Just a Walk in the Woods - Ep3
Dafydd and Sarah are taking a break up at the cabin, their last case didn't end well and it's made a little soul-searching necessary for them both.
Just a Walk in the Woods - Ep3 (A Dafydd Owen Story)
_Breathing a little heavily from our run, Sarah and I climbed the steps to the platform of the old fire tower. After the forest service had stopped using it, I'd renovated it some and converted the platform into a sort of survival refuge. I'd put actual windows in, weatherproofed the place and stuck some solar panels on the roof to trickle-charge the bank of batteries that powered both a few LED lights inside and a radio. There was always water and dried food up here, blankets, furs and a mattress to sleep on, a couple of folding chairs and a small stove.
Sarah was looking around the place with an amused look on her muzzle as I lit the stove and started to brew us some tea. "Your little love-shack in the woods, Dafydd?"
"It does occasionally get used that way, but not by me. We're right on the edge of my land here. Other side of that ridge there's a trail down to a couple of campgrounds and once they discovered this place was here it became a prime spot for a young couple looking for some privacy away from the camp counsellors. After the first time it happened I made sure that the next ones to come up here found this.." I picked a laminated sheet off the back of the door and passed it to her so she could read it. 'OK kids, these are the rules. Follow them and I won't be raising a stink at your camp tomorrow morning. First, I left this place clean, tidy and supplied - I expect you to do the same. Bring your own sheets or wash mine. Any supplies you use, you replace and that includes refilling the water containers, this place could be the only possible shelter for somebody caught in bad weather - that's why I don't lock it up when I'm not using it - I don't want somebody who really needs those supplies to find them short. There's a box of mixed species condoms in the cabinet by the stove in case you forgot to bring your own. Replace what you use please. Don't follow these rules and not only will I track you down at the camp and call you out in public for it but I'll start making life difficult for everyone coming up here from the camp and you won't be popular.'
"For the most part it works. Apparently the camp counsellors found out about my rules pretty quick and make sure that the word gets unofficially passed around to the kids that if they are looking for some privacy and find a place that has rules posted, follow them or else."
"So how many virgins climbed that ladder and weren't by the time they came down, do you think?"
"I suspect you'd need an accountant to keep score."
"Well, I think it's nice of you not to make a fuss about it. Kids should have somewhere romantic for their first time...."
Her voice trailed off. Just like that we were back in what we'd come up here to get out of, Thinking about Anne Willis._
Back at our place Sarah and I were leaning back in armchairs, leaving the couch to Adam and Caroline. The young Chow girl was snuggled tightly against her rescuer who was nursing a drink in his uninjured paw. I'd considered putting a lock on the liquor cabinet while Adam was staying with us but he'd taken one look at it and shaken his head.
"I drink too much to appreciate the fine stuff, Dafydd. Go buy me a couple of bottles of the cheapest bourbon in the liquor store and your supplies are safe when I need a little pain relief."
That's exactly what I did, so there he was appreciating the foulest rotgut imaginable like it was a fine aged single malt. Caroline's English wasn't that good, and Adam's Cantonese was better than mine so we mostly stuck to that language. Adam or I would translate occasionally so that Sarah could follow the conversation, even if she couldn't participate much.
_"We need to know how you came here, where you were kept and if there were any other girls there. Do you think you can help us?"
"Three men came while mother was out. They tied up Ah Sun and took First Brother and me. They put us on a boat for a long time. When First Brother tried to fight them they hurt him. When he didn't wake up they took him away."
"Do you know where the boat took you?"
"It was hot. It didn't have any windows but there were monkeys outside, I could hear them every morning."_
"How long did they keep you there?"
"I don't know. They brought in another girl too. She looked like you but with spots. I couldn't talk to her"
"So, Adam, Sarah... Someplace hot where they brought in another young girl that sounds very much like a leopard cub. Also a place that has feral monkeys and where the kids don't speak either English or Cantonese."
"Given that the guy Terry was sweating over has a Liberian name, I'm guessing some place on the African coast. Not in Liberia though, they speak English there."
"Probably right. Now to follow the trail a little further."
_"Caroline, where did they take you next?"
"It was night time. They took us out and put us on a big plane with three boys and a lot of boxes. First Brother wasn't there and they wouldn't tell me where he was."_
Unless I missed my guess, her brother was fish food somewhere in the Indian Ocean, but I wasn't going to be the one to tell her that.
_"What happened when you got off the plane?"
"They put the boxes and us into the back of truck and drove for a long time. They took us out and put us in another place without any windows with some other kids."_
I passed her a picture. "Was this girl there?"
_"Not at first, but later she was. That's Anne. She's nice. She was very scared."
"Was she ok when they took you out of there?"
"Yes. She wanted to go with me but they held her back. Said it would be her turn later."
"Did you see anything when they took you out?"
"No, they put me in a car and blindfolded me. I tried to count the time in my head but couldn't"
"That's ok, Caroline. How far did you get before losing count?"
"I counted all the way up to 500 but when I heard the train it scared me, I forgot to keep counting."
"Were they driving fast?"
"No."
"Did you hear anything else?"
"Only the river, just before we stopped."_
Not much to go on but we now finally had some real data to work with. We knew where Adam had met these pond-scum and thanks to Caroline we knew that wherever these kids were being kept it had to be on the other side of the river, about 10 minutes beyond some rail tracks and we were guessing around a half hour drive in total, most of it on surface streets not freeway. We started by drawing a circular arc on the map representing about the right distance on the far side of the river. Then another about two thirds of the way out. Then we started marking railroad crossings or any other places where a train might sound its whistle near the inner circle.
