No one spoke.
Finally, Maggie said, “I should’ve expected that and backed out of the way. We’d all better get outside before somebody else suffers.”
They left the building as a group and stepped out into the sunny and breezy morning. Athena unscrewed the wooden handle from a push broom and used it as a makeshift cane. It hadn’t escaped her notice that the three women who’d been hurt or killed recently were all troublemakers. Just like her.
They really needed to probe the inner fence for weaknesses.
The closed end of the narrow canyon was north. A thin, cascading waterfall dropped several hundred feet from that cliff, and it wrapped around them on both sides. The only opening was to the south. It was a picturesque valley, and she would’ve enjoyed spending time here if she could come and go at will.
The steep cliff walls were sparsely covered with pinon pines and junipers. It looked a lot like the foothills near Durango. Many of the shrubs, as well as a line of aspens growing near the waterfall, had changed to their yellow, orange, and red fall colors.
Too bad, Athena couldn’t enjoy the scenery. She, Maggie, Jackie, and Donna had to focus their attention on the fence. It was old and rusted, but the coils of concertina wire above it were shiny. That had to be a new addition.
In many spots, rainfall or animals had created gaps under the fence, but they’d been filled in with rocks cemented into place. Someone had tightened the security considerably.
Athena kept asking herself how could they get over the razor wire without getting sliced up? It seemed the only way would be to toss some kind of heavy fabric, maybe several blankets layered atop each other, over the fence. Then, they could throw a rope ladder over everything and secure the far end of the ladder onto the bottom of the fence so it would stay in place as someone climbed. But the scheme needed much more thought.
As their group milled around, various women approached the person they thought of as Chris and introduced themselves. She acted casual and friendly but told them little about her past.
Cici and most of the other sex slaves were part of the throng. Athena made a point of chatting with all of them. But when she spoke to Cici, they each kept the other at a distance.
When Athena wasn’t chatting, her mind turned to another problem, namely how to get past the Dobermans. Whoever tried to escape would have to leave after dark to avoid being seen. That was when the dogs roamed free. Maybe they could drug the dogs or distract them long enough for someone to get over the fence and well away.
One of the guards approached Athena, snapping her out of her reverie.
He said, “I’ve been ordered to escort you to the doctor.”
She had no choice but to follow. She’d also have to allow the OB/GYN to do whatever she pleased.
Chapter 20
Rick took Athena to a rectangular, single-story building that served as the medical office. It had two main entrances because it was a combination of a residence and an office. The guard took her through one door that led into a small reception area with several comfortable chairs. A middle-aged Chinese woman opened a door on the opposite side of the room and smiled.
The guard took off.
“I’m Doctor Wu, your new physician. I understand you’ve volunteered to become a surrogate.”
How could a doctor be that stupid or ignorant? To be sure the woman understood the situation, Athena said, “Volunteered? I was told I could either become a surrogate or die.”
The Chinese woman sighed. “Life is often like that. Choices are so often made for us. I was first lured into this project by considerable sums of money, but I soon learned too much for my own good. Now, I hear the FBI is making urgent inquiries about me, and they’d like to ask questions I cannot answer truthfully. My only options were to come here or return to China. It’s unfortunate the US has such primitive, restrictive laws concerning genetic research.”
Wu seemed to think her predicament was comparable to being kidnapped at night, beaten, and coerced at the point of a sword into letting some stranger put foreign DNA in her body. Athena didn’t say that because bitching would be futile, and she didn’t want to put off the only doctor available to the surrogates.
After a pregnant pause, Wu said, “In any case, thanks to your bloodwork yesterday, I know your luteinizing hormone level is quite high. That’s very fortuitous. You are either ovulating now or are about to. I intend to implant two fertilized embryos immediately.”
Athena wondered about this bizarre genetic experiment. “Why does Langer need to kidnap women to become surrogates if the babies are normal?”
“I do not know how your friends manage to find their way here,” Wu said. “I’m merely performing my assigned medical duties. With regard to the embryos being transplanted, I can assure you they are perfectly normal fertilized human eggs. I’ve visited the laboratory near Shanghai where they are produced, and I’ve examined all of the children born through this program, including Jackie’s baby yesterday. Each newborn is absolutely normal and healthy.”
So, fertilized in vitro. Nothing illegal about that. Clinics operated everywhere. But something here was not legal, and two possibilities came to mind. “Are the eggs cloned or gene spliced or both?”
Wu’s eyes almost popped out at Athena’s question. One of the two possibilities had to be right. But all the woman said was, “No more idle chatter. Come this way.”
Wu pushed her down the hallway into an examination room. Athena didn’t have much choice but to cooperate…unless she wanted one of the guards to give her another whack on the side of the head with a foil.
Instead, she submitted to what felt like a typical gynecological exam. The implantation procedure itself was quick and painless. Technically, it was a felonious sexual assault.
When Wu finished, she gave Athena a mild analgesic, in case she experienced any abdominal discomfort, and escorted her out of the office.
The only good element about the procedure was that she wasn’t likely to get a surprise medical bill for a gazillion dollars. She had been pondering using artificial insemination to become pregnant but hadn’t got around to researching it yet.
