The woman in the Hakka hat handed something to Lili, then gave her a hug and turned to leave. Lin jerked up an arm. Even at a distance, Chi-Wen recognized the shape of a pistol in his hand. With a silencer on the end.
He’s going to kill her! He couldn’t hold back a gasp.
Lin heard the sharp intake of breath and turned. “Who’s there?”
In that same instant, Chi-Wen quickly circled, coming up behind Lin. “You’ve become careless, comrade,” he said, jabbing his pointed finger into the foreign minister’s back.
“Chi-Wen Zhou!”
“Don’t turn around or I’ll shoot. Hand over the gun.”
Lin did as he was told.
Holding the pistol against Lin’s skull, Chi-Wen wondered if he was capable of pulling the trigger.
As if reading his mind, Lin said, “You know the penalty for murder.”
Chi-Wen couldn’t help chuckling. “I’ll be considered a hero when Deng finds out you tried to steal the secret of longevity for yourself. It is you who will face the firing squad.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Lin hissed. “Too many people owe me favors. Your word against mine? No one will believe you.”
“I’ll take that chance.”
“Why take a chance?” Lin tried to strike a rational tone. “Help me get the secret from Lili Quan, and I promise you a life of privilege.”
“No!” Chi-Wen’s voice was filled with disgust. He despised this man whose lust for power had almost destroyed his spirit. “The students are right. Men like you must step down. You have corrupted all that is great in China.”
“I can save China.”
“China belongs to the people,” Chi-Wen replied, pushing Lin toward an alcove where he’d be hidden. “Unbuckle your belt and hand over your tie.”
“What are you doing?”
Chi-Wen quickly secured Lin’s hands behind his back with the belt. “Lie down on your stomach,” he ordered. He bound Lin’s ankles together with his shoelaces, then used the tie as a gag.
“Don’t leave,” he whispered. “I’ll be back.”
“Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
Nearly six p.m., they seemed to be the only two people left on the grounds.
“In a minute.” Dylan removed the notes from the envelope. “Jesus, they’re in Chinese.”
“Of course, what did you expect?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just assumed . . . I mean, you said your grandfather spoke English.” Dylan pulled a cigarillo from his breast pocket. “Have you read them yet?” he asked.
“No, he died just after he gave them to me and from that moment until I slipped them to Dottie, I was on the run.”
Dylan shrugged. “Well, there’s plenty of time now.” He put the cigarillo in his mouth.
“Dylan?”
“Yeah?”
“When did you start smoking?”
“It’s a nervous habit I’ve kicked off and on over the years.” He took a lighter from his pocket, fumbling with it until it ignited.
Gold lighter. “Where’d you get that?”
“What?”
“That lighter.”
“I don’t know,” he replied, returning it to his pocket. “What’s the difference?”
Cigarillos, gold lighter — coincidence? She was trembling. “Can I see it?”
“We ought to get going.”
“No, I want to see that lighter.”
“Why all the questions? I’m not asking you about your ‘fellow’ in Beijing. What interest could you have in a silly lighter.”
“That’s history.” She didn’t want to talk about Chi-Wen now. “He doesn’t need to be explained. But that lighter —” Trying to think things out as she spoke. “It belonged to Ng. I saw it on his boat. When Halliday killed him, he must have —” The fire in her mind grew, spreading, until she was consumed by an extraordinary possibility. “Don’t tell me you’re mixed up with Halliday?”
He stubbed out the cigarillo. “Lili, you’ve been through a lot. You’re still running on overtime. You’re bound to feel some residual paranoia, but —”
“Don’t patronize me, Dylan. Let me see it.”
Reluctantly, he handed her the lighter.
Confirming her worst fears, a dragon was etched on the side. “It’s true. You are involved with Halliday.”
A look of irritation. “What if I am? “
“How? Why?” She struggled to control herself. “The man’s a murderer.”
