The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (43 page)

Less than a minute later, Liu Ping entered the hotel lobby with his six others.  Liu Ping and the brothers met Xiaoyu by the ballroom door.  Xiaoyu gave them a nod and they took out their pistols making them unsafe.  Xiaoyu pulled open the double door wide enough for most of the others to enter on his heels.  Many of the gathered investors turned back to see Xiaoyu and the Sheltered Ones enter and felt uneasy.  Xiaoyu walked forward straight toward the stage as Liu Ping and the others spread their numbers wide and slowly floated toward the stage in ghostly fashion.  When it was noticed that all but Xiaoyu had guns drawn, investors began to nervously leave their seats and head for the exit.  Deni’s legs were too heavy to move at the shock of seeing Xiaoyu enter and his investors exit.  He blinked hard, disbelieving what he saw.  Xiaoyu hopped onto the stage and headed toward Deni.  Cupping his hand into a U-shape, Xiaoyu hit Deni in the throat and covered Deni’s face with his hand, pushing him to the floor.  Xiaoyu walked to the podium where the laptop computer was in the middle of Deni’s slide show presentation.  Xiaoyu ejected the disc holder and removed a gel-colored CD from inside his jacket.  The room had emptied except for Liu Ping and the other Sheltered Ones standing grim and still in the dark, while Xiaoyu and Deni basked in the light of the stage.  Xiaoyu put the CD in the drive and loaded it back into the computer.  The word
Loading…
flashed on the large screen joined by sounds of the laptop waking up.  The screen suddenly sprung into action.  Instead of showing a static image of a planned resort, it showed two men—looked like friends.  They were chatting in a simple room with simple chairs and simple table.  They smoked cigarettes out of the same pack and talked about things better left off camera—they didn’t know they were being recorded.  Deni looked at the video as if peering into another dimension.  He had a confused and startled look in his eyes—an error message.  The fact that the video existed didn’t fully register.  But Deni was conscious enough to understand that it did.  He tried again.  Liu Ping and the others were seeing the video for the first time.  The video did nothing but reaffirm their faith in Xiaoyu and replenish their desire to back him up.  As the video played, Deni couldn’t accept how long it was; it kept going.  A childish sentiment of wanting to be invisible came over Deni.  The adult in him said it wasn’t possible so his mind charged forward with a more realistic goal.  Deni propped himself up from the floor with his left arm and reached for his back toward his belt.  Deni pulled out a black
Smith & Wesson Sigma
pistol that looked too big for him.  He tried to remove the safety and aim the barrel at Xiaoyu in one motion.  Before he could get his target lined up, he felt a punch in his left shoulder.  He sat up on his knees and tried to reposition himself to get another view of his target, when he felt a punch to his side then to his hip then to his head.  Deni fell over toward his right but held on to his
Sigma
pistol.  He told himself he was ok and could still get up but his body began to fluctuate feeling very cold then warm.  He tried to angle himself up and was shot again in the side, forcing him to drop his pistol.  His senses were starting to combine themselves and he could feel or see or hear something coming closer. 

Liu Ping walked closer to the stage and held his pistol out, safety on.  Xiaoyu walked across the stage toward Liu Ping and grabbed the pistol from him.  He walked over toward Deni, seeing his eyes were still open—still staring.  Xiaoyu could see Deni’s chest still rising—still breathing.  Xiaoyu reached in his back pocket and pulled out photographs.  He threw the photographs down on the stage in front of Deni’s face.  Deni rolled his head ever so slightly to the right, to see the photos.  The photos were his own handiwork.  The photos showed Li Xing’s mutilated body lying apart but put together in a bathtub—Xiaoyu’s uncle. 

“
The price of disloyalty
,” said Xiaoyu unclicking the safety on Liu Ping’s pistol.  He aimed the muzzle at Deni’s head and fired all rounds left in the gun.  He walked back down stage toward Liu Ping and gave back the emptied pistol.  Hopping down off the stage, Xiaoyu found an empty chair.  He sat down with his hand covering his face, as if to have time in his own world.  Time could be noticed going by as he sat silently to himself.  Liu Ping and the others started to look less like ghouls and more like uneasy young men.  Liu Ping stood over Xiaoyu while the others closed in.

“
Gui, cops
,” said Liu Ping.  Xiaoyu looked through his fingers at Liu Ping.

