Shadow Harvest (A Sydney Rye Mystery, #7) Read online

The woman turned in her seat again and spoke. "She knows Mo-Ping. She says that she is there."

  "All right," I said, nodding my head. "That's one part of the mystery solved." I sat back in my seat. "Doesn't make me feel any better."

  "I agree."

  "I'm sure that Merl would have come here to try to help her."

  "If he was not detained in Shanghai," Loki said.

  "I wish there was a way to find out."

  "I already checked all my sources and there was no record of a Westerner matching Merl's description having been detained by the police. However, there are many shadows in the legal system and my torch is only so large."

  "I know," I said. "Thanks."

  We came around a bend and in the far distance I could see a small village at the base of a larger mountain range. It was as if the ground swelled up violently behind the village, producing more monolith-like mountains. The woman began pointing and speaking. "She says that is the village. And that the center is another few miles into the hills. We will be there in about twenty minutes.” The road to the village was lined with rice fields, their watery surface glimmering in the sunlight.

  "Okay, so let's go over what we know. One," I held up a finger. "Merl arrived in Shanghai a week ago. He went to visit his friend, Sing, the sword maker, and gained entry into the house. He was not seen since and from the rotting food left in the house it appears that no one had been there since Merl went through the door. Leading us to believe that Merl, Sing, his three apprentices and Merl’s three dogs went out in a hurry in a different way. Possibly over the rooftops like Sing's granddaughter, Bai."

  Loki nodded.

  "Okay, number two," I held up another finger. "We know that Bai was killed on that rooftop three days ago because it happened right in front of us. We have no idea who did the killing or why but we can now safely assume it has something to do with hacking and Falun Gong. According to Dan, Bai was working on releasing information about the prison camps. So let's assume for a moment that Bai was working on exposing this reeducation center, maybe even at the request of her grandfather who was friends with Mo-Ping. Then Merl showed up. Maybe he was arrested along with Sing and his apprentices in Shanghai."

  "They left over the roof though. And, according to the cameras, no one appears to have entered the building after Merl.”

  "That's right, but that doesn’t mean the police didn’t catch them somehow."

  "Perhaps, but taking prisoners over rooftops and down fire escapes?" He shrugged. "Maybe. They usually just take them in a more straightforward way. I mean the police don’t have to hide their activities. Lawyers get arrested when trying to do their jobs. It is known in China. And to be honest it is known outside of China to a large degree but there is nothing that can be done about it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "International pressure does not work. Or at least it has not worked. Peaceful protests do not work. Like I told you, that's how Falun Gong fell under such persecution."

  I nodded. "So, if they weren’t captured that day, then I think it's safe to assume that Merl and the dogs left Shanghai with Sing, possibly even with the apprentices, and headed this way."

  "Where he was then captured."

  I shrugged. "Possibly, yes. I mean, I find it hard to believe that he could be captured but it's not impossible."

  "Anything is possible," Loki said.

  I laughed. "That almost sounds like something a self-help guru would say."

  Loki smiled.

  I looked out the window, watching the landscape bounce by. "Has anyone tried a violent protest?" I asked. "A prison break?"

  "Not that I know of. That is not the Falun Gong way."

  "Let's stop in the village. I need to make a phone call and our cells are not getting service."

  Loki leaned forward and spoke to the old man who nodded his head.

  Following Orders

  The village was small and dusty. There were no tourist shops. The street was not busy and there seemed to be a hush over the place, like a secret was being kept here. The car pulled up in front of a phone booth. I locked myself in the stuffy space. The phone took coins and cards. Loki had given me a phone card and I pushed it into the slot before dialing Bobby Maxim's number. He picked up. "Sydney," he said. "Calling to wish me luck?"

  "Oh, right, yeah. Good luck on the IPO."

  "Thanks, nice of you to call."

