Black Karma

by Thatcher Robinson

  He seemed reluctant to answer her. His words came out hesitantly. “I feel mortal.” His head tilted back against the headrest, and he closed his eyes. “For the first time in my life, I’m facing the aspect of nonexistence—the world without me. I find the prospect frightening.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  His eyes opened, and he turned to her. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been shot, Lee. I think it might help if you talked to someone about it.”

  “I’m talking to you,” he said brusquely.

  “I mean a professional, someone who specializes in treating traumatic experiences.”

  “You mean a shrink.”

  “Yes, a psychiatrist.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “I’m going to nag you.”

  “I know. I’m surprised you’ve waited this long.”

  She glanced at him and smiled. “I’ll go with you, if you want. Maybe we can get a discount.”

  The thought seemed to please him. He returned her smile.

  They made it across the Golden Gate and home without any delays in traffic. Pleading fatigue, Lee went directly to his apartment. She suspected he needed time alone after spending several days surrounded by teenage girls.

  After a light dinner, Bai followed his example and went to bed early. She awakened to find Lee sitting in a chair next to her bed.

  “What are you doing here? What time is it?” she asked groggily.

  “It’s around ten o’clock.”

  “In the morning?”

  “No. At night.”

  “I just got to sleep. Why did you wake me?”

  “I was bored and decided to investigate the whereabouts of my phone, the one I’d dropped into Wen Liu’s trunk. I’d expected to find it in Daly City under lock and key in the police tow yard where her car, by all rights, should be. Imagine my surprise when the map showed my phone had taken a detour to the Berkeley Hills.”

  Suddenly interested, she sat up in bed. “You’re saying her car didn’t get impounded?”

  “That would appear to be the case. If I had to take a guess, I’d say someone took the car before the police could tow it away.”

  “Someone like Daniel Chen?”

  “If I were to guess,” he said while leaning back to admire his newly manicured nails.

  “Why don’t you make us some coffee?”

  “The coffee is already made.”

  She got out of bed to walk to the closet, while Lee got up and retreated to the kitchen. Donning a red silk robe with intertwined dragons embroidered in gold on both front and back, she joined Lee at the kitchen counter where he sat sipping coffee. A steaming pot and an empty cup rested on the counter next to him.

  As she poured coffee, she asked, “Have you made any more progress on deciphering the files on Wen Liu’s phone?”

  He looked at her and frowned.

  “Not really. The files I’ve already managed to access don’t have the same level of encryption. There’s a strong possibility each file has its own key, which would mean my having to unlock one file at a time—a very long and tedious process. I suspect most of the information stored on her phone is also time-sensitive. Secrets tend to have a short shelf life.”

  “Then don’t bother trying to access the files,” she said. “Give me back the phone. It might be of more value to someone else.”

  “You’re thinking of Chen?” Lee asked.

  “Yes. The phone has little value to us. Perhaps we can trade it for something else.”

  “What?”

  “Information. I’m hoping with the right incentive Chen will tell me what he knows of Wen Liu’s murder, the tan man, and how all of it relates to the drug heist in the SOMA.”

  “If you’re going after Chen, I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not!” she stated. “You’re barely able to walk. I’m sorry, but you’d only get in the way.”

  “You can’t go alone. Chen may be a killer.”

  “I’m not Chen’s enemy. He has no reason to harm me. He told me himself he owes me one.”

  Lee didn’t look convinced. “I still don’t like it.”

  “Trust me,” she said with a note of determination. “I can do this on my own.”

  Chapter 36

  Bai drove her MINI Cooper to Berkeley and parked the car in the same set-aside where Lee had parked his Cadillac on their previous visit. She wanted to approach the house from the rear and look around before making her presence known.

  Also, parking her car on the street below the house would make the vehicle less conspicuous. It seemed likely the police would periodically monitor the house for signs of occupation. Chen was still considered a person of interest in a cop killing, not to mention the little matter of two bodies having been found in his office.

  She crossed the street quickly and made her way up the dark winding path while trying to make as little noise as possible. Night sounds surrounded her. Frogs croaked and crickets chirped a springtime serenade. Light mist fogged the trees to keep the atmosphere chilly. The branches and leaves she brushed aside left a moist trail on the sleeves of her leather jacket.

  She stopped at the edge of the glade nearest the garage to survey the dark house. No car was in sight. The place appeared deserted. She stood motionless and silent while considering her options. Now that she’d arrived, she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she’d professed to Lee.

  As she looked at the dark and forbidding house, it occurred to her that one of her options was to turn around and go home. She could forget she’d ever laid eyes on Daniel Chen, forget her compulsion to find out why Wen Liu was murdered, and give up finding the money or drugs from the heist in the Mission District. Her confidence wavered.

  Steeling her resolve, she didn’t give herself the chance to chicken out. Breaking from the cover of the trees, she marched up the drive in plain sight of anyone in the house to step onto the porch and ring the bell. Her stomach knotted in apprehension. Balling her fists, she willed her hands to stop shaking.

  She waited, but no one answered.

