“Whatever you need us to do, we got it,” Zhang says confidently, nodding along with Drew.
“We need you to get us a fishing boat that we can take out to international waters, armed protection, and data on oil rigs out in the East China Sea.” Drew keeps his gaze locked on Zhang, monitoring every one of his movements in his hologlasses that likely has a program inside it that automatically analyzes his expression to see how trustworthy he is.
I have to admit for such a demented guy who has tried to kill me more times than I’d like to admit, he’s inching toward my bad side and away from the “I will choke you to death the next chance I get” side. He has an intelligent, calculated way when he speaks that reminds me a lot of my own father and is a spitting image of everything that James used to say about Bradley.
“I can make that happen.” Zhang’s eyes spin off in different directions as he works through Drew’s requests in his mind. “And what data would you like on the oil rigs? Surveillance footage, drone footage, daily output?”
“All of it.” Drew nods, biting his lip. “Every last bit of information you can get on those damn things, I want.”
“What are you doing?” Kamala glances at Drew. He runs a hand through his wispy hair, the creases in his skin more pronounced than I’ve seen them before. This man is clearly stressed out, and for good reason.
Hundreds of millions of lives and the future balance of power of the world is at stake.
“Did you not hear what Sam said before we got here?” Drew’s tone turns nasty again. Instead of coming from a sinister place, the ugliness in his voice comes more from a place of annoyance. “There is a research station off the coast of China where they are harboring the power to create an earthquake that will hit the eastern seaboard of China with devastating effects. I knew they must have been using the massive oil rigs they have put up in recent years as a decoy for something. Now we know why.”
“Oh no.” Zhang’s hands drop to his side. “This is what they have been preparing for the last decade. Starting a little over five years ago, Li began to forcibly remove tens of millions of people from Beijing and other interior cities and moved them to places like Hong Kong and Shanghai. He has funneled the hundreds of millions of Chinese with the lowest social credit scores into a handful of metropolitan areas using artificial intelligence to guide the entire process. We in the rén call it ‘the corridor of death’ because of the insane amounts of surveillance and the enormous amounts of data that the artificial intelligence has on us. It’s why we live down here, out of his view so that his army of computers can know nothing about us or our lives. But I didn’t think he was doing this as a convenient way to kill us all. I guess this really is the death corridor.”
“They rounded up everyone with the lowest social credit scores?” Kamala asks. She has her hands on her waist and an expression of disbelief on her face.
“Yeah, of course no one outside of China heard anything because of the restriction of the press, but Li has been doing the same thing today that happened to the Uyghurs years ago.” Zhang’s eyes drift to Ai, his mind probably thinking the same thing I did when I first saw her: she is beautiful.
He shifts his gaze away from her and continues, the short pause lasting no more than a split second. “He is rounding up the people judged by a series of algorithms to be most disloyal to the state and placing them in camps. To just the minorly disloyal people, he is rounding them up and forcing them into government housing in cities like this. They even built this sewer in anticipation of more people disloyal to the Party living in Hong Kong. If he had data on everyone down here, we would surely all be dead. Without a question.”
“How many people live on the eastern coast of China?” I ask, partly because I’m curious but mainly because I need to know how many lives are at stake. I need to feel the pressure of the millions of lives that are now in our hands—the pressure will be the only thing that pushes me forward in the moments when I feel like collapsing.
“Nowadays, probably around eight hundred million live in coastal provinces, with several hundred million living within a few miles of the sea.” Zhang states it in a matter-of-fact way. The reality of everything hasn’t hit him yet either. “There’s no way to know any exact numbers on this, the government is the only one who has all the data.”
“You have access to plenty of data, though, right?” Drew presses him. Zhang must have told him prior to this arrangement that he had some insider information, otherwise the Syndicate would never waste their time working with a bunch of people who live in the sewers.
“Of course. I have many connections. Trust me, many connections across a number of security firms in Shenzhen.” He motions wildly with his hands when he speaks, making his words less believable. “Many of my friends from college work as executives and even have started artificial intelligence companies that have large government contracts. They have access to more data than virtually every Chinese citizen. And they always give me whatever I want when I ask.”
“They better this time.” Drew nods. “You know our deal.”
“Yes, sir.” Zhang gulps, the tension in the air making me uncomfortable, so I can’t imagine how Zhang feels. Knowing the Syndicate, if he fails in this task, they will kill him and everyone else in this camp.
“Good. Now, will you be able to find us a fishing boat that we can use to travel to these oil rigs?” There is a seriousness to Drew’s voice that sends chills down my spine. The same urgency with which he tried to get me to steal the patents to the Chimera Cube from my father is the same urgency with which he is driving his will into Zhang. “We need to leave in the middle of the night; right after we all get some sleep we will head out.”
“That’s easy. I’ll make sure it has good cover from the patrolling drones and enough space for six people.”
“No, no. We won’t be going on.” Drew chuckles and looks at Kamala and Justin. Somehow, he gets a great deal of pleasure from knowing that he is forcing others into life-threatening scenarios while he gets to do nothing more than sit back and watch. “Sam is the only one here required to go.” Drew winks at me, eyeing the bag on my back. Every time his eyes look at the bag, my stomach churns.
