“Stop! Leave that man alone!” Deng screamed as he burst out of the Eternal Dragon.
“Oh, a wise man hmm?” The lead soldier asked. “Arrest him too!”
“I’ll...I’ll fight you!” Deng said as he raised his fists in a half-hearted gesture.
“No you won’t,” Lee said from the shadows. He drew and hurled his knife at the soldier in front of Zao so that he could stay hidden. The soldier gurgled a sickly groan as he collapsed, while the other stunned soldiers fumbled with their rifles. Lee slid behind and sliced the throats of the three remaining soldiers.
“C’mon!” Lee screamed at Zao and Deng. They followed as though they were trapped in a haze and couldn’t believe their own eyes.
Lee stopped under a bridge and held his gun close. “The eyes of the Emperor are always watching…” He whispered in Mandarin and pointed to the cameras which lined the streets. He paused for a moment and realized a flaw in his plan: he didn’t have one. He was moving on instinct and didn’t have a safe house, an out or anything.
The whistles blew on the buildings lining the streets. “Curfew in ten minutes! Curfew in ten minutes!” The announcer blared. Lee’s heart quickened, but a grin spread across his lips. This was their out.
“Follow my lead,” Lee grunted to the other two. All of the bars and shops exploded as people flooded into the streets to make it back to their homes before curfew went into effect.
Lee waited until the street was full of people before he went behind Zao and Deng and forced them to walk forward. The three men maneuvered through the streets while Lee’s comm was still full of chatter from the Tingchia searching for the men who shot and killed the others.
The patrons in the Eternal Dragon were stunned to find three dead Tingchia at the doorstep, and they were retelling what they saw to the soldiers investigating the matter.
“No place is safe. Not sure if you’ve figured that out yet,” Zao hissed to Lee. “Hundan,” he added.
“Gunkai ben tiansheng de yidui rou,” Lee hissed back. “Perhaps I’ll throw you back to the Tingchia. Turn left here.”
“Thank you for saving us,” Deng said. “I don’t know why you did, but thank you.”
“Bee-jway Deng!”
“And we’re here,” Lee said.
“The Brit’s house?” Zao asked.
“Yeah. He’s still got diplomatic immunity right?” Lee asked.
“He still gives all of them speeches. I’d say he does,” Deng said.
“Perfect. Keep a lookout,” Lee said. He pulled out a set of lockpicks and manipulated the door handle until it opened.
“You understand there are cameras everywhere and that everywhere you go, everyone you talk to is going to die right?” Zao asked.
“You two were dead either way. I gave you a second chance,” Lee said.
“For what?” Zao snapped.
The door creaked open. Lee slipped inside while Zao and Deng followed close behind. Lee ripped off the Tingchia uniform and searched Jay’s place for a set of spare clothes.
“What did you save us for? They’re going to torture us until they find you, traitor!” Zao said.
“Not very grateful are you?” Lee replied as he ignited a candle. The light shone on his face and Zao and Deng both gasped.
“Xing Ming Lee, is it you?” Deng asked with joy. He walked forward and gave Lee a big hug. “Lee! It is you! Back from the dead! Back from Ophie’s belly!” Deng screamed in laughter as he swung Lee around.
Deng had squeezed all of the air out of Lee, who patted Deng on the back. “I love you too buddy, but you gotta be a little quieter.
“How...how did you survive?” Zao asked.
“I lived in the mountains outside of the city,” Lee replied.
“In the forbidden regions? Oh, you’re sure brave Lee,” Deng laughed.
“I saw the sun you guys. The sun. It shines here, but the clouds keep it hidden away.”
“You...you ruined it!” Zao screamed as he shoved Lee away.
“Ruined what?” Lee snapped.
“I had a quiet life. A life where I worked in the mines, returned home and could afford a drink of rice liquor every night. A simple life where I had all I needed.”
“And look where it got you!” Lee snapped. “Arrested at random by an Emperor who does so to keep his people terrified. You didn’t have a life. You were complacent, hiding until the day you died in either a mining accident or by the Emperor’s hand.”
