Fate

by Zhou HaoHui

  Captain Ding paused. ‘During the hostage situation at the apartment, we had things under control. But then the boy said something. Something that, well, triggered his father.’

  ‘What did he say?’ Ms Mu asked anxiously.

  ‘I heard it through my earpiece. He said, “Daddy, did you buy me a birthday cake yet?”’

  Pei waited for Captain Ding to continue, but that was it. ‘That’s all he said?’ he asked in astonishment.

  ‘That’s it.’ Captain Ding nodded. ‘The thirtieth of January happened to be Wen Chengyu’s birthday and his father had promised to buy him an extravagant cake. But Mrs Wen’s illness had left the family dirt poor. By the time his son’s birthday came, Wen Hongbing was truly at the end of his rope. He didn’t have two coins to rub together. Which was what forced him to kidnap Chen Tianqiao – a desperate attempt to get his own hard-earned cash back from the man.’

  ‘So Yuan used Wen Hongbing’s love for his son to encourage him to think about his son’s future,’ said Ms Mu. ‘But as soon as his son spoke those words, Wen Hongbing found himself pulled back into his own desperate reality. He couldn’t even provide his son with the birthday he’d promised him. That sudden realisation must have been soul-destroying.’

  Captain Ding let out a slow, rustling sigh. At the same time, Pei felt a strange constriction in his throat.

  Captain Ding’s voice was softer now. ‘Wen Hongbing lost control when he heard his son speak. He screamed at Chen Tianqiao, demanding his money, but Chen insisted that he had no money to give. Wen was furious. He started beating him up. Remember that Wen was wearing a bomb, so every sudden movement put all of us at risk. The situation was critical and Yuan was forced to do the only thing he could. He pulled the trigger and shot Wen Hongbing in the head.’

  ‘Considering the circumstances, Yuan’s actions were perfectly defensible. However…’ Pei exhaled loudly. He suddenly found it difficult to speak.

  ‘The results are hard to accept, aren’t they?’ Captain Ding laughed bitterly. ‘You weren’t there and yet you’re still moved by it, even now. Yuan was the one who pulled the trigger, and he already felt a connection to the boy – can you imagine what that must have felt like?’

  Pei shut his eyes again. He remembered what Huang had told him. ‘The suspect had a bullet in his forehead. He was on the ground, motionless. The hostage, however, was safe and sound. Yuan held the boy close, cradling the child’s head against his chest. He didn’t let him see the bloody scene at all.’

  ‘It was his first time taking part in a real police operation,’ Captain Ding continued, ‘and that was the result. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to handle the psychological stress, so I ordered the marksman at the scene to claim responsibility for Yuan’s actions. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I saw Yuan later that night. He just sat there, stiff as a dead man. I knew that hundreds of thoughts must be going through his head. He looked at me with bloodshot eyes and said, “Captain, I regret everything. Why didn’t I miss? Wouldn’t it have been so much better if that bullet had struck Chen instead?”’

  Ms Mu put a comforting hand on Pei’s shoulder. ‘Had we been in Yuan’s shoes, we might have had the same thoughts. When it comes down to it, it’s our respect for the law that keeps us knowing what’s right.’

  ‘Therein lies the rub,’ Captain Ding said gravely. ‘Those of us around this table all have clear views on what’s right and wrong, but we’re also restricted by societal rules and regulations. None of us would overstep those boundaries. Yuan, on the other hand, was hot-tempered. He couldn’t control his emotions – if anything, they controlled him. When he told me that he wished he’d shot Chen instead, he’d lost sight of what it meant to be a police officer.’

  ‘Yuan originally channelled all his natural intensity into his desire to become a police officer and defender of justice,’ Ms Mu said. ‘But on his first mission out in the field, he watched helplessly as his own firearm distorted his definition of justice. Captain Pei would have reacted differently in that situation. Think of the two of them as sprinters encountering a large boulder in their path. Captain Pei would have slowed down and stepped around it. Yuan, however, was running too fast. He was too highly strung and impetuous to stop. He collided with the boulder and when he regained his footing, he began running in a different direction.’

  Captain Ding nodded. ‘Two months after that, someone broke into Chen’s home and stole money from his safe.’

