The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (77 page)

Mr. Li moved sideways against a container that put him in front of the minivan.  He turned without hesitation and opened fire.  The driver wasn’t hit by the first bullet or the second but the third.  The fourth hit its mark and the fifth did more damage than either.  The sixth backed it up.  The seventh missed its mark because Mr. Li was moving on his feet.  The driver went down but the man who came out of the sliding door returned fire before running.  Mr. Li couldn’t go after him.  He was outside the fence.  Mr. Li was inside.  The man ran and fired aimlessly.  Mr. Li tracked him hiding behind the containers.  He opened fire as the man came into view, firing through the chain-linked fence.  The man hit the ground but Mr. Li kept firing.  Liu Ping drove the
Escort
behind the minivan.   With the window down, Huang Sitian fired his
MP5
at the windows and doors of the minivan as Liu Ping pulled the car around.  Huang Sitian continued to fire into the minivan as Liu Ping parked the
Escort
thirty feet away.  With a steady shot, Huang Sitian fired into the rear gas tank.  The tank exploded as Huang Sitian used up his magazine.  The heat and force from the explosion washed over Huang Sitian’s face.  The low caliber
MP5
didn’t have the luxury of firing from a safe distance.  As the fire erupted, so did the voice of the man inside the minivan.  Liu Ping drove the car around the back of the minivan for inspection.  Huang Sitian reloaded and stepped out of the
Escort
.  He walked fifteen feet toward the cooking car and seasoned it with more bullets.  The man inside the minivan wasn’t hit by the first melee of bullets.  He shrunk into his seat and decided to wait out his attackers.  He was outgunned with a semi-automatic
Beretta
pistol.  But the exploding car broke his back, leaving him immobile in the front seat.  His screaming continued as Huang Sitian fired into the passenger door.  The disharmonic sound of blaze, belch and bullets suddenly soften as Huang Sitian spent his last magazine.  The silence of the
MP5
revealed another sound, the flames.  The sound of the man’s screams had stopped before the sound of the gun.  Huang Sitian climbed back into the
Escort
.

              Mr. Li found himself alone in the rail yard.  He didn’t notice the
Escort
until he saw the moving shadow against the blaze in the parking lot.  He used the key to let himself out of the northwest lot and walked around to the front entrance of the rail yard.  The
Escort
followed him to the entrance.  He motioned to Huang Sitian to stay in the front seat as he sat in the back.  Liu Ping drove down the street to a familiar spot, the place where he dropped Mr. Li and Yi Le so they could approach the rail yard from up river.  The spot was a cement culvert that gave way to the river.  As the
Escort
drove up, the headlight beams broke against the wet bodies of a man and a woman.  Yi Le stood with a dazed version of Xiaofeng.  She was tired, sleep-deprived, underfed and dehydrated.  She imagined she saw her brother.  But came to consciousness with a different man standing by her side.  He comforted her by saying he was a friend of her brother.  The headlights threw everything into disorientation.  She stood there and walked with the man toward the light.  Her brother’s voice came from nowhere.  But it was her brother.  He said the word,
jie
.  His silhouette emerged from the light and took her arm.  She thought she recognized him and she thought she didn’t.

• • •

              The ride was bumpy, internally not externally.  Xiaofeng was still dazed but sobered up around other people.  It was reassuring to hear her native language.  The car stopped at a gas station.  Huang Sitian went inside and came back with a bottle of water and some sandwiches.  He handed them to Mr. Li before getting into the car.  Mr. Li gave the water and food to Xiaofeng with two words,
jie
;
chi
—sister, eat.  Xiaofeng was dazed but not confused.  She connected two dots.  She remembered being kidnapped and now being rescued.  The kidnapping was related to her brother.  She was taken the day after he showed up.  The kidnappers had mentioned him.  She thought while she ate.  The
Escort
pulled up to a medium range hotel near Sherman Oaks.  Mr. Li and Xiaofeng got out of the car on the driver’s side.  Liu Ping put the
Escort
in gear and drove away. Mr. Li put his arm around Xiaofeng and walked into the hotel.  She felt awkward with the arm on her shoulder.  It was Los Angeles; tattoos were common but his arms were new.  The day before she saw nothing.  Now his arms looked dipped in ink.  With food and water in her system she was more cogent but couldn’t understand the tattoos.  The automatic doors made Xiaofeng feel like she had rejoined society.  She stared down at the carpet as they walked into the lobby.

              “
Are you staying here
?” asked Xiaofeng.

              “
No
,” said Mr. Li.  Xiaofeng watched Mr. Li walk to the counter.  She stood a few feet behind him.  She felt it was a safe distance.  Mr. Li told the clerk he needed a double room for two nights and checked in under the name Reagan Lee.  He turned to see his sister.  She had her gaze fixed on his arms.  She raised her eyes to match his.  Her arms were folded across her chest.  Her shirt was still wet. 

              “
Come
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
No
,” said Xiaofeng.

              “
Come on
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
I’m not going with you
,” said Xiaofeng.  The conversation was in Mandarin, a positive.  If the desk clerk understood the conversation he would have called the police. 

              “
Jie, I’ll explain everything but I won’t talk here
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
Take me home
,” said Xiaofeng.

              “
I can’t
,” said Mr. Li, “
It’s not safe for you there
.”

              “
Why Xiaoyu
?” said Xiaofeng, “
Why isn’t it safe for me there?  What have you done
?”

