The Canton Connection (19 page)

Jake gritted his teeth as Eric Li gunned the Ferrari down the city street. Most of Shenzhen had gone to bed, leaving slick, dewy roads for the would-be Formula One racer.

Jake adjusted his hidden gun holster for comfort and glanced out his side window. The Chinese girl was at the wheel of another Ferrari with Simon Wu in the passenger seat.

The two cars were blowing through red lights at full speed. Their engines boomed off the glass and stone towers of downtown Shenzhen.

Jake had no idea where Li was taking him, or if they’d ever get there alive. But one thing was clear. Li seemed to think Jake and Wu, now outlaws, were natural allies of the Dragon Triad.

Li swerved around a petrified-looking bicyclist in the middle of a crosswalk. The girl swerved around the other side of the bicycle. Neither car gave an inch.

How had Jake gotten into this position: teamed up with Simon Wu and best buddies with the Triad crowd?

From what Li had revealed about Han Chu, Jake gathered that Chu had testified against the Triad, resulting in the death of Li’s father. Presumably, Chu had been granted a new identity under the Witness Protection Program and the gang had been looking for him ever since. As head of that program, Oscar Walsh apparently revealed Chu’s identity and may have even rubbed out Chu and his employees, switching fingerprints with Wu for cover.

If this assessment was correct, Walsh was a Triad hero.

And
if the scary joyride careening through the streets of Shenzhen was what passed as appreciation from the Triad, why were Jake and Wu getting the royal treatment? It had to do with the fingerprints. Because Wu’s prints were found on the baseball bat and murder weapons, most people, including the Department of Justice and the press, believed that Wu had killed Chu and the programmers. As far as Li knew, Wu had done the killing for Walsh.

Jake had done nothing for the Triad, but by sneaking out of the country with Wu, he appeared to be an accomplice. And the Triad was happy to welcome them to China.

Li’s hands moved deftly to avoid a car that had abruptly pulled into the street.

Li was showing him a good time, Chinese style. Whether he wanted it or not, Jake was part of the gang. The Triad gang.

Shortly, the two Ferraris headed up a ramp onto a highway. Li slowed down long enough to flash a magnetic card at an automated toll gate, and then roared onto the near-empty four-lane.

Finally, the two automobiles could reach full speed. Jake watched the speedometer climb past 180 kph. He had no idea what that came to in miles per hour, and he didn’t want to know.

“Do you like to drive?” Li asked.

Jake thought of the limits of his government-owned sedan. “Yeah, I like to drive.”

“I drove across Germany this summer,” Li said. “It was fun.”

Jake could imagine how the lack of speed limits on the Autobahn could be attractive to Li. For that matter, Jake hadn’t noticed speed limits posted on the Chinese highway, either.

“Where are we going?” he finally asked. The whole trip had been Li’s idea and a mystery from the start.

“To Guangzhou,” Li said. “That’s where I live.”

Jake nodded. Guangzhou seemed to figure prominently into everybody’s plans. Bill Brewster had ordered Jake to Guangzhou to meet with the CIA. And according to Li, Oscar Walsh was already there and Stacy was heading there the next day.

“What’s so important about Guangzhou?” Jake asked. He had never heard of the place until that night.

“It’s the capital of Guangdong Province.”

That didn’t mean much to Jake.

“The English called it Canton,” Li said helpfully. “Guangzhou is where the English stored the opium that was destroying the Chinese people and depleting their economy. So the Chinese locked the warehouses and destroyed the opium. That started the First Opium War.”

Given Li’s line of work, Jake wondered if he would have sided with the British.

The car sped past numerous warehouses and factories. Lights glowed behind each window.

“So this is the heart of China’s manufacturing miracle?” Jake asked.

Li laughed. “The whole Pearl River Delta is one big factory. Very polluted.”

So Li could afford to be a snob. Clearly, he didn’t make his money through manufacturing.

