China Wife (16 page)

26

It was the much maligned farmer on the Victoria side of Lake Mulwala who found the car. Checking fences along the edge of his property was something that he did periodically. When he first sighted the burnt-out wreck he was immediately irritated; he knew it was trouble.

‘What you think this place is?' he demanded of the dead car as he dismounted from his tractor.

Fly-tipping was always a problem in remote areas like this track.

He was a Pole of long residence and his English still retained something of the fractured verb-less quality that it had had as a boy when he had first arrived in Australia fifty years earlier. His fondness for his drink was legendary, as was the accompanying belligerence, but Carl was respected nonetheless as a hard-working and honest man who would give his last cent to help someone in need.

‘Jesus!'

When Carl got to within a couple of metres of the car, he could feel the heat. Wisps of smoke idled out through the shattered windows; the pungent smell of burnt rubber was all pervading.

The car hadn't long stopped burning.

Wary that it might reignite, Carl fetched the fire extinguisher from his tractor and approached the driver's side cautiously.

‘Mother of God!'

Starting back, the Pole crossed himself instinctively.

Taking another more measured look, he realised that the body inside the vehicle was so badly burned that he couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman.

Climbing back up on to his tractor to get the best reception, he called the police on his mobile phone.

With the metal too hot to touch, there was nothing that he could do but await the arrival of the emergency services. And as he waited he tried to build a picture of what might have happened. The track where the car had been left wasn't a regular road – it was a part of his farm – but with the fields cleared of gum trees and sloping down to the lakeside he found it hard to understand why the fire hadn't been seen. He was grateful that the conflagration hadn't spread to the surrounding scrub.

He said the same to the senior sergeant when the police arrived.

The police commandeered one of the bars of the local pub. Carl repeated his story two or three times until the detective inspector in charge was happy that he had got all the information that there was. The farmer's information was minimal; the police soon found that there was much more to be learned on the ground around the burnt-out car.

As specialist officers from Shepparton and Bendigo supplemented those from Yarrawonga, a picture began to emerge of the activity on the banks of the lake and in the area surrounding the vehicle.

As darkness fell, DI Lynsky pulled the main elements of the combined teams into the pub. The Chinese sergeant from Bendigo joined the briefing; the DI made no effort to introduce her. The Australian Security Service would, however, be fully informed about what had happened.

‘OK.'

The senior crime scene officer gave a summary of their knowledge to date.

‘Fact,' he said. ‘We have identified three vehicles at the scene with the possibility of a fourth parked a little way off.
Unfortunately, the farmer who discovered the burnt-out car parked his tractor where we think this fourth car was stationed. He couldn't have known.'

‘A boat,' he continued, ‘was run up on the bank about ten metres from the vehicles. Something heavy was part carried, part dragged from the boat to the group of vehicles.'

‘Supposition,' said DI Lynsky. ‘Something from the boat, which we are assuming was the one that our New South Wales colleagues chased across the lake, was loaded into the car. The information we have from the Feds and the spooks is that this was probably a kidnapped Chinese woman.'

The reference to the Security Service raised the interest of the rather weary officers present but no explanation was given. The Bendigo link officer said nothing.

‘More facts,' the crime scene officer said. ‘The way that the ground was trampled suggests that there was some sort of fighting around the three cars parked close together. There's a jumble of trainer, shoe and boot prints, some of which are small enough to have belonged to women, but, the ground is so churned up that it would be hard to be certain. Some of the female prints suggest movement as a pair; what that means I couldn't say. The clearest set of individual female prints also suggests that she was either injured or had some other restriction on the way she walked. That's it so far.'

The chatter around the information wasn't very intense; there were too few facts. As they began to disperse, the DI's mobile phone rang. He waved them to stay and withdrew to take the call.

‘From the engine markings,' he said when he returned, ‘the burnt-out car belongs to a leasing company in Bendigo. It had been hired by a woman call Julie Li.'

