Michael Walters - The Shadow Walker

“It’s my job,” Maxon said. “I’m an enforcer. It’s what I do.”

“Except you didn’t do it, did you? Where did you come across Badzar?”

“You’re wasted in this business, Nergui. You’re pretty professional yourself. You could make some real money. Yeah, I came across Badzar when he started launching one man guerrilla attacks on our sites in the north. I was supposed to-discourage him. But then I heard his story.”

“And your heart bled?”

“-And I thought he was more useful to us alive than dead. I brought him back to the city, initially. But then I managed to persuade him that I was on his side.”

“You must have impressive powers of persuasion.”

“Yeah, and not all of them involve violence. I reinvented myself as an agent of the US government looking to undermine Russian dominance of the mining industry here.”

“Not so far from the truth, then?”

“The best lies never are. Badzar didn’t exactly trust me, but he could see that we were working toward the same ends. And I also took the precaution of introducing him to one or two addictive substances. It’s amazing how amenable people can be when you’re the sole supplier of something they need.”

“And your involvement was always deniable?”

“Exactly. Badzar had no real knowledge of me. Always useful if things go wrong.”

“Which they did.”

“On the contrary, they went better than we might have dreamed. It’s just that the Russians were such stubborn bastards.”

Nergui nodded. “The first killing-the dismembered body-that was one of the Russian team?”

“One of their geologists. One of those who’d been producing the dubious data. We thought that would give them a clear message.”

“And they didn’t report him as missing because that would have exposed the whole sordid arrangement. Instead, they just responded in kind.”

Maxon nodded. “Pretty much so. We underestimated them, I guess. We thought that, compared to us, this was just a two-bit bunch who would back off at the first sign of trouble.”

“Pretty naïve, Maxon.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m used to operating in more civilized parts of the world.”

“So the second victim-the one who was helped off the hotel roof-he was one of yours?”

“Same thing. One of our geologists. I think the message was clear.”

“But you didn’t take it?”

“Shit, no. I mean, this was a goddam battle of wills now. We directed Badzar very gently toward another of their team. Someone closer to the top guys.”

“The body we found dumped in the ravine, and they responded by killing Mr. Ransom, who I take it was one of yours?”

“Exactly. Ransom had been doing some work for us, trying to verify the data that they’d been producing. He was our expert in that field. Poor bastard. He wasn’t involved in any of this. Just doing his job.”

“Another professional,” Nergui said. “But I suppose you could say the same about the geologists you killed.”

“Those bastards knew what they were doing,” Maxon said. “They were in it to their necks.”

“So how did our Mr. Delgerbayar get involved in this?”

“We didn’t know how they’d caught on to Ransom. He was basically a backroom guy that we’d had crunching data for us. Had barely been down to the Gobi and certainly wasn’t anyone they’d see as a threat, unless they had some inside knowledge. Delgerbayar had been on the consortium’s payroll for a while, but he wasn’t just doing our dirty work, he was also helping out the Russians as well. They were paying him to do some digging about what was going on. He’d been up in the north asking questions, and then headed back south to talk to the Russians in the Gobi. He was getting rattled because he thought if there was a scandal his neck would be on the block. But it was clear he knew something about Badzar. That didn’t worry me particularly-Badzar was always disposable-but too many people were beginning to know too much. Down south, everywhere was alive with rumor. We thought that Delgerbayar’s death might make a suitable gesture. And it wasn’t difficult to persuade Badzar.”

“Why not?”

Maxon laughed. “Didn’t you know? Delgerbayar was one of the leaders of the group who broke up the prospectors’ camp. I don’t know whether Delgerbayar actually killed Badzar’s father himself, but it’s possible. Badzar didn’t take much persuading.”

Nergui nodded. He could still see, in his mind, the grotesque vision of Delgerbayar’s dismembered body stretched out in the factory where Badzar’s father had once worked. The horror of the scene remained unchanged, but his response to it-his assumption of a clear distinction between victim and perpetrator-had changed forever. It was, he thought, the loss of another kind of innocence, long after he had assumed that cynicism had made him invulnerable to such shifts.

“And it was after that that we came across you in the Gobi?”

“Yeah, and you bastards scared the shit out of me. I thought that the Russians might have been on to Badzar, but I assumed I’d kept myself out of the picture pretty thoroughly. I headed down to the Gobi to brief Collins, who was liaising with our people down there. We headed out to the tourist camp to avoid being seen at the mines, and then you bastards turned up.”

“Just coincidence. We were following Delgerbayar’s trail.”

“Yeah, because everybody heads to the same place down there when they’re trying to be incognito. Jesus, Nergui, ever thought that maybe this country of yours lacks some leisure facilities? Anyway, I thought they were on to us. Good job I tend to jump to conclusions, because it turns out I was right. I spotted a couple of guys lurking around the camp, and thought I’d better make myself scarce. Collins was pissed in the tent. I invited whatshisname, the guy who ran the camp, in to join us for a few drinks. Then I slipped away, supposedly to the john.”

Nergui raised his eyes. “You invited Batkhuyag in there deliberately?”

“Sure, so there were two guys. But also Batkhuyag had some inkling what was going on. He kept his eyes and ears open a bit too much. Another rumor merchant. I thought that, in the dark, it was quite probable that the killers wouldn’t realize I wasn’t there-they probably wouldn’t know what I was supposed to look like. At the very least, it would buy me some additional time to get away. So that’s what I did.”

Nergui was still staring at Maxon. “I see what you mean by professionalism. But how did you manage to get out of the area?”

“I’d got Collins to organize me a motorbike. I think it was stolen. Anyway, I had that, with a decent supply of gas, so I just headed north into the desert.”

“Pretty risky at the time of year.”

“Maybe. But what you don’t know don’t kill you. As I was well prepared. Always am. I headed north-I’d got various equipment including good GSM navigation equipment with me. I just drove and drove through the night. Eventually got back here. Probably not thinking too straight by that point.”

“Which is why you kidnapped McLeish?”

“No, I thought that through pretty well. I knew the Russians were after me. I suspected that your government wasn’t likely to do me any favors. So I had to try to get out of here. Which wasn’t likely to be easily achievable by any conventional means, as far as I could see. Then I thought of you and McLeish. You struck me as being, well, smarter and less corruptible than some of your compatriots and that McLeish would provide the leverage I needed.”

“But how did you track him down?”

“Not difficult. I aimed to call all the major hotels asking for him, so I could see where he was staying. As it turned out, I hit pay dirt first time at the Chinggis Khaan. I just waited there till he came out and followed him. Ended up at the embassy. I had a cold night waiting out for him to emerge, and then I thought it was wasted because he was going to get in the fucking car with the rest of you. But he didn’t, and so here we all are. And now you and your friend can see how serious this fucking situation is.”