Girl Goes To Wudang (An Emily Kane Adventure Book 7)

by Jacques Antoine

  “Oh, yeah, and I’ve got the pearls with me. I’ll swing by the third floor later.”

  On most days, Emily headed north, towards the Temple of Earth Park, the east side of which she’d skirt and then turn right on Hepingli Street until she hit the Bahe River. One klick north, the canal would split off from the river, and she might follow that to the Qisheng Temple park and then bear right through the Sun Palace neighborhood, until she hit Taiyanggong Park, and from there she could take any number of side streets to the NEC.

  Today she didn’t follow the canal, choosing instead to stick to the levee on the east bank of the river and meaning to follow it all the way to Daquingsi, circling north east of the embassy and picking a southbound alley that would take her to the Landmark River. She could follow the levee on its north bank for two klicks and come up a few blocks from the compound. Needless to say, she found considerable satisfaction in the arcane complexity of her routes, and the sense of security this gave her.

  A block and a half from the spot where Liufang Street crossed the Bahe, and where she would access the levee, the familiar tones issued from her pack, and she stopped to fish out the satphone. This was likely to be someone she actually wanted to talk to.

  The voice was instantly familiar – she’d meant to call him yesterday, before the State Dinner, one of the comms-windows they’d agreed on, since it isn’t always easy, or safe, to call a SEAL. “I missed your call,” Perry said. “You must have been involved in some serious business.”

  A chill washed over and down her spinal column, and she broke into a sweat, her body responding to this stimulus in starkly contradictory ways. Here was the important business she’d forgotten about, leaving it to tickle the cerebellum in a region that doesn’t easily access conscious thought. The first thought that managed to find a cogent form was, Did he know? But how could he even suspect, unless a photographer had managed to get an image of them leaving the Banquet Hall together. They’d been so careful, though at the time she hadn’t realized that this was why she needed to be careful.

  “Just a state dinner,” she said, her voice fluttering in her throat. Please, let him not hear it. “… and I turned out to be the guest of honor.”

  “You were the what?”

  “Well, not exactly the guest of honor… more like the main dish. What do they call it… General Tso’s Chicken, or something. That was me all evening.”

  “Why so much attention on you? We haven’t heard anything about it in these parts.”

  With that remark, Perry effectively granted her a temporary reprieve. He hadn’t heard… yet. Now she just had to decide what sort of liar she was going to be. If she never saw Wu Dao again, no one would be the wiser, at least not anyone she cared about, and certainly not Perry. She could be that sort of liar – a single indiscretion, easily buried in the past, consigned to oblivion – and nothing to prevent her from continuing from this moment forwards as a paragon of virtue and candor.

  “It’s complicated… but then we’re talking about the State Department, so that’s a given. But the bottom line is that the Chinese gave me a medal.”

  “Holy cow, a medal? You mean for what happened on Itbayat?”

  “Exactly. I am now an official member of the Order of the Heroic Exemplar. It sounds fancier in Mandarin, but there you have it.”

  “That’s amazing, and it’s not like you don’t deserve it. But how’d it go over with our people?”

  “They anticipated it, somehow, and Crichton and Lukasziewicz flew in the day before, bearing all sort of honors of their own.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, a Purple Heart, for starters.” She paused to let Perry ponder that one.

  “It’s not like you don’t deserve it.”

  “… and captain’s bars…”

  “No kidding... but also well-deserved.”

  “… and that’s not all.” Emily was beginning to enjoy the TV huckster’s patter, both because it obviously tickled Perry, but also because it led the conversation into a safer emotional register.

  “Don’t tell me. They pinned a Bronze Star on you, right? Because you earned at least that much, just for scaring the crap out of me on that damned island.”

  “If only…” Emily began to feel the burden of the next few words she’d have to utter even before they’d sounded. But there was no sense putting it off. “They must have been in a medal-giving mood, because they aimed a little higher.”

  “A Silver Star. Wow, that’s saying something.”

  “Even higher.”

  “No shit.”

  “Yup, the Navy Cross. I guess they felt like they had to match whatever the Chinese were going to do… like a game of one-up-man-ship with medals, or something.” It took a bit longer for this news to sink in on the other end of the call. Finally, she heard what sounded like howling, or maybe some static on the line.

  “No way,” he said. “Of course, I mean, congratulations, sweetheart… but also, no way. That is unbelievable.”

  “I imagine you’ll be hearing about it through more official channels soon, so remember to act surprised, in case we’re not supposed to be having this conversation.”

  “You never cease to amaze me, do you know that?”

  Now that the impressive news was out of the way, she told him about living in Beijing, her apartment, Mrs. Gao, eating street food, and the rest of the quotidian detritus of the last few weeks, all in an effort to stave off anything that might lead to a painful conversation. But she didn’t know if she had the hardihood to end the call on a note like that, merely trading pleasantries with no heartfelt expression of her feelings for him. The question pressed on her again: What sort of liar was she? This was the moment to find out.

