by Robin Jarvis
“You, come!” the same man called again. From the four stars on his uniform they could see he was a daewi, or captain.
“What is this?” Martin asked uncertainly. “What do you want?”
“Chief want see!” the Captain shouted fiercely. “You not keep wait!”
Martin’s and Gerald’s faces fell. Their desperate, reckless scheme was collapsing before it had begun. What was going on? Martin had never been summoned so brusquely before.
“Quick! Quick!” the Captain insisted.
“I have to go,” Martin whispered. “There’s no knowing when I’ll get back – or even if I will.”
“Don’t say that!” Gerald hissed.
“Whatever happens, the fog won’t last so you’re going to have to do this on your own. Get Lee to do his thing and you take those kids out of this place. I’ll try and keep them as busy as I can in here.”
The old man’s eyes glistened and he gave the slightest of nods. They both knew they probably wouldn’t see each other again.
“And you… look after yourself, you wonderful, dotty old gentleman. Good luck – it’s been an honour and a privilege.”
“Quick!” the Captain snorted for the last time. He grabbed hold of Martin’s arm and pulled him towards the jeep.
Gerald Benning watched them get into the vehicle. He couldn’t bring himself to shout goodbye. Instead he raised a hand in farewell and, under his breath, sang, “Hearts do not break! They sting and ache.”
The jeep roared off into the tunnels. Gerald turned his back and ran to Lee’s room. There wasn’t a moment to lose.
Lee was still sitting on the bed, staring at the steel cuffs. He didn’t look up when the old man entered, but recognised Gerald by his brown brogues.
“This is not a place you wanna be,” he grunted. “I ain’t got nuthin’ to say. ’Cept Baxter is a ass, I feel like crap, an’ if you think I’m gonna join in with your Christmas glee club, you is missing more than a tinselly tree – but I knows where you can shove one.”
“Never mind about that now,” Gerald said urgently as he cast a wary glance at the four guards chained to the lad’s wrists and prayed they didn’t understand English. “I’m taking the kids out of here, but I need your help.”
Lee raised his eyes.
“You what?”
“Things have changed – drastically,” the old man told him. “That doctor is planning to experiment on us.”
“She already does that, man. She’s got enough out of me to build a spare.”
“I mean she’s going to dissect us.”
“Get outta here.”
“I was never more deadly serious. I’m taking the kids and I’m taking them now, but I can’t do it without you.”
Lee could see he wasn’t joking yet he still gave a snort of laughter. “You’re hardcore crazy, guy,” he said. “You got no place to go and zero chance of getting there and you’re sayin’ all this right in front of my big mirror here, behind which, I am damn sure, is a camera. That’s so lame-ass dumb it deserves its own reality show.”
“Will you help us?”
“Help get you killed? You doesn’t need no help from me. You is on to a sure thing there.”
“Lee,” Gerald insisted. “It’s weapons we need, not attitude.” His eyes flicked either side, to the guards, and he said pointedly, “Those weapons.”
“What you sayin’?”
“I want you to go to Mooncaster and take your friends here with you.”
Lee shook his head. “My posse ain’t goin’ no place,” he said flatly. “Bad enough they have to stalk me here. I ain’t invitin’ them to no twisted Disneyland for an outing. When I go there, it’s gonna be a single one-way ticket.”
“You can’t be that selfish.”
“Watch me.”
“Don’t you care what happens to Maggie and Spencer?”
The boy returned his reproachful stare. “I already gave,” he said quietly. “You’re all deadsauce anyways, you know that – why you draggin’ it out? You’re good as ghosts already, hauntin’ this sad dump day an’ night. This ain’t no life and you got nuthin’ better in front. Get some smarts and give it up. Show’s over for you, been over since we got here.”
“You’re not that bitter,” Gerald replied, refusing to believe him. “I’ve heard and seen how much you adored that shining girl. A heart so full can’t become that callous.”
“Don’t presume to know me.”
“I don’t, but I know what love is like and, from what I hear about Charm, she wouldn’t want you to be this way.”
