by Ian Hamilton
“Your skepticism is justified. Leji said I should tell you that at your last meeting with his aunt, she asked you to start calling her Lan. That’s a rare compliment from Ms. Gao.”
Uncle caught Lin’s eyes. The other man didn’t turn away. I either trust him completely or I don’t trust him at all. There can be only one source for the story about Ms. Gao, but there’s no room for error and there’s no halfway measure. “What are they going to do with me?” he asked.
“I don’t think they’ll actually send for an ambulance,” Lin said.
“They’ll keep me here?”
“At least for a little while. They’re desperate to connect you to the Lius,” Lin said, his voice so soft that Uncle found himself almost leaning into his face. “All they have right now are Peng’s accusation that you and the Lius are in business together, and one warehouse manager — not several — who told them he thinks some of the Lius have made visits to his warehouse.”
Trust or no trust, this is the time when a commitment has to be made. “Peng knew nothing about our arrangement,” Uncle said, his decision made. “He was just guessing, and probably inventing all sorts of things.”
“He was guessing because they were grilling him about Liu Leji. They wanted him to provide dirt on Leji, and that was the best he could do. He didn’t offer up the information spontaneously. They kept hammering at him for something, anything, until he gave them that.”
“Why are they going after the Lius, and why am I getting dragged into it?”
“You’ve been caught in the middle of a political war. Do you know that General Ye’s father is a high-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee?”
“I do.”
“His father is General Ye Desheng, and he was and still is a Maoist,” Lin said. “Not everyone on the Committee is pleased with the direction in which Premier Deng is taking the country. Several hardliners want to keep things as they were during Mao’s chairmanship, and Ye Desheng is their leader. They want to roll back Deng’s initiatives, and they’re particularly focused on eradicating the special economic zones, which they regard as capitalist snakepits that will poison our socialist society. They can’t target Deng directly so they’re doing the next best thing — going after his closest friend and lifelong ally, Liu Huning. If they can topple Liu, they’ll weaken Deng. Who knows, they might even be able to get him removed, or at least get him to reverse the economic course he’s set the country on.”
“And they think they can get rid of Liu Huning by proving what?”
“They need to find enough evidence to charge Liu Leji with corruption. Ms. Gao and Meilin are only secondary concerns because, frankly, a great many high-ranking officials have wives and children who don’t have government jobs and are involved in businesses. Leji’s position as director of Customs makes him a prime target, though, because if he aided or profited from the warehouse businesses, it’s a clear-cut case of corruption. And if he is charged, there’s no way that Liu Huning can avoid being tarred with the same brush. That family is one unbreakable unit, and nothing happens within it that Huning hasn’t approved — or so everyone believes.”
Uncle became quiet as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing. He knew he wasn’t as alert as he would like to be; the questions in his head were jumbled and coming randomly. He picked one and asked, “What role are you playing in all this?”
“Nothing I planned on, I assure you,” Lin said. “I’ve been on General Ye’s staff for four years but I’ve known Leji my entire life. He was raised by his uncle, who was a comrade of my father, and our two families lived side by side in the same compound in Beijing. The only difference between Leji and me is that his father returned from a labour camp at the end of the Cultural Revolution, and mine didn’t.”
“But you’re on Ye’s staff.”
“He doesn’t know how close Leji and I are. Besides, I’m a loyal soldier and I’ve been pleased to do General Ye’s bidding until now,” Lin said. “And truthfully, he has been loyal as well. I’ve never heard him utter a word of political dissatisfaction. This is a new experience for me. I’m assuming that he’s being directed by his father.”
“You mentioned the political manoeuvring in Beijing. How can you know that’s what’s behind all this?”
“Leji told me. He was warned by his uncle a few months ago that some members of the Politburo Standing Committee were eager to discredit him, with Ye Desheng leading the charge. Knowing how close the Ye family are and that General Ye was in Shenzhen, Liu Huning asked Leji to keep his eyes and ears open. When Peng was first arrested, I don’t think Leji was that concerned, but when Peng was turned over to the PLA for further questioning, after he had already agreed to plead guilty, Leji began to suspect an ulterior motive. It was then that he contacted me. I did some discreet poking around and discovered that General Ye had personally assigned Captain Guan to interrogate Peng and had instructed him to focus on what Peng knew about Leji’s business dealings. I told Leji. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but friendship has to count for something. When I did, he told me about what was going on in Beijing. By the way, did you recognize Guan when you saw him in the room with the general ?”
“No.”
“He’s the man who put the gun to your head and threatened to kill you.”
“I never saw his face. I was blindfolded.”
“Guan is a good enough soldier, but when he’s left unrestrained, he can be an animal. The general turned him loose on Peng, and then on you. Peng told them everything they wanted to hear. Of course, they put the words into his mouth,” Lin said. “I have to say you have frustrated them to an extraordinary degree. They can’t understand why you won’t do a deal with them. I mean, even if you weren’t in business with Leji, it wouldn’t cost you anything to tell them what they want to hear, the way Peng did. The general can’t figure out if you’re being honourable, stubborn, or just plain stupid, but he does think you are brave. I was with him when Guan told him about taking you from your cell and the beating they applied. The general asked him to repeat how you handled that farce of the gun in the back of your head. When Guan told him, the general said, “I don’t think we’re going to break this man. It’s hard to break a man who isn’t afraid to die.”
