by Alexandra Kitty
I
Kreisbuch Gipfel
302.785
The Cyclet
Introduction:
In more prosperous regions in Asia, some Sphere 8-12 members, all male, have insisted that their full position in the event of their death, be passed on to their eldest son. This transfer of power may be problematic if the higher Spherists do not plan for this passing of the torch ahead of time. It is imperative to keep track of all regional members and preferably promote those without children or those with female children.
However, there can be many advantages to the transfer and the key is strategy. Ensure the passing of the elder is well-planned and unforeseeable to them, then ensure the passing is untraceable; thus the transfer occurs when it is most convenient for your interests.
Also ensure to be ready to promote a qualified candidate of your choosing, by positioning the inheritor to fail; thus replacing the weaker candidate with a stronger one.
Definition:
The inheritor should be made aware through subtle means of his inherent inferiority. The terms for such individuals is Cyclet, and though it is a powerful psychological tool, it should be used sparingly in key conditions:
- 1. After receiving the initial vote of confidence from Spherists in Realms 15-21, such a term should be whispered by an underling from Spheres 2-8. The initial Echo Trip lets the Cyclet know that he will not gain the support of subordinates. He will attempt to deflect the insult by using a facade of confidence and ruthlessness, causing him to make his first blunder.
- 2. After failing his First Trial directly from Spherists from his father’s level. The tone should always be one of caring and warning, letting the Cyclet know that unless he improves, he will bring great shame to the family and dishonour the Great Man his father was. He will now know he has no support from his peers, isolating him further.
- 3. After failing his Third Trial directly from his superiors with a tone of disgust and anger. The Cyclet should already be in a precarious financial situation with no chance of shoring up support or funding to recover. He will now be keenly aware that he does not have the confidence or respect of his elders, and that his options are limited while his situation is hopeless. It is imperative that the shaming not slide into name-calling or rudeness, or else the Cyclet may blame the Hierarchy and not himself for his failures.
Characteristics:
The Cyclet will be a young man with limited or no practical life experience, and thus, will be greatly inferior to his father. His mind is not an asset; thus it is imperative that his removal be a quiet and smooth affair.
His initial personality traits will be of a spoiled and swaggering prince with delusions of grandeur and a strong sense of entitlement. He will be proud of his family’s legacy and assume he is intellectually superior to his father. He will be arrogant and reckless, believing he has the absolute right to be disrespectful to anyone who is not like him. He clings close to his chosen In Group, taking the role of enviable leader among them. He will be a flashy dresser with many fleeting lovers and mistresses and will openly boast with in camera tales and secrets. It is important at this early stage that his circle of sexual companions come from the Sanction in order to minimize any intelligence leaks; thus it is up to the appropriate Cogwheel to guide him to these individuals on a convincing pretence. If he should stray from the Sanction, his companion(s) must be disposed of discreetly and immediately.
After a careful and subtle campaign to undermine the Cyclet’s confidence, he will make a dramatic shift. He will be more desperate and submissive, willing to make sacrifices to gain the critical respect of his elders. This shift will result in a greater deference to Superiors, a friendlier demeanour toward his peers, and a hardened attitude toward his subordinates. He will deliberately isolate himself from his mother in a bid to seem more adult and independent, creating a void where a Sympathetic Agent can become a surrogate parent to him, guiding him toward the Desired Outcome while positioning him toward the third phase of his removal. It is preferable that the rift be an antagonistic and hurtful one; so that his family do not raise questions after the Desired Outcome.
The final phase will instill enough fear and uncertainty in him to become suggestible to whatever is the Desired Outcome. It is still preferable to give him the illusion that he chose this outcome on his own volition over telling him directly what he needs to do. At the appropriate time, maximize the utility of his removal, with careful consideration of the timing, his replacement, and the optics of his removal. The optimal removal is quiet, natural-looking, and the transfer should be smooth, bringing feelings of optimism and relief to his peers and subordinates alike.
The Desired Outcome is one that takes every Cogwheel into consideration. It should be studied and flow naturally and such an outcome relies on timing, optics management, and strategy. Do not lament a Cyclet’s inclusion; instead, use his inexperience to your fullest advantage to consolidate your power base and take whatever assets the Cyclet inherited before his removal. If done correctly, it will boost revenues, compliance, and morale, while creating the appropriate and psychologically advantageous myth of karmic justice.
II
“And then the mistress turned her camera to him and showed him the video she made of them in bed,” said the animated woman in her faint Bulgarian accent. “The wife does not suspect yet – she brags about how nice he is because he buys her flowers every week and she bosses me around so that she feels like an important woman.”
“Well, you do not have to work there much longer, Bisera,” I replied as I poured another cup of Irish Breakfast tea in my favourite Clarice Cliff cup, being careful not to spill any on my equally favourite black turtleneck sweater. “Which mistress was it? The new one?”
“Yes, she is young and foolish. She thinks he will leave his wife and marry her because she has the only bouncy bosom in the whole world. She has no idea she is just to show his colleagues he is still a strong, virile tycoon who knows how to seal the deal with a whole collection of bimbos. Do you think his rival suspects?”
“Yvette is still babysitting Mrs. Pringle’s children until seven o’clock. I will get a report from her and then send word to you. If she does call in, you know what to do.”
The woman got up and gave me a thumb’s up. “Yes, I do. If the wife’s father has proof his son-in-law is into the hanky panky again, he will cut her out of her inheritance and she will have to divorce the husband, meaning he has no more money to fund his pyramid scheme and he will be in shambles, forcing La Nuit and the Circle to stop their bidding for his real estate company.”
“Pringle will try to pick up the slack, but he will not have enough assets to liquidate to both placate his greed and those he bribes. I will let you know what Yvette reports so that you make certain the father-in-law can stumble across that video.”
“Such a complicated life these fools live. My brother Pero loves the stories I tell him now. He says he is not surprised anymore I left the police force for this job at all – oh, which reminds me, say hi to Chika for me.”
“I will when I see her. Presently, she is on assignment in New Zealand and in the thick of things.”
“I miss our lunches together. She has a good Jollof Rice. By the way, how is Katerina? Has she retired from our little group?”
“Katerina is doing very well, but she and I got to talking the other day, and she misses the adventures already and has come up with a few very intriguing alternatives. We will test run a few with a little method research, and if those theories work out, we will open a whole new world of silly fun for all of us.”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful! Are we having our get-together at Carnivalia this year?”
“Everyone always wants it there, even though I am willing to hold it anywhere and spare no expense. It’s in Queen’s Heights, after all, and who can say no to their apple pies and quilts after going on their rides and watching a few of their comedy revues shows at the Brava Warehouse and Magician’s Roar?”
“Yes, but the rides are what make it so wonderful, such a rich history of the town – Alena’s Heart Race, Beau Stoney’s Debonair Journey to Adventure, Liselle’s Ramblin’ Boat Ride, the Matryoshka Chase, Abbie Cadabra’s Soul Spinning House of the Impossible, and I hear the new ride is the most mind-blowing one of all.”
“Yes, Verity Lake’s Journey of a Thousand Revelations completely challenges your perceptions of reality.”
“Is it really that life-altering?”
“It is not just a ride, but a deep philosophical and symbolic map of the beauty of love and truth all while being jolted, thrown, and repeatedly convinced the ride has gotten off the rails and that you are plummeting to your certain death.”
“Then we must go!”
