by Ian Hamilton
“No. Keep going.”
“Apart from being uncomfortable with the emotions, there was also an element of danger attached to the church. It was an underground operation, frowned on by the government and a candidate to be raided at any time. Some of the members found that exhilarating, but it just scared me. I was thinking about ending the relationship with my friend when she asked me to join her at a religious event in a nearby town where the officials didn’t hassle Christians,” Su said. “I went with her, as much to get out of the city for a while as anything else. The event was part of a crusade that Blackstone Simmons was conducting in Asia. They held it in a small sports stadium and the atmosphere was electric. When Blackstone spoke, he touched my heart and my soul, and when he asked people to come forward and commit their lives to Christ, I did. I committed that night, and I have committed every day since.”
“How did that get you into the Simmons organization?”
“The crusade was a week long. I went every night, and by the end of the week I had met Randy Simmons. The fact that I spoke English well and had a university education and some knowledge about pharmaceuticals interested him. Before he left, he asked me if I would consider working with them. They needed someone in China with business and management ability, someone they could communicate with. He asked me if I was willing to leave Shanghai.”
“Why leave Shanghai?”
“They were running into government opposition there and wanted to operate where there was less prejudice. I told him I was from Chengdu and willing to go back.”
“And when you did, you found yourself running a drug-dealing business.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Su said loudly and then looked at Han as if expecting him to strike her.
“Then how do you explain what those women are doing on the floor below?” Ava asked.
“We’re saving Christian souls from unnecessary pain and suffering. That is our one and only mission.”
“Whose mission? The Simmons organization?”
“Randy explained to me how expensive the medical system is in the United States, how people who were ill and even dying don’t have access to drugs to alleviate their suffering, because they can’t afford them.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing? Sending painkillers to people who can’t afford to buy them otherwise?”
“Yes.”
“Are you aware that several of those painkillers are highly addictive?”
“We can’t be held responsible if people misuse their medicine.”
“No, of course not,” Ava said, knowing it was pointless to argue. “How soon after you returned to Chengdu did you start this business?”
“It was only a matter of weeks. Randy Simmons had already found a lab to supply the pills. We started very small, of course, and I was sending the pills in bulk at first. I worked out of my apartment. I did that for a year before we found a place and hired some staff. Even then it took a few more years before we had grown enough to move into the warehouse.”
“Where were you sending the pills?”
“I sent some directly to Randy, but after a few months we had pharmacies, doctors, and pain clinics buying directly from us.”
“Where were they located?”
“Mainly in the southern states at first, because that’s where the Simmons organization is located, but we have expanded from there.”
“How did you send the pills in bulk? Surely not in little white envelopes.”
Su lowered her head, and Ava felt her discomfort.
“I don’t care how you did it,” Ava said. “I’m only after information. I’m not passing judgement.”
“We hollowed out the insides of Bibles and filled them with pills. We wrapped the Bibles in plastic and put them in special large brown envelopes. The envelopes had Jesus on the cross embossed in red on the front, and ‘A Gift of Thanks for Your Donation to the Christian Children’s Foundation’ printed underneath.”
“Whose idea was that?”
“Randy’s.”
“You’re still shipping them like that?”
“We do if the order is large enough, but most of our business now is smaller individual orders.”
“You send those in the hand-addressed white envelopes I saw on the tables downstairs?”
“Yes. That business began about four years ago. It started slowly, but as our website traffic grew it became about half of our volume.”
“You aren’t worried about the U.S. Postal Service figuring out what you’re doing?”
“We send the mail from different locations in China. The pills are wrapped so they can’t be detected unless you’re really searching for them,” she said. “And all the painkillers we send are legal to use.”
“And what is your website called?”
“It’s called www.healthepain.com.”
“That’s appropriate,” Ava said dryly. “Now let’s talk about money for a moment. I know you’re buying pills from Golden Emperor MicroLab —”
“How do you know that?” Su interrupted.
“Mr. Han and I met with the Yang brothers yesterday. They were quite forthcoming. I know that you’re buying from them and they’re being paid from an account at the Mercantile Bank of Chengdu that you control.”
Su stared across the desk at her, and Ava saw her resistance fading.
“What I want to know,” Ava continued, “is where the money you transfer to Golden Emperor originates.”
“We get all our money from Evans Trust.”
“You told me earlier that you don’t know Ronald Evans. Is that still your position?”
“It is. I don’t know the man at all, and I know nothing about the company except that our money comes from them. That’s been the financial structure since the day I took this job.”
“And you never asked Randy Simmons about Evans Trust?”
“I’m not particularly curious, and I always assumed that if Randy wanted me to know more about Evans he would tell me.”
