Fang clapped. “Very good, Mr. Caine. You’re several steps ahead of your own government’s intelligence agencies.”
“This whole time, they’ve been interrogating the wrong man,” Caine continued. “They’re looking for a connection that doesn’t exist.”
Fang gestured to the array of computer equipment. “Tan discovered the existence of TANGENT during one of Unit 61398’s probes into NSA servers. He brought it to me, along with other information he thought I might find … valuable.”
Caine turned away from Fang and wandered over to another display case. The glass box was filled with a circular array of small, pointed daggers arranged on a cushion of red silk. “Other information? You mean the file that shows you were a CIA plant at Tiananmen?”
Fang stood on the other side of the case. He ignored Caine’s question and looked down at the slim, ancient weapons. “These are Fei Dao … flying knives.” He pointed to a weapon with an elegant, curved blade, and a thick, polished wood handle. “This one was favored by Chinese soldiers during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was known as the Willow Leaf Knife due to the shape of its blade.”
He looked up at Caine. “China took my father from me and destroyed my home. They struck the first blow against me and my family. But it was the United States CIA that twisted the knife in my back.”
“Yeah, welcome to the party,” Caine replied, glancing at the chipped metal blades.
Fang waved a dismissive hand towards Caine. “Yes, I know you were betrayed as well. You know what they are capable of. After the tragedy, my mother and I moved to Beijing. She got a job at a fabric mill. All she wanted to do was put the past behind us. But I was still bitter. Angry. I was perfect fodder for the Beijing Spring movement. Revolution was in the air. To be honest, I cared little about democracy or reform. All I wanted to do was hurt those in power and strike back at the men who had hurt my family.”
“Didn’t work out that way, did it?” Caine asked.
“Of course not. I spouted their propaganda. I marched with my allies across campus and studied the pamphlets passed out by the CIA-backed Student Organization. And on June 3rd, I threw firebombs at Type 59 Battle Tanks when the party declared martial law in the city. I helped set fire to buses parked across the bridge at Muzidi, to slow the army’s march towards the square. And I fled as the soldiers opened fire. They inflicted heavy casualties, and the civilians on-site became enraged. They fought back with rocks, sticks, anything they could get their hands on. The massacre had begun.”
Caine looked over Fang’s shoulder. Something outside caught his eye. Outside the bank of windows at the end of the room, he saw something moving. A black shape, barely visible in the darkness, swung towards the building. Fang and his men didn't see it. They were facing Caine, looking away from the windows.
He gave the case of knives a nonchalant glance, then turned his attention back to Fang. “You're talking about Operation Canary, right?”
“Yes, ridiculous name. I don’t know if the goal was to promote democracy, or force the PRC into an embarrassing act of bloodshed. But either way, the fuse was lit. I fled from the scene and met my mother at the rendezvous point my CIA contact had provided. The final phase of the operation involved smuggling dissidents like myself out of the country, through Hong Kong.”
Iris walked over to them and spread her bamboo sticks across the surface of the glass case. She began to murmur and chant.
“So what happened?” Caine said. He risked a quick glance at the window. Fang's attention seemed focused on Iris’s long, jade-tipped fingers. She raked her nails across the rows of I-Ching sticks.
“I have no idea,” Fang said, his voice low and gravelly. “We stood waiting outside an abandoned cafe. It was a meeting place other students and I had used to distribute propaganda pamphlets. We waited for hours, huddled in the darkness like jilted brides at a rotting altar. No one came for us. History says the CIA smuggled over four hundred dissidents out of Beijing that night. But they left me and my family there alone, helpless. They left us there to die.”
“Sounds like you’re taking things a little personally,” Caine said. I’ve got to keep him talking, he thought.
“How would you suggest I take it,” Fang snapped. “My mother and I fled to the countryside, to another kelian town. A pathetic hole, surrounded by factories and waste dumps. The water was poison, the earth was toxic ash. But my mother did her best to start over yet again. She married one of the disgusting villagers. I took his last name, and she christened me David. We hid from the shame of my failed little rebellion. And she gave him two sons. But they were born … wairen. Different.”