Bisera left for her assignment shortly after and I then went to my garden to spend time with my newest edition, a sweet and gentle Bardoka lamb I named Kipp. Kipp had arrived from Serbia, a gift from none other than Stephan Davidović, who found the orphaned sheep on his country vacation, and thought it best that it find its place inside my garden. The lamb had begun to trust me as well as its own instincts, and he was a playful innocent who was both loving and spirited.
As I began scratching him behind his ear, I could see a tall man of forty walking toward my house. He was an Asian man who came from money and had impeccable taste in business suits. He peeked above my fence, saw me, and tried the gate. Seeing it was unlocked, he walked purposefully toward me before stopping.
“You are the Red Queen,” he asked solemnly with the faintest of accent.
“That is right.”
The man paused as if he were confused. “I don’t know which deck – it may be two. Is that all right?”
“Of course. I can read more than one at once.”
“Tarot and playing cards. Please.”
“Come right on in, sir, and we will untangle the business problem from the political one.”
The man looked relieved as he sprightly walked beside me as I picked up Kipp and took him into my office. The man turned to me and smiled. “I heard your great love is animals.”
“Flora and fauna.”
“Is that why you are at peace? They say you are the world’s most dangerous woman.”
“I am as gentle and loving as this lamb. That is why the wicked fear me so. Now, let me put on a nice kettle of tea and we can discuss why the Circle are so adamant in trying to destroy you.”
III
“I know you insist on absolute transparency and I will abide by your wishes,” the man said as he sat across from Kipp and me in my office. “My name is Jianjun Zhao and I am a member of the Circle.” He then paused to see my reaction.
“All right, go on,” I answered calmly.
“My father was a member when he was alive and I inherited his title when he passed.”
“That is unique transfer of power in some of the Asian countries, from father to son. While they usually factor in lineage and give it some weight, they generally prefer their members to earn their stripes by demonstrating their cunning.”
“That is true. It is seen as very controversial in most places and even while we see it as a great honour, there is even a greater stigma attached.”
“Yes, the derogatory term is Cyclet.”
“I know this now. It is meant to mean ‘little circle.’”
“There is an unwritten rule that a Cyclet can never be invited to the Circle’s top tiers no matter what he does to prove himself because it sets up the seeds for the organization’s decline.”
“But other nations pass on torch to their children.”
“In a very specific way. Children are never told lest they share secrets to trusted friends and adults outside the Circle. They are only told mommy and daddy are superior to the rest of the world because they are ordained for unquestionable greatness, but it is only when they become teenagers that their parents let them in on the truth. The torch is passed because the progeny are finally worthy, but family always comes after the Circle and that is the reason cyclets are despised – their fathers want to give them the gift of the Circle when it is supposed to be the other way around – they are supposed to sacrifice their children as gifts to the Circle.”
The man nodded knowingly. “This makes all the sense in the world now, Miss Lyme. It puts much of my recent troubles in perspective.”
“It is a point of contention between two cultures, and if La Nuit can ever infiltrate high enough, they will try to exploit that rift. How many times have you been called a Cyclet?”
“Twice – behind my back by my subordinates and once by a colleague.”
“That is very bad. Two strikes against you.” I got up to find my top copy of the Kreisbuch and opened the page to the cyclet category and gave the book to Mr. Zhao to peruse. He read the passage and blanched.
“They are trying to kill me?”
“They want you to kill yourself. It is coordinated and not an accident by any stretch of the imagination. They already killed your father, making it look like a heart attack because there was a bigger plan in place.”
“I feel as if I am a doomed man.”
“Nonsense. You came here. It is the first step to escaping their clutches, but how do you feel about being in their clutches?”
“I did it because it was my father’s express wish as he lay dying in my arms, but I would have preferred to be without the burden. I was once a happy and carefree young man who preferred night clubs to boardrooms. I learned my father was on the cogwheel of manipulation. He had to pretend to have loyalty to his government when he was subtly influencing them to bow to the interests of the Circle. That was the job I inherited when he died.”
“I see. I notice that your English is impeccable, Mr. Zhao.”
“I went to school in Vancouver and lived several years abroad – in New York, London, Melbourne. When he was dying, I returned to Beijing. I was a party boy, Miss Lyme, I will not deny it. Had this been old times, I would have asked you out and shown you the time of your life.”
“From your demeanour, I can tell you would have delivered on your promise.”
Mr. Zhao cracked a sad smile. “Those days have been long gone now for me.”
“So when did the transfer happen?”
“Two years ago.”
“About par for the course in the life span of a cyclet. You have less than a month left.”
“It may be even less. Everything in my life seems unravelling.”
“Tell me about your situation then.”
“I lived abroad for years with no problems fitting in. It was problematic the day I took my father’s title. I suddenly faced discrimination from the very organization that I was told would shield me from danger that came from the unenlightened. At first, I thought it was racism, but when my fellow countrymen had doors open for them by outsiders as they returned the favour, I knew it was discrimination of a different kind.”
“Go on.”
“It was difficult for me. I was appointed a diplomat in Washington shortly after my father died. I knew next to nothing about diplomacy, yet I was a plenipotentiary agent. I made several gaffes on my first day and it was then when one of my subordinates called me a cyclet within earshot. I had no idea what it meant, but I soon discovered the truth and was determined to prove myself by closely aligning with one of my father’s closest friends who also worked in diplomatic circles. I did everything he told me to and somehow I survived for a year and a half without incident. I left the post to return to civilian life and thought my troubles were behind me.”
“What do you do now?”
“I stayed in Washington and on the suggestion of my father’s colleague, set up a company that facilitates economic relations between China and the U.S., but what I really do is ensure Circle-affiliated industries from both countries are free to do whatever they please, quite literally. Part of my job is to make sure the spouses of Circle members do not raise a fuss should their loved ones carry on with their lovers.”
“By the way, who is your father’s friend? I take it he called you a cyclet recently.”
“He did. His name is Rong Cheng who now has a high position in the government and until yesterday I would have thought he was my lone ally.”
“Something happened.”
“One of my fellow countrymen, Trent Lei, is an old friend from my university days, and he moved to the United States several years ago to start a security-equipment manufacturing company. He has done extraordinarily well for himself. It was easy for me to help him to make the right connections and skirt around the rules. He is still a party boy, Miss Lyme, even though he is married with children. He has had his fair share of mistresses, but he tires of them quickly and he comes to me whenever he needs to ship one off in a new country with a well-paying glamour job to get them out of his hair.”
“He keeps you busy.”
“I have been in business for less than a couple of months, and he has already had me take care of three discarded women, but it is the last one who has been source of my recent troubles. My job is to make sure the women are well compensated, but I cannot rely on his funds to do this since the trail would lead straight to him.”
“So you must find another industrialist who is willing to make a trade for a future favour that seems above board.”
“That is exactly how I must go about my work. It is a humiliating task.” Mr. Zhao paused as he seemed to be gathering his courage to speak before continuing abruptly. “The problem is she took some of his secrets, sold them to an up-and-coming rival, and now I have been accused by him of conspiring with her to destroy his burgeoning empire.”
“You are innocent.”
“I am not privy to his company’s secrets nor do I know this woman. I denied everything, but he did not believe me. I went to Rong and he said I was behaving like a cyclet and that was the reason Trent thought I betrayed him. He said if I was not careful, I would bring shame to my family, my country, and worst of all, the Circle.”