He was willing to kill me and my father to get to what’s inside and risk his reputation in the Syndicate.
He may be willing to risk everything now.
“You can’t make me do anything,” I retort immediately. I need him to know that he can’t walk over me like he has in the past. I need him to know that I am only doing this because I have to—because taking down President Li with the brute force of the Chimera Cube alone would be nearly impossible.
“He’s cute, he knows that’s not true.” Drew dismisses my comment and addresses Zhang. I battle the urge to punch him but I refrain from doing so, trying to be strategic in my actions instead of blowing up this newly formed alliance from the beginning. “The three of us will be stationed in an aircraft thousands of feet above the rig, preparing to be Sam’s escort back to the mainland after he destroys everything inside that oil rig.”
“You are sending him in alone?” Zhang’s eyes widen. Since we have been talking at the edge of the camp for a few moments, I notice a number of people emerging from their tents walking in bare feet across the cement to the little circle we have formed.
“I’m going if he’s going,” Jake says. His glazed-over expression from earlier has faded. The same mechanisms that allowed him to repress so much during our weeks attempting to get the Universal Basic Income Bill passed are operating in full force.
I only know because I am doing the exact same thing.
I can’t think about what my father would say about me being only feet away from Drew, the one man on the planet who feels he has a right to the Chimera Cube over me.
The only thing I focus on with every breath is the hundreds of millions of lives that are at stake and the entire global economic order that could come crashing down if we fail.
“I’ll go.
” Ai’s posture straightens. She is already speaking in the hasty, manic way that makes her so invigorating to be around. She looks at me and I can see the hatred for me fading a bit, or at least that’s what I tell myself. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
“You two don’t have to go.” Kamala speaks after a slight nod from Drew. “This mission will be extremely dangerous. We want to risk as little lives as possible.”
I shake my head, clutching the straps of the backpack in my hands. The competitive side to me wants to whip out the Chimera Cube and kill each of these people right now just to prove to them that they aren’t the ones with the power. But I know the second I do that, someone on the council will be notified and they will report our location to Chinese authorities. And I don’t think I can get lucky again to get out of another cat-and-mouse chase with the military.
They will kill me.
“You guys are pricks.” I smile and shake my head. They aren’t even good at hiding the fact that they would rather see me die on an oil rig out in the middle of the ocean just so that they can take the Chimera Cube from me.
“Watch it,” Justin responds, narrowing his eyes at me. He has a paternal way in which he speaks to me. Something about his energy makes me trust that man even though he is part of the one organization that I trust with nothing.
“I’m going. I’ll risk my life for this,” Jake says, but he stares at Drew when he says it, as if searching for approval from his former big brother who let him into the Syndicate in the first place.
“Does anyone even know what we have to do when we get on the oil rig?” Ai questions, the prospect of risking our lives sounding less appealing by the second.
“We have to find whatever system is being used to trigger the explosions and shut it down before Li releases it,” I respond.
“That will never work,” Ai says almost angrily. “The second he knows we are there, he will trigger the earthquakes. This entire half of the country is screwed.”
“What’s going on?” A woman approaches from behind Zhang. She is at least a head shorter than him but looks older and more distinguished from the way she carries herself. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the conversation we are all having is not a desirable one.
“Get all the kids, get everyone here and get out.” Zhang stares blankly into the darkness of the sewer tunnels beyond, his brain likely working through all the different scenarios. “It’s happening.”
When he says those words, the woman and the two boys following behind her seem to know exactly what he means.
She runs back to the tents.
“C’mon!” She puts two fingers in her mouth and lets out a screeching whistling noise. Dozens of heads poke out of the tents as the harsh sound waves bounce off the concrete of the sewers, the intensity of the echo almost startling me as much as the initial noise.
“What’s going on?” Justin eyes Zhang, who only smiles when he turns to face the six of us.
“The rén has been preparing for this day for years.” Zhang’s composure is calm and collected despite the chaotic awakening of the camp behind him. From his skinny figure and soft face, he is anything but an alpha figure, but he exudes an energy that makes me drawn to his commands although I barely know him. “We knew the time would eventually come when the Party would attempt to do something to wipe us out. After we heard about the death of Noah and more of our Party insiders, we knew that we would be next. We are prepared.”
“You are prepared for a massive earthquake?” Jake questions as Drew sticks out his chest, preparing to have to confront Zhang, who all of a sudden seems to be taking control of an operation the Syndicate thought was theirs.
Zhang smiles, the sensation of cold wind whizzing through the tunnel causing the hairs on my body to stand up. “We are prepared to run.”
“The military is occupying the hospitals!” yells the same woman that approached us before from one of the tents, her hands full packing stuff into bags while her eyes are trained on her hologlasses.
A surge of adrenaline courses through me as my mind wakes up to what is happening. Forget getting time to sleep. Shit is hitting the fan now.