  I cleared my throat, looking through the scratched Plexiglass of the phone booth at Loki and the couple waiting in the car. Blue's head was stretched out the open window, his nose lifted in the air, sniffing. "That's not the only reason. I may need your help."

  "How’s that?"

  "I'm in China."

  "Are you?"

  "Yes, and I'm on my way to a reeducation camp deep in the countryside."

  "As a prisoner?" his voice sounded serious.

  "No," I laughed. "Well, not yet."

  "Sydney, this is not a joke."

  "I'm sorry, it's Merl. I think he's in a reeducation facility and I want to get him out. Can you help with that?"

  "You know where he is?"

  "Not for sure, but I should in the next couple of hours."

  "I've got some favors I could trade for his release. Depending on what he is being held for."

  "I think it's in relation to Falun Gong."

  I heard Bobby cover the phone and his voice muffled, speaking to someone else. Then he was back on the line. "Call me when you know where he is for sure. And Sydney?"

  "Yeah."

  "Don't get caught."

  "I won't."

  "Where are you now?"

  I told him the name of the village and its general location.

  "If I have not heard from you in the next twenty-four hours I'm going to come looking for you."

  "The woman who swallowed the spider to catch the fly."

  "What?"

  "Nothing. I just came here looking for Merl. But I don't think he knew at all what he was walking into."

  "And you think you do?"

  "Not exactly."

  "If you had asked my advice earlier I could have helped more."

  "You're right. I should have called."

  "But you do trust me?"

  "Yes," I answered, surprised by how little it felt like a lie.

  "Good. We'll talk again once you're sure of where Merl is."

  "Because you know people here who can help?"

  "I know people everywhere, Sydney. That's why you called me."

  We said our goodbyes and I climbed back in the car. The woman pulled out sandwiches as we started to drive again toward the tai chi center. There were only two but she offered one to Loki and me while splitting the other with her husband. It was a pita-type bread filled with fragrant meat and finely chopped vegetables. After devouring my half I was still hungry but knew there was no time to eat.

  The road grew narrow and more uneven as we started to climb. However the old car kept going, bouncing and jolting, but steady. There were several houses clustered together on the side of the road and the old man pointed, taking his hand off the wheel for a moment, toward the mountain looming above us. Built into a ledge was a white building, small windows, about four stories. "That's it,” Loki told me.

  We went around another bend and the building disappeared for a moment, then was in front of us again as we curved with the side of the mountain, making our way up into the sky.

  I remembered Merl describing this place to me when we first met years ago. The big wooden platform where he'd seen people in silk pajamas practicing tai chi for the first time, the amazing oval mountains that surrounded it, the peace and sanctuary that he'd found here.

  The compound was surrounded by a fence, and a small crowd was gathered at the entrance gate. The original fence appeared to have been low, only about thigh high, but a sturdy-looking chicken wire had been added, making the fence about ten feet tall, barbed wire looped at the top.

  Guards, their uniforms dark green,
brimmed hats pulled low over their eyes, stood at the gate, rifles that looked a lot like the ones we'd taken off the CCP police earlier clutched in their hands.

  The crowd was shabbily dressed, their expressions strained, but they were peaceful. We parked just off the road, a short distance from the center. "How are we going to find out if Merl is in there?" Loki said.

  "I don't know. Ask?" Loki raised his brows. "Can't we just ask?"

  "No," he said. "We can't just ask."

  "It's worth a try."

  "Not really."

  "Then I guess we need to wait and see what happens."

  The couple climbed out of the car, and turning to Loki, Zang Wei asked a question. Loki waved for him to go ahead. The couple, holding hands walked up the road to join the other family members. "They are going to find out if the lawyers have arrived yet."

  "Could they ask about Merl?"

  "Only if we wanted to risk their lives."

  "What if we could arrange the release of their son?"

  "We can't."

  "I have a connection. I may be able to get him out."

  Loki turned to me. "How is that possible? You don't know anyone here."

  "I know you," I pointed out.

