Fallen Dynasties

by Nick James

  ‘No worries, boss. I’m here to help,’ Sam said, taking another swallow of his golden cider. ‘Oh, I see you’re tracking the mysterious man, Sanderson?’ he asked, to which I nodded. Fuck. ‘He knows, I have cleaned the others you checked. So stop. He’s a naughty boy, and he will take us all down.’

  I wandered off and bought another round from a girl with multiple piercings. ‘Thanks, hon,’ I said, looking at her name badge: Natalie.

  ‘Are you his boss?’ she asked, pointing at Blades.

  A feeling of dread came over me. ‘Yeah, I am for my sins. Why, what has he done?’

  She leaned in close. ‘Tell your boy Sammy I got a new piercing.’ Natalie chuckled and bent over, sending her jeans down and thong up.

  I headed back and we chatted some more about other things. ‘So, we’re good now?’ I asked.

  Blades shrugged. ‘Yeah, we’re okay. Keep the good jobs coming, and a decent pay rise for me and the team, then we’re all good,’ he said.

  ‘Fair enough. Oh, the barmaid said to tell you that she’s got a new piercing,’ I said.

  His head spun around in a flash.

  The barmaid smiled and gave him a spin.

  I finished my drink. ‘I’ll see you back at the office, no rush,’ and got up to leave.

  Blades, without moving his eyes from the now stretching barmaid, grabbed my arm. ‘One last thing, get rid of the bloody wireless hard drive. Anybody and their mother can find out that it’s linked to your system, especially Danny, if he hasn’t already, he’ll find it soon.’ He then stood up and took his drink to the bar, all the while scanning the barmaid as if she were a slowly turning kebab.

  I shook my head at the pervert. Seeing as he was my patsy, it felt like the other way round. As I left the building, all I could hear was Sam’s guesses: ‘Nipples? Belly button? Perineum?’

  ‘WOOHOOO! We have a winner!’ the barmaid shouted.

  The door closed, shutting off Sam’s hoots and hollers of victory. ‘The human race is doomed,’ I muttered to myself.

  Chapter 23

  Mai Lee

  Alexi and I sat by the lake. I was working on my laptop as the pedigree of Russian manhood sat trying to catch dinner. I think the barrel-bellied man was scaring all living things away from us; I know he had that effect on me.

  I couldn’t help smiling at the news filtering around the world. The Chinese mafia was in a panic. Two of the Council of Five were dead, along with their family members. Also, following my text to Tiger with the picture of the UK branch’s boss, he and his guards were found executed in the middle of London. Police and the news media were screaming about a gang war between the Russians and Chinese. It only helped to fuel the fire while bodies kept turning up. Poor Suzie Q.

  I viewed my plan outline:

  Cheng Su, Beijing (dead)

  Mao Xianddu, Xining

  Liu Zheng, Macao (dead)

  Zhou Chunhua, Nanchang

  Li Enla, Kunming

  The plus point was that they were all getting together with their retinues to discuss what to do about voting in another two applicants to replace the empty chairs, and how to find out who was carrying out such daring acts against them.

  I had a call from my ex about the supposed meeting. It was going to be in the Hubei province, but that was all he knew. The bosses were keeping it on a need-to-know basis until the last minute. I really thought they would just go to ground, but I guessed they would feel safer all together.

  But thanks to Alexi’s contacts in one of America’s three-letter law enforcement agencies, they let him know that there had been an increase in movements to and from the country home of one Mao Xianddu, in the hills above Enshi. Now, to my plan.

  Alexi handed over satellites images of the multi-level country home. A five-acre property with a ten-foot wall encompassing the whole area. With CCTV, motion sensitive spotlights and God knows how many armed guards. Perfect job for Alexi’s jet. But, once again, he would have to be mad to drop a bomb on China.

  After downloading the blueprints of the property from the local government archive, I did find a weakness, but it would mean a daylight entry, and then bunker down until the meeting, which hopefully wouldn’t be long.

  Once again, I gave my tubby pilot a shopping list, which made him bark out a laugh. ‘You are kidding, right?’ he asked, ash from his cigarette dropping onto his swollen stomach – well, he said it was swollen.

