by Brett Baker
When he first started exploring the tunnels he always got turned around. Without landmarks to orient him he couldn’t decipher directions. But he’d spent so much time in so many different tunnels that twisted and turned that he’d become an expert. He walked north, back toward the parking garage on canal. The tunnel angled deeper into the ground as it headed north, with the idea that other tunnels and pipes could layer over it as the city grew. Randy pointed the flashlight behind him every few minutes to ensure no one snuck up on him, but he was alone in the eerie creepiness of the dark, silent tunnel with millions of people just above him.
After some minutes of walking, his flashlight reflected off of an orange sign that read “Canal” with an arrow pointing up. A ladder in the ceiling led into a vertical tunnel that extended eighty feet up to the surface of the street. The other end of the tunnel had long since been filled in during one of the numerous reconstructions of Canal Street. Randy knew that beginning at Canal the tunnel followed the exact path of Elizabeth Street, so his destination wasn’t far. He walked another couple hundred feet before he saw the first support.
He didn’t see the entire support at first, just a small spot where the red paint had been gouged to reveal a shiny bit of steel beneath. The beam from his flashlight caught it just right, and in the darkness of the tunnel it shone like a star. He threw his beam around the rest of the tunnel and saw no fewer than twenty-four other posts, situated every few feet, at least five inches in diameter, and bolted into concrete footings on the bottom of the tunnel. The tunnel floor itself had been dug into the substratum, which provided sure footing. No supports existed elsewhere in the tunnel system, with the tunnel walls supporting the earth above. Randy knew that supports indicated that the substratum above had been disturbed, such as by building an underground passage.
He turned his attention to the roof of the tunnel, knowing that just above him sat whatever Driscoll had accessed through the panels of the parking garage. The posts supported a concrete roof, which was the worst possible scenario for what Randy hoped to do. He’d hoped that whatever had been built beyond the concrete panels had preserved the dirt floor and he could just dig his way up, since the bottom of the void he measured on his radar should have been about four feet above the roof of the tunnel. He had visions of breaking through the floor with his shovel, and gaining access that way.
Whatever discouragement he felt at finding the concrete roof evaporated as soon as he walked to the center of the supported area, and looked up. There, at the top of a ladder similar to the one that led up to Canal Street, was a hatch. Randy jumped, grabbed the ladder, and pulled himself up. After a long day he doubted whether he had the strength to climb the first few rungs with his hands, but he felt the excitement growing, and reached the top in no time.
Two knobs secured the hatch, and Randy slid one while pulling the other, and then heard a click as the locks glided out of place. He pushed up on the hatch, and it opened. A bright ray of light from the space above blinded him for a just a second, but he pushed the hatch open and stuck his head through.
The sight took his breath away, and he let go of the ladder for a second and almost plummeted to the ground.
“Oh my God!” he said. “Oh my God, Oh my God. I cannot believe this.”
He climbed out of the hatch, and found himself standing in the middle of a walkway surrounded on both sides by pallets of gold bars. The room extended for thirty feet in either direction, and was forty feet wide. Pallet after pallet held gold bars stacked five high. Racks on each side of the walkway created space for two more pallets to be stacked above each pallet on the floor. Randy walked the length of the room to verify its contents, and saw stack after stack of gold bars, with additional walkways on either side of where he entered. He picked up a few of the bars to confirm they felt real, and then took a quick walk through the rest of the room to ensure he didn’t overlook anything else that might help his case, but the room contained nothing but gold bars.
He lowered himself back through the hatch, secured it, and then descended the ladder and fell to the tunnel floor below. He pointed his flashlight south and started running back toward Chatham Square, anxious to share his discovery with Mia.
43
Chapter 43
Late the next morning Randy’s phone rang as he waited in his hotel room. Mia had hoped to take a late morning flight to Quanzhou the day before, and Randy hadn’t heard from her so he assumed she made the flight. He always planned twenty-four hours for a flight to China, give or take a few hours, depending on the airline, so he hoped that he’d hear her voice when he answered the phone.
He wasn’t disappointed.
“Hello?”
“Randy, this is Mia. I made it Quanzhou. I don’t think my driver has ever been behind the wheel before, but he got me here, despite every effort to the contrary. Do you have news?”
“Are you sitting down, Mia?”
“No, should I be?”
“I’ve got big news,” Randy said. “Take it how you want it.”
“I’ll stand. I had enough sitting on the plane and in that death trap car. Go ahead.”
“I followed Driscoll and found the gold. He led me right to it.”
“What? Are you kidding? You have the gold? Did you take him down?”
“No. I mean I guess he didn’t lead me right to it, but close enough.”
