by Mi Lei
"Not yet, but I think they will get back to us soon." Xiao Wang suddenly looked very tired. "You think that will give us any leads?"
"There are two very interesting things about that video," Fang Mu said with a knowledgeable smile. "Perhaps the Material Evidence Department can help us determine where the kidnappers are hiding."
"Oh?" Xiao Wang instantly sat up, reinvigorated at the prospect of possible leads. "What things?"
Fang Mu was about to answer when Xiao Wang's cell phone rang in his pocket.
CHAPTER
3
Through the Night
The Municipal Bureau's conference room was filled with heavy smoke. The swirling clouds did nothing to soften the concentrated stares and furrowed foreheads of those within. Half an hour ago, the kidnappers had again contacted the victim's family. They demanded the full ransom of four million yuan be handed over at a train station the following day. The call had left them with little doubt about the seriousness of the situation. The window for negotiations had obviously closed.
After discussing the new developments, the task force decided to lie in wait at the train station and to make the arrest at the hand-over. This plan met the vehement opposition of the victim's family. They were worried that the kidnappers might decide to kill Pei Lan should the arrest fail.
Somehow, someone had also told Pei Lan's boyfriend, Liang Zehao, about these developments. He had come storming into the meeting, raising all hell and threatening that the entire Municipal Bureau would be fired should anything happen to Pei Lan. As much as Liang Zehao's behavior disgusted him, Fang Mu felt forced to agree that the task force's plan was a bad idea.
Attempting to make an arrest at the hand-off was standard procedure in abduction and ransom cases, but this was no ordinary kidnapping: First and foremost, the kidnappers had carefully planned their crime; it was unlikely that they would start making mistakes now. Furthermore, the kidnappers' goal was not simply to make money. For one of them, this was about revenge. Finally, the task force's plan was all about arresting the criminals; rescuing the hostage was more of an afterthought.
Furthermore, no thought at all had been given to stopping the kidnappers from uploading the video to a publicly accessed channel. To Fang Mu, all three of these goals were critical, but there was no way they could guarantee all three without first finding the kidnappers' hideout.
Deputy Captain Xu Tong pointed out that all they needed to do was interrogate the kidnappers after the arrest to learn where the hostage was being held. Xiao Wang could only shake his head. He quickly explained why the entire plan would hardly do.
"The train station is crowded," Xiao Wang told the assembled officers in the conference room. "There are any of number of ways the arrest can go wrong. Also, the kidnappers could well be a couple. And if they are, getting them to sell each other out is going to be real problem. We should just watch. If we muck-up even one of our goals, the entire operation will be a failure."
"Then what are you suggesting we should do?" Xu Tong sent a pointed look at his watch, irritation rising. "We have precious little time."
Xiao Wang didn't answer; instead he turned to Fang Mu.
He was not alone in looking to the young criminal profiler. Almost every eye in the room was now on Fang Mu. The object of their attention felt their stares, but did not look up. He could sense all their expectations, doubts, and cold curiosity.
Fang Mu was waiting—waiting for solid proof. He knew full well that the others would see his silence as a tacit admission of helplessness, but he had no choice. It was out of hands for the moment.
The door of the conference room suddenly opened. Captain Deng Xiaosen briskly strode in, holding a small stack of papers and a memory-stick.
"We have the response from the Provincial Department," he declared as the collective attentions in the room turned to him.
Fang Mu leapt to his feet. He all but ripped the papers from Deng Xiaosen's hands, immediately engrossed in their contents.
It was a short report together with a full-page picture. The Provincial Material Evidence Department had analyzed a fine powder found both on the video cassette and inside the bag in which it had been delivered. The results indicated that these particulates were composed of iron oxide powder and silica.
"Iron oxide powder," Fang Mu mumbled to himself. "Silica..." He paused. "That's good."
Xiao Wang curiously took the photo. He immediately recognized it as a cropping from the video. The image had been digitally enhanced and was now much clearer.
"What is this?" he asked.