“That shows how little they know about me.”
“They actually don’t have much interest in you, other than trying to connect you to the Lius in any way they can. It was the same with Peng. All the general cares about is getting enough dirt — verified or not — to be able to bring charges against Leji.”
“What are they going to do with me now?”
“You have to accept that your life and well-being don’t matter to them.”
“That’s obvious enough, but from a practical viewpoint where does it leave me?”
Lin shook his head. “My fear is that they will turn you over to Guan again, and this time the gun will be loaded.”
Uncle and Lin sat quietly for several minutes, pondering Lin’s last comment. Uncle was the first to speak. “Can you make some phone calls for me? My people need to know where I am and what’s going on.”
“Your people know. Leji has been in touch with them many times since you were arrested at the border crossing. They’ve been giving him a difficult time.”
“How so?”
“You have very loyal colleagues, Uncle. There’s been talk of trying to break you out, but Leji has refrained from telling them exactly where you are, in case they might actually try. As you can imagine, it would be a monstrous mistake.”
“Did Leji tell you that we’re triads?”
“He did, and I told him I would forget that he’d told me. This entire affair is complicated enough without adding your criminal affiliations to the mix.”
“It may be complicated from where you’re sitting, but from where I am it’s quite simple. I talk or I don’t, and either way, I suspect, the result wil
l be the same as what befell Peng.”
“This isn’t the time to despair,” Lin said, resting a hand lightly on Uncle’s knee. “I’ve been keeping Leji fully briefed and he’s been passing the information to his uncle in Beijing. The family knows you haven’t said a word, that you haven’t betrayed the trust they put in you, despite everything you’ve had to endure. Strings are being pulled in Beijing, favours are being called in, and old alliances are being re-formed. Leji told me that his uncle is focused on getting you released.”
“That’s encouraging. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but at what speed? I’ve already been in PLA hands for days. How much longer can this go on? How long before I get another visit from Guan?”
“We need to buy some time,” Lin said.
“How much time?”
“I don’t know, but every hour is precious.”
“What are you suggesting we do?”
“You and I have to negotiate a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“We need to pretend you’re willing to co-operate, and then drag out negotiations for as long as we can.”
“Will the general have the patience for that?”
“He isn’t a patient man, but if he thinks he has a chance to help his father bring down the Lius, I’m confident he’ll go along with it — at least for a while.”
“Then talk to him. Buy me some time,” Uncle said.
“I need a starting point. I have to tell him what you’re prepared to admit and what you want in return.”
Uncle hesitated. Lin was smooth, maybe too smooth. Was this a trap? Had Lin suckered him in somehow? Despite his earlier decision to trust him, he decided to proceed slowly. “Why don’t you get the general to make the first move. Tell him I’m prepared to co-operate but I need absolute assurance that I’ll be able to leave here and return to Hong Kong without any delay or retribution. Tell him I’m still not confident that he’ll keep his word.”
“Telling him you don’t believe he’ll honour his word would be the ultimate insult, so I’ll skip that. I’ll find a way to rephrase it. Maybe I can just emphasize that you need an iron-clad guarantee before you’re prepared to share information with us.”
“Okay. And tell him it has to be something specific, something binding,” Uncle said. “I don’t want to deal in generalities.”
“That has the added benefit of maybe stretching out negotiations a bit.”
“Let’s hope it does.”
Lin stood up. “I’d better get started on this. They’ll be wondering what I’m up to.”
“When you leave, tell the guards outside to keep the lights on and their hands off me.”
( 30 )
The lights were left on after Lin left the cell, and Uncle was able to wheel his chair over to the toilet. Trying to stand was difficult and painful, so he eventually gave up and peed from a sitting position. He made a bit of a mess, which he thought was a perfect reflection of the situation in which he found himself. As bad they were, though, things weren’t as dire as they’d seemed an hour before. If Lin was genuine — and believing he was was the only real option Uncle had — then he might be able to buy enough time for Liu Huning. But buy enough time to do what? Was Uncle simply a pawn in a power struggle in Beijing? When all was said and done, was it possible that he might be considered disposable by both sides?
“Gui-San, I think I may be joining you soon,” he said suddenly. “It isn’t the way I wanted to do it, but the choice isn’t mine. Things are in such disarray here, I’d like a chance to sort them out. Please understand that. The Chinese army has decided I’m the instrument they can use to destroy the Liu family, and in Fanling, God knows what’s going on with the Tai Wai gang threatening us. If I survive, it will mean I’ve protected the Lius and I can get back to Fanling. But if I have to leave this world here, my love, I’ll be so happy to see you again.”
Uncle heard a noise and rolled the chair towards the door. He flexed his legs. He could move them easily enough and they didn’t hurt, but his back ached from top to bottom and his ribs screamed in pain when he turned the wrong way. He had no idea how long it would take for everything to mend, but right now that was a secondary concern.
