The Money Is Green (24 page)

T
he windshield wipers went back and forth in a steady beat as the rain poured down upon the dark Mercedes limousine. The driver, a young man in his twenties wearing dark gloves and a black cap, drove slowly but steadily through the heavy traffic alongside the National Convention Center just outside downtown Beijing.

Mei, a glass of champagne in her right hand, stared vacantly out the window as they made their way from the venue. The annual Communist Party Convention was over, and it pleased her that she wouldn’t have to think about it for another year. She smoothed out her full-length chiffon evening gown and, putting her glass down, started to pull off the white gloves from her arms. She pulled out the clip holding her hair in a bun and let her hair fall down to her shoulders. The diamond necklace she wore shimmered from the headlights of the oncoming traffic.

Her husband Ho, in a black tuxedo with a starched white shirt, sat across the limo from her and watched, a stoic expression on his face. Finally he spoke. “You were well received, Mei. I was worried you might use your tongue to lash out of some of the members who are not up to your standards, but thankfully you refrained.”

Glaring at him, she retorted, “It would be easy to slice them into little pieces with my words, but there is nothing to be gained by that. I know what they’re saying behind my back and I refuse to give them any more ammunition. I don’t care what they say, they are not in my same class.”

“You give yourself too much credit, Mei,” he said, squirming forward to sit on the edge of his seat. He pointed his finger at her. “Those so called people who are beneath you are the same ones who can take you down. Do not forget that Chairman Xi is going to step down in the next two years. I’m in line to take his position if everything works out and if I remain in good favor with the Party. I don’t need you to sabotage that.”

Waving her hand in a dismissive way, she took a drink from her champagne. “Don’t be ridiculous, husband. They’ll put you in the President’s position because of me and my family ties. You worry too much. Once you gain the presidency, there will be great changes in China, especially Hong Kong.”

“Oh, really?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “And I bet a lot of the changes involve Mei Chen taking over a lot of privately owned businesses just like you did with David Wilson’s hotels.”

Putting her glass down, Mei bristled. “Who told you that? That’s a bunch of lies. I will have whoever spread that lie shot! I don’t intend to take over anything, but whoever does business in Hong Kong should share the wealth we’re letting be created with certain members of the Party. That’s not taking over anything!” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her seat. “Now that I’m done here, I need to get back to the US to get prepared for the next big solar farm project. I’m tired of all this political nonsense.”

“Mei,” he said to her in a stern voice, “why must you continue to pursue these high-profile projects? I’m assuming you’re referring to the Antelope Valley project in the Mojave Desert. The project is subsidized by a huge amount of money from the United States Government. Do you know how much scrutiny the project will get
once it gets started?” He paused, letting his words sink in. “Soltech is a Chinese company that’s furnishing the solar panels and a high ranking person in the Chinese government is a part-owner of the solar farm. Do you not think that will play poorly in the United States, not to mention in China, when the people find out your involvement? This could all end up badly.”

“Shut up, Ho,” she snapped. “I’m not going to stop what I’m doing because some small-minded people might not approve. I’ve got bigger things to worry about. You focus on the Party and becoming the next President and I’ll worry about me.”

“Okay, Mei, you win. Go ahead and be the big capitalist, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” He softened his tone. “What about our daughter? You never see her except when she’s playing at a major concert hall or in some school project. She deserves more from her mother.”

Lifting her chin up, Mei narrowed her eyes at him. “You are a wimp like her, Ho. She needs to be pushed. She is Chinese, not a coddled American! Quit pampering her! Make her work harder and she will thank us later when she grows up.”

“She doesn’t need to be treated like a slave for her to be successful in life. We have a wonderful, smart, and ambitious daughter in Chi. She will grow up and be a wonderful and successful person.”

Mei laughed at him. “Don’t be such a fool, Ho. She will be successful because I will push her to be successful. The only reason she might fail is if you step in and undo all my hard work.”

♦

Two days later, Mei was at Soltech’s office in San Jose before 7:00 a.m. She was pleased to see Jason’s BMW parked in his usual spot in the company parking lot. I made a good choice in Jason, she
thought. The more I throw on his plate, the better he responds. But he might be too smart for his own good. I’ll keep him on a short leash.