“The twins. The albinos,” Caine said.
“Lucky Si, and Lucky Liu. My brothers,” Fang replied. “I joined one of the gangs in the village. Out there, the Triads were the only law we had. They protected their own. So I became one of them.
“One night, her new husband got drunk. Angry. He kicked open the door, stormed into our little shack. He looked down at my brothers, cowering in the corner. Their appearance shamed him. He blamed my mother, said she had cursed him with demon children. Then he grabbed a knife off the kitchen table. He charged towards her. He did not know I was in the house. Did not know that an elder Triad brother had given me my first gun, to protect myself.
“You killed him,” Caine said. His voice was flat, monotone, as if he were describing a simple errand rather than an act of bloodshed.
Fang nodded. “Yes. I killed him. I put one bullet in his head. He fell to the floor, and I stood over him. I looked into his eyes, and I emptied the gun into his heart. When it was finished, my hands were covered with blood splatter. They were dripping red. And it was then I made my promise.”
“Promise to whom?”
“To my mother. To my brothers. To myself. All that had happened to us … misfortune, betrayal, death … it was not for nothing. Each horrific event was a milestone on my path to destiny. I would rise in the Triads. I would become strong. And I would use my strength to protect my family. I would become the most powerful leader of the most powerful Triad in China. I would be Dragon Father of the Lu Long. All who have stood in my way have fallen before me, Mr. Caine. And now, you are here, to observe as I finally fulfill that promise.”
Iris looked up at Caine. Her wide, dark eyes scrutinized his features. Her mouth hung half-open, and formless whispers drifted out. Then she blinked.
“What is your role here tonight, Mr. Caine?” she said, her voice slow and languorous. “What is your destiny?”
Caine looked down at her fingers as they danced over the sticks.
“I didn’t come here to play pick-up sticks,” he said.
Fang’s voice was hard as iron. “The I-Ching revealed my destiny to me, Mr. Caine. It showed me the path. I have devoted my life to following its guidance. It led me to Iris, then it showed me TANGENT. Now it will show you your path. It will tell us why you are here.”
“Ask a question, Mr. Caine,” Iris said, her strange, piercing eyes seeming to gaze right through him, as if he were a ghost. “For one who knows his true desire, knowledge shall be granted.”
Caine brushed his hand over the sticks. “There’s only one thing I want to know,” he said, turning to look at Fang. “Why do you need TANGENT to take over your little Micky Mouse club? Those dots on the map … they’re locations of your factories, right?”
“Not quite,” Fang answered. He turned to the bank of screens. “They are the locations of dams, built next to my factories. Three Gorges, Huangdeng, your friend’s town, Huagu, and up there in the top … the Baishan Reservoir. My father’s watery grave. Each dam holds back an unthinkable volume of liquid. Combined, they control billions of cubic feet of water.”
“And your factories are downstream from each … insurance?” Caine asked.
Fang nodded. “To rise to the rank of Dragon Father, I must win the council vote. I have eliminated my main rivals, and I am confident the other families will fall in line. B
ut I must also pay a tithe to the departing Dragon Father. The amount is … considerable.”
“I wouldn’t think that would be a problem for a big shot like you.”
“After spending years in that piece of shit town, my mother developed liver and stomach cancer. I have used my fortune to prolong her life, but it has been a great burden. China’s economy has slipped. And now, I am forced to adapt my factories to comply with the new GEA guidelines. Part of your President's new trade deal with my country. I am wealthy, yes, but liquidity has been a problem. Tonight, that changes. Tonight, I lay the final stones in the road that leads to my destiny.”
“TANGENT is ready,” Tan called out. New streams of code began to fill the screen as Tan typed on his keyboard.
“And this is your big plan?” Caine asked. “You’re going to hack into a dam, flood one of your factories? Collect some insurance money?” He shook his head. “Sounds kind of small time to me.”
Fang stepped away from the glass case, moving closer to the bank of computer screens. He stared at them with a feverish intensity. “No, Mr. Caine. I am going to hack four dams. And obliterate my four highest-performing factories. Each one generates millions in annual profit. And each one is insured for billions of dollars.”
