyes in submission. “Fine, the keys are on the counter behind me,” Hu said. Hu looked at Milton, “Your friend better take care of my scooter, it’s the only transportation I have. I am not going to take the bus to work. People give me weird stares.”
“It’s because you look like a stupid pothead,” said Milton.
I grabbed the keys and bolted toward the stairs that led down to the garage. Milton didn’t put up any resistance as he let me go without a challenge. “Jack?” he said loudly, immediately garnering my attention.
“Yeah,” I responded, halfway down the steps.
“I’ll keep an eye out for you. We’ll join you at the campground once Lucretius and Kai finish scouting the area and meet us here...be careful.”
I nodded my head and ran down the steps toward the garage.
I grabbed Hu’s helmet which rested on his workbench and put it over my head. I made sure my gloves were tight and snug, as I didn’t want the emergent sun scorching my wrists. I sat on Hu’s red and white Vespa and pressed the garage door button on the wall. The door slowly lifted, revealing crisscrossing traffic, pedestrians on their way to work, and the blinding fog from the morning sun.
Chapter Eighteen
I arrived at the campsite after a thirty-minute ride outside the city. The morning sun was in full effect, and I was roasting inside my black leather outfit. I parked the scooter in the empty parking lot of the campground. It was apparent that the park was in the midst of its off-season, as there were only a few cars scattered in the muddy lot. I looked behind me and I found the camera that Hu used to find Holly. I gave it a playful wave as I dismounted the scooter.
Across from me a large sign read, Seven Star Park, East Campground, in English and Mandarin. There was a trail that led to the campgrounds up ahead which laid at the base of one of the seven mountains that towered over the park. The group most likely got spooked after seeing their faces on the posters spread throughout the city and ventured into the heart of the park. I lowered the tinted visor of my helmet and walked onto the trail in search for clues.
As expected, the campsites were empty. Small wooden signs greeted me with a single character at every chain. Unused woks straddled the fire pits. I scanned the surroundings of the lush park as I moved through the campsite. I approached one of the trails, which had a sign of a waterfall at its entrance.
After ten minutes of walking up the trail, I heard the sound of water splashing onto the rocks. I could see the mist from the cascading rapids emanating from the thick overgrowth of plants, trees, and flowers down the side of the trail. The main waterfall was just up ahead.
I heard the sound of an engine and looked behind me. I could see the parking lot from above. A small white produce truck pulled in right next to my motorcycle. Two black masked men got out of the cabin of the truck and one of them proceeded to go to behind the truck, a tall lanky man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Milton?” I yelled down the slope. The man looked in every direction, finally focusing on me at the top of the trail.
“Jack?” Milton yelled back. “Have you found anything?”
“No,” I said, lifting my visor and yelling loudly. “I’m going to head to the waterfall.”
“Jack, we’ll go to the western trail,” Lucretius yelled. “Meet us here in an hour.”
I waved at Milton, Lucretius and Kai and continued my trek.
The water hissed as it dropped down to the gray stones below. Five-fingered ferns hung over the water and dropped spray from their green fronds. The water rushed down a thirty-foot drop as if the mountain used gravity as a way to expel its innermost secrets. I noticed a pair of green suede Puma sneakers resting on a large rock in the gorge below. Ted wore the same exact type of shoes.
I rushed down the muddy slope toward the pristine pool. My feet collapsed into ankle-deep sludge with every step I took. I almost fell face first into the large stones on the ground as I caught my foot on an upended root. I safely arrived at the shoes and I picked one up to look inside. It was a size 10. Ted wore a size 10. I immediately looked around the area of the waterfall, hoping for further signs of Ted’s presence. All I saw were trees, vines, and gorgeous flowers; some red, others pink, and hanging orchids, but no sign of anyone.
“Ted!” I cried out. “Where are you? It’s me, Jack.”
Nothing. Just the sound of the waterfall and songs from the birds in the trees.
