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“I misspoke.” Zhan sighed. “Not so much a safe zone as a place to tie up loose ends.”
“I don’t understand,” Jin said, but a low, twisted laugh cut any other words off.
“I can’t believe you found him in that mess.” Deng Rong stepped out of the back room with a gun clenched in his fist and pointed at West. Gone were his fancy suits. The former finance minister was now dressed in a hoodie and ripped jeans. His usually perfectly styled hair was even standing in different directions, as if he’d been pulling at it.
“It’s not all that hard when you have a tracking device sewn into the crown prince’s robes,” Zhan replied. Jin jerked his gaze to the defense minister to see that he was now holding a gun as well, which was pointed at him and West.
“What’s going on?” Jin demanded while his brain was still screaming no. He’d trusted both men. Trusted them with his life, the lives of his family, and the lives of his people. How could they betray him?
“They were paid off,” West snarled. “Along with your tech geek, Cai Li Na. I’m guessing by China, considering the aggressive stance their government has taken toward Gaoxing recently.”
“Russia, actually,” Deng Rong chimed in. His tone was almost maniacally happy. “Cai was happy to just sell secrets. She didn’t want to get her hands any dirtier.” Deng Rong shook his free hand as if mockingly shaking off dirt from his fingers. “When the emperor got sick, the Russians paid a lot for the crown prince to be taken out because the younger prince is an idiot.”
“My brother is not an idiot!” Jin shouted, lunging at both men and knocking into West’s back. West tightened his hold on his wrist and pushed, getting them to retreat a step.
“The prince has spent little to no time governing Gaoxing. Your father has not tutored him like he did with you. He’ll be the easiest to manipulate,” Deng Rong countered, and Jin’s heart squeezed.
It was true. Jin had enjoyed a shorter period of study outside of Gaoxing before the emperor summoned him home to learn the family business. For the past nine years, he’d sat in on most of his father’s meetings, learning how the emperor handled governing. And that didn’t include the hours of discussions and private instruction. While it was painful to admit, he took over day-to-day governing without a problem when his father had taken ill.
The same would not be said for Ming Tao.
His brother had been exposed to only a small amount of the politics and governing of Gaoxing. His brother had focused almost solely on his studies, where he was majoring in mathematics with a focus on complex modeling applications such as the spread of diseases. They had always believed that it was unlikely that Ming Tao would sit on the throne. Jin had been born and bred for the position, just like his eldest child would be one day.
“But you had to go fuck everything up!” Deng Rong shouted, waving his gun at him and West.
“And so did you,” Zhan Bo Wen said.
It all happened so fast. Zhan swung his gun around from him and West to point it at Deng. There was a flash and a deafening bang. A single bullet ripped through Deng’s head, dropping him to the floor in a lifeless lump. Jin jerked, his hand twisting in West’s coat as he forced them to retreat another step.
Zhan sighed again and ambled over to Deng’s lifeless corpse, where he picked up the gun that had fallen from his fingers.
“Stop,” West barked. “Put both weapons on the floor.”
“No.”
In a flash, Zhan raised Deng’s gun and fired at West. At the same time, West fired his weapon. His lover slammed back, his body twisting, while Jin watched as a bullet hit the general in the gut.
“Go! Out the door!” West barked, and Jin didn’t hesitate. Behind him, the two men exchanged more shots, but Jin just ran, praying that West was only a step behind him.
Glass broke and Jin glanced over his shoulder to see West stumbling along behind him. The lamplight flashed across dark blood soaking into West’s coat on his right shoulder. His right arm hung limp at his side and his gun was now in his left hand, which was pressed to his side, blood painting his fist red.
“No!” Jin slowed, returning for him, but West waved him off.
“Go! I’m fine! Just keep going!”
His heart hammered, and a cold sweat covered his entire body. His brain argued to obey West’s commands, but his heart chose to go back. He wasn’t going to leave West alone.
As gently as he could, he grabbed West on his right side and helped to support him as they moved more slowly now. Jin led them away from the quiet side street to a major street where crowds of people lingered. The initial panic had ebbed and become replaced with curiosity.