  "Lenox does not know anyone that can pull strings like that."

  "I can't tell you who my connection is, but trust me, he has more power than Lenox."

  Loki's eyes narrowed. "You are sure?"

  "I'm almost positive."

  "That is who you called."

  "Yes, I told him we were coming here, what we were doing. He said to be careful but if I could be sure of where Merl was, he could arrange to have him released."

  "What about Mo-Ping and their son? You're saying you could get them out too."

  "I think so." What I wanted to do, of course, was find someone who could draw me a map of the tai chi center, someone who knew the place well. Then, wait until dark and break in, releasing all the prisoners. But would I just be releasing them to be captured again? I couldn't get all those people out of rural China.

  A van passed us, its windows tinted, white paint coated in dust. It pulled up in front of the crowd and three men climbed out. "These must be the lawyers," Loki said.

  Two of the men were talking to the crowd while a third was speaking to the guards. The guards did not respond, keeping the same stony look on their hardened faces. "What's going on?" I asked.

  "You're looking at the same thing as me," Loki said. "I can't hear from here."

  "Should we get closer?"

  "Not worth the risk. Let's wait."

  The crowd began to chant. "What are they saying?"

  "They are demanding the release of the prisoners."

  The front door of the tai chi center opened and a man came out. He was dressed in a suit, the black material shiny, reflecting silver in the sunlight. He stayed behind the gate talking to the lawyer through the two guards. The lawyer began to yell. The man shook his head. The crowd was becoming more agitated. I heard sirens coming up the hill.

  Loki and I shifted in our seats to see three police vehicles. They raced by us, screeching to a halt in front of the crowd, forcing people to press against the fence. Some of the protestors began to run, others yelled at the police as officers piled out of the cars.

  The police grabbed the two lawyers closest to them and began to haul them toward the cars. The one talking to the guards was yelling as another cop grabbed him. We watched as the lawyers were all forced into cars, yelling, cursing at the cops.

  The crowd circled the police cars, watching and shouting, but not physically intervening. The police got back into the cars and drove off, almost hitting several of the protestors as they tore off back down the road.

  "They just arrested the lawyers," I said, trying to digest what I’d just witnessed.

  "Yes," Loki answered.

  "Is that normal?"

  "Normal? No, but it happens."

  The crowd was angry, shouting at the guards but not moving toward them. The man in the shiny suit was walking back toward the tai chi center, his jacket flapping in the wind.

  Time passed and the crowd simmered down, their anger exhausted, their efforts clearly futile.

  #

  The couple returned to the car. They sat for a moment in silence, staring out the front windshield. Then the woman started to cry. She didn't make any noise but tears rolled down her cheeks. Her husband reached out and took her hand. They appeared to have forgotten all about us. Loki waited a few minutes, then spoke to the man. Soon after, the man started the car and turned us around, heading back down to the village.

  "There is a guest house in the village where they can stay,” Loki explained. “I offered to pay for their room and rent their car for the rest of the night."

  "Good," I said.

  After we dropped the couple off at the guest house, where a number of the other families were staying, we drove back up the mountain to the tai chi center, passing the few houses along the way. I looked at the simple cinderblock structures and wondered who lived there. "Farmers," Loki said, seeming to read my mind. "They work the fields below and some work part-time at the tai chi center." He paused. "Or did anyway."

  "Where do the guards live?" I asked.

  "Probably in the center for now. I doubt this is permanent. They will probably move the prisoners sometime soon, or make some renovations to the space."

  "They've already added a lot of barbed wire," I said as the center came back into view. The sun was setting behind the mountain, the sky was turning a deep blue, the first stars just starting to twinkle.

  "Yes," Loki said, parking the car down the hill, far enough away from the entrance that we would not be noticed in the dark.

  I sat back in the passenger seat, feeling the springs of the cushions through the worn fabric.

  "Where do you think the lawyers were taken?" I asked.