“Get us a boat, now.” Drew steps forward, his figure towering over that of Zhang.
“I got it.” Zhang smiles.
“What do you mean, you got one? It’s been five seconds.”
“I don’t just stare into space while other people are talking.” He takes his hologlasses off and holds them in the air. “I can type on these things with my eyes. Someone’s working on sending me the data right now, and as far as the boat, we will be leaving with one of the fishermen this morning. The government won’t have a clue we are on there.”
Drew nods, then looks around. Kamala sighs, the fast-paced, high-intensity, generally messed-up environment of the Syndicate still one she is adjusting to. I’d probably feel the same way as her if I hadn’t already participated in multiple operations on this organization’s behalf.
“We have to go now.” Zhang steps forward, his shoulder bumping against me as he walks into the darkness of the sewer without hesitation. Thanks, you dick.
I still stand with my feet planted between the thin curtain of light that separates the camp from the emptiness and river of shit beyond. Everything is moving too fast; for some reason the only thing my body wants to do is stop and go to sleep.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for years.” Zhang turns around, an electric energy buzzing off him one that both scares me and gives me hope that maybe we can do this thing. “I’m coming on that boat with you guys. I didn’t become a leader in this movement to spend all my hours underneath the city that I’m trying to save.”
The second he finishes his words, all the lanterns providing light to the camp die at once. Within only a minute everyone has already packed up their valuable belongings, the echo of dozens of footsteps headed towards us causing a wave of static energy to course over me.
These people have lived every day for years knowing that everything would come crashing down.
“Some people would call me crazy.” Zhang pauses his trot, one of the largest tunnels in the sewer network ahead. Suddenly, with the darkness taking up every inch of the sewer, seeing my own skin is a challenge. Sound is the only sense I have to let me know Zhang is still there. “The truth is that I am. The Party turned against me and my cofounder of our self-driving company all because we refused to share all our data with the Party. President Li purposely made all my friends billionaires, including my former mentor Noah Wu, and left me out to starve on the streets, forcing me to live in run-down housing.
“For years I’ve been waiting for President Li to try and finish me off. For him to send in his military and finish us off. He has no idea that no matter how many of us he takes away, there will always be more willing to fight.”
A rush of blood swathes my head, causing my mind to feel foggy and legs to feel like they are weighing me down.
A hand wraps around my shoulder.
My instinct is to elbow whoever it is in the gut, but the moment the chilling whisper echoes in my ear, I find myself frozen in place.
“It’s very nice being friends.” I don’t need to look at the hideous face to the side of me to know the hot, garlic-filled breath pressing against my skin is Drew’s. “I hope that we can be friends for a very, very long time. Friends can always forgive each other no matter what. But enemies never forget.”
I grip my hand around the strap of the backpack, remaining motionless until Drew steps in front of me and follows Justin, Ai, and the rest of them into the heart of the sewer.
My heart thumps in my chest as I digest each one of his words. I close my eyes as one of my worst memories hijacks my consciousness, taking my nerves back to the frenzied state my entire body was experiencing in that moment.
I see the lifeless body of Charles ridden with more stab wounds than Riva’s, all in my attempt to get revenge.
My mind i
s transported back to that terrible state, where the only thing that mattered was trying to evoke as much pain in him as possible.
Now I know that each time I dug that machete deeper into him, I was really stabbing myself.
The Syndicate will never forget.
Chapter 7
“I told you not to eat that.” Any amusement that was previously in my voice is now gone. After telling Jake the same thing half a dozen times, I am getting sick and tired of acting like a surrogate parent.
“It can’t be that bad.” Jake holds the slimy orange piece of bait to his mouth, the tip of the stringy piece of food touching his tongue.
“I can smell it from over here.” I plug my fingers over my nose, my head still pounding from the terrible smell that infested my nostrils during our riverside walk. At first that sounds a bit romantic, but when one realizes it was a river full of shit, taking a pleasant stroll through the darkness alongside it suddenly becomes less appealing. “It’s even worse than the sewer. The last thing you need is to end up sick just because you decided to eat a piece of fish bait.”
“That sick feeling in my stomach might distract me from the sick feeling in the rest of my body.” He opens his mouth and dangles the piece of bait right above the opening.
I can’t tell whether he actually wants to eat the bait, or if he’s just being dramatic to see what kind of reaction he can get out of me. Knowing Jake, he is probably trying to keep himself distracted and my own mind from ruminating on the daunting task we have ahead of us.
We are approaching one of the largest oil rigs in the East China Sea, the height from the ocean floor to its pinnacle easily topping several hundred feet. But it’s not the massive city above the ocean that is the intimidating part of our mission—it’s what lies underneath.
Underneath the oil rig, which is located roughly one hundred nautical miles northeast of Hong Kong, unusual seismic activity has been detected. And these aren’t minor disruptions that could be caused by the drilling of oil in the ocean floor—these are major shockwaves rippling through the ocean, meant to test the destructive method by which President Li plans to forever alter the world and wreak havoc on the Chinese people.
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