Michael Walters - The Shadow Walker

Cholon nodded. “From time to time. Not just there, but wherever we were trying to prospect. The official visits-we had those too, but they were different. Then you’d just get a team of police turning up, with a warrant and a straightforward order for you to move on. You knew that if you didn’t move within the defined time, you’d be arrested. So you moved. But the unofficial visits were different. That would be a lone police officer-usually armed. He would turn up with threats and innuendos, pretending he was just there to give you advance warning. Trying to help-but the message was always clear.”

“Was it always the same officer?” Doripalam interjected.

Cholon shook his head. “No, I’m talking over a period of a couple of years. There were maybe two or three different officers-sometimes they turned up in pairs. The first time we thought it was a joke-that maybe they’d just failed or omitted to get the warrant for some reason and were trying to bluff their way through it.”

“And what happened when you ignored them?”

Cholon stopped, suddenly. “That first time was two years or so ago,” he said. “We were operating from a camp further downriver-a fair distance from here. Two officers turned up-no official paperwork, but warning us that if we didn’t move things would become unpleasant. As I say, we thought it was a bluff. We’ve learned not be intimidated easily. We’re not going to back down just because someone in a uniform turns up-”

“I see that,” Nergui said.

“So we just sent them on their way, and waited for them to come back with a warrant.”

“And what happened?”

“They-the officers-didn’t come back. But a couple of nights later, in the early hours of the morning, the camp was attacked.”

“By who?”

“They were hooded, dressed in dark clothing. It was impossible to see their faces. They came armed with shotguns, knives, you name it. Attacked individuals-beat up some, injured others and-” He stopped.

Nergui watched him closely, saying nothing.

“-and they killed two of the group. Including my father.”

“I’m sorry,” Nergui said.

Cholon shrugged. “It is difficult to forgive them.”

“You reported this?”

Cholon smiled. “In the circumstances, it did not seem prudent. We did not know for sure who attacked us-yes, the mining company was behind it, of course, but we did not know who had actually carried out the attack. We thought-and some of us still do think-that the police were in their pocket.”

“We are not hired thugs,” Doripalam said.

“Really? I’ve witnessed teams of police moving prospectors out of their camps, enforcing the law as you put it. Yes, this attack was more brutal than that, but the police can be brutal enough even on their official visits.” He spoke the last two words with bitter irony.

“And you had further-unofficial visits?” Nergui said.

Cholon nodded. “As I say, from time to time. We took them seriously. The police came armed, but that was probably not necessary. We knew what could happen to us if there was any resistance.”

Nergui reached in his pocket and pulled out the now dog-eared photograph of Delgerbayar. “Is this one of them?”

“This your Delgerbayar?” Cholon said. He peered closely at the image. “Yes, I think he could well have been one of them.”

Nergui nodded slowly, putting the photograph back in his pocket. “Yes, I feared so,” he said. He paused, adjusting his posture on the hard wooden stool. “And what happened to your brother?”

Cholon stopped and stared at Nergui. “My brother?”

“Your brother. Badzar. What happened to him?”

“How-?” Cholon leaned forward, wrapping his arms tightly around his legs. “I can see I have underestimated you.”

Nergui smiled. “You are not the first. But tell me about your brother.”

“I assume you don’t need me to tell you, given your apparent omniscience.”

“Humor me, Mr. Cholon.”

“The way you’ve been humoring me?”

“Not at all. You have told me much that I did not know. Some that I did not wish to hear. But your brother. What happened?”

Cholon hesitated for what seemed a long time, as if he had determined not to proceed. “Okay,” he said at last, “I’ll humor you. I presume you know the background?”

“I know some of the background. Let me tell you the little I recall, and then you can fill in the gaps. I first came across you, Mr. Cholon, or at least your name, in the late 1980s. You were something of a revolutionary, as I recall.”

“Hardly,” Cholon said. “Although perhaps, yes, in your terms I was a revolutionary. I considered myself a democrat.”

Nergui nodded. “Campaigning against the government, against the dominance of the USSR. Some might have called you a freedom fighter. Or a terrorist.”

Cholon snorted. “On a pitiful scale.”

“There was sabotage. And a bomb.”

“None of which worked. We were amateurs. Students playing at it. Copying what we had seen happening in China, in Eastern Europe.”

“Nonetheless, you-and your brother-gained a certain notoriety at the time.”

“My brother more than me. He was the one with the grand ambitions.”

“So I recall. He was arrested?”

“Shortly before everything changed. The great tidal waves of democracy. The fall of the USSR. I’m still not sure what would have happened to him if that hadn’t happened. He would still be in prison, I imagine.”

“And what did happen to him? For that matter, what happened to you?” Nergui smiled. “You were a spokesman for your generation. Now you are an illegal gold prospector.”

“Maybe not so different,” Cholon said. “Doing my bit for freedom and the real redistribution of wealth.”

“No doubt. But it’s quite a shift.”

Cholon shrugged. “So you say. Not much changed, to be honest. My father had been a herdsman, a nomad. He had worked hard and moved back to the city, getting a job in one of the state manufacturing businesses. We were fortunate in getting a good education, going to university.”

“The benefits of the old state against which you rebelled?”

“Possibly, but education is possible even in democracies, I understand? Anyway, things were going well until the economy collapsed.”

“Brought down by the end of the Soviet Union.”

“The irony didn’t escape me. Though, as you well know, that is only part of the story.”

“So what happened?”

“My father lost his job, and tried to return to herding, but those were harsh winters and nothing worked. My brother and I had to leave university, and we both decided that the best thing would be to follow our father back out here. Since then we have done our best to scrape a living.”

“Until your father was killed?”

“As you say.”

“Your brother is still out here as well?”

Cholon looked at him closely. “You are not so omniscient after all, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought that was why you were here. I thought you were looking for Badzar.”

Nergui noticed that Doripalam had drawn closer to them and was listening intently.

“Why should we be looking for Badzar?” Nergui said.

Cholon shook his head. “I said that I should not incriminate myself. Should I incriminate my brother?”

“That depends,” Nergui said slowly, “on what your brother has done.”

Cholon looked from Nergui to Doripalam, and then back again. “That is really not why you are here?” he said. “You are not looking for Badzar?”

“We were not here to seek Badzar. We weren’t even here looking for you.”

“But you knew I was here?”

“No. As you say, I am not so omniscient. I did not recognize you until you told me your name. But then I do have a good memory for the cases I’ve been involved with.” Nergui stopped, as though he had finished. Then he said: “But you must tell us about your brother. What has he done?”