The Money Is Green (25 page)

Brian blinked and nodded slowly.

“Aren’t the doctors here taking care of you? Mei Chen told me these were the best doctors in all of Hong Kong.”

When the name Mei Chen was said, Brian squeezed Jason’s arm harder. “Mei, she’s giving me poison,” he mumbled in a barely audible voice. “Get me out.”

Jason straightened up. Poisoned? He looked around the room and saw a chart attached to the end of the bed. He reached out and grabbed it. The writing was in cryptic Chinese doctor speak and he couldn’t make any sense of it.

He leaned back down to Brian’s ear. “Why do you think you’re being poisoned? Do the doctors know about that?”

Brian nodded as a tear built up in the corner of his left eye. “Every time Mei shows up, she does something and I get worse,” he said haltingly. “When she leaves, after a few days I feel stronger. She’s coming back soon. You need to help me get out.”

Jason was stunned. Is it possible Mei Chen is poisoning Brian? But what if he’s right? There are too many strange things swirling around Mei. He paused for a second. What about Andrew? Was she somehow involved? A better question is, how am I going to get Brian out of here and where would I take him? I have to be careful and keep a low profile, as Mei doesn’t know I’m in Hong Kong and she won’t be happy if she finds out, because she’ll know I’m checking on Brian.

Jason stood up and patted Brian’s arm. “I’m going to leave you for a little bit while I figure out what to do here. I don’t know how I’m going to get you out, but I will.” Letting go of Brian’s hand, he headed out the door. He turned and said, “Keep trying to get your strength up. I’ll be back.” He shut the door and moved down the corridor to the nurses’ station situated in the center of the floor. Two young women
in white hospital smocks were sitting at their desks typing on computers.

He stopped in front of the first woman and leaned forward on the counter. She stopped her typing and asked him, “Can I help you, sir?”

With his thumb, Jason gestured to the room behind him. “The patient in room 1431, does his doctor have any idea what’s ailing him? He seems to be in a lot of pain.”

The nurse half stood up and looked down the corridor. Then she answered, smiling, “Oh, you mean Mr. Thompson? His doctor doesn’t know what’s wrong. He’s run a lot of tests but found nothing. He guesses it’s a bad flu bug.”

“Has anyone run any test for poisoning?” Jason asked, looking back at Brian’s room. “I know the doctors have tested him for a lot of things, but has poison been one of them?”

The nurse shook her head, a surprised look on her face. “No, there have been no tests for poison. Madam Chen brought him in and consulted with the doctor. She gave strict instructions as to what to do for him. She thinks he has the flu, and that’s what the doctor thinks too. You watch, he’ll get better soon. It’ll go away.”

Jason thanked her and stepped away, heading down the corridor for the elevator. Nurses and orderlies brushed past him as they made their rounds around the hospital, but he barely noticed them. Mei Chen owns this doctor, he thought. If Brian is right, she’s going to keep this up until he dies, and no one will interfere. I need to get him out of here, but how? He pulled out his wallet and removed the card that the agent had given him in Nevada.

Once he made it to the ground floor, Jason hurried out of the lobby and walked down the sidewalk away from the entrance to the hospital. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number on the card. As he waited for the recipient to pick up, he glanced around the hospital grounds, which were lush with well-kept flowerbeds and manicured lawns. He spotted a young man in dark sunglasses leaning on a white Mercedes across the parking lot, about fifty yards away.
He was staring intently at Jason. Jason could see the silhouette of another man inside the car, also looking his way. Oh crap, have I already been spotted?

A voice came on the phone, which startled him. “Hello?”

“Agent Namath, this is Jason Ballard. I’m going to need your help.” Jason then explained the situation regarding Brian, the possible poisoning, and his treatment at the hospital.

After he finished, Agent Namath paused for a second. “Madam Chen has a lot of tentacles that reach into many parts of that society. It doesn’t surprise me that she has a doctor in her back pocket. From what you’ve described as his symptoms, my guess is she used glycol to poison him.”

“Glycol? What’s that?” Jason asked.

