The Shadow Walker (32 page)

He was gratified to see, as he trudged back into the police HQ parking lot, that the four wheel drive vehicle had been prepared for snow travel, with chains and additional spot lamps. As he stepped into the warm building, he saw Doripalam sitting with Cholon in the rest room. He waved, and both men jumped to their feet and came out to meet him.

“Everything's ready,” Doripalam said. “I got the vehicles prepared. We're ready to go when you are.”

Nergui nodded. “You have firearms?”

Doripalam glanced at Cholon. “For you and me, yes.”

“That's fine. I hope that they will not be needed, but we should take no risks.”

“Should we take other backup?”

Nergui shook his head. “It's your choice but I would prefer not. We may well be wasting our time. I would rather that we did not waste that of too many others. But we should have whatever resource is available standing by.”

“I've arranged that.”

Nergui smiled. He was beginning to suspect that Doripalam's approach to this case was much more rational, more cool-headed than his own. He turned to Cholon. “Are you sure you wish to accompany us? I don't know what kind of risks might be involved.”

Cholon shrugged. “If this is my brother, then my presence may be helpful.”

This was true enough. Nergui did not know what they were stepping into. But if they did find Badzar, it was conceivable that he would behave more rationally toward Cholon than to others.

“Okay,” Nergui said. “But it's your decision. And you must do nothing unless we tell you to.”

Cholon nodded, and the three of them trooped back outside to the waiting vehicle. The snow had almost stopped now, and the sky was clearing, with a few stars already visible. The weather would become colder before dawn, Nergui thought, the roads more icy and treacherous.

Doripalam climbed into the driver's seat. Nergui sat beside
him, and Cholon climbed into the back. “Where are we going?” Doripalam asked.

“Back to the place where we found Delgerbayar's body. The disused factory.”

Doripalam turned to stare at Nergui. “Back there? You really think we're likely to find something there?”

Nergui shook his head. “I really have no idea,” he said. “I'm flying blind. If it were you behaving like this, I'd have you on a charge by now. But there's something—I don't know. It's close to the apartment where Badzar stayed for those two nights. The timing of that coincided exactly with Delgerbayar's killing. I have a feeling about it, that's all it is. But I want to check it out.”

“But the place was thoroughly searched after Delgerbayar's body was found.”

“I know. But I think he may have been back there.”

“He'd be taking a big risk.”

“Maybe not. It's no riskier than anywhere else. Maybe less than other places. We assumed that the factory had no particular significance. We searched it thoroughly, then left it. We saw no reason to have it guarded or under surveillance. He might have realized that, once we'd finished our business with Delgerbayar, it was the last place we would return to.”

Doripalam looked far from convinced, but shrugged. “Well, as you say, it's worth a try.” He turned on the ignition and pulled the vehicle slowly out into the street. Even with the snow chains, driving was precarious and they could feel the heavy vehicle slipping slightly as they turned into the main street. Conditions would become worse as the snow gradually turned to ice under the clear skies.

The factory area was not far, but the journey took them close to thirty minutes as Doripalam fought to maintain control of the vehicle. Finally, they turned into the shadowy concrete yard outside the factory.

The sky had cleared fully now, and there was a nearly full moon shining brilliantly above the horizon. In the pale moon
light, the thick silent snow was eerie, deadening the sound of their movements. It lay thick across the yard, and had drifted deeply against the empty factory itself. Nergui jumped down into the snow, feeling it crunch under his feet. Even here, in the lee of the buildings, it was a good six inches deep.

He walked slowly across to the door through which they had gained entry on the previous occasion, Doripalam and Cholon following behind. Other than the sound of their own footsteps in the snow, the silence was absolute. The low moon lengthened the shadows, so that the side of the factory lay in darkness.

The door had been boarded up following their previous entrance. It appeared to be undisturbed but Nergui was aware that there were several other entrances around the building, which might allow access.

He turned toward Doripalam who was carrying the large crowbar they had brought in the rear of the truck. Doripalam was standing waiting, but Cholon had stopped some yards back, caught in the moonlight, staring at the massive building in front of them.

“Is something wrong?” Nergui half whispered, the sound of his voice muffled by the snow.

“I've just realized what this place is,” Cholon said. “I came here only once or twice, and I did not recognize it in the dark.”

“What do you mean?” Nergui moved to take the crowbar from Doripalam, watching Cholon closely.

“It's the factory where our father worked. It was when he lost his job here that we were forced to move out of the city.”

Nergui nodded. With a slight sense of shame, he realized that his primary emotion was one of relief, an acknowledgment that the shadows he was chasing might, after all, prove to have some substance. He could see that Cholon's emotions, by contrast, were confused, his recognition of the truth battling with a realization of its implications.

“We must press on,” Nergui said. He inserted the crowbar behind the first of the nailed boards and slowly eased it away
from the door. The doorway had been expertly sealed and it took some time to remove all the boarding to the point where the entrance was accessible. Finally, though, they had it cleared, and Nergui kicked the door open.

After the deadened silence of the landscape outside, the echo of the opening door was startling, booming around the enormous vaulted space beyond. Nergui waited a moment for the sound to die away, and then stepped carefully into the darkness. He waited again before preparing to turn on his flashlight, allowing his eyes to grow accustomed to the blackness.

As his eyes adjusted he realized that the darkness was not complete. The large factory room itself was unlit, but at the far end of the room was the faintest of lights hardly visible from this distance. Nergui squinted, trying to orientate himself to the shape of the building. It was, he realized, a glimmer of light shining under a door. The door of the room where they had found Delgerbayar's body.

The waiting. That was the worst of it. The knowledge that something was going to happen, but not knowing what or when. The sense that something or someone was waiting, just outside his vision, and might appear at any moment.

