Zhang Daiyu and I sat in front of the surveillance console, and she translated some of the chatter around the sixteen-seater dining table. It was mostly about sport and sports cars, and they drank nothing but champagne as the caterers served the meal. We heard a regular popping of corks and the talk grew more raucous.
“He’s got a call,” she said, putting the audio feed from the apartment on speaker.
I heard background hubbub and Liu Bao saying something.
“He’s telling someone to come with him,” Zhang Daiyu translated.
“It’s a shame we don’t have video,” I remarked.
The listening devices Hua had planted were extremely difficult to detect. Cameras would have risked giving us away, but these tiny microphones concealed around the building circumvented even Liu Bao’s counter measures.
There was a moment during which no one said anything but we could hear footsteps, giving us a sense of which device had the best ear on them. The hubbub of the dinner grew fainter when Zhang Daiyu switched to the listening device in Liu Bao’s home office. Then a door closed and the noise of the dinner party was gone.
“I’ll translate as best I can,” Zhang Daiyu said as Liu took the call.
“This is Liu Bao. Go ahead, Angel, the line is secure. I have Wenyan with me. You’re on speaker.”
“The Americans grabbed me,” Angel revealed. “The personnel at Private have connections to the US Government and had me arrested. I have become a liability here. They are sending me home.”
Zhang Daiyu carefully kept the tone of her translation even and didn’t capture the anger in Angel’s voice.
I heard Liu Bao curse and didn’t need that translated, such was the venom he put into the words.
“You were supposed to discredit them,” he said. “You were supposed to kill his friends.”
Fang Wenyan cut in here. “Careful what you say.”
“It’s a secure line,” Liu Bao snapped at him before addressing Angel. “Your failure will complicate things. The downfall of Private was part of the deal.”
He hit or kicked something.
“We will speak more when you get here. The brotherhood does not appreciate failure,” Liu went on angrily.
There was a moment of silence and I assumed Angel had hung up.
Fang spoke up then. “Use Shang Li to draw Jack Morgan into the open. Aren’t you glad we kept him alive? Use him to bring Morgan to you. Our friends will be satisfied if we kill him. They will honor the deal if we bring them the head of Jack Morgan.”
Chapter 66
I was in shock.
Shang Li was still alive. His wife had been right. Zhang Daiyu too. She looked at me tearfully, smiling with relief.
“He’s alive.”
I nodded, scarcely able to believe it. My friend and business partner had survived the attack that had been used to frame David Zhou and was being held hostage by these evil men.
As my mind reeled at the wonderful revelation, another part of me struggled to come to terms with the implications of what we’d just heard. My agency had been part of some sort of trade. We were the price of one of Liu Bao’s corrupt deals. But with whom? I thought of all my friends and colleagues who had suffered and died, and wanted to leave the van, walk the block to his building, and beat the truth out of him.
The call had tied Angel to Liu Bao and both men to Fang Wenyan, and we had recorded them revealing they were holding Shang Li prisoner and plotting my murder.
“Jack,” Zhang Daiyu said, suddenly becoming somber. “I’m so sorry. I can’t help crying with relief, I’m just so happy he’s alive. But I should have been more thoughtful. They’re coming for you.”
I understood her fear. I had become a target of the Guoanbu, one of the most feared intelligence agencies in the world, in its home city. The odds of me making it out of Beijing alive had just lengthened significantly.
Fang Wenyan’s cynical words were still reverberating in my mind when my phone rang.
It was Justine.
“Jack,” she said, when I answered, “you’ve got to leave Beijing. Angel called someone there and they are planning to kill you.”
“I know,” I replied. “We heard the call. It was to Liu Bao and a Chinese State Security official called Fang Wenyan. How do you know about it?”
I didn’t care about maintaining secrecy at this stage; I had already been marked for death. If anyone intercepted this call, at least the names of the conspirators would be on record somewhere.
Justine wasn’t quite so reckless.
“I’m with some friends of the man you saved in Nevada. They will make sure the information reaches the right people.”
She was talking about Secretary of Defense Eli Carver. I was glad she was with good people. They must have had ears on Angel.
“That’s reassuring to know.”
“You need to leave, Jack,” she said. “Let other people take this now. Your friend has the resources to handle it.”
“But Shang Li is alive,” I countered. “I can’t abandon him.”
“They want to kill you, Jack,” she protested. “You’ve got to get out.”
“A lot of people have tried to kill me over the years, but I’m still here.”
“This is different. You’re in their backyard where they control everything.”
“Not everything,” I replied. “We have good people here too.”
I looked at Zhang Daiyu, who nodded.
“I know this is hard, but I can’t leave Shang Li. I must get him back, and the people behind all this need to be punished for what they’ve done.”
There was a long pause.
“You’re a stubborn man, Jack,” she said at last.
“Determined,” I responded. “How are things there?”
“Rafael is in custody. The DA is figuring out what charges to bring.”
“What do my Nevada friend’s people plan to do about Angel?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “They had to let him go.”
“Are they with you?”
“Uh-huh.”
There was a brief pause and then a man came on the line.
“I can’t give you my name,” he said.
“I don’t need it. I want to know if you’re planning to let a man who murdered one of my colleagues, and put another in hospital, just leave the country.”
“He’s protected by diplomatic status, sir.”
“You and I know that’s meant for parking tickets, not murder.”
“I can’t comment on such things, sir. Not on this line. But rest assured, America always seeks justice.”
“That’s all I need to know,” I replied.
The line went quiet for a moment.
“Jack?” Justine said.
“Can you trust that guy?” I asked.
“I think so,” she replied.
“Then give him whatever help he’s willing to take. Ask Sci and Mo-bot to get on it.”
“Okay.” She hesitated. “You sure you won’t come home?”
“I can’t, Jus. I can’t.”
It was hard to explain, but I was driven by an innate sense of duty. People either experienced it themselves and understood it, or they had no idea, in which case my actions would seem alien, possibly irrational. Thankfully Justine knew exactly what motivated me.
“Okay. Just be careful. Make sure you come back in one piece.”
“I’ll do my best,” I replied. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” she said, her voice breaking.