The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (36 page)

A classy newspaper kiosk was on a King’s Road corner facing the wide road, deep in Fire Dragon territory. Tabloids and magazines sat in glass cabinets on clear plastic shelves looking toward King’s Road. The kiosk had a glass wall exterior and two granite steps leading up to the automatic sliding door entrance.  International editions were on the outside; local editions were on the inside.  An antique local edition sat just inside the glass wall interior, behind a high counter with editions of the
South China Morning Post
.  The old man behind the counter was feeble and innocent looking, but for the large moles that jutted out like boils on the upper right side of his face.  The largest was under his right eye making it close slower than his left eye.  Blinking simultaneously went unnoticed but the old man blinked one eye before the other.  Xiaoyu entered the kiosk flanked by Xu Dong and Wang Xi.  The trio walked straight to the counter.

“
When’s the next pick up
?” asked Xiaoyu.  The old man looked confused. 

“
You mean delivery
,” said the old man, “
All the new editions were delivered this morning
.”  Xiaoyu hopped the counter, while the old man protested.  Wang Xi withdrew a
P9
pistol from inside his jacket and palmed it on the counter top with his finger outside the trigger guard.  Seeing the gun the old man realized the trio had an itinerary.  The old man sat back down without saying anything.  Xiaoyu rummaged through stacks of newspapers in the tiny back room.  He sifted through the tightly packed editions and found treasure.  Between every third periodical were forty or so tiny baggies filled with cocaine, ready for sale.  Xiaoyu returned to the front and nodded to Xu Dong, who hopped the counter and went to the back room.  Xiaoyu stood behind the old man and centered his weight on his two feet.  He bent his right arm to rest the forearm against the side of the old man’s neck.  He wrapped his left arm around the other side of the man’s neck locking his grip on his right arm and applied pressure.  The old man’s struggle was an anxious yawn before he fell asleep.   

• • •

A black 2000
Audi Twin Turbo
parked on a side street around the corner from the kiosk.  Two men with facial hair, dress shirts and jeans stood up out of the
Audi
.  The two men approached the front door of the kiosk.  The door opened automatically, but seemed more familiar with the two men.  The two men entered the kiosk to see Wang Xi sitting behind the counter.  They walked authoritatively toward the counter.

“
Who the fuck are you
,” asked the shorter man.

“
Excuse me
?” said Wang Xi.

“
Where’s the old man
?” asked the shorter man.

“
I know it’s his shift tonight but he didn’t feel well, went home.  He called me to come take his shift
,” said Wang Xi.

“
Well he didn’t call us
,” said the taller man.

“
Why would he
?” said Wang Xi.

“
Because he always calls us
,” said the shorter man.

“
It seems this time he called me.  So what?
” said Wang Xi. 

“
Who are you
?” asked the shorter man. 

“
A friend,”
said Wang Xi.  Xiaoyu came over the counter tackling the shorter man within range of the taller man. One rapid elbow to the shorter man’s face broke his nose leaving him semi-conscious.  Xiaoyu sent his right foot hard into the back of the taller man’s right knee.  He wrapped his arms around the man’s waist.  He leaned into the man’s back and lifted him while rising to his feet doing a full spin and dropping the man on his left shoulder.  Despite the man’s subsequent struggle, Xiaoyu was able to lean in and break the man’s cheekbone with a quick open palm.  He rose to his feet chopping the man in the neck then stomped on his throat.  Wang Xi handed Xiaoyu his pistol and suppressor.  Xiaoyu screwed the suppressor into the barrel of the pistol and shot the two men on the floor beneath the shirt.  Xiaoyu called Huang Sitian waiting outside in the
Astra
.  He relayed to Xiaoyu the men had arrived in the
Audi
.  Wang Xi was sent to retrieve the car.  Xu Dong took all the discs to the security camera and cut all wires.  He confiscated the cocaine baggies, rolling them in a single newspaper.  Xu Dong and Xiaoyu carried the two men as if they were drunk and put the shorter man in the
Astra’s
back seat
. 
The taller man was in the passenger seat of the
Audi
.  The black
Astra
went east along the Island Eastern Corridor with Wang Xi driving the
Audi
.  The pair of cars slowed on a desolate stretch along Cape Collinson Road, stopping on the edge of a bushy embankment.  The body of the shorter man was placed in the driver’s seat of the
Audi
next to the taller man.  Xu Dong fired three shots into the chest of the shorter man and the taller man.  Wang Xi and Xu Dong positioned the shorter man’s body so his body weight set the accelerator, sending the car over the embankment, through the brush into the rocky water below.  Wang Xi and Xu Dong climbed in the
Astra
with Xiaoyu and Huang Sitian and drove toward Repulse Bay.  Taking the Island Road around the south side of Hong Kong Island they entered Moon Dragon territory by way of the back streets.

