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“A dying belief system?” he scoffed. “There is nothing but life inmyChina. It is only now that we are beginning to take our proper place in the world, and I am happy to make my own small contribution. Through my businesses, of course.”
“What happened to Shang Li?” I asked. “Where is he?”
Liu Bao smiled and I wanted nothing more than to wipe the expression off his smug face, but I restrained myself.
“I don’t know anyone of that name. If you’ve been careless with the security of your friends, Mr. Morgan, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Zhang Daiyu touched my arm, to soothe more than restrain me, but she needn’t have worried. I’d been goaded by men like this before and I knew better than to let them get to me.
“You sit here atop your little mountain, indulging yourself in dreams of empire and conquest,” I told him. “Your view of geopolitics isn’t my concern. But if I find out you were involved in what happened to Shang Li and his team, and the targetingof me and my people, there isn’t a force on earth that will save you from me.”
Liu Bao looked at Zhang Daiyu and grinned derisively. “See? They need you to believe they’re powerful. That’s why the era of America is over. They have no way of backing up their threats.”
He held the smile as he turned to face me. I glared at him in reply.
“Let’s go,” I said. “We’re done here.”
I headed for the door and Zhang Daiyu followed. I had everything I needed from this visit.
His body language, the subject matter, even the triumphant tone of his voice, told me he was involved in what was happening.
Now all I had to do was prove it.
CHAPTER 41
ZHANG DAIYU AND I said nothing while our guide escorted us out of the building. As we rode the elevator to the first floor, I found myself reflecting on a world that rewards men such as Liu Bao. He was a criminal and I strongly suspected he’d had a hand in the deaths of my colleagues and the trouble we’d faced ever since, but he sat on top of the world, while so many good people struggled to get by. Someone with power protected and facilitated Liu’s interests because he was useful to them or shared the same beliefs. A person simply couldn’t accumulate such wealth and influence in a country like China without back-up from friends in high places, and I wondered who they were and how he was useful to them.
Our guide smiled as we reached the first floor. She led us through the lobby to an exit.
“Goodbye,” she said, and continued smiling as she watched us leave.
“I hate that man,” Zhang Daiyu said the moment we stepped outside. “I hated that we could never get to him when I was in the police, and I hate him now. He was almost taunting us.”
“Agreed,” I replied. “We should put him under surveillance.”
“He was always so careful.”
“Then we need to be on point. We’ve got to find out what he’s up to and why he’s involved in a plot to target Private.”
Zhang Daiyu nodded. “I will talk to Hua.”
I will always be grateful for two things about that day: the gentle summer breeze that took the edge off the humid heat, and the bright sunshine. That same breeze also applied just enough force to the bullet aimed at Zhang Daiyu’s head to send it wide, slamming into the concrete slabs ten paces behind her, and the bright sunshine glinted off the scope of a sniper’s rifle on the roof opposite, allowing me to fix the gunman’s position once I’d recovered from my surprise at the attack
“Shooter!”
I grabbed Zhang Daiyu’s arm and we raced toward the thirty-story tower from which a steady barrage of semi-automatic gunfire was issuing. People around us scattered, screaming, as bullets tore up the slabs, filling the air with dust and the crack and whine of deadly danger. As we neared the building entrance, security guards were rushing to bolt the doors shut. We made it to the cover of the large canopy that protruded from the second floor and blocked the sniper’s line of sight.
Then the shooting stopped.
“You okay?” I asked Zhang Daiyu. She nodded. I glanced around. “The shooter won’t use the main entrance of his buildingto escape. Let’s check the sides and rear. I’ll take the north-west corner. You take north-east.”
“Okay,” she replied, and started east, staying close to the building.
I hurried west. The shooter couldn’t risk being caught on the roof, and I could see that inside the lobby security guards had started checking people’s identities. A full-scale building search was a risk for a man with a gun. He would likely try to escape, but the front entrance was locked and under scrutiny, creating too high a chance of capture.
I ran along one side of the building, past three fire doors to the rear north-west corner where I stopped. I could see another three fire doors opening on to the busy street behind the building, where life was carrying on as though nothing had happened. There was a huge, bustling market further along the street, which was drawing crowds, and through the flurry of pedestrians I caught sight of Zhang Daiyu on the opposite corner, her eyes switching rapidly between her side of the building and the rear. I did likewise, watching for suspicious movement. We’d be in trouble if the building was evacuated, but that was unlikely unless the gunman posed a threat to those inside, and in the chaos of the moment, building security probably hadn’t yet established the shooter was on their roof. I watched and waited.
In my mind the shooting had confirmed Liu Bao’s involvement. No one else knew we were here.
