by Brett Baker
“Did Li say anything to you?”
“Not a word,” Buster said. “He attacked me out of the blue, and beat the shit out of me without saying a word. It’s all a big mystery. I wish he would have just come and talked to me rather than attacking me. He should know that I’m a reasonable man. I’m easy to work with, I don’t take advantage of anyone. I’m not sure why he has a problem with me.”
“Do you know where we can find Li? Does he have an office? Is he likely to be home?”
“I don’t know. He started as a street businessman, and he’s just progressed from there. He always came to me to do business, and seemed rather transient, so I don’t know where his office is, or if he has an office at all.”
“All right. We’ll find him.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” Buster said. “You’ve had two guys looking for him since he went missing and they couldn’t find him. I don’t hold out any hope that you’ll do any better.”
“We’ll find him,” Wei said. “Don’t you worry about that.”
Buster didn’t worry about that at all.
33
Chapter 33
The next morning Alice woke Buster just after eight to tell him he had a phone call.
“I told the guy you were in no condition to talk, that you needed rest, but he insisted that you’d want to talk to him. I don’t know though, he wouldn’t tell me his name and he seems shady, but I thought it might have something to do with the attack, so maybe you want to talk to him.”
“That’s fine,” Buster said. Alice handed him the phone and then stood at the edge of the bed, waiting for him to begin talking. Buster held the phone in his hand and nodded for Alice to leave. “Best that you don’t hear this.”
“No, I think it’s best that I do hear it,” Alice said. “This isn’t a business deal, this is your life. If something’s going on that puts you in danger I want to know about it.”
“I’m not in danger, Alice. I’m at home, in bed, with you in the next room. Everything’s perfect. Let me just take this call and I’ll let you know when I’m done.”
Alice huffed, spun around, and stomped out of the room. Buster rolled his eyes and shook his head, then said, “Hello?”
“Buster, I hope my guy didn’t rough you up too bad.” Wenzao Pan spoke on the other end of the line. “I told him to treat you like a guy who owed him money, but also a guy good enough to marry his sister. It’s a fine line.”
“He really beat the shit out of me,” Buster said. “It’s a bit more than I expected, but it worked just fine.”
“How’d you turn out?”
“Five broken ribs, a separated shoulder, and soreness all over my body. Feels like I got hit by a train.”
“Well, you wanted it to seem believable. If Li attacked you he wouldn’t go easy. Especially considering that you killed him!” Wenzao laughed so loud that Buster had to pull the phone away from his ear. “Can you imagine that? What if Li came back from the dead and attacked you? That’s the zombie apocalypse everyone’s talking about all the time. It’s just a bunch of murder victims coming back to life and devouring those assholes who killed them. Not that you’re an asshole. You know what I mean.”
“We’re clean on this?” Buster asked, ignoring Wenzao’s zombie comments.
“I think so. The car dropped him off at the alley and picked him up at the alley. There shouldn’t be any security footage of him walking the street, and there are so many damn cars on the road there’s no way they’d match our car with the car in the video. We removed the plates just in case though. And they’re not going to obtain any DNA samples from him, so as long as they don’t find a stray hair on you, we should be good.”
“They didn’t ask for any samples,” Buster said. “The whole operation seems rather incompetent. Not surprising that they can’t find Li.”
“What’s your plan after that?” Wenzao asked.
“That’s none of your concern. The other part of this is separate from Yuzhan Li’s death, and I’d like to keep it separate. I appreciate your help, but your involvement with this is over now.”
“Fair enough,” Wenzao said. “Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be honest though, Buster, it’s much easier to help when I know what’s in it for me. These things I do for you are not without risk. So anything you can provide is appreciated.”
“Of course,” Buster said. “After I’m up and around I’ll send some money over. I think you’ll find it more than generous, and fitting for what you’ve done for me.”
“I hope so.”
Buster thanked him again, and hung up the phone. He called Alice back into the room, assured her that she had nothing to worry about, and said that he didn’t think Yuzhan Li would bother him again.
Alice knew better than to ask for specifics.
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Chapter 34
Neil Driscoll made a name for himself within the world of New York finance, so he wasn’t hard to find. Mia landed in New York just after three in the morning after a three-hour delay for her early evening flight from LAX, and went straight to the building on Third Avenue, just below Eighth Street, where Driscoll’s company occupied the top two floors of a modern, all-glass exterior building. The cab dropped her off in front of the building, and she walked a half black back down Third, and then a half block east to find an alley that ran behind the building.
She entered through a steel security door, propped open with a box containing cans of bathroom cleaner. As she walked the hallways through which the building’s maintenance and cleaning crew accessed the infrastructure of the building, she expected to see workers from the overnight shift who were responsible for keeping it running. She’d somehow explain her presence, exchange small talk for a minute or two, and then move on. One of the earliest lessons she learned when she joined The Summit was that many people feel invisible to most of the world, so taking the time to acknowledge and engage them often put them on your side, no matter the situation.
But Mia saw no one as she made her way through the building, into an elevator, and then up to the forty-sixth floor, where she expected to find Driscoll’s company, and, of course, his office.
