by Abbey, S. C.
“I’ve been here before.” Said Harvey with a pondering look on his face.
“Huh?” Gillian asked.
The sound of feet scuffing along the sandy dirt path could be heard from afar as they approached the ringmaster’s living quarters.
“We have company.” Katie said with a frown. “Hurry, inside!”
Katie placed one hand behind each of her companion and shoved them into the tent through the double flapped entrance of it and slipped in just in time before 3 men appeared to walk past them. Katie peeked through the tiny slit, her heart beating heavily in her chest.
“Is this a good idea?” whispered Gillian.
“Shush–” whispered Harvey with a finger on Gillian’s lips.
Katie kept looking till the band of circus staff could no longer be seen from the slit and waited a further 2 minutes for good measure before turning around to face her companions.
“We are clear.” She said as she let out a long breath.
They stood from the crouching position they were in and faced the tent, taking in its interior.
“I’ve definitely been here.”
Chapter 50
KATIE REACHED OUT for the kerosene lamp on the desk and held it up with her right hand to her eye level where she adjusted the knob near the bottom of it. The room instantly brightened up a couple of notches.
“The tiger’s not back yet.” Said Harvey bluntly.
“The tiger lives here?” asked Katie with an incredulous look.
“See the two cages at the far end of the room? The one on the right is Orange’s.”
“Who’s Orange – oh yeah the tiger.” Said Katie as she tried to make out the outline of the cages.
“What kind of psycho keeps a tiger in his house?” said Gillian. “–Tent.”
“Somebody who has something to hide.” Harvey answered with a firm resolve. “Let’s split up and look for clues, I’m positive we will find something here. Even the most brilliant criminals leave evidence of their crimes.”
“I agree.” Katie said. “Open every drawer, look under every carpet.”
“Be gentle though, we are in a lot of trouble already as it is. The last time I was here, I almost got caught.”
Katie left the kerosene lamp on the floor and entered the bedroom partition of the tent alone while Gillian explored the bathroom. Harvey decided to start looking from the corner with the chesterfield sofa and coffee table. Besides the lack of leather bound books on the coffee table that was present before, everything seemed to be in the exact place as far as he could remember. The shelves were where they were, filled with books to the brim – the well-cleaned gas stove laid undisturbed beside it, polished shiny – the cream-colored Smeg refrigerator stood stoically adjacent, giving off the soft humming sound that came along with most refrigerators. Nobody keeps crack in their fridge, right? Thought Harvey as he reached out press on the handle and open the door. No luck.
Harvey turned around, a slight frustration crept up on him as he glanced around the now exceedingly familiar room. What was he not seeing? He dragged his feet toward Orange’s cage and supported his body weight with his hands holding on to the iron bars and his forehead leaning on another. He let out a sigh of defeat.
The cage looked much bigger without the 8-foot tiger in it. He stared aimlessly at the inside of the cage, not exactly looking at anything in particularly when a strange indentation on the floor caught his eye. His eyes widened at the look of it. Harvey took a step back to look for the gate of the cage and unhinged it when he found it unlocked. He entered the tiger’s cell unreservedly and kneeled down to trace the indentation with his fingers, he was staring at before. He found what he was looking for and poked the yielding flap with his right index finger – a hidden metal hook handle popped up. Katie appeared at the entrance of the bedroom she had ransacked just seconds ago.
“What are you doing in the cage, Harvey?”
“You’ve got to come and see this.” Said Harvey, not removing his eye contact from the handle for the fear of losing it. “I think it is a trap door. Bring me the lamp, I want to make sure I’m not stepping on it.”
Harvey hooked his index finger and pulled on the handle, the trap door lifted with a squeaking sound. Gillian entered the living space, curious at the soft bustle. Katie approached Harvey and passed him the kerosene lamp with Harvey took and hovered it above the hole in the floor of the cage.
“I can see a stair leading down.” Said Harvey as he brought the lamp farther in. “I can’t see where it leads to though.”
