The Money Is Green (28 page)

Janine took a deep breath, putting her hand to her mouth. “Oh no. That’s awful. What about the driver? Is he okay?”

“He had a seatbelt on, as did Crystal, so he survived, but he hit the steering wheel hard and the front end of the car caved in, almost crushing him. He’s got a punctured lung, two busted teeth, and some broken ribs. He also broke his left leg. The bottom line is he’s going to survive.” He lowered his voice and spoke softly. “We think alcohol was involved.”

She looked up at him, shocked. “Was Crystal drinking? That’s so unlike her.”

“We don’t know who was drinking, but there was a discernable smell of alcohol in the car and there was an almost-empty bottle of Jim Beam in the back seat.” He stopped when he saw a short balding man come around the corner wearing a white smock and holding a clipboard. “Here’s the doctor, Janine. You can ask him yourself about Crystal’s condition.”

Seeing the doctor, Janine rushed up to him and blurted out, “The girl in room 326, the one from the car accident, what’s her condition?” She caught herself and said, “I’m so sorry, doctor. I’m Janine Tully. The girl in the room is my boyfriend’s daughter. I just wanted to know her condition.”

“I’m Doctor Winters, Janine,” he said, his face anxious. “The young girl is in serious condition. She’s got a severe concussion and some bruises on her face. We’re keeping an eye on her to see if she
sustained any internal injuries. Our initial diagnosis is she didn’t, but we’re being cautious.”

“She should survive then, doctor?” Janine asked, pleading.

“I don’t know yet since she’s still in a coma. But the good thing is she’s young and healthy. It’s going to be a rough next few days and we’ll know more when she wakes up. All we can do now is monitor her and wait.” He looked up at the clock on the wall and then back. “I’ve got to make my rounds, Janine. There’s nothing that can be done for her right now, so why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself some coffee.”

Janine nodded. “Thank you, doctor, I appreciate your help and kindness. I’m so tired I could fall asleep in this chair.”

“Come with me, Janine,” Officer Brannon said. “I’ll walk you down to the cafeteria and have a cup of coffee with you. After that, I’ve got to get back to the office and turn in my report.”

She followed along, her whole body feeling numb. He tried to make small talk, but she didn’t hear much of what he said. When they got to the cafeteria, she slumped down in a chair.

“What would you like?” he asked. “I’m buying.”

“Just a coffee would be great,” she said as she looked up at him. “Thank you so much. You’ve been way too kind.”

He smiled and bowed at her. “It’s my pleasure.” Then turned and headed toward the food area.

The cafeteria was white, stark, and almost deserted. A young couple, seated four tables away, sat in silence, both slowly nibbling on blueberry muffins. Food preparers shuffled behind the counters in slow motion, their hair covered in netting and plastic gloves on their hands. Every so often they would switch out a tray with freshly prepared food.

Janine sat in silence, watching as Officer Brannon fixed up two cups of coffee. He came back to the table and set hers in front of her, along with two packets of sugar and two small containers of cream.

“I didn’t know what you put in your coffee, so I brought everything,” he said as he slid into a chair. “Are you sure you’re not hungry? The chicken they make here is pretty good.”

She smiled weakly. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really hungry just yet.” She looked down at her watch. “I’ve got to wait another hour before my boyfriend’s colleagues show up for work.”

“Why is that?” he asked. “Can’t you just call him on the phone?”

Holding the coffee cup with both hands, she shook her head. “No, he’s currently in China. I don’t know how to contact him there. I have to wait until someone at his office shows up so I can get them to get him a message to call me.” She looked at him as she sipped her coffee. “I don’t relish that conversation at all. His daughter usually stays with me when he goes on trips, but this time she stayed with a friend’s family.”

“What was she doing over here in Auburn?” he asked. “This is a long way from Santa Clara. They were headed east on the freeway before the crash. Where were they going?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” Janine answered. “I know her father wouldn’t have let her take a trip like this. He’s very protective of her.” She stared up at the ceiling. “No, I think this was a trip Crystal planned on her own and she wasn’t going to tell anyone about it.” She looked at Officer Brannon. “I guess we won’t know where she was going until we ask her after she wakes up.”

