On Fire
Page 63
Kim is dizzy. Her stomach feels hollow, leaden. The sound of foreign voices begins to penetrate her consciousness, then seems blaringly loud. Somewhere there is the odor of fresh epoxy paint. She squints to open her eyes, her head a fog, and sees the shiny red of the inner wheel well of a vehicle, then the gray of the ribbed plastic floor. She uncomfortably lifts her head and this sparks a cry from one of the men around her. A voice comes to her from the front of the vehicle.
“Take it easy, Miss Scott,” the voice has a Chinese accent. “Please behave yourself or we will be forced to gag you.”
At the moment, Kim has neither the will nor the ability to respond. She notices the scratchy and baggy feeling of a shirt and jeans that are not hers. Of course, she thinks, they have taken her clothes, being afraid of possible tracking devices secreted somewhere on her clothes. She also notices that they have tied her hands in front of her. It doesn’t stop her from rolling over.
Some guy in a cheap East block faux leather jacket sits on the floor across from her, seated on the opposite wheel well. He’s playing with a phone, which she figures must be hers, no doubt trying to get something from it. Kim wiped it, her last thought before succumbing, but this has not stopped the young man from breaking it down, hoping to find some workable memory.
Kim scoots against the shiny red side of the van and looks around, counting heads. The van looks new. There must be six men in it. The kid across from her is definitely the youngest. He looks barely out of high school. The side and rear door windows have been papered over. She can see the back of the guy next to the driver, that his head is shaved bald in a way that reminds her of Dai Gu. She concludes that it must be him and that he is probably the man who spoke to her. Not welcome news, a sinking feeling overcomes her.
Kim watches the kid peruse the disembodied remains of her phone like a baby baboon with a banana, and reminds herself that due to the tiny pin under her scalp at least Zak and the others know where she is. Surreptitiously, she reaches up, feels for the pin, finds it, and, pressing lightly, activates it. She notices a bag with part of her jeans poking out lying next to the kid, just at the van careens off the road and slows to a stop.
Dai Gu shouts something in Russian and the others all turn to look at the kid, who jumps up with the bag of clothes and opens the back door. At the same time, Gu gets out and comes around back to get in.
“I thought we should have a talk,” he says as he examines the floor carefully before lowering himself onto it, next to Kim. He is dressed in a good suit, a bright tie, and a fashionable wool overcoat.
The kid is gone for a moment but he returns sans bag, quickly resuming his seat across from Kim. The kid gives her a not unfriendly nod before the van takes off again.
So much for her clothes she thinks. As for her wallet and passport she considers that Dai Gu must have them.
“I hope you are feeling better. I promise you that you will not be harmed. You are merely leverage for the USB device and its information,” he offers.
“Who are these men?” Kim asks, gesturing with her zip tied hands.
“They are my Russian associates.”
“Russian mafia you mean,” she corrects him.
He pulls his knees up and rests his hands on them.
“To suggest that would be an insult,” Gu says with a smile.
“Okay. But it would be accurate. Where are you taking me?”
“Kaliningrad. Do you know it?”
“No. Is it Russian?”
“Not always. But it is now. It is an enclave on the Baltic Sea near Poland quite separate from mother Russia. It is where Sergei and his men are from.”
“Sergei?”
“The driver.”
“Why Kaliningrad?”
“Home field advantage. Safer ground on which to negotiate.”
“I see. So we’re going to the airport to fly to Kaliningrad?”
Gu claps his hands in self congratulations.
“Very good. You are right. But we cannot fly directly into Kaliningrad. Apparently one of Segei’s men has warrants. So we will fly as close as we can and then take a particular border crossing that we know.”
“You have a plan.”
Dai Gu nods his very bald head.
“Of course. But first we must get out of France.”
Chapter 64