“End of conversation, old man. My services are not for hire. I ain’t no black cab. Now go get yourselves all killed and leave me be. I got a gut ache. When’s lunch comin’?”
Gerald eyed the rifles one last time and his hopes of escape plummeted. It was no use. The boy couldn’t be persuaded. Was Martin right about him after all?
In the dark, narrow space behind the great mirror, Eun-mi had been watching everything. She checked the video camera was still recording and picked up the old-fashioned base telephone to call her father. A look of gloating satisfaction soured her young features.
At that moment the lights in Lee’s room sputtered and the boy doubled over. He cried out, clutching his heart. His guards began to yell as the chains yanked at them when Lee rolled wildly from side to side. Gerald sprang forward and was shocked to see sweat pouring down the lad’s face.
He dashed into the corridor, but there was no guard on duty at the corner of the prohibited area.
“We need the doctor!” he shouted, trespassing into the forbidden area. “Quickly! I think Lee is having a heart attack!”
Down the passage he saw a discarded mop and bucket and, further along, two soldiers stationed outside the lab. The old man shouted again, but they aimed their Kalashnikovs at him and yammered excitably. Gerald swore at them and hurried back to Lee’s room.
The boy was shivering and writhing in pain. His four guards were shouting and shaking him roughly.
“Get off him!” Gerald snapped, pulling them clear. “Lee, can you hear me? Lee?”
He took hold of the boy’s hand. It was freezing. Above them sparks began to spit from the cables connecting the strip lights and the room skipped in and out of darkness. Lee swung his head round and his eyes bored into Gerald.
“Let go o’ me!” he hissed through clenched teeth as he pushed him away. “You’s gonna get your gats after all. Someone real close by is readin’ the book an’ goin’ to that place for the first time. It’s draggin’ me with it. Don’t you touch me or you’ll be comin’ too. Damn! It never hurt like this before! It’s ripping me apart!”
Gerald jumped back. The boy clawed the air as his stomach kicked inside him. The breath was slammed from his lungs and his eardrums screamed as if they were going to shatter. He gave one last agonised shout, then his arms dropped and he became as still as death. At the same time, his guards uttered wails of dismay and fear. Then they too crumpled, falling where they stood, either to the floor or across the bed.
Gerald could hardly believe it. Their minds or souls, or whatever it was, had gone into the world of Dancing Jax.
Behind the mirror, Eun-mi was urging her father to come at once. Then the line went dead. She looked into the room beyond and saw the old man approach the collapsed figures. Reaching down, he took the rifles from the unconscious guards then hastened to the door. Pausing, he said a grateful farewell to Lee.
“Good luck. I hope you find what you’re looking for in that place. Just don’t disappoint that dazzling girl. Don’t do what Austerly Fellows wants. Be the person she fell in love with. You’re far from scum, Lee Charles. Goodbye and thank you.”
Eun-mi watched him leave. She tried the phone again, but the earpiece was full of wails and crackles. She threw it down in anger and took her pistol from its holster.
The secret observation area was a thin, L-shaped space that hugged two sides of the medical room. The entran
ce was in the prohibited area and she groped her way through the narrow darkness to find it. When she emerged, she looked for the guards, but those outside the lab were nowhere to be seen. Pistol in hand, she ran round the corner – ready to shoot at anything that moved.
The corridor was deserted.
She looked fleetingly into Lee’s room and regarded the unconscious men with disgust. They were weak and would be punished for allowing their rifles to be taken.
Silently, Eun-mi proceeded, checking the dorms as she passed them. They were empty. The refugees were probably all gathered in the refectory, waiting to be fed. So much the better.
“You must be mental!” the girl called Esther scoffed when Gerald had hastily explained his escape plan and the reason for it. “They wouldn’t operate on us and cut us up. They’re not Jaxers here, they’re normal.”
There wasn’t time for Gerald to go into just how wrong she was.