Liu Ping and the others were gathered in the garage at Jervois Street eating out of foam boxes.  Xiaoyu entered followed by Huang Sitian, Wang Xi and Xu Dong.  Xu Dong was carrying the newspaper full of cocaine baggies.  Xiaoyu pointed to a utility bench.  Xu Dong put the stolen treasure on top of the bench. 

“
You do transactions
?” said Xiaoyu.  Liu Ping nodded.

“
I need you to sell this all by tomorrow and get the cash back here
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Don’t worry about cleaning the cash, we’re not gonna be holding onto it long enough to matter
.”  Liu Ping nodded.  Xiaoyu turned around to face the rest of the group.

“
You’re probably feeling like I’m keeping you in the dark
,” said Xiaoyu, “
I am.  You fight one punch before the next.  I see the fight and you throw the punches.  That’s my function.  Do what I tell you on the day, then you’ll sleep at night.  I dream about the next day, you dream whatever you want
.”  Xiaoyu stood on the utility bench and grabbed a utility blanket for himself.  He left the group and went upstairs.  Finding some space on the steel floor he stretched out the blanket and lied down on his back staring upward.  Lost in thought, he didn’t hear the noise made by someone coming up to the second level.

“
You want something else besides the blanket
?” asked Liu Ping.  Xiaoyu rolled his head sideways on the blanket.

“
Not even food,”
said Liu Ping holding out a foam box with rice, meat and sauce.  Xiaoyu sat up and took the box.  Liu Ping handed him chopsticks.

“
You know we’ve always been interested in you
,” said Liu Ping, “
You showed up one day and poked a hole in everything we thought about then they took you somewhere else.  At first we were happy to see you go.  You were an outsider, it was obvious you didn’t fit in.  As we got older we thought maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing.  It meant you were special; you weren’t made for the shelter.  That’s why they didn’t let you stay there.  You’re not one of us, the Sheltered Ones.  You’re something else.  Now, once again you’re poking holes in what we think about, but this time we can accept it.  We weren’t taught to poke holes, we were taught to obey hierarchy.  That’s why they chose you, because you realized quickly what hierarchy is.  Bullshit
.”  Xiaoyu choked slightly on his rice because he laughed slightly.

“
Thanks for the food
,” said Xiaoyu.  Liu Ping nodded.

“
I’ll sell the dust tomorrow and bring back the cash
,” said Liu Ping, “
It should be about 800,000 Hong Kong dollars worth on the low end if I have to move it all in one day
.”

“
That should be enough
,” said Xiaoyu.  Liu Ping looked at Xiaoyu calmly eating rice.  He was impressed how calm Xiaoyu seemed while starting a Triad family feud.  Some of them would die in the process.  It was inevitable.  They both knew it.  Staying calm was necessary.  Liu Ping turned and began to head back down to ground level.  He turned back to look at Xiaoyu.

“
What’s the money for
?” Liu Ping asked.

