Dragon Head

by James Houston Turner

  “Not going to happen,” said Hill.

  “She knows where Su Yin is!” said Kai.

  “Stay out of this, son,” said Hill. “That woman is coming with me.”

  “Not until she gives me some answers,” said Talanov, “which we will never get if she goes with you.”

  “I said—”

  “If I may?” said Wilcox, stepping forward.

  “And you are?” asked Hill.

  Wilcox opened his identification wallet and held it up. “Wilcox, CIA.”

  Hill glanced briefly at the ID, then back at Wilcox, unimpressed. “In case you didn’t know, the CIA has no jurisdiction on United States soil, and since this is a murder investigation on United States soil, I suggest you stay out of this.”

  “It’s a matter of national security.”

  The remark made Hill laugh. “Some big shot from the CIA – in a pink and yellow Hawaiian shirt, no less – conveniently shows up to a murder investigation of two social workers, claiming it’s a matter of national security. Do you seriously expect me to believe that?” To Talanov: “Untape that woman. Don’t make me tell you again.”

  “Officer Hill, let Alex question her,” said Ginie. “Her partner kidnapped Su Yin and is taking her back to their plane.”

  “What plane?”

  “I don’t know. They were speaking Chinese, and while I speak a little, I’m not fluent, but I think I heard the woman tell someone on the phone to get back to the plane, that she would meet them there. She also mentioned Hong Kong, so I think that’s where they’re headed.”

  “You speak a little Chinese and you think that’s where they’re headed? In other words, you really don’t know.”

  “Which is why I need to question this woman,” said Talanov. “Before they get away.”

  “Like I said, not going to happen,” said Hill.

  “Come on, Arcus, help us out,” said Zak. “They’re leaving the country. You’ve got to call this in and ground all private jets with flight plans to Hong Kong.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Zak. Not even Ginie knows what she heard.”

  “But I do,” said Jingfei. “I speak fluent Chinese and I heard the same thing Ginie heard. The kidnapper said to get everyone back to the plane and be ready for takeoff, that once they were in international waters, they would be safe all the way to Hong Kong.”

  “And our people will investigate that.”

  “When? Tomorrow? Next week?”

  “You need to stay out of this, Jingfei.”

  “Well, I don’t,” said Wilcox while working the screen of his phone. When finished, he tapped Enter. “There, done. All Chinese flight plans will be looked into immediately.”

  “You had no right to do that!” exclaimed Hill.

  “And yet I just did,” answered Wilcox with a smile.

  Hill jabbed a finger at Wilcox. “Any further interference and I will be filing an official complaint.” To Talanov: “Last time: untape that woman, or I’m arresting you for obstruction.”

  Motioning for Talanov to remain where he was, Wilcox began working his phone again.

  “What are you doing?” asked Hill.

  “Don’t worry. This won’t take long.”

  “Look, I get it,” said Hill. “You want to get even for what your victim did. Maybe rough her up a bit.”

  “We’re the victims here, Arcus, not her,” said Zak.

  “But you got caught, and your friend here, Mr. Big Shot CIA, steps in to pull a fast one with the local LEOs.” He glanced at Wilcox. “Isn’t that what you call us, the local LEOs? Well, this time it it’s not going to work. Now, for the last time, untape that woman before I lock all of you up.”

  “Don’t let the Hawaiian shirt throw you,” replied Wilcox, not taking his eyes off his phone, “which, by the way, I was planning on wearing to Disneyland until I ended up here. But you are right about one thing: the CIA does not normally conduct operations on United States soil. And, yes, there have been instances where Federal agents have overstepped their boundaries. Question is: am I doing that now? Am I trying to pull a fast one, as you put it so eloquently?” He tapped the screen of his phone, which sent the text message he had been composing. He then folded his arms, and, with a contented smile, adjusted his posture to a more comfortable position.

  Hill was not sure how to respond, so he and Wilcox just stared at one another for a long moment, Wilcox with his unnerving smile and Hill with a look of growing uncertainty.