“Well thanks to you, I’m going to be hunted like an animal!” Zao said.
“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll take you to the station myself!” Lee said.
Zao gasped. “You’d let them take me?”
“I have work to do. If you slow me down, I will leave you behind,” Lee said icily.
Zao glared at Lee with eyes of fire. They were interrupted by the jiggling of the door handle. The door opened, and the Englishman came in. He stared at the three men inside his home as he closed the door.
“Oh I’m sorry. Did I interrupt you blokes hiding out in my home?” He snapped.
“Apologies sir. We needed a place to hide since it’s after curfew and we needed to lie low from the Tingchia,” Deng explained.
“Well that’s a bloody relief. A Tinger killer and his buddies hangin’ out ‘ere in me loft all looking to avoid capture from curfew. Usin’ my diplomatic immunity as protection from the Tingers. Fat load a good it’ll do ya,” the Englishman said.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Lee said as he approached the Englishman. “You’re the man who gives rallying speeches trying to instigate rebellion.”
“Sure am. People deserve freedom. Even you blokes. Can’t say I agree with the trespassin’ but I’m sure you’re good folk,” he said
“It won’t work,” Lee said. “Your rebellion. China gives into oppression because of their belief in the deification of their Emperor. We focus on the collective, not the individual freedoms you preach.”
“Sure does explain a lot.”
“If you want change, we must choose a different tact. The miners won’t rebel. They’re afraid. We must make the Emperor feel fear.”
“How do we do that?” He asked.
“Through acts of terror. We attack Yiu Mei and his ministers at random. We bleed the Empire of their best and brightest. We sow chaos. We unbalance the system and cause him to overreach to the point where the miners snap and fight back. And finally, we kill Yiu Mei,” Lee explained.
“No. I won’t do it,” Zao said. “We can’t win against the Emperor. I won’t end up like Bai, who was taken the same night you were and didn’t come back,” he said as he sneered at Lee.
“Then what would you do?” Lee asked.
“I don’t know, maybe hide in the mountains for three years while all of this blows over.”
Lee lunged forward while Deng wrapped his arms around him. “Hwoon dahn! Dairuomu ji!”
“You blokes certainly got a way with the filthy language eh?” the Englishman asked.
“I’m not going to deal with this. I’ve got work to do!” Lee snapped as he broke Deng’s grip and beelined for the door. The Englishman stepped in front of it.
“I like your style friend and I think your plot will work. Bob’s your uncle-consider me part of your plot. Name’s Jonathan Jay,” he said as he extended his hand.
“Xing Ming Lee, back from the dead,” Lee said as he shook Jay’s hand.
“Now, I’m certain with all the ruckus you caused getting your pals here, the streets will be crawling with them Tingers.”
“I don’t care. Let me go,” Lee said. His eyes became as hard as steel, and Jay saw a face that he knew he shouldn’t trifle with. He stepped out of the way to let Lee cool down. He left the house and wandered through the streets. He kept to the shadows as best he could, but in the back of his mind he knew that the Emperor’s cameras would catch him, there were just too many. Lee’s saving grace was that they wouldn’t be able to identify him since h
e’d been labeled as ‘deceased’ for three years.
He made it to a house that had haunted him for years. It was his old home which had long since been occupied by another family. There was a dim light inside, but a quick look through the window revealed that the husband and wife were asleep in their bed.
Lee picked the lock to his old home and creeped inside. The rickety floorboards groaned in protest, despite his effort to tiptoe through the house. He looked over at the couple who were still fast asleep. He searched for something, anything that could serve as a memory of his family.
He noticed that there were seeds buried between the floorboards. He drew his knife and scraped them out, the only remnants of his past life which remained.
There were less than ten seeds which could be dug out, but they would do. A groan came from the bed and Lee leaped into a defensive position, and held his knife pointed at the couple in bed. He looked into the eyes of a frightened man who was more afraid than he was.
