The Blade of Silence (Fang Mu Eastern Crimes Series Book 3)

by Mi Lei

  And if this vulgar lowlife managed to be cunning and aggressive enough, he could become a real threat.

  Liang Sihai was waiting for Lu Tianchang to take the initiative and contact him. On the one hand, there was little he could do as long as they had Jin Yongyu. On the other hand, he didn't want to show any sign of weakness. The village head was obviously after more than the 500,000 yuan. But what he really wanted and for what reason still remained to be seen.

  All Liang Sihai could do was wait.

  But he despised waiting—especially when his very fate hung in the balance.

  He viciously squashed another cigarette butt into the ashtray. Of course, it would be best to settle this once and for all, if not…

  Suddenly, the telephone on his desk rang.

  There was a woman on the other end of the line. The caller ID, however, showed that he was being called from Liang Zehao's phone. All Liang Sihai managed to hear was a muffled whimper, then the line was cut. It had sounded as if someone had grabbed and forcefully silenced the woman.

  Liang Sihai immediately tried to call his son, but no one answered the phone. He called Liang Zehao's bodyguard. His hand was shaking ever so slightly as he held the phone to his ear.

  "Hello?" At last someone picked up.

  "Is Liang Zehao safe?" Liang Sihai snapped.

  "Oh, Boss," the bodyguard stammered. "The Eldest Brother… He and his girlfriend…they're relaxing."

  "Where is he?" Liang Sihai barked.

  "Lijing Hotel … Room Fourteen-O-Eight." Panic crept into the bodyguard's voice.

  "Go. Quick, check on him!"

  When Liang Sihai arrived at Room 1408, the bodyguard had already taken his son to the hospital. He had been told that Liang Zehao's injuries were serious. His right hand in particular had suffered extensive damage.

  Liang Sihai stared at the bloodstained bed in silence. His face was deathly pale.

  Pei Lan huddled in a corner together with another girl. The two of them were shaking badly, their wide eyes frozen in terror.

  Liang Sihai turned first to one, then the other. Finally, he asked in a low voice, "What happened here?"

  Pei Lan raised her head to look at him. Her face was a twisted mask of fear. "Liang Zehao wanted to meet me here," she blubbered. "And her… He wanted to have a threesome." Her head sunk back to her chest, her face turning from shocked white to a flush of crimson. "He told us to shower together. We were in the bathroom when we heard someone at the door… Then, then… It sounded like a fight. We were naked and too afraid to look… Then…"

  "Right," Liang Sihai interrupted. With a snap of the fingers he summoned one of his men to his side. He pointed at the other trembling girl. "Pay her and then get her out of here."

  The girl accepted the money with shaking hands and then quickly made for the door. Before she could leave, Liang Sihai stopped her, "You will not tell anyone what happened here today, understood?"

  The girl rapidly nodded her head and Liang Sihai let her leave.

  He turned back to Pei Lan. "You were saying?"

  "We were in the bathroom, too afraid to move. A man suddenly burst through the door. He grabbed my hair and dragged me into the room. Then, then ..." Pei Lan's mouth was twitching.

  "What then?" Liang Sihai demanded.

  "He… He…humiliated me… Right next to Liang Zehao." She hid her face behind her hands and began to sob loudly.

  Liang Sihai cursed. "What did the man look like?"

  "I didn't really see him," Pei Lan pressed out between tears. "He was wearing a cap and a surgical mask. But his hands were rough and he stank like he hadn't washed in days." Suddenly, her head shot up. "He told me to give you something."

  "Oh?" Liang Sihai's eyes widened. "What?"

  Pei Lan gingerly opened her right hand. There was a crumpled piece of paper in her palm.

  Liang Sihai took it and slowly unfolded it. As he stared down at the paper, his entire body froze. After several long moments, he waved his hand, signaling Pei Lan to leave. He next sent all of his men out. Once he was alone, he sat down on the sofa and stared at the bloodstained bed.

  A filthy man. An attack on his son's right hand. There could be little doubt who was behind this.

  'Those who have sought our good graces can turn and cause us harm.'

