Dragon Head

by James Houston Turner

  The door suddenly swung open and Alice stormed into the conference room. “What the hell is going on, here, Bill?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Wilcox, who had just finished examining the newspaper. “You know why we’re here.”

  “I know what you told me on the phone,” Alice replied. “But that’s not the whole story, now, is it?”

  “Alice, what’s this about?”

  “You tell me!”

  “You know what’s going on.”

  “Do I?”

  “Yes!”

  “Then why is there an agent downstairs at the front desk – a United Stares Federal agent – who says I’m to hold all of you until he arrives? That’s he’s taking you into custody?”

  Wilcox looked at Talanov with alarm. “Shaw knows. He’s shutting us down.”

  “Shutting what down?” demanded Alice. “What are you not telling me? Why would your own government want you in custody?”

  “The less you know, the better,” Wilcox replied.

  “Really? That’s your answer?”

  “It’s for your own protection.”

  “Then I’m afraid you leave me no choice. I’m placing you under arrest.”

  CHAPTER 64

  In the darkened computer room of the Zhongzhen Martial Arts Academy, AK was seated in front of his main monitor with Sofia looking over one shoulder and Straw Sandal looking over the other. AK could smell Straw Sandal’s subtle fragrance, which was some kind of a nectar-based perfume. Sofia smelled like sweat from her martial arts session.

  Straw Sandal’s fragrance reminded AK of Straw Sandal’s nickname, Sunbird, which was a small, nectar-loving bird, like a hummingbird, although sunbirds were not able to hover like the hummingbird, albeit Straw Sandal was certainly hovering now.

  AK had heard how the nickname had been given to Straw Sandal when she was a child by none other than the old guard himself. It was an appropriate name, not only because Straw Sandal was petite, but because Sunbirds represented something good and beautiful in nature, and Straw Sandal was about the only person around here who stood for something good and beautiful.

  According to the old guard, the academy had not always been run the way it was now. At one time, it stood for honor, loyalty, and the protection of people in the neighborhood. However, since the arrival of Sofia – Xin Li – Dragon Head’s ambitions began to change.

  Which was not all bad, AK thought.

  Or was it? Were things getting out of hand? Was the killing of thousands of people worth the money and stature he would receive? In his own zeal to become the best, had he become the worst kind of human being imaginable?

  “You’re certain that Talanov read my email?” Straw Sandal asked, causing him to refocus.

  AK pointed at the monitor, which not only verified delivery, but how long it had taken Talanov to read it.

  “What happens next?” asked Straw Sandal.

  “I set up auto-alert. It notify me moment Talanov make deposit.”

  “And then?” Sofia asked.

  “We release the girl. Talanov release funds.”

  When no one responded, AK looked up at Sofia and then Straw Sandal, who were glaring at each other.

  “I presume we release the girl?” AK inquired.

  “Yes, she will be released,” Straw Sandal declared. “We have given Talanov our word.”

  With a bitter scowl, Sofia looked away.

  “What happens then?” Straw Sandal asked just as her cell phone rang.

  “Once Talanov release funds,” AK explained, “they will be transferred to our account in Venezuela, then transferred to offshore account of yours. Venezuelan bank will then crash from virus I plant in its system.”

  “Meaning no record will exist as to where the money went once it leaves escrow?” asked Sofia.

  AK nodded just as Straw Sandal turned away and put her cell phone to her ear.

  Once Straw Sandal was out of earshot, Sofia leaned down and said in Russian, “Why were you not able to locate the missing funds? We had an agent inside the bank assisting and still you were not able to find out what happened.”

  “Because Wu Chee Ming destroyed the transfer record.”

  “How did he manage to do that?”

  AK shrugged.

  “I must go,” Straw Sandal said, returning to the worktable. “Let me know when the deposit has been made.”

  AK nodded just as Straw Sandal ran from the computer room.

  “Back to the Sun Cheng account,” said Sofia. “How do we know the funds are in that maze of accounts?”