  Taking her phone from her jacket pocket, she looked again at the GPS coordinates of Wen’s car. Her phone app insisted the car was nearby. She glanced at the attached garage, but there were no windows to give her a view of the interior. She had no way to confirm the car’s presence.

  Convinced her phone wasn’t lying to her, she rang the doorbell again and kept on ringing it, pressing her thumb against the button repeatedly. Several minutes passed as she doggedly refused to give up.

  When the door sprang open, she jumped back in surprise.

  Daniel Chen stood in the doorway pointing a gun at her. He scowled at her and flicked the barrel of his gun to indicate she should join him inside. After she walked into the house, he shut the door behind her with a thump. The house smelled musty and acrid.

  Without speaking, he motioned for Bai to walk toward the back of the house. She preceded him down a dark hallway to a large modern kitchen. Following her into the room, Chen pushed against a wood panel, and a thick hidden door sprang open. He motioned with the gun for her to enter. She walked through the portal and down a set of metal stairs.

  At the bottom of the stairs was another door. Chen leaned past her to open the door by pressing his thumb against a bio-sensor. Pushing her from behind, he ushered her through the doorway.

  Bright incandescent lights dazzled her vision. Blinking to focus her eyes, she took in a large room holding racks of guns, a wall of electronic equipment with flat-panel monitors, a bunk bed, and a utility kitchen. Images on the flat screens shifted from one view to another, displaying the rooms in the house as well as the grounds outside the home. It became obvious to Bai the house had dozens of hidden cameras. She hadn’t detected even one.

  Chen’s voice was inquisitive. “How did you find me?”

  She held up her phone. “I used GPS on Wen Liu’s car.”

  “Impossible,” he rep
lied. “I disabled the GPS on the vehicle.”

  She smiled. “My friend put a phone in the trunk of her car.”

  Chen frowned at her. “You’re a resourceful woman. What do you want?”

  “What is this place?” she asked.

  “This is a safe house. At least I thought it was until you rang my doorbell. I’ll ask one more time,” he said in a threatening manner. “What do you want?”

  “I want to give you this,” she replied, pulling Wen’s phone from her pocket and holding it out for him.

  “Why are you giving me a phone?”

  “It’s Wen’s phone.”

  He reached out and took it from her.

  “I don’t really need it. I have duplicates of all the data she carried.”

  He looked at her with a bemused expression then held up the phone. “Then again, it’s probably best this doesn’t find its way into the wrong hands. Thanks, but you shouldn’t have come here.”

  “You’ve been here the entire time, haven’t you? You were here when we questioned Wen. You saw her leave. Why didn’t you stop her?”

  The question seemed to take him by surprise. When he answered, his voice sounded defensive. “We assumed you were sent to find me. I’d been warned someone was looking for me. Wen was doing her job, what she’d been trained to do. She led you away from me. We didn’t realize we’d both been targeted.” His face became taut, and for a moment his eyes lost focus. When his attention returned to Bai, he said, “I don’t believe you came here to point out my mistakes. What is it you really want?”

  “I want answers. I want to know why the tan man killed Wen and why he shot my partner. I want to know what you have to do with the heist in the Mission District and why two men were killed in your office.”

  He scoffed. “Why should I tell you anything?”

  “Boobs said you were a good man. I believe he’s a good judge of character.”

  “Who?”

  “Jefferson Boob,” she said in exasperation, “the man who owns the gym where you fight.”

  Chen shook his head. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  His remark brought her thoughts to an abrupt halt.

  “Are you saying you don’t know Jefferson Boob?”

  He nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  The revelation turned her state of mind upside down. She thought back to the discussions she’d had with Boobs and the stories he’d told her. Suddenly, a new perspective on the situation opened up. After a moment of reflection, she sighed with the realization she’d been conned from the very beginning.

  “Is there something wrong?” Chen asked at her prolonged silence.

  “There’s a lot wrong,” she replied. “It turns out I’ve been collecting money for baby naugas again.” When she’d gathered her thoughts, she asked, “Why did the tan man kill Wen? Why did he shoot my partner?”

  His face clouded over with a dark expression. “You hired him to kill Wen.”

  Her eyes got big. “I didn’t hire him. I swear I didn’t.”

  He looked momentarily taken aback by her startled expression. Then he smiled. “Not you. Yu . . . Kwan Yu.”

  “Jade Kwan?”

  He nodded as she recalled the word he’d uttered in her office while watching the video of the tan man. Chen had spoken Chinese; she’d listened in English. She felt like giving herself a head slap.

  Instead she asked, “Why would Jade Kwan want Wen Liu dead?”

  He smirked. “Howard Kwan sold Wen information about his brother’s gambling debts and didn’t want anyone to know he’d betrayed his family. To be safe, he told his mother Wen had provided the information, assuming Yu would have her killed in reprisal. With Wen out of the way, Howard assumed there would be no way his betrayal could come back to haunt him.”

  “Why would Howard sell information about his brother’s gambling debts?”

  “To discredit his brother and take the presidency. But if his mother were to find out he’d given away a casino to sabotage his brother, he’d face serious repercussions. Of course, neither of them knew Wen was an MSS agent. As her handler, I had knowledge of all her dealings.”

