We three headed back the way we had come. We managed to pass through the camp unhindered. When we were safely back in the car and headed back along the road, I finally felt my heart rate relax. Oak let out a shaky sigh.
“Wow, glad that’s over.”
Bract was silent in the back seat.
“What do you think?” Oak asked. Then when I didn’t answer as my mind whirred into the details of the last case I had worked in the capital, she said, “are you ok Senel?”
“What? Yeah. I-shit.” I was trying to recall names from a casefile on the child labor syndicate, but I couldn’t off the top of my head. Had one of them been called Ulug?
“What’s up?” Oak said.
“That whole situation Nilo was describing. It sounds just like what was happening in the capital when I left. A labor syndicate that would trade things to people in poverty in exchange for their working contract. Except it turned out the jobs were illegal. Drug running and synthesis. So when people refused to work, they started kidnapping children.”
“Wait, what? You mean this is the same group?”
“I don’t know. The main guy running it Borsk was out of the capital. But there were rumors he had associates across the country trying to harvest labor from the outlying counties because the cops were cracking down on their operations in the capital slums. We never had the resources to follow up on any other rings.”
“And you think they kidnapped Lysha to get back at the parents for not paying for the trucks and trailers?”
I shook my head. The whole thing was just too bizarre.
“But how does this have anything to do with Luna? Why would these syndicate guys kidnap her? You think her parents owed them something?”
“Don’t know,” I muttered. There were too many questions all of the sudden and it was hard to be objective now that my brain was trying to find connections in Luna and Lysha’s kidnappings and the kidnappings in the capital. I needed desperately to think, to mull, and to sleep. And I needed to speak to Lawrence. My former partner weighed into my mind. I hadn’t contacted him much since the incident where I had nearly beaten a man to death. He had called me a couple of times, always short and terse. I knew he was probably pissed at me for what had happened. Somewhere along the line I must have reached a breaking point but not realized until I was fist deep in face pulp. It had surprised me as much as anyone else that it had happened like that. But I couldn’t let my past mistakes hold me back on this case. Luna was out there somewhere I had to hope against hope that Lysha was as well.
We dropped Bract with much thanks. He had been quiet most of the way home, but before he left, he paused by my open window and said, “what will you do now?”
“Try to uncover more about this guy Ulug who sold them the cars and trailers.”
He nodded. His face was once again inscrutable. The he said, “I can help, if you need.”
I looked up at him, surprised. “You know by now I can’t pay you.”
He shrugged. “I am unemployed right now anyways. At least I can try to help these kids. You know where to find me.”
And with that he was gone. I pulled back onto the highway.
“He’s an interesting character,” Oak said. “I don’t work much with nomads but he’s sure different than most of them. Do you trust him?”
“Not sure,” I mused, my mind flitting in and amongst the events of the evening. “I think he sincerely tried to help us this evening.”
“It’s useful to have a translator. They probably wouldn’t have talked to us at all if he hadn’t of been there.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
That I also felt certain of.
“How much do we know about the Gransu situation?”
“Hmm, well I only know rumors mostly. Border with Kivich Republic is about two hours from here. It runs over three county lines up there. Used to be a quiet part of the world I guess, but not anymore. I’ve mostly heard it’s a shit show these days. Sounds like the local law enforcement is strapped to deal with the nomads fleeing Kivich.”
“The nomads are refugees? Well then shouldn’t they be able to get asylum here in this country?”
“Ok, here’s the thing. In order to be granted asylum in this country, you must be a citizen of another country fleeing here from there. Guess what? The nomads aren’t registered citizens of Kivich.”
“Where are they citizens of?”
“They are from Kivich, they’re the original inhabitants of that country. But they all live traditional lifestyles, right. So when the Danske invaded and settled the Republic of Kivich two hundred years ago and made that land into a formal country, they refused to become citizens because they don’t associate with that way of life. Most of them never obtained citizenship to this day. When the rule of Kivich changed 50 years ago into a fascist monarchy, they began persecuting the nomads and that was when the migration first began. But seriously I’m not a history buff, so you’re going to have to get some books on this stuff from here on out.”
