Michael Walters - The Shadow Walker

At the same time, he could not ignore the fact that serious organized crime really did exist. It wasn’t just the product of over-glamorized Hollywood movies. And over the borders from here, in both Russia and China, different forms of economic and social transition had created societies where such interests could thrive. It wasn’t so farfetched to assume that some of these forces might now be exerting some influence in this country.

If that were the case, Drew wasn’t sure he wanted to be involved. This was unknown territory in every sense. In this world, he wasn’t even sure where the boundaries lay between criminality, politics and business. It was already clear that for all his intelligence and charm, Nergui was like no policeman Drew had ever encountered. Stick close and watch your back. But from whom?

“But do you think it’s possible?” Drew asked. “That this is all connected?”

“I do not know,” Nergui said. “All we can do is try to trace out the patterns and see where they might connect. We keep returning to mining, to minerals. But then it is the future of this country. It already accounts for more than half of our exports and has the capability to change the fabric of our society. So it is perhaps not unexpected that it should dominate our thinking at every level, or that it should attract some dubious interests. But whether that is sufficient to justify all that has happened? I do not know.” He paused. “I am being fanciful again. But I have a sense of something working itself out. Something that is not straightforward. It makes me uneasy. I do not know where this is going.”

It sounded like the mother of all understatements to Drew, but there was also a sense of something unspoken, some understanding that Nergui was reaching that he was not yet able or prepared to share. Nergui stared, blank faced, at the floor.

“We should get some sleep,” Drew said, finally.

“You are right,” Nergui said. He looked up and smiled palely. “We do not know what tomorrow holds. We should sleep.”

Drew expected that sleep would not be easy to attain, but he was wrong. The lingering effects of the beer and wine helped, and he fell asleep very quickly after climbing into the narrow bed. He was wearing an old track suit which he had brought in place of pajamas. Nergui was wearing some similar old garment, which looked as if it might be military issue. Despite the chill of the desert night outside, the tent felt warm and comfortable. Nergui had turned out the electric light, and the darkness was almost complete, except for a very faint glow from the stove.

*

When he woke, Drew had no idea how long he had been sleeping. The tent was still in utter darkness, but almost immediately he had a sense that something had changed. He stiffened in the bed, trying to pin down the sense of unease that was rippling through him. Was there someone else in the tent? He lay still and tried to listen, but could hear nothing. Not even, he realized, the sound of Nergui’s breathing.

He slipped out of bed, and fumbled his way carefully across the floor until his fingers touched the soft wall of the tent. Although his eyes were adjusting to the dark, he could see virtually nothing and the glow from the stove appeared to have extinguished. He thought he could see a faint shadow which might have been the low table. He stopped momentarily, wondering if he could hear anything, but there was nothing except the unnervingly loud sound of his own breathing.

Drew began to move forward, keeping his hand on the tent wall until he found the door frame. He ran his hand across the wood and fumbled until he found the light switch. He pressed the switch and the ger was flooded with bright light. The tent was empty. There was no intruder, no evidence of any disturbance. And there was no sign of Nergui.

His bed was rumpled but unoccupied. The sheets had been pulled back, as though Nergui had climbed out in a hurry.

Drew paused. Why was he getting so worked up about this? In all likelihood, Nergui had just gone off to the camp lavatories to relieve himself of some of the evening’s beer.

But, somehow, Drew felt that wasn’t the case. Something felt wrong. He looked around the sparsely furnished ger trying to identify anything out of place, something that might justify his sense of unease. But other than Nergui’s overcoat being missing there was nothing.

Drew turned and pushed open the door. The cold night air hit him in the face, startling after the warmth of the tent. He stepped back in, grabbed his own coat and thrust his feet into his shoes. Then he pulled back the door and walked out into the night.

The camp was silent. For the first time, Drew thought to look at his watch. Just after three a.m.

The perimeter of the camp was studded with small spotlights to light the walkways, but otherwise everything was in darkness. There was no moon, and the sky above was dazzling with stars, an even more brilliant display in the full night. The thick smear of the Milky Way stretched out above.

Drew walked forward cautiously, listening for any sound. There was nothing. All of the gers, and the larger administration and reception buildings, were dark and silent.

He walked a few more steps, then turned the corner into the main walkway that led up to the administration building. At the far end, in one of the gers nearest to the reception building, there was a light. The door of the ger was open, and the light from the interior stretched out across the walkway.

Drew walked up the path, his feet making no noise on the soft sand. He drew level with the entrance to the ger and moved forward to peer inside.

Nergui was standing, just inside the door, his back to Drew, motionless.

“Nergui?”

Nergui turned, with no obvious surprise. “Drew,” he said.

Drew walked forward, and looked past Nergui into the interior of the tent. He was, he realized, not surprised at what he saw. The bed nearest to the door was colored deep red by spilled blood. A body lay face down on top, its large frame half sprawled across the floor.

Across the room, another figure was lying next to one of the other beds, the body twisted, the head at an odd angle. There was no blood this time, but it was clear that this figure was also dead.

“I felt it coming,” Nergui said, quietly. “But I was too slow. I didn’t take it seriously enough.”

Drew stepped forward to look around the ger. “Who-?” He looked more closely at the bloodstained figure. “Collins,” he said.

Nergui nodded.

“And the other? Maxon?”

Nergui shook his head slowly. “Batkhuyag.”

“Batkhuyag? But why?”

Nergui shook his head. “I do not know. Perhaps they both said too much. But it is very strange.”

“You think it was Maxon?”

“That is the obvious explanation. But it is very strange.”

Drew wasn’t sure what Nergui meant. “How did you find them?”

Nergui looked at Drew as though he had just asked an unexpected question. “You know,” he said, “I am not sure. I woke up-I don’t know why. I am a light sleeper, always, and I woke with a sense that something was wrong. That I should have acted before. That I was too late.”

Drew thought back to his own awakening, his own sense of unease. “So what happened?”

“I put on my shoes and coat and came out. Just as you have done. I saw the light in here. The door was already wide open. And I came and found the bodies.”

Nergui was as blank faced as ever, but Drew had the sense that he was genuinely stunned by this.

“You didn’t see anyone else?”

“No. I think I heard the sound of an engine as I walked up here. Maybe a motorbike. But it was a long way away, and I thought little of it.”