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.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


Comments

  1. 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sarge. I'm just as curious as you are to see where it takes me, LOL.

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