Wall of Night

57

Though Tanner had no way of knowing it, his ruse at the swamp had done its job.

As he was approaching the eastern outskirts of Fuxin, Xiang and his searchers were following his trail twenty-five miles to the south, certain their injured quarry could not be far ahead.

But the price for Briggs had been high.

Aside from hourly five-minute breaks to drink from his canteen, eat a handful of trail mix and a few bites of jerky, he’d been running for six hours through the forests and valleys that bordered the rail line between Jiudaoling and Fuxin.

Always keeping the tracks in sight, he stayed just outside the tree line, using the moonlight to pick his way along. After an hour, his face and hands were scratched bloody and his shins bruised from multiple falls. His BDUs became splotched and stained with tree sap, pine needles, and leaves.

Three hours into his run, the pack’s straps began chafing his shoulders and before long he could feel blisters forming. With nothing to be done about it, he kept running. He focused his mind on his breathing, using its rhythm to blot out everything but the trail ahead and the forest’s night sounds.

Halfway through every hour he would stop, backtrack a few hundred yards and sit still in the undergrowth, listening and watching for signs of pursuit. Twice he saw the twinkling of aircraft strobes to the south and caught the faint thumping of helicopter rotors. He heard the distant howling of dogs, but couldn’t be sure whether they were tracking hounds, or local pets. To be safe, he assumed the former.

Dogs could be both a blessing and a curse, he knew. While dogs were nearly impossible to elude without a substantial head start, search parties that used them tended to rely too heavily on their cues. Without a good mix of both ground-scent and air-scent dogs, searchers could easily get mired in following dead ends and tangents.

Through the night and into the early morning hours, Tanner kept running, counting his strides to keep pace, listening to his breathing, watching for obstacles and avoiding open ground — all the while covering a mile every ten minutes — all the while pulling farther and farther ahead of his pursuers.

With dawn still a couple hours away, he emerged from the forest on a ridge overlooking the small town of Xinqiu north of Fuxin.

He got out his binoculars, found the train tracks leading in from the south, and followed them until he spotted an old clapboard terminal building on the northern edge of the town. A single light shone through one of the station’s windows: the conductor’s office, he assumed. Sitting on the tracks closest to the platform was a caboose; ahead of it, a string of ten cars — four passenger, five freight, and a tender — and a locomotive with smoke wafting from its stack. The number on its side read 17.

Gearing up for departure? Tanner wondered. The kernel of a plan formed in his mind, and he played with it for a few minutes before deciding it was worth a try.

On the secondary track behind the station was a line of fifty or sixty empty freight cars. Tanner studied each one, estimating its length, then made a quick calculation. Fifty cars, each roughly thirty feet long … The string was over a quarter mile long. Even better.

Thirty minutes later he was lying on his belly in the bushes across from the station.

Nothing was moving and aside from tinny strains of beiqu, or Chinese opera, music filtering through the office window, all was quiet. In the distance, a train whistle wailed and then faded.

After a few more minutes of watching, he got up, ran across the tracks, and knelt beside the platform where he could see through the lighted window. Inside, an elderly man sat dozing in a chair, his feet propped on the desk.

Tanner spotted the schedule board: Train 17 was at the top of the list: Yingkou.

Yingkou was a port city on the Bo Hai Gulf about one hundred miles to the south. He checked his watch: ninety minutes until departure. He would be cutting it close, but the risk was worth it.

He collected half a dozen small stones, then crept to the rear of the caboose, mounted the steps to the platform, and slipped inside. Hunched over, he walked down the aisle to the vestibule, opened the door, and stepped through. He clicked on his penlight and shined it over his head. He popped open the maintenance hatch, pushed his pack through, then chinned himself up and out onto the roof.

Crouching at the edge of the car, he tossed his pack across the gap onto the platform roof as gently as he could. He dropped onto his belly and went still. One minute passed … two … The beiqu from the office continued uninterrupted.

Briggs took a deep breath, then leapt across, using his hands to distribute the impact.

He crept across the roof until he was centered over the office, then lay on his belly and shimmied to the edge. From his pocket he withdrew the PSB man’s ID card, took aim, and flicked it onto the platform.

He crossed to the opposite side of the roof where the empty freight cars began, then repeated the earlier process, first tossing his backpack onto the car’s roof, then leaping across to join it.

Almost there.

He pulled the stones from his pocket, chose the biggest one, took aim, and threw. It struck the platform with a thud, bounced twice, then smacked into the station wall. From the office there was a shout of surprise and the clatter of chair wheels on the wooden floor. The beiqu music stopped.

The office door opened, casting a yellow patch of light on the platform. The conductor stepped out and looked around. He walked to the edge of the platform, stopped with his foot almost touching the ID card, and scanned the tracks.

Come on, Tanner urged. Look down …

The man looked around for a few seconds, then turned back. Then stopped. He looked down and bent over, picked up the card, then walked back inside.

Good man, Tanner thought.

He stood up, donned his pack, and started jogging down the car’s roofs. When he reached the last one, he climbed down the side ladder to the track bed, and started running north.

Twenty-six miles to the south, Xiang was following a service road along the rail line. Lieutenant Shen drove while Eng sat in the backseat. Behind were a pair of army trucks loaded with the rest of the paratroopers.

To the east, Xiang could hear the braying of the tracking dogs.

Enough of this, he thought. “Stop.”

“Sir?” said Shen.

