Chapter 4: Rescue and Shock (2)
In fact, while his story was internally consistent, I still judged it half-truth, half-lie—a instinct that only people who've survived life-and-death situations possess.
I swept my gaze around, stepped into the bathroom, closed the door, and locked the bolt. I fished Sylvie's phone out of my bra, powered it on, and opened the map. After loading for a while, the little blue dot marking my position wobbled, then stabilized, displaying my exact location.
Ho Pang.
That was the real address—only three kilometers from the border crossing! Exactly as I'd suspected: Wu Tao hadn't told the truth. This man was absolutely not well-intentioned.
The battery had only 3% left.
3.
This close to the border, domestic cell towers could reach us. I quickly looked up a phone number and dialed it with my remaining charge.
Ring, ring, ring—
I wiped the sweat off my palm against my pants, one ear pressed to the speaker, the other straining for sounds from outside the door.
"Hello? Cang City Public Security Bureau, Criminal Investigation and Narcotics Division, please go ahead—"
I swallowed hard, my tongue numb. I choked for a moment and couldn't speak immediately.
"Hello? Please go ahead."
I pinched myself hard, steadied my nerves, and began to speak in a low, rapid voice:
"My name is Elyse, ID number 3xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. On March 11, 2018, I was trafficked from Shenzhen to Thailand by human traffickers from the Charlie Group operating in Myanmar, then crossed from Thailand into Myanmar. Sixteen others were trafficked with me, all sold to scam compounds in Northern or Eastern Myanmar, forced into online fraud, drug trafficking, organ trading... I spent seven months at Little Golden Port in Northern Myanmar, and I finally escaped. I'm currently in a small clinic in Ho Pang. A Chinese man named Wu Tao has his eye on me—I'm not sure if he's connected to the Charlie Group. I have malaria and can't reach the border crossing on my own..."
I sniffed hard and realized tears were streaming down my entire face.
"Save me... my phone is almost out of battery."
Silence on the line, as if the person was cupping the receiver to speak to someone else. A rustle, then a new voice—steady, forceful, male.
"Elyse, right? The situation you just described..."
I cut him off: "I've seen Duan Po. I've seen Meng Shan. And the senior figures of the Charlie Group and the D-Zone!"
"I know some of their dealings, routes, and clients."
The line went quiet, listening intently—
"That should be what you want. This is information they'd want too."
Battery down to 1%.
I was gasping, my legs trembling so badly I could barely stand, reduced to squatting on the filthy floor.
"Save me... if they drag me back..."
I wouldn't be able to escape a second time.
Footsteps raced toward the bathroom, then the door was hammered from outside, someone shouting in Burmese.
Bang!
Someone started kicking the door.
I pressed my back against the door with all my strength, jolted forward with each impact. The person on the other end of the line seemed to say something—I couldn't catch it before the battery died completely, and the call dropped.
I scanned the bathroom in a frantic instant, managed only to lift the lid of the toilet tank, hide the phone inside, and replace the cover exactly as it had been.
The door was about to give. I instantly dropped to the floor and played dead.
The old lock couldn't withstand the force. It burst open, the wooden door smashing against the wall and rebounding with a harsh groan.
Someone came in and held two fingers under my nose, then checked the pulse at my neck.
"Take her back to the ward."
It was Wu Tao speaking.
I was hoisted up, carried a few dozen steps, and dropped onto the hospital bed.
The nurse hooked up a new IV—glucose this time, I could tell because a sweetness started spreading through my mouth as it dripped. I quietly exhaled, and the spinning vertigo eased slightly.
Before long, I fell asleep.
When I woke again, it was dark outside. The ward lights were on. No other patients—the room was empty. The door stood open. I stared at it for a few beats; no one came or went, and the sounds of voices echoed from quite far away.
Now—run.
There was still half a bag of fluid dripping on the IV stand. I slid the clamp to stop it, then yanked the tube from its coupling.
Pressing the displaced retention needle against my hand, I eased off the bed and planted my feet on the floor.
Someone entered at that precise moment—Wu Tao, flip-flops slapping. He was chewing betel nut, raised his eyelids to look at me, and smiled.
"Going somewhere?"
He sat down on the chair beside the bed.