There were more than four hundred of them and as we looked at the map I could see Sarah's tail lashing in frustration. Hell, my own ears were flat against my skull and my tail wasn't exactly still either. Adam laughed as he strolled back in from tucking Caroline up in one of our guest bedrooms.
"God, you cats and your body language. I never worked out why a dog wags when they are happy but a cat does it when they are pissed off."
Sarah turned around and hissed at him, almost instinctively, which drew another laugh. "Yeah. We lizards do that one too. Dafydd, do you guys have any contacts at BNSF?"
"I don't. Dunno about Sarah. Why?"
"They do track their trains, right? They might be able to show us which of those pesky red dots you put on the map might have had a train passing through at about the right time?" Sarah's ears suddenly came up.
"I might know somebody. An old army buddy works for them as a dispatcher. He's not local but he could maybe put us in touch with somebody who can help even if he can't." She reached for her phone and started dialing. I quietly checked my watch. Ok, it was late but not too late. I heard one side of the conversation only but Sarah visibly relaxed as it went on.
"Danny? Sarah... Yeah it's been a while. How are Megan and the kids?... Shit, man, I had no idea! How's she doing?... OK. You tell me how that works out or I'll tear off your tail and beat you to death with the sticky end. Hey, listen, we got a case working up here and it might all turn on where a train might have sounded its whistle at a particular time. Any way we could find that out?... Roughly 6:30pm local, give or take 10 minutes, two days ago... Ok, who do we call and when?... Any chance it could happen quicker? We've a bunch of kids in a shitpot of trouble here... Sure, no problem. Give him my number and have him call me. Anytime day or night... You too, buddy. Take care."
She turned around to the pair of us and grinned. Not a pleasant grin, a feline predatory one.
"We might have something here. Thanks Adam. The guy Danny trained under now runs the dispatch shop for this region. If anyone can get what we need, he can. Danny's going to call him right now."
Sarah looked at me over the rim of her mug as she sipped tea.
"I don't think I can do this anymore, Dafydd. I want off the streets and I never thought I'd say that. I'm tired of swimming in filth to make a living."
"We do make a difference, my love."
"Yeah, but I'm not comfortable with the difference it's making in me. I've spent my entire adult life either getting shot at or shooting back, and when I'm not then I'm looking for more ways it can happen."
"Sounds kinda familiar."
"Would you ever retire, Dafydd?"
"You mean hang it all up, close the business and live on the profits?"
"Yeah."
"I've considered it. It couldn't be a clean break though, I've got too many fingers in too many pies and I owe too many favors. Hell, I'm owed a few too many as well. Nobody in this town would ever believe I hung it up for good."
"Yeah, I see that. Thing is, Dafydd, I don't want to be there and I'm getting there real fast."
"Mr Owen, is there anything you can tell me? Are you making any kind of progress?"
I hesitated before answering. She sensed it and looked straight at me, challenging me without words. I had no idea how much I would later regret answering her.
"We're closing in on a staging area of a bunch of cub-traffickers. We know Anne was alive and unharmed there three days ago, along with several others."
"That means you must have recovered at least one cub."
"Yeah, Marie. We did. Shipped over here all the way from Hong Kong. She told us Anne was there and was nice to her. We're getting Caroline home and using what she told us to find where they are holding Anne."
"Bring her home. Bring my little girl home.... "
"We will."
Why the fuck did I say that? It was still uncertain.
We got the data from the BNSF guy around 8 the next morning. It cut the 400 potential centers down to 20. With 5 minutes of drive time from any of them to the potential location, that was still an awful lot of real estate and we were running out of time. Once again Adam came through for us.
"Scratch any circle that doesn't include a building with a loading dock. They came in on a semi truck and walked right into the building. That means wherever it is, it has a dock."
"Scratch any that's all offices. The building we're looking at is almost certainly a factory or a warehouse and most likely currently vacant, at least officially."
Sarah was busily crossing off buildings on the map.
"Two vacant warehouses, Dafydd. Five others, three light manufacturing and two warehouse and storage."
"Pull 'em up online and let's take a look."
Two of the factories we could discount immediately. The business that owned them was on a roll and working three shifts. No way that a bunch of kids could be hidden there. That left four warehouses and one factory.
"Check out who owns 'em, Sarah."
"The factory, Bill Hanson's company. I'd call that low priority. He's a straight guy and practically religious about hiring clean workers. One of the warehouses is low priority too - these guys are almost certainly clean."
"Three warehouses left. Who owns 'em?"
"The active one, Northern Lights Technology. The two that are supposedly vacant were last occupied by Sorenson Shipping and Kwala Imports."
"It's Kwala."
"Why?"
"Terry was sweating about a guy with a Liberian name, from the Kpelle people. Kwala means 'monkey' in the Kpelle language."
"Let's gear up and roll."
_We honestly thought we'd wrap things up that night and bring Anne home to Marie. We couldn't have been more wrong. I looked over my own mug at Sarah and she caught my eyes.
"If you want out, Sarah, I know how to make that happen. Lots of ways. Before I pick one, would you tell me what it is you DO want, rather than what you want to escape from?"
"What I really want, I can't have."
To be continued..._