“Forgive me, I mean you no harm,” Lee said in the native tongue. “This was my home before you, but the Tingchia came, killed my family and I only seek a token to remember them by.”
The man listened, and then nodded. “Perhaps I can help,” he said. He crawled out of bed and retrieved something from a box on a shelf next to Lee.
“We were going to give this to our first born, but you should have it back,” the man said as he handed Lee a small doll.
Tears welled up in Lee’s eyes as he held the doll. It had big black eyes, long black hair and fit in the palm of his hand. He clutched the doll tight and held it to his heart as a tear rolled down his cheek.
“Thank you for this,” Lee said.
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry about your family. We were taken from the homeland and I know the pain of having your home taken from you. We all do,” the man said.
Lee felt his anger grow like a rising flame. He tied Ju’s doll to his belt, nodded to the man and left his house. The night air was humid, like you were stuck inside of a cloud. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the skies were preparing to unleash their fury. Sprinkles of rain turned to a cascading downpour and Lee collapsed onto his knees.
Through the rain Lee saw the police station. The cystic infection that had rotted the heart of Ophridia, Lee knew that he was the one who needed to cleanse his world.
“It’s time the Empire felt terror,” Lee said as he rose from the ground. He walked up to the police station and knocked at the door. As the door opened Lee took his knife and thrust it into the throat of the soldier who opened it. He grabbed the soldier’s gun and shot the other Tingchia one by one as they screamed in alarm over the intruder.
“Backup! We need backup!” One of them screamed over the comm. Lee shot him and kicked his corpse away from the controls. He saw that more units were on their way, which was perfect since a police station under duress would result in the death of more Tingchia.
Lee took the grenades off of the soldiers and stockpiled them inside the armory. He heard the sirens of the approaching Tingchia coming, grabbed two guns, some rope and loaded the bodies of three soldiers onto a dolly. The thrusters kept the dolly afloat without any signs of strain or effort. He pulled the pin to a grenade and tossed it into the armory.
Right as Lee left through the back door a squad of Tingchia stormed through the front. The soldiers paused at the sight of the dead bodies before the grenade exploded. The city rumbled as the police station erupted into a pillar of flame. The rain continued to douse the city streets below, but the Tingchia scrambled to the station to investigate the bombing.
With the distraction, Lee tied a rope around the necks of the three soldiers and hoisted them up on the streetlamps for all to see. He knew that he was on camera, but he didn’t care. Jay, Zao and Deng ran up and caught Lee in the act.
“What the bloody hell did you do?” Jay screamed.
“I attacked the police station!” Lee hissed.
“You chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo! The Tingchia will hunt us! Like dogs!” Zao screamed.
“The gate is that way. Let’s see how far you make it,” Lee snapped. “As for me, I’m going to melt into the populace, they’ll never find me.”
The three men stood silent for a moment. “Count me in Lee. It’s about time somebody stood up to the Tingchia,” Deng said.
“Glad to have you buddy,” Lee replied. Deng helped Lee hoist the soldiers on the lamp posts for all to see.
“May as well,” Jay muttered as he ran over and helped the two men out. Zao was standing alone. He looked towards the gates of the city. He heard the screams of the soldiers marauding around the city and witnessed the growing crowds around the fiery station. The soldiers shot into the air to scare the people back to their homes, but he felt the winds change. There was something in the eyes of the Tingchia that Zao had never seen before...fear.
Zao shuffled along and helped the others string up the final soldier. They heard another shot from the station and the screams of soldiers who caught onto what they were doing.
“Do you have a safehouse?” Lee asked Jay.
“A safe house? Why do you think that I’ve got a safe house?” Jay asked.
“You’re an importer-exporter here on Ophridia. You either own a warehouse or know of one. Plus you’re a revolutionary wannabe,” Lee said.
“Well you’re certainly a charming chav. Course I got a safe house.”
“You better lead us to it if we’re going to survive,” Lee said as bullets whistled through the streets. The Tingchia were cracking down on anyone breaking curfew and didn’t hesitate to bludgeon or shoot civilians on the spot.
