City of Ghosts

by J. H. Moncrieff

  “You must go. They will kill you.”

  There was no time to argue. Throwing off the thin blanket, I crept to the edge of the compartment and peered out. I saw the cold white searchlights of the security guards, not far away and getting closer.

  “Jackson? What’s up?” There was an ominous creak as Larry propped himself up on an elbow.

  “Harold,” I hissed, although I wasn’t sure it was him. Yuèhai had left as suddenly as she’d appeared.

  “Go to the first-class car and lock yourself in a bathroom. I’ll stall them. Go.”

  Larry leapt off the middle bunk with astonishing grace, landing as softly as a man half his size. He shoved past me, concealing my escape with his body. Hurrying through the darkened cars, I dodged mothers rocking their babies and men who stared at me with suspicion.

  It seemed to take forever to reach first class, which had nicer curtains, fake flowers on the tables, and a noticeable lack of stench. Thankfully a toilet was vacant. I ducked inside, praying it would be one of the clean ones.

  It was.

  My pulse throbbed against my temples as I slid the lock home. Now what? How was I supposed to escape a moving train? If this were a Western, I’d be running along the top of it already, but this was real life. I was stuck in China, with absolutely no idea how to get on to the top of a train.

  The floor shuddered beneath my feet, careening me into the wall. I thrust out my arms to regain my balance. Even in first class, the toilet compartment was so narrow I could easily touch both walls at once.

  An ear-splitting shriek of wheels against rails heralded another stop, if I hadn’t already received the message when I was tossed like a salad. I wondered where we were. My cell was still on the little table wedged between the two bottom bunks in our compartment. There hadn’t been a chance to grab it, and without knowing the time, I had no idea where I was.

  Someone rapped on the door and I jumped, but decided to ignore it. Footsteps rapidly faded until I couldn’t hear them any longer. You weren’t supposed to be in the bathroom when the train wasn’t moving—it was some kind of weird rule—but I’d noticed no one enforced it. Probably because they knew they’d have to deal with the resulting mess.

  Feeling faint, I realized I’d been holding my breath. I lowered myself to the toilet seat, thankful this toilet had a seat. Most of them didn’t. I figured I might as well make myself comfortable if I was going to spend the rest of the trip in there.

  There was another succession of knocks on the door, this time in the “Shave and a Haircut” rhythm. It didn’t matter. They could pound out the latest Kanye hit and I still wasn’t going to open the door.

  “Let me in, Jacks.”

  At the sound of Kate’s voice, I hurried to slide the lock aside. The door was pushed open by a huge orange backpack—my backpack. I grabbed hold of the canvas and pulled, bringing Kate inside the tiny room with me. She filled any available space, turning to the side so the bag on her back pressed against one wall, while the one on her front was crushed against the other.

  I reached for my pack but she shifted her shoulders, maneuvering the shoulder straps away from my hand. “That can wait. There isn’t enough room in here.” She handed me my phone.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Those soldiers are on the train.” She chewed on her lower lip. “And they don’t seem happy.”

  “What soldiers are?” I’d hoped to lighten the mood but Kate didn’t so much as crack a smile.

  “Larry demanded to see their credentials, but they shoved him aside. They were nasty. He hit his head on one of the bunks, hard.”

  “Shit.” I felt a surge of guilt. He’d been trying to protect me. But protect me from what?

  “They’re searching the train right now, but someone gave them the idea of going in the other direction.” She winked as if this were an awesome joke, but her attempt at levity wouldn’t have fooled anyone. Her voice wavered, and she was as pale as Yuèhai.

  “Thanks, but then what? That’s not going to take them long, and then they’ll search this side.”

  “Martin told me there’s another stop really soon, in about ten minutes or less. As soon as the train’s not moving anymore, we have to get off.”

  “Get off? But we’re not done the tour.” As soon as I said the words, I realized how moronic they were. My vacation had ended as soon as I’d made the decision to spend the night in the ghost city.