  I shook my head. ‘Afraid not, as soon as possible, or they may have their meeting without inviting me. And we can’t have that now…can we?’ I said and walked away knowing the old letch was perving at my ass.

  It took him a day to acquire the Cesna 120, a small propeller-powered plane, which could land at the small Enshi Airport, and then a further day for my toys: Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun with suppressor, retractable stock, with a laser dot sight and with 10 thirty-round magazines. Two 9mm pistols with suppressors, laser dot sights and six magazines. Three fragmentation grenades and three stun grenades. It was going to be a messy night; the prize of the toys was the night-vision goggles.

  I did think about using the gas again, but the property was too vast, with too many rooms. Also, it was a no go because I wasn’t able to reconnoitre the house first.

  We took off that night. Luckily the airport we landed at was a one-man operation, so Alexi cut his engine at a thousand feet and ghosted in on the thermals and landing gently. The place was a silent as the grave. I slipped out straight away and shouldered my MP5 to make sure we had no party crashers, but we were lucky, the man must have been sleeping.

  Once I’d put on the rucksack, the pilot and I embraced. ‘You be careful, Mai. If it doesn’t feel right, leave and call me,’ Alexi said, looking at me straight in the eye. ‘I’m only a call away.’

  I gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then without a single word I walked off into the night.

  It took a day and a half walking north-east through forest and farmlands. The night was lonely, but I made good time and finally reached the compound.

  The trees were two hundred yards from the wall, just as the satellite images showed. I lifted the binoculars that I stole from Alexi’s locker – he’ll be pissed off – and there was the weakness. Being at the base of a hill it needed drainage, so that was my way in.

  It wasn’t much of a tunnel, just enough to stop the rainwater from building up too much against the wall. They had dug a trench all the way through the grounds. The depth of the trench would cover me from the cameras, which weren’t fixed. They traversed the whole grounds, but it was only twenty feet from the trench to the basement window.

  The window was small, but I should manage to fit through. Then I made a nest in the basement and waited for death – either mine or theirs. One way or another, there would be blood.

  It was tricky as I had to be fast at first light so the lights wouldn’t activate and before the staff and guards were on the move. But, by the grace of God and the ghosts of my family, I made it. It was a guess that the guards would be lazy as none of the bosses were there yet.

  On the third day of sipping water, eating granola bars and shitting in bags, my phone vibrated. My ex’s text said that the bosses were heading to my location, but he and a few were being left behind for some reason. That would be the last time I heard from him, he either ran or was killed – who knew?

  The vehicles started to pull in at 8 p.m., and what sounded like the last car came at quarter to midnight. I was still undecided what to do. I could wait until they had their meeting, throw the grenades and go in spraying; or I could just go room to room earlier than that.

  At 3 a.m. I could hear the odd, rhythmic steps of boots, but apart from that it was quiet. The bit of luck on my side was that the fuse box for the whole house was with me in the basement. I needed a lot of luck to survive this night.

  I once again went through my stretching routine; I had to be ready and move fast. From the first bullet, they would know death was coming for them.
<
br />   I walked over and took a deep breath before flicking off the main breaker switch, causing swearing to come from upstairs.

  I hid under the wooden staircase from the ground floor and waited with my combat knife in hand. The door opened, and a man wearing black trousers and a white shirt walked down, grumbling as he did, looking like someone on the staff.

  As he looked at the fuses, I crept up and put my hand over his mouth as I sank the blade of my knife into the base of his skull.

  The old man passed away quickly, so I laid him out and took out some fuses and put them under his cooling corpse. I took the safety off the pistol and MP5, then led with the pistol first; the night vision worked well.

  I stood by the door and thought of Mikey. With a deep breath, I headed out along the ground floor; there was nothing at the entrance. I then crept to the first door – nothing. The next door was trouble: it was already open, allowing me to see that it was full.

  ‘Who’s that?’ said a man-shaped image. There were three with pistols drawn.