“Halliday recruited me in med school. Trenton was my mentor, remember. He worked for the CIA off and on until his wife died. Halliday was his contact.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that Trenton might be a spy, but you?”
“Spy’s a little too dramatic, Lili. The correct parlance is civilian intelligence operative.”
“And what exactly does such an individual do?”
“Odd jobs. At first it was just information gathering — reporting on the latest developments in immunogenetics and related fields. The CIA didn’t want any other country scooping us the way Russia had with space or Japan with computers. Hey, it helped pay the bills and I got to see a little of the world.” He smiled. “My very first trip was to an international conference in Hong Kong.”
“And later?”
“Later, I moved on to low-profile operations.”
“Meaning?”
“After Iran-Contra, the CIA couldn’t afford to be implicated in any so-called dirty tricks. Independent civilians like me provide appropriate fronts.”
“Was this a low-profile operation?”
“Exactly,” he responded, ignoring her sarcasm. “Halliday arranged for the Aligen Company to finance my project at L.A. Medical. That way I could keep an eye on Aligen and you.”
“Me?”
“He learned your grandfather had perfected a longevity drug, and that certain people in the Chinese government planned to lure you to the Mainland to get him to reveal it.”
“And what was your job?” she asked, still fighting for control.
“First, to see that you went to China. Hopefully, your grandfather would give you his formula. After that, I was to get it from you.”
Lili shook her head. “But you had your own work.”
“I’m years from making a breakthrough. You said it yourself — your grandfather’s work showed success in humans. Even if I had located the gene that turned off the MHC, in the U.S. it would take years before the FDA and Human Subjects Committees approved human testing. If I helped Halliday get your grandfather’s formula, he promised to share it with me.”
“And you’d pawn it off as your own discovery? That’s fraud.”
“You think the world of research is beyond corruption, Lili? That’s a delusion. All your dreams, all your tilts at the windmills of justice — you should be reading The Man from La Mancha, not The Old Man and the Sea. I find the secret to prolong life and I become the most famous man on earth. We’re talking Nobel Prize.”
Lili was silent for a few moments, then asked, “Is that really what you’re in it for? For the prizes and the money?”
“You want me to lie to you? Of course I’m in it for the prize. People who get hung up moralizing get nowhere fast. All that matters is the result. In the big picture, the end justifies the means. And screw the rest. I suppose you can’t understand that.”
The real horror was that Lili did understand. Back in L.A., Dylan had talked about the importance of winning. Seduced by his calculated charm, she’d simply ignored his words. She saw the sparkle in his eyes that she’d mistaken for love and now discerned as pure ambiition. Her stomach tightened. “You used me!”
“You and Trenton never saw eye to eye. Ed Baxter wanted the fellowship. Your mother was dying. Dr. Seng offered you an opportunity to excape your troubles. Halliday and I merely set you on a stage.”
“You sent me to China knowing I’d be in danger? Did you think I’d get out of there alive? Or didn’t you c
are?”
“Halliday always expected to have to get you out himself, but as it turned out that wasn’t necessary.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Right after you left L.A., he got wind of a double cross and stumbled onto Ng. Ng planned to smuggle you out of China.”
“What you did was contemptible.” That he had once seemed so attractive sickened her now.
“Lili, I said it before, you’re naïve.” Dylan shook his head. “It’s too bad; we could have worked together.”
“And what now?” she asked.
No response.
“Are you going to kill me?”
His grim expression terrified her.
“Are you capable of murder too?”
“He may not be, but I’ve got no qualms.” Halliday emerged from the shadows pointing a gun. “Dr. Quan, we meet again.”
“You bastard!”
“Such lovely talk from a lady,” Halliday sneered. He nodded toward the papers still in Dylan’s hands. “Is that it?”
“Her grandfather’s research notes. They’re all here.”
“Good work, my friend.” He pointed the gun at Lili, urging her ahead of Dylan. “Let’s get going.”