I looked at him and said in a light, calm voice: "The bathroom."
"Again." Wu Tao's smile widened, almost tipping into cruelty. He tossed something onto the bed beside me—"Looking for this?"
A phone.
The one I'd hidden in the tank.
I lowered my head and smiled, then slowly sat back on the bed.
Wu Tao leaned forward again, interlacing his fingers, almost sincere: "Little lady, how could you treat your own savior this way?"
I said nothing. I unwound the medical tape securing the retention needle, circle by circle, dropped it on the floor, and—in full view of Wu Tao's stare, expression unchanged—yanked out the needle.
A bead of blood shot out. I pressed down on it roughly.
Wu Tao's eye twitched.
"Fifth Uncle—"
Holding the phone I'd retrieved, I rubbed the screen a few times, wiping off the dust. Wu Tao chewed his betel nut aggressively, spat a mouthful of bright red to the side. I smiled and asked him softly:
"Fifth Uncle, when are they coming?"
Wu Tao shrugged, leaned back in his chair playing with his amber beads, letting his old-fox nature show, and didn't give me a straight answer.
"Who? Who's coming when."
When are my rescuers coming? And when are my killers coming?
Who arrives first?
Neither of us was speaking a word of truth. Neither trusted the other. So we each fell silent.
After a moment, Wu Tao stood up and flip-flopped out. Once he'd gone, heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor—closer and closer, hurrying toward this ward.
I lowered my head, the needle still in my hand, and waited in silence.
4.
"Elyse? Is that you—Elyse?"
The first to enter was a medium-built man in a navy-blue short-sleeved tang jacket with black-frame glasses, around Wu Tao's age. He was dabbing sweat with a handkerchief while looking me up and down.
His expression was searching and tense.
Three or four more men filed in behind him, all able-bodied males of varying ages, their gaze collectively falling on me.
Curious, astonished, pitying—everything.
I made my rapid assessment of their expressions and nodded, then eased myself off the bed and walked toward them step by step.
"I am. Let's go."
The man in the tang jacket looked mildly surprised—probably hadn't expected such a straightforward response—but he didn't hesitate, moving immediately to lead me out.
Once outside the ward, I scanned both ends of the corridor. The bench in front of the clinic was empty. Down the other end, Wu Tao stood by the bathroom doorway on the phone, kicking the wall in frustration, a cigarette between his fingers.
Suddenly, a wave of foreboding pressed against my chest. I couldn't articulate it, but something was wrong.
Wu Tao looked up and met my gaze.
The middle-aged man beside me said in a low voice: "Just call me Old Yang. I'm a councilor with the local Chinese chamber of commerce. The domestic authorities sent me—you understand?"
I made a sound of acknowledgment.
He'd spotted Wu Tao too. His brow furrowed briefly, then he urged quickly: "Hurry, the car's outside."
The men's strides were large, half-ushering, half-carrying me toward the clinic entrance. Cold sweat ran down my back, my feet felt like they were treading cotton. I fumbled the phone into my jacket's inner pocket and pulled the zipper shut.
Only ten steps left.
"Councilor Yang..."
Old Yang acknowledged. He and the men around him were all tensed, as if they'd break into a sprint at any second.
"I can't stand—I need you to hold me up..."
Someone immediately took my arm, gripping firmly. Behind us, Wu Tao had finished his call. From across the long corridor, he suddenly raised his voice: "Elyse?"
I ignored him. But my heart stuttered—he hadn't known my name before.
I'd never told him.
"Miss Elyse!"
Wu Tao came barreling down the corridor, shouting something that roused others. I heard doors opening along both sides of the ward, and several Burmese men shouting as they gave chase.
Old Yang panicked, the middle-aged man nearly running an obstacle course: "Quick! Don't let her fall!"
Both sides hoisted me up, practically carrying me out. Not far away, a silver SUV idled. A young man sprinted ahead and yanked the door open—
We were there!
I scrambled inside, curling up in the corner of the back seat, gasping.
The others piled in. Old Yang sat beside me, his voice shaking as he barked at the driver: "Drive! Head for the border crossing!"
The engine roared to life. The young driver threw the wheel hard for a three-point turn, and the SUV tore into the night-shrouded road.