“Anti-freeze, the stuff you put in your car. It’s clear and odorless and if you slip it into a drink it will become lethal. It attacks the kidneys and causes them to fail. If the medical team isn’t looking for poison when they’re treating a patient, it’s overlooked and the patient will eventually die.”

“If we get him out of that hospital and to another doctor to treat the poisoning, can he be saved?”

“It depends, Jason. It depends on how much he’s ingested and for how long. But for sure leaving him where he is will be a death sentence. This will not be an easy task removing someone from a hospital who was placed there by a high-ranking Party member.” The agent paused for a second and then continued. “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll make some calls and see what we can do. Have you found anything out on your end about a connection between Mei Chen and the gun running?”

Jason couldn’t help noticing the guy on the Mercedes was still staring at him. “I haven’t had a chance to check out much, since I came here once I heard that Brian was in bad shape. I was going to check out Mei’s suite here in Hong Kong since she always allows me to use it when I come here. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Okay, Jason. I’ll get back to you soon.”

He hung up and moved to the curb to hail down a passing cab. He directed the driver to the Grand Hyatt where Mei’s suite was located. As they drove, he kept turning and looking out the back window, trying to determine if they were being followed. The traffic was semi-heavy and he could only see a few cars back behind them.

The driver pulled into the circular driveway of the Hyatt and parked beside the main entrance. A young valet dressed in a neat, sharp uniform with a captain’s hat rushed to open his door. Jason threw some Chinese money at the driver and headed toward the entrance, the valet following behind with his one suitcase. He stopped at the entrance and scanned the driveway entrance and the road behind it. If I was followed, they’re good at not being noticed.

The elevator ride took twenty seconds, and he ended up on the twenty-first. He opened Mei’s suite with his key and allowed the valet to go in and set his suitcase on the floor. As he left, Jason handed him a twenty-dollar bill. The young man tipped his hat with his white-gloved hand and bowed. “Thank you very much, sir. If there is anything you need, please give us a call.”

“I’ll do that,” Jason said as he shut the door. He turned and scanned the living room where he was standing. It’s just as I remember from the last time. Nothing’s changed. He wandered from room to room, checking for anything that might be out of place, but everything was as he remembered it. I shouldn’t be surprised. This place has daily maid service and Mei would demand perfection.

He shut the bedroom and wandered to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, he checked the contents inside. Let’s see, he thought as he moved items around—orange juice, lettuce, various vegetables, a few apples, and a couple cartons of Chinese takeout. He picked up one of the cartons, opened it, and took a sniff of its contents. Hmm, that actually smells good.

Setting the carton back, he scanned the shelf of the door. It was crammed with jars of relish and condiments. Jason picked them up
one by one, looking at them closely, then set them down in the exact same position he had found them. He bent over to look on the second shelf and picked up a small clear jar hidden behind some mayonnaise that looked like it had been previously used as salad dressing container. He held it up and saw it was half full and contained some type of clear liquid. Unscrewing the lid, he put his nose up to it cautiously and took a sniff. There’s no smell, he thought. I need to save some of this.

Moving to the other side of the kitchen, he opened the cabinet door next to the sink. He studied the small empty glass jars that lined a middle shelf and grabbed one. Pouring a small portion of the clear liquid into the jar, he placed the original container back on the shelf on the refrigerator door. Whatever doctor ends up treating Brian, he’s going to need this, he thought. Returning to the living room, he bent down and set the bottle inside the side pocket of his suitcase.

Standing up, he turned and looked down the hallway, noticing the third bedroom had the door closed. He went down, opened it, and stepped inside. Mei’s large-screen computer sat on an ornate desk in the center of the room. Two upright file cabinets stood against the opposite wall. A large white couch sat across from the desk with a huge watercolor of a cherry blossom limb hanging behind it.

I’ve only been in this room a few times, he thought. I wonder what she’s got in here. He sat down at the desk and turned on the computer. While it booted up, he perused the papers stacked neatly in one corner. The drawer in front of him was partially opened, so he leaned back and pulled it out all the way. He became aware of the loud ticking of the antique clock hanging on the wall behind the desk. He turned and looked at it for a second. Wow, it’s already four o’clock, he thought before returning his attention back to the contents of the drawer.