The short intake of breath from the Chinese sergeant registered with Inspector Lynsky.

Julie was getting thoroughly tired of her clothes. Mr Kim had
allowed her to bring only a few changes of underwear; her top clothes, although worn into comfortable familiarity, were getting dirty and scuffed and generally degenerating. Alice was similarly placed but in her stressed-out state she was probably unaware of what she was wearing.

In any event, it didn't take Julie and Alice long to get dressed and packed. It was eight o'clock when they left the houseboat and headed east out of Echuca on the Murray Valley Highway. The rendezvous time was ten o'clock, not that Kim thought to mention that to Julie. Alice was handcuffed and her coat buttoned up over her body so as to imprison her arms. Kim saw to this himself. Slumped on the back seat of the 4x4, a woolly hat pulled well down over her head, she was a picture of misery.

The look of betrayal that Alice directed at her wrenched at Julie's heart yet again, but there was nothing she could do. The only way to get to the root of the trafficking activity was to follow it through to its source and to the criminals behind it. Julie had long since given up panicking over how she was going to do this.

‘Not a word from you,' Kim growled at Alice. ‘And you,' he said to Julie. ‘Only speak when spoken to.'

Julie was happy with that.

The journey to the rendezvous point didn't take long. They were early; that was Mr Kim's way. It was soon obvious to Julie that Kim knew exactly where he was going and had obviously reconnoitred the spot. The farm track was rough and initially not very wide, but it was the deliberate way that Kim headed for a cleared area with access right down to the water's edge that triggered her thought. The low scrub and stunted gum trees provided cover, but the area was secure more because of its remoteness from the main road and any habitation. It was soon clear to Julie that the spot had been chosen carefully and because of its access to the lake. Why they needed access to the lake she had yet to find out, although the
background noise of outboard motors was beginning to plant a message in her brain.

Mr Kim carefully turned the 4x4 around in the turning circle to face back down the track. He equally carefully searched the area within about fifty metres of the clearing, still keeping Julie and the car in sight, before getting back into the vehicle.

‘He's done this sort of thing before,' she said to herself as they waited.

Alice, whose rapid breathing was beginning to worry Julie, seemed to be unaware that they had stopped, let alone where they might be.

‘She'd better be OK,' Julie said in another aside to herself.

Suddenly Mr Kim braced himself. His attention had been focused on the lake; confirming Julie's rapidly forming thought that they were there to meet somebody arriving from across the lake. But it wasn't the lake that had attracted his attention.

Alice's breathing still hadn't slackened.

However, Julie didn't have much time to worry about her; she didn't catch what Kim had said but it was clear from the way that he was reacting that something unexpected had happened. And a look from the car window told Julie what it was.

Mr Kim's forethought in getting to the meeting point very early had paid off. He might not have been explicitly expecting anybody, but clearly he had been prepared for the possibility of an ambush. It seemed that that was what was now happening.

Two motor vehicles had suddenly appeared on the track in front of them. They were moving quickly. One, another Toyota 4x4, slithered to a halt to the side of them, getting as close to the access point to the lake as possible. The other smaller car did a rapid U-turn blocking the track and their exit route.

‘Oh shit!'

Julie had no doubt what Mr Kim had said this time. His exclamation related not to the two first cars but to a third that stopped a distance away. Kim obviously recognised this rather more upmarket vehicle.

‘What?' asked Julie.

With the rigid inflatable nosing its way towards the bank, Kim didn't have time to reply.

A woman and three men from the newly arrived cars moved into the space between the water's edge and Julie's party, clearly intent on preventing the inflatable from reinforcing them. Two of the men faced the lake while the woman and the other man began to position themselves defensively opposite the now-surrounded 4x4. Kim unfolded himself from the driving seat; where he produced the sawn-off shotgun from Julie never knew. He laid it on the passenger seat as he moved around the vehicle to face the four Chinese. Who was in the BMW, which in its turn had turned round to allow it to make a rapid getaway, Julie couldn't see.

