Angel in the Full Moon (37 page)

“She says she is okay,” sobbed Bien.

“Mind telling us how you got to be here?” Jack asked.

Bien used his hand to wipe the tears from his face. In short, halting sentences, he told them of the invitation he had received to the restaurant and what led up to him finding Linh.

Bien pointed at Pops's clothes piled on the floor and said, “The key to the padlock on my ankle is in his pants.

Jack glanced at Laura and said, “Do you mind? My wrist hurts ... and maybe Pops will think I can't shoot with my other hand and try to escape.”

Pops glared up at Jack from where he lay on the floor.

Laura holstered her gun and quickly freed Bien. She tried to open Linh's padlock but the key did not fit.

“Where is it?” demanded Laura, pointing an angry finger
at Pops. “The key! Where is it?”

“Fuck you,” replied Pops.

“I'll cover him,” Jack whispered to Laura. “Go back to the car and take the cuffs off the Russians. Kick them out and tell them they've got twenty minutes to get out of the area. That should give them enough time to find a payphone and call a cab.” He gave a nod of his head toward Pops and said, “Once he's cuffed, I'll pick the lock on Linh's ankle.”

“That sounds good except for one thing,” said Laura, “and I'll take care of that right now!” She looked at Bien and said, “Take Linh and move to the far side of the room.”

As Bien and Linh complied, Laura walked over to Pops and said, “Get up on your hands and knees! Now!”

Pops slowly obeyed.

“Crawl,” ordered Laura. “Hands and knees only. Go over to the other side of the room.”

“Fuck you.”

Jack hid a smile when Laura placed the barrel of her gun between his buttocks and cocked the hammer back.

“You see him, eh, Jack?” she said. “He tried to grab my gun and escape.”

Pops quickly crawled across the floor to the chain that had held Bien moments before.

“Now,” Laura demanded. “Put that chain on your own ankle. Tight! Then padlock it!”

Pops did as ordered before glaring up at her.

“So how does it feel?” asked Laura. “You better get used to it. You'll be spending the rest of your life in a cell.”

“Fuck you.”

“You pathetic piece of drivel,” said Laura. “You don't even have the brains to form a proper sentence.”

“Fuck you!” yelled Pops again in rage.

Laura looked at Jack and said, “I'll go get the cuffs out of
the car. If you're up to it, I think you are probably safe to take a crack at the padlock while I'm gone.”

“I'm up to it. It's my wrist that's broken, not my fingers. Hang on a second,” said Jack, as he walked over to a large box in the corner. He looked in the box and saw some box cutters, pliers, a CO
₂
pistol, candles, matches, an electric cattle prod, and an assortment of girls' clothing.
That son of a bitch! I want to kill him so bad ...

Laura also looked inside. “Oh, man,” she muttered. “I better get the cuffs. If I stay here, I will shoot him.”

Jack reached in and pulled out a jacket to give to Linh. “Hurry back, we've got some things to discuss.”

Bien weakly pointed at the jacket and started to cry while Linh buried her face in his neck. Laura paused and glanced at Pops, who was now smiling. She hurried to the car.

Moments later, Laura returned, dangling a set of handcuffs in front of her. “It's done,” she said. “I left yours in the glove box.”

“Our terrorists?” whispered Jack.

“Took off on the run. How you making out?”

“Doing okay,” said Jack, as the lock sprung open and he helped Linh to remove the chain from her ankle. When she was free, she immediately turned to wrap her arms around Bien's neck once more as he kneeled beside her.

“Cuff him,” said Jack. “I'll cover.”

Laura ordered Pops to lay face down on the floor while she cuffed him with his hands behind his back. She was about to use the key to release the padlock and take the chain off his ankle when Jack said, “That can wait a minute. Come here, we should talk about some things first.”

Jack and Laura stood by the passage door and turned their backs so they could talk in private.

“We've got to get Linh to a hospital,” whispered Jack.

“While you were getting the cuffs, Bien spoke with her. She says she wasn't sexually abused, but even if she wasn't, she's still traumatized.”