  “I met someone…” Something hard and dry caught in her throat, and she struggled to cough it out, like a cat with a hairball. “I mean, I made a new friend… her name is Margie, and she works on the State side. She bailed me out of all sorts of difficulties with this dinner, and getting an evening gown… and escaping once the evening was over.” The lie had been going so well, until that last bit. Maybe Perry wouldn’t notice how close it strayed toward the one truth she mustn’t mention, that she’d spent the night with another man. But Wu Dao kept intruding on her consciousness. She needed to end this call before he made it all the way out into the open.

  “Listen, sweetheart. The MSG’s are signaling me from the gate of the compound. Something must be up. I really have to go. I love you.”

  Perry let her go, echoing her sentiments – he also was pressed for time, and could only remind her that he loved her before breaking the connection. But his admission was truthful, and hers was… well, she didn’t exactly know how to characterize it, even though the words almost burned her tongue when she said them: “I love you.”

  “Enough interruptions,” she muttered, and cinched up her pack, before finding a pace to carry her to the Bahe River. Accessing the embankment on the east side of the river entailed a short sprint along Xibahe Road – she could have jogged the two blocks, but the tree cover inspired the extra exertion – and down a ramp that led to the paved quay lining both banks. During the day, this area would be jammed with pedestrians and cyclists, and running would be impossible, or at least not particularly pleasant. But at this hour, Emily had the path to herself, except for the occasional fellow early-bird passing now and again to punctuate the quiet that would completely evaporate within an hour.

  The staccato of her footfalls contrasted with the whispering of the river, and Emily felt impelled by the counterpoint to reflect on the ever-changing balance of her heart. She’d known Perry for eight years, and her passions had become entwined with his in ways it might be hard to express. Did she love him? A more bracing question occurred to her – what would it really cost her to disentangle their passions?

  She’d known Wu Dao less than a day, and for much of that time her mind had been distracted by the spotlight that follows powerful people – not to mentio
n the deleterious effects of dancing and maotai. Her ties to him were slender and superficial, no matter how strong the visceral attraction she felt. So why did her heart thrill at the mere thought of seeing him again? Were these feelings in any way comparable to the trust she had built up with Perry?

  Passing under the bridges amplified the report of her steps, and gave some respite from the breeze that had begun to pick up along the river. Birds squawked and cooed down from perches among the I-beam supports, until the vibration from a truck passing on the roadway above dislodged them in a moment of fluttering and squawking. Just past the Ring Road overpass, the river bent to the right, and the trees along Xibahe Road cast diagonal shadows across her path. A pair of cyclists sped by on her left – the first people she’d seen since the Qisheng overpass – and she turned to admire the Gongli Mansion across the river.

  The first of the Taiyanggong bridges loomed before her, and she glimpsed a figure loitering among the shadows. The familiar question presented itself – should she avoid him, or confront him, whoever he might be? When he moved in her direction – a few steps to intercept her path – she saw how large he was… and how familiar.

  “It’s only me, Tenno sifu. Don’t be alarmed.” Jiang Xi hovered in the deeper shadows of the bridge and gestured to her to join him. “There will be no electronic surveillance here for the next fifteen minutes.”

  “There’s a camera right there.” Emily pointed to an orb-shaped object suspended from a lamppost a few yards away.

  “I’ve arranged for a glitch. None of the cameras in this stretch are currently functional.”

  “How did you know I’d come this way?”

  Jiang couldn’t help but laugh at the question. “You have been the subject of very careful study by several agencies. The Ministry for State Security, mainly, but not only them.”

  “But I change my route everyday.”

  “Yes, you have been quite artful, and I commend your efforts, but there are only so many ways to get from point A to point B, and the Ministry employs some of the world’s best software engineers, predictive algorithms… you get the picture, I’m sure.”

  “If their software geeks are so good, how were you…”

  “… the hackers working for the counter-intelligence bureau are even better.”

  “Well, I’ve been careful not to do anything worth surveilling.”

  “Yes, we can discuss that in a minute.” Jiang shivered in the breeze, and adjusted the collar of his jacket. “But you did well not to acknowledge me at the event last night… oh, and congratulations on your medal. I trust you understand that one of Liang’s intentions is to make you into an easily recognizable figure for the general public. Your picture will be on the cover of every newspaper and magazine for the next week.”

  “I figured that’s what it means to be a ‘Heroic Exemplar’ or whatever the precise title is.”

  “Exactly. It also means that everyone you run into anywhere in Beijing is a potential informer. So be warned.”

  “Is that why you took the trouble to meet me here?” Emily shifted her feet, as if to signal that the tenor of the conversation was beginning to make her feel trapped.

  “No. We have more important business to discuss, personal business.”

  “You mean Li Li, right?”

  “Yes, Tenno sifu. You have done so much for me and my niece… and I do not wish to seem ungrateful…”

  “You don’t need to apologize for wanting to have her with you, Jiang Xi. We’ve kept her with us precisely for this reason. But are you sure it’s safe… I mean, really safe?”

  “That’s part of my reason for taking this otherwise ill-advised meeting. I want your counsel in this matter. But I also need to know what Li Li wants. Will she fit in here? I can provide a home for her…”

  “My mother said something about a woman…”

  Jiang turned away for an instant, almost embarrassed – was he blushing? – and then turned back to face her. “Yes. Her name is Guo Jie Yi, and she works in the Ministry, too.”

