"Why two vans?" I asked.
"That's what makes me think this is not just a simple execution," Loki said.
"What is it then?"
"Something we need to stop."
He turned off the car and grabbed a rifle out of the back seat, passing it to me before reaching for another. Loki made sure the dome light was set to "off" before opening his door and stepping out into the night. I followed him, opening the back door for Blue, who fell in line with my hip as I hurried to catch up with Loki. In the distance I could see the prisoners and guards were about 15 feet from the vans, still partly illuminated by the headlights. The prisoners were forced onto their knees.
Loki picked up his pace, breaking into a steady jog. I ran alongside him, our rifles held up in front of our chests. We watched as one of the prisoners was pulled away from the others. They blindfolded him. I could see his hands, chains winding off of them, clasped in front of his chest, in a position of prayer or begging. I guessed that he was doing both.
A guard knocked his hands down, exposing his chest. The other two prisoners were huddled together, the two remaining guards standing over them, guns aimed at their heads.
The blindfolded man, his chest exposed, could not see the guard raise his gun. The shot rang out loud in the flat space. The prisoner fell back, his head hitting the ground, his body seeming to disappear into darkness. The guard who shot him and another one picked his body up and began to drag it toward the second van. The back doors opened and we had a clear picture of the interior. There were bright lights that poured out into the night.
Inside was a makeshift operating room with a metal table, tools hanging on the walls, a figure in a white coat wearing a surgical mask. The surgeon jumped out of the van and watched as the two guards hefted the man onto the metal table. They climbed back out and motioned for the doctor to go back in. The white-coated figure stood still, seemingly paralyzed, until one of the guards raised his weapon and yelled something.
We slowed down, less than twenty feet away now, still hidden by the darkness. Loki and I were crouching, making ourselves smaller, Blue stayed to my right, his nose occasionally tapping my hip. I didn't ask what was going on, not wanting to make a sound, but I could guess. Surgery of this nature could only have one purpose.
The van door closed, sinking the night back into darkness, and closing the doctor, the armed guard, and the shot prisoner inside.
Loki looked at me, his eyes shining. "Follow me," he whispered. I nodded.
There were still two guards and two prisoners standing away from the vans. I assumed there was a driver in the medical van and as we moved, single file, down the road, my assumption was proved correct when the driver's door opened and a big, round, figure stepped out. He walked over to the other guards and pulled out a cigarette, the flame of his match lighting his face for a moment. In that brief glimpse I saw that he was sweating, the match he held shook slightly. Whatever was going on in that van was not pleasant.
We were close now, still shrouded by the darkness but about to be within the glow of the red tail lights. The headlights of both vans were still on. We stayed to the right of the road, unable to step off into the rice paddies because of the splashing sound we'd make. Blue was tight to my right knee, the white parts of his coat glimmering softly in the dark night.
None of the guards were looking in our direction. They were on the far side of the vans, on what seemed to be a peninsula out into a rice paddy, a flat, dusty piece of land. Was it created specifically for this, I wondered, or was it just a coincidence, an area left for the farmers to park their cars?
Loki motioned to the surgeon's van, and then started toward it. Blue and I followed. The gun was heavy and reassuring in my hands. My heart rate was slowly picking up the closer we got. Loki looked in the passenger window, then waved for me to look.
There was no passenger seat. The interior space was open to the back, to that table and the prisoner lying on it. The guard was still holding the gun on the doctor who was up to his elbows in the man's chest. Blood was spilling onto the floor. Coming in steady pumps. The prisoner was still alive—they hadn't killed him.
Then the doctor pulled his arms up. He was holding an organ, it was small, brown, and dripping blood. The doctor wore blue surgical gloves and there were spatters of blood on his mask and across the white coat. He was sweating, his brows deeply furrowed as he turned to his left. I could not see where he put the organ but then he was back in the body. I felt bile rising up my throat. The image was so bright, so stark compared to the dark world we stood in. They were dissecting this prisoner, harvesting his organs. I stepped back, not wanting to see any more. I glanced at Loki whose eyes stayed riveted on the scene inside.
I touched his shoulder, and his head pivoted to me. His eyes were cold, filled with an intense emotion. Was it hate? Or anger? A blend of both? Scary in the darkness. I made a gesture that I would go after the men on the other side of the van, and pointed to the interior then at him. He nodded.
Moving slowly, so that my footfalls on the dirt road would not be heard, I circled around to the back of the van, staying just out of the reach of the lights. I paused there. Took a deep breath, peeked around the side of the van, holding that breath, and double-checked that the two guards and the driver were still where we'd left them. They were.
I hid again, taking several even breaths and closing my eyes for a second, finding peace, finding that center where all action came from. Then I stepped out from behind the van, gun out, Blue by my side. The three men were still looking away from the van, their cigarettes held loosely by their sides. I fired the first shot and the guard to the left dropped with an oof. The other two turned, I shot the one with his weapon already out first. His body spun and fell onto one of the prisoners who screamed. The sound was loud in the still night. The driver was fumbling at his waist band for his gun when I shot him in the chest. Right in the heart. Dead, dead, dead.