  “Because they are all connected to Sun Cheng account.”

  “So the funds are definitely in one of those accounts, and all we need do is find out which one?”

  “Yes, I think.”

  “You think?”

  “There is another possibility.”

  “Which is?”

  “An invisible account, with dedicated number dangling by electronic thread that is visible only to account holder, like a trap door that no one can see unless you know where to look. But because the maze is so complex, like a tangle, it would be impossible to locate the trap door, if one exists at all, even if I had advanced software, which I do not have. Without an account number or an access code, we cannot hope to find it.”

  “Then where does that leave us?” asked Sofia.

  AK shrugged.

  “Then how can Talanov possibly succeed where even you have failed?”

  “I wonder the same thing,” answered AK.

  “Do you realize what will happen if we do not get that money?”

  AK looked back at his monitor. It was an excuse to avert his eyes from what he knew to be a serious situation.

  Sofia grabbed an office chair and wheeled it over, and after sitting, took AK by the chin and made him look at her. “There will be casualties in the wake of such a failure. Do you understand?”

  AK stared wide-eyed into the fierce eyes of Sofia staring back at him. His chin was distorted by the squeeze of Sofia’s grip.

  “I brought you to Hong Kong because I needed you to do what others could not do,” Sofia continued. “But everything we have worked for – everything – depends on us getting that money. The minute Talanov makes his deposit, you will tell me and no one but me. Do you understand?”

  AK nodded.

  “You will then transfer everything into the account I had you set up in Martinique. Do you understand?”

  AK nodded again.

  Letting go of AK’s chin, Sofia stood and shoved the chair away. It spun across the floor and slammed into the front of a worktable.

  “And girl? What about her?” asked AK, rubbing his chin.

  “Such matters do not concern you,” Sofia replied. “Your concern is following my instructions. Do not let me down. That . . . would make me very unhappy.”

  CHAPTER 65

  “Stop what you’re doing and step away from the table,” commanded Alice.

  No one moved.

  “Now!” Alice shouted and everyone placed the items they were holding down onto the table. Once they had stepped back, Alice turned to Wilcox and said, “I am sorry it has come to this, Bill, and you yourself are not officially under arrest, but everyone else must be held for the American agent who is downstairs. This has now become a diplomatic issue that is way beyond my control.”

  Seeing two uniformed officers passing by the window, Alice rapped on the glass and motioned them into the conference room.

  “We’ve got kids with us, Alice,” said Wilcox.

  “You should have thought of that before,” Alice replied just as the officers entered the room and Alice told them to guard the door and wait for an arriving American agent, who would take everyone into custody, except for Mr. Wilcox, who was free to leave.

  “Alice, please,” tried Wilcox.

  “My hands are tied,” said Alice. “You have stretched this beyond the boundaries of friendship.”

  “It wasn’t his fault. I
t was mine,” Jingfei said, stepping forward.

  “Was not,” said Kai, stepping in front of her. “It was mine. I snuck us onto the plane.”

  “Shut up, Kai,” said Jingfei, pushing past Kai and stepping up to face Alice. “If you gotta keep someone, keep me. If you keep Alex and Bill, my little sister gets killed.”

  “She’s my sister, too!” said Kai, shouldering Jingfei aside and stepping up to face Alice.

  By now, both kids were jostling each other so much that Alice had to step back. The uniformed officers moved to intervene but Alice halted them. Taking both kids aside, she said, “I am sorry about your sister, but you need to let us handle this.”

  “The way you’re handling it now guarantees that she’ll be killed,” Jingfei fired back. “You police dorks are all the same.”

  Alice stiffened at being addressed in such an aggressive manner.

  “Forgive them, Alice, they’re pretty emotional right now because of what’s happened to their sister,” Wilcox said, easing the kids back a few steps. “And while I admire their willingness to take the blame,” Wilcox continued, facing Alice again, “it’s me this agent wants. I’m the one who created this mess. So, please, I’m begging you, let them go.”

