by Terry Persun
The agent was sitting on the bunk again, surprise in his eyes. “I didn’t say anything. I’m leaving you alone as you asked.”
“I’m still at a loss why these lawyers and doctors are using shaman when they don’t believe in them. They can’t. I’ve seldom met a lawyer or doctor who…”
“Who what? You’ve come up with something.”
“I’m wrong.” Dan lowered his head. He set his pen down on the desk and took a breath.
“You’ve never said that before.”
“Christ, you’re just like my son, sometimes. Smart mouthed.”
“You bring out the best,” Mercer said. “But, more importantly, what are you wrong about?”
“They do believe. In fact, if they’ve been working on and around the reservation a long time, they’ve had the opportunity to actually see what a shaman can do. And if they believe, then they’d know they had to block me. For how long?”
“That guard said not much longer.”
“He did, didn’t he?” Dan stood and took a few steps. “Gamblers would do this. Smart gamblers.” He paced a few more steps and turned around. “Who better to break the law than someone who understands the law? Who better to know all the loopholes?”
“Then why be so clandestine?” Mercer asked. “If it’s legal, if it’s something they can get themselves out of easily, then just do it in the open. Then you don’t even need one shaman to help.”
“Blatant action draws immediate attention. If it’s a large enough operation—which it appears to be—then it would look much more illegal and be harder to support if in the open. If they get caught doing one little thing, they can get out of it, but the whole shebang, maybe not. Besides, part of the fun is to get away with it.” Dan swung around. “Why didn’t you know about these guys? You’ve been following them. It wasn’t terribly hard to figure out who the people involved were. If you were watching the building, if you knew the company front, if you—”
“I don’t know. Now that you mention it, it seems obvious.” He made a confused face.
“That’s it!” Dan said. “You didn’t even know how you were being manipulated, how you were being blocked, confused, always dropping the ball. These girls were good at what they were doing.” He smiled. “But we know they’re here. We’ve adjusted the play.”
“You’ve been talking a long time, but still haven’t mentioned that plan you were going to come up with.”
“Jason must be close by. This building isn’t that large.” Dan began to walk around the room as though looking for something.
“You changed the subject again.”
“I do that,” Dan said.
In a whisper, as though someone may have been listening, Mercer said, “When we turned the corner before coming here, there was a guard down the other hall, right instead of left.
Dan stopped. “And you didn’t think to say that before now?”
Mercer shrugged his shoulders. “I figured you saw him, too.”
“My eyes were closed while I was working.”
“Don’t yell at me. I wasn’t walking backward. How would I know when you close your eyes?”
“Never mind,” Dan said. “I didn’t see the other man. So, they are just down the hall. Did you see a gun?”
“Didn’t see one, but they all seem to have them. I wouldn’t assume otherwise.”
“Did you see any windows?”
“One at the end of the hall.”
Dan checked his watch. “Two hours before dark.”
“What about street lamps? We can’t make it completely dark.
“Dark enough to put them off guard,” Dan said.
For the next few hours, they paced, talked minimally, and sat quietly a lot. Dan was not the best communicator in such situations, and he didn’t care. He tried to keep his senses alert, letting in whatever wanted to show up, whether related to the situation or not. He noticed that the guard appeared to have rounds. A shadow swept past the door at regular intervals. He mentioned the fact to Mercer.
“At least two guards. I wonder if they have different sections they monitor.”
“I’m going to say, yes,” Dan said. “And I’m going to guess there are no more than three of them, maybe only the two.”
“We could have worn our ear buds hooked to the main system, something other than your damned notebook,” Mercer said at a moment of apparent frustration.
Dan didn’t acknowledge him. Instead, he sat and stared.
“You could journey. Would that help? Can’t you do something to them? Scare them like before.”
At that, Dan turned around. “There are a lot of options but, for now, we wait.”
Mercer shook his head then lay on the bunk. “Wake me when you need me.”
Dan listened to the room—taps and cracks, Mercer’s shallow breathing, his own heartbeat. He counted the minutes between shadows under the door. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander. He wondered about his cats, if they were doing okay, and Shari. He hadn’t called her since they’d left, and here he was captured and placed in a small room, blocked from his son and the completion of the job he came there to do. He kept a lot from her. Sure, she knew little things, but not most. Was that the way to start a relationship with anyone?
When the time came, he woke Mercer by saying his name several times until the agent woke up.
“You could have shaken me,” Mercer said.
“I don’t get near anyone who’s asleep. Some people wake up violently. They come out swinging.”
“You scared?” Mercer threw his legs over the side of the bunk and sat for a moment. He rubbed his face with his hands. “I could use some water.”
“And food,” Dan said.
Mercer laughed. “Yep.”
“You ready to short this place out?”
“Yeah. Let me take a breath or two.” He got up slowly, stretched, then walked over to the wall socket. He got on his knees and turned, “Got a screwdriver?”
“Right here in my toolkit.”
“Now who’s the smart ass?”
“Sorry. I don’t have one.”