“So let's call an ambulance and bring in the troops.”

“For sure, but now there is no need to make up our informant story. Let's just say that we did follow Dúc and he led us here. We'll say we didn't realize Bien was with him until—”

“No!” screamed Pops in a high-pitched voice.

Jack spun around and saw Bien running toward Pops with a knife in his hand.

“Bien, no!” yelled Jack, as he leaped, tackling Bien around the legs and sending him crashing to the floor.

By the sound of Pops's anguished squeal, Jack knew that he was too late as he grabbed Bien by the back of his shirt and flung him off.

Pops looked up from the floor, his eyes wide with fright as he lay on his side.

“He stabbed me!” Pops said, as his eyes became fixated on the knife handle protruding from the side of his chest—and the deep, dark-coloured pool of blood spilling out onto the floor.

Jack saw that Laura had grabbed Bien, dragging him backwards as she restrained him from behind, wrapping one of her arms around his throat, while using her other hand to bend his wrist up high behind his back.

Linh cried loudly, ran up and tried to pull Laura off.

“Pull it out,” pleaded Pops.

“Not a good idea,” said Jack. “Lie still.”

Jack spun around, grabbing Bien by the front of his shirt.

“Why?” Jack demanded.

“If you were a father, you would know why,” retorted Bien.

“You are
still
a father!” sputtered Jack. “You've got Linh to
take care of! Who will look after her now?”

Bien stared dumbfounded down at his daughter. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor sobbing as Linh hugged him.

Laura let him go and reached for her cellphone, but Jack put his hand on her arm and said, “What are you doing?”

“Calling an ambulance.”

“They'll never make it in time,” whispered Jack. “Look at the colour of that blood,” he said, pointing to Pops. “It's in his liver. He'll be dead before he ever makes it to the hospital.”

Laura stared at Pops before looking back at Jack and whispering, “So what are you saying?”

“I'm saying if you do that, Bien will be arrested for murder and Linh will end up in an orphanage in Vietnam. Is that what you want?”

“You know I don't.”

“Call the ambulance, you fuckers!” gasped Pops. “What are you waiting for?” he asked, before clenching his teeth in pain.

“We don't really have a choice,” whispered Laura.

“Yeah ... we do. I'm sick of going by the book. Sick of hating myself.”

Oh, man. The old Jack is back ...

Laura quickly helped Linh find all her clothes in the box while Jack spoke quietly with Bien. She didn't need to ask if Bien was willing to go along with Jack's plan. Bien's nodding of his head and the warm embrace he gave Jack was answer enough.

Jack approached Laura and said, “He says he is certain that Linh can do it. She's a little girl who is very traumatized. Nobody would dare push her too much at this point.”

“Hope you're right,” said Laura, before telling Bien to take Linh out to the adjoining room to get dressed. She watched them leave before checking the chain on Pops's ankle and taking his handcuffs off.

“Thank you,” said Pops. “The chain?”

“That stays on,” said Jack.

Laura walked to the passageway and turned to take one last look around the room.

It was a memory that would haunt her forever. A place
where the walls and floor had been covered in red enamel paint. A colour she knew, that was picked for a reason. The drain on the floor completed the look.

She gazed at the dirty and blood-stained foam mattress beside a toilet that had the lid held on by two steel bands. Briefly, Laura wondered if Pops was afraid his captives might use the toilet tank lid as a weapon.

A large calendar on the wall with splashes of red circles caught her eye. Beneath it, a box of horror. It wasn't a prison cell, she decided. It was an abattoir.

She looked at Jack and gave a silent nod, before wiping off the key to the padlock and dropping it in the box.

Jack followed Laura out through the passageway.

“Where are you going?” cried Pops. “You can't leave me in here!”

“I'll be right back,” said Jack.

At the back entrance, Jack went up into the kitchen while Laura took Bien and Linh to the car. She placed them in the back seat and got in the front and waited.