“I’m not going to argue with you,” he said impatiently. “If you come now, there’s a chance, but if you stay you’ll end up in more jars than a range of jams in Sainsbury’s. The rest of you will need to wear as much clothing as possible, everything you’ve got basically. It’s going to be bitter out there in the fog and we’ll be sleeping rough for a while. Also we can’t carry anything: you need both hands to climb down the mountain.”
“Stupid old git,” Esther butted in. “You’ve got no idea where to go out there and we’ll be frozen solid by morning, if we don’t get blown up by landmines. I’m not listening to some senile geriatric who used to prance about in frocks.”
“Oi!” Maggie shouted her down. “Shut it. No one’s listening to you. You did this last time, in the camp. Dithering until the last minute and almost getting Lee killed. Just button it or I’ll smack you one. Gerald knows what he’s talking about. You can stop here for all I care, but I’m going to risk getting away. It’s Lee I’m pig sick about, having to leave him behind.”
There were eager noises of support from the girls who had been in Charm’s cabin back in the camp, which prompted hesitant, uncertain murmurs of agreement from the others. They were all horribly frightened, but they trusted Gerald completely. If he said there was no other choice, they believed him.
Little Nabi was still seated at the table. She was watching the hurried discussion with wide eyes. The unexpected shock of Gerald’s announcement had made everyone forget the six-year-old was even present. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening, but she knew her English friends weren’t supposed to have weapons. Imagining her father’s fury when he found out made her anxious and afraid for them.
“Give me one of them Kalashnikovs,” Maggie said to Gerald. “I won a cuddly rabbit at the fair once. That was a scary night. For one awful minute I thought I’d been shot in the bum, but it was only a packet of moist handy wipes that’d burst in my pocket when I bent over.”
Gerald passed her an assault rifle. It was lighter than she expected and she struck aggressive poses as she handled it.
“Commando girl,” she purred. “And no, that doesn’t mean I’m not wearing pants.”
“Don’t touch that lever on the right-hand side there,” Gerald warned. “That’s the safety catch. Up is safe, down isn’t, so let’s keep them up, OK? I don’t anticipate having to use them, not in here anyway, they’re just in case. I don’t even know how much ammunition is in the magazines, so no one get any ideas. I don’t need to tell you they’re not toys or replicas. These are lethal, so treat them with respect.”
He looked around for another he could entrust one to.
“Nicholas, how about you? Do you think you could?”
The boy shifted uncomfortably and looked to Esther for his answer.
“He’s not having anything to do with it,” she stated, arms folded tightly. “You walk out of here with them guns and you’re all going to get shot – and rightly so in my opinion.”
“I’ll have one,” the lad called Drew piped up.
“You’re mad, the lot of you,” Esther said, cracking her knuckles nervously. “It’ll be a bloodbath.”
“Where’s Spencer?” Gerald asked. “He’s handled a firearm before, hasn’t he? Didn’t he shoot one of those Punchinellos at the camp?”
“He’s mopping up in the no-go area,” Maggie told him.
“No, he’s not. The mop and bucket are there, but he isn’t.”
“Someone go fetch him from the loo then, quick.”
A girl called Sally jumped up to get him. Before she reached the door, it was kicked open and Eun-mi was standing there, arm outstretched, pointing the pistol, finger on the trigger.
“Drop weapons!” she shouted. “Drop or I shoot!”
Shocked, the refugees stared at her for several moments.
“Told you so!” Esther said.
Eun-mi moved her aim slowly across the astonished faces.
“I say drop!” she repeated.
Gerald was the first to comply and he told the others to do the same.
“She means it,” he said. “She wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Nabi!” the girl called to her sister in Korean. “Bring the weapons here. Be careful. Don’t let them take you and use you as a shield.”
Little Nabi gawped at her and had to be told again, more forcefully.
“Anyone moves, they die!” Eun-mi warned as her sister slid reluctantly from the chair and started collecting the AK-47s. “I aim for head. There will be no error.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Gerald tried to reason with her. “You can let us go. Just give us this one chance. You know what Doctor Choe Soo-jin is planning to do. You heard her at the meeting. You can’t want that on your conscience. It’s inhuman.”