“It’s ridiculous,” I said after a moment. “To require citizenship in order to seek asylum. These people are clearly refugees.”
“Not in the eyes of our government, or any of the other countries in the area. At the same time, our governments don’t want to deport them because they don’t want to anger Kivich and start a conflict. So they just ignore everything and let it play out, costing local and county management huge efforts and losses.”
I shook my head at the insanity of it. And here I had been thinking that the north was a dull and quiet part of the country. Maybe it had been at some point, but it seemed to quickly be devolving.
We arrived back at the station and each headed our separate ways home. When I arrived home to my little rental cottage, I flicked on the lights in the kitchen and set the kettle on to boil. Then I pulled out my phone. It was nearly past 11PM, but I knew Lawrence would be awake. My former partner was a night owl. I scrolled through my contacts for a moment and hovered over his name. Then I pressed call.
The phone rang several times before it picked up.
“Hey Lawrence,” I said, far more nonchalant than I felt.
“Hey Sen. Everything ok, you’re calling kind of late.”
“Sorry, is this a bad time?”
“Naw, it’s just, you’re ok right?”
He clearly meant personally. His attitude towards me lately had been that of a person speaking to a damaged colleague at a behavioral health ward. I supposed I couldn’t blame him. Suddenly seeing your partner of five years lose his shit and try to kill someone with his bare hands had to be a bit disturbing. But I needed to move on from this.
“I’m good man. How are you?”
“Fine,” Lawrence said. “Just living the life. What’s on your mind?”
I pulled my thoughts together. “I’m working a missing persons case up here in Melspol actually. Wonder if you could run a name for me?”
There was a pause. “Missing person’s case? What is it some sort of town drunkard on a binge?”
Like me of about a month ago, Lawrence clearly thought that this area was just country folk, beatniks and farms.
“10 year old girl was kidnapped. It’s a tricky case, not a lot of leads. But we got a name tonight that might be connected.”
That sobered Lawrence up immediately. “No shit? Fuck man, I had no idea shit like that happened up north.”
“You and me both. Maybe it’s just my bad luck coming to infect this town.”
Lawrence snorted. “Shit. Well yeah I can run a name for you but I doubt we have the Melspol registry in our system. You try your registry already?”
“I will, but I have a feeling this name might show up under one of the drug registries.”
“Ok, we’ll give it a shot. Who is it?”
“Ulug, that’s all I have. Maybe a sir name but I’m not sure.”
“Ulug, got it. Any more details?”
“I have a physical description.”
I relayed this and waited while Lawrence jotted it all down. When he was done, I said, “how are things going there?”
He hadn’t talked to me about the case we had been working since I left, and as expected, he gave a vague and guarded reply.
“It’s going ok, we’re making progress. It’s slow, you know. How about you? You got a good partner up there?”
“Yeah, her name’s Oak. She’s on the greener side but she’s hanging in there. This case has been hard on everyone here.”
“Lady partner huh? She a looker?”
It was so like Lawrence to ask that and I had to smirk. When this guy wasn’t tracking down missing people, he had a one track mind.
“She’s a little young for me,” I evaded. “She’ll give you a piece of her mind though.”
“Feisty one huh? That’s good for you.”
I snorted. “Well thanks man for checking on that name.”
“Sure thing, I’ll get back to you in the morning. Take care up there. Don’t bite off too much gristle okay?”
I could hear the apprehensive note in his voice. I knew he cared about me, despite his desire to distance himself from my mental state. It was fair. He needed a reliable partner, which I had proved not to be. I hoped I could get back to the level of trust we had once had before, rather than being treated like a whack job.
“I won’t,” I said, though it was an empty statement. He and I both knew that any case could take you to the very end of your tether with little notice.
“Alright. Night Sen.”
“Night Lawrence.”