Chapter 20 - Discovery

 

 Thursday, August  15, 2024 - 7:00 AM

Sabriya rose early, as did Busaba. After a quick breakfast of eggs, berries, and milk, Busaba took Sabriya to the village’s big man, Chief Long Chan, and introduced her as the wife of British Ambassador David Kensington, Jia Kun's aunt, and the woman working with the Queen of Pellagore to stop Pellagore’s trafficking epidemic. 

Chief Long Chan was literally a big man with small eyes, short-cropped black hair, and a round head. But his eyes were active and engaged, and he gave Sabriya his undivided attention. He asked Sabriya many good questions, which Sabriya tried to answer as best she could. She also explained how she, too, was impatient with Parliament’s slowness in establishing a national criminal investigation unit. The Chief had heard that Constable Pak Budi was on his way to their village, but had not yet arrived, and he discounted the idea that the man would be of much help. The school, of course, had been alerted, and parents had been instructed to escort their children to and from school for the foreseeable future. 

Long Chan told Sabriya he had gone to the abduction site but found nothing of interest and doubted that she would either. He explained that Gely Suy, Jia Kun's friend who had also been kidnapped, was not a resident of the village but was visiting an aunt and uncle in the village and was only attending the village school for a few weeks at Jia Kun's invitation. He did not know anything about Dao’s immediate family, who were from a fishing village in the south. The aunt and uncle were so depressed by what had happened that they left the village for a while to stay with relatives in Meijing. 

At her request, the Chief took Sabriya to Liang’s home, where Sovann Chan, Liang’s mother, was still emotionally upset over his close call and thus far had refused to let Liang out of her sight. She had also rejected the idea of allowing Liang return to school, even with an adult escort. Yesterday, Liang’s father and a few other men had gone off to search the area for the girls or their captors, but came back dejected. Today, they had returned to their agricultural and construction jobs. 

Sabriya explained to Sovann, as she had to the Chief, who she was and asked if Liang could accompany her to the kidnapping site and explain where the events took place and what he had seen.

“No, he not need go there. It dangerous,” a wide-eyed Sovann said. “He my only child. He not need to go to school. I always say he should stay and help me. His father have other ideas.”  

Chief Long Chan listened politely to Sovann, then took her aside and whispered gently to her for some minutes. Sovann listened to the Chief and didn’t argue like she was set to do with Sabriya. 

“Okay,” Sovann relented to Sabriya. “I go with you and Liang to place. The Chief, he come, too.”

Usually, it took the Miwu Cun children most of an hour to walk to school. It took the adults about 20 minutes to arrive at the place where Liang indicated they had been abducted, and where they had first seen the men. He explained how the men blocked the path, grabbed them, carried them through the underbrush, and brought them to the truck. Liang took Sabriya through the underbrush to where the truck had been parked on an overgrown roadbed about 20 yards off the school path. 

“What did the truck look like, Liang? 

“It was old. Green like a frog, with spots.”

“Brown spots, like rust.”

Liang shrugged his shoulders.

“Was it a tall delivery truck with no windows, or was it short, about the height of a man, with windows on the side”?

“There were no windows except in the front. There was a door on the side.

“Did the door on the side swing open like a door, or did it slide sideways?”

“It swung open. There were two. One went one way and the other the other way. But they only opened one.”

“Was the top of the truck taller than the men?”

“A little.”

It was a cargo van, Sabriya thought. She walked along the roadbed, looking for tire impressions. Although the ground was soft, grass and vegetation obscured any tire marks. Further along, however, there was a low spot, some mud, and an unmistakable tread mark. She studied it, trying to commit the tread pattern to memory. 

“Show me what tree you hid behind to watch when the van, which I think was a cargo van, drove away.”

Liang took her to a banyan tree and showed her where he hid behind it to watch. 

“You saw the back of the van as it drove away?”

Liang nodded. 

“Do you remember the number plate?” 

Liang thought for a moment and shook his head. 

“You don’t remember what it was, or there wasn’t one?”

“I don’t know.” Liang thought more deeply. “I don’t think there was one.”

“What did the back of the van look like? Was it green with brown spots like the side? Were there windows in the back?”

Liang thought again, trying to recall. “There were no windows. And there were no brown spots, except it was brown near the bottom.”

Rust, thought Sabriya. “Did it look like there were doors on the back?”