  ‘The April 7th burglary,’ Pei said. ‘We’ve researched that case. We already guessed that Yuan was the culprit, in fact.’

  ‘You must have figured that out fairly quickly, Captain Ding,’ Ms Mu said. ‘But then you concealed the truth again.’

  ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘If you hadn’t shielded Yuan like that, none of this would have happened,’ TSO Zeng grumbled.

  ‘Not necessarily.’ Ms Mu shook her head. ‘Even if Yuan had been prosecuted for the break-in, he might still have gone through with his plan to become Eumenides. It would have just delayed his transformation into a killer.’

  ‘Cause and effect,’ Captain Ding murmured. ‘It was bound to happen sooner or later. I only protected Yuan because I had no other choice.’

  ‘You felt sorry for him,’ Ms Mu said. ‘You couldn’t bear to blame him, and you couldn’t bear to take away the money that Mrs Wen would use for her operation. So you decided to end your career as a police officer there and then.’

  Captain Ding grinned bitterly. ‘To be fair, I’d been wanting to retire for a while, but I’d put it off because I hadn’t yet found a successor. The change in Yuan disheartened me. It left me cold to the world of law enforcement. I officially resigned soon after. But never in my worst nightmares did I imagine he could have been planning something so terrible.’

  ‘Of course not,’ Pei said, keeping his eyes on the retired captain. ‘Because something else happened before the April 18th warehouse explosion. Something that you might not even be aware of.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘You must have been involved with the March 16th drug-trafficking case, right?’

  ‘Barely. Vice Commissioner Xue was in charge of the investigation,’ Captain Ding said with a distant look on his face. ‘As I recall, one of Xue’s most trusted informants was pivotal to the success of that drugs bust.’

  ‘Yes,’ Pei said. ‘Deng Yulong. Who later became the powerful Mayor Deng. Deng stole half of the drugs and cash that the police confiscated during the raid. Vice Commissioner Xue found out about it but decided to cover it up. However, Xue’s secretary accidentally recorded that crucial conversation between Deng and the vice commissioner. The secretary, Bai Feifei, also happened to be Yuan’s ex-girlfriend. Deng killed Bai Feifei to stop her from leaking the recording, disguising her death as suicide. Yuan became Eumenides in order to avenge Bai Feifei. That was when he truly passed the point of no return.’

  ‘Oh, so that’s what happened!’ Captain Ding said in surprise as he processed this new information. ‘That makes Yuan’s transformation a lot clearer.’

  ‘The January 30th hostage case was a psychological turning point for Yuan,’ Ms Mu concluded. ‘He was unable to get over the stress of Wen Hongbing’s death and he began to question what it meant to be a police officer. But Bai Feifei’s murder on the twentieth of March was what made him finally turn his back on a future with the police. He became convinced that only he was truly capable of meting out justice, and Captain Pei’s creation, Eumenides, served as a guiding light for him in that regard. All of these factors ultimately combined to turn Yuan into a single-minded killer.’

  ‘Now do you understand why I used the word “fate” to describe Yuan’s transformation?’ Captain Ding asked. ‘So many unanticipated events converged around him. If Pei and his girlfriend Meng hadn’t created Eumenides, I wouldn’t have chosen Yuan. If that boy hadn’t taken a liking to Yuan, I wouldn’t have ordered Yuan to be on the scene during the hos
tage situation. If the boy hadn’t suddenly mentioned a birthday cake, the hostage situation might have ended peacefully. If the marksman had chosen a better position, Yuan wouldn’t have needed to use his gun. If Bai Feifei hadn’t died, Yuan might not have resorted to such drastic measures to get revenge. Given all that, how can you explain it as anything other than fate?’

  Captain Pei took his time before responding. ‘Even if it was fate, there’s one thing I’ll never forgive him for,’ he whispered, fixing the old man with a look of deep pain.

  ‘Meng Yun’s death,’ Captain Ding said, nodding. ‘I understand.’

  Pei stared up at the blue sky. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his feelings down inside himself, as far down as they could go.

  ‘There’s an important reason why he killed Meng. One that wasn’t part of his plan,’ Captain Ding said.