Randy spent the next ten minutes providing a play-by-play recap of everything that had happened with Driscoll. He spared no detail, and despite trying to remain cool, his excitement got the best of him as he described climbing the ladder and opening the hatch into the room. Mia had questions about the room and its location behind the concrete panels that Randy couldn’t answer, but they both decided it didn’t matter. Then Mia asked the question that Randy hand pondered non-stop for the previous twenty-four hours.
“Why go through the trouble of creating the space and making it so secure, only to have it penetrable through the floor? It makes no sense.”
“I wondered the same thing,” Randy said. “The only answer that makes sense is escape. They didn’t expect anyone to find the room, but they realized that if anyone followed them and cornered them down there that they had no way out. The hatch gave them a way out.”
“You think they’d choose escape and leave all of that gold behind?”
“Of course,” Randy said. “These aren’t brave men. They’re cowards. They’re all rather well off already. This is just a case of rich men trying to get richer. They’d rather give up the gold than their freedom.”
“That makes sense. I mean Driscoll has shown he’s willing to have someone killed to protect his freedom,” Mia said. “But why did Driscoll go there? Did you see anyone else follow him out?”
“I didn’t stick around. He left so I followed him. I didn’t know what was behind the panels. Had I known they had a billion dollars of gold back there, I would have waited to see who else was involved. But I had no idea.”
“All right. I’m glad I checked in. I suspect Fabrice and Buster will be interested to know that we’ve located the gold.”
“They’re going to think you’re there to apprehend them,” Randy said. “You might not want to say anything.”
“Well if they don’t let me save them then I am here to apprehend them. They can save their own lives by telling me what I want to know. If they resist, then I don’t know what will happen. But it can’t hurt for them to know that we’re right on their heels. What’s your next move?”
“Nothing. You do what you need to do. I don’t want to press Driscoll right now. If you talk to Fabrice and Buster then nailing Driscoll might be much easier. And if he takes them both out then we’ve got something else to go on. Seems a little premature to pick him up though. Plus, I’m not sure how we’d pick him up with revealing what you’re doing, and who you are.”
“Then don’t do anything,” Mia said. “I’ll check back with you after I talk to Fabrice.”
“Al
l right. Don’t take too long, or I might go back and steal a few of those gold bars and disappear.”
“It’s tempting, isn’t it?”
“Just a little. But this is more fun.”
44
Chapter 44
With years of traveling under her belt, Mia had become an expert sleeper on airplanes. The long flight from China provided ample opportunity to sleep, and she took full advantage of it. Most people emerged from an overseas flight tired and dragging, but Mia always felt refreshed and ready to go. The only exception to her in-flight sleep patterns came when she knew someone was in pursuit of her. Then she made sure to stay awake on flights so she didn’t wind up dead.
So after talking to Randy on the phone Mia wasted no time. She walked eight blocks to the Wanda Vista Quanzhou, took the elevator to the fourteenth floor, and found Fabrice’s room. She decided to hang back for a little bit to monitor Fabrice’s room. During her years in The Summit she’d found that many situations became less dangerous or challenging if she just hung back for a few minutes.
Mia had just decided to approach the door and knock, when the door to Fabrice’s room opened, a man walked out, stood in the doorway and yelled back into the room, “You’re on your own then. Fuck you. I don’t need any of this. Don’t forget about my five grand.”
Mia couldn’t hear how the man inside the room responded, but she heard the man in the hall yell, “I hope they kill you soon,” and decided to retreat further. She walked around the corner at the end of the hallway, and listened. The door slammed shut, and then she heard footsteps as the other man approached, muttering under his breath. As he turned the corner, Mia stepped into the middle of the hallway, put her hands up in front of her, and said, “I’m not here to hurt anyone, but is Fabrice in that room? ”
Dian jumped back, and Mia thought he intended to run away so she grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her. “Please be quiet. Fabrice is in danger and I’m here to help him. I need to know if there’s anyone else with him though. I’d like to know what I’m getting myself into.”
“What do you mean you’re here to help?” Dian asked. “How the fuck are you going to help?”
“There are some bad men who are trying to kill him. I need to get to him first and convince him to come with me.”
“Just ask him. He’s fucking freaking out. He’s a monster. You fucking Americans are all the same. Monsters. I’m not messing with any of you. Don’t bring your shit to China. We have our own shit. Keep your American shit away.” Mia let go of Dian’s arm. “You better let me go, whore. Don’t think you can tell me what to do just because you’re some American monster.”
“Easy, buddy. I’m not telling you what to do. I just need to know if Fabrice is alone.”
“Of course he’s alone,” Dian said. “Who the fuck would want to spend time with that monster? He promised to pay me and I don’t even want to spend time with him.” Dian turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth to shout down the hall, “Fuck him!”
“All right. Good enough,” Mia said. “Thanks for your help.”
“I’m not helping you,” Dian said. “I’m not helping any Americans. No more Americans for me.”
