I called Blue off as Loki pointed the gun at the man on the ground. "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said, stepping away from the man, who was holding his face with both hands now. "I think I broke his jaw."
"Ask them where their vehicle is."
Ours was still burning on the side of the road, plumes of black smoke floating toward the rocks the men had emerged from. Loki spoke but none of the men answered. "If his jaw is broken he's not going to be able to answer. Ask this one over here," I said, pointing my chin at the guy Blue took down. Loki, keeping his rifle trained on the man at his feet, yelled to the one with the ripped up arm. He didn't answer.
"It can't be far," I said. I looked around at the deserted road, the mountains, the rice paddy with depressions in it where Loki and I had landed.
"I don't know," Loki said. "Can we just leave them here?"
"You think they'll call friends?"
"Wouldn't you?"
"Sure, so I guess we need a straight answer out of one of them. Come here and take this gun," I said. Loki came over and took one of the rifles from me. "Get those two together," I said, referring to the leader and the guy still sitting up, the one who wasn't that hurt, the one who looked like he had some fight left in him.
Loki spoke to the uninjured man, motioning for him to join his leader. The guy didn't move and Loki fired a warning shot, it kicked up the dirt near the man's feet. He threw his hands up, covering his face from the flying bits of rock. Then slowly he stood and moved over to his leader. At Loki's direction he lay down on his stomach next to the other man.
I approached the one Blue had hurt, with Blue by my side. The man looked scared. "Ask him where the car is." I said.
Loki asked again. The man didn't answer.
"Tell him I'll have Blue rip off his fingers."
Loki translated, the man's face drained of what little blood had been left in it. The uninjured man on the ground yelled something, Loki kicked him and he shut up with a groan.
Which reminded me of Ming. I looked over at him. He appeared to still be unconscious but maybe he was faking it. That's probably what I would do in this situation. Looking back at the frightened man in front of me I commanded Blue to growl and approach slowly. The man scooted back, holding his injured arm, still pumping blood through his torn shirt. "Where is your vehicle?" I asked again, moving forward with Blue, as Loki translated.
He went to stand and I fired a warning shot to his left. The man looked on the verge of tears. Something more frightening than a crazed woman and her vicious dog was keeping him silent. He began to cry and I recognized that if he told me where the car was and the other two heard him they'd report it back to whoever was threatening his family. "Okay, Blue," I said. He licked his chops and sat down next to me.
"Ming," I yelled. "You awake?"
He didn't answer. "Watch him," I told Blue, referring to the injured man, then walked over to where Ming was still lying splayed out on the side of the road, close to the burning car. The wind was blowing in the other direction but I could still feel the heat of the fire. Ming had small cuts all over his exposed skin from the explosion. "Ming," I said, tapping him with my foot. Nothing.
"What are you doing?" Loki called, not taking his eyes off his two prisoners.
"Do you think he'd know where the vehicle is? I mean, if we can't find it we're gonna have to walk."
"Walk?" Loki said.
"Yeah, take these three with us and walk."
"Take them with us?"
"It's either that or kill them. We don't have anything to tie them up with."
"I see your point," Loki said.
"Unless Ming here wakes up and tells us where the vehicle is."
"Is he breathing?" Loki asked.
"Yes," I answered, watching the slow and steady rise and fall of Ming's chest. "How hard did you hit him?"
"You can't tell with that kind of thing," Loki said.
I knew what he meant. Some people would be out for minutes. Others hours. It was impossible to say. "We can't leave him here. He might wake up and report what happened."
"Your call," Loki said.
"I don't want to kill them."
"Me either."
"Leave Ming here?"
"Unless you want to make one of these guys carry him."
"Good idea. Get that guy to do it," I said. "It will keep him busy."
Loki spoke to the guy on his stomach. He rose up and glared at Loki as he walked over to Ming. I gave him plenty of room. He hauled Ming onto his shoulder like it wasn't the first time he'd carried an unconscious man.
Loki got the other two moving. I picked up my gold bracelet, slipping it into my pocket, and we started down the road toward the tai chi center.
The two injured men moved about as slow as the one carrying Ming. "How far is it?" I asked Loki.
"I don't know," he said.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"The map was in the Jeep."
"Are you serious?"
"I think we will come to a small village and then it should be up the hill from there."
"We are going to come to a village first?"
"Yes."
"And how are we are going to explain this?" I asked, pointing at the row of prisoners in front of us.
"This is your plan," Loki said.
"Right, but you didn't mention we'd have to walk through a town."
"What do you want to do about it?"
"I don't know. I wish we'd just found these guys’ car." The man carrying Ming stumbled but recovered. "Ask them again what is going on at the tai chi center."
Loki spoke to the men but none of them answered.
"Shit," I said. Blue tapped his nose against my hip and I heard the crunch of tires on the road behind us. Turning around I saw a car in the distance coming toward us, a plume of dust trailing behind it. "You ever carjacked anyone before?" I asked.
Hijacked
Loki looked back at the car. "No," he answered.
The car was not made for this type of road. It was low to the ground, its shocks obviously shot by the way it bounced on the tires. "Doesn't look like an official vehicle," I said.