  Loki shrugged. "The closest police station is by the airport, several hours away."

  "Why were they arrested?"

  Loki shrugged. "I don't know. They don't necessarily need a reason." He paused for a moment. "There are rules here Sydney, but not everyone has to follow them."

  "Like most of the world," I said.

  Loki turned to look at me and I glanced in his direction. He was frowning. "This is different," he said.

  "There is no just place in the world."

  "But in many parts there is law, there is order, there is a system. Australia for example."

  "I know that some places are better than others, trust me. But even places where the rule of law seems obvious, a given, even in those places there is corruption—one standard for the powerful, one for everyone else."

  "Corruption," Loki said, seeming to roll the word around in his mouth, thinking about it, playing with the syllables.

  "It's everywhere."

  "Even in Joyful Justice?" he asked.

  I thought about Dan and Bobby. How I suspected they'd been working together behind my back. "Yes," I answered. "It is impossible to avoid."

  "Because of human nature? Is that what you're saying?"

  "Why does corruption exist? I don't know," I said, shrugging. "Perhaps human nature."

  "But then is it not also human nature to fight against it."

  "To try to create order in a world of chaos," I said with a smile.

  Loki laughed. "Yes, I suppose we do do that."

  Blue let out a low growl from the back seat and we both turned to look. I heard tires crunching up the road and within a few minutes two sets of headlights appeared. Loki and I both slunk lower in our seats. Two vans drove past us, pulling up in front of the entrance of the tai chi center. An armed man hopped out of the lead van and spoke with the guard at the gate. He then continued down the path to the building's entrance where he went inside. Two more armed men climbed out of the van. They lit up cigarettes. The electric lights shining down on the gate cast long shadows of the vans across the road.

  The men finis
hed their cigarettes and were joking with each other, their laughter barely reaching us. The front door to the center opened and the armed man we'd seen leave the van reappeared with three shackled prisoners. They wore white jumpsuits, loose-fitting and stained. The prisoners shuffled down the path, the armed man behind them hurrying them along.

  The guard let them out the gate, and the two armed men by the van stepped forward, grabbing the prisoners and pushing them inside. After the guards climbed in, the two vans left heading further up the mountain leaving trails of dirt pluming behind them.

  Loki started our car and we followed, having to drive right by the gates on our way. I stayed low in my seat and out of view. Loki kept his gaze facing forward as we passed the entrance. We turned around a bend and didn't see the vans, but the road was winding and there were no turnoffs, so we knew that we were safe maintaining a distance.

  We reached the top of a pass and the road sloped down. We still couldn't see the vans ahead of us but their fresh tire marks were obvious in the roadway. The valley below was flat and dark. "There's nothing out there," I said.

  "Not that I know of," Loki said.

  "Where would they be taking them?" I asked.

  "I don't know," Loki said. "But, I don't think it's anywhere good."

  We saw the headlights of the vans as they headed into the valley, two spots of light in a sea of darkness. When we reached the valley floor I saw rice paddies on both side of the road. Loki cut our headlights because the road was straight and we could see the van’s red taillights in the distance. "Hard to follow them inconspicuously here," I said.

  We hit a bump that jarred us and I let out an oomph. "It's also hard to drive in complete darkness," Loki said.

  "What did you mean," I asked, "when you said they can't be going anywhere good?"

  "There are no towns or even villages in this direction," Loki answered me. His hands tightened on the wheel and he chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "This is probably an execution."

  "In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night."

  "Yes," he answered. "And that might not be all."

  Blood Flows

  We saw the brake lights glow up ahead and Loki slowed to a stop. The vans pulled off onto the side of the road. We waited, our engine running. The vans were about a hundred feet ahead of us, far enough away that there was no way they could see our unlit car in the dark but close enough that we could see figures climbing out of the lead van. The headlights from the rear vehicle lit the prisoners and guards clearly for a moment as they passed through the bright beams, headed toward the rice paddy.