  “Jacks, they’re going to find some way to throw you in prison…or worse. I don’t think they need a reason.” Kate took as deep a breath as the space allowed. “We can see Hong Kong another time.”

  Finally, the meaning of her appearance in what I’d already come to think of as my bathroom stall began to sink in. “What do you mean, ‘we’? You can’t seriously be considering…”

  Fast enough to make me flinch, she pressed her hand over my mouth. Footsteps were approaching. The heavy, loud footsteps of men wearing hard-soled shoes. It sounded like there was more than one.

  We’d been prepared for it, but the aggressive pounding on the door still made us both jump. Kate increased the pressure on my mouth, pushing my lips against my teeth. As if I had any intention of responding.

  “Please return to your seat. You cannot be in there now. It is against rules.” This man was older, more sure of himself than the clowns who had apprehended me at the market.

  Kate’s clear, confident voice startled me. I hadn’t expected her to speak. “I’m sorry, but I’m very sick. I can’t leave the toilet right now. Very sick.” She moaned faintly, not laying it on too thick, but hopefully just thick enough.

  There was a hushed conversation on the other side of the door. If they’d expected to find me hiding in here, a woman’s voice might have thrown them.

  At last the man spoke again. “We are sorry to have disturbed you. We will go.”

  I didn’t exhale until we couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore. Kate took her hand from my mouth.

  “That was close,” I whispered.

  “Too close. Harold’s playing for keeps this time. I don’t think these guys are his friends playing dress-up.”

  “You saw Harold with them?”

  “Of course. Are you surprised?”

  I was, but not that much. I’d hoped Harold would give up, confident that his little ruse had scared me enough. Our time with him was almost over. Why couldn’t he leave well enough alone?

  “Not really,” I said. “How did you get here so quickly? Did Larry tell you where I was?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. I knew Harold was going to try something tonight, so I waited. It wasn’t long before he hurried past our bunks. I figured he was up to something, so I took my pack and slipped into the corridor. When I heard the commotion and saw you run past, I grabbed your stuff and followed you.”

  I was overcome with gratitude for my new friends, whose bravery had now saved my sorry ass at least twice. In a lot of ways, they didn’t feel like new friends. I trusted them more than most of the jerks I associated with back home. “I owe you one.”

  She attempted a shrug, but the most she could manage with her load was a twitch. “No worries. We’re in this together.”

  “But that’s the thing. We’re not. I can’t have you endangering yourself and ruining what’s left of your trip. There’s no reason for it.”

  Kate looked at me like I was an idiot, and I guess I couldn’t blame her. “You need me.”

  “I don’t need anyone. I can take care of myself.”

  “Oh? And how would you have handled it if you’d been here alone when they knocked?”

  Before I could answer, she read my mind. “Let me guess…you wouldn’t have said anything, right? You would have waited in here, trapped like a fly in a web, until they got some tools and took the door off its hinges.”

  “I appreciate what you did and everything, but it’s not your problem, Kate. I’m not your problem.”

  She sighed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
“Why do guys always have to be so fucking stubborn? Of course it’s my problem. Don’t argue. I’m going with you.”

  “Why would you want to do this? It doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to do it, and I have to. I definitely wouldn’t volunteer for it.”

  “For starters, you’re going to need me to get off this train. When it stops, I’ll block their view of you with these bags. As long as we can figure out which direction they’re coming from before they see us, they’ll never know we got off, and they’ll keep searching for you in the compartments.”

  I thought about her plan for a second. It might work. Our bags were huge, and the train aisles were impossibly narrow. I could easily crouch behind her, staying out of sight, until we were out of this tin can. As I considered the wisdom of this idea, the train lurched, slamming me into the sink. We were moving again.

  “Okay, so get off with me. But then get back on. You’ll have time. I’ll be fine, Kate. Really. Don’t put yourself out for me.”

  Her eyes coolly assessed me. “You’ll be fine, huh?”

  “Yes. Jesus Christ, you’d think I’d never traveled before. I’ve been to over twenty different countries, mostly on my own.”

