The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (42 page)

“
I’m not ripping it apart, someone else is moving quicker than I am
,” said Xiaoyu, “
I’m doing what I’m meant to.  You can make something complicated out of something simple.  Or you can follow me like you’re meant to
.”

“
Why say someone else?  Why don’t you say his name?  You’re the Jade Soldier.  You’re not afraid of it
,” said Liu Ping.  Xiaoyu got up from his blanket and walked toward the far wall.

“
The one who celebrated after Uncle Woo was killed.  The one who stole and blamed it on others.  The one who killed my mother’s brother and took pictures to record it
,” said Xiaoyu, “
Deni Tam
.”

“
Is this personal or you doing what you’re meant to
?” asked Liu Ping.

“
You see this
?” said Xiaoyu showing the tattoos on his arm, “
There’s no space between lines.  No place where the ink ends and the skin begins.  It’s all just me.  I’ll kill him no matter the consequence.  If the Moon Dragons are over because of what I do, then the Moon Dragons chose it themselves
. 
Because they chose me.
”

“
You’ve waged a war against the other Triads.  What will become of us if we turn against ourselves
?” asked Liu Ping.  Xiaoyu turned around and looked at Liu Ping.

“
You’ll know soon enough
,” said Xiaoyu.

• • •

Xiaoyu wanted witnesses, not caring about Triad rules.  Before daybreak, he would break two.   The modern Triads were against public execution.  They had lawyers for real estate deals but didn’t need telling the less witnesses the better.  The Triads had a Golden Rule of not killing in the presence of non-Triads.  If an example had to be made, it was to be made in front of those who needed an example.  All other deaths were dealt with discretion.  A member of the Hong Kong Police Force was an exception that proved the rule.  Xiaoyu’s war had already changed the rules.  His death had to be for a reason bigger than the rule itself.  In Xiaoyu’s eyes, the rule hadn’t applied since Uncle Woo’s death.  He wanted an uprising, by the public and the Police Force.  Most of all, he wanted all eyes to take a closer look at Inspector Mak and uncover his kept secrets.  Death was a silent partner.  After his death, Inspector Mak would be vilified under investigation.  Xiaoyu felt assured Mak would leave behind a paper trail of carbon copies, linking him to protections and payoffs.  Above all, Xiaoyu wanted to shame Mak and the Hong Kong Police Force.  If the rule against public killing was golden, there was also a Silver Rule—almost as important.  Out of respect for each other, the several Triad branches avoided creating a crime scene in outside territory.  If a member of a single-branch Triad started dealing on the side or stealing, it was to be kept in house.  Triads disciplined their members in their own territory, especially if the discipline was permanent.  The Triads respected each other’s territories.  The Golden Masters never minded Uncle Woo coming frequently to the
Mynah Prime Palace
.  His only interests were to eat, drink, smoke and be merry.   Had he come to wheel and deal, heads would roll.  Xiaoyu’s presence in the Masters’ territory caused the rolling of more than just heads. 

• • •

The sky was teasing, showing its colorful side before the onslaught of night.  It was a pre-spring Saturday—March 3, 2001—Xiaoyu’s twentieth birthday.  Neon lights competed with shoppers to own the coming night.  Two collaborating cars were parked in separate locations along Granville Road in Kowloon.  The black
Astra
was foremost and the green
GT
was 40-meters behind.  The plan was well thought out.  Only Liu Ping and Huang Sitian sat in the
Astra
.  The group would occupy Granville Road and watch Inspector Winslow Mak as he went in and out of shops.  Huang Sitian would be on the street to distract Mak.  A masked Yue Tian and Lin Jun would come out of the
GT
and close in shooting Inspector Mak’s legs out from under him.  Xiaoyu—without a gun—would come and finish the job with a pocketknife.  He wanted to leave a mess.  Yi Le would drive the
GT
.  Xiaoyu and the two others in on the murder would jump in the
GT
and leave Mak to bleed to death in the street.  The others would stay at the scene and call out activity.  Liu Ping was in command until Xiaoyu, Yue Tian, Yi Le and Lin Jun returned to Jervois Street.  Xiaoyu and the death squad would drop their car in a preordained drop spot, a parking garage on Bristol Avenue.  They would switch plates on the
GT
to confuse the drop point and leave in the
Civic
.  Xiaoyu would ride in the trunk so four men would enter in a
GT
but only three would leave in the
Civic
.  Xiaoyu saw himself standing out more than the others making him easier to remember and describe.  They were all safer with him in the trunk.  He would stay in the trunk until the car arrived in the Jervois Street garage.  