She exited the elevator into almost complete darkness. The lack of security lighting surprised her, as even most buildings that shut their lights off at night have hallways and entrances illuminated. But Driscoll’s company kept everything dark, except for decorative sconces every seventy-five feet that threw dim dapples of light. Mia stood outside the elevator and waited. When she entered an unfamiliar situation the first thing she always did was listen. Taking the time to absorb the environment in complete silence often helped her avoid encounters or obstacles that she otherwise wouldn’t have.
Content that she had the floor to herself, she made her way down the hall, stopping to peer inside the offices with windows, and waiting by each door for a few seconds to listen for any signs of activity. At the end of the floor she reached a sitting area with twelve leather chairs arranged in a square perimeter facing a fountain, which was off. Along the back wall a large cherry desk imposed a sense of authority, and a marble slab into which the words Driscoll and Associates had been carved identified the business, in case visitors had somehow made it that far into the building without knowing where they were.
To the left, next to two large closed doors, hung a gold plaque with Neil Driscoll’s name. Mia tried to open the doors, but they were locked, as she expected. She took off her shoe and retrieved the door pin, another invention of The Summit that mimicked the proper fit of a key when inserted into any door with a mechanical lock. She twisted the door pin, heard the familiar click, and opened the door.
The bright light of the office surprised her, and blinded her for just a second as her eyes adjusted. She’d expected the office to be as dark as the rest of the building, but the can lights in the ceiling threw so much light that when contrasted with the darkness to which her eyes were accustomed, she felt like she was looking into the s
un. She squeezed her eyes shut, and fell to the floor. She didn’t expect anyone from outside the building to peer into Driscoll’s office in the middle of the night, but with the bright lights and floor-to-ceiling windows she didn’t want to take any chances.
Face first on the floor she opened her eyes a little at a time, letting the brightness in a little at a time. After a minute or so her eyes adjusted and she could keep them open as she began to crawl along the floor, toward Driscoll’s desk.
Like most modern offices she’d encountered, a data line from the wall connected to the phone on Driscoll’s desk, and then another data line ran from the phone to his computer. The setup helped reduce the number of cables, but also made it easier for Mia to install the interceptor, Mia’s favorite invention of The Summit. She unplugged the data cable from the back of the phone, plugged in the interceptor, and then plugged the data cable into the interceptor. She picked up the phone to ensure a dial tone, and hearing what she expected, she crawled back across the floor, out the door, and left the building. Twenty-five minutes later she rested sound asleep in a bed in a small hotel in Midtown.
35
Chapter 35
Researchers in The Summit’s technology division worked on the interceptor for years. They always prided themselves on being ahead of technology, often even more advanced that whatever Apple, Google, or Microsoft were working on, but they could not perfect the technology for the interceptor. The basic idea behind the interceptor was to capture all voice and data communication that passed through it, and then transmit it wirelessly to a second receiver connected to a phone and a computer. For The Summit to use it, the interceptor had to perform with error, and it had to remain free from detection. The Summit wanted to prevent the technology from infiltrating the outside world, which would surely happen if anyone who discovered it understood what it did.
After years of development, The Summit gave one to every agent three years earlier, and Mia had used her dozens of times without complication. The only negative associated with the device is that it required retrieval after the period of surveillance concluded. Mia was lucky not to run into any problems planting the device on Driscoll’s phone, but when the mission was over, she’d need another round of luck to enter Driscoll’s office to retrieve it. Retrieval often presented more problems than placement because the subjects of surveillance were more sensitive to events around them at that time thanks to whatever havoc The Summit caused as a result of information retrieved from the interceptor.
The receiver in Mia’s hotel room stored the information from Driscoll’s phone and computer so that she could access it at any time. When she woke up in her hotel room just after seven-thirty, she checked the device right away. A phone conversation had been recorded, and sixteen different data files had been downloaded. Mia couldn’t wait to review the information.
She lifted the phone receiver, dialed the phone number associated with her receiver for the interceptor, and then entered her access code. A recording warned her not to record the conversation she was about to hear, as The Summit had a recording, and there should be no other recording for security reasons. Mia pressed another code to indicate that she understood, and then waited for the conversation to begin.
“Hello?” a voice said. Mia thought it sounded impatient and authoritative, but a bit raspy, as if the person had just woken up and hadn’t yet talked.
“Neil, Buster.”
“You’re lucky to catch me, Buster. I just got in. It’s still early here. Did you mess up the times again?”
“No, I know what time it is. I’ve been trying every fifteen minutes for the past two hours. I wanted to catch you as soon as you arrived.”
“It must be something urgent,” Driscoll said. “What’s up?”
“When planning someone’s downfall, it’s only fair to let them know what’s happening. I’ll give you time to respond, although there’s nothing you can say, and I’ll give you time to prepare, although you’re fucked. So I guess the real reason I’m calling is to let you know that your number’s up, and this is the beginning of the end for you.”
“What are you talking about, Buster?”
“I know Li’s not there. I know you’re full of shit. Li never went to New York.”