  I dropped to my knees and took the first two out before the third took a shot, just missing me, but my next one took him high in the chest, then he was down.

  There were footfalls coming down the stairs. I pulled a stun grenade and rolled it to the base of the stairs. I closed the door and readied the MP5. I heard a scream as it went off. I entered the hall to see five men in different stages of pain and discomfort. I sprayed them, sending all thirty rounds across them, knocking them all down.

  Fire then erupted from the first floor. I dropped the mag and slammed in a new one and gave a three-round burst, knocking the target on his arse. I stepped over the bodies by the stairs. Whoever I didn’t kill, the careless fire from upstairs did.

  I slowly moved up the stairs. There was a corridor to the left and right, but I could hear a radio bark to the left, so that’s where a grenade went. The shattering of wood and a death rattle could be heard soon after it went off. I pulled right and kicked open the first door. It was empty.

  There was still no movement to the left, so I pushed open the next door on the right and hid against the wall. Three shots hit the wall opposite. I chucked in a stun grenade. Once it went off, there was a woman’s scream and a man swearing. They both took two in the chest; for some reason they never even moved from the bed. I recognised Chunhua, and she was some tart.

  The next door burst open, so I dived to the ground as he blasted away down the length of the corridor. I sent another three-round burst downrange, taking him off his feet just as shots were discharged from the room he’d come from. So, in went another frag grenade.

  I followed it up, but Li Enla lay dead on the floor with his chest torn open. I scanned the room and saw a slippered foot underneath the bed.

  ‘It’s over. I’ve come to save you,’ I said softly.

  A young woman came out with tear-streaked make-up.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ I dispatched her with one to the head.

  I assumed Mao Xianddu was on the top floor, it being his house. I took a radio and listened. There was panic, a scream of someone being injured. I tried my luck.

  ‘Got him; he killed Enla. It’s Mai Lee, the freak,’ I said, and then heard some acknowledgements. Some doors opened down the other corridor; this time they had torches.

  I lay prone and edged around the door. With my goggles off, I aimed downrange and saw the lights wavering as they ran towards me. Thirty seconds and the same amount of bullets later, three bodies and torches lay on the wooden floor, never to move under their own steam again.

  I went from room to room in this wing, which seemed to house the staff; they died quickly, just because they were there. This was a warning to all. If I survive, leave me alone.

  According to the blueprints, the master suite of three bedrooms was at the top. Fire came down the stairs, splintering wood and hitting the dead, may they rest in peace. The bullets carried on flying; I could hear the expelled brass casings falling onto the polished wooden floors.

  I tossed my last fragmentation grenade, causing shouts from two or more before the explosion. I followed it up with the goggles back on and a fully loaded machine gun. There was a body at the top by a door that was on one hinge. There, I threw my last stun grenade. I waited behind the door with my eyes closed. It exploded, showering the suite with light and noise…then death, as I picked off two guards who were protecting their shattered eardrums, three shots a piece.

  Three doors, two bedrooms and one bathroom. I had plenty of bullets left, so I sprayed ten rounds into each door. I kicked open the first; the bathroom was empty. The second had a girl tied to the bed naked, but my bullets through the wooden door had done the job. Finally, I kicked open the last door, there was Xianddu’s wife dead, and the man himself holding his stomach.

  ‘Who are you?’ he moaned. ‘I have money.’

  ‘My name is Mai Lee, your colleague Cheng Su killed my whole family!’ I spat as I slipped off my goggles, which was bad as I couldn’t see fuck all and my eyes stung with the gun smoke. He started to say something about it not being him. But, frankly, I was tired and bored, so I took his life.

  I wish I could say I walked away saying, ‘That’s payback, bitch,’ and left the injured to spread the word, but this was real life. I needed the shock factor, so I swept the house killing three injured guards and one poor housemaid, but she kindly told me where the master of the house kept his cash.

  By the time I left the bloodbath, it was 5:30 a.m. I called a very sleepy but very happy Alexi for a lift. As I took one of the boss’s Range Rovers, I made good time. In the plane back home, I told him about the money we were going to share: $50,000 each.