  He finally understood what Lu Tianchang was up to and why he had taken Jin Yongyu.

  The crumpled paper Pei Lan had handed him showed a still from one of the Bay City Hotel's cameras. Men were carrying Tang Xiaomei, dead and wrapped in a carpet, out of Room 624.

  He had ordered Jin Yongyu to turn off the cameras. Apparently, that bastard had defied his order and taken the tapes. And if he had done it once, he was probably sitting on a mountain of recordings. Jin Yongyu could destroy him whenever he wanted to.

  That was why Lu Tianchang had rescued Jin Yongyu; that was why they were cooperating.

  Liang Sihai realized they had him with his back to the wall. Never in his life had he felt so vulnerable.

  CHAPTER

  25

  In Your Name

  Lu Tianchang's gaze was fixed on Lu Dajiang. The young villager's face was drained of all color and his hands had yet to stop shaking. The glass of water the village head had just handed him was already half-empty, its contents spilled over Lu Dajiang's shirt and pants.

  "Uncle..." Lu Dajiang began his stammering report of what had happened to him in the city. When he had finished a moment later, he glumly added, "I barely made it out alive."

  Lu Tianchang gnashed his teeth. Liang Sihai had already ruined his son and now he was trying to get rid of Lu Dajiang. The bastard was taking his men out, one by one. This was clearly about more than money.

  Lu Tianchang looked at the black briefcase Lu Dajiang had brought with him from the city. After a moment's hesitation, he opened it and dumped its contents onto the table.

  It was not much, just a black leather wallet, a brown leather key-case, a switchblade, two pens, several receipts, and a plastic yellow stick.

  "What is this thing?" Lu Tianchang picked up the small plastic stick and turned it in his hand. He had never seen anything like it.

  "Oh, I remember those. They were selling them in the store where I bought the computer for Lu Haiyan." Lu Dachun sullenly joined his father and took a look at it. "It's some kind of memory thing."

  The memory thing was about an inch-long and one of its ends was covered by a small plastic cap. Lu Dachun removed the cap, revealing a flat, metallic tip. It still meant nothing to Lu Tianchang. The village head studied the stick for a while and then asked his son, "So, how do we use it?"

  "I guess it records information, like a cassette, I think," Lu Dachun slowly replied. He had barely any idea what he was talking about.

  "Oh." Lu Tianchang took a moment to think. The thing had come to him from Liang Sihai, so maybe there was something of value in it.

  "Then… How do we find out what's recorded on it?" Lu Tianchang stared at the stick. From the look on his face, he was about ready to pry it open.

  "Don't force it," Lu Dachun quickly warned his father. "We need a computer."

  Father and son exchanged a quick but meaningful glance.

  A computer?

  A good 15 minutes later, Lu Tianchang, Lu Dachun and Lu Dajiang stood crowded around Lu Haiyan and her computer. The three men stared in fascination as the laptop's screen lit up.

  They had their computer, but now where did the gadget go? Lu Tianchang took a careful look at the metallic end of the stick and then at the laptop, trying to find a place where it would fit. Finally, he pushed into an opening next to a symbol that looked like a deformed pitchfork.

  The computer made a sound and a box appeared on its screen.

  Lu Tianchang leaned forward, almost close enough for his nose to touch the screen. Inside the box, he could see what looked like three books, held together by a leather strap.

  "Recordings," he quietly read out the text under the books. He turned t
o Lu Haiyan who had so far not said a single word. "What is this?"

  "It means that there are recordings inside." Lu Haiyan moved the mouse over the .rar file and pressed a few keys.

  "Well, open it," Lu Tianchang demanded. Recordings... What recordings?

  Lu Haiyan clicked twice and another box appeared on the screen.

  "Please enter password," she read the text. "I can't open it. You need some password."

  "Oh." Lu Tianchang furrowed his brow as he looked first at Lu Haiyan and then at his son.

  A password. Whatever was in that plastic stick had to be both secret and valuable. The only question was: Was it a tool to seal Liang Sihai's fate or his own?

  Either way, it was in his hands now.