Mia stepped out of the way, and Dian shook his head, muttered something under his breath and then pushed the button for the elevator. Mia didn’t move until Dian boarded the elevator. As the elevator doors closed Dian yelled, “Fuck you, Americans!”
45
Chapter 45
With Dian gone, the fourteenth floor fell quiet. Mia approached the door, and paused before knocking to take one last listen. She heard nothing and knocked three times. She stood out of the way of the peephole so Fabrice wouldn’t see her if he looked through.
As the door swung open, Fabrice yelled, “Dian, I’ve had enough of you…” but before he could finish the thought, Mia had crashed her body against the door, forcing it into Fabrice, who stumbled backward. Mia exploded through the doorway and hit Fabrice in the face three times before he even saw her coming.
“Don’t do it,” Fabrice yelled, retreating from Mia. He tripped over the corner of the bed and fell to the floor on his butt. Mia pounced, kneeing him in the face, driving his body to the floor, and then placing a knee on each shoulder as she pummeled him with punch after punch. Fabrice screamed, and Mia thought of Randy’s point that none of the men were brave. He reached up and tried to cover his face with his arms, but couldn’t reach past the top of his head. Mia grabbed his hair in his hands, slammed the back of his head against the floor a half dozen times, and then stood up, backing away, but kept an eye on him.
“Don’t kill me,” Fabrice said. “Please, don’t do it. I’m going to kill Buster. The guy who just left my room is going to do it for me. I’m giving him ten grand to do it. He’s probably on his way to take care of it right now.”
“You’re lying, Fabrice. I just talked to him. That guy hates you. He told me to kill you and put you out of your misery. He said something about you not paying him the money you owe him.”
“He’s lying. I don’t owe him anything.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you owe him or don’t owe him. You made him hate the entire fucking country though. Nice job. That guy’s going to think bad things about Americans for the rest of his life. I hope you’re happy. You’re single-handedly going to set back U.S. relations with China three or four decades. Do you fucking ruin everything you touch?”
“I don’t know,” Fabrice said through tears. “I don’t know. Just don’t kill me. What do you want to hear? I’ll kill Buster, okay. I’ll do it. I won’t hire anyone. I’ll do it myself. Just let me go.”
“You think I’m going to let you kill Buster? After the way you’ve fucked up so far? I mean have you done anything right? Why would I leave something so important to a fuckup like you? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ll do it. I can do it.” Fabrice sat up, leaned his back against the bed, and wiped the snot from his nose. Mia felt slight pity for him as he tried to pull himself together.”
“It’s too late,” Mia said. “You missed your chance. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Fabrice started wailing again, and leaned over to the side, collapsing to the floor. “Please don’t do it. Just let me go. I’ll do anything. Just leave and let me go.”
Mia kicked him three ties in the ribs, and then backed up. “Get up.” Fabrice didn’t move. “Get off the floor and sit on the bed,” Mia yelled. Fabrice still didn’t move. Mia leaned over, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along the floor toward the back of the room. “I’m not fucking kidding. Get off of the fucking floor and sit on the bed.”
Fabrice struggled to his feet, and then staggered the two steps to the bed, falling face first in the bunch of blankets at the foot of the bed.
“Get yourself together. Stop crying, and wipe your tears so we can talk.” Fabrice sat up, and gasped for air as he tried to stop crying. “This is unbelievable. It’s like I’m talking to a child. You’re a child, Fabrice. You have the bravery of a young child. You should be ashamed. I’m ashamed for you.”
“I don’t want to die,” Fabrice said, as he started wailing again.
Mia cut him off. “Stop it. Stop crying. Golly fuck act like an adult for two seconds, please. Stop crying or I am going to kill you.”
“Okay,” Fabrice said, exhaling. “Okay. Okay. Okay. I’m stopping. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
Mia held up two hands to tell Fabrice to relax.
“What’s going on here?” Mia asked.
Fabrice looked at her, opened his mouth like he was going to say something, and then looked around the room. He looked at her again, and said, “We’re fighting?”
“No, I mean why am I here? What are you involved in? Why did they send me all the way to China? You must have done something pretty bad to make them send me all the way here to kill you.”
“They’re upset because a deal has gone bad.”
“Of course it�
�s gone bad or I wouldn’t be here. I don’t want to know that it’s gone bad. I want to know what the fuck it was.”
“Gold. We were transferring gold, but the guy who was supposed to handle the transfer went missing, so we didn’t know what to do. It all fell through. I tried to save it, but I couldn’t save it.”
“What does that mean? Transferring gold? Who were you transferring it to?”
“China. Outside of the market.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’ve been acquiring gold.”
“From where?”
“Everywhere. Dealers, private sellers, banks. Anywhere we can get it, but small transactions. Always transactions small enough to escape attention.”