  “Shut up, Bill!” yelled Jingfei, stepping in front of Wilcox. “Alex needs you because you’ve got connections at Langley, and he needs help, because he’s a dinosaur, like you, even though I don’t mean to make you mad by calling you names, because you’ve been, like, doing everything you can to try and save Su Yin, which you can’t do if Alice keeps you for that agent downstairs, which will really mess things up and keep Alex from locating those funds, which means Su Yin will definitely be killed, which Alice doesn’t seem to care about, even though I do, so go ahead and tell her to keep me and let the rest of you go, so that you can—”

  “Shut up, all of you, just . . . shut up!” shouted Alice.

  A stunned silence filled the conference room.

  Alice glared at Wilcox, then told the uniformed officers they could go. The officers looked at each other, unsure, but Alice told them everything was under control. Once they were gone, Alice said, “End of the hall, down the stairs. You’ll see the exit sign.”

  Wilcox touched Alice on the arm. “Thank you!”

  Alice knocked his hand away and pushed him toward the door. “Go!” she said, motioning for them to leave.

  On his way past, Talanov took Alice by the hands and rotated her slowly toward the door, saying, “Thank you for giving us this chance to save a little girl’s life.” He then gave Alice a hug.

  Kai started to step past but saw Talanov looking over Alice’s shoulder with pointed glances at the toothpaste. Kai responded with a quizzical look, then understood and palmed the tube into his pocket just as Alice broke away from Talanov and turned to see Kai replacing Wu Chee Ming’s belongings into the file box.

  “I’ll do that,” said Alice, pushing Talanov and Kai out the door.

  Talanov led everyone to the end of the corridor, where they disappeared into a stairwell just as the elevator doors opened at the other end of the corridor and Delta stepped out with an accompanying officer. Fluent in Cantonese because his parents had come from Hong Kong, Delta had been conversing casually with the officer in an effort to build rapport and disarm any suspicions about him being an American agent. He needed cooperation, not confrontation, since his mission was off the books, even though it had the appearance of being official, thanks to a well-placed call from Shaw.

  Quick and easy, thought Delta.

  Which he knew was not the case the instant the accompanying officer threw open the conference room door and he saw Alice alone in the room.

  Alice looked up from the file box of belongings when she saw them enter.

  “Where are they?” asked Delta. “Wilcox and Talanov?”

  Alice shook her head with a sigh. “I stepped away to take a call, and when I came back, they were gone.”

  Delta glared at Alice for a long moment, but Alice merely looked back at him with a deadpan expression. She knew there was nothing he could say or do. He was, after all, an American agent seeking assistance from the Hong Kong police, and as such, would not make any accusations that might cause him to be detained for questioning on what he knew was an illegal operation on Chinese soil. Controlling his anger, Delta hurried back toward the elevators.

  Downstairs, Talanov pushed open a side door and led the way down a flight of steps to the street.

  “Where to now?” asked Wilcox.

  “Someplace out of reach,” Talanov replied while lanes of traffic flowed past in both directions. “So we can figure out what to do.”

  Across the street was an Esso station set into the corner of a highrise office tower. Talanov waited for a break in the traffic, then ran with the group across the street and along the sidewalk past the station. On each side of the street were more highrise monoliths. Each boastful giant stood proud and erect among other giants testifying to the capitalistic success of Hong Kong.

  As they wove their way along through the flow of pedestrians, Talanov knew Alice would be furious once the missing toothpaste was discovered. But if what he suspected were true, it was the missing piece of the puzzle. At least he hoped it was, and he dared not consider the alternative, because right now, that tube of toothpaste was their only hope.

  And yet the hope he was feeling on one hand – of saving Su Yin – amounted to a death sentence on the other for Zak, Ginie, and Emily.

  A hand touched him on the arm and he looked to see Kai.

  “You said to look for something that didn’t fit,” said Kai, handing Talanov the tube.