‘Jesus!' Julie said softly to herself. ‘Do I get out or stay put to defend Alice?'

On the lake the inflatable described a tight arc and cut its engine. The steersman allowed it to drift parallel to the shore until it was opposite the group awaiting it at the lakeside.

If she counted herself, Julie noted that the two parties at the foreshore were evenly matched. Whether their opponents – which was what Julie saw them as – were armed she had no idea.

A rapid discussion in Mandarin among these opponents took place, with the woman clearly taking the lead. Julie got out of the car and skirting the rear stood by the door next to the now-alert Alice. She didn't have much confidence in her fighting skills but she'd decided she had a better chance of being useful outside the car rather than inside it. If it was possible, Alice looked even more terrified than before. Mr Kim moved to join her, choosing his ground she supposed, his eyes not on the group but on the occupants of the inflatable. With the window down, the shotgun was easily accessible from the front seat of the 4x4.

Julie wondered what he was expecting to happen. She was
too tense, however, to wonder why Mr Kim hadn't openly advertised that he was armed. The explanation probably lay with the unknown occupants of the BMW commanding the scene; Kim had no way of knowing how hostile they were likely to prove.

A sharp crack, instantly followed by one of the Chinese men pitching backwards from the force of the rifle shot that had struck him between the eyes, changed the dynamic. Even if Kim was expecting this, Julie certainly wasn't.

‘Jesus!' said Julie, not sure what to do.

Kim muttered something about the odds and moved towards the man nearest to him. Knives were out as both of the male Chinese thugs turned to face their much taller opponent. The steersman quickly paddled the inflatable closer to shore but, as the flailing and stabbing group surged around the 4x4, Heng Sun followed the action with his rifle but didn't dare fire again. Julie was forced away from the car as the brawl became more intense. Mr Kim seemed to be able to keep his two attackers at bay with more ease than she would have expected. Pausing to watch, she realised that he was able to use his superior reach to good effect. One of the men was already disarmed but neither had been able to grapple with Kim. Someone more expert in street fighting than Julie would have noted that the two men were getting in each other's way and would have been more effective if they coordinated their efforts more effectively.

Alice's scream concentrated Julie's mind.

While the fighting continued at the edge of the lake, with one of Kim's attackers reduced to the use of only one arm, the Chinese woman had made for the back door of the 4x4 and was dragging Alice out. Something of what was happening began to dawn on Julie. Alice was being snatched back by the group from which Kim had stolen her in Melbourne.

All sorts of dilemmas surfaced for Julie, but Alice's anguish overrode them. She had a role to play. Defending Alice was a part of that.

Another rifle shot rang out. With only the fighting group in her sight, Julie didn't see that it was aimed at deterring the occupants of the BMW from joining the fray.

By the time that Julie had sized up the situation, the Chinese woman had got Alice over to her own 4x4 and was pushing the resisting girl into the back of it. With Kim fully occupied, some action was required of her. Concentrating on getting the now-screaming Alice into the vehicle, the Chinese woman had her back to Julie.

Clasping her hands, Julie smashed them down on to the woman's neck. She staggered away from Alice and fell to her knees. As Julie moved to drag her away or strike her again, she was struck on the side of her head by a fist. She just had time to see the two remaining Chinese men grab at the woman and awkwardly drag her to the car that was blocking the road. Tracked by the rifle they drove off after the BMW, which was already on its way back down the track. A panting Mr Kim watched with a savage grin on his face; he made no attempt to prevent their escape, knowing that Alice was safe in the attackers' abandoned 4x4.

Julie sank to her knees, her head pounding out a thought-deadening rhythm.

‘You OK?'

It wasn't Kim who had asked. As the scene around her came into focus, Julie saw that the inflatable had been beached and a second young woman trussed into a coat like Alice was being manhandled from it. Julie saw that the woman's mouth had been taped over.