“There were many offers and rejections but at the end of the day, it was Dr. Hao who played a significant role in negotiating the deal. He offered a limited number of what they called ‘run-time chips’ and in return the Central Science Committee abandoned their claims.”
“Well done,” said Quan. “Please thank everyone who helped. Yes. Thank yourself . . . and I’ll personally call Dr. Hao to thank him.”
Quan disconnected and opened a com line to Sealy.
“Free at last,” he said, filling in the details.
She asked what the run-time chips were, since they played such a pivotal role in his freedom. He explained that they contain the critical software needed to operate a transdimensional machine and how brilliant he had been to lock up the code . . . and save it from almost being stolen.
“Wonderful,” she said. “You’re almost a genius. Now we can have our lives back.”
Quan refrained from telling her about the one additional thing he had to do before putting his troubles completely in the past. While it was true that he was free him from government restrictions, before he could feel free to enjoy family life with Sealy, there was still the problem of the Triad.
For the better part of five centuries, the Triad remained undefeated. There were an estimated thirty thousand members entrenched in New Hong Kong and over the years, specialized police units had tried to eradicate them. Like a bad case of toe fungus, they kept coming back.
Quan chewed on the problem for weeks. He imagined what he might say if he were given the opportunity to negotiate with them. He could explain that the events that took the lives of their comrades weren’t his fault. That was the truth—but it wouldn’t matter. They were out for revenge and it would take more than words to appease them. If he gave them money, they would only come back for more. It would never end.
Quan read everything he could find concerning the Triad and he consulted The Book of Thirty-Six Strategies—superb when it came to fighting an organized group—but of limited effect with a loose band of confederates bound together by oath. Quan roamed from one article to another. It was only when he found himself reading an occult history of China that an idea began to take shape.
Quan turned his attention to finding an intermediary. He came across an editorial about a government agent, a man named Ben Wu, who worked in the local gang task force. Five years earlier, Wu successfully negotiated a famous hostage release from the 14K. If there was anyone who had had a measure of success dealing with the Triad, it was Ben Wu. More recent articles said that he retired from the task force and was doing consulting for various government and corporate entities.
After going through several referrals, Quan was eventually able to make contact. Over a secure com link, he introduced himself and told Wu about the deaths and the imminent reprisal. Even though the government’s capture order had been withdrawn, Wu confirmed that he was justified in thinking that the Triad would still want revenge. Retribution was a pillar of the Triad code and the gang would not easily set their vendetta aside.
Quan swallowed and surprised himself by saying, “I want to meet with the Dragon Head of 14K.”
Wu let out an uneasy laugh and said, “So far as I know, it has never been possible for a civilian to meet with the Dragon Head. Even if he would take the meeting, which I doubt, it would be extremely dangerous for you.”
Quan laid out his strategy and offered a generous fee for arranging the meeting. After listening to what Quan had to say, Wu declared that there was no guarantee that a meeting would take place. Nevertheless, he agreed to send word through his contacts. In closing, he cautioned Quan not to expect a victory. It would be enough to just walk away alive. “When you confront a tiger,” he said, “the best you can hope for is to come away with just a scratch.”
While he waited for word from Wu, Quan imagined what the meeting would be like. His mind played back scenes from Chinese gangster movies—an abandoned warehouse at the dockyards—men in dark suits with machineguns—a boss who looked line a Chinese version of Edward G. Robinson.
A week after talking to Wu, the day of the meeting arrived however, the rendezvous was not at all as Quan imagined. Instead, he was directed to the offices of a plastic surgeon in a modern office building in the center of downtown.
A lift brought him to the tenth floor. The stainless steel doors closed behind him and Quan was alone in a blond wood paneled corridor. An illuminated sign pointed the way to numbered suits. At suite 1040, Quan opened the door and entered a reception area. In front of him, a pretty young woman with purple razor-cut hair sat behind a high counter. Only her head was visible. He approached and introduced himself.
Lifting her hand, palm up she gestured to the door on her left. “You may go in,” she said.
Quan heard the door click as he reached for the handle. He paused and looked around the reception room. His feeling was confirmed—he was the only one there. All of a sudden it felt very wrong. He pushed himself to turn the handle and open the door.
As the door opened, he was confronted by a man in a dark green silk suit. His eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses and a few links of a gold chain were visible under his unbuttoned shirt. He gestured down the hallway, “This way,” he said.
This could be where it all ends, Quan thought. Stay balanced. Show respect but stay calm.
The hallway had rooms on each side. They traveled about half way before Quan heard the the man behind him say, “In here.”
Quan turned and entered the empty exam room. The man in green followed closely behind and closed the door.
“You are Dragon Head?” asked Quan.
“He’ll be here soon. Take off your clothes.”
“Is that necessary?”
“Take off your clothes and put that on.” He pointed to a gown sitting on the end of the exam table.
Quan felt like this could easily go sideways, but he did as he was told and stacked his clothes on the exam table. The man walked over and searched through the stack of clothes. From one of the pockets, he pulled out the little white rabbit’s foot. Holding it up by its chain, he looked at it curiously.