Fang Mu returned from the realm of his thoughts and quickly indicated a spot in the image. "Look here."
It was the edge of a window curtain. It was probably nothing more than a mere piece of printed cloth, hung from a wire. Through an opening in the curtain, Xiao Wang could see the blue sky beyond. Curiously, there was a sliver of red smoke there, drifting through the sky.
Fang Mu returned the photo to the other pages and asked Xiao Wang, "What do you make of it?"
Xiao Wang was baffled. "Well, what do you think?" he returned the question.
"A steel mill," Fang Mu answered, lowering his voice. "Are there any steel mills nearby?"
Xiao Wang was still left in a state of confusion. "What makes you think of a steel mill?'
Fang Mu inserted the memory-stick into a computer on the table. It contained an audio file.
"This is audio extracted from the recording," he explained.
He opened the file and the computer's speakers began blaring a chaotic wall of noise. Fang Mu dragged the file's progress bar further into the audio. Immediately, they all clearly heard the clanging of a bell.
It took Xiao Wang only a moment before his eyes opened wide and he shouted, "That's the signal when they tap the steel!" He was rapt with excitement. "And Suijing City has only the one steel mill: The Juyuan Steel Mill!"
"That's it," Fang Mu said with a nod. "Dust, red smoke, the bell." He looked around the room. "This is exactly what I was waiting for."
Xiao Wang stared at the photo, sorting out his thoughts. A few long moments later, he handed the report back to Deng Xiaosen.
"Call the Bureau of Meteorology and find out from which direction the the wind was blowing on that day," Xiao Wang instructed as he turned to leave. "And use the smoke to get us an estimate of what level the room is on and how far the building is from the steel mill." He put his hand on Fang Mu's shoulder. "Let's go. We have a steel mill to visit!"
The Juyuan Steel Mill was located on the outskirts of town. It was a long drive and the bumpy country roads made the trip take even longer than Fang Mu had expected. They had barely arrived at the steel mill when they received a call from the Municipal Bureau. The task force had used the meteorological data to determine that the kidnappers' hideout was located about a mile north of the mill. The camera's position indicated that it was at least on the third story and possibly higher.
Standing in the shadow of one of the mill's towering smoke stacks, Xiao Wang scanned the northern horizon. Quickly he pointed toward a group of buildings not too far away.
"That's the one," he said with a smile.
The Ganghua Estate was a rather old industrial housing estate and its buildings reflected its age. Their architecture was hopelessly outdated and most of the tiles covering their facades had long since succumbed to an indefinable shade of grimy neglect. The estate was made up of four buildings, each with five residential units.
"Damn, that's too many for us," Xiao Wang cursed as they surmised the area from their car.
Fang Mu remained his usual calm self. Holding up the picture, he noted, "Criminals are always keen to hide from prying eyes." He looked toward the buildings. "They're almost certain to leave their curtain drawn at all times."
Xiao Wang slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that!" he lamented with a groan as he closely examined the picture again. From the cover of their car, he surveyed the buildings with his binocula
rs, carefully scanning each level of the buildings in turn. Before long, he had checked all the windows, but the curtain from the image was nowhere to be seen. Unwilling to accept defeat, he repeated his survey several times over. The curtain, however, refused to appear.
"Fuck! Dammit!" he hissed in frustration. "Did we get the wrong place?"
"Unlikely," Fang Mu replied as he turned to look out of the car's windows. "They're almost certainly hiding in there."
"Maybe they noticed that the curtain was in their video," Xiao Wang mused between chewing on his fingernail, "and then they maybe changed their curtains?"
Fang Mu nodded; it was possible. If the kidnappers really were on their guard, finding their hideout could become a real challenge. They were faced with four buildings with 20 units and a total of 240 apartments. It would be almost impossible to search them all without alerting the kidnappers. And that meant risking the death of the hostage and the possibility of a compromising video being uploaded for public digest.