After Athena left the office, she walked around the back of the building to get a look. The only thing visible was a shiny new silver Porsche. She didn’t know much about cars, but this one was obviously pricey, a 911 Turbo S. Wu must’ve driven to Utah willingly, and she wouldn’t have brought a car unless she could leave whenever she wanted, too.
-o-o-o-
Athena caught up with Maggie in their bedroom. “How do you feel?” each asked the other.
“No worse than usual after going to the OB/GYN,” Athena said, “but I’ve always hated that.”
“Me, too. As for the whack to my head, I’m basically okay,” Maggie said. “I’ll heal up in a week or so. Lesson learned—we need to watch out for that asshole Leo.”
“Amen.”
“Have you been pregnant before?” Maggie asked.
Athena shook her head. “I’m not sure this will work. What’re the odds?”
“Pretty good, actually. Wu is an insensitive, selfish bitch, but her success ratio with past implants has been very high. Probably eighty percent.”
“If not,” Athena said, “I assume she’ll try again next month.”
Maggie nodded. “They give women three chances to become pregnant, and then…oh, shit, sorry.”
Athena realized she meant that after three strikes, she’d lose in the game of life.
A deep pang of worry shot through her, but she was going to look at the bright side. After all, she was a survivor. “Listen, I asked about the eggs. Mentioned clones and gene splicing. I thought Wu’s eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets.”
“Good for you!” Maggie wiped her face with her hands. “I don’t know much about either option, but they’re illegal because they’re dangerous.”
“Just one more damned thing for us to worry abou
t. But first, we have to get out of here. Then we can find out what risks our babies will face. Did you guys see any weaknesses in the fence after I left the group?”
“Afraid not. We need to gather the rescue committee to talk about next steps. How about now?”
“Sure. The sooner the better.”
Within ten minutes, they were joined by Jackie and Donna. The other nurses on the committee had been killed. The four women sat on beds facing each other. Maggie summarized what little they knew about their current location and Hugo Langer’s plans for possibly moving everyone to Nicaragua. She didn’t mention who’d told her that info.
“I’ve thought up a few options worth brainstorming,” Athena said.
The others looked at her expectantly.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said. “None of my ideas will probably work, but we’ve gotta start scheming somewhere.”
Nobody disagreed or claimed to have any ideas of their own. Athena could see how some of these folks had stayed under Langer’s thumb for so many long months.
Maggie glared at the others. “Listen up. The first person who tells Athena her ideas are lousy will be doing the dishes for the next month. So, embrace the crazy.”
When no one spoke, she pointed at Athena. She said, “The worst that happens is you will get a few good laughs, okay? First idea—we beg, borrow, or steal an electronic device I can use to communicate with the outside world. By device, I mean phone, tablet, or iPod.”
Donna raised her hand. “Are questions allowed?”
“Absolutely,” Athena said. “So are suggestions and alternatives. I’m counting on you guys to take my crazy schemes and make them workable.”
“How can you call someone with an iPod?” Jackie asked. “It plays music.”
Donna nodded as though that had been her question, too.
“For the last five years or so, iPods have basically been iPhones without the phone module. Most of the Apple apps will work on an iPod, and iMessage is preinstalled. I know Beau has an iPhone, so I could text him. But to do that, I need the Wi-Fi password for the local Wi-Fi network. I’m working that angle already.”
The four talked about electronic devices until Maggie said, “Good start, girl. What other ideas?”
“Second approach,” Athena said, “after one of the nightly roll calls, we send somebody over the wall.”
Nobody responded, or even asked for more info. Not encouraging.
Maggie said, “We don’t understand.”
“Somebody who’s in good physical shape runs for help. My guess is it’s probably twenty miles back to Blanding, returning the way we came. If one of us hiked straight east, though, she could probably cut that distance in half. Ten miles is doable in three to four hours during the day, so probably six at night. The moon is waxing now, and it’ll be full in a week. And when our heroine gets to town, she finds somewhere open all night and asks them to call the cops.”
Jackie nodded slowly, seemingly unsure. “Who do you think this heroine is? Maggie just got her bell rung again today, I just had a baby, and you can barely walk for any distance on flat ground. Donna is a possibility, but we can’t afford to lose our last nurse to bears, lions, or wolves. All the other women here are pregnant and incapable of hiking ten miles. The sex slaves are kids still.”
“I hear ya,” Athena said, “but don’t count me out. I’m feeling lots better already. I regularly hike ten miles at a time using hiking poles to maintain my balance. I can make do with the broomstick. Should be healthy enough to make the attempt within a few days.”
They talked over how to distract the dogs long enough to get over the concertina wire. Fortunately, this compound didn’t have cameras or motion detectors installed yet, so they wouldn’t be a problem.
Finally, Athena said, “Okay, plenty of problems with this approach. I’m not minimizing them. We need to work out a few kinks, but I’m sure it’s doable.”
“Agreed,” Maggie said. “And we’re not going to get bogged down in whining about details. Let’s stick with big picture. Anybody else have a suggestion?”