“Where are you taking me?” Stay calm.
“It’s such a warm evening. I thought you might like to take a little ride.”
He really did mean to kill her.
“And if I don’t go?”
“Check around you. Everyone’s gone. Eight acres. Lots of bushes. I could plug you now and no one would find you for a week.”
“Someone would hear gunshots.”
“In Hong Kong?” He pulled a silencer from his pocket. “But just in case, I brought this along.”
Lili turned to stare at Dylan. He averted his gaze.
“Don’t worry, Dylan,” Halliday tasked. “When we’re done here, I’ll buy you a nice, compliant Chinese gal on Wachai Street.” They had almost reached the top of a steep path.
Desperate, Lili looked about. She had to save herself. But how? Think! As she started to walk down the path, she recalled an afternoon in Suzhou.
Somehow I always thought tai chi was a form of martial arts.
It is and it isn’t. In your Western world, exercise concentrates on outer movement and the development of the physical body only. Movement in tai chi is to transfer the ch’i or intrinsic energy to the shen or spirit and to use inner rather than outer force. With tai chi, the separation between mind, body and spirit gradually disappears and the student attains “oneness” with the universe.
Standing with her head erect, Lili closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing.
As if each breath is drawn slowly from a cocoon.
“Come on, get going.”
Gradually deepening, emptying her mind of thought. Wu chi.
Her heels touched lightly as she crouched slightly; she separated her feet, leading with the left foot. Tai chi.
With each inhalation, she felt the air float her hands and arms out from her body. Effortlessly, her movements grew from inside out.
From the initial stillness comes motion. With a smooth, unhurried motion, she pivoted with her right foot.
Gracefully, almost effortlessly, Lili sped into her attack before Dylan could react. She jumped high, her left knee jerking up, then twisting in the air while her right foot snapped toward Dylan’s head in a roundhouse kick. He fell, crumpled in a heap on the ground.
In that same instant, Halliday cocked his gun and aimed at Lili.
“No!”
Halliday pivoted to face Chi-Wen.
“No!” he screamed again. Without thought, without the slightest hesitation, Chi-Wen lunged to place himself between Lili and her attacker.
Halliday fired at them.
Instinctively, Lili dove to the ground, ducking several bullets.
At the same time Chi-Wen fired Lin’s gun, grazing Halliday’s right wrist. Halliday dropped his weapon. Chi-Wen put the toe of his shoe against the stock, pushing it down the path. He turned to Lili. “You did well,” he said, nodding toward Dylan, still sprawled, unconscious, on the ground.
“I had a good teacher.” Trying to sound calm, her voice had an edge of pain, despair, and bitterness.
“Are you all right?”
If she hadn’t known better, she might have believed he was genuinely concerned. Damn him! “I’m doing just fine!” she hissed. “I thought coming to China was my choice and now I find it was a well-orchestrated plot to use me to steal my grandfather’s work. Of course, you would just call it my fate.” She hurled the words like spears.
“Lili —”
“And better yet, everyone I trusted . . .” her voice broke, “everyone I loved has either betrayed me or died.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “What are you doing here?” She looked at the gun he still leveled at Halliday. “Are you also planning to kill me?”
“I’ve been searching for you since you were kidnapped in Beijing.”
“You betrayed me in Beijing!”
“No, there had to be an informant among the students. Please believe me, I would never betray you.”
That stopped her cold. She scrutinized Chi-Wen’s face. There had to be yet another trick. But looking into his eyes, she saw pain as great as hers. “You didn’t tell Lin where I was?”
“No, after you were taken, I tried to find you.”
“General Tong’s son kidnapped me.” Lili gestured toward Halliday who was massaging his injured wrist. “This man saved me only to betray me. Then, like a fool, I ran right into Dylan’s arms.”
“That was my fault.” Chi-Wen told her how he’d faxed a message to Dylan. “I was a fool, Lili. I thought he was your good friend.”
