by Mingmei Yip
However, I had enjoyed seeing the happy little riders, watched carefully by their doting parents. It awakened a faded memory of me as a little girl riding a carousel just like this. My parents’ faces almost came back to me, when Jinying interrupted my reminiscence and the image faded away like a dream….
That night, as if on cue, Jinjin again entered my dream.
Instead of standing in front of me as before, this time he was riding a yellow wooden horse on top of a carousel. The same nostalgic, dreamy music spilled from the merry-go-round as my little baby waved furiously at me, his expression both happy and anxious.
I exclaimed, “Be careful, Jinjin, and hold tight!”
“Mama, Mama!” he shouted, as his face alternately spun away from me and reappeared with the revolving of the carousel.
“Jinjin, how come you’re all by yourself?”
“Mama, both you and Baba disappeared, you remember?”
“Then… what about your grandparents, why aren’t they taking care of you?”
“They can’t. You forget that they are in hell?”
“Son, don’t tease me! What do you mean that they’re in hell?”
“Oh, Mama,” he retorted, “how can you forget that they’re dead?”
“Dead, how?”
“Mama, your parents were murdered!”
“What?! By whom?”
“By the man you call big brother, that’s who!”
Just then I woke up from this dreamy revelation to find myself not in the amusement park but in my joyless Hong Kong apartment. Suddenly memories I’d been suppressing my whole life flowed into my consciousness like water bursting a dam.
I was about four, accompanying my parents for an outing. On the way, I fussed so badly that my parents said that after they’d taken me to pee, they’d get me some ice cream to cheer me up. While we were looking for a restroom, two big men jumped out of a seemingly deserted alley and grabbed us. One of them pulled a bag over my head so I couldn’t see. But I was able to hear all too clearly—flesh slashing, cow-slaughtering screams—then silence. After that, I was pushed into a car that sped away in full speed.
I cried hysterically, “Mama! Baba!” until the bag was lifted from my head.
In front of me was the face of a young Big Brother Wang!
At this moment, I knew what I must do next with Wang’s training.
PART SIX
22
A Telephone Call
Back in Shanghai, Shadow and I stayed at a medium-priced hotel in the French Concession. Here, we could get tidbits of information from the rickshaw pullers as they went in and out. Since the concessions were controlled by foreign governments, we were safer here than in the main city, controlled, of course, by the Chinese police and their gangster accomplices.
Since we had not come back for pleasure, we didn’t go out much, but read all the newspapers to catch up on what was happening in the city. However, after Rainbow’s article that I’d read in Hong Kong, there was no further news about Jinying’s kidnapping or Wang’s efforts to take over the Shanghai underworld. This left me more worried than ever.
A whole week had passed and still nothing in the news. To overcome my inertia, I decided on a bold move: telephoning Big Brother Wang. This would be extremely risky, even suicidal, because then he would know I was in Shanghai, within reach of his hit men. I needed to be very careful not to carelessly reveal anything about my location or my plans. So I wrote down what I’d be telling Wang:
1. I’m now in Shanghai.
2. I have Lung’s safe combination and bank account numbers.
3. I’m offering a trade—Jinying alive with not so much as a single hair lost—in exchange for the combination and account numbers.
I figured this was an offer Wang could not refuse since getting these had been his life-long obsession. In addition, if Wang believed that I cared more about love than money, he’d fall more easily into my trap.
The next morning, I went to a public phone and dialed my former boss’s residence.
The man who picked up the phone—probably one of his bodyguards—barked a loud, “Yes?!” which sounded very much like a threatening “No!”
“Is Big Brother Wang there? I would like to speak to him.”
“Who’s that?”
“Please tell him it’s his former secretary.”
“Did he have one?”
I smiled into the phone and spoke seductively. “Sir, you must be new, of course he had!”
The bark seemed to be brought down a notch. “All right, miss, stay right there.”
Seconds later, Wang’s even more intimidating voice attacked me from the other end of the line.
“Who is this? It better be something good!”
“It’s Camilla, Big Brother Wang.”
A few seconds of deathly silence.
“Camilla? Is this a joke?”
“It’s me, Big Brother Wang.”
Another cemetery silence during which I imagined the relish of plunging a knife into his chest or firing a bullet into his head.
“Then where the hell have you been, and why are you calling me after this damn long time?”
“Sorry, Big Brother Wang, but I can explain.”
“Huh, explain? You’re pretty brave to even call me in person. My men can track you down and snap your pretty neck with a loud crack! Ha!” He snickered. “Maybe this just proves how well I’ve trained you to be fearless. But I didn’t mean to train you to be stupid!”
”Big Brother Wang, I’m well aware of my position.”
Before winning the battle, it’s always wise to play humble. As The Art of War taught me:
The art of war is the art of deception.
When capable, feign incapability.
“Then when are you going to give me back what you stole from Lung’s safe, huh?”
“This is exactly why I called, Big Brother Wang.”
I heard him breathe in sharply.
“Ha, good. But otherwise, your pretty little head will no longer be sitting between your shoulders. All right, now tell me what you want.”