Mercer tried to turn the screw on the outlet plate using his thumb nail. “We’ll need that screwdriver to do this.”
Dan tore a sheet of paper from his notebook and folded it several times. He kneeled next to Mercer and slipped the folded edge into the slot of the screw.
“You expect that to work?”
Dan turned the paper and it bent almost 180 degrees before it held and loosened the screw.
“I never would have thought…” Mercer said.
“Works most of the time,” Dan said. “We’re lucky this is one of them.”
“There would have been other ways, I’m sure.”
“This one worked.”
“What about the other screws, the wire, all that?”
“Don’t know. You’re the one who said he knew something about this.”
Mercer shook his head and shoved Dan back. “Let me look. They usually don’t screw the outlet in very tightly. He reached up with his fingers and loosened the top screw part way and then the bottom screw. He pulled the socked out slightly. “I need something to short this with.” He pointed toward Dan. “Rip the wire from that notebook.”
“All of it?”
“Just stretch a few inches of it out so I can short this thing. But once I do that, we need to unhook one of the wires and tie them together so that the short is stronger. We won’t have much time, depending on where the breaker panel is.” He was concentrating. “Using your paper idea, I can bend the notebook wire to unscrew the connection terminals. I’ll put the hot and ground wires directly together, which should be strong enough to keep that breaker popping.”
“You explaining or just talking?”
“Whatever works,” Mercer said while taking Dan’s notebook from him. A stretch of wire from the spiral binding stuck out. Mercer gripped it with both hands and bent it back and forth until it broke loose. He then bent it i
nto a u-shape and aligned it with the plug. He stuck it in minimally.
“Hold it,” Dan said.
“What?”
“I’ll let you know when.” Dan rushed to the side of the door. He suspected that the guard would be confused for a few seconds after the lights first blinked out, and hoped that for those seconds the guard also would choose to open their door to see whether they’d done something. Dan held up his hand and when he saw the shadow, lowered it.
Mercer used his shoe to force the wire into the outlet.
There was a snap and the lights went out. It instantly became pitch black in their room, with only a tiny slit of light filtering in from the bottom of the locked door, most likely caused by the far window.
“I’ll have to do this by feel,” Mercer whispered.
Dan stared at the light along the bottom of the door, waiting for the guard to step inside.
“I’m getting it. Just cross your fingers that they don’t find the breaker first,” Mercer said.
Dan wished Mercer would shut up but wasn’t going to give away his position inside the door.
When the door opened, Dan waited a full second, giving the guard a chance to see Mercer and step inside before getting hit in the throat. The man bent at the waist, and Dan double-fisted him behind the neck, knocking him out. He grabbed the man’s arm and dragged him inside the room.
Mercer was getting up. “Thanks for the extra light. All done here.”
Dan was already back at the door and glancing down the hall. The other guard was nowhere in sight.
“See anything?”
“No. I suspect the other guard went in to check on Jason, or the girls, who knows, but he’s not there right now.”
“Do we risk it?”
“Yes, we do. And we’d better be fast.”
Chapter 28
Dan anticipated that any guard inside one of the other rooms would only expect another guard to enter willingly, so the plan he had was to stay alert and just rush into a room, look for his opponent and aim for taking him down. The other person would be confused at first, just as the first guard had been confused by the blackout.
High hopes for low purposes.
Mercer followed closely behind, even though it took him a moment to catch up.
Dan tried to open the first door down the hall. It was locked. He heard a stirring inside, but didn’t stick around. He wanted the other guard down before he would take his time searching the rest of the rooms. The next room was locked as well. More stirring at his attempt. The third door, locked, but before they reached the fourth door, Dan stopped. Someone was talking, threatening someone else.
“What’s going on? I know you know.”
Jason’s voice said, “I don’t know. I don’t.” His voice sounded frantic. He was scared. Dan tiptoed around the corner, set his sights on his mark, and dived toward the guard, who stood with a gun pointing at Jason. The man went down, and the gun went flying.
Mercer took over and whacked the guard across the head with the butt of a Glock.
Dan saw the other gun, same model, across the floor. “Where’d you get that?”
Mercer gave him a bewildered look, palms up. “The other guard.”
Dan hadn’t thought of that. He turned back to Jason and reached for his shoulders.
“Don’t,” Jason said. “Remember, my arm.”
Dan wanted so badly to hug his son, but listened and backed off. He took a moment to look Jason in the eyes. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me, too. But, if you hadn’t arrived”—he glanced at the man on the floor—“who knows what might have happened?”
There was little light coming into the room, but enough to see one another and to get around. “Grab the gun,” Dan said to Jason.
“What about you?”
Dan kneeled next to the bunk and lifted one corner. He turned his head, “Military issue,” then twisted the leg, unscrewing it until it came loose. He slapped the metal leg into his other palm. “I’m ready.”
Mercer stood at the door, looking around the corner. He swung back toward Jason. “The girls?”
“I heard doors opening down the hall. Kept my ear to the door a lot lately.” He reached for his ear. “Wait.” His hand up. “Yeah, they’re both okay and with me.”