“
The cops’ll be here.  We should go…now
,” said Liu Ping.

“
Is that so
?” said Xiaoyu.

“
Someone heard the shots, they won’t be ignored
,” said Liu Ping.

“
We wouldn’t
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Drive the speed limit.  Lose your guns.  Take parallel streets.  If you see cops notify the rest of us and which way they’re going
.”

“
Where we going
?” asked Yi Le.

“
The marina.  Uncle Woo’s yacht.  It’s parked in number 67, Uncle Woo said it was his best year.  Name is White Fog.  And it is white if you’ve never seen it
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Now you know. Go
!”

The Sheltered Ones moved quickly.  They were preoccupied by thoughts of where they would dispose of their pistols.  None of them had been given much in life and all grew psychologically attached to their pistols.  The solution to the questioned came as they neared their destination.  They would simply throw their pistols overboard Uncle Woo’s yacht—a burial at sea, like Uncle Woo himself.   That is what they did.  The yacht was 80-feet long boasting wood where it could—classy.  It was all-white except for a red wood trim around the hull.  They stood at the front of the yacht and threw their guns over.   Liu Ping presided over the ceremony saying a few choice words—as always—he said what the others were thinking.  Xiaoyu stood in the doorway of the main cabin facing the front deck.  He said nothing.  It wasn’t his ceremony.  He had no gun to throw.  Xiaoyu retreated inside and found brandy in the yachts recreation room.  He poured a glass for everyone on the yacht even himself.  Liu Ping and the others came into the recreation room and saw the brandy in glasses, not snifters.

“
What are we drinking to
?” asked Liu Ping

“
Our late uncles
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Now may they rest in peace
.”  The others took up their glasses and pinged them one against the other.  Each took one big swallow of brandy and poured the remainder on the floor—a tribute.

“
Where will we go, Gui
?” asked Lin Jun.

“
Nowhere for now.  It makes no sense for us to be out in the city
,” said Xiaoyu.

              “
We wait here
?” asked Yu Hong, “
For what
?”

“
Daybreak
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Then we go to Macau, we have corporations there.  We can operate from there.  It’s a different place, we clean our money we operate legitimately.
”

“
We go on this boat
?” asked Yu Hong.

“
Not this one
,” said Xiaoyu, “
We take one of the ferries or even a plane, but we’ll have to split up.  I’ll stay behind to make sure I find all the paperwork on the companies we have set up there.  It’s no risk for any of you.  You all must go
.”

“
We can’t hide in Macau from the other Triads
,” said Liu Ping.

“
I don’t plan to hide
,” said Xiaoyu, “
I ran from home once before.  It’s been enough.  You can go further if you feel the need.  We all have our own choices to make.  It’s that simple
.”

“
And what if they do come for you
?” asked Liu Ping.

“
I think you know me enough to answer that for yourself
,” said Xiaoyu.  Sensing Xiaoyu’s determination the others did not want to ask too many questions.  Xiaoyu was right.  They had their own decisions to make, an uneasy task for young men built under a command structure.  A sudden loud mechanical coughing interrupted the melting pot in the recreation room.  The coughing sound was steady and increasing.  The coughing was accompanied by a more rhythmic sound of howling sirens, yelping in circles.  The light on the inside of the recreation room was ambushed by the blue and red lights approaching from outside.  A high-powered light in the sky focused on the yacht.  Liu Ping quickly killed the light in the recreation room.

This is the Hong Kong Police Force.  If you are on board the yacht in slot 67, you have one minute. 
There was no more talking, outside or inside.  Xiaoyu motioned to the others that they should try to escape in different directions.  Balling his fist, he gave the order for them to go.  They did, all but Liu Ping.  Xiaoyu crouched down on the floor and Liu Ping came with him.  In the incessant light of the helicopter overhead, Liu Ping showed Xiaoyu he still had his pistol with him.  Xiaoyu looked at him and shook his head.

“
If they catch you with that
,” said Xiaoyu.

“
I don’t want them to catch me
,” said Liu Ping, “
I want to defend myself.  Pigs aren’t friendly to Triads
.”

“
You won’t have to defend yourself, they don’t want you
,” said Xiaoyu.

“
What do they want
?” asked Liu Ping.