T
HIRTY
-S
IX

M
ei paced the floor of her kitchen, stopping every minute or two to stare at her cellphone, willing it to ring. The sound of piano music floated across the house as her daughter practiced a Beethoven piece for an upcoming concert. The fact that she had not nailed every note with one week remaining was a source of irritation for Mei, although that was not what was on her mind.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Lin Ping for this job, she thought, her irritation growing the more she paced. All he had to do was make sure the cocktail I had made up was administered to Brian daily so when he died it would have looked like natural causes and no one would be suspicious. One more day and Brian would have been dead and forgotten. Now he’s disappeared and who knows if he’s gotten the medical attention to save him.

The phone rang and she rushed over to answer it. “Hello?” she said almost breathlessly.

She heard the familiar voice of Tan Wen, her chief of security. “Madam Chen, we have not located Mr. Thompson yet, but we have reason to believe he hasn’t left Hong Kong. We have agents stationed at the airports to watch over who’s leaving. If he tries to escape, we will find him.”

“What about by boat?” she asked, irritated. “He could easily slip away on someone’s yacht. There are too many ways for him to get away. You need to find him and find him quickly. What about Jason Ballard? Where is he?”

“He left Hong Kong yesterday and flew to Shanghai. He was headed to your factory there and is probably still there as we speak.”

Mei opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottled water. “I want him picked up and detained for questioning. This all happened once he showed up in Hong Kong. I don’t think it was a coincidence. See if he will talk about Brian’s disappearance. If he won’t talk, let me know.”

“I’ll do that, Madam Chen.” He paused then asked, “What are your plans for Mr. Wilson? We still have him locked up in jail, but he has not signed the papers you gave to me transferring ownership of the hotels to your company. He has many friends in high places who are making noise about his situation. I fear there will be problems if we keep him in jail too much longer.”

Covering the phone with her hand, she yelled at her daughter, “Play that piece over from the beginning. A cat could walk across the keyboard and sound better than that!” She put the phone back to her ear. “Let him stay there a little longer, but start to use some coercion on him. It’s time he saw the wisdom of divesting some of his hotel holdings. If he doesn’t sign by next Wednesday, I’ll forge his signature, and then I’ll have to figure out what to do with him. But by all means keep him alive. That will be all, Tan.”

Hanging up, she took a swig of water and sat down at the kitchen table. I should lock all of them up, everyone who has failed me. She smiled to herself. But all is not lost. Copper Mountain is moving along and the first payment for the panel shipment is due in one week. I’m going to be flush with money; money for green energy. Thank you, US government!

Her cellphone rang and she recognized the number. “Congressman Waters, how are you today?”

His deep male voice came over the phone. “I am well, Madam Chen. I thought I would report to you about a few of our business dealings. We’re scheduled for a flight from the warehouse in Nevada to Mexico a week from tonight. It should go as smoothly as the last time and we should clear about thirteen million each. After that, I suggest we lay low for a few months.”

“Are you as concerned as I am that someone is on to our little project?” she asked. “We are now moving the panels to the actual project, so everything should look legitimate.”

He paused for a second, then answered, “I don’t think we’re being watched, if that’s what you’re referring to, but I think it might be prudent to take a break. We’ve cleaned up from the last two runs, so there’s no sense getting greedy.”

“Well, Congressman, if you think that’s the way we should go, then I’ll alert my people in Nevada to discontinue the trips to Mexico. I’m sure going to miss all the money we were making.”

The Congressman laughed. “Don’t worry. We can pick up where we left off at the drop of a hat.” He coughed and cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I’ve got some bad allergies. You had asked me to get my friend Wo Sung to pick up your friend, Jason Ballard’s, daughter and girlfriend, but there have been some developments there you might be interested in.”

Mei raised her eyebrows. “Oh. What happened?”

“The daughter got into a bad accident last night. She’s in a hospital in a town about two hours out of the bay area. The girlfriend is hanging out at the hospital keeping vigil. Wo couldn’t get much information as to how long she might be kept there, but it would be a difficult place to extract them without making a big scene.”