Eun-mi tilted her head back proudly. “Doctor will be hero,” she declared. “She will find cure. She will save Democratic People’s Republic from Western sickness. Doctor Choe Soo-jin is pioneer and scientist most brilliant. Lives of European refugee little price to pay. Then Supreme Leader will save rest of world. Everyone will praise Kim Jong-un.”
“What about the life of Du Kwan earlier?” Gerald asked. “Was that a small price to pay? He didn’t need to die and nor do we. There is no cure to be found because there is no sickness. It isn’t physical. You can’t inoculate against the Devil.”
“Doctor Choe Soo-jin know best!” the girl shouted, refusing to listen. “Now no speak or I fire!”
Nabi placed the rifles at her feet and stared up at her miserably. “Do not hurt my friends,” she begged her sister in a forlorn voice that was close to tears. “Please. They are kind and nice. I like them, they are good.”
“They are enemies of our Republic!” Eun-mi answered. “You do not understand, you are too young. We have given them everything; food and shelter – when our own people are starving in the provinces. We give them asylum from their own degenerate kind and they show us only disrespect and bring disease. The Supreme Leader has demonstrated his great benevolence and mercy in saving them, but these are bad people. They have no gratitude, no discipline; their island is the corrupt puppet of America. They would have killed our soldiers to escape this base. They would have killed you too. Would you take their side against your own people? Would you betray our father and dishonour the memory of our mother?”
Nabi stared at her feet and shook her head.
“Go, now!” her sister ordered. “Fetch more guards and wait for our father – hurry.”
Nabi cast a wretched glance back at Gerald and Maggie. Her bottom lip quivered. Wiping her eyes, she ran from the room.
Eun-mi’s hand was steady. She almost wished one of the refugees would try something and give her a reason to fire. She had endured their offensive company for too long and had no qualms about pulling the trigger.
Nabi stumbled out into the corridor, tears streaking down her scrunched-up face. She cast around for any sign of the guards, but there was no one in sight and the long, empty passageway was unnaturally quiet.
“Help me!�
� she called out and her wavering voice ricocheted down the walls. The shadows lay deep in the recesses of doorways and the little girl wrung her hands together.
“Help us!” she called again.
No answer came. She took several apprehensive steps towards the forbidden area, but it was so dark down there she grew even more frightened.
“Hello?” she murmured.
From somewhere around the corner, she heard a door clang shut, followed by the sound of footsteps striding briskly over the bare concrete floor. But there was something else – a strange clip-clopping. It was very like the hooves of a large animal.
Nabi peered into the concealing darkness and backed away. She didn’t like it. Turning, she began to run towards the junction with the main tunnel.
“Chung Nabi!” a voice rang out behind her.
The child stopped and spun round. Doctor Choe Soo-jin was there, stepping from the shadows – a welcoming smile on her Band-Aid-patched face. In one hand she held a green book; in the other was a long silver rod, crooked at one end, and tipped with a glimmering amber star.
“Come here, dear one,” the doctor said, beckoning. “I have a blessed gift for you.”
7
MARTIN SHIVERED, WISHING once again for the overcoat he had left on his bunk. He hardly gave any attention to the Captain and the two other men who had whisked him away in this jeep. His thoughts were with Gerald and the rest. He wondered if Lee had agreed to the request and if the English guests of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had managed to escape. Were they clambering down the craggy mountainside at this very minute? He hoped fortune smiled on them and they could disappear into the fog before the alarm was raised. Where they would go after that was up to Gerald, and providence. Driving through the tunnels, everything seemed business as usual and Martin took that as proof their exodus was still undetected.
He recognised this journey, it was the same one he had taken earlier that morning, and guessed rightly they were heading for the meeting room. He had no idea why he was wanted so urgently, but that didn’t really matter. His own safety was right at the bottom of his list of concerns.