“Each one of those dams has the potential to kill thousands of people," Caine growled. "TANGENT might hide your tracks. But do you honestly think your government will believe the Jade Enclave would commit mass murder?”
Fang shook his head. “Oh no, you misunderstand. Setting up the Enclave for the death of that meddlesome bureaucrat was just a test. A mere trial run. Tonight, I will target my true enemy.”
“Along with innocent men, women, and children. People who suffered just like you.”
Cords of muscle burst from Fang’s neck as his mouth curled into a snarl. “Like me? They are nothing like me! They are weak, pathetic. They lack the will to seize their destiny. But I will rise above them. I will achieve greatness. And in doing so, I will strike back at those who sought to destroy me and my family. China took my father, but it was your country, Mr. Caine, that abandoned us. Your country that forced us to flee to that poisonous hellhole. Your country that has stolen my mother’s life, one piece at a time. Tonight, both China and America shall learn the price of betraying me.”
He spun around and marched over to Tan. “Load the NSA database Tailored Access Operations profiles.”
Tan looked up at the screen. “Initiating hack. Loading database … now!” Profiles of American NSA officers began to fill one of the computer screens.
Fang looked back over his shoulder. “Tomorrow, the Ministry of State Security will have to confront a cyber-attack that has killed tens of thousands of Chinese citizens. Their investigation will implicate the American NSA. Trade talks with the United States will cease. The President’s Global Environmental Accord will be torn to shreds. Freed from those restrictions, the productivity of my remaining factories will double, making up for the loss of these four. And my mother will live to see me become the Dragon Father of the Lu Long. I will have kept my promise, Mr. Caine.”
Iris set her hand on top of Caine’s. He looked at her in surprise, but allowed her to move his hand, pushing three of the sticks aside. She lifted his hand and looked down at the hexagram they formed.
Again the dreaded pattern stared back at her.
“Joyous Lake above Arousing Thunder …”
She looked up and gazed upon Caine’s face with a strange combination of hunger and fear.
Her voice lowered to a whisper. “It is you! You have changed the pattern of fate! The shadow of death follows you into this house!”
Caine ignored her rambling. Through the panoramic windows behind Fang’s throne, he saw the object outside move closer. As it grew larger, he could just make out a black, gaping circle. He knew what it must be.
The massive industrial pipe, hanging from the claw … the crane’s jib arm was rotating through the air, and the pipe was moving with it. Jia had been positioned in the crane … Something must have gone wrong. The crane had been activated. It was spinning towards the unfinished structure of the upper floors. The crane's arm was going to collide with Fang Plaza!
Chapter Forty-Five
Alton shot up in bed. From outside he could hear the droning wail of a siren, echoing across the river. He heard rapid footsteps moving through the house. His sister shouted over the commotion.
“Baozhai, wake up! Hen kuai! Get dressed!” He heard the child groan in protest.
Alton turned and looked out the cracked, dusty window of the rear bedroom. Across the river, he saw row after row of spinning lights cutting through the darkness. They moved along the river-bank road, barreling past the belching smokestacks of the chemical factory.
The wailing sirens grew louder.
Emergency vehicles, he thought. They were heading towards the dam.
He reached for the floor, fumbling around in the darkness until his hands grasped a pile of old clothes. Throwing on a t-shirt and sweatpants, he rolled out of bed. He padded through the house towards the warm, bright light of the kitchen. There, Guan-yin tossed bottles of water and packages of dried fruit into a tote bag. She was dressed in a rumpled t-shirt and jeans, and her feet were bare. She looked up at him as he entered the room. He saw fear and worry in her eyes.
“Zai zhele. Pack food! Hurry!” she said, shoving the tote bag towards him.
“What the hell is going on?” Alton asked, grabbing the bag of food in his arms.
“They are evacuating Huagu,” she called back as she ran towards his niece’s bedroom. “Those sirens … they mean something is wrong with the dam!”