“The mistress’s deeds – do you know for a verifiable fact that she stole secrets or is that a mere allegation from another source?”
Mr. Zhao thought for a moment before he shook his head. “No, I have no proof, direct or circumstantial. My superiors in the Circle made the allegations.”
“It seems to me that the circumstances for the third mistress must have deviated in some way from the other two in one key way.”
“Yes, now that you mention it, there was a difference. The other two women were younger and uninterested in having a career. They wanted to be fashion models and finding them such a position was simple enough. The third woman made the situation a little more delicate. She was well-educated, somewhat older, and it seemed odd that she would engage in an affair with Trent at all. The other two girls were blonde, blue-eyed starlets, but Jia is of mixed heritage – her mother is Chinese, but her father is from Scotland. She is a serious woman and I had placed her in an executive position in a telecommunications company unrelated to Trent’s enterprise.”
“Now let us suppose the allegations are true and that she sold the secrets to another company.”
“The company has not officially opened its doors. It is called Elders Security Corporation and that they have information from a company that prides itself on security, the blow is humiliating.”
“Have you spoken to her directly? What has got to say for herself?”
“She denies everything. I was at a loss when I received a phone call this morning from her twin sister Yan.”
“Why did she call you?”
“She said her sister was acting very peculiar lately and she overheard her argue over the phone with someone and she sounded afraid. She could not hear the entire conversation, but she heard enough to fear for her sister’s life. She was convinced she was being blackmailed and she begged me to help her in the hopes that if I could clear my name, I would be more willing to pull her sister out of her situation.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I could not help her when I could not even help myself. I hung up, but a couple of hours later, I received a call from someone I knew who worked in the embassy and she said she heard about my troubles and she then told me to contact you because you knew all about the Circle and how to handle them, and here I am.”
“Do you know how to contact Yan?”
“She called me on my cell phone. I am sure her number is there.”
“Call her now. I want to talk to her.”
“Does that mean you will take my case?”
“Absolutely. They will kill you by the end of the week if I don’t. Besides, it seems as if the mistress may be guilty of something, but is being blackmailed into it, causing her sister to worry.”
Mr. Zhao took out his phone from his breast pocket and after he found the number and dialled it, gave the ringing telephone to me.
“Jianjun?” replied a hopeful female voice on the other end.
“It is his phone, but he has hired a consultant to deal with the mutual crisis he shares with your sister, and I am it. We are willing to help you.”
“I am willing to split the bill with him…”
“Fees will be discussed later; right now I need to meet with you. Where do you live?”
“In Washington, DC.”
“We will meet you in a couple of hours in a place of your choosing. Just give me the address and make certain you and your sister are safe. It is a dark business ahead.”
As I returned the phone to my client, he got up to read one of the framed musings on my wall.
“I know this one,” he said as I stood beside him. “The Circle mock it greatly.”
“Pity for their wilful and defeatist obstinacy. When Alena and Vivian Love first met Liselle Surette in Louisiana, she was about to be surrounded and murdered by a group of white gamblers who accused her of stealing from them. Vivian distracted them by setting a fire and Alena got Liselle out in the nick of time and hid her. The poor Love girls had no idea where they were or how they stumbled there and poor Liselle began to cry, convinced because of her race and her gender and that she was an orphan, she was destined to a life of confinement. Alena told her a version of this story to inspire her and then the three girls made a pact to find the one place that would never hold them back and when they couldn’t find it, they created it from scratch by founding the town of Queen’s Heights. Even though Alena told it first, Liselle added her own insights and it became associated with her.”
“A Cyclet is also a bird who cannot fly, Miss Lyme. Perhaps Jia has had her wings broken as well.”
“That is a theory that we need to test. It will help our cause greatly if we can meet her in person and provide a safe environment for her. Her sister has faith in her and that is a positive sign.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“We need her half of the story to see the whole picture and as Mao Tse Tung once said, women hold up half the sky. I will ready my plane as soon as I feed little Kipp here and his friends and then off we go.”
IV
Like the bird who cannot fly
A bird who cannot fly is a bird who cannot soar.
The bird cannot fly with its flock — its Inner Circle.
It cannot see the big picture.
It cannot move forward or upward.
What it sees are the same grains in front of it day in and day out.
Some birds fight or plot to escape, but the result is the same.
It cannot escape the fact that it cannot fly, and the reality of the metal bars sets in.
For the bird who cannot fly and cannot see, it stops singing and becomes depressed and broken, and a broken soul has broken wings.
But if the bird should be a Fool, the confines pose a silly little riddle.
“What do you see, really?” ask the grains around it, and the bird who cannot fly does a double take.
For even in its tiny range, it is given countless lonely grains so mundane that they have been ignored and taken for granted for endless moons.
So the bird begins to look closely, making the proper introductions with each and every one who whispers silly things to the bird, and somewhere along the way, the bird who cannot fly begins to walk the Magician’s Walk.
It floats higher than the birds who can fly and it finally sees the big picture.
The very picture it first saw in the flash of a revelation that those smaller grains showed the same answers to same riddles.
But it sees the birds in flight who still cannot see the answers or the big picture.
Their wings take them nowhere just as the birds who broke when they could not fly.
As above, so below.
But the bird who could not fly but could make light with its foolish ways sees the furthest of them all…
V
We arrived at Miss Yan Wilson’s apartment in record time where she was anxiously waiting for us. She took my white blazer and hung it in the closet before sitting us in her modest living room. She was an attractive, lithe young woman in her late twenties with an air of dignity of a woman who knew all too well how difficult it was to keep it. There were numerous pictures of her and her sister and it was clear from the chronology of the photographs that she had been raised in Scotland, then England before both arriving here in their late teens.
“You and your sister have been around the world, I see.”
“We were adopted as toddlers when our parents died and then our adopted parents died in a car crash and we were sent away to live with our grandparents who lived in London. Then they died when we were teenagers and we were raised by an aunt who lived here.”
“But the only constant in your tumultuous lives has been each other. You know how your sister breathes.”
“Every cadence of her breath, Miss Lyme. Something is horribly wrong. I can feel it.”
“I have discussed this with Mr. Zhao here and I have decided it is best that we are completely blunt with you, no matter how painful it sounds because if there is danger, and there is danger, it is best to face the truth than deny and delay a solution.”
“I can handle it.”
“Your sister is just like you. A woman of esteem and scruples.”
“Yes.”
“She would tell you all of her secrets.”
“Yes.”
“I bet you two have your own secret twinish language.”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Most twins do, but it is discouraged by parents, but since you have been repeatedly uprooted, I am sure that got under the radar.”
“Yes.”
“And just as you would do anything in the world to protect her, she would do the same for you. You two would look out for each to make certain neither strayed too far out for too long.”
“We only have each other.”
“No husbands in the picture. You two truly put each other ahead of anything else.”
“We are each other’s mother. That is the honest truth,” Yan said as her voice began to crack.
“So when I tell you this, I do not say to judge or dishonour Jia. I do not believe she was under her own volition when she was having an affair with a married man.”
Yan nodded. “I suspected it. I confronted her. She told me I shouldn’t listen to rumours, but I knew.”
“Furthermore, this man was not attracted to Asian women with a university education. He liked his women blonde and vapid. This man company’s secrets have somehow been stolen and there are people who are accusing her of taking it.”
“She really is in trouble. You don’t think she took those plans, do you?”
