SWITCHBLADE (Choi Ziyi Book 1)

by Mike Morris

  "I would," said Song. "I'd die for the Emperor."

  Wing wanted to ask if she was joking but he knew through their link she wasn't. Her loyalty shone like a diamond within her. "You're better than me then."

  "I'm not so sure," replied Song. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

  Uncomfortable, Wing turned back to the data. "So much skill and knowledge was lost with Win Li. Mek's still stuck in the dark ages compared to what had been accomplished with Ziyi and Rui. Only the Americans' retina forgeries are of a similar standard to his work."

  "Let's find the mek then."

  "Another needle in a haystack," replied Wing, trying not to let the scale of the task overwhelm him.

  "There are millions of mek centres all over the Empire, mainly doing cosmetic surgeries for the very wealthy. Then there's the back alley operators, the criminal labs - the list's endless," said Song. "But if any of them could do accurate retina forgeries and face swapping, we'd have heard about it by now. Surgery that complicated and cutting edge can't be kept secret."

  Wing shook his head. "But it has. Someone out there is doing it."

  "They'd have to be of Win Li's standard or even better."

  "Maybe someone who trained under him?" Wing pulled up the lists of everyone who'd worked or studied under Win Li as he asked the question. He scanned the names, looking for a possible protégé or colleague who could've carried on the doctor's work. He compared the list against those who'd been executed, only to find there'd been no survivors.

  "There has to be someone still alive," said Song over his shoulder. "What if there's someone listed as dead who wasn't actually executed?"

  "They filmed the executions," replied Wing. "Easy enough to check." He pulled up the footage, watched one after another of the scientists walk into a chamber of poison gas. Not one of them hesitated or had to be coerced. All good citizens of the Empire. There was a face to match every name.

  Win Li was the last. Tears of pride shone in his eyes. "He looks pretty happy for a man who is about to die," said Song.

  "I'd be losing my shit right about then. They'd be dragging me in there..." said Wing as they watched the man step into the chamber. "This is hopeless. We're fucking doomed."

  "We'll be okay," reassured Song. "We crack this and prove our innocence."

  "What if we can't? What if..." he didn't want to finish the thought. They could be holding a gun to his head at that very moment in the love hotel and he'd not know anything about it.

  "Concentrate on what we have to do. What we can do."

  "I know. It's just... I'm no hero. I wish I was brave but I'm not." He watched Win Li take deep breaths of the toxic fumes on the screen. A smile flicked across his face for a second before he collapsed to the ground. "I couldn't die with dignity like that."

  Song rewound the film, peering closer as the event played out again. "No one could. Unless they were drugged perhaps." She replayed it two more times. "Or they knew they weren't really going to die."

  "What?"

  "Why were they gassed? Executions are normally carried out by firing squad."

  "I don't know. It's more humane? Painless? It's not like they were criminals. They were obeying the Emperor's command."

  "But you said it yourself — what a waste of knowledge. There's no one who's even close to Win Li's skills." Song pulled up the footage of the team's burials at a government cemetery near Guangzhou. All closed coffins. "Anyone could be in those. Hell, they could even be empty."

  Wing stared at the procession of coffins walking past an Imperial Honour Guard on a rain-soaked day. "Is this to fool the Emperor or on his orders?"

  Song shook her head. "Everything that's happening is destabilising the Empire. His Majesty can't be behind it."

  "Then who? "

  "It's someone with power.”

  In the film, the Honour Guard fired a salute as the coffins were lowered into the ground. "Shame we can't just dig up the coffins and look inside," said Wing. "But we're a long way from Guangzhou."

  "Odd place for them to be buried."

  "The Mek Centre was there. That's where Ziyi and Rui were operated on. I even had my implants inserted there. Scared the shit out of me when I was younger." Wing caught Song raising an eyebrow. "I told you I'm not a hero."

  "They sent me to Beijing last year to get mine done. I was only nineteen," said Song. "I know how bad it is. Getting your brain cut open isn't like going for a walk in the park." She dragged up the data on the Guangzhou facility. Schematics of the building mixed with video of the exterior and interior, plus satellite feeds crossed with staffing information and even power readings.