Ava made a note, then said, “How does the system work? Who decides when and how the money reaches your account?”
“We maintain an inventory of goods at the warehouse. When it needs to be replenished, I tell Randy what has to be bought. Normally the money is then sent to our Mercantile account from Evans within a day or two, although occasionally Evans will send it directly to Golden Emperor. I don’t know why that is, and I haven’t asked. But when the money comes to me, I place an order and transfer the money from our account to Golden Emperor when we receive our goods.”
“You’re the one who negotiates prices with the Yangs?”
“I went to school with one of the brothers, so there’s a relationship. I also know quite a bit about pharmaceuticals.”
“Do you negotiate pricing for Malcolm Muir as well?”
“No, they do that for themselves. In fact, they do everything for themselves except package and ship their orders.”
“How are Muir and his people selling your products in Canada? Are you shipping pills in bibles or in white envelopes?”
“Both. I’d say it’s about an even split.”
Ava made another note and this time underlined it. “The Yangs told me that Muir often visits Chengdu. When he comes, do you see him?”
“Yes, he always visits the warehouse. We review the business and discuss fees. We also usually have dinner together.”
“What kind of man is he?”
Su had been only glancing intermittently at Ava as she answered her questions, but now she looked directly at her. “He’s the one who truly interests you, isn’t he. The Canadian business is the reason you’re here.”
She’s sharp, Ava thought as she calculated a response. “If it is, does that represent any particular difficulty for you?” she said.
“I wor
k for the Simmons Ministry.”
“Are you telling me you don’t care about Muir?”
“Of course, I care, but he’s only a customer,” Su said. “If I knew for certain that’s where your interest is and that you have no issue with the rest of our business, it would make for an easier conversation.”
Ava hesitated, then said, “My primary interest is in Muir. Whatever else you’re doing here is between you and the Simmons organization and between the Simmons family and God.”
Su Na nodded. “Then ask your questions.”
“What kind of man is Muir?”
“I don’t like him,” the woman said quickly.
“Why not?”
“He’s rude and a bit of a bully. Whenever he’s here he argues with me constantly about our fees. He always wants them reduced, and if I tell him they’re going up, he gets very angry. If I refuse to back down — which I usually do — he threatens to go to Randy or Pastor Simmons and tell them I’m gouging him.”
“Does he threaten to go directly to them?” Ava asked.
“Actually, he says he’ll ask Patrick Cunningham or Pastor Rogers to deliver the message to Tulsa.”
“When I asked you earlier if you knew the names Patrick Cunningham and Pastor Sammy Rogers, you said yes. Have you met them?”
“I’ve met Cunningham. He came here with the others.”
“Which others?”
“Randy and Muir.”
“When was that?”
“Just before we started doing business with Muir. Randy showed them our operation, and I explained how things worked. There were several dinners, a few more visits to the warehouse, and then Randy told me that Harvest Table Bible Chapel was going to do in Canada what the Simmons Christian Ministry was doing in the U.S., and that our warehouse would be their supplier.”
“Was Pastor Rogers with them?”
“No.”
“Do you have any records from that visit?”
“I have pictures on my phone,” she said. “I believe there’s some with them standing next to our girls as they were putting pills in a Bible, and there’s one with me that the floor manager took.”
“Can I see those?”
“My phone is in my purse, in the lower right-hand drawer of the desk.”
Ava opened the drawer, took out a Michael Kors bag, and passed it to Su, who tapped the screen, scrolled, and handed the phone back. “I don’t take many pictures,” she said. “I don’t know why I decided to take these, except that it seemed like an important occasion.”
“It’s fortunate that you did,” Ava said, looking at the first picture. It was of a smiling Malcolm Muir standing between Randy Simmons and a skinny, gaunt-faced man with a buzz cut who barely came to Simmons’s shoulder. They were facing the camera with their backs to the women and the tables. What the women were doing was unclear.
“I’ve never seen Cunningham,” Ava said, turning the phone towards Su. “Is that him to the right of Muir?”
“Yes.”
“He looks a bit angry.”
“I think it’s his natural disposition,” Su said.
Ava moved on to the next photo and smiled. Su Na, Cunningham, and Muir were standing directly over a box of white pills that a woman was funnelling into a Bible. The Bible’s front cover wasn’t visible, but in the next photo Muir held it in front of his chest. Ava didn’t have to see any more. She put the phone down on the desk.
“Will you forward these photos to me?”
“I’m nervous about the ones that have Randy Simmons in them.”
“I don’t need those. Send me the rest. I’ll give you my phone number and email address.”
“I’ll get them to you before you leave the warehouse.”