“I think whoever forced her to have an affair with this shady fellow did so to either set her up as the thief or did, in fact, make her steal those plans. Mr. Zhao is in trouble over this debacle, but he did not instigate the troubles with your sister. He was asked to find your sister a plum position with another company because the man supposedly wanted to end the affair cleanly. Your troubles are separate, but closely related.” I paused. “Have you ever heard of the organization called the Circle in the Sky?”
The woman shook her head. “No. Never.”
“How about La Nuit du Bas?”
“Neither sound familiar to me. Are they involved in this trouble?”
“Mr. Zhao is a member of the Circle and he inherited his father’s position and he is about to be murdered because the Circle look down on people who inherit their way to the top. They are not nice people, but the trouble is once you get in, it is impossible to get out and then I get called in to remove the person sensibly.”
“Was my sister involved with them?”
“Is her laptop or tablet here?”
“Yes.”
“If you can tell me the date of birth and give me her gadget of choice, I can tell you if she is in with either of them.”
Yan quickly left the room and followed my directions to the letter. I first typed “nightfall” in several languages, even going so far as to ask Yan if her and sister had their own word for it, but none were the correct password. When I entered the numerical code, that, too proved inaccurate.
“Miss Lyme, you could have just asked me for the password. It is ‘sparrow.’”
I smiled. “I only wanted to see if she was a member of either organization because they all use the same words or codes.”
“Maybe there is some important clue there anyway.”
“You know her password and I am sure you went through this machine to figure out what had gotten into your sister and nothing stood out to you. That is the reason you are not just baffled, but in absolute terror and despair. Because you know something is dreadfully wrong, but everything is in order and you know that is a lie. You checked her computer, her phone, her room, her coat pockets, her office, and her car. Someone called her on her phone and threatened her, but the number was blocked. It was only when Mr. Zhao’s number registered that you had your very first lead.”
“That is why I called him. He said he couldn’t help me because he was in over his head.”
“He did not lie to you. Now tell me about the mysterious phone call and what you think lead up to it.”
“Several months ago, my sister’s demeanour went through two very dramatic changes. First, she seemed preoccupied and uncertain, not afraid or secretive. Just pensive for awhile, then one day at dinner, she said something cryptic to me.”
“Which was?”
“I was her only family in the whole world, and she was finally content with just having one relative. She had always worried what would happen if something happened to one of us, but that day, she said she realized she did not want to be selfish or greedy and she was blessed with one sister who knew her so well. I told we would probably marry and have children, so we should keep that door open just a little, and she nodded and that was the end of that.”
“But the second change was the troubling one.”
“About three weeks later, she suddenly became more distant – it seemed even more dramatic because she just started to become more confident and secure. She was on edge and alert, and I thought someone was stalking her, but she said no. She seemed to go out of her way to shield me from her problems and her work started to slip. She would come home at the same time every day, but then her boss called here once and said if she took another long lunch like that, he would have to fire her. I told her, and she said she wasn’t feeling well and had to go to the doctor’s and if he couldn’t understand it, she would just have to find another job. Then one day I came home from work earlier than usual because my boss saw I was stressed and said to take the afternoon off. I did and when I came home, I could hear her screaming on the telephone to someone – I don’t know who it was, but I listened at the door so that she would not hang up. She said she did everything the man asked her to do, slid down every disgusting gutter so he wouldn’t make good on his threats and she had enough. She wasn’t going to do it anymore and he got everything he wanted and he didn’t need to bother her. She began to cry; so I knew the conversation was over; so I opened the door, but you know the rest.”
“Where is your sister now?”
“At work.”
“Her new job or old one?”
“A new one.”
“Call her, please.”
“She won’t talk to you.”
“If I tell her what I think is happening, she will open up to me. I can pull her out of the gutter without feeling shame and make the brute who threw her down there pay for his sins as he inherits those feelings of filth.”
Yan took out her phone and called her sister, but shook her head. “It goes straight to her machine.”
“Call her boss and say it is an absolute emergency and that you must speak to her now.”
“Is it that serious?”
“She would have seen your number and pick up. She may wish to avoid you, but she must keep the appearance that all is well and would have answered your call to make you stop worrying. Call her supervisor.”
Yan did as I asked, but the answer she received made her face blanch was abject terror. “She said she didn’t come in at work at all today. She said she called this morning and said she would be late because she had an appointment, but she didn’t come back yet.”
“When was the last time you heard from her?”
“Last night before I went to bed.”
“Call the police.”
“The police?” asked Mr. Zhao.
“Yes, don’t wait another second.”
“Should I tell them my sister was kidnapped?”
“Tell them she has gone missing after receiving a death threat over the telephone. I will try to retrace her steps, but the Circle have long ago obliterated them. I am sorry to tell you to expect the worst. I wish I knew this yesterday. Mr. Zhao and I will drop you off at the police station and I will go to your sister’s place of work. We will pick you up and take you to a safe house – under no circumstances are you to leave alone or with anyone else, including your sister. If by a miraculous chance she is there, she will come with us, not the other way around. She will not have a chance to use your childhood code to warn you to stay away. Stall her and let us know the second she arrives.”
VI
Mr. Zhao and I dropped off a despondent Miss Wilson at the nearest police station where she would file her report while the two of us then went to the sleek building where her sister was recently employed. Her supervisor looked at me with suspicion, and when I asked her how she felt about a Cyclet, she dodged my question and left quickly, confirming the obvious.
“This is a Circle playground and she did not like Jia. She was a stranger deep in enemy territory.”
“At least she allowed us to have a look at her desk.”
“A bad sign – it means any incriminating evidence is missing and any planted evidence is already in place.”
“They will say I was in on the conspiracy.”
“True, but there is a way to give you just enough space to get out safely all the same.”
“How?”
“By reporting the doctored evidence to police. I will then look after the Wilson twins.”
I took a look at her cubicle – it was a tiny space and hardly one that hinted of a generous bribe to a spurned mistress. There were no personal affects or photographs of her sister anywhere. There was a datebook opened to today and when I looked at the scheduled appointments, I shook my head.
“It says she had an early morning appointment to see her own sister. Now, there’s a fraudulent prop right there.”
“They lived together – there would be no need to make an appointment when they could discuss their issues at home first thing in the morning.”
“They will twist that lie, believe me. Do not touch anything, they would salivate at the chance of having your fingerprints on this desk.” I took another look at the desk. “Call the supervisor and tell her she will have to call the police as there is pertinent evidence on this desk.”
“But you said that is to frame Yan.”
“Yes, but do it all the same.” Mr. Zhao left and a minute later, the supervisor returned. “He says there is evidence on this desk? What sort of evidence?”
“Miss Wilson was accused of stealing information from another company and selling it to a new rival and for whatever inexplicable reason, she left evidence of her wrongdoing out here in the open for anyone to see. We have to go now, thank you.”
As we left the building, Mr. Zhao looked confused. “Why not take those papers with us…”
“It is not ours to take. That would be stealing. I did take pictures with my little gadget.”
“What were the papers?”
“A mediocre business plan for the elusive Elders Security Corporation.”
“It will look very bad for me.”
“Nonsense. If she was paid to steal information and then write up a business plan for it, then whoever paid for those services should not be running loose on the streets. Since you started a substantial business of your own, you would have most likely have written a business plan or at least hired someone good enough to write one that can secure a line of credit and decent investors, not something this vague.”
“So why place it there?”