“It my lucky charm,” said Quan.
The man pointed to a chair,” and said “Sit.”
Quan walked to where the chair was, below a window. He looked down at the city scene, twenty meters below. No way to escape, he took to the chair while his guardian stood next to the door with his arms crossed.
Several uncomfortable minutes passes and the man in green continued to stare at Quan, occasionally twirling the rabbit’s foot around his forefinger. At last there was a knock at the door and the man stepped aside. The door opened and a man in a doctor’s gown and mask walked in. Below the hem of the gown, silk trousers and bespoke shoes were visible. Above the mask, dark eyes scrutinized him. The rabbit’s foot was held out to the man in surgical dress and the man in green mumbled, “This is all he had on him.”
Looking at what he’d been given, Dragon Head of the 14K lightly tossed the good luck charm in his hand and said, “You asked for a meeting. What do you want?”
“You are the Dragon Head?” asked Quan.
“I know who I am—and I know you are. What do you want?”
“I want to talk about what happened in California. The government contract to capture me has been revoked and I want to be sure there is no further threat from the Triad.”
“If you are referring to our fallen brothers. That is on your head.”
“With respect, I must tell you, your brothers in California brought about their own destruction. I don’t know what killed them but it wasn’t us.”
“You expect me to believe that? You took a big risk coming here”
“I know how powerful the Triad is but there is a higher power protecting me and my people. I believe that power dealt with your brothers. I’m here to ask you set aside the vendetta.”
“I don’t have time for fantasies. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t just end you. You hav
e thirty seconds. Then we’re done.”
“Honestly, there was no way those men could have hurt me. I am protected by a higher power—governed by a universal law. I am the nexus to Ching Tu, land of pure consciousness.”
“What nonsense… a children’s tale.”
“There is more to Ching Tu than you know. You can’t kill what is already dead.”
Quan’s body became a shape made of dancing particles and a moment later he was gone.
Dragon Head’s face went pale and his eyes remained focused on the spot where Quan had been. The other man began looking around, reaching into his jacket for his sidearm. Pulling open the panel of his jacket, he said, “Hey, my gun.”
Quan reappeared, dangling the rabbit’s foot from one hand while he set the gun down on the exam table next to him.
Dragon Head looked at his empty palm and back again. His eyes twitched. “What the hell! What are you?”
“You have your world and I have mine. I am spirit—governed only by universal law. No one can violate universal law without penalty. I’ll tell you again. We weren’t involved in what happened to your soldiers. They brought it on themselves. I am asking, with great respect, that the Triad stay away from me and my family. If you do this, we can go our separate ways and I won’t interfere in your affairs. I need to know we have an understanding.”
There was pain and astonishment in the eyes above the mask. Dragon Head was filled with dread the likes of which he hadn’t felt in years—way beyond anything he was prepared for. Convinced that he had witnessed something supernatural, his response was immediate. “It will be so. We have an understanding.” Shaken, he took a step backward, pivoted, and left the room. The man in green quickly followed, pausing before closing the door—having one last glimpse of the man from Ching Tu who stood in the center of the room, barefooted in a hospital gown.
“Can I have my gun back?”
“Leave,” said Quan in a voice that filled the room.
The man bolted out of the room.
After leaving the rooftop aeropad in a black on black Mercedes 3500, Dragon Head of the 14K sent word throughout the Triad network announcing that Quan Jintao, his family, and associates were to be added to the safe list. The vendetta was cancelled.
Quan calmly put on his clothes and a few minutes later he was waiting for the lift to take him up to the aeropad. Feeling the rabbit’s foot in his pocket, he thought, Knowledge is power. The Triad will do anything to avoid bad luck . . . just a superstitious bunch of miscreants.
54.
At midday, Quan joined the sisters in the great room. They sat at the clear polycarb table and Ning began serving a lunch of NutriSynth duck and fresh bok choy. Sealy reached around behind her to adjust a pillow. Quan got up and went to her, lending a hand. She smiled pleasantly, grateful for the attention. Her belly was as taut as the hull of a watermelon, keeping her uncomfortably back from the table.
“I have to eat my main meal before two,” Sealy told her sister. “If I eat late in the day, I get heartburn.”
Lotus said, “I’ve got to give you credit, dear one. You’re tougher than I. How close are you?”
“Could be any day now,” said Sealy. “It’s entirely up to the baby.”
After eating, they went to the conversation area and Quan held Sealy’s hands as she lowered herself to the seat. Her handmaiden, Ning, brought a blanket and spread it over Sealy’s legs.
“You are like a god,” said Ning.
“What do you mean?” asked Sealy.
“You are able to create life.”
“I see. Wouldn’t the word goddess be more appropriate?”
“Ahh yes. A gender-modified noun is more appropriate. I am not a goddess. I cannot produce life.”
“Be thankful you can’t. It’s a very uncomfortable process,” said Sealy.
Turning to Quan, Lotus said, “I’ve been wondering. Right after you disappeared, the road to the center was bombed. Gregory found truck parts and rocket fragments strewn all over and a huge crater in the road. It looked like several people died and it reminded us of the explosion on the laboratory grounds. You assured us that somehow we were being protected and Gregory is convinced that you had something to do with the explosion. Is it true?”