“What’s this?” Gillian asked.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Harvey said as he looked up. “Care to join me, Katie?”
Katie hauled herself up into the cage through the gate and bent down to reach a hand out to Gillian. “Coming?”
“I think I should stay up here. I don’t quite like the feeling of this.” Said Gillian with a nervous pale look on her face.
“Don’t you want to know what’s down there?” said Harvey. “Your sister might be down there, you know.”
Gillian shifted uncomfortably at Harvey’s remark as she tried to compose herself. She decided to give in. “Screw it, we’ve already come this far.” She reached out to grab Katie’s hand and the Interpol agent lifted the smaller woman into the cage.
“After me.” Said Harvey as he lowered himself onto the first step of the stair into the dark abyss. Katie trailed behind the professor with Gillian echoing her movements behind her. They scuffled along the dusty ground, careful not to slip as they didn’t know how deep the stair led to. After descending at a painstakingly snail’s pace for 5 minutes, Harvey finally reached ground floor.
“We’ve reached the bottom.” Said Harvey as he lifted the lamp and observed a path that leads to a bent in front of them. “Come.” Following the bent was a series of winding pathway that ended at a lit torch. Harvey passed the kerosene lamp to Katie as he detached the torch from its holder. A dull clanking sound echoed through the deep dungeon. Harvey raised the torch in front of him, its soft glow illuminated the scene that laid out before them. They could see 2 rows of cells facing each other like a typically prison, except this was way more amateurly constructed.
“Harvey. This is a smuggler’s den.” Katie said as she strolled toward the cell nearest to them to take a closer look. “The walls look old, they’re definitely not newly built. The iron bars look like they were placed much later.”
A timid voice called out from the corridor of the dungeon. “Is someone there?”
Harvey recognized the voice in an instant. “Shia? Shia, is that you?
“Harvey? God bless you, oh thank God! Thank you, God! It’s me! I’m over here!”
Harvey rushed toward the source of Shia’s voice with Gillian following behind him. “I’m coming! I’m coming to you!” About 5 cells down the corridor on the left, a battered and exhausted looking Shia who have definitely seen better days, stood behind the iron bars of her cell and stared back at him.
“Harvey! Thank the heavens, I’ve never been so glad to see you!”
“Jesus, what did they do to you?!” Harvey said with a look of concern. “Are you hurt? I’m going to get you out of this, don’t you worry! Katie!”
Harvey turned around to look for Katie when the Interpol Agent did not reply him. He spotted her standing by the second cell, staring in it with her mouth wide opened in wonder.
“Katie?”
She did not seem to have heard him.
“Katie!?”
“Harvey?” she finally said as she awoke from her stupor. “Harvey, you’ve got to see this.”
“What is it?” asked the professor, his hands still holding on tightly to Shia’s.
“I think I found some cocaine here.”
“Great! Now help me out here before we deal with that.” Replied Harvey.
“Harvey, it’s an entire shipment of cocaine here. From the looks of it, there’s at least 50 pounds.” Katie said, with the same monotonous
tone.
“Which means Harvey, there’s almost a million dollars’ worth of coke here.”
Chapter 51
“A MILLION DOLLARS?!” CRIED out the professor as he stared wide-eye at Katie. “I thought you said they were some kind of middle man, not some big time Drug lord.”
Katie took out her cellphone from her pocket and cursed at the lack of reception. “Harvey, we’ve got to get out of this dungeon, I need to contact the authorities. This is way beyond me.”
Harvey turned his attention to Shia. “Have you by any chance seen Christina around here?”
Shia raised a shaky hand and pointed to the cell opposite of hers. Harvey followed the direction of her finger and held the burning torch in front of him. He caught the sight of a bruised and bloodied body on a bench inside the cell, another person was sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees.
“Christina?!” Harvey exclaimed. “Shit, no! Christina?”