Even though they roared along at high speed, the highway grew monotonous. It looked no different from an American highway, except for the Chinese road signs.

The long, sleepless flight had finally caught up with him, and Jake dozed off.

Some time later, he woke up as Li was changing lanes to avoid more traffic. The car shot out between two hills and suddenly they were on an elevated highway zooming over a city.

“Guangzhou,” Li announced with pride.

The city was lit up like Las Vegas. Each high-rise was designed to maximize its night appeal.

Neon light bathed street level restaurants in a warm glow, and there were plenty of people still strolling around.

Jake was fully awake, his senses sharpened. This was where Walsh was. How would that encounter go?

And this was where Stacy was coming the next day. Boy, would she be surprised to see him. How would she react?

The highway swung back out of town and the lights petered out. They took an off-ramp, swiped a card, and drove through tree-lined streets at ground level. There was some construction on the street, which Li neatly anticipated. They were surrounded by hills, and suddenly Li pulled up to an iron gate.

A tough-looking soldier with an automatic rifle stepped out of a guard booth. He identified the car, opened the electric gate and saluted as they passed.

“We’re home,” Li said.

Jake’s first thought was that a young man couldn’t build such a castle in China without having officials in his pocket. Clearly the military was in on it, too.

Tastefully illuminated
on the shore of a lake, the chateau looked like it belonged in Europe, if it weren’t for the palm trees sprouting all over the grounds.

T
he secluded complex encoumpassed the entire lake and chateau. Surrounding the chateau were smaller buildings with terracotta roofs and large windows facing out toward the lake.

Li and the girl pulled the Ferraris onto a driveway and turned off the engines. At last the powerful droning was over, and Jake checked his hearing. There were crickets
chirping and frogs croaking in a full summer frenzy.

“Where’s Walsh?” Jake asked his host as they gathered with Wu and the girl. He was expecting a hostile reaction from Wu’s boss and wanted to be prepared.

“Mr. Walsh is staying upstairs, top floor of my house,” Li said. “I imagine he’s asleep by now.”

That bought them some time.

“I have guest rooms set up for both of you.”

Jake couldn’t wait for
high tea served in the parlor.

Li nodded to a man in a green uniform, and the guard moved away from the front door.

Inside, the foyer was marble, as was the sweeping, circular staircase.

“Drinks first?” Li offered.

Jake and Wu were too exhausted and needed sleep.

Their rooms were opposite each other
across a short hall on the second floor.

Jake had his own bathroom with a Jacuzzi. Cotton pajamas were laid out on the bed.

Jake looked across the hall and saw Wu standing at his window. Jake came over to join him.

There was a view of a rear patio, a swimming pool with underwater lights, the lake, and the silhouette of a forested mountain beyond.

“Nice digs,” Jake said.

Wu looked concerned. “What’s Walsh going to say?”

“He’ll suspect us, for sure,” Jake said. “I’m sleeping with my gun.”

“Me too.”

Somebody was moving in the garden. Jake stood back from the window and watched.

Li and the woman had emerged from the house and were taking a stone path to the pool. They wore white robes and chatted in a relaxed tone.

They headed for a hot tub, where jets were already churning up water.

The two slipped out of their robes and into the water almost before Jake could tell that they were nude.

White foam covered their bodies below the surface, and they lay back to enjoy the water massage.

A guard moved away and into the shadows of a leafy tree.

“This guy has it all,” Wu said. “He’s living the dream.”

“Why does he still live in China? Why not buy a castle in France?”

“You have to understand,” Wu said. “This is his country. He’s proud of it. And who wouldn’t be?”

Jake considered the conspicuous wealth of the Triad member. “There has to be some law enforcement here. How can he get away with it?”

“Military trumps the police any day.”

Jake thought the system was unsustainable. Unless, of course, money and crime ran the country. Suddenly the beautiful setting and the night’s serenity became sinister forces.

“At the FBI, we have to file a report every time we have an unsolicited encounter with a foreign national,” Jake said.