• • •

The
Wan Chai Centre Harbour Hotel
had a conference room on the ninth floor.  On Sundays, the hotel offered a buffet brunch that was a mixture of English breakfast and Dim Sum.  The Earth Dragons met on the first Sunday of every month in the conference room and were treated to a private buffet.  The assassination of their Dragon Head on Thursday left them with much to talk about, but little time to move the meeting.  The meeting was usually around forty members.  Old Lau’s death caused over sixty members of the Earth Dragons to show, paying respects and speaking their mind.  The Earth Dragons gathered into the conference room and grabbed food from the buffet on the west side of the room.  The meeting was set up with four tables:  two long; two short.  The tables were formed into a rectangle so members could face each other.  Four seats were left open out of respect for Old Lau and the other three senior members who were missing from the meeting.  The opposite end of the room was pure view.  A window as long as the room itself looked out toward Causeway Bay and Victoria Park. The meeting began promptly at 9:30am with a signature open remark made by the most senior member in the room.  The meeting was light and somber, a mixture of fiery speeches with dark intent.  All members agreed interests had to be shifted to finding and fixing the conspiracy behind Old Lau’s murder.  At 10:08am when the fiery atmosphere in the room had engulfed everyone, another fire engulfed the room.  PE4 attached to the tables and every second chair was poised to explode on time. 

The detonation sent parts of everything in multiple directions.  Chairs broke apart along with people.  The glass window turned into a glass waterfall as pieces rained down on the street below.  The blown out window supplied the fire with fresh oxygen expelling a dragon of flame to fly out the window. The fire was so hot silverware became molten.  Glass charred and melted.  Bodies burned.  The walls went.  The double door to the room was blown off at the hinges.  The percussion was felt on all floors above and most below.  A single soul came out of the room wet with flame.  He screamed as he ran down the hall before the fire broke his will all the way to the floor. 

• • •

Across Victoria Harbour on Hip Wo Street was a Canton hot pot and noodle shop.  The place was simple.  A red cup holding plastic chopsticks sat on each table.  There was florescent lighting throughout the place and nothing more.  The walls were gray.  All color was in the food.  Teddy Ng—Big Blue—said they had the best food in town.  In town meant the Blue Dragons’ territory.  As Dragon Head, Teddy had turned territorial and isolationist.  Teddy was twenty-two years younger than Uncle Woo.  They were as far apart in age as they were in diplomacy.  Uncle Woo made no qualms about saying
The Mynah Prime Palace
was his favorite eatery.  He even made sure the Moons stayed on good terms with the Golden Masters so there would be no problems with him eating in their territory.  The Moons did occasional favors for the Masters, and the hospitality was returned.  Teddy Ng did no favors.  He looked for opportunities.  Everything he did was to further the Blue Empire or defend its borders.  He was rarely seen anywhere outside his own territory.  He liked to know what was going on at home all the time.  Teddy ran a tight ship and he was always on it.  This made him easy to find. 

Teddy bit into steamed buns and chewed on spicy noodles at a table with three other men.  There were nineteen associates of the Blue Dragons branch occupying four booths.  They ate relatively silently.  The most silent table was Teddy’s table.  Teddy liked to keep an air of business surrounding him; his business for the moment was food.  His business changed when a shaved head walked into the restaurant.  Teddy didn’t pay much attention to the man who came in.  Another man sitting at Teddy’s table raised his head to see Xiaoyu and put his chopsticks down on the table.  He signaled Teddy who looked up to see the space behind Xiaoyu getting more and more crowded.   Yue Tian, Wang Xi and Huang Sitian stood to the left of Xiaoyu with silenced
P9
pistols aimed at Teddy Ng’s table.  Xu Dong, Lin Jun, Yi Le, Yu Hong and Bai Feihong aimed at the others.  Liu Ping walked to the other end of the restaurant with a sound-suppressed
Glock 26
subcompact in hand.  Liu Jingyu, Xiu Ying and Li Tao followed with pistols of their own.  Xiu Ying guarded the restaurant’s back entrance.  Liu Ping, Li Tao and Liu Jingyu went to the kitchen.  Xiaoyu’s company aimed their pistols at the Blues sitting on both sides of the room.