by Robert Crais
“Rojas! Where is Medina?”
“With the pollos. You want him?”
“Yes, both of you. In the garage.”
Ghazi had more of the coffee as Rojas hurried away, then strolled to the garage. Ghazi had agreed to the exchange, but he would not make the trip. He would do everything possible to save his sister, and prayed the Korean gangster was good at his word, but Ghazi al-Diri did not believe he would see her again, and felt certain the exchange was a death sentence.
Rojas and Medina appeared almost at once. He straightened like the commander he was, and faced them.
“We are returning the Koreans. We need eight guards for the move, two for the big truck and the rest in the smaller trucks. They should be armed. Rojas, I want you on the big truck. You will be in charge.”
Rojas looked surprised, but made no objection. They had been together a long time. Ghazi would hate to lose Rojas, but Samuel was the smarter and more capable. If recovering Maysan was possible, Rojas was more likely to succeed.
Rojas said, “Someone has bought them?”
“The gangsters have my sister. You will be exchanging the pollos for her. I have made the arrangments.”
Al-Diri quickly outlined where and how the exchange would take place, told Rojas to pick his men, and move out as quickly as possible.
Rojas and Medina turned to leave, but al-Diri called after Medina.
“Medina, stay. I have something else.”
Medina turned back and waited. Al-Diri took a moment to be clear his thinking was right. He was not losing only the Koreans. He had decided to abandon the date farm, and without his sister’s access to properties, he had no place to keep them. He could not let them walk away, as they were witness to heinous crimes, so something had to be done.
Ghazi al-Diri was clear. He had made the only right and true decision.
“We will need another big truck. When Rojas is gone, we will leave this place. We have to get rid of the pollos.”
Medina studied him for several seconds, then shrugged.
“There are always more pollos.”
Vasco Medina was the right man for this job.
“You sure you don’t want to wait for Rojas? It will save us the cost of a truck.”
“We have no time to wait. We will meet Rojas elsewhere.”
Medina grunted thoughtfully, then slowly smiled to show the ruined crocodile teeth. Medina understood. They would not wait for Rojas because Rojas and the truck would probably not return.
“Okay. I can get us a truck, no problem. Bigger, maybe. We’re gonna have what, a hundred twenty, a hundred thirty?”
“Yes, something like that.”
Medina grunted again.
“We could leave them here. That would be fastest.”
Ghazi had considered this, but immediately discounted it. The date farm was connected to Maysan. Were so many bodies found here, the resulting investigation would eventually link her to Ghazi, and lead to his eventual identification.
“No, we cannot leave them.”
“Okay. I know a place we can reach with the truck. I’ll take care of it.”
He started away, but stopped.
“What about the rich boy? Him, too?”
Ghazi had soured on the uncertain chance a widowed mother would pay. Rich people could be trouble, so al-Diri wanted to get rid of the boy with the others.
“Him, too. We have no time to waste.”
“What about the asshole who’s in with the Sinaloas? I hate that fuckin’ asshole.”
“Everyone. Get the truck and get them loaded. I want to get out of here.”
“Can I take care of this how I want?”
Ghazi al-Diri cringed. Medina meant the killing. He was a man who would enjoy the killing. In Mexico, they did it with hammers.
“However you want, but not here. Wait till you get wherever you are going. Then you don’t have to carry them.”
Medina made the crocodile smile again, and Ghazi wondered why the man never fixed his teeth.
Ghazi al-Diri watched Medina walk away, then went to his car. He was driving a charcoal gray Lexus SUV Pinetta got cheap from one of his thieves. Pinetta would be difficult to replace; far more difficult than Ghazi’s brother-in-law, whose only talent had been Maysan’s love.
Ghazi lifted a short, black shotgun from behind the front seat. He did not trust these gangsters, and felt sure they would attack. He could feel them. Someone was hunting him.
Ghazi made sure the shotgun was loaded, then followed Medina inside. There was still much to be done before the killing began.