A few seconds later Uncle heard footsteps coming down the corridor. He pushed the chair away from the door and waited. When it opened, Lin appeared first, and right behind him was the man Uncle now knew was Guan.
“The general has agreed to negotiate with you, but he wants Captain Guan to be a party to the negotiations,” Lin said.
“I don’t know Captain Guan and I have nothing against him,” Uncle said, careful to disguise the fact that Lin had told him who he was, but also wondering if Lin actually had Ye’s trust, “but I’d feel more comfortable continuing to negotiate one-on-one with you.”
“You’re hardly in a position to tell the general how negotiations will be conducted,” Guan said.
“You couldn’t be more wrong. I am in exactly that position — unless of course the general isn’t serious about negotiating,” Uncle said. “So let me be clear. I want Captain Lin to be my sole point of contact.”
Guan’s body stiffened. Uncle suspected that if Lin hadn’t been in the cell, a punch, or worse, would have been delivered.
“We’d better go back and talk to the general,” Lin said.
Uncle saw that Guan wanted to argue. He thought for a second about provoking him, then logic took over. “Tell the general I’m not trying to be difficult. I simply don’t want to be negotiating with a team. I find that your style is conducive to productive conversation,” he said to Lin.
“Let’s go,” Lin said to Guan, and turned to leave the cell. Guan stared at Uncle and then reluctantly followed his colleague.
Uncle shifted in his chair. This was going to be more difficult than he had imagined. Guan obviously had Ye’s trust. Even if Lin came back alone, Uncle sensed that sooner or later he’d be dealing with Guan again. Ye wasn’t going to give Uncle an assured path to Hong Kong without something in return. He almost hoped the general would make it difficult by refusing to commit to a clear-cut release, but what if he didn’t? What if Ye gave him a deal with an ironclad guarantee? Uncle shook his head, and he began to feel tired as the complications accumulated in his head. The bottom line, he thought, was that even if he believed he could get back to Hong Kong, he couldn’t betray the Lius, and there was no story he could spin that would work around that fact. No story would mean another visit from Guan.
Uncle changed position on the chair again and felt pain radiating down his back. He closed his eyes and the pain gave way to total weariness, his body suddenly sapped of all energy. When he opened his eyes, things were so blurred he couldn’t make out the cell door. He leaned forward and then said, “Shit,” as he tumbled to the floor.
Uncle heard the sound of people talking. When he opened his eyes, he expected to find himself in the cell. But he seemed to be back in the hospital, and the voices he was hearing were those of Doctor Song and Lin, who were standing by a window not far from his bed. Lin was doing most of the talking, one of his hands gripping the doctor’s shoulder, his face only inches away from Song’s. Uncle couldn’t make out what Lin was saying, but he could hear the urgency in his voice.
“Hey,” Uncle said. When no one responded, he said as loudly as he could, “Hey.”
They turned and looked at him with grim faces.
“What happened?” Uncle asked in a raspy voice.
“Ah, you are returned to us,” Song said.
“What happened?”
“You had a sudden drop in blood pressure, most likely caused by excessive stress,” the doctor said. “And when you collapsed onto the floor, you hit your head and concussed yourself. As you can see, you’re back in the hospital.”
“My head feels cloudy.”
“I’ve sedated you quite heavily.”
“You’ve been out for more than twelve hours,” Lin said. “I’ve been trying to convince the doctor here that you should be prevented from receiving visitors for another twenty-four hours. We don’t want another low-pressure scare.”
“What will Ye do if I’m out of circulation for that long?” Uncle asked.
“I think that’s a conversation we should have later,” Lin said. “All that matters right now is that we safeguard your health.”
“I agree,” Song said, and turned to Lin. “I think you’re correct. Another twenty-four hours under my care would be entirely appropriate for Mr. Chow.”
“I’m pleased you see it that way,” Lin said.
“Good. In that case I’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes, but I have to suggest that you don’t spend too long, Captain. I don’t want the patient getting overtired.”
Lin walked over to the bed but didn’t speak until the door had closed behind Dr. Song. “That was a very convenient fall you took,” he said.
“It wasn’t deliberate. I suddenly felt weak, and the next thing I knew I was heading for the floor.”
“I know. Song made it quite clear to me and to Ma — who was here earlier — that it was a medical issue that caused it. Still, we shouldn’t be ungrateful.”
“So we have another twenty-four hours?”
“Only if General Ye decides to listen to the doctor. But I’m sure Song will be persuasive.”
“How can you be so confident?” Uncle asked.
“The doctor will be paid handsomely, but only on the condition that he buys us that time.”
“Is twenty-four hours going to be enough?”
“Well, who knows what kind of shape you’ll be in by then. Maybe I can buy some additional time. One thing is certain, though. This time the doctor won’t agree so readily to your being physically moved from the hospital.”
“That won’t necessarily stop Guan and the others from coming here,” Uncle said.
“True, but the general has agreed that Ma and I should handle the negotiations with you. I’ll let Ma know we can’t begin for at least another twenty-four hours, and when we do, you and I will have to stretch it out as much as we can,” Lin said.