  As sleep claimed me during the flight, I realised how lucky I’d been – not even a scratch. The goggles made all the difference during the night of many close calls.

  After all the things I’d done in my life, this night had been the worst. Although I’d had my revenge, there was no happiness – because if there was a God and Heaven, that would be where my family resided, but that was the one place I could never get to. But now to rest, and dream of Mikey.

  ‘I love you, Mike.’

  Chapter 24

  Bunny Li

  ‘What the fuck! This was meant to be a romantic moment!’ Sam spat as he paced back and forth in our sun-baked flat. Sometimes he was such a drama queen.

  I sighed and tapped my foot. ‘What’s wrong? I picked up the ring yesterday, so I put it on my finger, updated our social media, then we can go to work,’ I stated, time ticking on. Things were going to be tense today as I had finally finished my investigation, so I had a big meeting with the top two bosses at noon.

  ‘But I was going to plan something, you know, erm…something that would make you squeal with glee,’ Sam said, but he couldn’t help himself as a smutty thought attacked his mind, which showed itself on his open book of a face.

  I walked up to my future husband and linked my hands around his neck. ‘Listen, we love each other, and we are spending the rest of our lives together – or, until I kill you. Do you agree?’ I saw him nod back. Sam always said that when it came time for me to kill him, I had to do it face-to-face so he could look into my eyes one last time – oh, and play with my boobs. ‘We have never been romantic, lovey-dovey kind of people, have we?’

  He pouted like a toddler. ‘I know, but—’

  ‘But nothing, my love. Plus, you’re shit at planning anything,’ I said and kissed him gently. ‘Apart from pranks. If you could harness that part of your mind for good, we could be millionaires.’ I released him and pushed the ring box into his hand. ‘Now, c’mon, I’m going to be late.’

  Sam got down on one knee. ‘Bunny, you are the love of my life – well, you and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix,’ he said with his cheeky smile.

  I shut him up and put him back on track with a gentle glare.

  ‘Bunny, will you be my one and only? Will you be my wife?’

  ‘Yep, right, I gotta go,’ I said
with a smirk and felt the ring slip onto my finger. I did stop and give him a huge kiss before pushing him over and running towards the door. ‘Gotcha, wanker.’ Colourful oaths followed me down the corridor until I closed the front door behind me.

  I made it to work in plenty of time as usual and had time to reply to some congratulatory texts from friends and family alike. Sharon aka Stoney just asked, ‘Why?’ Whereas Beth was over the moon. And if I’m right, she was jealous as hell, although I knew she would never act on her feelings for Sam, especially if she wanted to see another sunrise.

  Sammy gave me a phone call wishing me good luck for my meeting, and could I pick up some food of my people for dinner tonight. ‘Git,’ I muttered and turned off my phone and headed to the well-polished, wood-covered conference room.

  I truly felt like I was all alone in the building as my heels echoed on the marble floor. And there was the door. I smoothed down my skirt and my conservative blouse. I knocked and was called in.

  There they were, the top two men in the company: Chairman Li Qiang, who was a tall, thin man with grey hair. And Vice Chairman Wang Yong, who was the total opposite to his superior, as he was small, round and as bald as an egg. Also, there was the manager of international loans, Mr Zhang Yong, who just looked normal, middle-aged, wearing black-framed glasses, and with salt and pepper hair.

  ‘Good day, Miss Li, thank you for coming,’ Mr Qiang said respectfully. I nodded and smiled at them all before he continued. ‘Over the past year, I requested Miss Li carry out an investigation. I have been worried that our bank has been used for money laundering, or other nefarious actions.’ This made the other two men to stare at him.

  Wang Yong coughed. ‘No offence, Miss Li, but what experience has she got of doing such things?’ he asked, and then received a nod of agreement from the loans manager.

  The chairman chuckled. ‘Let’s just say her parents trained her very well. They were very talented investigators for the Hong Kong police, as well as working for the government, and she is a fantastic personal assistant, who can even keep my wife in check,’ he said, shutting down anymore arguments. ‘So, I take it you have some news for us?’