  Approximately fifteen seconds later, the sharp trill of a phone broke that silence. When Hill realized it was his phone, he fished it from his pocket and took the call. “This is Hill,” he said, pausing briefly to listen. “Yes, sir, he’s right here and he claims to be—”

  Whoever was on the other end of the call cut Hill off, forcing him to listen.

  “Yes, sir,” tried Hill, “but—”

  Hill got interrupted again and was forced to listen.

  “Sir, I—” Hill tried again.

  But there’s another interruption, this one more scathing than the others, causing Hill to swallow hard.

  “Of course, sir, I understand,” Hill said meekly. Clicking off, he lowered his phone. “My apologies, Mr. Wilcox. I’m to render any assistance you may require.”

  “If I need some, I’ll let you know,” Wilcox replied.

  After glancing awkwardly at Zak and the kids, Hill walked away. Once he was gone, Talanov stepped over to confront Wilcox face-to-face.

  “What the hell is going on here, Bill?”

  “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Talanov responded with an impatient glare.

  “Like I said, we need to talk,” said Wilcox. “But not here. Someplace private.”

  “You knew about this, didn’t you? You know who this woman is and that they’re after me. That’s the reason you’re here, isn’t it? You knew.”

  “Like I said—”

  “How could you let this happen? How could you not have given me some kind of a warning?”

  “And how, exactly, should I have done that?” Wilcox fired back. “Your phone is off. Oh, and let’s not forget this important little fact: there is no Quiet Waters Community Center, not in any database, anyway, and there is no Babikov listed, either, anywhere. So please explain to me exactly how I should have gotten hold of you.”

  “And yet, here you are. What a coincidence.”

  “Yes, no thanks to you.”

  “How did they find me, Bill? Never mind how you found me. How did they find me? No one knew I was here except you and Diane.”

  Wilcox glanced uneasily at everyone staring back at him. To his right were Jingfei and Kai. Their clothes were torn and dirty. Emily and Ginie were standing next to them. Ginie had a black eye and an aluminum splint on her nose. Wilcox’s eyes then fell on Zak, who appeared to be waiting with growing impatience, his fingers forming and unforming fists. A not-so-subtle warning, like a cat flicking its tail.

  “Let’s take a walk,” said Wilcox, looking back at Talanov.

  “We don’t have time,” replied Talanov. He yanked Straw Sandal in front of Wilcox, forcing him to look at her. “Who is she, Bill? How did she find me, and why? I know you know something because you recognized her when you got here.”

  “Not now,” responded Wilcox.

  “Yes, now!” shouted Talanov angrily. “She and her gang murdered two girls! They kidnapped Su Yin. So quit stalling and talk to me. What do these people want?”

  CHAPTER 28

  Xin Li parked her brown Suburban in a residential neighborhood across the bay. Two driveways away was another brown Suburban. She had to assume someone at the restaurant had snapped a picture when she sped away. That picture would soon find its way to the police, who would use traffic cameras to identify and apprehend her. Switching plates with a similar vehicle would give her breathing room for the next few hours.

  After making the switch, she slid back into the driver’s seat. Su Yin was where she had left
her, sitting huddled on the floor, her face between her knees, sobbing quietly. Xin Li asked Su Yin what her name was. Su Yin did not reply. Xin Li asked again but Su Yin kept sobbing.

  “Tell me or you will never see your family again,” Xin Li said.

  After several more sobs, Su Yin told her.

  “Look at me,” commanded Xin Li.

  When Su Yin did, Xin Li snapped her picture, composed a text message, then tapped Send.

  Seven thousand miles to the west, AK’s cell phone chimed. When he heard the chime, he read Xin Li’s instructions concerning the image.

  Connecting his cell phone to one of his processors, AK went to work on the photo. Seconds later, his cell phone rang.

  “Did you get my text message?” Xin Li asked in Russian once AK had answered. Shifting the Suburban into gear after switching license plates, Xin Li began driving again.

  “Yes, and Dragon Head is going to freak out when he hears about his daughter.”

  “Leave Dragon Head to me. How long to work your magic?”

