PR15M: Whispers of Distorted Truth (Uncredited)
PR15M: Whispers of Distorted Truth
(Uncredited)
Pulling
the door shut behind him with a carefully controlled click, older brother Jianjun
paused with the handle in his grasp and released a long, slow breath.
“Fuck,”
he said.
“True,”
younger brother Liwei agreed. “What’s it been? A year?”
“At
least.” Jianjun withdrew his hand from the door and rubbed sweaty palms on his
thighs. “What’s with the old man that he can’t get over it already? One of them’s
dead, can’t he just accept the other one is, too?”
Liwei lifted
his chin in silent acknowledgment of the closed door. “You know that’s only
half of what this is about. You screwed up and now both of us are on the
list. You know as well as I do that succession was never guaranteed, never mind
without the old man’s support. And now look at us.”
“You’re
blaming me?”
“You went
too far. You should never have targeted those damn boys. You knew how he felt
about them.”
Jianjun
glanced at the door and scowled before rolling his head on his shoulders and
taking a quiet step sideways. “He was weird about them,” he muttered. “Why
couldn’t he have had a pair of dogs or something, like normal people?”
“If you’d
stopped over-thinking it right from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess
to begin with so how about you shut up now and figure out how to fix it, once
and for all? Like you should have when it happened.”
It was
clear Jianjun had a retort begging to be said but he bit his tongue and brushed
impatiently past his brother. “How hard can it be to find that white-haired freak?
How far could he have gone?”
Liwei
shrugged. “If it was that damn easy, why didn’t you find him already?” Ignoring
the vicious glance Jianjun shot back at him, he followed his brother from their
father’s house.
Taking
two separate cars, Jianjun the black Ferrari Portofino and Liwei the red McLaren
570S Spider, they pulled up nose-to-nose at the private docks where Jianjun’s yacht
‘Black Lotus’ was berthed alongside the much larger ‘Sea Dragon’ that was their
father’s. Jianjun cursed and spat before lighting a slender cigarette from an
onyx case embossed with a silver dragon. Liwei scratched the back of his neck
and stared out across the choppy waters of the harbor.
“Any
suggestions?” Liwei asked. “It’s been a year. Trail’s sure to be pretty damn
cold by now.”
“Let’s
drink,” Jianjun replied, flicking his half-smoked cigarette into the grey
waters and striding towards the Black Lotus.
“That’s
your suggestion? Pretty sure it’s those kinds of shitty decisions that got us
into this mess to start with.”
“Then
stay here and figure it out on your own.”
“I didn’t
say I wasn’t coming!”
Throwing
himself onto a sofa in the stateroom below the main deck, Jianjun waited for
Liwei to pour the drinks. He took his glass without so much as a nod and
sculled the contents, holding up the glass for a refill.
“Get your
own,” Liwei said, lowering himself into a recliner. “And glare at me all you
like because I’ve got things I’d much rather be doing than watching you dig us
a deeper hole.”
“Feel
free to go then, if you think you’ll be ok without me.”
Liwei
mumbled under his breath, downed his drink and stood, reaching for Jianjun’s
glass.
“That’s
what I thought,” Jianjun observed smugly.
“So?” Liwei
asked when they’d finally settled back with two bottles on the glass-topped table
between them. “What do we do? It’s not as if we can offer a replacement. It’s
the real deal or we’re screwed, and we both know it. Our reputations are on the
line here.”
“Reputation?
Honor. Face. Our fucking lives. Our whole bloody future hinges on us finding
that damn kid. Ah, fuck it!”
“None of
which gets us any closer to a solution.”
“Shut up
and let me think.”
They’d
polished off the first bottle and were well into the second when Liwei sat up
and put down his glass with enough force to risk a crack in the table.
“What the
hell?!” Jianjun startled violently enough to spill his drink into his lap. He
stood, swiping ineffectively at the liquor staining the crotch of his white
designer jeans.
“Home,”
Liwei said.
“What?”
“Those
bloody kids never once quit thinking about home,” Liwei elaborated, oblivious
to Jianjun and smiling with self-satisfaction. “It was in their eyes. You can’t
hide that shit, no matter how hard you try. And no matter how hard the old man
tried, he never completely owned them. If he isn’t there already, the kid’s
going home.”
“Very
helpful,” Jianjun grumbled, giving up on drying his jeans and instead stripping
them off. “And that would be where exactly?” he continued, hopping awkwardly on
one foot.
Liwei
stared at Jianjun, eyebrows raised. “You know you’re not exactly a poster-child
for credibility right now, don’t you?”
“Shut up
and tell me where to start looking.”
“For some
clean pants?”
“Very
bloody funny!”
“Just
saying.”
“Well,
don’t.”
There was
a creak from above their heads followed by the distinct sound of footfalls on
the deck.
“Fuck,”
they said in unison.
“It’s
Wang Wei. Has to be,” Liwei sighed. “Go and get changed before he decides to
report even more shit back to the old man.”