“Good thing you’re not with the FBI any longer.”

“Yet here I am,” Jake said. “Trying to stop Walsh and Stacy, one way or another.”

“And what are they doing here?” Wu asked.

“My guess is that Li needs Stacy to turn the key that unlocks the internet.”

“And Walsh?”

Jake shrugged. “He’s here to collect.”

“He’s going to suspect us,” Wu said.

“Why? We’re wanted, too.”

“He’s going to know we’re here to
stop him.”

Jake wasn’t paying enough attention to his immediate surroundings. His eyes were glued to the girl in the hot tub, and his mind was tracing the logic of the situation with Walsh.

He didn’t hear the movement behind him until it was too late.

The blow to the back of his head was blinding, and the only thing he noticed was that he had fallen face first against the plate-glass window, and that the glass held his weight as he slid to the floor.

When Jake regained consciousness, he had an excruciating headache that radiated from the back of his head. His entire skull seemed to be held together by the bandage that bound his head and blocked half his vision.

He was leaning against a wall. On the carpet in front of him lay a body with a single gunshot entry wound to the chest. A little blood had seeped into the man’s white shirt, but his eyes were open with a vacant stare.

It took Jake a while to piece together what had happened and who lay dead before him.

He had been standing with Simon Wu in Wu’s guestroom and discussing Oscar Walsh when Jake was bludgeoned from behind.

Now he could identify the body.

The bulky shoulders and large head said it all. It was a former American football star, the officer in charge of the Witness Protection Program, the man who had murdered three Chinese employees at Quantum, Inc.

“Meet my boss,” Wu said.

“How did you…?”

Talking brought on an incredible blast of pain.

“I saw him hit you,” Wu said. “And I pulled my gun.”

Jake closed his eyes. Wu had saved his life.

“Thank…”

“You can thank me later,” Wu said. “After we clean up this mess.”

“Didn’t the guards…?”

“I had my silencer on.”

“How long have I…?”

“It happened half an hour ago,” Wu said. “I figure that gives us several hours before daylight to hide the body.”

Jake couldn’t move a muscle. All he could do was slur some encouragement.

The room had no closet, but there was a large wooden wardrobe.

“Stuff him in the wardrobe,” Jake said. “We can bury him later.”

“The house is surrounded,” Wu said. “We can’t bring him outside. Besides, how will we explain your bandage?”

The two stared at each other in a quandary. They weren’t cut out for murder, even if it was in self-defense.

Jake closed his eyes again. They were in a house owned by a gangster, in a country where the law wouldn’t look favorably on guns. He and Wu would be wanted in every country on earth if this kept up.

Through all the pain, it became abundantly clear to Jake that there was no way he could operate effectively as a special agent within China, and certainly no way he could save the internet. His only hope was to get to the American consulate and seek their protection.

He was ready to ask Wu to call Langley when he remembered Stacy.

Stacy Stefansson was due in Guangzhou the next day.

Jake felt his heart do a slight flip. He couldn’t attempt a breakout of Li’s compound until Stacy arrived.

Mostly it was about stopping her one way or another from handing over the password to the Chinese. But a small part of it was giving her a chance to redeem herself.

He had to be there either way.

“Just cut up the body and flush it down the toilet,” Jake said. The sarcasm helped relieve his pain.

He looked up. Wu was staring at him.

“Sorry,” Jake said. “I was just
venting.”

“No,” Wu said. “That’s brilliant.”

Jake stared back, his face hurting too bad to show expression.

“You’re looking at Simon Wu,” Wu said. “Serial killer.”

Jake shook his head slowly. Why not?

Wu helped him back to his bedroom and shut the door. As he carefully undressed for bed, Jake could hear the sound of a heavy plastic bag sliding across the floor, then bare feet flopping against the staircase.

Before he turned off the light, Jake had a sudden thought. Had he been wrong about Simon Wu all along?
Was
he a serial killer?

He locked the door before lowering himself into bed.