“I know you have Master Lung’s son and I want to exchange what I’ve got for him.”
“Wah, are you crazy or something? All that money for that worthless fool?”
“Because I love him.”
“Ha, ha, ha! Don’t make me laugh! Didn’t I train you to have no friends and no emotions? But you fall in love with a good-for-nothing and all your training goes down the shithole!”
“Love happens, Big Brother Wang.” I knew this idea was lost on him but said it anyway.
“All right. I don’t give a damn about who you love, don’t love, or used to love, or used to torture, or destroyed. Speaking of torture, tonight might be a good time for my men to torture Lung Jinying some more. I can hold up the phone so you can hear him scream, if you don’t believe me. Or, you can give me all Lung’s bank account numbers, cash, bank notes, American dollars, jewelry, gold and silver bars, and whatever else you took; then you can have your worthless Jinying back. Anyway, I’ve got to get rid of him one way or the other because I don’t want to keep paying for his meals. You know, these days the price of rice and meat keeps going up, ha, ha, ha!”
“If he’s such a burden, why did you bother to kidnap him?”
Although I already read the answer in Rainbow’s column, I needed to verify from Wang’s mouth. If it was the same as what Rainbow said, then she was telling the truth.
“Ha, smart as you are, you should have guessed—I keep him to lure his father to come out of hiding.”
“You think Master Lung is still alive somewhere?”
“I’m not sure, that’s why I need his son—for bait. If he still doesn’t show his face, I’ll start the torture.”
“Please don’t!”
“Ha! You really love this—”
“Big Brother Wang, why torture him, since I can trade you Lung’s treasures?”
There was a silence, as if
he was actually thinking.
“You do have a point. Ha, see how well I trained you! But I still get to keep the son so I can torture him to have revenge on his father.”
“Big Brother Wang, what if Lung is already dead?”
“I don’t think so.”
“How come?”
“Because his body was never found. He must be seriously injured and trying to recover. Anyway, as soon as he can, I bet he’ll show his face to try to get his son back, ha, ha, ha!”
Yes, Lung, once the most powerful gangster, would have no face left if he was powerless to save his only son.
But I really didn’t care about Master Lung, only his son, so I asked urgently, “So, Big Brother Wang, what about if we set up a day and time for the exchange?”
“Sounds good. But if you play tricks…”
“You know I won’t dare to pull the tiger’s tail.”
“Ha! Then how come you dared to disappear for so long?”
“Big Brother Wang,” I lied, “I’ve been hiding because I was injured during the shoot-out.”
“Really? Where did you hide? And why didn’t you contact me earlier?”
I’d had an answer ready for this inevitable question. “I went to the convent and the sisters were kind enough to hide me and care for me while I recuperated. I couldn’t contact you while living inside a convent surrounded by the nuns.”
“Hmm… eventually my men would have tracked you down.”
After more useless conversation, finally Wang and I agreed to meet at an isolated area not too far from Master Lung’s secret villa. Wang and his men would bring Jinying and I’d bring Lung’s—now my—treasures. In fact, I had not taken the bank statements, but only pictures with my lipstick camera. When we met, I’d tell Wang the safe’s combination; then he and his men would go inside Lung’s place and open the safe. Once they had the treasures, they were supposed to release Jinying.
Of course I knew better than to trust the gangster’s promise. So I had a plan to handle all the ways he might betray me.
23
The Exchange
We had agreed to meet three days later, at eight in the evening on the driveway of Master Lung’s villa. I convinced a taxi driver to let me take his cab for the evening by offering the equivalent of a week’s fares. I asked Shadow to drive—she was not at all happy about accompanying me to meet Wang, but I reminded her that I was paying both for her help and for her not asking questions.
We arrived twenty minutes early to find Wang’s car already there, engine idling. In this deserted area, the only other sounds were the cries of insects or unknown animals. I asked Shadow to pull up some distance from the gangsters. Our cars’ headlights were the only illumination in front of the dark villa. With its two blinding lights, Wang’s vehicle seemed like a ferocious beast ready to tear us into pieces.
From the distance, it looked like there were five people inside the car: Wang, a blindfolded man, probably Jinying, and two bodyguards plus the driver. I could not see any other cars, though some could be concealed by the darkness. Were anyone looking, we must have seemed like phantoms in this remote place with Lung’s dark, empty villa looming in the background like a huge, wounded beast.
Wang got out of the car, preceded by two men holding guns. Then they pulled out the blindfolded man. Wearing loose, creased pajamas, the young master looked so gaunt that I almost didn’t recognize him, nor, of course, could he see me. I suppressed the urge to call out to the father of my son. I feared that if he knew I was here, he’d struggle to escape and get shot.
Jinying was the first one to speak. “Where am I, why did you take me here?”
But no one answered him, even though he was the son of Shanghai’s once most powerful gangster.
Feeling chilled, I handed my magician friend a hood so she would not be recognized later, assuming there would be a later for us.
