In the next second, Kim’s heart leaped in his chest. Already tense from seeing his attacker so close, he overreacted when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Before he could stop himself he threw an arm up defensively.
Luckily it was Jed, and he didn’t look happy. Kim’s reaction had scared him as much as he had scared Kim.
“What the hell are you doing over here?” Jed shouted over the noise. The repeated concussion of the high-pressure killing instrument sounded like an evil metronome.
“I’m just trying to get oriented,” Kim yelled. He shot a glance back at his attacker, but the man either hadn’t seen Kim or didn’t care about him. He’d stepped off to the side and was in the process of sharpening his knife with a grindstone while his partner took over the throat-slitting. Kim could see the knife clearly. It was similar to the one the man had used when he’d attacked Kim.
“Hey, I’m talking to you,” Jed yelled irritably. He poked at Kim with an insistent finger. “I want you to get your ass around to where they’re eviscerating. That’s where the shit is, and that’s where I want you to be.”
Kim nodded.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” Jed said. He motioned for Kim to follow him.
Kim cast one last look at his attacker, who was holding up the knife to inspect its razor edge. A flash of light glinted off the blade. He didn’t look in Kim’s direction.
Kim shuddered and rushed after Jed.
They soon came to the moving line of carcasses. Kim was impressed by Jed’s nonchalance. When he ducked through he actually pushed the bodies aside like clothes on a rack rather than waiting for a moment to dart through an opening. Kim was reluctant to touch the hot bodies. He had to hesitate like a jumper waiting to enter a jump rope that was being rapidly whipped around by two friends.
“This is where I want you,” Jed yelled when Kim caught up to him. Jed made a sweeping motion with his hand. “Here’s where the dirty work is done, and this is where you and your broom should hang out. Understand?”
Kim nodded reluctantly, while fighting against another wave of nausea. He was now in the area where the internal organs were being removed. Huge snakelike coils of intestines were sloshing out of the suspended carcasses onto stainless-steel tables along with quivering masses of liver, grapefruit-sized kidneys. and friable strips of pancreas.
Most of the intestines appeared to be tied off, but some weren’t. Either they hadn’t been tied or the tie had come loose. One way or the other, there were also a lot of cow feces on the tables and on the floor mixing with the rivers of blood.
Kim lowered the head of his broom to the floor and started pushing the slop toward one of the many grates. As he worked, he was reminded of the myth of Sisyphus and the cruel king’s terrible fate. No sooner had Kim cleared an area of its filth than it became refouled with a fresh deluge of blood and offal.
Kim’s only solace was the fact that his disguise must have been adequate. He was relatively confident that the man with the knife had not recognized him.
Kim tried his best to ignore the more grisly aspects of this ghostly workplace. Instead he concentrated on his immediate task at hand. For the next step in his undercover investigation, he’d wait until the lunch break.
At the window, Shanahan could see a jumbo jet laboriously lumber down the runway and then ever so hesitantly lift its nose. Seemingly going much too slowly it became airborne and headed off toward a distant destination.
Shanahan was at Gate Thirty-two on Concourse B, waiting for the flight from Chicago. It had not been easy getting there. The people at security had tried to deny him access to the concourse without a ticket. Since he’d made specific plans to meet Leutmann at the gate, Shanahan knew he had to get there. Unfortunately no amount of arguing or cajoling had swayed the security people. To solve the dilemma, Shanahan had had to purchase a ticket on a flight he didn’t intend to take.