The First Excellence: Fa-Ling's Map (41 page)

She clutched Guy’s arm and planted a kiss on his face, offering to hold Mei Mei while he spoke to the police.

“
No, leave her with me,” Guy said. “She’s finally calmed down. I don’t want to upset her again.”

“
If you change your mind, honey, just let me know.”

From her spot in an armchair in the middle of the lobby, Fa-ling watched the Kader show through eyes that were almost closed. Anyone looking at her would have thought she was asleep.

**

Betty continued to cling to Cheng, not letting go even when he insisted they had to get back to the car.

Yong-qi and Shopei pretended not to notice Cheng’s embarrassing predicament, keeping their eyes averted from the scene.

“
Are they dead?” Shopei asked, motioning toward the fallen Ministry agents.

“
They are,” Wang answered.

“
Good.”

Yong-qi carefully retrieved the slugs that had been fired from Cheng’s massive pistol. There weren’t many M 77B’s still in use. It wouldn’t do to leave evidence that could be traced through ballistics. Then Detective Wang scanned the room one more time, making sure there were no traces that would lead to him or his partner.

When he was satisfied, he turned to the door.

“
Come on,” he said. “We have to get out of here.”

“
Just a second,” Cheng said. Even distracted by the attractive young woman, who continued to clutch his arm, Cheng still possessed sharp observational skills. He pointed at the body of the large agent.

Wang shook his head, unable to spot what Cheng had seen.

Reluctantly, Cheng removed Betty’s arm from his. He leaned over Ng-zhi’s body, turning it so Wang could have a better look.

“
Oh, crap!” Yong-qi said, hurrying to pick up the object that was now fully revealed. It was Wang’s own smaller Type 77 pistol. The Ministry agent had knocked it from his hand, and his fallen body had almost completely hidden it.

The loss of a weapon is difficult for any detective to explain under the best of circumstances. For it to be discovered under the dead body of a Ministry of State Security agent would be unthinkable.

Once again, Wang’s partner had saved his life.

Miao continued to struggle against her bonds long after the Kaders had left the room. Finally she felt a loosening of the bathrobe ties that bound her wrists. Moments later she had freed her hands and removed the sock from her mouth. It took no time for her to untie her ankles.

She removed Gege’s gag as well, and used a pair of scissors she found in the tea corner to cut the wires from his arms and legs.

Gege was glad the baby was gone. He hadn’t wanted the ransom money, and he certainly hadn’t wanted the guilt of killing a baby.

In fact, the only thing Gege had ever wanted was Miao.

Recognizing her cousin had been pushed to his limits, Miao kissed his face and rubbed his legs to restore his circulation. Then she helped Gege to stand and led him to the bed.

Miao had no intention of giving up on the money. The Canadians were predictable. She knew where they were staying. She and Gege would get the boy back, and they would force the Kaders to return the money, all of it, to her personal bank account.

First, though, she had to remind Gege why he needed her. It was, after all, his love for her that put Miao in control.

**

Cheng agreed to stay in Shanghai for a couple of days, just to make sure Shopei and Master Long were all right. He didn’t say so, but Yong-qi also suspected his partner wanted to keep an eye on Betty, the beautiful, quiet Underground operator whose life he had saved.

As for Yong-qi, he caught the first available flight to Beijing.

Death and destruction,
he thought, studying the passing white clouds through the airplane’s tiny window,
are all part of the inevitable movement we call life.
One could feel bad about it, but in the end, one had to accept the inescapable destination at the end of one’s chosen path. He, Wang Yong-qi, had chosen to be a cop. True, he might not have had a lot of options, given the reality of living in communist China, but still, the choice had been his.

This choice, perhaps above any other he might have made, involved a great deal of death and destruction.

So one might wax philosophical, conjuring up poetic phrases and beating himself with feelings of guilt, but in the end, one had to
accept
. Besides, if one were willing to admit the truth, there was always something to smile about.

He thought of Miss Li Fa-ling waiting for him in Beijing…

…
and yes, he smiled.

**

“
I missed you,” Fa-ling said, opening the door at midnight to welcome the tired, dirty Nanning cop who was really, to tell the truth, too old for her.

Yong-qi kissed her, and was immediately lost in the promise and expectation of her body.

She moved in his grasp, trying to loosen her clothes. He finally let go of her long enough to undo his own belt. She reached for his zipper, tugging at it, and fell to her knees.

He tasted like a man, salty and un-self-conscious. For his part, he had thought of nothing but Fa-ling since leaving Shanghai, and now that he had her he wasn’t going to let her go. He twisted his fingers in her hair, gently and firmly. He no longer felt like himself, like a man of thought, a meandering student of human nature. Something inside of him had changed in Shanghai, in that moment when he had struggled to free himself from the Ministry agent’s death grasp. Something about the essence of his life had become more acute, more precious.

Right here, right now, Yong-qi was not a man. He was a fully charged battery, a container of some overwhelming and undeniable need.

Fa-ling understood all of this as Yong-qi moved with her, and she connected to that uncontrollable desire until it was spent.

**

At 2:00 am Paula Kader lifted the sleeping boy out of the crib he shared with Mei Mei. The plan was for Paula to wrap him in a blanket and carry him to the building’s stairwell. She would lay him down, still asleep, on the main floor, where with luck he would be discovered before too long.

If anyone stopped her along the way, she would pretend she was walking with Mei Mei to stop her from crying.

Paula checked the side and rear entrances, and found they were locked from the inside. If she left Daniel inside the building as planned, it would be obvious a guest of the hotel had been involved in the kidnapping. On the other hand, if she left him outside she would have to desert him in the dark parking lot where he might not be discovered until morning.