Jack found a tea towel, left the house, and went out into the lane. A minute later, he returned to the basement and scrambled back through the passageway.

“You called an ambulance ... right?” asked Pops.

“No,” replied Jack, carefully picking candles up out of the box by their wicks.

“You have to hurry! I might die!”

“I'm surprised you haven't died already,” said Jack calmly, as he walked around the room and set the candles down in various locations.

“You can't do this! You will call an ambulance right now!” Pops demanded harshly.

Jack looked at him blandly and said, “The illusion of power and control ... right to the end. I know about that. I was born into that element. I figured that by now you—”

“No,” cried Pops. “Please ... don't torment me like this.”

“Ah ... now it comes. That's more the tone I expected. The bully reveals the insecure coward that he really is.”

“Don't,” Pops said weakly.

“Don't what?”

“Don't torture me like this. I'm scared—look ... I've wet myself.”

“So you have,” observed Jack.

“You see? You've won! Please ... call the ambulance now.”

“Won? I haven't won anything! This isn't a game. It isn't my intention to torture you.”

“Good,” gasped Pops. “You'll call now, right?”

“Wrong. You are like a rabid dog. I take no delight in destroying a rabid dog any more than I would wish a dog to be rabid. I am simply doing it because it is the right thing to do.”

“You can't! You'll go to jail for this. For the rest of your life!”

“A chance I'm willing to take.”

Jack dropped the last candle on the floor close to Pops. They both watched as it rolled to a stop.

Pops looked up. He had a look of bewilderment in his eyes, which increased more so when Jack picked Dúc up off the floor and dropped his body on top of the candle near Pops.

“What are you doing?” asked Pops.

“You can hold his hand and take him with you when you die,” replied Jack.

Pops went to speak, but winced, grabbing his side while watching Jack light the four other candles he had placed. Their meaning became clear when Jack disconnected the propane heater and turned the propane tank on.

“Turn it off!” sputtered Pops.

Jack turned off the lights and briefly watched the flicker of the candles before ducking down to leave.

The sound of the hiss from the escaping gas permeated the entire room.

“Take me to the hospital,” pleaded Pops.

“I'm sending you someplace else,” replied Jack. “Say hello to my father for me, when he joins you.”

Jack got in the car and Laura started it up, drove to the end of the block, and parked. Everyone sat in silence and a minute slowly ticked by.

The sound of a muffled explosion and the shattering of basement windows caused Laura to glance in the rearview mirror.

She looked at Jack, who remained staring straight ahead. “Jack?”

“Take Linh to a suitable payphone,” he said, without turning his head.

Connie was back at her office working when she answered the telephone from Jack.

“What are you doing?” he asked, cheerily.

“We're going to pull another all-nighter,” replied Connie. “Going to keep working until we find this bastard. You sound happy?”

“Got some fantastic news. Linh is okay!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“She escaped. Laura and I are with her and Bien at Surrey Memorial right now. She's traumatized, but is going to be okay.”

“Jesus Christ! Jack! How—” Connie started crying and couldn't finish her sentence.

“She was locked in some dungeon in a basement someplace by a man she only knew as Pops. Tonight some other man came in with Pops and they started fighting. She used the opportunity to escape. I guess the poor kid ran for
blocks before she calmed down enough. Later she got some money off a guy and used it to call home in Hanoi.”

“Who gave her money?”

“Some good Samaritan. She was crying and said she was lost and wanted to call her father. The guy probably didn't realize where her father lived. He gave her some money and walked away. Linh called and her grandmother answered and gave her the number to Bien's hotel. He called me and Laura and I grabbed Bien on the way and we picked her up.”

“Jesus! You should have called me as soon as Bien told you.”

“I would have, except Bien said she was really freaked out. He was afraid she would take off if anyone else showed up. He told her to hide in some bushes and not move until he got there personally.”

“I'm on my way over,” said Connie. “We have to get to this phone booth. I'll call the Dog Master.”

“Laura will meet you at the main entrance. I've got something to do.”

“What? Where are you going?”