“There’s something else I want you to send me,” Ava said. “I assume you have copies of your correspondence with Muir.”
“I do.”
“Are the shipping orders included?”
“Yes. There are hundreds of them.”
“Could you send me representative samples for each year?”
“Who’s going to see them?” Su asked after a slight hesitation. “I don’t want any trouble with the government.”
“They’re for my personal use.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ll give the information to you,” Su said. “Do you promise to keep our organization out of this?”
“I told you I would, and I will.”
“Okay,” Su said, and then pointed to a workstation in the corner. “If you want, I’ll start sending you the information now.”
“That would be wonderful. But before you start, I do have to say something unpleasant,” Ava said. “You are not to discuss what happened here this morning with anyone at all. Not with Randy Simmons, certainly not with Muir, and not even with Zhong. Speak to no one.”
“Listen to her and do what she wants,” Han said. “I don’t want to have to come back here.”
“I won’t say a word.”
“Keep it business as usual.”
“I will. But am I right in suspecting that it won’t be business as usual with Canada for much longer?”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” Ava said.
(33)
Ava and Han left Su’s office fifty minutes later. She had stood over Su’s shoulder, choosing which emails she wanted her to forward. The first few years went quickly, but as they got more recent the number of shipping requests increased dramatically, a pattern that made sense, given the larger orders Muir had been sending to Golden Emperor.
When they were finished, Ava thanked Su and reminded her one more time that what had transpired in the office was to stay there. Su walked Ava and Han to her office door. Before her visitors could leave, she said, “Mr. Han, may I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” he said.
“I understand that you are here as a gesture of friendship for Ms. Lee. But in the future, would you consider helping me if the need arose?”
“That would depend on what you wanted me to do, but I would be willing to listen to any reasonable proposal.”
“What if I wanted to replace the security company I’m using now with your organization?”
“You want us to provide you with security?”
“That’s my general idea.”
“I would have to discuss it with my executive committee. And we’d have to canvass the men to see if there was an appetite for that kind of work,” Han said. “The money you’d be willing to pay would also matter.”
“Why don’t I put together a rough proposal and send it to you.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Han said, reaching into a jeans pocket. “Here’s my business card.”
“You’ll hear from me in a few days.”
Ava and Han started down the stairs. “That was a surprise,” Ava said. “I guess you made a powerful impression.”
Lu walked towards them. “How did it go?”
“It couldn’t have gone much better,” Ava said.
“What do you want to do now?”
“I want to go back to the hotel. I have some phone calls to make.”
“How much longer do you think you’ll be staying in Chengdu?” Han asked.
“If the flight schedules co-operate, I could be leaving as soon as tonight.”
“You don’t believe in sitting still, do you,” Han said.
“If you don’t keep moving, all you’re doing is giving the person you’re after more time to think up ways of avoiding you.”
“My daughter is the same way. She hates procrastination,” Han said, turning to Lu. “Isn’t that right?”
“I know that only too well,” Lu said.
“That makes me like her even more,” Ava said as she climbed into the back of the H
aval.
Willie made a U-turn and headed west. Ava rested her head against the back seat. She knew she had enough hard information to go after Harvest Table; it was now a question of how and when to do it. Complicating things was the fact that she had told many different people in the past few days not to discuss her conversations with them. In her experience it was unrealistic to expect Jasmine Yip and her mother and aunt, the Yang brothers, and Su Na to keep quiet for long. Eventually one of them would talk to someone, and that would start a trail of gossip that would lead to a bad result for Ava. I need to get back to Toronto, she thought.
Han chatted with Willie about the events at the SCM warehouse as they made their way across the city to the Ritz-Carlton. He was pleased with himself, which she knew he deserved to be, but she couldn’t help drawing comparisons with the far more reticent Xu. There was a reason why men like Xu and Uncle commanded so much respect. It had nothing to do with their physical stature and everything to do with the way they carried themselves. She had never heard either of them boast. They took on life as they found it, dealt with it as calmly as possible, and then moved on. She liked to think that she had some of those traits but believed that too often her emotions got in the way.
Before she could censure herself further, her phone rang and she saw Fai’s number. “Hey, I was going to call you earlier but I thought you might be hungover,” she answered.
“It was a late night, but I went easy on the wine,” Fai said.
“Was it a good party?”
“It was terrific, mainly because everyone was so welcoming. It makes me realize there could be a bigger life for me, in the film industry outside China. I think I might start getting serious again about learning English.”
“Andy has made some films in English.”
“I know, and he told me he’d cast me if I wanted to give it a go. But then he started talking about Tiananmen Square again. Ava, I think he really hopes Lau Lau won’t be fit to direct it.”