  “Is she your camera hacker?”

  “No… not hardly, but she is… I haven’t told her about Li Li yet.”

  “Don’t you trust her?”

  “I don’t trust anyone these days. Things have changed so quickly since the coup attempt, and the purges… they are a goldmine for career advancement, and the Ministry has been turned practically upside-down. ‘Discovering’ traitors is the name of the game these days.”

  “Wherever there’s turmoil, there’s opportunity.”

  “Is that an ancient Japanese saying?”

  “I thought it was a Chinese proverb. Is Guo Jie Yi a climber?”

  “No, but I don’t want to make her vulnerable to others who are. The Ministry is full of them.”

  “Is she really the one?”

  Jiang tried to respond, but something seemed to stick in his throat, and his eyes glistened for an instant. In a sort of reflex, he stared at his shoes, perhaps to conceal the sheepish smile stretching his red cheeks. Emily placed a hand on his chest.

  “It’s okay, big guy. You get to be happy, too… and there’s no point bringing Li Li home if you’re not.”

  He nodded, and raised his face. “Thank you, Tenno sifu. You are right. I want you to meet her, and then you can make your own judgment.”

  “Is that wise? I mean, what does she know about me… about us, and Li Li.”

  “I haven’t told her about Li Li, and no one outside the counter-intelligence bureau knows anything about Tang Tian’s team, and the effort to… to find you.”

  “But surely there are people inside the Bureau who know about North Korea, who know about Li Li.”

  “All those people are dead,” Jiang Xi said in a low growl.

  “Still, won’t you need some sort of cover story for Li Li? If people know who she is, there’s bound to be questions…”

  “That’s been arranged… an acquaintance in the North Korean security service will ‘rescue’ her from a remnant of the discredited Park team, in exchange for a favor. It will be received here as a sentimental reunion and public opinion will make it difficult to question.”

  “I imagine the only thing that matters is if your fiancée believes it. But you may have to let her in on the secret… unless you think Li Li can trust her if she thinks you don’t.”

  “I see your point, and that’s why I want you to meet her.”

  “How do you plan to arrange that without raising even more suspicions?”

  “The Ministry of Defense has just given a large contract to Yuquan Industries for carrier-based fighter planes. There will be a banquet to celebrate the occasion on Thursday, and you’re on the guest list.”

  “Great,” Emily moaned, “… another banquet. I assume the rest of the Attaché office is invited as well.”

  “No, just you.”

  “How on earth…”

  “Apparently, you impressed the Chairman of the Joint Military Staff, General Yang.”

  “I don’t see how I can go without approval, and that means they’ll treat it as an assignment, you know, with briefings after.”

  “Rest assured the general is aware of this. Oh, yes, and this brings me to the other reason for this meeting. The dinner will be at the estate of the chairman of Yuquan Industries, Wu Wei.”

  With the utterance of that name, Emily’s eye’s lost their focus for a moment. No longer reassuring a friend about a romantic interest, she recognized that her own heart was about to become the object of inquiry.

  “Is my apartment wired? Is that why you helped me find it?”

  Jiang blanched ever so slightly at the forcefulness of her question. “I can assure you it is not, and that is precisely why I found it for you. But I cannot make the same assurance indefinitely. Do you have any idea what a colossal error in judgment it would be to see Wu Wei’s son again?”

  Emily took a step back towards the light outside the cover of the overpass, and when she shifted her weight t
o take another, Jiang reached out to pull her back into the shadows. A quick, subtle twist of the hand that would restrain her, and he winced, and her eyes burned – “I know what I’m doing.”

  “We must remain in the shadows… to avoid the cameras… and do you really know what you’re doing? You are about to become one of the most intensely scrutinized women in China, and if you allow your name to be linked with Wu Dao, you will rise to the very top of the list. That’s a form of celebrity you cannot afford… I cannot afford it, and neither can Li Li.”

  “Fine. I’ll be at your banquet… but I can’t make any promises beyond that. If Wu Dao is there… I can’t prevent him from paying attention.”

  “Is he really the one? That was your question to me, and perhaps you should answer it, too. Isn’t there a young man in your special forces who means something to you?”

  “Enough.” Emily glowered at him, and cinched up her pack. “You’ve said enough.” A moment later, she’d put a few hundred meters between herself and Li Li’s uncle, her head throbbing with the good advice she had no patience for.

  14

  Dress Alpha

  It took a full twenty-four hours for Jepsen’s temper to return to any sort of sang froid after the invitation was messengered over to the NEC. Emily could almost sympathize with him – an upstart junior is dumped in his lap, and at every turn his office protocols are upended by some new thing involving her. Of course, since the promotion, she was technically no longer a junior, but she felt like one to him, and only a line-jumper could even think to socialize so high above her pay-grade. Naturally, she arranged to spend as much time as possible on the third floor, on one ‘important’ errand or another that carried her past Margie’s desk.

  “Have you heard anything?” This had been Margie’s steady refrain for the past two days, and the girlish gleam in her eye made it feel almost cruel to disappoint her.