  “Are you absolutely sure the tan man works for Jade Kwan?”

  He shrugged. “At one time, he was a government agent. He may or may not have retired before starting a charter flight business in the Far East. His clients seem to be mostly warlords in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, but he’s not particular about whom or what he carries on his aircraft. Of late, he’s been doing work on behalf of Kwan Yu. She was trafficking drugs through a casino. They used his chartered planes to distribute the drugs.”

  “Do you have any idea why the tan man would shoot my partner?”

  He frowned. “You ask a lot of questions.”

  She waited, unwilling to give up until she had the answers she’d come looking for.

  He shrugged and walked across the room to pull aside a screen. “Why don’t you ask him?”

  The tan man sat strapped to a captain’s chair with duct tape wound around his ankles, wrists, and waist. He looked a little gray beneath his brown skin. A number of his teeth and fingernails lay on the floor at his feet. Several of his toes had been smashed to bloody pulps. Burn marks marred his skin.

  Chen gestured at his captive. “Let me introduce you to Ryan Elliott, or the ‘tan man,’ as you call him.”

  The shock of seeing the tan man so near and so bloodied left her momentarily frozen.

  Shaking off the shock, she asked, “How long have you had him here, torturing him?”

  “Since yesterday,” Chen answered diffidently. “To be honest, I don’t think he has any more secrets to tell. At this point, I’m just taking revenge. Wen was my friend, my lover. I was thinking of flaying him next. What do you think?”

  Despite her hatred for the tan man, she couldn’t condone torture. The sight repelled her.

  “I don’t think you’re enjoying this nearly as much as you pretend. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have bothered showing him to me. You want me to tell you it’s all right to stop now.”

  He looked at her and sighed dramatically. “I fear you may be right. Should I put a bullet in his head?”

  “No. Please,” she begged. “I think he’s had enough.”

  Chen barked a brittle laugh. “Your sympathy is wasted on him. He wouldn’t show you the same consideration. Wen opened her door for him because she trusted him to abide by the rules. He didn’t show her any mercy.”

  “What rules?”

  His face quickly shut down, and the anger he’d let her witness vanished in an instant.

  He ignored her questions and said brusquely, “Ask him about your friend. You don’t have much time.”

  A croaking voice interrupted. “That man is an enemy agent.”

  She turned to look at what was left of Ryan Elliott. His head listed, but he was conscious.

  She walked over to stand before him then dropped onto her haunches so he could see her face. “I may be able to save you if you tell me the truth.”

  His head came up to stare at her with one eye. The other eye remained swollen shut. “You’re one of them.”

  “One of who?” she asked.

  “Commies,” he spat.

  “I’m not a commie,” she said in denial. “I’m a Democrat. Some might argue the distinction. Nonetheless, if you help me, I may be able to help you.”

  “Water,” he said, licking his lips.

  She looked around at Chen, who nodded impatiently and pointed at a small stainless steel sink. She stood to fill a glass sitting in the sink then helped Elliott drink. Most of the liquid sloshed down his chin to fall in his lap.

  When he’d had his drink, he rasped, “What do you want?”

  “Why did you shoot my partner in the back?”

  “Who’s your partner?” he said tiredly.

  “This was several days ago—a Chinese man who was following you on Sansome Street.”
/>   “He followed me.”

  “You shot him because he followed you?”

  “I thought he was one of them,” Elliott said with a nod in Chen’s direction.

  Bai shook her head in dismay. “You shot him because he’s Chinese?”

  Elliott didn’t offer a rebuttal. She stood, stunned by his reasoning. In her mind, every action required a rational motive. She stared down at her nemesis while trying, and failing, to understand him. Finally, she gave up.

  Chapter 37

  Chen’s voice interrupted Bai’s dismay. “I seem to have another visitor. This place has become entirely too popular.”

  Chen watched a screen that showed Jason standing in the dark living room while staring into the camera. “Whoever he is, he’s very good. He shouldn’t have been able to detect that camera in the light, let alone the dark. Who do you suppose he might be?”

  “He’s with me,” Bai replied.

  Chen turned to her. “If that’s the case, I suggest you join him. Very shortly this house will be an inferno. If you hurry, you’ll live to miss the fun.”

  He reached behind him while keeping his gun on her. The door to the stairwell sprang open as he flicked the gun barrel to hurry her along. She took the hint and moved toward the door.

  Ryan Elliott’s raspy voice hailed her. “What about me?!”

  She stopped and turned.

  Before she could make another move, Chen fired two bullets into Elliott. She whipped around to stare at Chen. His face showed no emotion.

  “Leave now if you want to live,” he said, turning the gun on her. “I’ve repaid the favor, so now we’re even. If you come looking for me again, I’ll kill you.”

  Bai bolted for the door to take the steps two at a time. Her breath came in rapid, shallow gulps as she swallowed her fear.

  Pushing open the hidden door in the kitchen, she ran toward the front of the house. Jason met her at the entry. She’d never been so glad to see him.

  “What’s happening, Bai?”

  “No time to talk,” she blurted. “Run!”

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door. He followed her reluctantly as she twined her fingers in his and ran.