“The ear bud!” Mercer said. “Tell them to send reinforcements.”
“They heard you,” Jason said.
“Cancel that,” Dan said. “We’re in more danger if they think for a second that we have backup. Besides, we’re here to get the girls out. I doubt there are many more guards, and the proprietors are probably gone for the evening.”
“You think we’re clear?” Mercer asked. “What kind of operation would be so clumsy?”
“One shielded by shamans,” Jason answered. “And lawyers.”
“But we took them out, didn’t we?”
“Hopefully,” Dan said. “Let’s find out for sure.”
Mercer led them farther down the hallway and reached for each doorknob as they went. The first two were open and empty, so they turned around, knowing that the first four before Jason’s room were locked. They stopped at the first door. Mercer looked over his shoulder. “Can anyone pick the lock?”
Dan held out his hand. “You have any more of that wire?”
Mercer smiled and pulled it from his pocket, handing it to Dan.
Dan bent it back and forth until it broke into two pieces then stuffed them into the door, feeling for the tumblers. The door opened, and Koko was lying on the cot. Her room was much better adorned, posters on the walls, a jewelry box and mirror, a large dresser and standing closet. Still no window, the only light coming dimly from the hallway. But something was wrong. Dan rushed over and placed a hand on her neck for a pulse. He pulled the blanket away, but saw no wound.
“What is it?” Mercer asked.
“She’s dead.”
“What? Why?”
Dan sprung up from his position. “How the hell would I know? Smothered? Poisoned?”
“Don’t get pissed at me,” Mercer said.
Dan shook his head. No time for arguments.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Jason said. “What’s it mean?”
“It means that they’re willing to kill for whatever this shit they’re doing is.” Dan headed for the door. “They’ve gone over the edge.”
“Don’t they realize they’ve killed one of the few people who could have helped them?” Jason asked.
“Maybe they don’t believe as much as you thought,” Mercer said.
“We have to get out of here,” Dan feared what the situation was becoming.
“Not without those girls,” Jason said.
Mercer agreed. “I’m with him on this one.”
“It’s getting dangerous,” Dan said. “I don’t want anyone to die.”
“Too late, Dad.” Jason pointed toward Koko. There was a mixture of fear and sorrow in his eyes and across his knitted brow, but his hand didn’t shake.
Dan couldn’t help wondering whether his son was getting used to all the deaths. His heart hurt, and his head felt full of tears, but he didn’t cry and he didn’t say anything. He shoved all the worry away and just keep on. He had to be on full alert. He pulled Mercer from the door. “If anyone else is going to get hurt, it’ll have to be me.” He stepped into the hall and went to the next locked door and picked the lock.
Opening the door, the first things he saw were three girls in nightgowns. They couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen, yet who could tell these days. They appeared shocked, but with mixed feelings amount them, to see someone other than a guard. Dan held up his hands. “You’re safe, you’re safe. We came to help you escape.”
A tall girl with high cheekbones and jet-black hair stepped forward. “We don’t want to escape. We want to finish this and go on our way. There’s been enough turmoil. We just want our money so we can leave this fucking place.”
“Money?” Jason said.
>
“We let them take our eggs. Now we get paid, and get to leave for good. Disappear, like the other girls.” She cocked her head as though noticing that the men didn’t know what she was talking about.
“I got news, honey,” Dan said. “The other girls didn’t disappear like you think they did. They were auctioned off as sex slaves.”
The other two girls’ facial expressions changed to blank. They didn’t understand at first. But the tall girl took another step forward. “You mean they lied?”
“Surprise,” Dan said. “They’re criminals.”
“Don’t be so insensitive, Dad.”
“But Koko told us—”
“Koko’s dead,” Dan said. “Look, we don’t have time to explain everything. You’ve got to get out of here. Got that?”
Mercer stepped closer and brought out his badge. His voice was low and controlled and kind. “Look, I’m a federal agent. We’ve been following these guys and they’re not nice people. Come with us. You’ll be safe.”
“We won’t get paid then,” the tall girl said as though her hopes had been shattered.
“Not like you might have wanted. But we may be able to help,” Mercer said.
Dan knew he was lying. It wasn’t like the government was going to pay these girls anything for giving up their eggs. And in that moment, it dawned on Dan how horrible the whole operation was. The Herders would take the girls’ eggs and maybe do a hysterectomy, then, once the girls were sterile, they’d auction them off. The eggs would be sold to couples wanting to have a child. But for these girls, their childhoods were essentially over, yet they probably didn’t have much of one anyway.
“Get dressed. Quickly,” Mercer said.
The girls headed for the dresser.
Dan walked into the hallway and to the next door. Once opened, another three girls were inside, one sitting and two standing near the mirror over the dresser. All in nightgowns, all about the same age as the first three. All very pretty, though not necessarily innocent looking. This time, the first three girls helped to explain the situation. One of the new girls, a short prominent-cheeked girl asked, “So?”