“Either someone wanted to place incriminating evidence on Jia’s desk to implicate Jia and Yan and knew even an inferior prop will look convincing to a jury or Jia wrote it herself as a clue, though that is unlikely. It implies Jia was in deeper than merely stealing information, but why risk stealing and then blow it by writing something this sophomoric? Let us know go back to the police station and see how Yan is progressing. I wonder if Tanner Elders is a real person or a front for someone else.”
VII
Elders Security Corporation
This document contains confidential information. It is disclosed to you for informational purposes only. Its contents remain the property of Elders Security Corporation and shall be returned to Elders Security Corporation when requested.
This is a business plan and does not imply an offering of securities.
1. Executive Summary
Elders Security Corporation will launch this month. As a security device manufacturer and consultation business, the company will offer surveillance equipment and other non-obtrusive security measures for large venues, and personal consulting for clients. There are several investors and the groundwork for the company is in place.
This application is a request for funds to purchase components and machinery to start the business and to advertise the company to raise the profile of the business in North America.
1.1 Business Opportunity
Elders Security will offer unique and cutting edge security and protection for large commercial venues. In addition, substantial revenue will be earned through personal consultation available on the premises. This funding request is for supplies and marketing.
1.2 Product/Service Description
Security-related equipment can have a high failure or false positive rate that Elders Security will address by offering high quality equipment and software with movement sensors that are not vulnerable to false positives. The distinct offer is expertise, and the equipment simply facilitates operations.
1.3 Current Business Position
Elders Security is a business with a single principal Tanner Elders. Elders has worked in the safety and security business for 20 years, and has extensive experience in the field in both sales and testing. His specialties include providing equipment to commercial storage sites, colleges, sports arenas, and airports. The funding will make production possible immediately.
1.4 Financial Potential
The business profit expectations are extremely high. The company will generate strong cash flow, profits, and funds necessary to retire debt in a timely manner.
1.5 The Request
The request is for $2,500,000 in term debt to purchase the equipment. In addition, our request included $1,000,000 for advertising and $1,500,000 for working capital.
VIII
“Elders is the name that intrigues me,” I said as we walked up the stairs at the police station. “So far, you, Jia, Trent and Yan have been targeted in this debacle and, you from the same generation. That is not a coincidence.”
“So we must find out who is this Tanner Elders.”
“No.”
“No?”
“This is a misdirection – a ruse to use my resources toward getting to the source of the leak when a much darker game is afoot. There is Yan up there, and, gracious, her tears tell the whole dreadful affair.”
I ran up to Miss Wilson who ran up me and embraced me. “They found her body…”
“Where?”
“Behind the building where we live.”
“How did they kill her?”
“She was shot in the back of the head…and that’s not the worst thing, Miss Lyme. One of the officers has implied I had a hand in my sister’s death. They are asking me to an interview, but I told them you were my counsel and I would not go anywhere with them until I met with you.”
“I am not a lawyer, Miss Wilson.”
“I know, but I have no one else right now. What should I do?”
“Tell them absolutely nothing. Not a word. When did they say she died?”
“Sometime last night, from what I could gather.”
“When you had no alibi. You are being framed. I will get you an appropriate lawyer – one who owes me a favour and makes both the police and the Circle tremble with fear. No matter what the provocation, no matter what vile and disgusting thing they say, do not say a word. They want to know your weak areas and are probing, hoping you will tell them in the hopes of exonerating yourself. Let them grasp at the wind, and do not drink anything there. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do.”
I took out my phone and called an acquaintance who agreed to represent Miss Wilson. “Go into the interrogation room now. She will be here shortly. Just point me to the officer who made the accusation.”
Yan showed me the man watching over us, and I walked over, smiling, before whispering the attorney’s name in his ear. His face dropped before he angrily shook his head.
“That was fast,” he sneered at me.
I merely smiled, signalled to Mr. Zhao to come with me, and left the building.
“The Circle killed Jia!” he said breathlessly as we exited the station. “But why?”
“To frame Yan and you.”
“Will the lawyer help us?”
“It will put the police on notice that they cannot intimidate an orphan, but don’t get too relaxed – the detective has already accused me of being in collusion with Yan. His plan was to detain all three of us, but the attorney’s name drained him of his confidence.”
“How can you be certain?”
“He did not question us about our visit to Yan’s place of work and why we were there. You will fly back to my farm immediately and call your friend Mr. Lei to see how he is doing. I will meet you there after I make one more stop.”
IX
As I parked my rental car in front of Jia Wilson’s former employer for the second time today, missing my grey vintage Morris Minor that I left back home.
I walked back into the building, dodging security and then slipped into the office of the supervisor I spoke with earlier in the morning. “You have been a very bad girl,” I purred as I sat down. “You told Yan that you spoke with her sister Jia this morning, ah, and by the look in your eye I see that is true. She was already dead by then, and there is only one reason you lulled her with an obvious lie. You are with the Circle, and you killed Jia.”
“You cannot prove I said that to her, Miss Lyme,” the woman replied coldly.
“But I can prove you killed her on another man’s direct orders.”
“How?”
“I just got off the phone with your superior and told him of your error directly. He will cut you loose to save his own hide and where does that leave you?”
“He’ll kill me! He’ll kill me on your say-so!”
“I am not a detective. I do not need evidence to make my case. I need to un-rig the games and to do that, all I need to do is turn over the rules of combat. You did not follow the rules of a dutiful pawn, and now you can see how grateful your masters are for that. Good day, madam.”
“The police will still pin it on Yan! You’ll see!”
“Good. It is precisely what I want.”
“What?”
“I hired the sensible Athena Tallman to represent Yan, and she has unfinished business with the impossible Circle. This case gives her the perfect venue to finish what she started. You know how rabid Mrs. Tallman is in the courtroom. A ruthless, egotistical, grandstanding crusader who has no comprehension of boundaries or fair play and she always takes every case so very personally. I told your boss that was his punishment for killing an innocent woman and trying to frame two others. He will take it out on you, of course.”
“I have children!”
“Too bad they will not have a mother.”
“I am safer in jail than I am here!”
“That’s right, you are safer. Much, much safer.” I looked out the window. “I see they have already brought someone here to kill you.”
“You fink! What am I supposed to do now?”
“I can drop you off at the police station to make a confession and a deal, perhaps.”
The woman got up from her chair. “Let’s go.”
X
“At least they released Yan,” said Mr. Zhao as he fed my chicks and repeatedly dodged the ire of my rambunctious mule. “The woman confessed to everything.”
“Yet you two are still in mortal danger. Did you talk to Mr. Lei?”
“Trent is not in a good way, Miss Lyme. He was informed he will be audited, and his wife has been hit with a lawsuit over a breach of contract, but he did not go into specifics. Even his cousin has been subjected to a scathing newspaper article about his business practices.”
“And for the exception of Wilson Twins, you all were in the same clique?”
“Yes. Trent is in a humbler frame of mind. He apologized for accusing me helping Jia steal information and said he realizes now he is being isolated.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him when I gave him my word that I did not help anyone steal information, he cast me aside, and now I cannot trust him.”
“That is right. He may be trying to appease you to save his own skin.” I looked down at one of the infant fowls running around my feet. “Harriet is such a lovely little hatchling.”
“How can you tell them apart?”
“You saw that naughty mule of mine.”
“I felt him, too.”
“Well, he is in love with that little one and follows her lovingly around wherever she goes. That is why he smacks your backside – he is jealous of you.”