My targets neutralized, I turned around and saw the van doors open, light spilling into the night, blood dripping off the bumper. Loki jumped out, dragging the doctor with him. I didn’t have to ask what had happened to the guard. The doctor's mask had slipped and I could see how young he was, not much older than 25. He was babbling. Loki's face was grim, his eyes still held that cold glare when he glanced over at the dead guards. "He says he didn't want to do it, that he did not know why they had brought him here."
"I believe him," I said.
"Thank you," the doctor said in English, his accent thick but words perfectly understandable. "I would never, no doctor. It was not told to me."
"You saw what happened," I said to Loki. "You saw the guard put a gun to his head."
"Yes," Loki agreed with a slight nod, but his grip did not loosen on the man's arm.
The two prisoners were still on their knees, blindfolded. I walked over to them. There was blood on them, splattered across their faces and chests. They'd tried to wipe it off, smearing the droplets into streaks on their cheeks and forehead. They were both young men, their bodies strong. I pulled off the first blindfold and the prisoner blinked, looking up at me. Moving on to the other I pulled off his blindfold. The man flinched at my touch but when he saw me his fear turned to confusion. "Do you speak English?" I asked.
They looked at each other but did not respond. "Loki," I called him over. He came, dragging the doctor with him. "Ask them about Merl," I said.
Loki spoke to the men. They exchanged a glance and then nodded. They looked like they could have been brothers, their hair the same length, cut close to their heads. They shared the same brown skin, tanned by many years in the sun, and dark eyes. The one closer to me spoke. His voice was soft with a layer of desperation under it, as though he was straining to be believed. Loki nodded and then spoke to me. "They know of a man who matches Merl's description. He is being held at the center."
I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat. Relief was washing through my body, bringing tears to my eyes. "So, he's
alive," I said.
"As far as they know."
"What about you, doctor?" I asked, turning to the man Loki still gripped.
He shook his head hard, making his hair flip around his face. "I do not know anything about the prisoners," he said.
"How did you get here then?"
"I was picked up in my office this afternoon. The police said that I was needed. So I came."
"But you've heard about organ harvesting," Loki said, his voice hard, accusatory.
The doctor's eyes widened. "No, I mean, I thought it was made up. I didn't believe," his voice faded.
"Didn't think it could be true," I finished for him looking back at the van. What were we going to do with that body, with those organs? It seemed a waste for them to rot, for the man to have died for nothing.
"He was still alive," the doctor said, his voice cracking. He was shaking his head.
"Where were the organs going?" I asked.
The doctor shook his head, he didn't know.
"They were probably bought," Loki said. "These prisoners match someone wealthy who can afford to pay for their lives."
"It's sickening," I said.
"Yes," Loki agreed.
"What are we going to do with him?" I said, tilting my chin in the doctor’s direction. His eyes widened in fear.
"I don't know," Loki said.
"We need these two," I pointed at the prisoners, who were still on their knees, chains tight around their wrists, wrapped around their waists and leading down to ankle restraints. "And a doctor is always useful, but can we trust him?"
The man nodded his head vigorously, "I will tell the police that I don't know what happened. Or I will tell them whatever you want me to tell them. I am at your service. Please don't kill me."
Loki looked at me. "We can use him."
"Yes," I agreed. "I think we can.”
Decisions, decisions.
I had hoped that Robert Maxim would be able to get Merl out of the prison using his connections, but I now recognized that was not possible. We were leaving a van with four dead bodies in it on the side of the road. The road was not well-traveled so it was unlikely to be discovered until at least daybreak, however, those organs were obviously headed somewhere and would quickly be missed.
I could try to leave the country, just disappear and trust Bobby to get Merl out now that I knew where he was, but I didn't know how long that would take. And obviously, we didn't have much time. This was not a justice system where the wheels turned slowly, where you were innocent until proven guilty. In this place, at this time, in this exact moment, prisoners’ organs were being taken, sold to the highest bidder. There was no time for applying political pull. I was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.
I found keys on one of the dead guards and uncuffed the prisoners. They helped us pile the three dead men into the surgery van with the other two corpses already in there. I closed the back doors and then went around and climbed into the driver's seat. It had a deep depression from the big man who used to drive it. I wondered how many of these night missions he'd gone out on. The way he'd left the van, his brow sweating and hands shaking as he lit his cigarette, meant either he was new to the duty or it was something you never got used to.
I turned the motor off, the headlights fading into nothing. Taking the keys I climbed back out and slammed the door before locking up the van. I peered in but couldn't see anything. Loki had closed a curtain between the back and the front. But even if it took a while for the bodies to be discovered, there was still someone anxiously waiting for those organs. The doctor had been told nothing. "I asked," he said. "I asked how long I would be gone, for my wife, she likes to know. But they would not tell me."
Loki, Blue, the two freed prisoners, the doctor and I all got into the front van. It had bars on the windows and rows of seats. It didn't have seat belts but there were metal loops on the floor that were used for chaining prisoners in their seats. As we bumped along the road back toward the car I stared at one of the hooks of metal soldered into the floor. I wondered if Merl had been attached to it. I worried if someday I might be.