“Right. This way,” Jay said as the four men ran through the streets. Jay weaved through the alleyways and brought the men into the warehousing districts where Yiu Mei’s coal was waiting to be shipped to Earth.
“Needn’t worry ‘bout the cameras out here. All belong to private corps that even Yiu Mei can’t risk pissing off.”
“Why not?” Deng asked.
“Because he needs Earth to buy all his coal, otherwise he’ll be a very poor world leader,” Jay said. “Anyway, I’ve got all the necessities here to survive. Food, water, communications-”
“Anything that requires a signal?” Lee asked.
“Of course.”
“We can’t use them. Can’t use anything wireless, Yiu Mei’s forces will hack in,” Lee said.
“How’re we to communicate then?” Zao asked. As he posed the question, a pigeon fluttered down and landed on the roof to the warehouse before them.
“The pigeons here are quite tame,” Lee said. He stepped forward, cooed and held his arm out. The pigeon leaped off of the roof and flew down onto his arm.
“Pigeons?” Jay asked. All three men stared in confusion until a smile formed on Deng’s lips. He held out his arm and the pigeon hopped off and fluttered over. He giggled in delight as the bird walked along his arm in.
“The more basic we remain, the harder it will be for Yiu Mei to counter us. In-person meetings, messages relayed by pigeons, dead drops, the works. The Empire will never suspect it,” Lee said.
The pigeon cooed, flew away and walked along on the roof of the warehouse.
“Pigeons?” Jay asked again.
“You’ll get used to it,” Lee said.
Five weeks passed with the Tingchia breaking down doors and arresting people in a maddening search for the terrorists who strung up their fellow soldiers on streetlamps. The Tingchia retaliated by hanging those who were even suspected of being connected with Lee’s terrorist network.
“Why are we hiding down in here?” Zao asked. “I thought you wanted to attack the Emperor, not hide from him!”
“Patience Zao. Our attacks must be random to cause fear. If they’re predictable, then the Emperor can respond. We need to draw him out,” Lee explained.
“How’re we going to do that?” Deng asked.
Lee placed a bowl of berries on the table. “With these,” He s
aid.
“I didn’t think there were any plants down here,” Zao said.
“There aren’t. I found these up in the mountains. They’re like the Rosary Pea on Earth. You get these into the bloodstream, and the victim is eliminated.”
“Devious. How does a berry draw the Emperor out?” Jay asked.
“We move throughout the populace with poisoned blades or barbs and stick soldiers throughout the city. They’ll fall over one by one and the Emperor-”
“Will hide inside of his Palace while his guard dies,” Jay said. “It’s a decent plan, but you need to get his attention. You need to strike somebody close to the Emperor!”
“Any suggestions on who?” Lee asked.
“What about Diang Xia, the Minister of Mining? He uses the Foremans to spy on the workers to find people for the Xiongbu,” Zao explained.
“Brilliant target. Diang is supposed to be touring the mines tomorrow. We can strike while he’s in public,” Jay said. “Now all we need is a delivery system for the poison.”
“I would suggest knives, but none of us will ever get past the guards,” Lee said.
“What about acupuncture needles?” Deng asked. “We can get them right in the market.”
“That’s brilliant!” Jay screamed. “We get a few of the needles, dip ‘em in the poison, Bob’s your Uncle and we end up with a dead mining minister by nightfall!”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Lee said as he took the berries and ground them with his pestle and mortar. The four men scripted their roles for the mission using crude drawings of the city streets on old receipt pads Jay used for his company.
“Is everything clear?” Lee asked. Everyone at the table nodded.
“Good. Everyone get some rest. We’re going to need to be at full strength tomorrow,” Lee said.
The men were restless as they tangled with the idea that they had plotted to assassinate a Minister. They tossed and turned while Lee turned to meditation when it became clear that he wouldn’t sleep. Once the dawn hours came, the four men mobilized and took to the streets.
Horsemen United: Horsemen Origins Books 1-5 Page 22