“Stop driving!” Shen slammed on the brakes. “What is it, sir?”

“How far have we come from the swamp?”

Shen unfolded his map. “Almost sixteen miles.”

“A long way for an injured man, wouldn’t you say?”

Shen shrugged.

“Who’s your second-in-command? Who’ve you got with the dog handlers?”

“Sergeant Hjiu.”

Xiang picked up the portable radio. “Xiang to Hjiu, do you read me?”

“Yes, sir, go ahead.”

“Stop everyone where they are. We’re coming to join you.”

Shen pulled the vehicle as close to the tree line as possible, then they got out and walked the rest of the way. Hjiu was in a clearing of trees. “Where’s the track?” Xiang asked.

“This way.”

Hjiu led them down a trail to where the lead handler was giving his dog some water. “He’s heading in roughly the same direction,” Hjiu reported. “Roughly northeast. The scent is still strong.”

Xiang turned to the handler. “Is there still blood?”

“Here and there, but not as much anymore.”

“What about the tracks themselves?”

“Pardon, sir?”

“Any sign that he’s favoring either leg?”

“No, sir. The strides are long and even. The dogs have a strong scent, though—”

“Dammit!” Xiang roared. “It was a ruse! He was never injured.”

Lieutenant Shen said, “But the blood—”

“Who knows … it doesn’t matter. We’re wasting our time! He’s had almost eight hours. He could be anywhere. Shen, order your men back aboard the trucks!”

They were on the outskirts of Fuxin when the lead truck flashed its headlights. Shen pulled over; the truck’s driver jogged up. “A call on the base radio, Director Xiang. Peng’s ID card was found.”

“Where?”

“At the Xinqiu train station, just north of Fuxin — less than an hour ago. The conductor found it and called the PSB branch in Fuxin.”

“That’s impossible!” Shen said. “There’s no way he could cover that distance on foot.”

“Why not?” Xiang replied. “Could you? Could one of your men?”

“Yes, sir, but we’re—”

“And so is he — if not better.”

“It’s almost fifty miles!”

“And he’s had almost twelve hours.”

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing. You’re thinking with your pride, Shen. Tanner made us think what he wanted us to think — he tricked us into wasting our time.”

“Perhaps, now he’s spent. Running that far probably cost him every ounce of energy he had.”

“On that, we agree,” Xiang replied. And tired men make mistakes. “How far to Xinqiu?”

“Ten miles.”

“Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later they were standing on the Xinqiu platform with the conductor. The sun was fully up. A thin fog hovered over the ground. Down on the tracks, Shen and the handlers were working the area around the station. The dogs yipped excitedly and ran in circles.

“Where did you find it?” Xiang asked, studying the card.

“Over there,” the conductor said. “Near the caboose.”

“Caboose? What caboose?”

“For the Seventeen. It left about forty minutes ago.”

“Hjiu! What’ve you found?”

“Strong scent, sir. It looks like he laid in those bushes over there, then walked to the platform and then back around to the tracks. But from there—”

“The trail disappears,” Xiang finished.

“Yes, sir.”

“Where’s that train headed?” Xiang asked the conductor.

“Yingkou. It should arrive in about … an hour.”

Eng said, “Stop the train?”

“No,” Xiang answered. “Let him think he’s safe. Call for the helicopter, then get Yingkou’s PSB commander on the line. We’ll grab him when he steps off the train.”

Five miles to the north, Tanner was still running, but nearing the point of collapse. Ahead, the trees thinned out and gave way to a bowl-shaped meadow carpeted in orange poppies and bisected by a gurgling stream.

He picked out a particularly thick fir tree, then stuffed his pack beneath it and crawled under. Next, he took his knife, and, crawling around the trunk, partially sawed through a dozen boughs until they drooped to the ground.

One more thing to do before sleep, Briggs thought

He pulled out the Motorola and dialed a number from memory. It was time to use the names Fong had given him. After three rings, the man named Yat Kwei answered. “Ni hao!”

“Ni hui yingwen ma?” Tanner replied. Do you speak English?

“Yes, I speak English. Who is this?”

“You don’t know me. A man gave me your name, suggested I contact you.”

“What man?”

“Zhimien; I met him in Taipei. He said you would be able to help me.”

Kwei hesitated. “I know Zhimien. Are you in Beijing?”

“No,” Tanner replied. “I had to leave the city unexpectedly. I had some … problems.”

There was a pause on the other line; Tanner hoped Kwei was making connections. “You’re American?” he asked.

“Does that matter? Zhimien, told me you don’t care—”

“No, no, of course it doesn’t matter. It’s just that the police are looking for an American here. I was wondering perhaps—”

“Look, dammit!” Tanner snapped, forcing a little panic in his voice. “What does it matter? I have money. If you can help me, I’ll pay you.”

“Relax, friend. I’ll help you. Tell me what you need.”

“Passage aboard a ship — any ship, I don’t care — as long as it’s leaving Yingkou today. And documents, I need documents to get aboard. Can you do it?”

“Of course,” Kwei said smoothly. “No problem. Are you in Yingkou now?”

“No.”

“When will you be there?”

“The schedule said eight-fifty. I think … I think we left on time, so it should be about then.”

“Good. I’ll need time to contact the right people. Can you call me later, say in a couple hours?”

“Yes.”

Tanner said good-bye and hung up.

Now let’s just hope Kwei is as untrustworthy as Fong described.