The world believes I delight in this. I can’t believe what Hong has done to me.
As she passed an open door, with a naked woman screaming in pain while strapped down on a table, her mind went inward. Had that been Hong’s plan all along for her? Had he wanted to paint her as a monster?
On, Hong was a genius on these matters. He didn’t do as well running a war, but on secret police matters, no one was his equal. It’s why he remained in power.
I’m a figurehead without real authority. That must change.
Yet how could she effect such a transfer? He knew how to buy the loyalty of damaged individuals, the kind who became government killers.
I need to buy loyalty, if even that of a single killer. That would be her beginning.
“This way, Police Minister,” the man behind her said.
He was Colonel Lu, a misshapen monster with a lump on his right shoulder. It gave him a cockeyed walked. Couldn’t surgery correct such a thing?
Probably, it no longer mattered. The lump on his shoulder had misshapen his soul. Others might have tormented him as a youth, and he had let that seep deep within, poisoning his thoughts. Now, he murdered others to his heart’s delight because he was warped.
She feared Colonel Lu. Yes, she wondered if Hong groomed the man to take her place on the Ruling Committee. It was more than possible.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“There’s a matter for you to decide.” Lu said cryptically.
“What form of matter?”
“You’ll see,” he said, turning down a narrower hall.
Does he mean to kill me? Has Hong given him the order? It won’t be a simple shot to the head, either, but prolonged torture. I must leave Australia; the pretext doesn’t matter. I’m dying inside, becoming too paranoid. This is hollowing me into a shell of a person.
They reached a place where two big Mongolians stood before a heavy iron door. The two looked abnormal, with stumpy features.
“Who are they?” Shun Li asked.
“My personal attendants,” Colonel Lu said. He signaled them.
One opened a door, and drool spilled from the man’s lips.
She hid her disgust. Lu picked subnormal humans as his personal attendants, people to do his bidding unquestioningly. Should she draw her pistol and fire? No, no, that was absurd. Lu couldn’t really mean to murder her. She had to get a grip on her imagination.
The door shut behind her, and she gave a little start. Glancing up, she saw that Lu watched her. He’d seen her fear. He gave her a little smile. It was enraging and shaming.
“Have no fear, Police Minister,” the colonel said.
You enjoyed saying that. She would remember this… if she managed to leave the police ministry alive. Why am I so paranoid?
“Down this hall,” Lu said.
She followed him to a two-way mirror. On the other side was small man in a cell. He sat at a table. With a frown, she made a reassessment. The man wasn’t simply small; he was tiny. Was this another of Lu’s freaks?
“Why is that man wearing an East Lightning uniform?” Shun Li asked.
“Because he’s one of ours, of course,” Lu said.
Shun Li glanced at the colonel.
“Oh, yes, I’m telling you the truth.”
Shun Li’s frown grew. The man seemed familiar to her, but that was preposterous. Where could she have seen such a diminutive East Lightning officer before?
“Do you have his record?” she asked.
The colonel unlatched a tablet from his belt, holding it out to her.
“Just give me a summary,” she said.
“He is First Rank Fu Tao, a field operative,” Lu said.
“A gunman?” Shun Li asked.
“One of our better marksman,” the colonel said. “He also kills without remorse.”
That was high praise for an East Lightning field operative. In truth, very few people could kill in cold blood without remorse and still maintain a façade of normality. Such people were considered gems in secret police work.
“He’s so small,” Shun Li said.
“He looks like a rabbit but strikes like a leopard.”
“Why is he locked up in here then?” Shun Li asked, intrigued.
“Maybe I should tell you something about his history.” Colonel Lu told her about the rapists in his youth, how Tao often went berserk when he killed, unable to stop until everyone around him was dead.
Hmmm, so Tao is a flawed gem.
“That’s why he’s here,” the colonel said. “He’s blood-mad. He was high on methamphetamines last time. He killed an entire community and then turned on his partners, murdering them too.”
“Did he say why they killed them?”
“Oh yes,” Colonel Lu said with a laugh. “It seems his companions raped a few of their victims. That didn’t sit well with our little killer.”
“I see,” Shun Li said.
“He’s warped,” the colonel said, “a broken instrument. Most here believe East Lightning cannot use him anymore.”
She’d been studying the small man sitting so peacefully at the table. Now she turned and looked at Lu.
“Let me rephrase that, Police Minister. We’re waiting for your judgment on the matter. As you know, we cannot execute our own people without your authority.”
Shun Li nodded slowly, as an idea formed in her mind. She needed a gunman loyal to her alone. This First Rank Fu Tao, he looked more like a rabbit than any field operative she’d ever known. That was an extremely valuable trait, for who would suspect the rabbit of being a killer? Ah! Now she recognized him. Yes, during the Red Dragon launch—this little killer had been in northern Mexico. He had gut-shot a launch officer who hadn’t obeyed quickly enough.
“You suggest we kill him?” she asked Lu.
“Of course,” the colonel said. “He’s too unpredictable.”
“True, true,” she said. I am a barracuda and Chairman Hong is a Great White of the depths. Barracuda have teeth, and they can kill. I wonder what Colonel Lu is?
Shun Li forced herself to laugh.
The colonel gave her a questioning look.
“He should die,” she said. “But does that mean we cannot, hmm… enjoy ourselves with some light entertainment.”
“What do you have in mind?” he asked.
“You say this Tao hates rape?”
“Indeed.”
“Why don’t you call your two Mongolians,” Shun Li said. “They’re big fellows.”
“Ah,” Lu said, and his eyes become bright. “That is an excellent idea.” He turned to go. Then he paused, looking back at her. “I had begun to wonder about you, Police Minister. Some of the others… they don’t think you’re suited for the task.”
“Sheer nonsense,” she said.
He nodded. “Give me a moment.” The colonel headed down the hall out of sight, soon opening the iron door, the bottom scraping against the floor.
Shun Li moved fast. She unlocked the door to Tao’s cell, opening it.
The First Rank looked up. He was only a boy.
“Listen well, Fu Tao. You are about to die. First, the colonel is summoning his guards. They plan to rape you.”
Tao’s face became like a mask.
“I am the Police Minister.”
He nodded. It appeared he recognized her.
“If I save you, will you obey me, body and soul?”
Tao cocked his head, and he nodded. “Save me from this, and I will do whatever you say.”
She drew her gun and pitched it too him. He caught it, and he cocked his head again, asking a question without speaking.
“Wait until I give you the signal,” she said. “Then kill everyone in the room but for me.”