  Pei’s bloodshot eyes blinked. ‘What was the reason?’

  ‘You, Pei, were both his closest friend and the adversary for whom he had the greatest respect.’

  Pei said nothing.

  ‘Yuan’s emotions were so intense that not even he could control them. He was fully aware of that. As he prepared to embark on his new life as Eumenides, you were the one huge obstacle he dreaded. He was unable to give up the close friendship you two shared, but he also knew two things. Firstly, the two of you were destined to become irreconcilable enemies. And secondly, he must never underestimate your abilities. He needed to sever the bonds of friendship between you for those two reasons. For he knew that when the two of you eventually came to face off against each other, that friendship would prove to be his fatal weakness.’

  Pei clenched his fists at the thought of Yuan and Meng and all his memories.

  ‘After the two of you became enemies, did your emotions ever make you forsake your own principles?’ Captain Ding asked.

  ‘No,’ Pei answered with a resolute shake of his head.

  ‘You can control your emotions. Yuan could not. If the two of you got into a life-or-death struggle, Yuan’s emotions would put him on the losing side.’

  ‘And that’s why he killed Meng?’

  ‘That’s a key reason, yes. Yuan’s cautiousness and eye for detail were just as good as yours. He recognised his own weaknesses. That was why he needed to sever any remaining emotional connections between the two of you. At the same time, his plan also required an innocent victim whom he could use to verify his own “death”. He chose Meng. If she died in the explosion and you then discovered that he had survived it, the two of you would become mortal enemies. Your friendship would be irreparable. And so his erstwhile weakness would have evaporated.’ Captain Ding stopped to catch his breath. ‘You could even say that Meng’s involvement was what made his plan perfect.’

  ‘No!’ Pei snapped, looking up at Captain Ding in defiance. ‘Meng exposed the flaws in his plan. She sacrificed herself! As a result of which, Yuan’s so-called perfect plan fell apart and he was crippled for the rest of his life. If Yuan had been just a bit slower, he would have ended up a pile of ashes on the floor of that warehouse.’

  Captain Ding froze. He considered Pei’s rebuttal. Yuan, Pei and Meng had been some of the police academy’s best students. Somehow the three of them had become embroiled in the same struggle. Each of them had suffered, to vastly different degrees. None of them had emerged unscathed.

  It was fate.

  The sun was in the west now. Captain Ding looked up at the deepening blue of the sky and decided to change the subject. ‘It’s nearly sunset. As this is such an unusual occasion, I’d like to invite you all to stay for dinner and a chat. There’s a garden behind the house with a good range of fruit and vegetables. My crops have done well this season. Pick whatever you like and I’ll have a meal ready in no time.’

  ‘Is that so?’ Ms Mu’s interest was piqued. ‘You don’t seem like the gardening type.’

  ‘You sound like my wife,’ Captain Ding said with a good-natured smile. ‘Huang, why don’t you take Ms Mu round the back and help her choose some fruit and vegetables for dinner?’

  Ms Mu was startled as the chair behind her creaked and Huang lumbered forward. He’d been so quiet over the last few hours that she’d all but forgotten he was there.

  ‘You coming?’ he asked, looking back at her.

  She nodded and stood up. TSO Zeng followed them.

  ‘Let’s go and lend them a hand, Lieutenant Yin,’ Pei said. But as he made to stand up, he felt a foot under the table being pressed firmly against his. Yin headed off with the others, unaware that Pei wasn’t behind him.

  Once everyone else had disappeared, Captain Ding turned to Pei and said, ‘I want to give you something.’

  Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a small rectangular object and placed it on the table. Pei recognised it at once. It was a microcassette. Before computers had come into widespread use, microcassettes had been the usual choice for police surveillance recordings.

  ‘Yuan wore a recording device during the January 30th hostage situation. This tape is a recording of what happened that night. In order to protect Yuan, I kept many secrets from the rest of the police force, but I saved this because I didn’t want the truth to be buried. Take this with you and listen to it. Everything that transpired immediately before and after Wen Hongbing’s death is on it.’

  Pei picked up the tape. ‘Why didn’t you show this to us earlier?’