“
Me
,” said Xiaoyu.  Liu Ping looked at Xiaoyu heatedly.

“
I’m going out there, they’ll take me and you’ll have time to go out that way.  You go quick
,” said Xiaoyu.

“
I’m not a coward
,” said Liu Ping.

“
Deni was a traitor.  Uncle Woo is dead along with four of ours.  We are down.  Who’ll lead us
?” said Xiaoyu.

“
You
,” said Liu Ping.

“
Don’t be stupid
,” said Xiaoyu standing up.  He stepped over Liu Ping raised both arms high and stepped into the lights.  He walked around the port side of the yacht toward the dock.  Liu Ping watched him as he passed the windows of the recreation room.  He didn’t look back.  Xiaoyu stepped down onto the cement pier and walked steadily toward the police officers gathered on the marina.  The helicopter above followed him—every step.  Xiaoyu walked directly toward a group of SWAT officers and turned his back to them, arms still raised.  As the officers approached, Xiaoyu saw Liu Ping—pistol drawn—following his tracks up the pier.  One officer grabbed Xiaoyu’s right arm and slapped a metal cuff around his wrist.  Xiaoyu looked at Liu Ping, who was just out of range of the helicopter’s spotlight.

“
I said no
!” yelled Xiaoyu.  He spun around and used his open right palm to push the officer back.  He leaned in shifting his weight forward and grabbed the officer’s baton before shifting his weight backward and kicking the officer to the ground.  With one hand still cuffed, Xiaoyu sized up the baton and tossed it to check its weight.  Officers closed in on Xiaoyu with batons drawn.  Xiaoyu blocked the first swing with his own baton and forced the officer’s arm downward.  He grabbed the same arm and wheeled the officer around sweeping his leg out from under him.  Another two officers approached and he backed up on the pier.  As the two officers closed in, Xiaoyu turned sideways and did a windmill with his arms skipping to the side to angle his body between them.  The windmill made them pause thinking he was trying to attack.  Between the officers, Xiaoyu pushed his knee into the back of one officer’s knee causing him to kneel and knocked him out with a swing of the baton.  The other officer retaliated with a downward swing, which Xiaoyu kneeled to block holding his baton up with both hands.  From the kneeled position, Xiaoyu dove for the officer’s ankles.  He wrapped his arms around the officer’s shins locking his grip.  With one pull, he lifted the officer off the ground and flipped him over his shoulder, pinning the officer on his back.

In the nearby shadow, Liu Ping saw Xiaoyu drawing all attention allowing him time to run.  Liu Ping was divided between aiding Xiaoyu and escaping with the time Xiaoyu was giving him.  He put his pistol in the back of his pants and lowered himself off the pier into the water below.  He pushed off the pylon and swam away from the fray.  On the pier, Xiaoyu tried to hold his ground while being increasingly surrounding.  He leaned backward waving his baton 360-degrees around his body to keep the surrounding officers at a distance.  He turned in all directions trying not to stay stationary, aiming his feet and baton at anything he saw.  He kicked one officer in the shin and pushed him back into his colleagues.  As he turned around, he felt a firmly gripped baton crash into the back of his head, sending him to his knees.  His vision blurred and he saw only the legs of the officers.  One more crack from the baton and Xiaoyu hit the cement floor of the pier, unconscious. 

Xiaoyu woke up in a simple room with simple walls, simple chairs and simple table.  The walls were painted light gray, police gray.  The table was solid cast aluminum as was the chair he was sitting in and handcuffed to.  His hands were behind his back cuffed to the back support rung between the legs of the chair.  His head ached and his sinuses hurt.  The room was new to him, but it felt familiar.  He looked around and saw nothing but the gray walls, until an idea came to him.  He turned his head to the left, feeling his stiff neck crack.  Looking up in the corner he saw something he had used but never seen before—a video camera—the camera that recorded the conversation between Deni Tam and Inspector Mak.  He was in the same room where Deni Tam expressed the depths of his paranoia and made a deal to kill Uncle Woo.  He was at Hong Kong Police Force Headquarters.  Although he couldn’t leave, he was in the heart of the Moons’ territory.  Xiaoyu understood someone wanted to talk to him, otherwise he would have been in a holding cell.  There had to be someone who wanted to make a deal.  He was in the room where cops made deals with crooks.