Skinner's Box (Fang Mu (Eastern Crimes)) (36 page)

"No!" Mr. H shouted as he glanced again at the rearview mirror. "All roads leading out of the city would be barricaded by now."

True enough, as they sped down the avenue, the Traffic Management Bureau was monitoring the van's progress by way of surveillance cameras placed at all the major intersections and was reporting its location to the police, who already had every main road leading out of Changhong City locked down.

"Well, then what do we do?" Mr. T was in a complete panic. "Aw, crap, we're done for..."

"Both of you shut your mouths!" Luo Jiahai yelled from the backseat. He spoke into his cell phone. "Z, it's me. We've been compromised... That's right; the cops are chasing us..."

Mr. T turned his head and stared wide-eyed as Luo Jiahai spoke into the phone.

"All right. I understand." Luo Jiahai ended the call. "H, stick to the back streets as much as you can. The main routes aren't safe."

Mr. H grunted in acknowledgement and turned right suddenly at the next street.

It had been at least five minutes since the Traffic Management Bureau transmitted a location for the van. The single squad car on its heels had reported that the van was entering Old Town.

"Shit. What a headache." Zheng Lin pounded the dashboard with his fist. Old Town was Changhong City's shantytown of sorts. The streets there were extremely narrow and convoluted and thus not very conducive to containment. As soon as the suspects entered Old Town, they could abandon their vehicle and disperse on foot, dramatically increasing their chances of escaping.

Zheng Lin thought a moment, and then held the radio back up to his mouth. "Surround Old Town. If anyone sees the suspects, don't do anything rash; first report their bearing and then wait for backup. We need more feet on the ground out here. Dispatch, please request the immediate support of the People's Armed Police."

Bian Ping frowned. If Huang Runhua was the one driving, it was still quite possible that the suspects could escape; he was a skilled driver, and was intimately familiar with the streets of the city.

Ten minutes later came the bad news. The final squad car in hot pursuit had lost the target; however, it was able to report the van's last location just before it had disappeared in the maze of alleyways. Zheng Lin ordered all available units to surround the immediate area and do a sweep inward.

It was a last resort. If the suspects managed to slip away long enough to find a secluded spot to abandon their vehicle, they would be much more difficult to pursue on foot.

For at least half a minute, no one in the command car said a word, and the only sound coming from the police radio was a scratchy static hiss. They all knew that apart from getting to that section of Old Town as fast as possible, there was nothing else they could do. Zheng Lin's face was burning with agitation, and everyone else was extremely annoyed as well. Less than half an hour ago, it had seemed that they were about to capture the murderers in one fell swoop. None of them had expected the suspects to be so cunning. Fang Mu stared woodenly out the window. Was Luo Jiahai going to get away again?

Suddenly the walkie-talkie transmitted a crisp, clear voice. "C09748 calling headquarters, C09748 calling headquarters…"

Zheng Lin jumped and snatched up the walkie-talkie. "This is Zheng Lin. What news?"

"This is badge number C09748. I just saw the suspects' vehicle heading north on Changsheng Lane. I repeat, the suspects' vehicle is heading north on Changsheng Lane...."

"Stay on their tail, but don't do anything stupid. And keep me informed!" Zheng Lin said, and then ordered all units to close in on Changsheng Lane.

After giving the command, Zheng Lin turned to Bian Ping and exclaimed, "I'll be damned. Find out who that officer is and make a note of it, so we can give him a medal!"

"C09748..." Fang Mu murmured to himself. Suddenly, his eyes widened. Wasn't that Lu Xu's badge number?

After they managed to lose the cop car that had been tailing them so closely, the three men breathed a sigh of relief, and a hint of color gradually began to return to Mr. H's face.

"You dare try and out-drive
me
, little boy?" he chortled.

"Don't get cocky," Luo Jiahai growled as he closed his cell phone. "Z says we should dump the van and split up."

Neither of the others objected. As Mr. H slowed the van and began scanning the area for a place to hide the van, a siren suddenly blazed to life in the rearview mirror. They all turned to see a motorcycle cop speeding up the street behind them.

Lu Xu had already guessed the suspects' intentions; they had to be slowing down in order to find a safe place to abandon their vehicle. If they managed to split up and get away on foot, it would be very difficult indeed to catch them, so he had to do everything in his power to keep them in that van until backup arrived.

As he had hoped, his police lights scared them into speeding up again and the van raced off down the street. Lu Xu maintained a fixed distance right on their heels.

"Shit!" Mr. T cursed and grabbed Mr. H's gun from the glove compartment. He rolled down the window, aimed it at Lu Xu, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. But in the split-second that Lu Xu saw the gun reflecting in the moonlight, he knew he did not have time to dodge, so he suddenly twisted downward on his handlebars and went sailing up alongside the van.

"Stop the car! Everyone get out of the vehicle!" Lu Xu was driving with one hand, pointing at the passenger side window with the other. "Give me that gun!"

"Shit! Why won't it fire?" Mr. T shouted as he squeezed the trigger furiously over and over.

Mr. H pressed his lips together tightly and hauled the steering wheel over to the right, causing the van to veer toward the motorcycle. Lu Xu put on the brakes, swung around the back of the van, and accelerated up along the driver's side.