  “Sixty seconds,” AK replied while embedding a virus in the image that would activate once someone opened the image.

  “Has Talanov come back online?”

  AK wheeled over to another monitor that showed Talanov’s number to still be inactive. “Not yet,” he replied, wheeling back to the first monitor, where he continued working for another thirty seconds. “Okay, it’s done,” he said.

  “Good. Send Talanov a text message. Tell him to wait for my call. Attach the girl’s photo as proof of life and let me know when he opens it.”

  AK entered Talanov’s number, typed Xin Li’s message, attached the photo, then tapped Send. “Done,” he said. “The moment he opens it, I’ll know.”

  “Let me know when that happens.”

  “What about Shāng Yī? We are running out of time.”

  “How long have we got?”

  AK wheeled over to another monitor, where a maze of dotted lines indicated commercial flight paths over the Pacific Ocean. In the center of the maze was a red circle.

  Adjusting his glasses, AK highlighted the red circle portion of the map and clicked the zoom function, which enlarged the map to reveal the USS Ronald Reagan carrier group. AK studied the various orange triangles blinking near the red circle. Each triangle represented a commercial aircraft, although there were none above the red circle because they had been diverted around the carrier group’s airspace. But there were several just outside the perimeter and all were moving in various directions. Near each triangle were some fluctuating numbers that indicated speed, altitude, wind direction, and other statistics.

  AK zoomed in on the carrier itself and kept enlarging the image until the deck of the majestic warship became clearly visible. The image was in real time and AK watched a fighter jet move into position. Several other fighter jets were already in the air, as indicated by moving green triangles out over the ocean.

  “Our window opens in seventeen minutes,” AK said.

  “And lasts for how long?” asked Xin Li.

  “Forty minutes.”

  Xin Li turned a corner and sped along a darkened street that edged the back side of the airport. The beams of her headlights illuminated a series of parking lots along each side of the street. Then came an ugly building, then more parking lots, then more buildings. Some buildings were metal sheds. Others were concrete, painted gray, with rows of high windows. All of them were built for utility. None of them were built for aesthetics.

  “Are you sure about this?” AK asked, still speaking Russian. “If we carry through with Shāng Yī, the Americans will come after us with everything they’ve got. So will the Chinese.”

  “If what you promised is true, then no one will know who we are, where we are, or how we did it.”

  “What I told you is true, and we may get away with this once, maybe twice. But if you want me to create a permanent veil that no one can penetrate, then I need better software and better equipment. I need those unlimited resources.”

  “And you will get them,” Xin Li replied to the vibrating rumble of a commercial airliner taking off in the distance. “Which is where Talanov comes in.”

  “What do you need me to do?” AK asked just as Xin Li approached a boom gate.

  “Hang on a minute,” Xin Li replied, stopping at the boom and looking toward a lighted hut, where a security guard was watching a small TV. The guard was wearing a blue uniform and a security company baseball cap.

  Carrying an electronic tablet, the guard stopped in front of the vehicle, shown a flashlight on the license plate, compared it to a number on his tablet, then approached the driver’s side window.

  “If you cry out or make any protest,” Xin Li told Su Yin, “I will shoot the guard and you will be responsible for his death. Do you understand?”

  Su Yin nodded just as Xin Li rolled down her window. “Good evening, officer,” she said with a smile. “I am sorry to be so late. I’m with the Hong Kong law enforcement delegation and I just got out of a meeting.”

  “No problem,” the officer replied. “The others are already here. How did everything go?”

  “Your police chief loves to talk. Especially after a bourbon. Or was it three?”

  The guard laughed, then noticed a pair of eyes peering up at him from the darkened floorboard. “Who’s that?” he asked with a look of concern.

  “My daughter,” answered Xin Li, “who is throwing an absolute tantrum because I would not buy her another Happy Meal.”

  The guard laughed again. “I got the same problem with my kids. Have a good flight.” Returning to his hut, he raised the boom and waved her through.