Inspector Mak was a window-shopper, he walked slowly up Granville Road surveying—inspecting.  He walked with a calm demeanor and visited one shoe shop for seven minutes out of forty-two.  The rest of his time was spent staring into windows.  Huang Sitian got out of the
Astra
and looked back at the
GT
.  He walked down Granville pretending badly to be casual.  He set his mind on the necessity of Mak’s death, a precursor to his limited involvement.  He told himself he was helping to put out a fire—that was not far from true.

“
Excuse me Sir, do you know what’s the time
,” said Huang Sitian.  The line was well rehearsed, then rehearsed for natural appearance.  Inspector Mak smiled.  Huang Sitian had a young face, even for a young man. 

“
It’s nearly eight o’clock
,” said Mak, “
You have somewhere to be
?”

“
Yes, in about fifteen minutes
,” said Huang Sitian.

“
You’re meeting someone here
?” asked Mak.

“
Around here
,” said Huang Sitian.

“
Where exactly
?” asked Mak.  Huang Sitian began to hesitate.  Mak’s eyes stared intently. The long seconds began to count themselves. Mak’s hand began to move steadily up toward the inside of his coat. Huang Sitian wanted to say something else but he couldn’t think of what else he might say.  The moment seemed to last too long.  But it all happened so quickly.  Lin Jun was first to fire a shot.  Although, he was supposed to shoot Mak in the leg he shot him in the buttock.  It seemed an easier target and he had a sense of humor after being stuck in the garage for weeks and weeks.  Yue Tian’s shot missed its mark as Mak tilted sideways from the first shot.  Yue Tian was aiming for Mak’s right leg but hit Huang Sitian’s shin instead.  The shot caused Huang Sitian to keel over and fall against a shop window.  The shot confused Mak.  After almost two decades on the Hong Kong beat, his instinct told him when an ambush was coming.  Seeing Huang Sitian shot in the leg made him change his mind about one thing.  He guessed Huang Sitian wasn’t part of the ambush.  He guessed wrong.  In all, the accidental shot saved Huang Sitian’s life but he wouldn’t see it that way.  Mak drew his gun from the holster inside his jacket.  He would have aimed at Huang Sitian but he tried to roll over and aim at Yue Tian.  Yue Tian was bumped from behind and had trouble regaining his balance.  Mak turned to aim his gun but his hand was kicked hard forcing his finger off the trigger.  No shot was fired.  A masked Xiaoyu leaned in with his knife drawn.  He locked his left arm around Mak’s face turning his head to expose his jugular vein.  Xiaoyu drove the knife as deep as he could into Mak’s neck.  He twisted the knife to compound the damage before pushing Mak’s head to the floor.  Some bystanders screamed, some just switched to the opposite sidewalk.  Others thought they were in a low-budget crime film.  Others did nothing or didn’t notice.  Xiaoyu grabbed Huang Sitian and put the knife to his throat.

“Say anything and I will kill you,” said Xiaoyu loud enough for bystanders.  Xiaoyu threw Huang Sitian over his shoulder and carried him to the
GT
.  Xiaoyu dumped Huang Sitian in the trunk.  Yue Tian and Lin Jun jumped in the back seat of the
GT
.  Xiaoyu had the passenger seat.  Yi Le had the engine running and accelerated around the block.  Yue Tian and Lin Jun lied down in the back seat, masks off.  Xiaoyu took his mask off as well.  The four men drove to the garage on Bristol Avenue and exchanged the
GT
for the
Civic
.  In the garage, the plan was altered by the presence of a wounded Huang Sitian.  Instead of putting Xiaoyu in the trunk alone, Xiaoyu climbed in the trunk while Yi Le and Yue Tian eased Huang Sitian in behind Xiaoyu.  Lin Jun switched the plates on the
GT
, from one phony number to the next.  Lin Jun, Yi Le and Yue Tian left the garage in the
Civic
with Xiaoyu and Huang Sitian in the trunk. 