“We tried to escape.” Shia said in a dejected voice. “Christina convinced us we should take fate in our own hands and get out of this hell hole. We got caught. I was let off with a light beating because I kept my mouth shut, but she didn’t. She knew that they had to take it out on someone. Christina was the strong one, she refused to back down. She refused to be broken.”
“Samantha?” whimpered Gillian. “Samantha is that you?”
The woman sitting on the floor lifted her head like a deer caught in the headlights. She quickly realized that somebody familiar was calling out to her. She stumbled on her feet and dashed toward the iron bars of her cell with a speed unanticipated by anyone capable of her who have seen her just moments ago.
“Gillian?! Gillian! My baby sister, have you came to save me?! Is this a dream?!” cried Samantha, her tears leaked uncontrollably from her lifeless eyes.
Gillian bolted toward her sister on the other side of the bars and grasped her hands. “It’s me! We will get you out of here!”
Harvey recovered from the surprising twist of events and called out to Katie once again. “We got to get them out of here!” He tugged vigorously at the gate of Shia’s cell. “These are locked! And the chains! We need something to break them!”
Katie strode toward him with a wide grin on her face. “They were hanging by the front on the wall opposite the torch.” She said as she lifted her hands holding on to a ring of keys.
“Brilliant!” Harvey took the set of keys and started trying them on the gate.
“The big ones! Small ones are for the chains!” yelped Shia. “Hurry!”
Harvey got lucky with the 4th key he was trying on the lock and the gate sprang open. He entered the cell and started to unlock the cuffs on Shia’s wrist and ankle. It didn’t take him long before she was freed and they both exited the cell.
“Quick! Over here.” Cried Gillian.
Harvey sped toward the gate of Christina’s holding cell and stuck a random big key into the key hole and turned, it didn’t succumb to his maneuver. He tried another key and another, and another until the lock finally clicked on the 6th attempt. Gilliam rushed into the cell and hugged Samantha. Harvey entered the cell and proceeded to unlock all the wrist and ankle cuffs on both women.
“Christina?” Harvey called out to the semi-conscious woman who moaned softly. “Are you okay, Christina?” He placed two fingers on her neck to sense for a pulse. “She’s alive, but barely. She needs medical attention. Shia, you’ve got to help me with her. I’ll lift her on her feet and we can support her on both sides.”
They half carried Christina out of the cell while Gillian and Samantha was already waiting outside for them. “Katie, you lead the way. Get us out of here.”
The two intruders and three tortured young women faltered clumsily as they followed Katie along the rows of cells, tracing back the route they had taken when they came in. They reached the winding path and followed the road, before long, they were at the foot of the stair which would lead them out of the dungeon. Seeking the direction of Katie’s kerosene lamp, they lumbered up the hand carved stairs till they reached the top of it. The squeaking sound of the trap door opening accompanied by the gush of fresh air signaled the end of their ascent. They stumbled out of the cage through the opened gate and landed on the ground.
Katie dropped the kerosene lamp on the floor and fished her cell phone out of her pocket. She was about to dial a number on her keypad when a low warm bass filled the room they were in.
“Look what we’ve found here.”
Chapter 52
DEACON NOVAK STARTED to clap mockingly as he gaze upon Katie with a look of shock on her face. “Well done, my friends! You’ve managed to come this far–”
Katie glared at the sight of the ringmaster in disgust as she drew her gun and pointed it at him. “Cut the chase, Novak. It is over. You are under arrest for the possession of cocaine and the unlawfully confinement of these women. And that’s just for a start, I’ll make sure you will never smell the air of freedom again.”
A man behind Deacon made his presence known by lifting a gun toward Katie as soon as she drew hers. His face was covered in trails of blood and patches of bruises in his otherwise draconian expression – he did not seem to be bothered by his injuries. He held his gun steadily with both hands.
“It’s you!” Harvey said with Christina in his arms. “You were the one who tried to kill us on the highway!”
Kaul stood impassively, not removing his eye contact from Katie. Katie pointed her gun at him in response.
