After a few minutes, a woman in a white blouse and green pencil skirt came to greet us.
“Mr. Morgan, Detective Zhang Daiyu, Mr. Liu will see you now.”
She took us through security and we rode an attended glass elevator to the twentieth floor, passing through the very center of the eye. There was no chit-chat, although our guide did smile at us politely throughout. Distant, but not cold.
We emerged into a large seating area that was open to both sides of the building, offering dual-aspect views of the city. There were two women dressed similarly to our guide at desks near some imposing double doors. They looked up but didn’t smile as our guide took us through into Liu Bao’s office. He had the same magnificent dual view of the city, but his office was much larger than the lobby where his assistants worked. There were three separate seating areas, each with leather couches and chairs, a boardroom table, sculptures, traditional Chinese art. Behind a huge desk that stood midway between the two glass sides of the building was Liu Bao.
He said something to our guide, who withdrew, then he stood and came toward us.
“I would offer you a drink but you would only refuse, perhaps thinking it was laced with some toxin or other.”
He smiled in a way that made it impossible to tell whether he had just made a joke or a threat.
Money could solve a lot of problems but it couldn’t solve Liu Bao’s biggest challenge, which was that even in this opulent, impressive space he reeked of violence and death. His nose had been broken in the distant past and he hadn’t bothered with corrective surgery. His muscles shifted like a wary animal’s under the camouflage of his black tailored suit. His eyes were as dead and empty as an ancient haunted house, as though nothing in the world could ever bring him joy.
I knew a pitiless sociopath when I saw one.
“I’d offer you a seat but you probably wouldn’t take that either.” Liu Bao drew closer to me. “You are a very proud man, Mr. Morgan.”
I knew he was trying to test me, maybe goad me, but I was wise to his game.
“We ran into an old pal of yours... Wang Yichen,” I said.
I didn’t expect a reaction and he didn’t give me one.
“It doesn’t matter how long I spend on the right side of the law, some people will always see only my past.” He looked pointedly at Zhang Daiyu. “I have put it behind me. I wish others would too. I haven’t seen Wang Yichen in many years.”
Zhang Daiyu responded with a single scornful word.
“You can call me a liar if you wish, but that doesn’t affect the truth of my statement,” Liu Bao said. “And truth is what matters. You work for this man now. You are not a police officer anymore. You work for a private citizen. An American. And like America, his power rests on his ability to convince people he is powerful. It is a trick of the mind. When you realize a country that has lost in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan cannot be powerful, you understand why they want you to believe a lie.”
“Power comes in many forms,” I said. “It doesn’t have to stem from fear.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” Zhang Daiyu told Liu Bao sharply. He just smiled. “You’re old school. A believer in Chinese might and the supremacy of the party. You represent a dying belief system. The people want rights along with responsibilities.”
“A dying belief system?” he scoffed. “There is nothing but life in my China. It is only now that we are beginning to take our proper place in the world, and I am happy to make my own small contribution. Through my businesses, of course.”
“What happened to Shang Li?” I asked. “Where is he?”
Liu Bao smiled and I wanted nothing more than to wipe the expression off his smug face, but I restrained myself.
“I don’t know anyone of that name. If you’ve been careless with the security of your friends, Mr. Morgan, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Zhang Daiyu touched my arm, to soothe more than restrain me, but she needn’t have worried. I’d been goaded by men like this before and I knew better than to let them get to me.
“You sit here atop your little mountain, indulging yourself in dreams of empire and conquest,” I told him. “Your view of geopolitics isn’t my concern. But if I find out you were involved in what happened to Shang Li and his team, and the targeting of me and my people, there isn’t a force on earth that will save you from me.”
Liu Bao looked at Zhang Daiyu and grinned derisively. “See? They need you to believe they’re powerful. That’s why the era of America is over. They have no way of backing up their threats.”
He held the smile as he turned to face me. I glared at him in reply.
“Let’s go,” I said. “We’re done here.”
I headed for the door and Zhang Daiyu followed. I had everything I needed from this visit.
His body language, the subject matter, even the triumphant tone of his voice, told me he was involved in what was happening.
Now all I had to do was prove it.
Chapter 41
Zhang Daiyu and I said nothing while our guide escorted us out of the building. As we rode the elevator to the first floor, I found myself reflecting on a world that rewards men such as Liu Bao. He was a criminal and I strongly suspected he’d had a hand in the deaths of my colleagues and the trouble we’d faced ever since, but he sat on top of the world, while so many good people struggled to get by. Someone with power protected and facilitated Liu’s interests because he was useful to them or shared the same beliefs. A person simply couldn’t accumulate such wealth and influence in a country like China without back-up from friends in high places, and I wondered who they were and how he was useful to them.
Our guide smiled as we reached the first floor. She led us through the lobby to an exit.
“Goodbye,” she said, and continued smiling as she watched us leave.
“I hate that man,” Zhang Daiyu said the moment we stepped outside. “I hated that we could never get to him when I was in the police, and I hate him now. He was almost taunting us.”
“Agreed,” I replied. “We should put him under surveillance.”
“He was always so careful.”
“Then we need to be on point. We’ve got to find out what he’s up to and why he’s involved in a plot to target Private.”
Zhang Daiyu nodded. “I will talk to Hua.”
I will always be grateful for two things about that day: the gentle summer breeze that took the edge off the humid heat, and the bright sunshine. That same breeze also applied just enough force to the bullet aimed at Zhang Daiyu’s head to send it wide, slamming into the concrete slabs ten paces behind her, and the bright sunshine glinted off the scope of a sniper’s rifle on the roof opposite, allowing me to fix the gunman’s position once I’d recovered from my surprise at the attack
“Shooter!”
I grabbed Zhang Daiyu’s arm and we raced toward the thirty-story tower from which a steady barrage of semi-automatic gunfire was issuing. People around us scattered, screaming, as bullets tore up the slabs, filling the air with dust and the crack and whine of deadly danger. As we neared the building entrance, security guards were rushing to bolt the doors shut. We made it to the cover of the large canopy that protruded from the second floor and blocked the sniper’s line of sight.
Then the shooting stopped.
“You okay?” I asked Zhang Daiyu. She nodded. I glanced around. “The shooter won’t use the main entrance of his building to escape. Let’s check the sides and rear. I’ll take the north-west corner. You take north-east.”
“Okay,” she replied, and started east, staying close to the building.
I hurried west. The shooter couldn’t risk being caught on the roof, and I could see that inside the lobby security guards had started checking people’s identities. A full-scale building search was a risk for a man with a gun. He would likely try to escape, but the front entrance was locked and under scrutiny, creating too high a chance of capture.