  After closing the window, Xin Li steered the Suburban past several hangars to where Dragon Head’s Gulfstream was parked on a darkened patch of tarmac. After parking the Suburban near a lighted office, she switched off the ignition and put her phone back to her ear.

  “I’m at the Gulfstream now,” she said, still speaking in Russian, “so here’s what I need you to do. Text Dragon Head and tell him we’re on our way, although Straw Sandal will not be with us. Tell him she’s been captured.”

  “No way is Dragon Head going to let you leave without his daughter.”

  “He has to. Let me talk to him.”

  “Whatever you say,” AK replied, working his phone. In less than a minute, he heard the bounding of footsteps. “Putting the phone on speaker,” he said, laying his cell phone on the worktable.

  Seconds later, Dragon Head stormed into the room. “Where is my daughter?” he yelled.

  “Straw Sandal is safe,” Xin Li’s voice replied in English from the phone, which was the only common language that Xin Li, Dragon Head, and AK spoke, with AK speaking Russian and English, and Dragon Head speaking Chinese and English, and Xin Li speaking all three.

  AK discreetly wheeled aside so that Dragon Head could position himself over the phone, his muscular arms braced on the table.

  “How could you allow this to happen?” Dragon Head demanded.

  “Talanov and Babikov are responsible. When I went to apprehend the hostage, they took her.”

  “Who’s Babikov?”

  “Talanov’s closest friend. They were both in the KGB.”

  “The KGB? Two men – two old men – defeated Straw Sandal and a dozen of my fighters?” yelled Dragon Head. He kicked a chair and sent it spinning across the floor. “Go back and get her! Kill anyone who gets in your way. Kill Talanov, if you have to.”

  “As much as I would love to do that, you and I both know we cannot, at least not yet.”

  “He has my daughter!”

  “And he will not harm her. In fact, one of our demands will be that he bring her to us in Hong Kong.”

  “What makes you think he will do that?” replied Dragon Head with a skeptical squint.

  “Because the hostage I took, an eleven-year-old girl, is important to Babikov, which means Talanov will do what we tell him so that no harm comes to the girl. But I must l
eave now, before the authorities ground all private aircraft with Chinese ownership.”

  “So you were seen?”

  “Yes, but not identified. But as I said, we must leave now.”

  While talking, Xin Li climbed out of the Suburban and motioned for Su Yin, who hesitated, then crawled across the seat and climbed out of the Suburban. Xin Li took her by the arm and led her up the staircase into the Gulfstream, where one of the Shí bèi fighters took her to a seat.

  “How will you communicate our demands?” Dragon Head asked.

  “By phone, when we’re in the air.”

  “And if the Americans trace your call, identify us, and have Hong Kong authorities waiting when you arrive?”

  “AK will make sure that doesn’t happen. I will route the call through him.”

  “Can you do that?” Dragon Head asked, looking at AK.

  “Of course,” AK replied in English. “I encrypt call and route through servers in Shenzhen, Kunming, Chengdu, Nunjing, Qingdao, and Beijing. Maybe more, I do not know. No one can trace point of origin, or who we are.”

  Dragon Head assessed what he had just heard. Finally, he looked back at the phone. “As you wish,” he said. “But if any harm comes to my daughter . . .”

  “It won’t. She will be fine.”

  And with that, Dragon Head glared briefly at AK before marching out of the room.

  With a kick of his foot, AK wheeled himself back over to the phone. “It’s me again,” he said in Russian just as Xin Li saw a security vehicle driving toward the Gulfstream with amber lights flashing on top.

  “Hang on a minute,” Xin Li said. Tucking her pistol out of sight near the small of her back, she watched the security vehicle stop near the bottom of the staircase. Saw the guard switch off the engine and get out with an electronic tablet in his hand.

  “Are the lights necessary?” asked Xin Li. “My daughter is asleep.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry,” the guard replied, leaning in the window and switching them off. Rounding the front of the vehicle, he checked his tablet again. “Your flight plan says Hong Kong, so I’m to make a quick check of everyone’s ID.”

  “We are an official delegation.”