  Lu Tianchang pulled the plastic stick from the computer and carefully put it in his pocket. He could feel his spine straighten. He turned to Lu Haiyan. "Make Lu Dachun some chicken soup."

  After Lu Haiyan had obediently bowed her head, the three men left her room.

  The moment Lu Tianchang closed the door behind them, Lu Haiyan turned back to her computer. With one hand on her racing heart, she copied the compressed file back onto her desktop.

  Lu Haiyan stared at the password prompt and gingerly began typing.

  Liang Zehao's right hand had suffered irreparable damage and after a lengthy consultation with the doctors, Liang Sihai finally agreed that it would have to be amputated.

  Moments before the surgery, Liang Zehao suddenly leapt from his bed and began to lash out at the doctors and nurses in terrified desperation. In the end, he dropped to his knees in front of his father.

  Tears streaming down his face, he pleaded, "Dad, Dad, there's got to be another way. Please, don't let them make me a cripple. Dad, please..."

  Silencing his screaming heart, Liang Sihai commanded the bodyguard to take his son to the operating room. The corridor echoed with a horrible mix of crashing metal and Liang Zehao's terrified screams as he was dragged away. The sounds slowly subsided until, finally, the hallways of the surgical ward returned to their usual, sterile silence.

  The operation was over quickly. As so often in life, it proved easier to sever than to mend. Liang Zehao was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit. As his son, still under the effects of anesthesia, was being wheeled across the hospital, the head surgeon approached Liang Sihai with a surgical tray. On it laid the amputated hand. As he stared down at the crushed and mangled appendage, Liang Sihai's entire body began to tremble.

  It had been his son's hand. His own flesh and blood. Now, it was just another piece of medical waste, ready for the incinerator. With a flick of his wrist, Liang Sihai dismissed the doctor. Then, he spun around to the bodyguard. "Are you packing?"

  The bodyguard stood immobile when he saw the crazed glare in Liang Sihai's eyes. He had never before seen the boss like this. "Yes," he said, pausing. "And there's another one in the car."

  "Hm." Liang Sihai pulled the gun from the bodyguard's waistband and tucked it into his own. He took out his cell phone and dialed.

  The person on the other end of the line rejected the call without answering, but Liang Sihai just tried again and again. After the fourth time, he finally got an answer.

  "I'm at the Bureau," came Xiao Wang's whisper over the phone. "What is it?"

  "You're coming with me to Lu Village." Liang Sihai was not asking.

  For a few seconds Xiao Wang said nothing. Then, he said very quietly, "I understand how you feel, but..."

  "Are you coming or not?" Liang Sihai voice was calm, but he still managed to make his words sound more like a threat than a question.

  It took Xiao Wang almost a minute before he answered. "I'll meet you at the expressway ramp in half an hour."

  "Good!" Liang Sihai hung up the phone. He walked over to the ICU for one last look at his still sleeping son.

  Sleep. When you wake up, Daddy'll have taken care of everything.

  Lu Haiyan squatted next to the stove. In front of her, the chicken soup was merrily bubbling away. While she inattentively stirred the hearty broth and ingredients and fed the fire, she seemed far more interested in the time on her watch than anything that was going on in the kitchen.

  Once it was done, she dished up two bowls. She gave one to Lu Dachun and the other to his father. After they finished and she had cleaned up after them, she filled another bowl. She took a bottle of spirits and placed it in a basket together with the bowl of soup.

  As Lu Haiyan put on her jacket and headscarf, Lu Tianchang asked, "And where do you think you're going?"

  Lu Haiyan pointed to the basket and quietly explained, "I am going to pay my respects to my brother."

  Lu Tianchang mumbled something under his breath, but didn't try to stop her. Before she was through the door, he added, "Burn some paper money for him; he'll need it in the afterlife."

  Lu Haiyan walked out without answering or saying goodbye.

  The two cars stopped at the entrance to Lu Village. Xiao Wang slammed the door behind him and hurried to catch up with Liang Sihai ahead.

  "Boss, what exactly is the plan here?" he called out behind him.

  "Settle this once and for all." Liang Sihai's voice was almost gentle, but the veins on his forehead were throbbing violently.