  ‘I don’t want anyone else to listen to it. There are things on that tape that Wen Hongbing’s son must never hear,’ Captain Ding said, his eyes narrowing.

  A shiver ran down Pei’s back. ‘You have your doubts about someone on the team?’ he whispered.

  ‘As far as I know, there’s only one set of files on the January 12th Bagman case and they’re the ones in the PSB archives. There’s nothing on any computer database. How else would Eumenides have found out where the files were kept?’

  The more Pei considered this, the more anxious he became. He was shocked to realise that his forehead was now slick with sweat.

  ‘Don’t get too worked up,’ Captain Ding said in a reassuring voice. ‘I’m just putting it out there. But if you really do intend to stop that young man from continuing his crime spree, I recommend extreme caution. For the time being, you’re the only person who can know about the contents of this tape.’

  Pei frowned. ‘Do you mean that what you just told us wasn’t the truth?’

  ‘I told you the facts. Just not all of them.’ Captain Ding smirked humourlessly at Pei. ‘To put a stop to these murders, we don’t necessarily need to pursue the source – we just need to halt the vicious cycle of cause and effect.’

  Pei gripped the cassette tightly and wondered what he meant. What secrets did that small chunk of plastic hold?

  21

  RITE OF THE DEAD

  12 November, 8:07 a.m.

  Conference room, criminal police headquarters

  The entire task force was seated around the conference room table and this time they’d been joined by the journalist Du Mingqiang.

  Du yawned loudly. Wiping his nose, he said, ‘My sleep patterns are nothing like yours. The next time you want me to wake up this early, you might as well just kill me.’

  ‘The early bird gets the worm,’ TSO Zeng chirped.

  Captain Pei stood up and everyone took this as a sign that the meeting had begun. ‘Lieutenant Yin,’ he said to his assistant, ‘give it to him.’

  Lieutenant Yin placed a large envelope in front of Du.

  ‘Oh, what have we here?’ Du opened it and pulled out a slim folder and a miniature MP3 player.

  ‘The scoop you wanted. Take a look at the documents inside the folder first.’

  Du perked up and immediately began to read the folder’s contents in earnest. They comprised an extremely detailed account of an eighteen-year-old hostage case, including background on the people involved as well as the events surrounding the perpetrator’s eventual standoff with the police.

 
; ‘This case has a nice strong conflict. It also raises some interesting ethical questions,’ Du said once he’d finished reading. ‘But it’s ancient history. Unless I can find a way to link this article to something current, I doubt it’ll get many clicks, no matter how well written it is.’

  ‘The boy in the case is the man we now know as Eumenides. The police officer who shot his father was Yuan Zhibang, the man who trained him,’ Pei said, emotionless and serious.

  ‘Is that so?’ An eager smile spread across Du’s face. ‘Well, that changes everything! I can use these files to document the psychological journeys of two generations of killers. The public will eat this up!’

  Nodding slowly, Pei turned to Lieutenant Yin. ‘Play the recording for him.’

  Yin pushed a button on the MP3 player. As everyone in the room listened, the sounds from the hostage scene eighteen years ago began to play.

  The first thing they heard was Yuan’s voice calling out to Wen Hongbing, trying to persuade him to give up his hostage and surrender. As Yuan continued his impassioned appeal to Wen Hongbing’s emotions, Wen Hongbing began to talk less about Chen Tianqiao and the debt. The hostility seemed to have melted away.

  ‘I just want to hold my son,’ Wen Hongbing said.

  ‘I’ll give you your son if you deactivate the bomb and release your hostage,’ Yuan replied, his voice calm and conciliatory. ‘There’s nothing for you to worry about. All of this will be over soon and everything can go be back to normal.’

  ‘My son,’ Wen Hongbing repeated.

  When Yuan spoke again, his tone was slightly more urgent. ‘Do you not understand? Think about what really matters to you. If you continue down this road, what will it mean for your wife and son?’

  ‘My son, my son…’ Wen Hongbing mumbled, like a mystic reciting a mantra. His resolve was crumbling.

  ‘Turn around, Chengyu. Call out to your dad,’ Yuan said to the young boy he was holding in his arms.

  ‘Did you get me a birthday cake, Daddy?’ a young voice called out.