Hulan shook herself. What were they doing sitting here, watching television, and having a chat about Sino-American relations? It was only a matter of time before Hulan was arrested. David could probably get her to the U.S. embassy. Rob Butler might be able to finagle political asylum, but this all seemed a pipe dream. Because if they came after Hulan, then they'd come after David too. In the meantime Sun would be tried and executed. Miss Quo, innocent of all charges, would also face prosecution. Henry Knight and Tartan would settle their differences, and tomorrow newspapers in China and the U.S. would talk about the acquisition, about the money that had changed hands, about the profit that would be made. No matter what, Hulan and David shouldn't be wasting time. They needed to get moving. But it wasn't so easy to leave Beijing if the government was looking for you. More than a half million of the city's citizens were engaged in watching. Intersections with traffic lights had cameras to track cars through the city. There were ways around these devices. Certainly David and Hulan had gotten out of Beijing once before when the stakes had seemed as high. But it wouldn't be so easy this time.
As all this ran through Hulan's mind, Miss Quo had continued her sniffling. Hulan crossed to her and patted her hand. David too had been lost in thought, and suddenly he said as he pushed himself off the edge of the table, "I've got to try and reach Miles. This whole thing has gotten out of hand." Without moving, Hulan watched as he picked up the phone, dialed, and asked for Miles Stout's room.
"I called my father in California this morning," Miss Quo said to Hulan. "I told him not to come home. He has money there. He'll be okay. But Mama and me?" Two new rivers of tears sprang from her eyes. "I've brought disgrace upon our family. My father will be abandoned in a foreign land. I'll go to jail. Mama will die all alone." An idea suddenly came to her, and she quickly stood. "I have to run away. Maybe I can leave the country. Dissidents do it. Maybe I could too. I have money. Pay a little here. Pay a little there. I could be in Vancouver by tomorrow." The young woman quivered in terror. "I don't want to die."
Hulan felt sorry for the girl. She'd been raised in a house of privilege. She'd never known hunger or suffering. She was too young to have experienced the Cultural Revolution. Instead she'd partied, swilled champagne, gone to karaoke bars and nightclubs, dressed in designer clothes, traveled the world. In an hour her whole life had fallen apart in a way she could never in her worst nightmare have imagined.
"Did you do anything wrong?" Hulan asked gently.
"They say I did."
"Do you think you did anything wrong?"
Miss Quo shook her head.
"Then you have nothing to be afraid of."
In the background Hulan heard David raise his voice. "Listen, Miles, you can't do that. You need a vote from the full partnership."
Hulan felt a tap on her arm. It was Miss Quo. "I was asking you, how can you say that? Don't you know what they'll do to you?"
"Yes, but I also didn't do anything wrong."
Miss Quo's eyes widened. "You're not going to stay here, are you?"
Hulan glanced back at David. He gripped the receiver so tightly that his knuckles had gone white. "Special circumstances?" David shouted into the phone. "What are you talking about? When I explain to the partners what's been going on over here…"
David was talking like he was going to get out of China, but they'd never go anywhere but jail unless they got moving. The more Hulan eavesdropped on David's conversation and the more she talked to Miss Quo, the more she wanted to go home and wait it out. She was too tired to run. Her arm throbbed, her body burned, and all she wanted was to lie down under a cool, wet cloth and sleep. She registered David's anxious look and thought he understood what she was thinking, but the words that came out of his mouth were all wrong.
David slammed down the phone. Without explanation he began issuing orders: "Everybody up! Let's get out of here. We're going to the American embassy!" When Hulan and Miss Quo didn't move, he barked, "Now!"
Miss Quo jumped up. Hulan slowly drew herself to her feet as David threw a couple of things in his briefcase and Miss Quo scurried about looking for her purse and… What was she jabbering on about? Her umbrella? Then someone pounded on the door, and the others froze in place. Hulan thought it was one of the funnier things she'd ever seen, but the look of horror on Miss Quo's face trapped the laughter in her throat.
"Why didn't you tell me about Sun and the bribery?" Henry Knight demanded, as he finally burst through the door. "Did you know all along this was brewing? Did you know he was going to be arrested?"
David, briefcase in hand and ready to flee, asked, "Has he already been arrested?"
"Now, how in God's name am I supposed to know?" Henry queried, dramatically throwing himself into a chair. David just looked at the man.
Henry began to take in the scene: Miss Quo in her pink Chanel suit, eyes swollen and red, her bag over her shoulder and an umbrella in her hand; David looking rumpled, harried, with his briefcase in one hand and his laptop in the other; and Hulan swaying there as if she were ready to keel over for an afternoon siesta except it was only 10:30 in the morning.
"What's going on here?" Henry asked.
"In case you don't know it, Sun isn't the only one who's in trouble," David answered. "I've been named, as have Miss Quo and Miss Liu."
"Well, I know thatl But you aren't going to turn tail and run away like scared dogs, are you?"
"That's precisely what we're going to do." "But you have a duty to your client."
David didn't have time to talk with Henry about this. He looked at the two women. "Come on, let's go."
They made for the door, but Henry jumped up and blocked them. "If Sun's arrested," Henry said, "he'll be executed. His death will be on your head."
"If he's arrested and I go down to the jail to help him, I'll probably be arrested too. If I'm lucky, I'll simply be expelled from the country. If not-"
Henry grabbed David's shirt. He was a small man but wiry and tough. "You've got a duty, boy. The man's innocent."
"Like you're innocent of illegal practices in your factory? Like you're innocent of paying off Sun?"
Henry shoved David away. "Do you realize that at this very minute my son is selling my company out from under me? That vulture Randall Craig and your partner Miles Stout are trying to rip my life away from me, but I'm not going to let them. I'll use every penny I've got to keep them from getting Knight. What's happened there, if it's to be believed, is terrible. But I've got money too, and I've got people in New York poised to buy the stock. If Tartan wants war, I'll give it to them. Because I'm telling you right now, whatever happened in that factory before is ending. The past record won't matter anymore-"
"Of course it will, Henry. It's the key to everything. Tartan wants your company for the very abuses you insisted you didn't have. And your pal Sun has moved the whole thing along. Now," he added forcefully, "we're leaving."
"What if I told you I knew where Sun was?"
David motioned at the walls around him. "I'd say you'd better be careful where you say that. I don't think the Chinese will take kindly to your hiding a criminal."
"I'm not hiding him, but I know where he is, and…" He once again grabbed David's shirt, pulled him very close, and whispered, "I've got a plane."