I am a barracuda, Shun Li told herself. I swim among larger, more dangerous predators, but I, too, am dangerous and capable of battle.
She knew it was a vain thought. What could a barracuda do to a killer whale? The answer was: absolutely nothing.
No. A barracuda could gnaw the killer whale’s flukes. But what good would that do the barracuda?
The trick, she supposed, was swimming away fast enough if a killer whale chased her. She could swim toward a monstrous great white shark and dart aside as the two creatures fought for supremacy.
She had come to this conclusion yesterday for a specific reason. Chairman Hong continued to question her about Police Minister Xiao. Hong wanted to know all kinds of things: the Police Minister’s habits, his various visits, his comments, his work orders, the way Xiao treated her. Hong had listened with avid interest as she’d told him how Xiao had once slapped her across the face. The Chairman seemed to have forgotten that he’d witnessed the incident himself.
“Indeed,” the Chairman had said. “How very interesting. I wonder if Xiao would like it if I slapped him across the face.”
Shun Li didn’t think so. What troubled her with all these questions was Hong’s motive. The Chairman relied upon East Lightning as part of his power base. He needed the secret police in order to corral the generals, the Army. Had Hong come to fear Xiao? She could understand that. The Police Minister was a crocodile, an emotionless beast with hidden thoughts and likely a hidden agenda.
“Stop,” the operative on her left said.
Shun Li stopped before the Police Minister’s ornate entrance.
The East Lightning operative knocked. Twenty second later, a small red light winked above the door.
“You may enter,” the operative told Shun Li.
They had of course divested her of her gun. She touched the cold bronze latch and twisted. Nothing squeaked. Everything was well oiled. As she walked through, the door shut behind her. One of the operatives must have closed it.
Across the spacious room, Police Minister Xiao stared out of a wall of windows. He had his hands clasped behind his back.
Should I approach? Should I announce myself? What am I supposed to do?
Shun Li did none of those things. She waited nervously, disliking this game playing. What was the purpose of it? He’d pressed a switch to cause the red light to shine. He knew she was here.
Finally, he turned. It was impossible to tell where he stared due to the ceiling lights shining off his thick lenses. Xiao seemed like a robot then. He seemed inhuman. At that moment, Shun Li believed she knew whom to trust, and it wasn’t the Police Minister.
No, no, don’t make up your mind so quickly. You must survive, not attempt to fight these stronger creatures.
“Guardian Inspector,” he said in his emotionless voice. “This is a surprise. Usually, you are too busy to report to me: your superior. You are too busy hobnobbing with the Chairman to see the lowly likes of me.”
Shun Li had no idea what to say concerning that. So she continued to wait while standing at attention.
“Please, come, sit down so we may chat,” Xiao said.
Shun Li strode across the chamber and sat in the nearest chair, sitting upright.
“Are you comfortable?” Xiao asked.
“Yes, Police Minister.”
“No,” he said. “I do not want you to be so formal. You must relax. You are worthy of the Chairman’s time and I must now take that into consideration.”
Xiao moved to his desk, sitting, folding his hands on the top. He attempted a smile. It appeared false.
“Can you elaborate on your visits?” he asked.
“Certainly, sir,” she said. “The Chairman gave me a polar bear cub.”
“How fortunate for you,” Xiao said.
She dipped her head to acknowledge the statement.
“I imagine the Chairman was delighted with your work discovering the Behemoth Manufacturing Plant,” he said.
She nodded.
“You house your cub at his mansion?” Xiao asked.
“Yes sir.”
“And do you visit with the Chairman sometimes?”
“For short periods, sir. Have I done wrong doing this?”
“Guardian Inspector, you surprise me. How can you do wrong visiting with the Great Leader? That is preposterous. Tell me, what do the two of you talk about.”
“Polar bears.”
“And?”
Fear squeezed Shun Li’s chest. She didn’t know the right answer. Did Hong and Xiao speak together about her? Was this a test? She decided the Police Minister was acting much too formally for this to be a test.
“Sir,” she said, “at times the Chairman asks about you.”
“Does he indeed? How flattering,” Xiao said. The man attempted another of his false smiles. “What does the Chairman wish to know about me?”
Shun Li told him because she feared he already knew the answer. Xiao was too much like a robot, a crocodile with a nasty appetite and secretive ways not to know.
As she spoke, Xiao watched her carefully. There was no expression on his wooden features to give a hint to his feelings.
“I will ask you one question, Guardian Inspector. I expect nothing but the truth. Do you understand me?”
“I do, sir.”
“Yes,” he said, staring through his thick lenses at her. “I believe you do, which is good for you. Does the Chairman ask these things because he fears me or because he wishes to dispose of me in some nefarious way?”
Shun Li’s heart began to thud. This was a terrible question. It would make her choose sides. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be able to skip whichever way would let her survive.
“Police Minister, I believe the Chairman fears you.”
Xiao smiled. It was a cruel thing.
Shun Li waited to hear him tell her she was lying. He didn’t. Instead, he surprised her by saying:
“The Chairman plays a dangerous game, Guardian Inspector. He needs me, but that is because he makes serious blunders. I have built a careful web around him. It protects his Lion Guards from harm. It is good that I have security operatives in the Chairman’s home. You will now add to their security work as you begin to study the exact layout of the estate and the strength of his personal security. Am I making myself clear?”
Yes. That you’re lying to me. Why would you need to know these things if you already had people there? I am your first and only operative in the Chairman’s country estate.
Shun said aloud. “You wish to provide the ultimate security for the Chairman’s safety and ask that I aid East Lightning in that.”
“Precisely,” Xiao said. “You have divined my thoughts perfectly.”
Shun Li’s eyes felt hot, as if smoke would drift out of her pupils. What intrigue did Xiao play at? Could he believe he would keep his seat of power if Hong died? Or was Xiao thinking the unthinkable: of reaching for supreme power himself?
If she could have, Shun Li would have gladly gone back to North America. These stakes were too high for her. But she was here now and would have to swim with these deadly creatures as best as she could.
-9-
Phase II
From Military History: Past to Present, by Vance Holbrook:
Invasion of Midwestern America, Phase II, 2039-2040
By late October 2039, the Pan-Asian Alliance and the South American Federation troops had become mired down due to the uncommonly warm rainy season. (They were warm rains in a relative sense, as it was still cold weather to the troops on the ground.) The torrential showers turned the landscape into mud and added vast, shallow lakes throughout much of the Central Midwest.