Kwan Min Park
Kwan was seated with Jack and Krista when Samuel Rojas and the other guards entered and went to his people. One of the guards lashed a man with his club to clear a path, and Rojas went to a girl named Sun Hee. Rojas used her as a translator because she spoke the best English.
Sun Hee jumped to her feet, listened to her master, then translated his words. Had she been male, Kwan would have hated her for cooperating and likely broken her neck. As a submissive female, he expected no less than her humiliating subservient behavior, but had sought to use it. He had instructed her to offer her sex to the guards so that she might steal a weapon, but so far she had failed.
As she spoke, the group traded glances, some smiling, and rose to their feet.
Jack said, “What’s going on?”
Kwan looked at his friend.
“Not know. How you?”
Jack Berman closed his eyes and touched the back of his neck.
“Hurts like a sonofabitch. You know headache? I have a monster headache.”
Kwan wasn’t certain what “monster” meant, but knew it must be bad.
“You better. See good. Talk.”
Krista smiled.
“Much better.”
Sun Hee interrupted. She begged Kwan’s forgiveness for daring to speak, and quickly explained as he watched his group straggle to the door. Kwan was surprised, but such a thing was expected.
Krista spoke as soon as Sun Hee hurried away.
Krista said, “Where are they going?”
“We go. Ssang Yong Pa make us free.”
He saw the confusion in Krista’s face.
“Family. Clan. Ssang Yong Pa my family.”
Kwan studied his new friends, and felt mixed about leaving them. He gripped Jack Berman’s arm.
“First night, guards beat, you try help. Kwan Min Park remember. Now, forever, we friends. My clan, much power. Kwan Min Park, much power. Great warrior. I kill many men.”
Kwan read the fear in Krista’s eyes before she interrupted.
“Kwan—”
The club crossed his back with a sharp explosion of pain. Kwan turned in time to see the club falling again, parried it to the inside, and stopped himself from punching the guard Krista called the Praying Mantis in the neck. Sun Hee was with him, as was the belligerent guard with the teeth, Medina.
Sun Hee was frantic.
“You must come. We go now. You must come.”
Medina pushed the Mantis and Sun Hee aside, and grabbed Kwan’s arm. Kwan let the man pull him to his feet, then shrugged off his hand. Kwan stood very close, nose to nose, eyes close. Medina grimaced almost as if growling and pushed his shock prod into Kwan’s side. The sharp pop when it discharged was like being kicked, but Kwan did not react. The prod tortured his flesh, but Kwan smiled to show his defiance.
The Mantis and Sun Hee both pushed him toward the door, ending the moment, and Kwan glanced back at his friend Jack Berman.
“Kwan not forget. I help you, Jack Berman, as you try help me.”
Kwan turned away, and allowed himself to be herded into line with the others. Outside in the hall, the remaining half of their group was being herded from the other room, and Medina disappeared.
Sun Hee, beside him, twittered like a wearisome bird.
“You should not antagonize them. He is very angry.”
“His anger does not interest me
. Be quiet.”
“We are not yet free. You should be careful.”
“He should be careful. When we are free, he will meet the true me.”
Kwan pushed her ahead so he wouldn’t have to listen.
They passed through the kitchen and into the garage. The big truck had been backed to the door, and was waiting for them. Kwan noted the guards here in the garage carried shotguns or military weapons, and appeared nervous. He wondered why.
The end of the line slowed as those in front climbed into the truck. Kwan Min Park was near the end. He was happy that he would soon see his grandfather and cousin, and wondered if they would be on hand to greet him. He would miss Korea, but taking his rightful place among Ssang Yong Pa in the great city of Los Angeles had long been a dream. He shuffled forward, moving closer to the truck and to his destiny.
Kwan wondered if he would see his friend Jack Berman again. He hoped so. He was imagining them drinking soju and singing at one of his grandfather’s Noraebang studios, when some hard thing slammed into the back of his head.