“Is that how you know?”
“Yes, she is the bad-ass chick around here. Someone is clearing a path, trying to take an entire group in the Circle. The question is why.”
Mr. Zhao considered. “I know why I am the target. Someone wants my position.”
“Both La Nuit and the Circle have inner games that they use to clean house. La Nuit’s secret game is called Birken, while the Circle’s is called Upsy Downsy.”
My client laughed. “That sounds like a game children would play.”
“But it is a complicated, dangerous, and rigged game meant to remove troublesome factions and instigators.”
“How do you know about them?”
“Because I played them both – and won.”
“You said the games were rigged.”
“I found their respective weaknesses and refused to play by their rules. Yet the game being played now is not Upsy Downsy.”
“What does that mean?”
“This is a Circle agent who has his own agenda and is trying to disguise it by playing an elaborate game. Do you still have a diplomatic pouch?”
“Yes. I am not supposed to, but I took a few to keep my good scotch in them for a keepsake. Why do you ask?”
“I thought of a magic trick to solve this mess and they would come in handy. Did you bring them with you?”
“No, they are home in Washington. I can give you a key to my house and tell you where they are.”
“Excellent. Tell me, does Mr. Cheng have a son your age?”
“Yes. He isolates his family, both his son and his wife who I cannot recall ever speaking in public. He allows only foreigners who cannot speak Mandarin to look after her so that she cannot reveal any Circle secrets to anyone.”
“He controls her life.”
“In every aspect imaginable. Even when he is away, which is for long periods of time. His only son is an odd fellow. Weimin is distant and quiet like his mother and very morose. He does not initiate conversations and does not engage in chitchat of any sort. He seemed even more distant lately, as if he were preoccupied.”
“There must be some quirk about him, Mr. Zhao. He cannot be that guarded and bland.”
“He is close to his mother. They both seem as if they are in perpetual mourning.”
“Not one singular trait about him?”
Mr. Zhao thought hard for a moment. “Once, he forgot the keys to his house and did not wish to bother his mother. He took a length of fishing line from his breast pocket, then tied three different knots and somehow could pick the lock with it and got inside. I was impressed for it looked as it would be an impossible way to unlock a door…”
“Did you say he used a fishing line with three distinct different knots? Like this?” I asked excitedly as I took out a piece of braided fishing line with three separate knots from my breast pocket.
My client examined it and nodded with equal excitement. “Yes. How did you come across it?”
“I made my own and it is called the Mungo Manoeuvre. Only seven people in the world knew it and until today, including myself in the tally, I only knew of six. Mr. Cheng’s son is the seventh and now it all makes sense.”
“It does not make sense to me. Can you please explain?”
“Certainly. Mungo Dunbar was a poor fisherman’s boy from Buckie, Scotland and he was a beloved figure in his hometown, except what the townsfolk didn’t know he was a legend in La Nuit as well – their greatest spy and strategist whose outrageous tricks and stunts remain unparalleled. He taught this trick to another agent called Nerve and she asked him to teach this to me. I knew she was testing me by bringing me to her mentor, but she did not expect him to show me, but when he did, her attitude toward me changed and she became more protective of me. What she didn’t know was that he was the only one who figured out why I was really there. I never thought he’d let me live, let alone teach me his secret. He called me a nice lady and said he would never hurt one and showed me how to make a key from braided fishing line. I realized he was showing me to present me with a puzzle from his past that he prayed I would solve in the future. I never knew why he showed her the trick, either, but now I can see they were kindred spirits.”
“You know how to solve this tangle mess?”
“This is the key to unlocking this mystery and Mungo, has shown me the way to finding the nice lady whom he loved. He became an alcoholic and died in an anti-climactic shootout not too long ago. Now it all fits together. It doesn’t matter how Elders Security Corporation fits in or who else is a target in this plot, all that matters is getting to the source of these games.”
“What will you do?”
“It is what you will do that will clear the matter up.”
“I will do whatever it is that you tell me to do.”
“A sensible answer, Mr. Zhao. First, you will fire me…let me finish, please. Third, you will call Mr. Cheng and admit someone suggested that you hire me, but when you got there, I was playing with a lamb in my office, and that saying the Circle always mocks was on my wall.”
“I see this very clearly now, Miss Lyme. What is the second thing I must do so that I can tell Mr. Cheng how I attempted to restore my honour without your counsel?”
“Do you have a particularly vapid mistress you must place?”
“Yes, quite a few, but there is one who has completely neglected her intellectual development.”
“Excellent. You call someone who owns a business who is on a somewhat lower level in the Circle than you and offer him your position in exchange for finding her an extremely lucrative position.”
Mr. Zhao’s smiled as he nodded. “Then fourth, tell Mr. Cheng about it.”
“By fully disclosing that you did not want to wait until your superiors called you a cyclet and chose to resign by giving the position to a worthy associate. He will be livid and scream at you, telling you this cannot be done. You will then tell him you know, but he could offer your friend something of equal value not to take it. He will have no choice but to call in a favour to keep that position open for his own son.”
“And what will you be doing right before I rehire you?”
“While you are distracting Mr. Cheng, I will be in Washington and then Beijing to use the key to open the right door. I may not be working for you then, but I am still actively working for Miss Wilson.”
XI
“Your maid Malka let me in, Mrs. Cheng, and I have come here because there are secrets,” I said softly in my yellow Empire waist dress. “Your wings have been clipped and you are stuck in this cage; so you do not know who knows your secrets and there are secrets you do not know.”
The beautiful and elegant woman looked down as I saw her shoulders tense.
“I am not an enemy, but I have the saddest of news. Jia was murdered on the order of your husband and Yan was nearly framed by him as well.”
Mrs. Cheng began to scream as she stood up, weeping. I walked over to her and gently held her shoulders. “They are the daughters you had in secret the year your husband was away.”
While Mrs. Cheng sat down again, I continued to speak. “La Nuit took advantage of his absence and brought in their own spy to infiltrate this lair – one of the cagiest spies they ever trained. He played a fool, but like the best of them, he was a brooding romantic with a soft spot for a damsel in distress because he was a villain in distress. You two fell in love.”
Mrs. Cheng nodded. “I never told my husband I was fluent in English, and Mungo was fluent in Mandarin, but he never knew that, either. He was my soul mate.”
“I believe you and I do not doubt for one second that he loved you, too. For the first time in his life, his demons saw salvation in you and bowed to your grace and gentle spirit. He wanted a life with you and your son.”
“He was so good to my son and loved him as if he were his own. Weimin was always so shy and afraid, and he learned to be brave with Mungo.”
“Your son looked up to the one man who could ever make his mother feel faith in love.”
“Mungo and I decided we were all going to escape together with Weimin, and my son was not displeased. Then I became pregnant – I was both terrified and overjoyed, and I knew now there was no other way. All five of us would have to leave here and make a life in Scotland.”
“Then something went horribly wrong.”
“Everything went horribly wrong, Miss Lyme. My husband came back early with a significant promotion within the Circle and that meant guards with more powerful weapons. I could not flee.”
“So the gilded bird had to use her strength to quietly open those bars to let those two hatchlings free.”
“Mungo went into hiding to raise the girls until he could figure out a way to get us out, but then fate intervened again and La Nuit found him. He had barely time to give the girls to a relative to raise.” Mrs. Cheng closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. “My son never forgot him or the day Mungo left, and he never told his father.”