Jackie smiled mischievously. “I keep noticing how careless the guards act around us. They wade into the middle of one of our groups all the time, even though five or six of us could jump the asshole and overwhelm him.”
Athena snickered. “That’s a terrific idea. We just need to hold his arms for a few seconds while one of us snatches his pistol and foil. Then, he’s totally fucked.”
“Who here knows how to shoot?” Donna asked. “I sure don’t.”
Athena and Maggie both raised their hands.
Donna looked at Jackie askance. “You really think that could work? Remember, Leo can’t let any of us go. He’s part of a murderous conspiracy with a a half-dozen people dead so far. If even one person gets away, he’ll spend the rest of his life in a cell. He can’t let one of us go to save a guard or even several of them.”
Athena groaned. “You’re right.”
Maggie sighed. “Okay, any other ideas?”
“I’ve got one,” Donna said. “To begin, I should tell you I have a degree in art history, particularly love the Impressionists. Their paintings are made from little dots on a contrasting background. Up close, you can’t see the image, but it’s obvious when you stand back.”
Maggie looked off into the distance at nothing in particular.
Donna jabbed her with an elbow. “This compound is big enough for us to construct a giant SOS sign. It would only be visible to someone in an airplane or helicopter above us. We can’t make it quickly, would probably need a few weeks, but we could move enough of those orange rocks from next to the mine portal to the open ground north of this building.”
“That’s brilliant,” Athena said, “and it’s the safest idea of all. If we take our time and sprinkle rocks and stones a little at a time, Leo and his assholes will never figure out what’s happening under their noses.”
“Okay, very clever,” Maggie said. “Anything else?”
When no one spoke, she said, “Great meeting. Let’s gather again after dinner and sort out who will do what to develop each plan. We should work on them simultaneously.”
-o-o-o-
Gas-N-Grub Store, Naturita, Colorado
All morning, Beau had driven far and wide, visiting city and county offices in the southwestern corner of the state. So far, he hadn’t come across anything interesting in this sparsely populated region.
When he stopped for gas, his cell phone pinged. A voicemail from Yang asked him to call. He did.
“We found the bus used to transport the women,” the boss said. “You’ll never believe where.”
“Agreed, I’m sure I won’t, not familiar with these parts.”
“Carson City, Nevada.”
“Wow, the state’s capital?” Beau said.
“Yeah, it’s on the westernmost side of the state, close to California. It’s eight hundred miles from Norwood using the shortest route.”
“Shit! They could’ve dropped the women off anywhere in between here and there.”
“It gets worse,” Yang said. “We checked the odometer and know exactly how many miles the bus traveled after it left Norwood. The driver put nine hundred and thirty miles on the bus. So, he drove a hundred and thirty miles farther than he needed to. One of our whiz kids worked out a map that shows all the possible roads the vehicle could’ve taken. The possibilities stretch out over a wide swath in southwestern Colorado, southern and central Utah, and central Nevada.”
Beau tried to tamp down his frustration. “It’ll take our team weeks to cover so much land. But I can’t believe the new hiding place is anywhere close to Carson City. That has to be misdirection.”
“Agreed, and we’ll focus our search on the areas near to you. That means keep at what you’re doing. When you finish with Colorado, sweep west into southeastern Utah. I’ll send you the details for the possible routes. While you work there, o
thers will investigate central Utah and central Nevada.”
“You got it, sir.”
“Two more things. First, we rushed DNA on several bloody articles of clothing that were left behind at the compound. To my surprise, one of the women at the compound was one of us.”
“FBI?” Beau asked.
“Close, she’s a DOJ prosecutor who was forced into witness protection two years ago. You remember hearing about Athena Kazan?”
Beau had seen a few news stories because she was involved in a notorious case. Damned few Federal prosecutors ended up shot, and she’d barely survived the attack. “You mean the gal from Wyoming who stumbled onto a mob payoff in a parking garage?”
“Exactly. I’m sure Chris Nielsen is really Kazan. That’s just between you and me.”
A chill ran through Beau. “You said blood. How much?”
“Not pints. A pair of pajamas had been left at the compound. The pants were smeared with blood from what looked like multiple shallow cuts on her butt and the back of her thighs. The poor woman was probably whipped. No evidence of rape, thank God.”
Merde! Chris had been tortured. “This whole case is sickening.”
“Yeah, and you don’t know the weirdest part yet. One of the women on the bus gave birth. Amniotic fluid and a little blood covered the backbench. We ran her DNA, too, but she’s not in CODIS. Actually, we rushed the DNA analysis on thirty-two saliva samples. When the women exited, they apparently spit on their seats. Somebody had the bright idea that they should leave evidence of their presence behind.”
This case had moved beyond bizarre, poor Chris-Athena, but he couldn’t let his worry about her hinder him from doing his job. “Listen, if I do find evidence of another possible secret prison, I might need a drone.”
“I’m more likely to send a plane,” Yang said. “I have six people performing the same work as you, and I have a pilot on standby in Salt Lake City. Let me know if you need air support. And back in DC, we have five national security specialists reviewing satellite photographs of the target area.”
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