No more than I, she thought, remembering the fortune-teller’s warning. Your greatest enemy will try to be your closest ally. Dylan was the friend she should have distrusted. All that time it had been Dylan.
“I guess I owe you an apology.”
As they talked, Halliday was slowly unwrapping the piano wire he always kept around his left wrist. Then with lightening speed, he sprinted forward. He lunged to grab Lili from behind and held the wire tautly against the soft skin of her throat. “If you want her to live,” he told Chi-Wen, “hand me that gun.”
Lili tried to speak, but Halliday tightened his grip.
“Do it or I’ll kill her now.”
Chi-Wen did as he was told.
“Smart boy. Slowly raise your hands. Clasp them together over your head.” He removed the wire from Lili’s neck and pushed her toward Chi-Wen. “You too.”
“Stop right there,” another voice ordered. “CIA. You’re under arrest.” Two men in suits, each brandishing revolvers, appeared out of the darkness. “Throw your gun on the ground, Halliday.”
“What? I’m one of you.”
“Your gun.”
“What’s going on?” Halliday demanded after discarding his weapon.
“For starters, the murder of Martin Carpenter.”
“The coroner ruled his death accidental.”
“Until Dr. Trenton yelled foul and alerted us at Langley. It took some time to figure out you were running your own renegade mission. California, Washington, Macao, Hong Kong; Carpenter, DeForest, Ng. You’ve been a busy bee, my friend.” The taller of the two turned to Lili. “Dr. Quan? I’m Agent Nesbit, this is Agent Lucca.” Nesbit flashed his ID. “You okay?”
“I think so.” Not sure how to react. Why should she trust these men any more than Halliday or Dylan? She edged over to where Dylan lay and picked up the research notes scattered beside him.
“Sorry we took so long. After we tapped Halliday’s last phone call from Dr. O’Hara, we rushed to get here. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where in the garden you’d be meeting Miss Diehl.”
That was all she needed to hear. Friend or foe — what did it matter? Everything that had happened since she’d left for China had been because of shou.
She thought of her grandfat
her’s dying words.
You alone are now the keeper of the secret. You will decide whether or not to reveal it to the world.
How will I know what to do?
You will know.
“We’ll take those now,” Lucca said matter-of-factly.
You will know.
She flicked Ng’s lighter, igniting the pages in her hand. Lucca tried to grab them, but Lili extended her arm and in seconds, held a burning torch.
“Stupid bitch!” Halliday screamed. “You just destroyed the greatest discovery the world has ever known.”
“Your opinion, Mr. Halliday. It might also have been the world’s greatest nightmare.” She watched the ashes begin to float across the grounds.
Just remember — the secret has the power to save or destroy.
“Either way,” she said sadly, “it seems mankind just isn’t ready for shou yet.”
“Lili!”
Chi-Wen held his left arm close to his chest. “I have to tell you —”
“My God!” The front of his shirt was stained with blood. When Halliday had fired at them, one of the bullets must have struck Chi-Wen “You’ve been shot!”
“It’s nothing —” but the edges of his field of vision were starting to blur and he no longer heard her voice clearly.
“Chi-Wen!”
He was at the end of a darkening tunnel, fighting an almost irresistible drowsiness. “I love you,” he whispered before blackness enveloped him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sunday
May 7
Hong Kong
7:00 p.m.
Spectacular.
A tepid offshore breeze had cleared the air, magnifying the brightness of the stars twinkling against Hong Kong’s night sky. Staring out at the horizon, Lili recalled another such night, a little over three weeks before.
When you look outward you see the past.
How true the fortune-teller’s words seemed now as she gazed at the hills of China in the distance. She had found her past there, losing part of herself in the process. But as the one-eyed man also predicted, she’d discovered so much more.
The past is a window to oneself. Her mother’s words.
In examining her past, she’d come to understand her Chineseness, to appreciate being “different.” Her roots were deep and rich.
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