“Because despite everything that has happened since, his first loyalty is to the woman who made a dangerous spy become their protector. In all his father’s endless games and calculations, he could never understand what it meant when someone showed him how to make his own key.” I took out the piece of knotted fishing line and Mrs. Cheng took it a sad smile.
“He taught Weimin every foolish trick he knew.”
“Thank goodness that he did. Please do not blame Weimin, but he heard that Mungo died, and he thought of his sisters and began to look for them.”
“He has placed all of us in danger…”
“No, no, he just wanted to see what life might have been like if all of you escaped. He got in touch with Jia and was shocked that neither she nor her sister was affiliated with either The Circle or La Nuit. He meant no harm.”
“Does my husband know?”
“He does not know enough, but the two of you must break free from this cage tonight right after your husband comes home and leaves to confront me. You have nothing left to lose.”
“How can we escape when he is on to us?”
“It is the only way to have your freedom and save Weimin and Yan.”
“As you said, my wings have been clipped.”
“But there are birds who can swim and even more who can walk.”
“The maid is instructed to tell my husband the second I or Weimin walk out the door.”
I smirked as held Mrs. Cheng’s hand. “She won’t tell a soul.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Malka is a highly trained professional who knows me well. Now, let us not waste another second. You have a child to mourn and I have to have a nice little chat with your husband.”
XII
The red dress was always the signal that the proverbial jig was up; however, the initial denial was so deep that often it took the person weeks or even months to come to grips with their downfall. On the other hand, some men and women were so relieved that I greeted them in a yellow outfit that they told me everything they knew without hesitation. I knew Mr. Cheng would be in denial until the very last second and I had to prepare this encounter carefully. He was still convinced he had full control over the situation and was not in the habit of looking for evidence that refuted his lofty theories regarding his superior intellect.
After waiting in my hotel room drinking a soothing cup of tea, I heard someone enter the premises.
“Mr. Cheng, I have been expecting you.”
The man merely smirked as if he did not believe me.
“How could you tell, Miss Lyme? Are you a mind-reader?”
“The red dress says it all.”
“You could have easily put it on as you heard the door open.”
“Whilst drinking a cup of tea? You know it is over. All is left is the negotiation on how you will compensate Mr. Zhao and Miss Wilson.”
“I admit a minor setback when you found the assassin, but all roads still lead to conspiring with Mr. Zhao who may have paid Jia Wilson’s supervisor to kill her.”
“Let’s not play games because they are an ugly way to lead one’s life. You are a far better player of Go than I will ever be. You played your naive charges extremely well. Go is the game of the true strategist, not Chess as so many people believe. All pawns are equal – no diva Queens who insist on having more perks than the rook, and no King who hides at the back of board.”
“It is a game that has gotten me far in the Circle. It is the most expedient way to choke your opponent.”
“The game of surrounding an enemy, removing one liberty after the next until they have nowhere to go but the grave. Jianjun’s father fell first, forcing his inexperienced son to take over, making him the perfect probe to test the waters for you. What is that move called? Yes, yosu-miru, such a mouthful to say.”
“If you have come here to capitulate, you are wasting your time.”
“I never capitulate to the wicked. You are a man who blackmailed an innocent woman to bed someone she despised to protect her sister, becoming a dead stone in your game. You terrorize Jia, and then you frame her sister Yan. You go on to isolate Mr. Zhao by framing him in another part of the board, then isolate him by attacking his only allies. You are very good at the game, you almost had an inspired move to prove that you had the hand of a god. You forced one of your underlings to tell Jianjun to come to me. You knew I would take the challenge. What fun you must have imagined as you slowly baited me on to your board until you had removed my last liberty. What a coup; a promotion within the Circle, all these potential threats to your own son are removed and it is he, not your rivals who get Jianjun’s position.”
“It is still mine to possess. As you say yourself, you are inferior at the game of Go.”
“That is your problem, Mr. Cheng, you came at me with a game I cannot play well, so I started to play a new one with no rules or confines. I knew you were planning something before Jianjun came to me. I did not know what or who you would target, but I knew you were gunning for me using an innocent man who had no axe to grind with me.”
“You are trying to save face with a bluff.”
“No bluff, Mr. Cheng. I don’t need them. I only regret that Yan’s sister was killed before I heard of the plot or else she would standing here with me. It all started when your wilful son started losing interest in being part of the Circle and you were losing control of him. How dreadful would this look to your superiors and underlings if he walked away from all that you built.”
“My son is an ungrateful simpleton who is weak like his mother.”
“Shame for you for disparaging your family. You started to have him tailed and someone told you about his meeting with a young woman who seemed to lift his spirits. You assumed he was starting to fall in love with her and you had to put a stop to any budding romance by showing her to be nothing but a filthy, gold-digging harlot, but you were wrong. Weimin was not looking for her because he wanted a girlfriend. He looked for her because she is his half-sister by his mother.”
At this revelation, the once smug Mr. Cheng began to lose his composure. I continued to speak.
“Yes, while you were away on your giant Go board, your wife was carrying on with a celebrated La Nuit spy who foolishly wanted to take her away to a nice little country house with the boy and the twin girls he fathered in your absence. Your son approved of this union…”
“He would never keep secrets from his father!”
“Oh, he did. Mungo Dunbar took Weimin under his mighty wing and he taught him how to survive and how to be careful. Your son went up the ranks begrudgingly but only because he hoped to be reunited with his mentor again. He found the twins your wife had in secret and he was both envious and in awe of them – neither had an easy life, yet neither one took to the Circle or La Nuit. He found the same hope his mother did when she met Mungo.”
“You are telling me filthy lies!”
“Just truths. You misread the entire board, forcing the innocent Jia to be degraded and then framing her sister for the murder, and then framed Jianjun for the non-existent theft, and when you were finished doing that, you framed Mr, Lei and his family with other sins not of their own making. They would all fall to their elder, your son takes over the cyclet’s lofty position, Mr. Lei’s fortune without anyone to love him and I am removed as a threat to the Circle. Once I unleashed Athena Tallman on the murder case, it began to unravel, and the best is yet to come for you.”
“Weimin will get the position in the Circle, regardless…”
“Because you think Mr. Zhao fired me and he messed up so badly he gave you his position without incident?”
Mr. Cheng clenched his fist as if he were going to hit me.
“You may succeed in destroying Mr. Lei’s empire; that is not my concern. You will not frame Miss Wilson or kill Mr. Zhao, and I assure you, you will answer for Jia Wilson’s death.”
Mr. Cheng’s face reddened as he snapped. “You are a stupid woman! An arrogant, worthless beast. Did you think you could get things past me?”
“What things?”
He whipped out a diplomat’s pouch that had been stuffed in his coat pocket and shook it in my face. “Your secret plans! I intercepted this pouch at the airport! What did you think? That I did not have your every move shadowed?”
“That pouch is empty.”
“I gave it to my son to show him how foolish women outsmart themselves.”
I pointed to the bed behind Mr. Cheng.
“No, you are holding the pouch I had switched at your home. The one that you originally had is the one on my bed.”
He turned around, grabbed the pouch and emptied it.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“It was the best way to show Weimin what you did to his half-sister as well as show him how to escape the country with his mother.”
“What are you saying?”
“You handed him the pouch of your sins. The pouch you thought you possessed was taken away from you and another one put in its place. All right under your nose. It is not whether you win or lose, sir, it is how you change the rules of the rigged game that counts, and since you did not hold up your half of the sky, the sun had no choice but to shine its light on the other side.”