She spent the next hour going through her mail and phone messages. After the last message was dealt with, she buzzed Jason at his office. “Jason, can you come in and see me?” she asked through the intercom.

A minute later he was standing in her doorway, a legal pad in his hand. She indicated for him to sit at the chair in front of her desk. “I understand you paid a visit to our hangar in Reno recently.” She looked at him coolly. “After our panels are unloaded, what goes on there is official business of the Government of China and no one else’s, including yourself. It is restricted space and no one is to go near those planes.” She paused for a second. “Do I make myself clear?”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yes, I get your point.”

Mei smiled and changed the tone of her voice. “Now, bring me up to speed on the Copper Mountain project,” she said as she leaned forward on her desk. “I’m anxious to hear what’s been happening in my absence.”

Jason cleared his throat, looking down at some notes on his legal pad. “As you were probably aware, they have started grading the site.” He looked up for a second. “It’s over nine hundred acres, so it’s going to take at least three months to finish that portion of the project.”

He looked down again. “The infrastructure of the project, the underground wiring, the PVC piping—all of that can be started in the first phase in about two months.” He crossed something out on his pad and continued. “Even though our solar panels won’t be needed for about five months, per your request we’ve started shipping them to our warehouse in Nevada.”

Flipping over a new sheet, he stopped and looked up at Mei. “Everything at the plant in Shanghai is running more smoothly. I implemented the safety measures I ran by you, and so far the accidents have ceased.”

Mei frowned. “I’m sorry, Jason, but you can’t cure stupid. Those workers who died weren’t doing their jobs correctly. That’s why they lost their lives. It had nothing to do with the way the plant had been operating.”

Jason stared at her for a second. “I’m sorry, Mei, but I strongly disagree with you. Those deaths were preventable. I want to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Throwing her hands in the air in exasperation, she said, “Okay, I give in to you. You made the changes, so let’s move on. What else?”

“Well,” he said, “I need to ask you something.”

“What?”

“How is Brian Thompson doing? Who’s going to be in charge of Inter-Power?”

She lowered her head and sighed. “Brian’s not doing well. When I left Hong Kong last week he was still at the hospital. The doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with him.” She looked up at him. “Greg Arnold will be the interim project manager while Brian is gone, and Brian asked that I help Greg with running the company until he returns.”

Rolling a pencil between his fingers, Jason stared at her in silence. “Isn’t it going to be a conflict of interest for you to award Antelope Valley to Soltech? This is a one-point-three-billion-dollar project, which is not small potatoes. Aren’t you worried about negative press?”

“No, I’m not,” she said emphatically. “I’ll be helping Greg make decisions based on what’s best for Inter-Power. If Soltech’s bid is the best bid for Antelope Valley, that’s who will be awarded it.”

“Do the doctors have any idea when Brian might be released from the hospital?” Jason asked. “There are still a few months to go before that bid is let out. He should be back running things by then, shouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “He didn’t look very good when I last saw him.” She leaned forward on the desk and said with a
soft voice, “I’m not sure he’s going to live much longer, Jason. I hope he can recover, but it doesn’t look good.”

Jason’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “Oh my god, Mei. I didn’t realize it was so serious. Do they have the proper health care in Hong Kong to care for him? Should he be moved back to the United States? I can’t believe this. Brian was as healthy as a horse.”

“He’s in great hands in Hong Kong,” she said to him. “I made sure he was put into the best hospital and had the best doctors attending him. If anyone can help him get better, they can, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to save him.”

A young woman showed up at the doorway and tapped softly on the door. “You’re eight o’clock appoint is here, Madam Chen,” she said in a soft voice.

“Alright, I’ll be right out.” She turned back to Jason. “Is there anything else?”

“Uh, yes,” Jason said as he flipped the papers on his legal pad over. “We’ve shipped about three hundred thousand solar panels to Nevada and we’re almost out of storage space. Should I wait until the project is further along before I have Shanghai ship out more?”