“I’m sorry, you’re mistaken. Li is here. I just had dinner with him last night. He has agreed to partake in the meeting with everyone else. We need to get that organized so we can move past all of this bullshit.”
“Li assaulted me last night, Neil. Here in Quanzhou. He sent me a note to meet him at a restaurant, and when I arrived he pulled me into an alley and beat me. Had he continued for another minute I’m sure he would have killed me.”
“Buster, that’s horrible,” Driscoll said, his voice cracking. He stood up from his chair, took a deep breath and tried to maintain his composure. “Are you okay? Are you in the hospital?”
“I’m at home. I’ve got five broken ribs, a separated shoulder, and bruises all over my body. It’ll be some time before I’m okay.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, but I’m afraid you’re confused. Li’s here in New York with me. I did just have dinner with him last night.” Driscoll’s tone sounded compassionate, but firm. He couldn’t let Buster confirm that Li wasn’t in New York. He decided to employ the strategy of every politician caught in an unflattering situation: deny, deny, deny.
“They have Li,” Buster lied. “I got a good look at him, they have him on surveillance, and they picked him up this morning. He’s in custody now. He’s not in New York, so stop with that bullshit. I can give you the number to the Quanzhou police so you can confirm that they have him.” Buster cringed as soon as he offered the phone number. If Driscoll took him up on the offer to confirm with the police then he’d know that Buster was lying about Li being and custody, and perhaps about the whole situation.
But he didn’t have to worry, as Driscoll believed Buster’s story and conceded that he didn’t have Li. “Why the fuck would you go to the police?”
“The man beat me to a pulp,” Buster said. “If it weren’t for some guy who heard my cries and came to my rescue, I’m sure he would have killed me. The guy had a fire in his eyes, and it scared the hell out of me.”
“You better not say anything about the operation,” Driscoll said. “So help me god if you fuck this up there will be hell to pay.”
“That’s the reason I’m calling, Neil. The whole thing’s over. There’s no way they can investigate this without Li talking about how he knows me, and explaining what we planned. I’m going to cooperate. I’ll tell them about the whole thing.”
“What do you mean you’ll tell them about the whole thing?” Driscoll asked.
“There’s only one way to interpret that sentence. Don’t play dumb. I’ll come clean about everything in exchange for immunity.”
“You’re giving us up.” Driscoll said. “You can say that it’s coming clean, but really it’s selling out. You’re saving yourself and taking us down. Fuck you, Buster. I knew you didn’t have it in you. I knew you couldn’t follow through on this. Do you have any idea what you’re doing? They’re going to take you down, too. And if they don’t take you down, then you can be damn sure that I will. You won’t get out of this unscathed, Buster. You can’t do this and think you’ll be free of consequences.”
“I’ll take my chances. I’m sure the Chinese and the Americans will be more than happy to have inside information about this, and they’ll offer me whatever I want. I’m saving the economy. They won’t take that lightly.”
“Fuck you, Buster. You’re saving yourself. And before you do anything you better think very hard about the consequences you’ll face. You’ll live the rest of your life with some badass people very angry with you. You’ll never live another peaceful day. I don’t care if it takes the rest of my life, I will not rest until you pay for this, until you suffer for this. Do you not remember the arrangements we made from the beginning? The promise you made?”
&nbs
p; “You’re going to stand there and talk about promises?” Buster asked. “I know you asked Li to come to New York. I know you were ready to move ahead without me. Li came to me and couldn’t help but gloat. He said he wanted to remind me how dumb I am, and how I’m missing out on an opportunity. He told me all about your plans, and the way you intended to leave me behind.”
“We would have waited,” Driscoll said, shocked by Buster’s admission.
“No you wouldn’t have,” Buster said. “Don’t give me that bullshit. You were ready to go, and you were ditching me. You would make billions, and I’d have nothing. I’m sure you would have loved that. Well fuck you, Neil. It’s not happening. None of it’s happening. Li planned to screw you, too. How about that? Where the fuck do you think he’s been? He’s trying to make this Singapore thing happen. You thought he was coming to New York, but he fucked us both. He fucked you, and he fucked me. But I’m coming out on top, Driscoll. I’m going to win for one reason, and one reason only. I don’t give a fuck. I do not give a fuck. I’ll throw all of this away just for some peace of mind. Just to fuck you and to fuck Li. Seeing you assholes behind bars will be worth far more than whatever billions I would have made from the gold deal. I can’t be stopped, Driscoll. You can’t stop a man who doesn’t care. This is the end for you. Remember how it happens.”
Buster slammed the phone down, and Driscoll said, “Buster? Buster are you still there?” And then he screamed, “Fuck!” The call went dead.
And Mia sat at a desk in her hotel room in stunned disbelief.
36
Chapter 36
The interceptor told Mia that another conversation waited for her review, but she needed a minute to digest what she had just heard, so she hung up. Although the interceptor provided a wealth of information, Mia often had to employ the most non-technological technique in the world in order to process it. She had to sit and think. She leaned forward in her chair, held her face in her hands, and stared at the floor. As she replayed the conversation in her head she reviewed what she knew and what she didn’t know.