A shuffling sound behind her made Mei set the phone down and turn. Her daughter stood at the entrance to the kitchen, her hands folded in front of her and her head hanging down. “Mother, may I take a break? My hands are tired and my back is sore. I’ve been practicing for two hours straight.”

Mei yelled at her, “Do you think that Korean girl, Wie, is taking a break? Chi, if you want to be the best, you have to sacrifice! That piece you’re playing sounds awful and you’ll get laughed off the stage and I’ll be eternally humiliated.” She pointed over her daughter’s shoulder. “Get back on that piano and practice until I tell you it’s okay to quit, and that won’t be for a while!”

She watched as the girl spun around and left the room. Weakling, she thought, my daughter is a weakling. I refuse to let her grow up and be nothing.

Putting the phone back to her ear she said, “I’m sorry, Congressman, my daughter needed something from me. So, back to the daughter and girlfriend. You don’t know how long she’ll be in the hospital?”

“No, I don’t,” he answered. “It sounds like she was roughed up pretty good, so it might be awhile. What should I tell Wo to do?”

Mei sat at the table in silence. “Tell Wo to sit tight. He doesn’t need to have his people hang around the hospital, just have them ready to move if the opportunity presents itself. Right now Jason is unaware we are after him, so I don’t want to spook him yet. Let’s wait until we have him in our clutches and see what he’s willing to tell us. That will probably give us a few days to see how the daughter fares.”

“Okay, Madam Chen, I’ll have Wo stand down. I’ll call you after the shipment arrives safely next week in Mexico.”

“That will be good, Congressman Waters. I’ll wait to hear from you then.” She set the phone down and smiled. In the next three weeks, I will be one of the richest women in China. Even my weak-kneed husband will have to give me respect. She lifted her chin in a defiant manner. Madam Chen will be a name that will be feared and respected all over China.

T
HIRTY
-S
EVEN

L
arge cranes lifted a big wooden pallet of solar panels and placed them in the beds of a row of flatbed trucks lined up in a straight line, their engines spewing dirty diesel exhaust into the atmosphere. The drivers sat patiently in their cabs, smoking cigarettes and fiddling with radios and cell phones as their trucks were loaded.

Jason watched the activity through the glass of the second floor office in Shanghai. He still wasn’t satisfied with the panel manufacturing in this plant, feeling it was still dangerous for the workers, but knew it was better than two months ago. A young woman came running up to him and tugged on his sleeve. “Mr. Ballard,” she said in broken English. “There is a phone call for you from the United States. They say it is an emergency!”

Turning, he followed her down the narrow stairway to the main office and walked into the conference room, shutting the door behind him. He looked through the window to the office, and the girl held up three fingers. He pressed the third button on the phone. “This is Jason Ballard.”

He recognized the voice of his operations officer from the San Jose office, Gary Jenkins, on the line. “Mr. Ballard, I’m sorry to have
to tell you this, but your daughter has been in a car accident. She’s currently in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Roseville.”

Jason almost dropped the phone. “Intensive care?” he asked, his voice rising. He started firing off questions. “What hospital? Is she okay? What happened?”

“I don’t have very much information, Mr. Ballard. Your girlfriend Janine called this morning and told us to track you down. She would be the person to talk to about your daughter’s condition. She’s with her at the hospital as we speak.”

“Okay, thanks, Gary, I’ll try to track Janine down. Thanks for calling me.”

“Everyone here at Soltech is feeling horrible for you, sir. We hope she’s okay.”

“Tell everyone there I appreciate their concern,” he said as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll let you know how she is once I find out.” Jason hung up and quickly redialed. As the phone rang, he said to himself, “Come on, Janine, pick up, pick up!” Finally after the fifth ring he heard her familiar voice.

“Oh, Jason, I’m so sorry,” she said as she burst into tears. “I never meant for this to happen. I so wish I hadn’t told you she couldn’t stay with me.”

Taking a deep breath, Jason spoke in a soothing tone, “Calm down, Janine. It’s not your fault. Quit beating yourself up. How is she doing?”

Janine sniffed. “She’s still in a coma, Jason, the same as she’s been for the last day. Apparently she hit her head on the top of the car after it crashed into the embankment. She doesn’t have any broken bones or any internal injuries.”