  “Great. That’s helpful. And where are you going now?”

  “What do you mean, ‘Where am I going now?’”

  “Exactly what I said. When this train stops, where are you going?”

  Shit. I hadn’t had the chance to give it any thought. I only had one reasonable answer for her. “Home?”

  “Wrong. You’re going to Hensu. And I’m coming with you.”

  “You’re not going to listen to a word I say, are you?” Even though I felt guilty for ruining Kate’s trip, I was secretly glad she was coming along. What did I know about dealing with ghosts? I’d make it up to her later, when I landed the six-figure book deal.

  “Not if you keep saying stupid things.”

  “At least let me get in my pack. There’s something we’re gonna need.”

  She wriggled and squirmed, inching the pack around until it moved far enough from the wall that I could unzip one of the front compartments. I felt odd about digging around that close to her breasts. She smirked at me.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve had worse.”

  I found what I was searching for much too soon. Triumphantly I removed a black baseball cap from the bag, waving it in front of her face.

  She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Nice disguise.” Checking her watch, she steeled herself, straightening her shoulders and turning in the direction of the door again. “Better put it on. We’ll be stopping soon.”

  “It’s not for me. It’s for you.”

  “Are you kidding? I don’t do caps.”

  “You do today. That hair of yours is a beacon. We don’t want to attract any more attention than we have to.”

  Caving to the wisdom of my decision, she yanked the ball cap from my hands and twisted her hair so it disappeared underneath. Only a few strands were visible, but before I could say anything, her hands got busy, tucking every hair out of sight.

  She was still beautiful wearing my sweaty cap, but in a different way. Now she was an overgrown kid, tough but vulnerable.

  “Aw, don’t you look cute,” I teased, unable to resist.

  “Fuck off, Jackson. Just fuck right off and die.”

  If I hadn’t been so conscious of the fact that I might be dead by the end of the day, I probably would have laughed harder.

  ~ Chapter Twenty ~

  When the train ground to a halt, Kate poked her head out of the bathroom. A rush of Chinese tourists nearly ripped it off at the neck.

  “Ouch.” She readjusted my cap and began the painful process of inching herself and the two massive packs out of the tiny stall. “Let’s go.”

  “Are you crazy? We can’t see what direction the soldiers are coming from.”

  “Do you think it matters?” She gestured to the crowd of people swarming in front of the door. “Come on.”

  Whatever had been trapping her finally gave and she sprang free, launching herself into the middle of the line. The packs hit several people in the face in the process, setting off a firestorm of swearing in Mandarin. Grabbing onto her shoulder, I followed in her wake and found I didn’t have as big a fight. The Chinese are so fascinated by blacks—I guess they don’t see a lot of us—that they’re usually too busy taking a picture to notice if we’ve cut ahead of them in line.

  Sure enough, as I turned to check for anyone official, a dozen phones were shoved in my face. I grinned at the crowd. The more witnesses, the better. If I were a local celebrity, it would be harder to make me disappear.

  We were part of a human conveyer belt, shoved along by a clutch of fellow passengers. We couldn’t have avoided the exit if we’d wanted to.

  Panic thrummed in my veins as we got closer to our escape. Two soldiers flanked the door, scrutinizing each passenger’s face. Shit.

  Kate’s body tensed where I was holding her shoulder and I knew she’d seen them. Of course they were going to watch as everyone left the train. How could we have been so stupid? A black man and a red-haired woman weren’t exactly inconspicuous in this country. There was no way we could disappear in China. The best we could do was take advantage of our celebrity status.

  “Keep your head down, and keep moving forward,” I muttered in her ear. “I’ve got this.”

  I scanned the crowd. In spite of how harried people were, they smiled at me. Some even waved. I spotted a teenager a few steps behind me and waved at him.

  “Hi!”

  His face lit up. “Hello,” he said, yelling to be heard over the crowd.

  “Do you speak English?”

  He smiled. “Yes, a little bit.”

  “Great. What’s your name? I’m Jackson.”