The world sparkled.
Kwan felt himself fall, but had no power to stop. He opened his eyes almost at once, and realized he was on his back.
Medina grinned down at him.
Kwan felt a surge of fear, and tried to rise, but men held his arms and legs.
Medina raised a steel hammer high above his head, and brought the hammer down.
Kwan Min Park tried to turn away, but couldn’t.
Joe Pike
Pike watched the six men slip past the box truck as they left the garage for the pickups. Two had AKs, and the rest had shotguns. They mounted up, two men each in three of the smaller trucks. Two more men came from the garage and climbed into the larger truck’s cab.
Pike was pressed into the sandy soil at the base of a date palm forty yards away. He keyed his sat phone, and gave Jon Stone the description and license plate of each of the four vehicles.
Stone said, “Copy. Eight men out?”
“Eight.”
“Helps.”
Three minutes later a bronze Dodge pickup pulled away, followed by a silver Ford. The box truck rumbled after the Ford, and the last pickup fell in behind the box truck.
Pike whispered again.
“Leaving now.”
As the trucks rolled toward him, Pike stared at the garage. Two men watched from the door, then moved back into the garage and disappeared into the shadows.
Pike didn’t move as the trucks passed. He held his position until they reached the street, glanced back to see them turn, then spoke again.
“Going in.”
Jon Stone said, “Other side, bro.”
Pike moved deeper into the trees, and watched the garage as he ran from trunk to trunk to the building. He came out of the grove behind the garage, drew his pistol, and made his way to the door. He heard nothing, so he eased to the ground and peeked. Three SUVs and a pickup were parked inside, but he saw no one.
There was a door at the far end of the giant garage past the SUVs. Pike knew this would be the way in. He was making his way toward it when he saw a three-foot smear of fresh blood on the concrete as if something had been dragged. Then the smear stopped, and fresh drops and a line of blood as thin as a string trailed out of the garage. The drops were bright and filled with the color of fading life. Someone had died as they boarded the truck.
Pike jogged directly to the door, and checked the knob. Locked. He was reaching for his pick gun when the door suddenly opened.
An Anglo with large hands blinked at Pike, and an African-American man beside him frowned.
“Who are you?”
Pike shot the man with the large hands, and reset on his friend.
Pike spoke two words.
“Elvis Cole.”
He stepped inside, and closed the door.
Elvis Cole
The guards were different that morning. They moved faster than usual past my little office-cell, and their voices were strained and clipped. Sometimes they argued. I heard muffled shouting and what might have been women screaming, and an engine revving, but I wasn’t sure about any of it.
Royce and the Praying Mantis opened my door, and Royce told me to get on my feet. Even Royce looked different. Closed off, and grim.
“Get up, asshole. Let’s go.”
I turned sideways to show the cuffs when I stood.
“Cut these things. I have to pee.”
“So piss yourself. C’mon.”
He took my arm and pulled me past the commissary. The hall was crowded with guards and prisoners, who were being moved from one room to the other. Someone shouted in Spanish, and the guards pushed people more roughly than usual, and used their shock prods.
The Mantis pushed me into the room with Krista and Jack, which was now much more crowded.
“What’s going on?”
Royce said, “You’ll find out. Shut up and sit down.”
They turned away, moving to other parts of the room. I saw Krista and Jack in their usual spot, and picked my way to them. Jack was awake and focused, and sitting upright.
I said, “Remember me?”
“Sure. Kinda.”
“You look a lot better.”
Krista leaned close as two guards moved past.
“Kwan and his group got to leave. They’re going home.”
I realized Kwan and the other Korean victims were missing.
“This morning?”
“Yeah, and now they’re putting everyone from the other room into ours.”