              “
I’ll tell you everything
,” said Mr. Li, “
But I’m going upstairs.  You can go home but they took your wallet and cards.  That much I’m sure of.  Good luck to you
.”  Mr. Li turned and headed toward the hotel elevator.  Seeing the obvious trap, Xiaofeng followed him to the elevator, tainted with a similar feeling. He was always several steps ahead, as far back as she could remember.  She followed him to the elevator, several steps behind.  The elevator ride was quick but the etiquette was mired.  Mr. Li stood on one side of the elevator.  Xiaofeng stood on the other side.  She let him lead the way out. 

The room was simple.  Xiaofeng waited outside the room.  When Mr. Li realized there was no shadow behind him.  He turned around and looked at her.  The expression on her face was one he hadn’t seen before.  If he had, it would have confused him still.  There was a mixture of knowing and needing but confusion.  It was the look of changed circumstances and changed opinion.  Truthfully, she didn’t know what to think.  She stood as still as her eyes.  His eyes stood on hers.  There was no clear resolve in either of them.

              “
I’m telling the truth now
,” he said.  The reassurance was enough to make her step inside the room.  She walked passed Mr. Li without looking at him.  The room was clean and smelled of cleaner.  Xiaofeng walked toward the far bed and sat down.  Her eyes were open but she didn’t look at Mr. Li.  She looked down at the floor and studied the carpet with her eyes while her mind studied the situation.  She looked up and saw Mr. Li’s tattooed arms.  Mr. Li could see the pattern of her eyes looking over his tattoos. 

              “
You wanna know
,” said Mr. Li. 

              “
Tell me what you want
,” said Xiaofeng, “
As long as it’s true
.”  Mr. Li looked at the wall.  It was a light beige color.  He searched the surface for a cue.  It had to make sense.  He needed a place to begin. 

              “
Uncle Li Xing worked for the Hong Kong Triads
,” said Mr. Li, “
Remember he was there when you left for Beijing.  It wasn’t a visit.  He stole from the Triads and needed space to hide.  He brought the money with him and grandpa found it.  Even he wasn’t foolish enough to believe the money was clean.  I heard them fighting about it.  Grandpa told Uncle to leave.  You remember him.  He wasn’t going to leave with hugs and handshakes.  He left in the middle of the night so no one would notice.  I waited up for him.  When he left, I followed him to the train station.  I went with him to Hong Kong.  He used me to try to work his way back into favor with the head of his branch of Triads, a man called Uncle Woo.  Uncle Woo washed his hands of Li Xing.  He was in favor of letting the young blood make the decisions.  He decided to keep me though.  The Triads take in kids off the street.  That’s what I was.  They took me to a storage building where they kept their street kids.  They made us fight.  There was so much brutal frustration in me then I could have fought them all, but I didn’t have to.  I fought three or four of them.  Then they put me on the other side of the building so the others wouldn’t bother me.  I didn’t know anything.  In the morning they took me to the island.  There was a man there at the old fort.  It was a tradition, an old Triad custom.  They had candles and there was a guy, this tattoo artist.  He didn’t need a pattern.  He just drew on my skin for hours.  And this is what it looked like.  It’s faded now
.”  Wendy looked on and thought about all that he had been through and she never knew any of it.  He was so young and fighting.  He was tattooed.

              “
Why did they do that to you
?” asked Xiaofeng.  He looked at her.

              “
It’s an honor among Triads
,” said Mr. Li, “
There are eight branches for Hong Kong.  Each branch can have only one person with this tattoo at a time.  They call him a Jade Soldier.  He guards the Dragon Head, the leader
.” 

              “
To do what
?” asked Xiaofeng, “
To kill
?”

              “
The Jade Soldier does what he has to
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
To kill people
,” said Xiaofeng.

              “
Yes
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
So you’re a Triad
?” said Xiaofeng.

              “
I was
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
And what are you now
?” asked Xiaofeng.

              “
Hidden
,” said Mr. Li, “
I’m sorry they got to you.  I’ll take care of it
.”

              “
You mean they were Triads
,” said Xiaofeng.

              “
No
,” said Mr. Li, “
They were CIA agents.  The guys in the car with us were Triads
.”

              “
Why is the CIA involved with you
?” asked Xiaofeng.

              “
They came to me in Hong Kong
,” said Mr. Li, “
They offered me a deal to avoid prison.  I took the deal
.”

              “
Why were you going to prison
?” asked Xiaofeng.  Mr. Li looked at her.  She looked away.

              “
You killed someone
,” said Xiaofeng.  Mr. Li looked down at the floor.

              “
So this is what you do Xiaoyu
,” said Xiaofeng, “
You kill people
.”

              “
No
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
Then what
?” asked Xiaofeng.

              “
I kill everything
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
Mama sacrificed to bring you into this world
,” said Xiaofeng, “
You have no idea how much was given up for you.  She made me promise to take care of you.  My mama lay dying and told me to take care of you.  And you’re a killer.  You kill people
.”

              “
What do you want to do
?” said Mr. Li, “
Leave?  Huh, is that what you’re going to do?  This time, there’s no problem.  This time, I won’t blame you.  This time, I can take care of myself.  This time, I won’t cry
.”  Xiaofeng looked down at the floor.  A resurgent guilt took her voice but just for the moment. 

              “
It was my fault for leaving.  I accept that.  But you had options and choices to make.  You didn’t have to be a killer.  You could have chosen something else
,” said Xiaofeng.