  “I am Kai.”

  Everyone was straining to hear our conversation like it was the most interesting thing that had happened in years. “Do you think you could help us, Kai? We don’t know this area, and we need to find something to eat.”

  “Yes, I can do that. No problem.” The teenager reached into the swarm of bodies and somehow retrieved a girl who was obviously related. They had similarly sweet, shy expressions, even matching nerd-chic glasses. “This is my sister Lin Na. Do you mind if she joins us?”

  “Not at all. The more the merrier. Come up here with us.” I reached for him and he caught hold of my hand. The people surrounding us shifted to let Kai and his sister through.

  “Xiè xie,” I said, trying to catch everyone’s eyes and nodding like a fool. “Xiè xie.”

  “That is Mandarin. You are in Guangzhou now. Most people speak Cantonese,” my new friend said. “You want to say ḿhgòi.”

  “Mm…what?” I stumbled over the pronunciation a few more times, feeling profoundly stupid. Once again I resolved to be nicer to the immigrants in Minneapolis. Kai laughed, but not unkindly.

  “Just say thank you,” he suggested. “Most people here speak at least a little English.”

  We were a few feet away from the soldiers now. At any moment, they would see us. It was do-or-die time.

  “Hey, do you have your phone handy? I’d love to get a picture of us.”

  “Oh yes, that would be spectacular.” He dug in his pockets and produced a cellphone that was pimped out to resemble Hello Kitty. Of course. After we’d posed for the obligatory selfie with our heads touching—not an easy feat with all the shoving, I made my pitch.

  “Do you mind if I take a few more pictures? I’ll give it right back; I promise.”

  “Jackson.” Kate sounded terrified.

  “I know; I see them—keep moving.”

  My new friend shrugged and handed me his phone. “I guess it’s okay.”

  I pointed the phone at the soldiers. Both men glared at me, angrier than ever.

  “Hey—you cannot do that. You will get in trouble,” Kai warned.

  “It’s okay, kid,” I reassured our new friend. “I’m a
tourist. We don’t know any better.”

  I began recording the soldiers in front of us. One of the men lunged for my arm and got Kate’s instead. She screamed.

  “Hey, he’s hurting my girlfriend. Somebody help us,” I yelled.

  Kai hurriedly translated my words to the crowd. A cluster of furious Cantonese women surrounded the soldiers, hollering at them and brandishing handbags. A particularly fearsome woman clonked a soldier on the head. While one of the men tried his best to calm the women down, the other pointed at me and bellowed something I couldn’t understand.

  “What is he saying?” I asked Kai.

  “He says you are a dangerous criminal,” the boy cried in my ear. “He says they must arrest you for the safety of Guangzhou.”

  “He is lying. I am a tourist who saw something they didn’t want me to see. I did nothing wrong.” I returned his Hello Kitty phone. “I am your friend. I would not lie to you.”

  The boy’s forehead furrowed in confusion, but I couldn’t spend any more time convincing him. We were almost at the door. A soldier stepped in front of it, blocking our path. I wondered if Harold was somewhere nearby, watching—smiling. Kai screamed something else, and suddenly the crowd was broiling lava. They surged past the soldier, knocking him right out the door. Some of them trampled the man as he lay flat on his ass, helpless. We were swept toward the station with everyone else. I have no idea what happened to the other soldier, but the last time I saw him, several women were striking him with their bags. I almost felt sorry for him.

  Almost, but not quite.

  “What did you say?” I asked Kai when we were safely hidden away in a corner table at a crowded McDonald’s. (Because where else would Cantonese kids take American tourists?)

  He blushed, focusing on his red plastic tray. His sister giggled. “I hope you take no offense, because I only said what I did to help. They were going to arrest you.”

  “I know, Kai. We are both very grateful to you. Whatever you said, I won’t be upset. I promise.”

  “I told everyone the soldiers did not like you because you have dark skin,” he said, his eyes large and apologetic behind his trendy glasses. “In this area, people are very progressive. They will not stand for something like that.”