  Xiao Wang could see the grip of a pistol poking out from the back of his waistband. Alarmed, he grabbed his boss's arm. "You want to put an end to this? Fine by me." He quickly checked their surroundings. "But no matter what you're up to, we first need a plan."

  "Yeah," the bodyguard agreed. "If we rush into this, things might get nasty."

  Liang Sihai took a few more steps, dragging Xiao Wang along, before he finally stopped. He turned and stared first at Xiao Wang, then at the bodyguard. Xiao Wang used the opportunity to quickly hand Liang Sihai a lit cigarette. His boss took a long drag and then exhaled the smoke with a sigh.

  "Lu Dachun's hand is gone; I accepted responsibility for that. But that was an accident. Now, those bastards attacked my son and deliberately took his hand," Liang Sihai hoarsely whispered. "I was willing to pay the debt for what happened to Lu Dachun. But they betray me, make a pact with Old Jin to screw me over, and then attack my son—I cannot let that stand..."

  "They made a deal with Jin Yongyu?" Xiao Wang interrupted. He couldn't have cared less about Liang Zehao's hand, but this sounded like trouble, and trouble not just for Liang Sihai, but much more importantly, for him.

  "Old Jin..." Liang Sihai began, carefully weighing his words, "has something he shouldn't."

  "Has what?" Xiao Wang asked. He didn't get an answer. Liang Sihai simply turned away, his lip twitching.

  Xiao Wang stared at him with a deep frown. Whatever Jin Yongyu had, it obviously had his boss very worried. H wondered if he should he be worried, too.

  The three of them stood in the cold in silence. Finally, Xiao Wang flicked his cigarette into the snow. A smile flashed across his face. "Well then, let's find Old Jin," he said and started walking toward Lu Village.

  Jin Yongyu had to be hiding here somewhere. Even though it was a small village, there was no way they could search the houses one by one without alerting the villagers. Also, their three guns would mean precious little against a village mob. It would be much better to ferret out Jin Yongyu in secret and then snatch him before the peasants could even notice.

  Their best guess was Lu Tianchang's house. While neither Xiao Wang nor the bodyguard had ever been to the village, Liang Sihai had at least some recollection of its layout. So, following their boss's lead, the men carefully moved forward.

  Even though it was not yet dark, the village streets were completely deserted. The way they figured, it would be no problem to approach the village head's house without being seen.

  Liang Sihai had only visited Lu Tianchang's house once and that had been years ago. Faced with the rows of identical houses, Liang Sihai soon felt a mounting sense of confusion. When they reached an intersection, he had to accept that he was lost. As they looked do
wn the empty streets, a woman wearing a floral dress and headscarf appeared from around a corner.

  The three men approached her. As soon as they were close enough, the bodyguard offered her a friendly greeting. "Elder Sister, could you please point us to the home of the village head?"

  The woman immediately lowered her head and tugged at her headscarf. She looked terrified to see strangers in the village. "What...what do you want?" she stammered.

  "There's something we need to discuss with the village head..." Before the bodyguard could finish, Xiao Wang had stopped him with a quick gesture.

  "Elder Sister, where are you going?" Xiao Wang asked, looking at the basket the woman was carrying. He fixed her eyes with a direct gaze.

  "Bringing someone food," the woman blurted out.

  "Bringing someone food?" Xiao Wang lifted the basket's cover. "Who are you taking it to?"

  Inside the basket, he could see a bowl of chicken soup and a bottle of liquor. The woman's eyes widened in shock and without another word, she hurried away.

  The moment she had disappeared around a corner, Xiao Wang set out to shadow her. The woman realized that she was being followed and hastened her pace. She wound her way through the small village, turning down streets and behind houses. Soon enough, the three men lost her completely.

  Xiao Wang looked down the street in the direction the woman had been heading when they first saw her. The only thing of note in that direction was the roof of a larger, more rustic building. It had to be the village's ancestral hall.

  Xiao Wang exchanged a quick glance with Liang Sihai.

  They had him now. Jin Yongyu was bound to be in there.