Liu Ping was supposed to return to the garage with Huang Sitian.  Instead he returned alone and late.  He drove around Kowloon to make sure he wasn’t followed or suspected.  It was five-thirty in the afternoon, but their day was only half over.  Xiaoyu didn’t want Deni to find out about the attack on Inspector Mak.  Deni was a coward.  The attack on Mak would make Deni feel his conspiracy cracking; then a coward would want to run.  Xiaoyu wanted to get to Deni before he had the opportunity.  With a wounded Huang Sitian and tardy Liu Ping they were burning their own clock.  Huang Sitian would have to be left behind.  With a bullet in his shin, he would need to be looked at.  Xiaoyu had to think on the go.  He called Mr. Cheung and left Huang Sitian for him to find.  The same Saturday, Deni was scheduled to give a presentation at the
Harbour Gate Suites
.  Xiaoyu remembered the location.  It was where the Moons stowed him after he first received the
Mark
.  He spent four weeks alone on the ninth floor, free to do anything but leave.  It was the first time he met Deni Tam.

• • •

The hotel ballroom was nearly full.  There were fifteen tables and eighty four people.  Deni stood on a one-meter stage and the ceremony. He wore a three-piece light tan suit with light orange shirt and tie.  He had decided against a pocket square.   A large drop-down screen served as a backdrop to a presentation about expansion. The screen hosted a computer slide presentation with charts, figures and pictures.  The plan as it was explained was for the Moons’ hotels to branch into resorts in Macau and Australia as well as time-share condominiums.  Deni was making good on his promise to legitimize the Moons’ businesses.  But he was doing it without their knowledge.  The appropriately titled
South Moon Group
was based out of Macau, one of the dummy corporations the Triads setup to buy Hong Kong real estate.  For the time being,
South Moon Group
was still just a shell.  Deni was using the shell to protect his nest egg, the money he had been siphoning from the Moons’ less legitimate businesses.  Some of the money was found by Xiaoyu’s uncle—some.  It wasn’t much compared to the pot, but it was too much to overlook.  Deni blamed the theft on Li Xing and had him dealt with accordingly.  Xiaoyu mocked Deni for his paranoia but measuring the depth of Deni’s betrayal, he had every right to be paranoid.  After turning dirty money clean and using it to buy property and build a business, he could install himself as chief executive and pay himself handsomely, legitimately.  Uncle Woo selected Deni to lead the Moons because he had ‘a modern mind’ but Deni’s mind was too modern for Uncle Woo.  If guilty, Deni thought he was only guilty of thinking passed the Triads’ ancient way of doing business—trying to earn a dirty profit in a city undergoing a long-term clean up. 

Two thick-chested men sat in chairs on the right and left of the ballroom doors.  They weren’t Moons; they were private security personnel hired by Deni.  This was fortunate for Xiaoyu.  Had they been Triads they would have known whom they were guarding.  Because they weren’t, they thought he was just another local businessman—they had guarded many with little incident.  And they were unarmed.  Xiaoyu walked to the door paying no attention to the seated guards.  As soon as he grabbed the door handle, a strong hand grabbed his.

“
Can I help you
?” asked the seated man on the left, now standing. 

“
I’m here for my uncle
,” said Xiaoyu.

“
Your uncle’s not inside
,” said the man on the right rising to his feet.

“
No one goes in, sorry
,” said Lefty.

“
Mr. Tam is there
?” asked Xiaoyu with his free hand in his jeans pockets.

“
Haven’t seen him
,” said Lefty.

“
Now’s last chance
,” said Xiaoyu chopping Lefty in the throat then spinning to connect his right elbow to Lefty’s temple.  Righty swung a solid hook at Xiaoyu’s head missing as Xiaoyu shifted his weight to his left leg bending at the knee.  As Righty’s punch came and went, Xiaoyu stomped Righty’s shin with his heel, twisting forward counter-clockwise to end up slightly behind him.  Xiaoyu kicked Righty’s knee from the back catching him by the neck as he fell.  With a backward twist, Righty’s neck bone became useless and he fell face forward, creating a slight obstacle between Xiaoyu and Lefty.  Lefty froze in motion as his colleague’s body hit the floor softly, giving Xiaoyu time to grab his hand and twist it against itself.  Xiaoyu chopped Lefty in the armpit before cupping his hand around the back of Lefty’s head and tossing him forward.  As Lefty flew forward, Xiaoyu held his wrist firm causing it to twist enough for a compound break.  Lefty didn’t have air to scream because all air was knocked out of him as he hit the ground.  Xiaoyu raised his knee high and stomped on Lefty’s head leaving him unconscious with a fractured skull.  Xiaoyu hit redial on his cell phone to call Liu Ping.