Liang thought. “Just one big door with a black handle.”

“Black? Not silver?”

“It was black, ma’am.”

“And it took off in that direction?” She pointed to the northwest.

Liang nodded.

“Now, the men that took Jia and Gely, what did they look like, how many were there?”

“Two.”

“Did you see their faces?”

Liang shook his head. “They had masks, black hoods, like socks.”

“Were they tall and skinny, short, fat?”

“Big arms. Not skinny, but strong. Big shoulders.”

“What color pants and shirts?”

“Black. They were wearing just black, with white running shoes.”

Sovann stood in the underbrush leading back to the path, her arms folded in defiance, and yelled at Sabriya. “You done now? My boy need go home. If not careful, they come back and take all of us.” Her voice trembled, reminding Sabriya of terror’s reality. 

“Okay. Liang, let’s go back to the path and show me again where you and the girls were walking when they grabbed you. Can you do that?”

Liang nodded again and made his way through the underbrush, his pants snagging on thorns and bristles. We’ll have to pick those pickers off by hand when we get back, thought Sabriya. 

Once back on the path, Liang spent a minute or two walking back and forth while studying the ground. Finally, “It was right here,” he said, pointing at the ground.

“And which way did they carry you? Tell me exactly.”

Again, Liang studied the path and the underbrush. “That way.” He pointed obliquely away from the path and toward where the van would have been.

Sabriya walked carefully in the direction Liang pointed, through the brush, looking carefully at the broken stems of bushes and crushed undergrowth. They had not walked this way before, but the men, carrying the kids, sure had. Many twigs and branches of ground shrubs were broken. Suddenly, something caught her eye, a glint. She leaned over and then dropped to her knees, moved aside some foliage, and lifted a gold, herringbone chain necklace. It was the necklace on which the St. Michael-Foundation medallion had been suspended. The clasp had been broken; there was just the chain, no medallion. Sabriya looked carefully among the forest floor for the medallion all the way to the roadbed, but no medallion was found. Perhaps, she thought, Jia Kun still has the medallion in her grasp. 

 

Jia Kun panicked. A big man, dressed all in black and his face covered by a mask, ran at her. She turned to run and pulled Gely after her. But she didn’t see the other man behind them, who instantly grabbed Gely and Liang, who had been lagging behind. For a moment, Jia Kun thought she was free to run back to the village, but suddenly she was yanked from behind and lifted off her feet. The medallion, which she had been showing to Gely, flew into her forehead really hard. It hurt so badly that she grabbed the medallion and clasped her fist around it. But just as quickly, her arm was pried from her body by the man’s arm that encircled her upper body to carry her off. The force pulled at her forearms, her hand, and the medallion. Suddenly, the chain snapped, unthreaded from the medallion, and fell to the ground. 

 

Sabriya reverently lifted the necklace into the open, brushing off the debris. “Look, Busaba!”  

Busaba came quickly and grasped the necklace, gazing at it carefully. “Is this…was the medallion on this?”

“I’m sure of it. I hope she still has it.”

“I gave in and let her wear it. Yesterday was the first day I said yes.” Busaba cried.

“Pray she still has the medallion. It may save her.”

When the troupe returned to the village, Constable Pak Budi was waiting for them. Introductions were made, and Sabriya briefed Pak on what information she had gathered. “Have there been any other reports of trafficking in this area, especially involving young children?” she asked.

“No, Mrs. Kensington,” said Constable Pak. “Nothing at all like this. We’ve been briefed about kidnapping just like you’ve described, but it’s all happening much closer to the coast and Meijing. Kidnapping this far from the coast is very unusual. I’ll ask around and let Chief Long know if anything turns up.”

Sabriya was curious. “Constable, you just said you’ve been briefed about kidnappings just like this one—involving two 12-year-old girls? What was similar, and how far out is too far out?”

“Actually, that 12-year-old girls were involved is the second unusual thing. Usually, the Southern Veil gang is involved chiefly along the southern coast and sometimes in Meijing….”

Sabriya interrupted. “What did you say? The Southern Veil? House of the Southern Veil?”

“Yes, that’s it. ‘House of the Southern Veil.’ Are you familiar with them?”

Sabriya said nothing, but her blood ran cold—ice cold. In her heart she knew that if she didn’t act quickly, the girls would disappear within 12 hours, at the most 18.