Page 32 of What is Found

Pulling out the tray, he found larger tools: hammers, a large Swiss Army knife and an assortment of pliers, only some of which he knew by name. But, man, if he ever wanted to go into home repair, he was set.

After stuffing a few rolls of duct tape and two more bottles of vodka into his pack, he was backing out with the toolchest when he felt something shift under his right knee. He would’ve ignored it if the movement hadn’t also been accompanied by a softcreee.

Frowning, he stopped, fanned his light over the metal floor.

He would’ve missed it if he hadn’t taken the toolchest and moved that cardboard box with the vodka. If he hadn’t, earlier, taken up all their gear andthe tarps. Now, with the bay floor largely exposed, he saw what he had missed—or rather, what had been concealed.

Seams.

What the…?He ran the light over joins that, together, formed the outline of a very large rectangle. Odd. Something holding a spare tire wouldn’t be this big. Unless this was another way of hauling supplies? Luggage? Parviz said he catered to tourists. Now that John thought more about this, though, he realized tourists would have a very hard time in this van for one very simple reason that had escaped both him and Davila.

The van had no back seat.

If the original purpose of the bukhanawas to haul personnel, there should be seats. Yet there wasn’t even a hinge in the van’s cargo bay where a seat could either be laid flat or unlocked and pulled up to form a bench. Unless this hadbeenthe seat but been modified?

Why didn’t I think of this before?

He’d been preoccupied, he supposed. Tense. Worried. So many things to mull over. He also knew from experience that burying memories in the dark graveyard at the back of one’s mind tired a person out pretty fast. Trying to forget was very hard work.

Now that he was looking more closely, he spotted what looked like a long metal carry handle, similar to that screwed into the lid of Parviz’s toolbox. Butthere were no hinges he could see, anywhere, along the seams of this…well, whatever it was. Maybe internal? Or perhaps double-action hinges, like the kind on a saloon door or a restaurant’s back kitchen: hinges designed to allow a door to swing both ways.

Odd.The only reason someone would have designed the lid likethiswould be to allow two-way access: someone outside to get in and inside to get out. But why?

Setting the flashlight in a corner, he crouched, grabbed the metal carry handle in both hands, and heaved. The panel slid up and open on silent, well-oiled hinges and so easily, he almost fell on his tail. Scooching around on his knees, he shone his light into the space.

“Wow.” His light picked out a blanket, a pillow. A flashlight. Two half-filled plastic liter bottles, bulging with frozen water. A small box of energy bars. Crumpled wrappers. A few brassy metallic winks that he realized, belatedly, were 39mm bullets and?—

“Oh, my God.” Reaching in, he swept up a large plastic bag. Inside were two sets of phones: his and Davila’s cells and sats.

For a second, he only stared. How did they get there? If Matvey had picked their pockets, how thehell...?

“Wait a second, wait just a minute.” Tugging off a glove with his teeth, he dipped a hand into his jacket and came out with the big guy’s keyring. Crabbing to the center console, he leaned over the driver’s seat,pulled Parviz’s ignition key, then made a sandwich of that and the big guy’s key.

The keys were a march.

Seriously?Slotting in the big guy’s key, he gave the ignition a half turn—and let out smallhahof surprise as the dash lit up.

Well, I’ll be damned.Now he understood the con. Matvey picked their pockets, gave the booty to the big guy.They leave first and, while we’re busy with Parviz and the counter guy, they stash the cells in this locker.The locker would be easy to access. But then how had Matvey and the big guy gotten to the mountain? A vehicle?No, wait.Probing with the flashlight, he fingered up one of the 39mms. The big guy had these in his pocket, too. Sweeping up a crumped wrapper, he sniffed, caught a whiff of chocolate and something nutty—andfresh.

Could Matvey and the big guy have been in this compartment the whole time? Possibly, given that the big guy had a dupe key. He and Matvey could have settled themselves into this compartment. Parviz had been the first one to access the van, too, and shifted things around a bit. Piled the duffels a little closer to the center console.

And he filled one gas tank but not the other.He remembered, too, how Parviz hadn’t answered his question about why he hadn’t simply switched to the second tank.Maybe because he couldn’t.He thought about the size of the hidden compartment.Bet there isno second gas tank. Parviz probably took it out to make room for this storage locker.

Still…a compartment for smuggling people? Tough to pull off. There was carbon monoxide to worry about unless the thing was also rigged to provide oxygen or really well-ventilated. He supposed that was possible. Much more likely, though: the big guy had dumped the phones into this secret compartment before hoofing it out of Khorog with Matvey. Once they’d hooked up with the younger guy, the one whose face he’d caved in, the three had made a beeline for the ambush point via a different, back route.

Yes, but did they do anything to the phones?They might have stripped batteries. Lithium was worth more than a pretty penny as Ustinov had implied.Only one way to find out.Fishing a sat phone from the plastic sack, he checked for a battery.Still there.Next, he flicked open a thin rectangle of flexible weather strip just below the power button. Beneath the weather strip was a rectangular button withSOSdone in red letters.

In theory, all he had to do was press the button. Except the phone had been in sub-freezing temperatures for almost thirty-six hours. Would the electronics even hold up?

A trenchant line from a film:There is only door do not. There is no try.

“Thank you, Yoda,” he said, and pressed the button.

For a split second, the screen remained black. Then, a gray pop of light flashed. An instant later, words appeared:SOS Initiated.

Oh, thank you, God.He felt his taut muscles loosen with relief. The signal would transmit until the battery died, which shouldn’t be for quite a while. If the unit needed recharging, he’d just plug it into the same adaptor Parviz used for his phone. The thing drew so little power, the van’s battery should handle the drain with no problem.

Help us.Backing out of the van, he held the phone aloft and raised his face to the night sky. Snow spattered his cheeks and melted to something like tears.Someone, please help?—

---