Michael Walters - The Shadow Walker

Drew could imagine. Like much of the former Eastern bloc, this now appeared to be a country where substantial poverty could coexist very closely with extreme wealth.

“Not surprisingly,” Nergui went on, “there are those who, lacking other resources, try to obtain their own small share of this wealth.” Nergui’s face betrayed nothing of his feelings-positive or negative-toward such people. “There are a lot of problems with people prospecting illegally for gold. In the right places, you can pan for gold in rivers. You will find small amounts, but those can still be enormously valuable-particularly to a poor family without other work.”

“But these people can be prosecuted?”

“In principle, yes, very much so. In practice, the police often turn a blind eye, unless there is a direct complaint from one of the mining companies or the illegal activities are on a larger scale.”

“So what was Delgerbayar investigating?”

“We’d had a complaint, apparently, from one of the mining companies about a small encampment that had been established near one of their key sites. It wasn’t clear how much gold was actually being found by this group, but they’d been there for some time and I think they’d become something of a visible challenge to the mining company. I think they wanted something done to make an example of them.”

“What was Delgerbayar supposed to do?”

“There were two officers working on this, Delgerbayar and one other. The usual routine is that they would just give some sort of warning to the camp members, get them to move on. At most, they might formally caution them. But I don’t think they expected to arrest or charge anyone unless there was active resistance.”

“So what happened?”

Nergui leaned back in his chair. “Something strange happened. The day before they were due to visit the encampment, Delgerbayar disappeared.”

Drew looked up in surprise. “Really?”

“He appeared briefly at headquarters and left a message for his senior officer to say that he had stumbled upon an important lead in the gold prospecting case and was therefore having to travel urgently south, to the Gobi.”

“To the desert? Why?”

“He didn’t say. It’s difficult to see how there could have been any link to the prospecting case, which seemed like a trivial bit of business. He gave the name of a tourist encampment in the Gobi, where he said he was going to meet a contact.”

“But surely he wasn’t allowed just to disappear like that?”

“Of course not,” Nergui said. “His senior officer was furious. It is likely that there would have been some disciplinary action taken, unless he’d come up with a very good explanation for his behavior.”

“But-”

Nergui anticipated the question. “But that didn’t happen, no. He never came back-not alive, anyway. We don’t even know for sure if he reached the tourist camp. So far, no one’s admitted to having met him. He was booked on to a flight to the Gobi, and it looks as if he-or someone-may have traveled. But that’s all we know. The next time we saw him-”

Drew nodded slowly. “Today. But it does sound as if there’s a potential lead there.”

“Exactly. Of course, it’s possible that this is all coincidence and that the Gobi stuff wasn’t linked to this-maybe it was just a young officer showing off, thinking he’d stumbled on something and going off without thinking through the consequences.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time, in my experience,” Drew said, with a faint smile. “I might have even done it myself, if I think back far enough.”

“But, from what I hear, that doesn’t sound typical of Delgerbayar. If anything, he tended to be overcautious. People were genuinely taken aback when he disappeared-I think most people assumed there was more to it. Some sort of domestic crisis or something. There were some who thought he’d had some sort of breakdown.”

“So you have to assume a connection?”

“We do.” Nergui sat back slowly his chair. “I hope you enjoyed the meal.”

“The food really was superb, Nergui.” Drew realized that it was the first time he had used the Mongolian’s name. He felt, just for a moment, as though he had fallen under a spell, as though the combination of the food and the alcohol and Nergui’s openness had compelled him to lower his guard. He wondered whether this had been Nergui’s intention, whether the unexpected openness about his background had been a deliberate ploy to gain his own trust.

Even as he felt this, he realized that the prospect didn’t concern him unduly. He wasn’t entirely sure whether Nergui could be trusted, but at the moment he felt some reassurance that at least they were in this thing-whatever it might turn out to be-together.

Nergui smiled faintly, as though reading Drew’s thoughts. “Now,” he said, “I have three questions for you.”

“Go ahead.” Drew couldn’t read the Mongolian’s expression, didn’t know whether or not he was being serious.

Nergui ticked off the questions on his fingers. “Three simple questions. One-would you like some coffee? Two-would you like some of our excellent vodka with your coffee.” He paused, slowly tapping his third finger. “And three-would you like to travel to the Gobi in the morning?”

“We should have traveled business class.”

“This is business class. You should see economy.”

Drew laughed. This was like nothing he had ever experienced. He wasn’t sure he would ever want to experience it again, but for the moment it was sufficiently different to be worth enduring.

He had never seen an airplane so crowded. It was a small propeller driven plane, but it appeared to be more crowded than any 747 Drew had ever seen. It wasn’t quite true that there were people standing but it felt as if there were. Certainly, most of the passengers seemed to be carrying more than their allotted allowance of cabin luggage, which appeared to be stuffed into any available place.

“I hope this is safe,” Drew said, looking around them. As far as he could see, he was the only Westerner on board.

Nergui shrugged. “A better safety record than Aeroflot, anyway.”

“That’s very reassuring.”

It was only a ninety-minute flight to Dalanzadgad, but this was quite long enough for Drew. He still wasn’t sure that it was a wise decision to accompany Nergui. He had a suspicion that Nergui’s decision to make the trip was prompted primarily by a desire to get himself and Drew out of Doripalam’s hair, to give the young man the opportunity to get on with some serious police work without interruption.

As far as Drew could see, there wasn’t a lot that he would be able to contribute to the investigation. On the other hand, it was a perfect excuse for a trip to the Gobi Desert, and it would have been a pity to have left this country without seeing it. Drew, who took his work very seriously, was uncomfortably aware that his visit to this country was a glorified public relations exercise, and he now felt additionally guilty about engaging in what was little more than a sight-seeing excursion. On the other hand, he told himself, he had not asked to come here. He was undertaking a task which his superiors felt to be worthwhile. And there was the small matter of having already been shot at, even if, as it had turned out, his life had not really been in danger. So maybe he should just sit back and enjoy this.

Although sitting back was not easy, given the state of the airplane seats. He had the impression that the passenger behind him was trying to insert a large cabin trunk in the space between their respective rows. He was also sure that he could hear the sound of a chicken clucking somewhere toward the rear of the aircraft.