“Shadow”—I also handed her a piece of paper—“now go out and give this to Wang. I’ll stay in the car.”
In a scared voice, she asked, “You go, Camilla. It’s your business, not mine!”
“Shadow, I have my plan. Just go and give Wang this paper.”
“But I don’t have anything to do with him and his men.”
“Shadow, it’s me that they want, not you.”
She hesitated. “You think gangsters care? They kill people like squashing ants.”
“Just go, Shadow; if anyone is going to get hurt, it’d be me, not you. You just have to trust me this time.”
“I did in the past and look what happened.”
I ground my teeth and said in a heated whisper, “Shadow, you’re not important enough for them to waste an expensive bullet on! Now go before I push you.”
She grunted, then pulled down her hood as tightly as she could.
“Go and tell Big Brother Wang this is what he wants. After that, he’ll release the young master.”
Reluctantly, Shadow got out of the car and walked toward the gangsters. She spoke briefly to Wang, then handed him the paper. Wang opened, read it, and smiled. On the paper was the combination for Lung’s safe hidden inside the grandfather clock. Wang said something to Shadow and she hurried back to me.
“Wang said to wait here until they break into the house, open the safe, and get the treasures. After that, they’ll release the young master.”
“Tell him I agree.”
She went back to tell the gangster boss.
At this moment Jinying’s tired and scared voice blurted out in the chilled air, “Can anyone tell me what’s happening?”
This time one of Wang’s burly men knocked him on the head. “Shut up! If no one asks you to talk, you keep your fucking mouth shut!”
Lips trembling, Jinying stopped.
Wang broke open the door, then went in with one of his men, leaving two to keep an eye on Jinying, and, of course, Shadow and myself. About twenty minutes later, the two emerged from the villa holding heavy bags.
After they put the bags into the truck, to my horror, instead of releasing Jinying to me, they pushed him inside the vehicle, then jumped in themselves.
I yelled toward them. “Wait a minute!”
But no one answered, nor even turned his head.
I screamed again. “You promised to release the young master!”
It was then that Jinying recognized my voice. “Camilla? Can it really be you?”
“Shut up!” Someone yelled.
Wang stuck his head out through the window and laughed. “Ha, Camilla! Did you just flush your training down the toilet? How many times I taught you to trust no one, not even your own shadow, eh?”
“But the young master is of no use to you now!”
“If that’s what you think, then you’re wrong! He’s still the bait for his father.”
I yelled back. “Big Brother Wang, think about it, if Master Lung is alive, don’t you think he’d have come after you by now? He’s dead! Believe me, his son is absolutely of no use to you anymore!”
The gangsters spoke to each other for a minute or two, then Wang called out, “Hmm… maybe you’re right.”
Immediately one of his men jumped from the car, then pulled Jinying out, pressing his head down.
Wang shouted. “Shoot him!”
I screamed, “No, Big Brother Wang!”
Obviously this was their plan. Kill Jinying, then take advantage of our shock to kill Shadow and me. But I was not ready for all of us to meet in the Yellow Springs. Of course, I had anticipated this. So I pulled out one of the new knives I’d hidden in my baggy pants.
A loud “Aiya!!!” split the silence of the night. The man’s hand bled profusely as his gun dropped to the ground. Of course they had not expected any real danger from a woman, so, as the other two bodyguards were struggling to free their guns from their holsters, my second and third knives were already sticking out of their hands.
“Jinying, quick!”
The young master dashed toward me and lunged inside our c
ar.
This was the only time in all the years I had known Wang that he seemed to be at a loss as to what to do. So he simply motioned his driver to go forward, giving the wounded men barely enough time to crawl inside the car. But I had thrown another knife to deflate the car’s front tire, so the vehicle could only creep along the uneven driveway.
I yelled to Shadow, “Leave right now!”
Her foot pressed hard on the gas petal and the car plunged forward like a wild horse released from its tether. I quickly took the blindfold off Jinying’s eyes and untied his hands. We embraced each other like we’d been separated for several lifetimes.
After we released from each other, I asked, “You all right, Jinying?”
Tears glimmered in both our eyes. He nodded. “And you, Camilla?”
“As you can see.”
“How did you find me?”
“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you everything after we go back to the hotel.”
He thought for a second, then asked, “Did you come back for me?”
I sighed and slumped back against the seat, having no energy left for such an obvious, or stupid, question.
Back in the hotel, Shadow said to us, her face flushed, “How could you make me do this? We made it, but we almost didn’t. This is what you meant by us being allies?” She entered her room, slamming the door behind her.
But I didn’t have time to deal with her feelings, not now. Now that Jinying and I were finally by ourselves, we didn’t say much to each other but plunged right into frenzied lovemaking instead.
Though Jinying looked gaunt and weak, I was happy, and surprised, that sexually he became as fierce as a tiger. He urgently tugged off my clothes, tossing them on the floor, one by one. When my panties were finally gone and my body naked under his relentless scrutiny, my knees weakened and I sank onto the bed, ready to be consumed by this man, whom I’d lost and now found.