  The facility sprawled over twelve acres just to the North of the city. Only four levels were above ground, with the majority of the operation happening below, just in case someone decided to drop a bomb on it. The main levels were so deep that, even if the Arabs hit it with their best nukes, they'd only succeed in rattling the walls in the important areas.

  "Doesn't look like they shut it down after the Win Li executions. Three thousand people work there and still sucking enough energy to power a small city," said Song.

  "But what are they doing now?" asked Wing, almost talking to himself. They worked their way around the facility using the map as a guide, checking out each room and corridor through the CCTV. "A lot of troops guarding something but what?" He panned through several barracks, administration offices, gymnasiums, training grounds, a motor pool and even to the Doctor's old labs, which looked like they hadn't been used in a long time.

  "What's that?" asked Song, pointing to a spot at the heart of the facility.

  Wing zoomed in. "It's just a dead area. They haven't even installed cameras or power to it."

  "A dead area in the middle of the complex?"

  "Doesn't sound right, eh? Why build it if they're not going to use it?" He peered closer at the plans. "Maybe if I..." The data swirled around him, as he quickly checked, and then discarded the information he was uncovering. He was looking for the original construction plans — the only way to uncover a secret was to go back before it had become a secret.

  He dove down streams, pulling at strands, hoping to unravel what was hidden. Song moved in unison with him, swimming by his side, fighting through the current. For a few moments, the real world faded, and Wing felt like a god again with his soul mate next to him. Omnipresent. A master of the world.

  When they found the truth, it was if he'd always known it. The labs, the living quarters, the operating rooms. They found the patients, the experiments, the failures and the successes. The personnel who worked there came next; pictures, profiles, records. They filled in details one by one until the last piece fell into place — Win Li resurrected back into the world, casting aside all aliases and disguises.

  "We have him," whispered Song.

  "We do," confirmed Wing. He watched images on Win Li flick across the screens. Only a few lines around his eyes showed any sign of ageing. "Now to build a timeline. Work out where he's been, and who with," he told the images.

  "And who's behind him," added Song.

  Win Li's whole team were off the books so, to trace their movements all the official people had to be accounted for first and eliminated from the process. The discrepancy of what was left became the trail to follow. Win Li himself barely left the compound but there were plenty of comings and goings from his team, often bringing patients back. Song started another trail of those Win Li had operated on, trying to spread the net wider.

  It wasn't until December of the previous year that Wing hit pay dirt. A familiar face appeared in Guangzhou. Rui. "Like a bad penny."

  "What's he doing there?" asked Song.

  "I wish there was a way of finding out what goes on in Win Li's section but it's impossible." They skimmed through the next few days' data, but there was no sign of Rui.

  "Are they operating on him again? Upgrading his mek?"

  A cold hand squeezed Wing's heart at the thought. "He was alre
ady nearly indestructible. If they made him better... shit."

  Seven days passed before Rui reappeared. This time he had Win Li and a small team in tow, accompanied by crates of equipment. They boarded a military flyer and left the facility.

  "Switching to satellite," said Song. They watched the flyer zip across the countryside. "No official flight details logged."

  "Where are they going?"

  The flyer hugged the coastline, moving north. For a moment, Wing thought they were going to head to Taiwan, but the craft didn't deviate from its trajectory. Then it dipped as it approached a mass of light.

  "Shanghai. Figures," said Song as she clicked in closer to avoid losing the flyer amongst all the other air traffic. "If ever there was a place that looked down on the rest of the Empire. They think the universe revolves around them." She nearly lost the small craft a couple of times, but she controlled the feeds like a conductor with an orchestra. She bounced from one feed to another as the flyer darted into the city, keeping with it until it landed at the International Airport. Song and Wing watched the flyer settle just to the edge of one hanger's camera scope. The occupants quickly disembarked with their equipment. They watched Rui and Win Li have one final conversation, shake hands and then go their separate ways. The doctor and his team were driven to a transcontinental plane while Rui was taken off into the Shanghai night. Song tried to follow him but he was quickly swallowed up in the traffic going into the city.