For a while, they sat silently in the car, considering their options. As he finished his second cigarette, Fang Mu abruptly asked, "I was just thinking, did the cleaning lady from the Rongfu Universe tell us that she found her cart on the first floor on the west side of the mall?"
"She did. What of it?" Xiao Wang half mumbled.
"Ground floor, west entrance," Fang Mu stared off into the distance. "There's a main road a hundred feet or so from there, am I right?"
"Chongzhi Road." He turned to face Fang Mu. "Why are you asking?"
"Have a few of our fellow officers come here," Fang Mu continued, staring out of the car's window as a confident smile spreading across his face. "One in plainclothes, two in uniform. Have them come with a police car."
"Why?" Xiao Wang was mystified. "What are you up to?"
Fang Mu chuckled in reply. Squinting, he looked into the distance and said, "The stage is set."
Half an hour later, a young drunk burst onto the estate. In one unsteady hand he held a beer bottle. In the other he had a piece of brick.
"Chen Lu! Chen Lu!" He only stopped to take a few swigs before continuing to shout at the top of his lungs. "Come out! I love you so much…!"
Xiao Wang was observing the commotion from a safe distance through his binoculars. He could not help but chortle with amused admiration for the ploy.
Fang Mu joined in his laughter. "And who is Chen Lu?" he asked between chuckles.
"The guy's girlfriend." Xiao Wang lowered the binoculars. "If she knew that we were using her name to work a case, I'm sure she'd never let him live it down."
The not-really-drunk continued shouting for what seemed like an eternity. Of course, his desperate calls remained unanswered. A good number of residents, however, opened their windows to see what all the racket was about. Finally, the young man seemed to completely lose it. He dropped his bottle and began banging on the nearest car with his brick. "Are you coming? Are you coming?" he shouted as he pounded away.
Before long, the cars parked at the estate had all taken a thrashing. The carnage was suddenly ended by the piercing howl of a police siren. The young man immediately cast his brick aside and took off.
Speaking into his walkie-talkie as he watched the drama play out, Fang Mu instructed: "All right, guys, everyone arrive at the estate in three minutes."
As he put the walkie-talkie down, their fake drunk joined them in the car. He had barely seated himself before nervously asking, "How was I? Did my performance do the job?"
"Well done, well done." Xiao Wang congratulated him with a clap on the shoulder. "Just a little less…enthusiasm might have been good; we're going to have to pay for those repairs."
"I held back as best I could," the young officer assured him, before hastily adding, "Elder Brother Xiao, please don't tell anyone about this. I don't want to get into trouble with my girlfriend."
They all burst into laughter.
Back at the estate, several vehicle owners had already made their way down to the parking lot and were anxiously inspecting the damage. They were all boiling with rage and some were loudly bellowing curses. Moments later, the police car arrived and two officers stepped out of the vehicle.
One of them flipped open his notebook and addressed the gathered crowd. "Who of you called the police? We received a report of someone damaging cars."
The vehicle owners quickly gathered around the officers, talking and shouting at them from every direction, demanding the perpetrator be punished. The two officers calmly began their survey of the damaged cars while verifying which vehicle belonged to whom.
"One, two, three," Xiao Wang counted, "...six, seven..." He confirmed the number one more time. "Eight vehicles are damaged, but I can only see seven car owners." He paused, turning to Fang Mu. "You were right; one didn't come down."
Fang Mu nodded as he picked up his walkie-talkie. "Okay, officers, find the car without an owner and get its license plate."
Fang Mu reasoning was that the female kidnapper must have quickly left the scene after taking Pei Lan out of the Rongfu Universe. It only made sense that a car had been waiting for her. With the kidnappers watching their hostage, that vehicle was almost certainly parked at the estate at the moment.
Fang Mu had staged this strange play of smashed cars to find it.
There were two advantages to his little plot: First of all, it was unlikely to arouse the kidnappers' suspicion. And second, the kidnappers would instinctively do their best to avoid the police, even if it was just to report damage to their car. That would make it easy to identify the kidnappers' vehicle.