Loki pulled over in front of our car. Blue and I climbed out, and Loki handed me the keys through the open driver's side window of the van. "We'll park about a half mile up from the center," Loki said.
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"You're sure your connection will come through?" Loki asked.
"Yes," I answered, hoping my faith in Bobby Maxim was not misplaced.
I got in the car, Blue in the passenger seat, his head almost touching the sagging roof. "Down boy," I told him, pointing at the seat well. He climbed below, so that he was hidden from the outside world, curling himself into as small a ball as he could. The car started with a small putter and the headlights glowed dully, nothing like the high beams of the van in front of us. I turned the car around and started back toward the tai chi center.
The plan was for me to go into the village, drop off the car, and call Bobby. That meant I had to drive by the tai chi center again. Then I had to get back past it again on foot to meet Loki up the hill.
In the meantime, he was going to talk with the prisoners, get them to draw us a map of the center, and come up with a plan to break in, get Merl, and break out.
But first, I had to call Robert Maxim and ask him to arrange a way out of the country. Given the manhunt about to get under way, I couldn't do it without him. I chewed on my lip as we drove over the rutted road, back up the mountain. The landscape was all sharp angles and flat planes. As we approached the tai chi center Loki pulled over. His headlights faded in my rearview mirror as Blue and I continued.
We came around the bend, and my headlights flashed over the guard by the gate. He shielded his eyes from the light and as I curved around the bend I kept my face turned away so that he would only see my short, dark hair. I watched him in my rearview mirror as I continued down the road. He was under a lamp and I could see his gaze on my car but I didn't see him reach for his radio. It couldn't be so unusual for a car to drive by, and the car would be out of my possession soon. And, given our plan, that guard could well be dead within a few hours and thus unable to tell any authorities about the car, getting Zang Wei and Lei Shu in trouble.
The village had only one street, lined with buildings on both sides with the guest house in the middle. I parked the car nearby, slipping the keys under the driver's seat, and then headed for the pay phone. I could hear loud talking coming from inside the guest house, no doubt the same people who had protested in front of the gates earlier in the day. They were still awake, talking, trying to find a solution, to figure out how to free their loved ones.
I closed myself in the phone booth, getting Blue to squeeze in with me and used Loki's card again to dial Bobby's number. He picked up on the second ring. "I found him," I said.
"Okay, tell me where he is being held."
"No, I mean, there isn't time. He is in too much danger. They all are."
"They?"
"All the prisoners," I swallowed and closed my eyes, seeing the blue gloves holding that brown organ, the fresh blood dripping off of it back onto the body from which it had been stolen. "I need you to arrange safe passage for me, Merl, and at least one other person, possibly two. Plus four dogs.”
I heard Bobby snort. “Four dogs? Of course. For the human passengers are they male or female?"
"One of each," I said, thinking of Loki and Mo. "Maybe an elderly man too," I added, remembering Sing.
"Okay," Robert said. "Where do you want to go?"
"Back to the island."
"Well," I could hear a smile in his voice. "You'll have to tell me where it is then."
"Like you don't know."
Bobby laughed. "I don't know everything."
"Dan didn't tell you?" I said, my voice dripping with acid.
"Why would he do that?"
I shook my head. Now was not the time to get into this. "I need a plane and I need it soo
n."
"How soon?"
"By dawn."
"That is soon," Bobby said, his voice dropping an octave.
"Can you do it?"
"Of course I can. But, like I said, I need to know where you are going."
"Call Dan, he can give you the info."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
I gritted my teeth and wasn't going to say anything but then I heard myself speaking. "See, there, that, you have been talking to Dan. I know it."
Robert laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about. Getting paranoid in your old age, Sydney."
"Whatever, just, just get me out of here," I said, looking around at the quiet street.
"The plane will be waiting for you. Call me when you're on your way. And Sydney?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful. If you're planning on breaking Merl out of a reeducation camp you'll have to be very careful not to end up in one."
"Wouldn't you save me?" I said, only half joking.
"I'd do my best, but Sydney, let's not forget who you are. If they ever figured out your identity, there would be no saving you. I just want you to understand how much you’re risking tonight. Are you sure it's worth it?"
"I'm positive."
"What would you say are your chances of success?"
"I don't know the plan yet so I can't rightly say." I almost laughed.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "You're joking."
"No, but I'm sure we'll figure it out. You know me, Bobby. I'm a survivor."
"You've been lucky."
"Let's hope my streak continues. I've got to go. Get that plane. Talk to Dan. I'll call you once it's over."
I walked back up the hill, past the dark houses down the road from the tai chi center. The darkness hid me and there were no cars. When I was approaching the center, with its white walls and bright lights, I stayed to the far side of the road. There was a ditch, a rocky eroded area where water obviously flowed down the mountain after a heavy rain. Staying low, Blue behind my left knee, I was out of view of the guard by the gate. Once around the bend and out of sight of the center I straightened back up. It was only another 10 minutes until the van came into view.
Shadow Harvest (A Sydney Rye Mystery, #7) Page 16