And the silence, the unearthly, unending silence. Other than the faint sounds of his own breath, his own heartbeat, he had heard nothing for—how long? He had no idea. It felt like hours, but was perhaps only minutes. There was no way to measure time. His body felt as if it was in suspended animation—he had long since ceased to feel any pain, any bodily needs or feelings at all. It was as if somehow he was existing beyond time.

And then suddenly the silence was broken. It took him a moment to register. Was it the sound of movement, of footsteps? He concentrated hard, trying to listen, trying to work out precisely what it was he had heard.

At first, he could hear nothing, then he heard it again, more clearly this time. It was the sound of someone, something moving
somewhere close at hand. He strained to move his head to try to see something more, but the binding around his neck held as tightly as ever, and all he could see was the glare of the ceiling lights.

The sound grew louder. It was the sound of footsteps, not quite steady, not quite even, as though the person was dragging some heavy object. And there was something else, a scraping, something metallic being pulled along.

And then, for a breathless moment, there was silence once more. He could hear his own heart beating, faster and louder than before, the blood pounding in his ears.

For the first time since his initial panic attack in the dark, he was terrified. Up to now, his mind had detached itself from this reality and he had almost allowed himself to believe that the silence, the waiting, might continue forever, as if time really were suspended.

But the approaching sound of footsteps had brought him back to the reality of his predicament. There was no way out of this. He could not move. He could only lie here, his heart pounding, as he waited for what would happen next.

He strained his ears again listening for some clue, some indication. The footsteps resumed, uneven as before, backed by the strange metallic scraping, growing ever louder, ever closer. And then he heard something bumping against wood, a hollow echo. The footsteps paused again, and he heard, with a sickening emptiness in his stomach, the door at the far end of the room slowly being opened.

“It's the same room as before,” Nergui whispered. “The room where we found Delgerbayar.”

Doripalam and Cholon had clustered close beside him. The factory was icy cold, and they could feel the further blast of chilled air from the open door behind them. The three of them were looking down the length of the room. Nergui was holding a large spotlight, shining the beam down the dusty empty space toward the closed door at the far end.

The main factory area was as empty and deserted as before. Nergui had shone the flashlight around the large vaulted room, peering into the corners and up on to the ramps to make sure nothing had changed. At this time of the year, there were not even any rats scurrying in the corners. There was simply an eerie, hollow silence that seemed to close around them as they stood together in the freezing night.

Nergui turned to Cholon. “You don't need to come any further. Go back to the car. If we're not out in ten minutes, radio for back up.”

Cholon hesitated. “I'd still rather come with you. If it is Badzar—”

“We don't know what we're going to find here.” Nergui's mind was already conjuring up images of their last discovery in this place. “It's better if you go back and wait.” Up to the point when he had spotted the glimmer of light from the far room, he had not really believed they were going to find anything here. It was a hunch, something that had to be checked out, but all his professional experience had told him that it was a waste of time. But his hunch had been right. There was something here.

Cholon paused a moment longer, but Nergui said: “Go. Now.” Cholon nodded, and turned back to the open door. Nergui suspected he would wait outside, desperate to find out what lay behind this. That was okay—at least he would be in a position to radio for help if it should be needed.

Nergui nodded to Doripalam, and they began to make their way slowly along the length of the room. Nergui kept the spotlight trained ahead of them, trying to avoid it shining directly on the door so that there was less chance it might alert anyone in the room beyond.

By the time they reached the door itself, Nergui was convinced he knew what lay in the room. He wasn't sure what alerted him first—some instinct, perhaps, but then he picked up a smell he knew only too well. It was the smell of blood and decay. It was the smell that lingers when human remains have been left to rot. The smell of death.

He gestured silently to Doripalam to stop. Then he whispered: “Step back. I do not think we are in any danger here, but I suspect that what lies beyond that door will not be pleasant.”

Nergui put down the spotlight and pulled out his pistol, his eyes locked on the doorway. Then he reached out and threw open the door, holding his breath, preparing for whatever lay beyond.

Even so, he was taken by surprise.

The room, as he had expected, contained no living creature. It was as silent and empty as when they had found Delgerbayar's body. And it was again lit by a spotlight attached to a car battery, providing the setting for another grotesque display.

But the centerpiece was different. There was no body on the table. Instead, there was a bloody mess, a horrifying parody of a butcher's tray. Nergui blinked, trying to take in what he was seeing. Finally, his breath coming in short bursts, he was able to decipher the extraordinary sight in front of him.

Lying on the table was a mass of severed human body parts. There were four hands, cut off at the wrist. And there were two human heads, their eyes empty and staring, placed precisely in the center of the table.

Nergui turned to Doripalam, who had positioned himself behind Nergui and was staring, horrified, into the room. “I think,” Nergui said slowly, “that Badzar has decided to fill in the gaps in our collection.”

It was nearly eight by the time Nergui arrived back at police HQ. Doripalam had called out forensics to collect the body parts, and Nergui had waited, tramping backward and forward in the deep snow, until they and the crime scene officers reached the factory.

Doripalam had asked for a full alert to be put out for Badzar's arrest, and officers were being called back on to duty to attempt a full-scale manhunt. At least now they had a clear suspect, but Nergui knew from experience how easy it was for a fugitive to hide out in this city. He was not hopeful that Badzar would be apprehended quickly.

He had sent Doripalam and Cholon back, telling them to get some rest. He had briefly informed Cholon what had been found in the room, but had not allowed him to see the grotesque display. As he spoke, he had seen the look of horrified emptiness in Cholon's eyes. It was no longer possible for Cholon to deny, to himself or anyone else, what his brother had been capable of. “I'm sorry,” was all that Nergui could say, but he could sense the years of uncomprehending anguish that lay ahead for Cholon.