“People, please. There is no need for guns.” Deacon said, in a lackadaisical voice. “We are civilized beings. Let’s not rely on these weapons to communicate. Let’s do without them, shall we?”
“Katie, don’t listen to him!” Harvey cried. “He’s a crook, he cannot be trusted.”
“I know, Harvey.” Katie replied in a firm voice. “I was born in the night, but it wasn’t last night.”
Deacon roared in laughter. “A lady with a sense of humor! I like that!”
A shadow snuck from the back of Gillian and grabbed her against him, putting a dangerous looking serrated knife to her throat.
“Guys?” whimpered Gillian. “Help. Please. Help me?”
Harvey turned and notice the new person in the room. “Put down the gun, Miss.” Said Tom in his usual rough voice as he pressed the knife closer to Gillian’s throat. “Put down your gun or I’ll open her neck from ear to ear.”
“No.” replied Katie.
“Oh– nasty. We are going to have so much blood splattering from that.” Said Deacon as he wrinkled his nose. “I’d better remove my favorite coat first.”
“Katie?” begged Gillian, on the verge of tears.
“No–” repeated Katie.
“I will not repeat myself again. Drop the gun, or she dies.” Warned Tom.
“If I put this gun down, we will all die.” Katie said. “I rather take my chances.”
“Oh well, that does it, isn’t it?” said Deacon. “Tom–”
“Wait!” cried Harvey. “Wait! Katie! Drop the gun. Please.”
Katie glared at Harvey intensely with her gun still pointing at Kaul. She gave a look of disappointment as she lowered it slowly, holding the weapon by her side and dropping it onto the ground.
“Kick it over.” Commanded the bald man.
Katie kicked the gun toward the direction of him unwillingly. Her anger radiating from her entire body. The pistol slid across the sandy dirt and stopped right in front of Gillian when Tom gradually lowered the knife from her throat. Gillian slapped Tom’s arm away and lowered to the floor to reach for the gun. “Get your hands off me!” Tom cast a knowing look at Deacon, who nodded in response. Gillian picked up the pistol and pointed it at its owner.
“You would let him kill me?” blustered Gillian.
Katie glared at her in response.
“What are you doing, Gillian?!” asked Samantha in a state of confusion. “You are pointing the gun at the wrong person!”
Samantha stared dumbfounded at her sister as she was dragged back by Tom.
Gillian turned her icy cold sneer to Kaul. “You! I told you to kill them, not destroy my car in the process. What were you doing? Trying to kill me too? I spent a fortune restoring that piece of crap my father left me, you know? Who’s going to pay for the damage now?”
“Sorry Gill.” Kaul replied as indifferently as one could. “It just seemed to be the easiest–”
“–which you failed anyway.” Said Gillian, finishing his sentence for him. “I thought better of you.”
Kaul scowled at the brutal young woman without replying her insults as he continued to point his gun at Katie Moulin.
Gillian followed the aim of his gun and peered back at the Interpol Agent.
“Looks like we were right, Harvey.” Commented Katie nonchalantly. “Something is wrong with our little waitress after all.”
“Shut up!” Gillian barked. “Do not call me that. That was just something I did to not seem so suspicious.”
“It totally worked.” Replied Katie, heavily laced in sarcasm.
“Why?” Samantha whispered. “Why are you doing this?”
“Stupid girl, don’t you get it?” said Gillian as she turned around to face her sister with a look of impatience.
“I was the one who put you in that cell, you moron.”
Chapter 53
“WHY?” ASKED HARVEY in a somber tone. “Why did you do this to your own sister?”
“My father was a small time drug trafficker and peddler. But even being a small fish provided him and his family a life of comfort and abundance. Ask her, she knew it as well.” Gillian pointed at Samantha accusingly.
“I knew that father had brought us up singlehandedly with ill-gotten money. But I always thought he was the only one who dealt in it, I didn’t know you were part of it too.” Whimpered Samantha.
