All except one passenger who frowned for another reason.
Indeed he trembled. 'You won't get away with this! My guests are expecting me! I'll be missed!'
'You're referring to the reception at your estate?' the driver asked, then shrugged. 'Well, your guests will just have to do without you, Herr Schmidt.'
'Yes,' another man said. Too bad. They'll simply have to wait.'
'And wait. And wait,' a third man said.
'What do you want from me?' the silver-haired, lean-faced, tuxedo-clad man demanded. 'Ransom? If that's what you want, what are we doing here! Let me use a phone! I'll arrange-! My assistant will deliver any amount you demand! No police!'
'Of course not, Herr Schmidt. I can guarantee,' the driver said. 'Later maybe, but not for now. There'll be no police.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Justice,' a man with a pistol said.
The pistol was wedged against the silver-haired man's neck.
'Examples,' another man said. 'Here.' From the back seat, he leaned forward, telling the driver, 'When I was a child, this was my favorite path. The river was so…! How I loved this place. Now look at it! Look at how ugly it's become! Here! Yes, stop right here.'
'Why not?' The driver shrugged again. 'It's as good a place as any.'
'For what?' Schmidt demanded, voice trembling.
'I already told you,' the man with the pistol said. 'Justice.'
The driver stopped among skeletal bushes at the side of the lane, dead branches snapping. He turned off the headlights and stepped from the car while his companions opened other doors and dragged Schmidt, struggling, into the fog-shrouded wasteland. The sleeve of his tuxedo tore on a barkless tree limb.
'Ah, too bad,' the man with the gun said. 'What a terrible shame.'
'Yes, a pity,' the driver said.
They reached a bluff and forced Schmidt down the sterile slope. At once, the sickening fumes from the river enveloped them, making them cough. In terror, Schmidt resisted so fiercely that the men were forced to drag him downward, his patent-leather shoes scraping over rocks. Where the zigzagging, barely detectable path became steep, one of the men used a shielded flashlight to guide their way.
At the oppressive grassless bottom, the light revealed the foam along the river's edge, the slime on the water, and the sludge that thickened the current. The area smelled like a cesspool, for sewage too fouled the water.
'What a damnable…! I used to be able to swim here!' the man with the gun said. 'And the fish… the fish tasted so pure and delicious. Their meat was so white, so flaky, at the same time solid. The way my mother dipped them in milk. She used to cover them with biscuit crumbs, and…'
'Fish?' Schmidt whimpered. 'What are you talking about? Fish? Why does that-? For God's sake, if your purpose was to scare me, you've succeeded! I admit it! I'm terrified!' His control collapsing, the silver-haired prisoner began to sob. 'How much do you want? Anything! Please! I swear on my mother's grave, I'll pay you anything!'
'Yes,' the driver said. 'That's right. Anything. You'll pay.'
'Name it! Just tell me how much! It's yours! Mein Gott, how much?'
'You still don't understand how much you must pay,' another man said. 'You did this.'
'Did? What did I…?'
'This.' With disgust, the fourth man gestured toward the noxious desecration of the river. 'You. Not alone! But you share the responsibility!'
'With?' Schmidt voided his bowels.
'With the other greedy industrialists who demanded profits, no matter the cost to nature. Billionaires who wouldn't miss the comparative few millions it would have taken to keep the river pure and the sky free of poison.'
'Millions?' Schmidt shook his head, frenzied. 'But my board of directors, my shareholders would have…!'
'Millions? Yes! But only at the start!' the man with the gun corrected. 'A one-time only expense! But that was years behind us! Now the cost would be greater! Much, much greater! And the river's so poisoned, so dead, that it might take decades before it's revived, if ever, if the dead can ever be brought back to life.'
Scowling, the man with the flashlight stepped closer. 'Pay attention, Herr Schmidt. We didn't choose this place merely because we used to love to come here when we were children. Not at all. We chose it because…' The grim man gestured. Even in the fog, the lights that silhouetted the numerous huge factories upriver were gloomily visible. Indeed the fog was not completely natural. Smoke containing toxic pollutants added to it. Nearby, a drainage pipe from one of the factories spewed nostril-flaring chemicals into the water. The foam accumulated.
'We chose this site because we wanted you to witness your crimes,' the driver said.
'Sins,' the man with the gun corrected.
'Sins?' Schmidt cowered. 'You're all lunatics! You're-!'
'And sins must be punished,' the man with the flashlight said. 'As you indicated, you're eager to pay.'
'And will pay,' the fourth man said.
Schmidt pressed his hands together. 'I'm begging you.' He sank to his knees. 'I promise. I swear. My engineers will redesign the waste system in my factories. The cost doesn't matter. I'll stop the chemicals from reaching the river. I'll speak to the other manufacturers in the area. I'll convince them to prevent the discharge from-'
'Too late,' the man with the gun said.
'-from pouring into the river.' Schmidt sobbed. 'I'll do anything if you'll just-'
'Too late,' the man with the gun repeated. 'An example has to be made.'
'Many examples,' the man with the flashlight said.
'Justice,' the driver said.
'I'm thirsty,' the fourth man said. 'The walk down that slope made my mouth dry.'
'Mine, too,' the man with the gun said.
'And Herr Schmidt, I imagine that your mouth feels especially dry. From fear. I believe you deserve a drink.'
The fourth man removed a plastic container from a knapsack on his shoulder. Repelled but determined, contracting his chest, visibly holding his breath, he stooped toward the noxious fumes that rose from the water's edge and scooped foam, slime, sludge, and sewage into the container.
Schmidt screamed. 'No! I can't drink from…! Don't make me swallow…! That stuff 'll kill…!'
The man with the flashlight nodded. 'Kill you? Indeed. As it killed the fish. As it killed the river. As it killed the trees and the bushes and the grass. As it's slowly killing the people in the cities who depend on the river for water, however much the cities try to purify that water.'
'Regrettably, an example has to be made,' the man with the gun said. 'Many examples. If it's any consolation, take heart. You won't be alone. I promise. Soon many of your fellow sinners will join you. Many lessons need to be taught. Until the ultimate lesson is finally learned. Before it's too late. That is, if it's not too late already.'
The man with the container of sludge pressed it against Schmidt's mouth.
Schmidt wailed, then clamped his lips tightly together, jerking his face away.
'Now, now,' the man with the container said. 'You must take your medicine.'
The other men held him firmly.