  “Here’s hoping you’re right,” answered Talanov. “Nicely done, by the way, slipping it into your pocket and covering your action by repacking the file box. You looked like you’ve done that before.”

  Kai grinned just as Talanov passed the tube to Jingfei, who was walking beside him.

  “What am I looking at?” she asked.

  “Remember back at Sun Cheng, when Penny Kwan told us about Wu Chee Ming’s proverbs?”

  “Kinda, but how do you even remember Penny Kwan’s name, much less a bunch of old proverbs?”

  “Because we can’t afford to miss important details like that.”

  “Such as?”

  “Dig the well before you are thirsty? A crow cannot be fooled into eating what it does want? One does not seek what one does not see?”

  “Stop showing off and tell me how they relate to this stupid toothpaste.”

  “That’s what we’re about to find out.”

  Outside the police station, Zulu met Delta at the bottom of a long flight of steps that Delta had bounded down three at a time.

  “Which way did they go?” asked Delta.

  “That way,” said Zulu, pointing.

  They ran across the street and past the Esso station to a tree, where they paused so that Zulu could check his cell phone. On the screen was a digital map of Hong Kong. Zulu touched the screen in a spreading motion and enlarged the map to reveal a close-up of the street they were on. A blinking red dot showed Talanov’s position. A blinking green dot showed their position in relation to the blinking red dot.

  “They’re maybe seventy or eighty yards ahead,” said Zulu just as Delta’s cell phone rang.

  “It’s Shaw,” Delta said. He took the call and filled him in on how the Gulfstream pilot claimed he saw a warning light and ordered a maintenance crew to check things over.

  “In other words,” said Shaw, “Wilcox convinced the pilot to ground the plane in order to give them time.”

  “That’s how it looks, because the maintenance crew did not find a thing.”

  Delta then told Shaw how they had tracked Talanov, Wilcox, and the kids to the Sun Cheng Financial Group, no doubt to investigate the missing funds, meaning Talanov appeared to be cooperating with Dragon Head, after which they followed them to the Hong Kong police station, where they were supposed to have been tak
en into custody but somehow escaped, although he and Zulu were closing in on them now using the GPS tracking on Talanov’s phone.

  “They know we’re after them,” Delta said, “which means if they toss the phone, we’ll lose track of where they are.”

  “I can prevent that from happening,” Shaw replied. “Your job is to keep closing the gap.”

  CHAPTER 66

  Across the street from Esso station on the other corner, Straw Sandal stood in a recessed doorway with her cell held in front of her, her call on speaker so that she could keep watching the blinking green dot showing on the street map on her screen. Dressed in black running tights, a white T-shirt and baseball cap, she was talking with the computer technician who had been working across the hall from the conference room.

  The technician described how Talanov and his group had been looking through the belongings of Wu Chee Ming. No, he did not know what they had found, if anything. Alice Ti, of the CIB, had allowed Talanov and Wilcox to look through the belongings, and when it was discovered that an American agent had arrived downstairs to take Talanov and Wilcox into custody, Alice intentionally allowed them to escape.

  “Why would she do that?” asked Straw Sandal.

  “She and Wilcox, a senior official with the CIA, are longtime friends. What I do not understand is why American agents would be chasing Talanov and Wilcox, especially if Wilcox is himself an American agent.”

  Straw Sandal knew the answer. The Americans had managed to connect the airline collisions with her father and were doing everything to keep Talanov and Wilcox from locating the money, which the Americans knew would be used to expand his hacking capabilities.

  In truth, she did not blame them. At one time, her father was an honorable man. Until the arrival of Xin Li – Sofia – that is, whose lust for wealth and power infected her father.

  Why rule an island when you can rule the world?

  That is what Xin Li had promised him, and this was now his ambition.

  Her mother would never have allowed such ambition to dishonor their family, which is, no doubt, why Xin Li had poisoned her. Xin Li needed a power base and her father was the most powerful man in this part of the world.