  Win Li's flight proved far easier to follow. It landed in New York's Xi Jinping Airport four hours later.

  "So we've got Rui and the Doctor linked. And Win Li in America," said Wing. "Perfect timing to operate on the terrorists. Can we track them in New York?"

  "I'm trying but most of the city is a wasteland. Only Downtown has decent CCTV coverage. I've got them entering Manhattan but nothing more than that. Just checking hotels and the Government buildings in case they pop up there, but I'm not holding my breath."

  Wing returned his attention to the Guangzhou facility, sifting through the data to see if the Doctor had returned at any point. "Come on, come on," he said to himself, feeling his frustration grow as Win Li failed to reappear. "We're so close. They've got to be somewhere."

  "Rui was back with Xiao two days later," said Song. "Stays on the grid right up until today."

  "And disappears as the world goes to shit." The data continued to swirl around them but Wing could feel the connections drifting away. He grasped at the tendrils of information, but everything was slipping through his fingers.

  He just needed to find Rui. His gut told him he was the key. Hong Kong may have more surveillance cameras than anywhere else in the Empire, apart from Beijing itself, but finding one person amongst fifty-eight million was easier said than done.

  "Anything?" asked Song.

  Wing glanced up. "Nothing. Rui's gone off-grid. I can't trace him anywhere."

  "Think he's dead?"

  "Rui?" Wing shook his head. "Not that guy... He's a survivor, if ever there was one. You'd need an army to stop him or Ziyi, and even then there'd a be a trail of dead bodies to follow."

  "So we find Rui before the world ends." Song pulled more data towards them.

  Somewhere, far away, an alarm sounded.

  21

  Ziyi

  The crowd slunk back as the rag-tag soldiers pointed an array of weapons at Ziyi and her rescuer. Adrenaline surged once more through Ziyi, pushing back some of the tiredness, as she prepared to fight once more. She adjusted her feet, twisting her body into the Welcome Crane position. She scanned the faces of the men around her and saw only hardened killers. Some of their weapons may have belonged in a museum but she had no doubt they knew how to use them.

  "What’re you doing?" shouted Robert. "She's with me. I brought her here."

  "You had no right," replied a woman from behind the men. Two stepped aside to allow a silver-haired lady through. She looked like anyone's grandparent until Ziyi caught the steel in her eyes. "You've endangered us all by doing so."

  "Madame Wu!" Robert dropped to his knees and bowed. "No one knows she's here. No one saw us."

  "Enough. You know the rules. You know the penalties for bringing outsiders here — especially one as famous as the People's Princess."

  "I'm not a princess," replied Ziyi.

  Wu nodded. "Then may I call you Ziyi?"

  "And you are?" asked Ziyi.

  "My name is Madame Wu. I'm responsible for the welfare of all of the City's inhabitants. Please relax — you look like you're in no condition to fight."

  "I..." Before she could say another word, the world turned on its side and slid into darkness.

  Ziyi opened her eyes but immediately closed them again as a bright light shone in her face.

  "Sorry," said Robert and moved a lamp to one side, allowing her to see again.

  Ziyi lay on a bed in small room filled with medical equipment that looked scrounged, stolen or scavenged from around Hong Kong. Some of the apparatus looked like it'd been pulled out of the history books. Her clothes had been removed and replaced with a hospital gown.

  Robert stood beside her, wearing well-worn scrubs, and a mask around his neck. "I'm glad you're awake — you had me worried for a moment."

  "You're a doctor?"

  He gave a slight bow. "I’m indeed. I was on my way back from visiting a patient when I saw you fall from the window."

  Ziyi pushed herself upright and immediately regretted it.

  "Whoa. Take it easy. I've been patching up all your wounds with artificial skin filler but they still need time to set." He held up the tube for her to see. "The repairs aren't what you're used to but they'll do until you can see your own doctors."