Jianjun
didn’t need to be told twice and was moving before Liwei finished speaking. He
closed the master bedroom door behind him at the same instant the imposing
presence of their father’s right-hand man, Wang Wei, appeared at the bottom of
the stairs from the main deck. Liwei dropped his head to blow a short breath
towards his lap in an attempt to gain his composure before standing to offer
Wang Wei a formal bow. If his father intimidated him, fair to say Wang Wei put
the fear of the ancestral gods clean through his bones. Wang Wei scanned the
stateroom, dark brows furrowed over darker eyes. Liwei pointed at the bedroom.
Ignoring
Jianjun’s absence, Wang Wei reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a
folded manilla envelope, offering it to Liwei.
“What…?”
“Background
information. I thought it might prove useful.”
“I…”
Wang Wei
shook his head and leaned forward to fix Liwei with a piercing stare. “Just
find him. There’s more at stake than you realize, not least of which is your future,
never mind your survival. Contact me if you need anything else and, just a word
of warning. Don’t tell anybody else what you’re doing. Both boys are dead and
the fight was the end of it. Understood?”
Liwei
nodded silently and Wang Wei dropped a hand unexpectedly to his shoulder. “It’s
about time you grew up, Liu Liwei. Never assume anything is exactly as it
appears.”
“What was
all that about?” Jianjun asked, emerging from the bedroom only after Wang Wei’s
departure. “He didn’t stay.”
Holding
up the envelope Wang Wei had given him, Liwei scratched absently at the earring
in his left ear.
“Just
this,” he said. “The information you should have been able to find.”
“No shit?
He’s helping us?”
Jianjun
took the envelope, opened it, and slid the contents onto the coffee table. Picking
up their empty glasses, Liwei cast him a speculative glance. Had Jianjun heard Wang
Wei’s quiet aside to him? It didn’t appear so and he was in no hurry to offer
any enlightenment on the matter. “Another?”
“Bring
another bottle.”
Sinuous
tendrils of incense smoke spiraled through the carefully constructed shadows surrounding
the silent figure behind the dark teak desk. He looked up from an open ledger
only when Wang Wei stood directly before him and bowed deeply.
“You’re
back. He took the bait?”
Wang Wei dipped
his head in affirmation. “Was there any doubt?”
“No. He’s
as predictable as his father, and equally as foolish.”
“Are you
going to tell me why now? Why do you care about the old man’s obsession and why
involve Liu Liwei? I thought the plan was to destroy Three Swords.”
The man
behind the desk smiled. “And this is why you’ve only ever played the role of
nursemaid to a fool. Destroy it? Why would I do that? I want to consume it and,
to do that, I need to keep it from falling apart. It requires a coup, not a
revolution, understand?”
He tapped
scarred fingers on the desk and studied Wang Wei with narrowed eyes.
“Liu Bao
never knew what he had and certainly never knew how to use it as it was meant
to be used.”
“You mean
the boy? The one you’re now using Liu Liwei to find?”
“He
created a weapon we can use against him and, at the same time, he never
understood the power the weapon had.”
Wang Wei
frowned. “I don’t understand. Are you saying the boy is some kind of
super-soldier?”
“Of
course not! This isn’t a Hollywood movie! I’m saying that there’s more to that
boy than Liu Bao has any understanding of and he never bothered to look. To
him, the boy was no more than a diversion, which became an obsession. He should
have looked deeper.”
“I don’t
follow. And what does this have to do with Liu Liwei?”
“Do you
know what power is, Wang Wei?” There was no reply and he nodded, sweeping a
hand around him to indicate the lavish surroundings wreathed in smoke and
shadow. “Power is being able to take a life with the snap of your fingers. And
I’m not talking about killing someone. That’s easy. No, I’m talking about
changing Fate and subverting Destiny.”
He leaned
forward and fixed Wang Wei with a penetrating stare.
“I have a
degree from Harvard. I speak six languages fluently. I rub shoulders with Presidents
and Kings, the royalty of business and nations alike. And I could bring them
down in a heartbeat with what I know. Understood?”
“I…”
“Power in
this day and age is no longer about strength, it’s about knowledge. I want
Three Swords. I want Liu Bao’s connections and networks. But I can’t just walk
in and take it from him at the edge of a blade. The house has to fall from
within and somebody is going to take the blame before I step in and put it back
together.”
“Liu
Liwei.”
“Yes. Liu
Liwei will be the sword I wield against his father and his brother and his
sword will be the boy Liu Bao wants back so badly. And when it’s all done and
Three Swords is mine, I’ll take the boy, too.”
“Are you
going to tell me why? What does the boy have that you want as badly as Liu Bao
does?”
“When
both Three Swords and the boy are within my grasp, maybe I’ll tell you. Until
then, just keep in mind that your life hangs in the balance right now. If anybody
discovers the game you’re playing…”
A shrill
buzz interrupted the somber atmosphere.
“It’s
him,” Wang Wei said.
“Answer
it. For now, at least, you’re still his man.”
Gripping! Intriguing! I want to read more .... I can’t wait for the story to unfurl... I can see this as a movie also Lt! So proud xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarge. I'm just as curious as you are to see where it takes me, LOL.
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