As soon as I put the shoes back down onto the rocks, my nose picked up a rancid smell. It came from a thick grove of trees up above on a bluff to the right of the waterfall. I climbed up the rocks next to the waterfall so I could reach the grove. I reached for the top of the small cliff. I began feeling around with my right hand, trying to find something I could grab onto to lift myself on the top of the cliff. I found a thick root that was sticking up from the ground and used it to lift myself. As my head reached the top of the escarpment, the putrid smell of what was waiting for me on the bluff overtook my senses. I closed my eyes and began coughing. I felt instantly nauseous. The smell was so strong it seeped into my helmet and began to burn my eyes. I lifted my entire body and rolled onto the ground. I laid on my back and closed my mouth and nose. I gingerly stood up, slowly opened my eyes. A woman’s decomposing body was up against one of the trees surrounded by flies. Her haunting, lifeless eyes stared straight at me, which felt eerily familiar. It was Jenny. She had an arrow straight through her chest, which had impaled her up against the tree.
I immediately pulled the arrow from her chest. Her body dragged down the trunk of the tree, finally resting over my shoulder. I slowly put her limp body onto the ground. I placed my fingertips over her eyelids as I brought them down over her eyes.
I stared at the arrow’s tip. The way the metal absorbed the sunlight meant only one thing: it was made of fine silver. My eyes quickly darted around the area, trying to pick up the slightest movement or a shadow of a dead body. I looked at all the trees within the vicinity, seeing if there were other bodies stuck against them. To my relief there were none. There was still hope that Holly and Ted were still alive.
I knelt next to Jenny’s body. I caressed her cheek with my right hand and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Chapter Nineteen
An hour and ten minutes passed. I stood impatiently in the barren parking lot, tapping my foot on the muddy ground, as Milton, Lucretius, and Kai didn’t come to meet me as promised. The pale sun was beginning to burn through the afternoon haze and began to irritate my skin, as the black leather that covered my body was losing its skills as a buffer. A cool wind blew in from the north as I sat up against the scooter and continued to examine the arrow that took Jenny’s life; its shaft was the darkest of black and made of the highest-end, industrial-strength graphite. Only a well-funded marksman could afford such weaponry.
I placed the arrow into one of the scooter’s pouches and ran toward the western trail which led straight into a small, lush forest ravine which was covered in huge ferns, trees lathered in parasitic orchids, and hanging cascades of moss. I took off my helmet when I entered the lush vegetation and let out a deep sigh of relief from the heat inside the constricting plastic.
Removing my helmet also made it so I was sure that Lucretius would be able communicate with me without the obstruction of plastic cover
ing my head. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my thin, black, cotton ski mask and tied it around my mouth and nose. I looked like a Chechen rebel, but it was the best I could do if I were to remain unscathed in the daylight. I stopped and bent down on one knee, hoping to hear Lucretius’ voice. Noises typical of a forest, like chirps and the rustling of branches were at first the only sounds that entered my ear. I closed my eyes, bowed my head and calmed my breathing—this time Lucretius finally broke through. Meet us by the river. Turn right at the temple sign. Go up the hill. Look down once at the crest of the hill, we’ll be below. Be silent. It is not safe, his voice said, echoing through my sinuses like the flutter of hummingbird wings.
Lucretius’s words elicited the urge to run. I wanted to meet them as quickly as I could since I became a paranoid pessimist after discovering Jenny’s putrescent body. I kicked up my legs and sprinted up the trail. I saw a brown, wooden sign with a white arrow ahead of me. As perspiration bubbled up through the fibers of my mask, I noticed the sign had a faded drawing of Buddha and the word Temple written across the wooden placement in large white letters. I immediately ran to the right of the trail, cutting across tall grass before I reached the hill. I climbed a few meters, feeling a rubbery strain riding up the center of my calves. When I reached the top, I peeked my head over the crest and immediately focused on the muddy bank below. As expected, the Jiang-Shi were on their backs and bellies, resting behind a large piece of porous driftwood. Lucretius was on his back and motioned me, with his gloved hand, to hit the ground. I ducked into the tall grass on the hill and quickly noticed two military jeeps across the river. The slender, well-dressed man standing in front of the jeep had an unmistakable hitch in his step as he walked over to a portly fellow who had his hands tied behind his back while awkwardly resting his lower back against one of the jeep’s fenders.