"No," Loki agreed. "But if I was driving that car I wouldn't get anywhere near us. Not with these weapons and the four men paraded in front of us, most of them bloodied."
"Yes, let's stop. Sit them on the side of the road. Try to look a little more harmless."
"How about you? Have you ever carjacked anyone?" Loki asked me.
"Only in video games," I answered with a smile. "Besides, I'm not going to steal that car. I'm going to buy it," I said, taking off the gold necklace around my neck. Loki yelled to the men to stop. He got them on the side of the road next to a boulder so that he could stand behind it with the gun without being obvious to the passing car. I left my rifle with Loki and had Blue stay with him to help guard the men. Ming was still passed out. He lay on his side next to the three attackers who sat cross-legged.
As the car approached I waved them down. I could make out an older couple through the dusty windshield. They looked suspicious of me. When the man stopped he didn't put the car in park. Rolling down his window just a little, he spoke to me in Mandarin. I showed him the gold, and pointed to the car.
His wife spoke to him. But he shook his head. I smiled and held the gold chain out. "Eighteen karat," I said.
The woman reached for it but I didn't let her grab it, thinking they'd take off with the car and the gold. That's when one of the young guys, the uninjured one who'd been carrying Ming, decided to make a run for it. He went tearing down the road, back the way we'd come, running past the car. Blue didn't let him get far, he leapt onto his back, taking the man to the ground with a growl. The man screamed. The couple watched and when they turned back to look at me, I smiled. The man began to drive away as fast as the car would go, the dust it kicked up making me cough.
I stepped back and covered my eyes from the grit filling the air. "Well, that
didn't work quite the way you planned," Loki said.
"No," I agreed, picking up my rifle from where it lay against the rock. Blue was still growling, the man was still screaming. I turned toward the escaping car, bringing the rifle up to my shoulder. Looking through the magnifier I aimed for the left back tire. My first shot hit the bumper but the second found its mark. The car skidded sideways and came to a stop. The couple did not get out. "Stay here," I told Loki.
"What about Blue?" he asked.
"He'll hold that guy down until I get back."
I jogged down the road, my rifle pointing toward the sky. The sun had dropped to the west, it was probably about 2 pm at this point. My stomach growled. I said a little prayer that they had a spare tire. I slowed to a walk as I approached the vehicle. The couple were turned in their seats, looking at me. I kept my rifle pointing skyward. "I'm not going to hurt you," I yelled, knowing full well they couldn't understand my words but hoping they'd get my tone.
I approached the woman's side. She started to cry, holding onto her husband’s arm. He stared at me defiantly. I tried to open her door but it was locked. I made a motion to unlock the door. The husband shook his head. The man's hair was white with age and it swung back and forth with the force of his rejection of my request. I didn't want to point my gun at them but I was doing it. Yelling at them to get out of the car. The husband's face flashed with fear, his wife's fingers dug deeper into his arm. He opened his door and climbed out, hands in the air. I came around the car, holding out the necklace, pointing my gun in the air again. He didn't take it at first. But then his wife was out of the car too. I threw it to her and she caught it, flinching at the contact.
I motioned for them to walk in front of me. We returned to where Loki waited with the passed out Ming, the two injured men, and the one under Blue's jaws. "Ask them what they know about the tai chi center."
"I wouldn't ask them around these men."
"Right, good idea," I said. "Take them back to the car. See if they have a spare tire and ask them for information."
Loki nodded. "But first, let's deal with this situation," I said, motioning at Blue and the man under him. I called Blue off and the man stayed down.
Loki spoke to him and he sat up slowly, touching the back of his neck. The man's hand came back bloody. Red stained the fur around Blue's jaw making him look like some kind of a dangerous beast. Loki got the guy back over to his friends and the passed out Ming. The woman was grabbing her husband's arm again, clutching the necklace between her knobby fingers.
Loki began to walk back toward the car with the elderly couple. I watched the men in front of me. Ming moaned and rolled over, his eyes fluttering against the sun. "Ming, you alive?" I called to him.
His eyes opened and he rolled into a sitting position, holding his jaw. "What happened?" he asked, blinking. Seeing the men in front him, the gun in my hand, the blood on Blue's jaws, his face paled.
"We had an accident," I said. "And then these three guys tried to kidnap us. So we kidnapped them. And now we're forcibly purchasing this couple’s car," I used my chin to point down the road.
Ming looked over at them then back at me. "What about my Jeep?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry to tell you but these guys blew it up."
Ming looked at the three men. He did not seem surprised to see them. He said something in Mandarin that I could not understand but it sounded like a curse. "You guys were working together, huh?" I asked.
"They blew up my Jeep. Why would I agree to that? I was just trying to do my job. You're the one who caused this," he said.
"Why? Why can't we go to the tai chi center? Tell me what is happening there and this will all be a lot easier."
"I can't," Ming said, frowning deeply, still rubbing at his jaw.