“What do you think,” asked Quan.
“I’m on the fence, same as Gaston. You weren’t around, so it could have been you, we have no idea what happened.”
“All I can say is that non-local communication is real.”
“Oh, that’s a good one. I told Sealy about that. Seriously, what did you do?”
He closed his eyes, reviewing what happened. “It’s too difficult to explain. Let’s just say I have connections.”
“And there’s something else. Before you left, you said you were going to stay in the other place for an extended time. How did that work for you? How long did you stay,” asked Lotus.
The question was simple enough yet it sent his mind retracing all that he had been through. After a pause he said, “It wasn’t easy. I stayed two days. I remember dreaming I was a dragon.”
Lotus looked at him with large disbelieving eyes.
“Come on. You have to give me something. What was it like?”
“It was a strain.”
“He maintained,” said Sealy. “He was invisible all the way home.”
“Gaston thought maybe you’d only be able to maintain for a few hours, and when you were gone overnight, we didn’t know what to think. What you did was risky.”
“I assumed that if I couldn’t maintain the shift, I’d just automatically return. But you’re right. As it turned out, the longer I stayed, the more comfortable I became. It’s possible that after awhile that would seem like the more natural state to be in.”
Sealy looked up and said, “I always thought that’s what happened to your father.” Then she reached her hand out to him and smiled. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“I almost lost it. My stay into that other world stretched me to the limit,” he said. “For a time, I thought maybe I was going to become a permanent resident in that strange land. I came out okay but in some ways I feel like a freak—like I don’t fit in.”
“Of course you fit in,” said Sealy. “And you’re going to be a father. That’s going to give you a sense of place, for sure.”
“More than anything I want to be here, in this world. My passport to the other world has no expiration date and after that extended stay it’s even easier for me to shift.”
“I’d rather you be done with that,” said Sealy.
“It doesn’t have to be either or. I can explore the other place and have a family at the same time. I want it all.”
“The problems we were having with the Science Committee—they’re behind us, right?” asked Lotus.
“Absolutely. They have what they wanted,” said Quan
“Good. Gaston was asked to help them. He’s added two more scientists to the staff,” said Lotus. “He’s also been talking with the Americans. They offered him some kind of grant.”
“That’s good that he’s added more people,” said Quan. “But he shouldn’t become indebted to the Americans. We don’t need their money. I need to talk to him. What else is going on?”
“Your interview with Monahan is being replayed with sub-titles all over the place and it looks like a cult is forming around your internet site. People are deifying you and they think of the Research Center as a sort of temple of the other dimensions.”
“People see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. A little bit of knowledge is often worse than total ignorance. On the other hand, if I’m a God, then Sealy is truly a goddess. That makes us very special,” he said, stroking Sealy’s head.
“Uh-huh,” said Lotus, rolling her eyes. “God knows Gaston, Gregory and I deserve a break. We’ve been working nonstop and you know how remote the lab is. There isn’t much to do there—except work. So, what do you say God? Can we take some time
off?”
“We’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ll go and relieve them for a week or two.”
“You can’t go until after baby is born,” said Sealy.
~~~
When the time came, Lotus and Ning helped Sealy dress. Her belly was huge and unwieldy, overbalancing her at every turn. Her back and legs hurt but she was doing her best to endure. Draping a shawl over her shoulders, they helped her out to the entry area where Quan stood waiting.
“Have you decided on a name for the child?” asked Ning, as she handed an overnight case to Quan.
“We agreed to wait and see what his nature is,” said Sealy. “Perhaps Abbe if he has noble qualities, or Ji if he is assertive, or maybe Lei if he is exceedingly intelligent.”
“And what if he is a combination of these thing?” asked Ning.
“We may need to give him several names,” said Sealy.
Quan, managed a subtle smile and said, “Ning, please com Dr. Chen and say that we’re on our way.”
On the rooftop, Master Jintao’s personal craft beeped as it levitated and moved out onto the aeropad. The doors opened and Lotus helped Sealy into the rear passenger seat, then sat in the seat next to her. Quan took to the front seat and the glide’s automated voice sounded, “Destination, please.”
“Lianmin Hospital,” he replied.
The voice came again. “Please place hands and feet and all belongings inside the vehicle. In five seconds doors will close. Door is closing. Door is closing.”
Epilogue
Ten Years Later
New Hong Kong
Lei asked his mother, Sealy, for permission to visit a friend after school. His friend, Bo, who also lived in the South Point complex, used the same pretense to gain his freedom and they boarded a tram to the Kowloon side of the island, bringing Bo’s younger brother, Leon, along with them.
Exiting the tram, they made their way to a small park, where they played near a stand of trees at the edge of an open space. Looking to be sure that no one was watching, Bo led them through bushes into a concrete passageway. Armed with a chocklight, he led them into the clammy darkness of an underground culvert. Climbing over rusty gates, broken and trampled down long ago, they came into a chamber strewn with debris. There they found a stairwell and descended to the platform of an abandoned subway station.
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