The only sensible thing to do was to leave Daniel outside of the hotel, preferably in an area that would become busy early in the morning, and where the toddler would not be able to wander off into the streets of Beijing. There was a dimly lit, fenced-in tennis court at the back of the hotel. That would be the perfect place. The boy would not be able to open the mesh gate on his own, so there was no risk of his wandering away.

Also, tennis players were often early risers, meaning the boy should be discovered before the heat of the day became unbearable.

Paula stuck a notepad into the hotel door to stop it from locking behind her when she stepped outside. She peered around the parking lot, sticking close to the side of the building. Then, her eyes darting this way and that, Paula sprinted toward the court and opened the tall mesh gate. She placed the baby inside the court, between a bucket of balls and a locked cupboard.

Then she dashed back into the hotel, removing the notepad and letting the glass door swing fully closed. She strained one more time to see beyond the glass and into the darkness. From where she stood in the lighted hallway, she could just make out the spot where she had left Daniel Brahn.

Paula didn’t notice the two dark shapes lurking in the parking lot. Standing beside their rental car, Miao and Gege were holding a whispered debate regarding whether to confront the Kaders in their hotel room and recover the Brahn baby, or to simply wait until Paula and Guy showed themselves in the lobby. Miao was all for kicking down the Kaders’ door, but Gege preferred to wait.

They were surprised at the sight of the wraithlike figure that ran toward the tennis court carrying a bundle, and then returned to the hotel empty-handed.

Such an astonishing event was certainly worth checking out.

“
Wake up,” Fa-ling said.

Yong-qi continued to sleep.

“
Seriously,” she said. “I have to talk to you.”

After the lovemaking she had fallen asleep, but within moments she was awake again. She needed to tell Yong-qi about the kidnapping of Daniel Brahn, and to fill him in on her suspicions regarding who might be involved.

“
Ok,” he said, “I’m awake. I hope you’re not one of those women who want to talk all night after sex.”

“
Actually, if you must know, I want to play my clarinet for you.”

He was afraid for a moment she might be serious. The cultural barrier between East and West sometimes made it difficult to recognise humour. When she smiled in that wry way of hers, he was relieved.

“
Something happened today,” she said. “I need your advice.”

“
If it’s serious, then I should clear my head. I’ll take a shower.”

“
No time,” Fa-ling insisted. “Let’s walk outside. The night air will wake you.”

“
What time is it?” Yong-qi asked. “Don’t you have a balcony?”

“
No. Come for a walk with me. We’ll sleep later.”

“
Yes, Empress,” he said. “Whatever you wish, Empress.”

“
Keep it up,” she said, “and I’ll be forced to play my clarinet.”

“
I’m right behind you.” He pulled on his shirt, following her to the door. “What’s going on?”

“
Wait till we get outside.”

**

“
It’s nice out here,” Yong-qi said, letting his body slump onto a bench near the outdoor pool. “Cool.”

“
Uh-huh. A lot cooler than in Nanning.”

“
That’s for sure. Now out with it.”

“
There’s been another kidnapping,” Fa-ling said. “It happened this morning at the Forbidden City.”

“
Two abductions from one adoption group — how is that possible?”

“
The kidnappers goofed the last time.” When she realised Yong-qi was confused by the slang, she said, “The kidnappers made a mistake. They got the wrong baby last time. They meant to take the Brahn boy all along.”

“
Are you sure of this? What do the police say?”

“
They don’t tell us anything,” Fa-ling said. “I’m hoping you can find out what’s going on. There was a ransom demand for a million dollars, but they didn’t even inform the parents about it. They just bagged it into evidence without a word.”

“
How do you know about the ransom?” Yong-qi’s eyes narrowed. Fa-ling seemed to have a lot of information. Was she somehow involved in the kidnapping?

“
The note was written in Chinese characters and addressed to Cynthia. She showed it to me. When I realised the police weren’t going to give it to Yvanna and Chris, I translated it for them. Cynthia and I felt they had a right to know.”

“
Can the Brahn family afford to pay that amount?”

“
According to Yvanna, they’ve already made a partial payment. Trust me, someone did their homework. I’m betting it was someone from Toronto. The Brahns are made of money, but they keep a low profile. I doubt whether anyone outside of Canada would have heard of them.”

“
You think they were targeted before they came to China?”

“
There’s no other explanation.”

“
Someone in your travel group is probably behind this,” Yong-qi said. “What about Cynthia? She has the Chinese contacts, and she controls the group’s itinerary.”

“
I don’t believe Cynthia is involved. She fainted when she saw the ransom note.”

“
I am always amazed at the ability of humans to deceive each other. Some people can fake emotions perfectly, and you will never know the difference. Never assume what you see is real.”

“
Spoken like a true detective,” Fa-ling said. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“
Have any of the members of your group been acting strangely?” Yong-qi asked.

“
As a matter of fact…”

Fa-ling’s response was broken by a sudden shadowy movement scurrying across the darkened hotel grounds. A figure clutching a bundle made its way toward an enclosed tennis court that lay between the outdoor pool and the parking lot at the back of the building. The form darted toward the dimly lit enclosure, opened the gate and placed the bundle inside of the fence before running back to the hotel.

“
Speaking of strange behaviour,” Yong-qi muttered.

“
Tennis, anyone?” Fa-ling hurried toward the court.

**

Miao and Gege moved slowly along the side of the building. When they saw a couple rise from the bench near the pool they realised they needed to hurry. Miao ran as fast as she could, but Gege soon passed her. He was much closer to the court than Fa-ling was, and reached the gate with seconds to spare.