  "That may not be possible," said Ziyi, averting her eyes as she lay back down. "My old life is gone now."

  "Can you tell me what happened?" Robert's voice was warm and full of empathy.

  Ziyi sighed. "Terrorists kidnapped Xiao earlier."

  "I know — I saw their demand on TV," replied Robert. “You were their prisoner too.”

  "That wasn’t me on film. I don’t know who it was but it sure wasn’t me."

  “Not you? But how…”

  “I don’t know. I’ve just been trying to free Xiao.”

  "But why you? I mean no disrespect but you're his girlfriend, not the police."

  "The police have been trying to kill or capture me ever since it happened. They're either a part of the conspiracy or they believe I am."

  "Is that how you ended up falling out of a window into the harbour?"

  Ziyi took a deep breath. "I found the terrorists who'd kidnapped Xiao and thought I could free him. I was wrong."

  "Was His Highness there?"

  "No. I found only a traitor helping the terrorists."

  There was no more to be said. Ziyi let sleep claim her once more.

  Robert was reading a book in the corner of the room when she woke again. "How long have I been asleep?"

  He looked up at her hearing her voice, and smiled. "Six hours in total. You should be good to sit up now."

  Ziyi did as instructed and was relieved to feel only a sharp pinch from her stomach wound.

  "Feeling better?" asked Robert.

  "Almost as good as new."

  Robert smiled and nodded at some clothes next to her bed. "For you. We had to cut off what clothes weren't already ruined off you so I could operate. It's just jeans and a black top — nothing fancy I'm afraid."

  "Thank you." Ziyi slipped out of the bed, took the clothes and disappeared behind a curtain to change. "Where are you from originally?" she asked as she dressed.

  "I'm from here, third generation born in the City, but my family's from Rwanda back in the day. Left just before the African War went nuclear. Took them three months to get here. They were throwing the bodies of the dead over the side of the boat every day, by the end."

  "How many died on the journey?" Ziyi returned to the bed and sat down while she put her boots back on. At l
east they'd survived.

  "My grandparents said three hundred people got on that boat. Less than seventy made it to Hong Kong. Even fewer avoided the camps to reach the City."

  "Was it worth it? For your family to come here?"

  Robert laughed. "If they stayed, they'd have been burnt to a crisp in the nuclear fire storms anyway, so yeah, just to still be alive made it worth it. But they loved living here too, once they got used to it. They got to have kids and grandkids. Everyone always had enough to eat and there was a roof over their heads. Hell, I'm glad they did for sure — otherwise I'd not be around."

  "I'm glad too. Has there been any news about Xiao?"

  "Nothing yet. The situation in America is getting worse. The casualty list from last night's bombings is growing and the terrorists' deadline is still on countdown. And there's a lot of police outside, searching the harbour. They've not come near the City yet but it can only be a matter of time."

  The door opened and Madame Wu entered. "Robert, could you leave us for a moment?" she asked.

  Once they were alone, she pulled a chair to the side of Ziyi's bed. "I see Robert's patched you up."

  "He's been most kind," replied Ziyi.

  "We could hardly let the most famous woman in the world die on us, could we? Especially if what you've told Robert is true."

  Ziyi dropped her eyes. "I believe it is."

  "Then dark days lie ahead for all of us. Especially for us — if the police realise they should be looking for you here."

  "I'm sorry I have brought danger to you."

  Wu waved her hand. "I may crumble but we couldn’t have turned you away. After all, we're only jdoing our duty."

  "Your duty? You've no obligation to the Empire."

  "Why do you assume that? Because I live in a different way to you? Because I don't say an oath of loyalty every day?" Wu stared at Ziyi, daring her to retort. Colour raced to her cheeks. "My people chose to live here in Hong Kong. Their families endured terrible hardships travelling here, so they could have Hong Kong be their home. Surely, if one could measure such a thing, their love is greater than someone who lives here simply down to a by-product of birth?" She pointed at Ziyi. "Or sent here because their job demanded it. We are the Empire as much as anyone else."