Mei shook her head. “Keep shipping the solar panels. You’ll find a place to store them. The more we ship, the more we can bill. It’s a simple formula.”

“Okay, there’s another warehouse about a mile from the airport that’s available to lease. We’ll store them there.” He got up and left her office.

♦

By the time Jason had reached his office, his head was spinning. He picked up the phone and dialed Janine’s number. As soon as she answered it, he started to speak quickly. “Hey, babe, I just needed someone to talk to.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been telling you about Brian’s sudden sickness and I feel something is wrong here.
That guy was so healthy, he’d be the last guy I’d pick to get sick. He’s been to Hong Kong many times and never been sick. Why now?” He walked over to the window of his office and looked down at the parking lot.

“You told me you were worried about him since he hadn’t returned your calls. Have you had a chance to talk to him?” she asked.

“No,” he answered. “He’s staying at a prestigious hospital in Hong Kong, but she tells me he’s too weak to come to the phone.”

“That does seem strange to me also. Is there anything you can do?”

Jason came back to his desk and sat down. “I don’t know. Listen, thanks for letting me vent. I need to get going. I’ll see you later on tonight.”

“Any time. I love you. Bye.”

Jason sat at his desk, his chin resting on his hands, and stared at the computer monitor. There must be a better reason why Mei’s been shipping all these panels early to Reno. How deep is she in the gun-running deal? Maybe I should get over to Hong Kong and see for myself what’s up with Brian. I would sure hate to have Mei’s relationship with Inter-Power screw up the Copper Mountain project or ruin our chances at the Antelope Valley project because of a conflict of interest. Maybe I can find out more about Mei’s dealings while I’m there. Andrew’s murder, the gun running, now Brian’s sickness. There’re too many bad coincidences going on here.

He sat down at his desk and typed out an email explaining to Mei that he was going to the Shanghai factory next week to check on its progress. After he sent it, he stared at his computer for a moment. I’ll travel to Hong Kong first, he thought. I’m going to get to the bottom of this and figure out what’s really going on. If Brian needs medical attention, I’m going to help him get it. He’s not going to die on my watch!

Putting his hands behind his head, he leaned back in his chair. Am I going to be putting Janine and Crystal in danger? There’s no
telling what Mei will do to me if she finds out I’m interfering with her operation. She’s already proven she’ll stop at nothing to get her way. He closed his eyes and shook his head. I need to get them to a safer place while I’m gone. I’m going to alert Agent Namath about these suspicious things and have him keep an eye on Janine and Crystal. They don’t need any of Mei Chen’s goons paying them a surprise visit.

♦

Three days later, after placing Crystal with one of her teammates’ families and making sure Agent Namath had both that family’s and Janine’s addresses, Jason arrived at the Hong Kong hospital Brian had been taken to and found Brian’s room. He set his carry-on luggage outside the door and knocked softly. Hearing no response, he opened the door slowly and stepped in. What he saw stunned him. The person lying in the bed with four IVs coming from his arms and a monitor with three tubes stuck to his chest did not look like the person he had sat in front of one month ago. His breathing was slow and labored, and he seemed to be in a constant sweat. Crusts of spit accumulated in the corner of his mouth and his lips were dry and cracked.

Jason moved over to the bed and sat in the chair next to it. He reached out and grabbed Brian’s hand, rubbing it softly. “Brian, it’s Jason,” he whispered. “I came by to see how you’re doing. I’m so sorry to see you this way. I want you to know I’m thinking about you and hope you can beat this thing.”

Brian lay there without moving for a minute and then slowly turned his head an inch or so. His eyes flickered a bit and he nodded to Jason. He reached across his body with his right hand and squeezed Jason’s hand weakly. “Out,” he croaked.

Leaning in to hear better, Jason asked him, “Say that again. I didn’t understand you. What did you want?”

Brian opened his eyes wider, a pleading look in them. He squeezed Jason’s hand harder. “Out. Get me out!”

What? Jason thought. Does he want me to take him out of this hospital? That won’t be an easy task. Jason leaned in closer. “You want to leave this place, Brian?”