Paperclips, highlight pens, and business cards were set neatly in a plastic organizer, which filled most of the drawer. He slid the organizer forward and reached to feel around the back of the drawer.
His fingers felt a small metal object hanging by a nail on the back left. Pulling it out, he saw it was a small key. He looked over at the file cabinets on the opposite wall.

In a second he was across the room and had the key inserted into the first cabinet, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried the lock on the second and it popped open. Standing to the side of the cabinet, he pulled it all the way open.

Manila files were neatly stacked in folders hanging from metal rods on either side of the drawer. With his fingers he thumbed through them, glancing at the labels. He came to one and pulled it halfway out of the drawer. The label, in Mei’s handwriting, read: “Congressman Waters.”

He frowned as he pulled the file out and opened it. Is this the same Congressman Waters from San Francisco? He saw that the file contained a series of faxes between Congressman Waters and Mei Chen. None of the faxes seemed to contain anything important, except one caught his attention. A chill ran down his spine. There was a copy of a news article from
The San Jose Mercury News
on Andrew Dillon’s murder. He re-read the handwritten note at the bottom of the fax again to make sure he understood it.
Thought you might be interested
.

Jason studied the fax and checked its date. April twenty-third. He sat down and leaned back in the chair, holding the letter, trying to gather his thoughts. That’s the day after Andrew Dillon was murdered. What is Congressman Waters referring to? Would he know that if Andrew were dead Earth-Sun would pull their bid for Copper Mountain?

He continued looking through the letters, stopping at one more. The middle paragraph caught his eye and he read it out loud. “‘The desert tortoises are no longer an issue. An environmental assessment on endangered species is being prepared by a firm friendly to my office, and we should receive a negative declaration giving the project the green light to go forward. Now that you are helping run Inter-
Power’s day-to-day operations, both it and Soltech will be in a position to greatly profit from the funds set aside for such projects in the stimulus bill. Please don’t forget your good friends who helped you get this project funded.’

“So that’s how Antelope Valley got approved,” he said to himself. “They moved the tortoises away. That project should have taken two more years to get its permits done. Now I know why and who was behind it. Was Brian involved in this too? I hope he wasn’t involved in something so illegal.”

A loud banging on the front door made Jason jump. He swallowed hard. This can’t be good, he thought.

T
HIRTY
-T
WO

C
rystal held the bed sheet tight up to her chin and stared at the ceiling. The room was dark except for the small nightlight in the far corner of the room giving off a soft glow. Her heart raced in her chest as she lay there, silently listening to the shallow breathing of her friend Amber, who was sound asleep in the bed next to her. Since her dad had left for China two days ago, she had been staying with Amber’s family.

Picking up her cellphone, she activated it and it glowed, showing her the time: 11:30. Ambers’ mother, father, and brother had gone to bed an hour ago, and the whole house was deathly quiet. The sound of a car slowly approaching made her excitement grow. She threw back her covers and reached down to find her tennis shoes under the bed. Silently, she laced them up, picked up her small suitcase, and tiptoed out of the room. She made her way to the front door, where her backpack sat. Carefully, she unlocked the door and slid outside.

She spotted Steve’s car across the street, its engine idling. Without hesitation, she made her way to him, flung her belongings into the back seat, and jumped inside. She barely noticed an older boy sitting quietly in the back. Clapping her hands together excitedly, she squealed, “Let’s go! Let’s get this thing on the road.”

Trying to act as cool as possible, Steve threw the car into gear and headed away from the house. “Well, are you ready for this adventure? We should be in North Dakota in a day or two.”

“This is all I’ve been thinking about for a week.”

“Oh,” Steve said casually as he looked in the rearview mirror. “That’s my cousin, Jimmy, sitting behind you. He wanted to tag along because he’s never been outside California. Besides, he’s twenty-one. When we get outside of Utah, he can buy beer for us.”

Crystal turned and looked at the youth sitting behind her. He wore a dirty tee-shirt, and his hair was greasy and unkempt. A cigarette dangled from his lips and he gave her a wry smile. This guy looks like he just got finished dumpster diving, she thought. I hope he doesn’t turn out to be a jerk. She smiled a nervous smile at him. “Hi.”