I thought about Sang Ki Park’s adamant refusal to pay, and wondered why his people had been released. The guards who were shoving people into our room moved like men who were running out of time, and feeling the pressure. Pike was big on pressure, and might be working with Park. If Pike was close, everything could and would change in a heartbeat.
I edged closer to Krista, checked the area for guards, and turned so my back was to her.
“You have the knife?”
“Yes, like you said.”
“Cut. They’re tough, so cut hard.”
She went to work with the knife. When she slowed, Jack edged closer to help, and a minute later the plastic gave. I kept my hands behind my back, and sat with my back to the wall.
The prisoners from the other room were soon in ours, and Ghazi al-Diri made an appearance. He stepped through the door with several guards, spoke briefly to Medina, and left. Even al-Diri carried a shotgun.
Medina then spoke with the guards, who spread through the crowd near the door, pulling people to their feet and pushing them into the hall. When people farther from the door began getting up, other guards rushed to push them down, but the closer people kept being pushed out.
Krista whispered.
“What are they doing?”
I suspected I knew, and hoped I was wrong. Al-Diri might be moving us to a more secure hiding place, but I flashed on Thomas Locano, telling me about mass graves in Mexico.
I nudged Jack.
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
Krista said, “He can’t walk.”
“I can walk.”
We were watching the people closer to the door drain from the room when Medina, Royce, and the Mantis left the other guards, and came over. Royce had a shotgun slung over his shoulder, and the Mantis and Medina carried shock prods. The pistol was still in the Mantis’s right front pocket.
Medina stopped so he was standing over Krista, and leered at her with the awful smile.
“We all goin’ for a little ride, but you’ll be more comfortable if you ride with me.”
He bent to take her arm, and I saw his shirt was spattered with blood. Streaks and drips of blood marked his shirt with slaughterhouse designs, and more blood speckled his face.
I saw the blood as he pulled Krista to her feet. I saw the blood, and it didn’t matter if Joe was here or help was at hand.
He pulled Krista to her feet, and I stood
with her, and in that moment the sharp unmistakable sound of a gunshot echoed from the next building.
The room froze in that instant except for me and Medina. He pushed Krista away, and swung the shock prod down like a club. I stepped outside, rolled his arm between us, and hit him in the mouth with the first two knuckles of my right hand. He staggered back, but I had his arm, so I punched him again as Royce unslung the shotgun. I drove Medina backward into Royce, then stepped into the Mantis, hooked my elbow into his throat, and tore at his pocket for the gun. I was still in his pocket when Royce pushed Medina away, came up with the shotgun, and Krista Morales stabbed him in the shoulder. He squealed and swatted at the knife as if swatting a bee. The pocket tore away, I shot him twice in the chest, then shot the Mantis.
Medina was gone. Many of the guards had run to see what was happening, and now the sound of gunfire popped and pounded through the buildings. Some prisoners ran, others dropped to the floor, and still others curled into balls.
I grabbed Royce’s shotgun, pulled Krista and Jack close, and shouted over the screaming.
“We’ll be trapped if we stay. Can you walk?”
“I’ll run.”
I shot two guards, and we pushed our way into the crowd.
Sang Ki Park
Sang Ki Park felt benevolent toward the defeated foe before him. The man nodded respectfully, and introduced himself.
“My name is Samuel Rojas. We have your people here.”
They were making the exchange at an abandoned quarry a few miles north of the Salton Sea. The man called Rojas gestured to the large truck behind him, from which people were already emerging. The men from the three smaller pickups were helping Park’s people from the truck.
Park would inspect his people once they unloaded, then keep the truck to transport them.
Rojas said, “You have a lady for us?”
Sang Ki Park raised his hand. The woman stepped from the back seat of his BMW, but came no farther. She was not allowed to come farther.
Park appeared patient as the people he brought from Korea gathered in a small group, but he was not. In truth, he was looking for his cousin, and anxious to be done with this. His uncle was now waiting at the motel, and he did not wish his uncle to wait long. His uncle was not a patient man.