"Give me my gun back!" Lu Xu bellowed.

Mr. H cranked the steering wheel to the left, trying madly to crash into the motorcycle cop.

Deftly, Lu Xu dodged again. The van knocked over a row of bicycles parked on the side of the street, sending a piece of metal flying up to hit Lu Xu in the head, but he felt no pain.

The motorcycle and van danced back and forth along the narrow street, one driver trying desperately to recover his service pistol, the other trying to escape or crush the pursuer to death. Neither had seen that the street was coming to an end and that not far ahead of them was a bridge.

Mr. H was not even watching where he was going anymore; all he cared about was running the motorcycle cop off the road. By the dim moonlight in the mirror he could see, to his surprise, that the cop's face was covered in blood. The sight spurred him on, and he grinned a murderous grin.

"All right then, Mr. Deathwish, I'll be happy to oblige!"

Again he saw the motorcycle come flying up the right side of the van. Gritting his teeth, Mr. H hauled the steering wheel around to the right…

He did not notice the tall, thick cement bridge columns looming in front of him.

When he finally became aware of them, Mr. H instinctively turned left, but it was too late. The front right fender of the van smashed into one of the cement columns, sending the entire vehicle tumbling onto its side. Its tremendous momentum caused it to roll several times. As Lu Xu slammed on his brakes, he lost his balance, and both he and his motorcycle hit an obstacle and launched into the air, ricocheted off the flank of the rolling van, and fell to the side.

The next few minutes seemed to last centuries. Mr. H was the first to regain consciousness. The van had come to rest on its side. Mr. H struggled to undo his seatbelt, then wiped some blood out of his eye and stared at what he realized was a large, gaping hole in the windshield. Mr. T was nowhere to be seen. Ears ringing, he shook his head and climbed out through the passenger-side door. As he leaned against the sideways roof of the van, he heard a loud groan coming from the backseat. It was Luo Jiahai. Wincing from pain, Mr. H circled around and helped him climb out.

The two of them stood on the bridge, their legs shaking from adrenaline and pain. Luo Jiahai scanned the patch of ground lit by the one functioning headlight of the van. There was debris everywhere. "Where's T?"

"I don't know. We can't leave him behind," Mr. H said, gradually regaining his senses. "Hurry, let's find him."

They hobbled around, searching the darkness and calling quietly, "T? T! Where are you?"

There was no answer. Mr. H limped a ways up the bridge and peered over the edge. It was too dark to see anything down below.

"Could..." he started, pointing into the pitch black below the bridge. "...Could he have fallen down there, you think?"

As he asked the question, Mr. H suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his leg and squeeze.

It was the motorcycle cop.

In his alarm and sudden fury, Mr. H kicked his leg as hard as he could to loosen the cop's grip. The cop was sprawled on the bridge, face covered in blood, looking for all the world like he was about to breathe his final breath. But still he struggled, and now he was trying to use Mr. H's leg to pull himself to his feet.

"You're not...going any...where...until you give me...my...gun...back..." he sputtered.

Mr. H lifted his other foot and stomped down at the cop's chest. His voice broke as he screamed.
"
What did I do to you? Did I kill your parents or your wife or something? Why won't you just give up and let go? " he yelled. "Why?"

The crisp sound of cracking ribs filled the night air as Lu Xu's chest caved in. A sickening gargle bubbled up from his throat, but still he raised a stubborn hand, clutching wildly at the air. Luo Jiahai grabbed Mr. H anxiously by the shoulders and pulled him backward. "Are you crazy? Quit kicking him! We've got to go
now!!
"

Abruptly a blinding bright light shone from the other end of the bridge, accompanied by the loud squawk of a police siren. Numerous pairs of booted-feet came shuffling along both sides of the bridge as several voices shouted at once. "Don't move! Face down on the ground!"

Mr. H froze in shock for a second. Then desperation churned up within him and he turned and shoved Luo Jiahai with both hands. "Run!!"

Luo Jiahai staggered backward a couple of steps, lost his balance, and rolled down the slope next to the bridge.

When Mr. H turned back around, all he could see was a dazzling array of flashlights aiming straight at his face. Strangely, he suddenly felt a deep calm. He bent forward, picked up a shard of glass, pressed its edge against the motorcycle cop's throat.

"Stay back…!" he’d begun to yell when a gun fired.

Huang Runhua fell writhing to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness, a bizarre thought suddenly popped into his mind: If he had a chance, he would tell people that getting shot did not really hurt; it was just like someone shoving him really hard. The only other sensation, besides the initial burning, was a deep, icy coldness…

Fang Mu leaped out of the car before it had even come to a stop. He pushed his way past the cluster of people wearing various sorts of uniforms and sprinted straight toward the crash scene. It was only a short distance, about 200 meters or so, but it seemed much farther than that. As he saw the wrecked motorcycle, a sinking feeling pulled down at his heart.

Huang Runhua's corpse was surrounded by SWAT team members and several of them still had their guns aimed at his now expressionless face. The other casualty on the scene appeared as a twisted heap of blood and limbs, but Fang Mu recognized him as Lu Xu from the badge number on his torn shirt.