“Ah,” Lunt said with a small chuckle. “Feminine rivalry, eh?” He nodded and stood up. “I will fetch Femi and her abominations. We leave immediately. Once you’ve put a bullet in her head, set fire to the building and bring Miss Drake out to the car.”
Miya agreed, watching as Lunt moved into Femi’s quarters. She pretended to load her gun as Lunt led the complaining Egyptian to their vehicle. As soon as she knew she was free of her companions, Miya moved to the torture chamber. She had expected to see both women stripped nude and violated but to her surprise Agnes looked untouched. Her eyes were wide with fear, however, and she gave a start when Miya entered.
Kelly had not been nearly so lucky. Her lower lip was dripping blood, her shirt and bra had been cut away, and a litany of bruises and cuts marred her breasts and shoulders. Despite his threats, Lunt had seemed to mostly avoid marring her appearance permanently. Miya wondered if this revealed some unlikely weakness on his part.
Kelly stirred slightly but was unable to summon the strength to raise her head. “Back to finish the job?” she slurred.
“Leave her alone!” Agnes barked nervously! “Please! We don’t know anything!”
Miya nodded curtly. “I believe you. But this is Lunt’s mission and for now, I can’t directly oppose him.” She moved towards Kelly, tilting the taller woman’s head up. Kelly whimpered in agony and Miya saw that one of the beaten woman’s eyes was nearly swollen closed. “Are you listening to me, Miss Emerson?”
Kelly mumbled a yes but her lips were so cracked that the word was barely recognizable.
Miya continued on, knowing that she didn’t have much time. “I’m going to fire this gun in a moment and then I’m going to untie you. You’re to leave this building by the rear exit. I won’t be able to help you because I’m taking Agnes with us. As far as Lunt knows, you’ll be dead. Do you understand?”
Kelly blinked in confusion. “Why are you helping me? Is this some sort of trap?”
“You were right about what you said earlier: I don’t like working with Lunt. But he’s too powerful for me to take on myself. I want you to go to Lazarus and tell him what happened here, including this conversation. Let him know that when he takes down Lunt… that I want to walk free.”
Lazarus was even more grim than normal as he drove their rental car through the streets of Shanghai. The vehicle was a jeep with no doors or windshield. The hood was strapped on with tape and there was an unsettling rattle coming from beneath the seats. Samantha sat in the passenger seat next to Lazarus while Morgan and Eun hung on for dear life in the back.
Once Lazarus knew who their targets were, it had taken him only a few moments to strong-arm several street vendors into finding out for him where a scarred German was staying. The fact that Lunt was traveling with a beautiful Asian woman and an exotic Egyptian made it all the easier to track him.
Lazarus slammed on the accelerator as the building came into view. It was an inferno and the flames were quickly threatening to spread to the surrounding homes. Without saying anything to his companions, Lazarus parked the jeep about sixty feet away and leaped from his seat. He yanked off his khaki shirt and held it over his mouth and nose as he flung himself into the burning house.
Straining to avoid breathing in to much of the smoke, Lazarus canvassed the building, seeking any sign of Agnes or Kelly. He found the room where the girls had been held captive and snatched up Kelly’s clothing from the floor. He was relieved, however, to have found no sign of their bodies.
He exited the scene, coughing severely, and then saw through watery eyes that Kelly was with the others at the jeep. Morgan had found an old blanket in the floor of the jeep and had wrapped it tightly around Kelly’s shoulders, preserving her modesty.
Lazarus ignored the men who were rushing past, buckets of water in hand, to fight the flames. “How did you get away?” he asked hoarsely, his face impassive but his eyes betraying his concern. Samantha recognized the almost imperceptible twitch of a vein in his forehead: Lazarus was restraining himself from pulling Kelly into his arms.
“Miya let me go. She pretended to kill me and set me free.”
Lazarus digested this and then asked, “Where did they take Agnes?”
“They’re looking for the Soul Stones. They’ve decided to move on ahead and get them before you can.” Kelly looked like she was near exhaustion and Lazarus realized that he was about to make a decision that would greatly anger her. “Morgan, please make arrangements to have Kelly flown back to Sovereign City.”
Kelly started to protest but Lazarus held up a hand and she fell silent. “You’re hurt. At this point, you’d do nothing but slow us down. I know you want to come with us and I know you want revenge on Lunt for doing this to you. But our focus now has to change from locating Maggie Drake to rescuing Agnes. Speed is going to be essential.”
“We’ve been through this before,” she answered, though there wasn’t much fight in her voice. “This is a museum mission. You need me.”
“You’re in no shape to travel.”
Kelly sighed, shaking her head in obvious exhaustion. “I’m never going to forgive you for this. I’m as tough as any man.”
“Yes. You are,” Lazarus agreed. “But if Eun was in the shape you’re in, I’d send him home, too. Same for Morgan.”
Kelly stared at him, seeing the truth in his words. One of the things that had attracted her to Lazarus was the fact that he didn’t view women as being lesser in any way. He’d always treated her as an equal… and he was still doing so.
“Okay,” she said at last. “But promise me one thing: when you find Lunt, I want you to nail his ass to the wall.”
The next morning found Lazarus and crew boarded a freight train. They left behind much of the equipment that Kelly had acquired for them, now that their mission was one of even more haste than before. When it had simply been Maggie they were looking for, there was always the chance that she was fine or already dead… but now that they were in pursuit of Agnes, there was no doubt that her life hung in the balance.
The Shanghai rail yard vanished in the distance as Eun leaned out of the passenger car. He was seated next to Morgan, who still wore an expression of annoyance. Eun glanced at him and smiled. “Let it go, Morgan. Both of the girls are still alive. You did all that you could.”
“Don’t start,” Morgan grumbled. “If it were you, you’d be punching walls.”
Eun shrugged, conceding the point. He saw that Lazarus was deep in conversation with Samantha, while Morgan was obviously in no mood for chitchat. Standing up, Eun began making his way towards a small stove situated at the front of the car. A canteen filled with green tea was sitting atop the fire and several tin cups lay on a table beside it. Despite the fact that this was a freight train, there were nearly two-dozen Chinese piled onto the passenger car. Few of them seemed very sociable but Eun offered some pleasantries as he moved past them.
The tea itself smelled nice enough but it didn’t present a very appetizing picture. There were small bugs floating dead on its surface and Eun wasn’t sure how long it had been sitting out.
Eun elected to not test the tea. Instead, he stared out the dirty glass in the front of the car. The train itself was an older model, dating back to before the turn of the century.
As the front part of the train began to round a bend, a flash of movement caught Eun’s eye. He leaned forward and saw it again — a rustle of black fabric on the flat car up ahead. It looked like a man moving stealthily amongst the boxes and crates, taking obvious care not to be seen.