As soon as they had the license plate number they ran it through the system. Strangely, the plate was registered to a blue Alto; the damaged car in the lot, however, was a silver-gray Mazda.
Xiao Wang could barely hide his disappointment. "It's probably a stolen plate."
Fang Mu nodded. He initiated an inquiry to see if there was any connection to a vehicle registered under Tang Xiaomei's name. They had her national identity number and so this was no problem at all. It was an immediate success—Tang Xiaomei had registered a vehicle in her name at the end of 2006 and that vehicle was a silver-gray Mazda.
Fang Mu immediately called the Bureau and had them check the security footage taken on Chongzhi Road at the time of the kidnapping. Minutes later they came back with more good news: A silver-gray Mazda could be seen on the road at just the right time. Better yet, it was coming straight from the Rongfu Universe.
A long cheer of joy and relief erupted in the car. Before the last hoots had subsided, Fang Mu was back in action. He instructed the two officers in the car parking lot to withdraw from the estate and everyone else to keep the Mazda under surveillance.
Forty-odd minutes passed before a man emerged from Building Three, Unit Two. Just out the door, the man lit a cigarette. As he smoked, he let his eyes wander from one place to the next. At first glance he looked relaxed, but it was obvious that he was methodically checking his surroundings. After his cigarette was done, the man took one last look around and then quickly walked over to the silver-gray Mazda. He hastily examined the damage, letting his hands glide over the dent in the car's hood. His hand still on the hood, he took one more quick look around. He then got into the car and started the engine.
Xiao Wang immediately released the hand-brake. "Everyone, get ready!"
Fang Mu stopped him. "Don't do anything rash. Pei Lan is almost certainly in Tang Xiaomei's hands."
"But if we don't arrest him now, it could be too late." Xiao Wang's voice strained with anxiety. "What do we do if he runs?"
"He won't," Fang Mu declared decisively. "Everyone, stay put!"
Sure enough, the man only drove the car to the front of Building Two before getting out and locking it again. He then returned the way he had come.
"Do we follow him up?" Xiao Wang asked. The young officer was apparently willing to trust Fang Mu's calls. "Perhaps we can find out which apartment he is in."
"That could ala
rm him." Fang Mu shook his head. "The little bastard is canny. Right now, he might be lying in wait on the second floor landing, listening to check if he's being followed."
"Then what do we do?" Xiao Wang asked, staring out of the window at the dimming sky. "It's already getting dark."
Fang Mu weighed their options before suggesting, "Let's go see the neighborhood committee."
The neighborhood committee appeared to be a dead-end. The chubby director of the committee was surprisingly uninformed about the residents and rental arrangements of the estate. If Fang Mu was disappointed, he did not show it. In fact, he almost looked as if he had expected nothing else. Xiao Wang had just started to tear into the director, berating him for his inability to assist the police, when Fang Mu made a request that appeared straight out of left-field: He asked for a residential garbage collector uniform.
After a moment of confused silence, Xiao Wang quickly caught on. He called the Bureau and requested that an older female officer be sent to assist them in the investigation. When the officer arrived, Fang Mu instructed her to disguise herself as a garbage collector. Her assignment was to go to Building Three, Unit Two, and to collect all the trash bags from the third floor up. Fang Mu instructed her to mark each bag so they could trace from which apartment it had come.
The operation went off without a hitch. In less than an hour, the exhausted officer returned to the meeting point. She was straining to push a large collection cart, heavily-laden with trash bags.
"So many?" Xiao Wang asked as he gave the piled up bags a surprised look. "That must have been grueling."
"Not a problem," the officer said, wiping the sweat from her face. "I think the suspect may have been watching me, so to be safe, I collected all the trash."
"And the ones we wanted?" Xiao Wang anxiously looked at the huge pile.
"They're here." The officer bent down and pulled a cardboard box from the bottom of the cart. "I collected them in the box." She pointed to the bags inside. "You'll find the apartment numbers marked on the tape on the bags."