"Can't or won't?" Ming didn't answer. "Do you know what has happened there?" I demanded. He didn't respond. I looked down the road. It turned out the couple had a spare tire and Loki was watching the man change it. The woman stood a few feet from him. She was talking. Maybe Loki was having better luck. "Ming, I'm going to tell them you told me what is going on."
Ming looked up at me. A bruise was beginning to form on his jaw where Loki punched him. The blood from the wound he sustained in the accident had dried on his face, a red river that ran along his nose and off his chin, staining his shirt. "You want to get me killed?"
"I want to save my friend."
He shook his head. "You cannot save anyone. There is no way."
"Why not?"
"You should have gone home. Now you will never be able to leave."
"How do you figure that?"
"You think you will get away with this? Capturing three policemen?"
"These are policemen?" I asked.
"Yes," he spat.
"Well, they didn't show me any identification," I said.
"You are a fool. This is China. They don't have to show you anything. You can be detained for years without charges. You will be locked up and more than likely executed."
"Do you think that is what happened to my friend?"
Ming stopped talking again. I heard the car start up the road and saw that Loki and the elderly couple were turning around and heading back our way. They pulled up and they all got out, leaving the car running. Loki smiled at me. "I've found something you're going to like," he said, heading toward the trunk. He opened it and pulled out a big pile of rope.
"Excellent," I said. "You any good at tying people up?"
Loki smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Yes," he said, "I'm excellent at it."
"Okay, good," I said, not making eye contact.
"Do you want to leave them behind?" he asked. "Or tie them up and take them with us? We need to take the couple with us," Loki said, his eyes darting to the older couple.
"Okay," I didn't want to ask why in front of Ming but knew that Loki would have his reasons. "I don't think we can fit everyone in the car do you?"
"No, we could put some in the trunk though."
"If we tie them up, gag them, and leave them off the side of the road, far enough not to be easily spotted, what's the chance of them getting found?"
"Pretty slim, I'd say."
"Let's do that. It gives us a little security too."
"What do you mean?"
"Ming says they’re cops. If we get into trouble we can use their location as a bargaining chip."
"Police?" Loki said, looking at the men. "What kind?" he asked Ming.
"CCP."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Nothing good," Loki answered, his brow furrowing.
"All right, let's get a move on before any other cars come this way."
We moved the men further into the rocks and Loki hog-tied them, their bellies against the dirt, their ankles and wrists bound. "We should not leave them like this for more than a few hours," Loki said.
"Sure," I said. "Hopefully we won't have to."
"What about Ming?" Loki asked.
He stood next to the men, a little unsteady on his feet. "What do you think, Ming? Want to stay with these guys or come with us?"
"Can't you just let me go?" he asked.
"I don't trust you not to release these men and come after us."
"Fine, tie me up then. I'll take my chances here rather than go with you. You're going to die."
"You say that like it's a guarantee. Like you know something."
"If these men came for you, and you didn't go with them, you're dead. You should have left when you had the chance."
"Funny, that's not the first time I've heard something along those lines," I said. "And yet, here I am, still alive."
Ming frowned and laid down. Loki ripped the back of his shirt and shoved it into his mouth before hog tying him like the other men. He gagged them all using pieces of their shirts. The elderly couple watched all this, not saying anything, but not looking particularly scared either.
After double-checking his handiwork Loki led the way back to the car. The olde
r man got behind the wheel, his wife sat next to him, and Loki, Blue, and I climbed into the back. We started down the road again. Loki introduced the couple as Zang Wei and Li Shu. They seemed comfortable with us now. "So, what's going on?" I asked Loki.
"They were headed to the tai chi center."
"Really?"
"Yes, their son is being held there, along with a lot of other political prisoners. The center has been turned into a reeducation center."
"That sounds bad."
"Yes, their son was a teacher there."
"Falun Gong?" I asked.
The woman turned around in her seat, recognizing the words and said something to Loki. "She wants me to tell you that she and her husband are not practitioners. They are not religious. They are communist. But their son is a peaceful man and it is wrong that he is being held."
"He is being held because he is a Falun Gong practitioner?"
"Yes, there are many prisoners at the center. Falun Gong, which as you know is a form of Qigong and is illegal in China. Practitioners are often held without charges brought against them."
"I don't understand," I said. "Qigong is hardly radical. I've seen people practicing in the parks, why isn't Falun Gong allowed when so many others are?"
"You are right that Falun Gong is a peaceful religion. But it is also a powerful religion. And the communist party does not want any powerful, independent forces in their midst. Back in the 90s as it gained popularity, the Communist Party took an interest in the group, eventually arresting some of its leaders. When over a thousand people protested peacefully, the party announced they would release the prisoners. But instead they started a systematic persecution of the religion. Since then tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained. Zang Wei and Li Shu are going to the center because they heard that three lawyers are coming today to try to arrange the release of some of the prisoners. They are going to offer their support. Many of the families of the victims are coming today to do the same.”
"So the guards will have their hands full?"
"Yes, but I doubt we will be able to find out if your friend is there."
"What about Mo-Ping?"
Shadow Harvest (A Sydney Rye Mystery, #7) Page 14