He heard little Baozhai crying from the back of the house. He turned and saw Tian, pacing back and forth, speaking on the phone in hushed, angry tones.
“Wo mingbai. I understand. There is nothing that can be done.” He slammed the phone into the cradle and jammed his hands in his pants pockets. He looked up at Alton with dark, haunted eyes.
“Tian, what is going on?” Alton asked.
“That was the shift manager at the chemical plant,” Tian said in a somber voice. “An alert came over the emergency services wire. The flood gates at the dam are under the control of an outside force. They think it may be terrorists. They’re trying to regain control of the system, but for now everyone has been ordered to evacuate the town!"
Alton let the bag of food drop to his side. He turned and looked out the window as more lights tore down the road across the river. A helicopter swooped over them, illuminating the procession of vehicles with a piercing spotlight.
The sirens wailed louder.
“Evacuate to where?” Alton asked. Tian did not answer.
Guan-yin stumbled back into the room, carrying a crying Baozhai in her arms. The girl was terrified. She opened her mouth to scream, but only a wet, wheezing cough emerged from her tiny lips.
“What are you standing around for, let’s go!” Guan-yin shouted.
The four of them rushed outside the house into the dirt road. The narrow, dusty street was packed with a throng of people. They stumbled through the darkness towards the blinking lights of police cars in the distance. Officers stood in the street, struggling to direct the fleeing cars and control the chaotic flow of pedestrians.
A man on a battered white moped whizzed past them, almost clipping Guan-yin in the leg. She jumped back and screamed. Baozhai’s crying intensified.
An elderly man with a cane stumbled and fell as the crowd of people swarmed around him. The moped’s tiny engine screamed as the driver swerved to avoid the fallen man. The bike veered off the road and collided with a broken section of wood fence. The driver went flying through the air. He rolled across the dusty ground several times, then staggered to his feet. Within seconds, he had disappeared into the fleeing crowd.
Alton pushed his way through the mass of people. He bent down and helped the old man to his feet. More people pushed past, ignoring his cries for help. A pai
r of headlights cut through the dusty air. A row of cars was forcing its way through the crowd. Angry horn blasts joined the cacophony of sirens and screams.
Guan-yin glared at Tian. “Zhe shi wo de xiongdi! Go help him!”
Tian nodded and waded out into the throng of people. He slipped an arm under the elderly man’s elbow. Together he and Alton hauled the man to his feet. The three of them limped out of the road as a mud-crusted jeep bounced by. The other pedestrians screamed and staggered to the edges of the road, letting the vehicle pass.
“This is insane!” Alton shouted, handing the shivering old man his cane. “No one will make it out at this rate. If everyone would just calm down—”
The old man shook his head. “Ni cuole, you’re wrong about that, I’m afraid. I used to work at the dam, years ago, before they installed those damn computer-controlled locks. Here in Huagu, we’re too close. If those flood gates open …” The man turned his wrinkled, sunken face towards Guan-yin and Baozhai. Then he looked Tian in the eye. “That much water, billions of gallons of it. The pressure, the speed … you wouldn’t be able to drive a car fast enough to escape it, let alone run. And if it floods the chemical tanks in Fang’s factory … fumes, chemical fires, acids. The water itself will burn. Not a pretty way to go.”
“What are you saying?” Alton shouted. “That we shouldn’t run? That we should just stand here and wait to die?”
The old man put a hand on Alton’s shoulder. “No, son. I’m saying there’s nowhere to run. So letting yourself get trampled by that mob is pointless.” He leaned on his cane and surveyed the mad crowd charging before them with his dark, sunken eyes.
“Let’s just hope whoever is trying to fix this knows what they’re doing. Because if not, everything and everyone you see here will be underwater within the hour.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Tan’s brow furrowed in concern and he hunched over the bank of computers. One of his screens was blinking red. A beeping alert tone sounded from the speakers on the cluttered desk. “Mr. Fang,” he said. “Something is wrong. The TANGENT database, it’s being accessed from outside the building.”
Red Phoenix: A Thomas Caine Thriller (The Thomas Caine Series Book 2) Page 34