“What happened to my family?”
“They are gone.”
“Where?”
“They left the continent.”
“You will tell me!”
“No, I won’t.”
Mr. Cheng then plunged his hand into his breast pocket, but could only fumble in an empty space.
“Looking for your pistol to shoot me? That just won’t do. This is a La Nuit-owned hotel and when I told them about our mutual friend Mr. Dunbar, they were more than just accommodating; that seemingly clumsy maid who bumped into you on the way here relieved you of your weapon, and if you ever used that gun on someone in the past, your rivals will have a field day blackmailing you with it. You are now without an ally and deep into enemy territory; the question is, what are you going to have to do to save yourself from ruin?” I could see in the man’s crushed expression that the gravity of his hopeless situation finally sunk deep into his overworked mind. “By the way, your weak wife is fluent in English and La Nuit’s greatest spy taught your simpleton son all of his tricks.”
XIII
After my business with the sobbing Mr. Cheng concluded, I flew back to my home and let Mr. Zhao and Miss Wilson know that neither would have anything more to fear. As good as their words, the two split the bill, and while Mr. Zhao kept in touch frequently, I had not heard from Miss Wilson until she called me one morning to speak with me. She told me she was not healing from the trauma of losing her closest friend and asked to come and visit me to unburden her sorrows. I agreed and told her to come right over to spend a few days to relax and release.
We were sitting in my living room, talking over a cup of Irish Breakfast tea, when she told me of her life since we last spoke.
“Weimin and his mother live in Buckie now. They invited me over to get to know them and to settle family affairs because they didn’t want me to ever feel left out again.” Yan smiled as she shook her head. “He changed his last name to Dunbar, and I swear I can hear the beginnings of a brogue.”
“So you opted to visit them.”
“It was strange. He remembered one of Mungo’s old ruses, and he found a will hidden in a secret compartment in Dunbar’s old shack and it named him, my sister, and me equal heirs to his fortune. That’s how I could afford to pay you and not even blink. At first, I didn’t want it, but he insisted I take my share and use my sister’s portion for a charitable cause that was close to her heart. He said it was the only way to remove the darkness and sorrow from it. What he says makes sense, but I don’t know if I can keep the money. His mother still seems as if she is in shock, but he’s happy, though.”
“Mr. Zhao is investing in Weimin’s restaurant called Mungo and Son, a family-friendly restaurant mixing the Scottish with the Orient with great franchise potential. The theme is a Scottish spy who falls in love with a beautiful Chinese woman and adopts her son and teaches him all his tricks, but the boy promises to use them only to entertain people to free them. Not only is he using all those spy tricks in his dinner show, he sent the Circle and La Nuit into a tizzy by revealing Mr. Dunbar’s covert life and when the Circle realized that they had someone as good as Mungo under their noses and failed to see it, Mr. Cheng received an unprecedented demotion forcing him to resign his position. Jianjun cannot believe Weimin has transformed into such a showman. He said everyone in Buckie see him as a chip off the old block and have embraced him as a hero.”
“He is wildly eccentric, Miss Lyme, even his mother doesn’t know what bit him. She just stares at him with her mouth wide open and though my Mandarin is somewhat rusty, I do believe she muttered that after all the tragedy they have gone through, he has become a clown and a bum.”
“Wait until the profits of his venture pour in. She will retract the latter accusation as she embraces the former.”
“He has become such a charming, shameless flirt that every beautiful woman who walks in just becomes so smitten with him. He is all right because he can finally honour his mentor and live out the life he always wanted to lead with his mother safe and cared for, but I don’t feel all right because I don’t have Jia.”
“It won’t be all right,” I said to Yan as she wept. “Your sister is gone and she died in a terrible way too soon and out of her control. No one can ever change it or take it back now, but you have to be all right, despite it all, because you cannot let them take away the rest of your happiness or goodness.”
“How do I do that, Miss Lyme? How do I become all right again?”
“I would like you to meet some women who were once in the same place as you.”
I got up and left the room. When I returned, several women came in and all sat down as I poured everyone some tea.
“Ladies, this is Yan Wilson. She just lost her twin sister to the Circle and they very nearly framed her for the crime. Perhaps some of you can introduce yourselves to her.”
“Hello,” said the first woman who walked up to Yan who also got up and gave her a warm hug. “My name is Bisera and in another life, I was a police officer in Bulgaria. One day, I discovered that the police chief was taking bribes, but there was nothing I could do, but I did my best to stop him. A young prosecutor believed me and he did his best, but La Nuit had him killed and I felt very guilty about pushing him to get justice done.”
“Hi Yan, my name is Chika and I was a nurse in Nigeria. My youngest brother was studying to be a doctor, but he stumbled upon an arms smuggling ring in the hospital he was working in, and he was murdered by La Nuit. The police would not do a thing and my mother died from a heart attack.”
“I am Katerina, and I was a child psychologist in Moscow. One of my patients was a frightened little girl whose father was in the mafia and he was beating and terrorizing her mother who was secretly taking the girl to me to help her cope and then she tried to make escape with her only child. I helped them the best I could, but he executed them both and when I tried to do something, my boss, who was in the Circle, threatened to have me and my family committed.”
“Bonjour, my name is Yvette and I was a chef in Lyon. My older sister was dating a mystery man – she said he was rich and powerful, but when she tried to break it off with him, she died under abnormal circumstances. I found out he was a member of the Circle and the police told me they would not even investigate.”
“I am Malka Milgram and was a soldier in the Israeli army when my brother was accused of espionage. I knew it was a lie, but he died before I could find the evidence La Nuit hid so that they could force my country to capitulate to their demands. I wanted to expose them, but the Circle intervened by threatening to do the same with me because it was all part of the greater good. My own father thought he would take matters into his own hands, but they killed him before he could succeed.”
Katerina continued to speak. “We all grieved for those who we lost, family, patients, friends, or neighbours. Just like you grieve for your sister, we grieve for those we loved and just like you we all tried to find justice and then we met Maggie who showed us how to find it by becoming the eyes and ears that everyone sees every day, but always miss because they dismiss.”
“What do you mean?” asked Yan.
“We work as maids, nannies, cleaning ladies to people in the Circle and La Nuit, and we know everything they say and do and we tell each other; so when it is time, we have a plan and we stop them.”
“But how when they are so powerful and rich?”
“Aww, dear,” said Chika as she came to Yan and held her hand in hers. “You are just a child, you do not know what stupid games these fools play. They pretend to be rich and can fool the world, but they are always faking, always lying.”
“They have weapons because they are afraid people will find out that they are all weak and silly,” said Yvette. “It becomes ridiculous – they owe all this money because they have to rent a bigger car or owe millions of dollars to mafias to wear a shiny dress so that all of their pretend friends are jealous of them.”
“They put their own children in danger over trinkets,” said Katerina as Bisera nodded. “They sell their own bodies to buy a telephone that is more expensive than the one their neighbour has and they have no one who wants to call them. They cry like they have cancer in expensive stores because the dress does not make them beautiful and they are all the same – in Asia, in Europe, in Africa, in North America and South America. They cannot see how foolish they have become.”
“I am sorry to say your sister died for nothing,” said Bisera. “But that does not mean you can do nothing or have to settle for nothing.”
“Not everyone here came because of tragedy,” said Katerina. “My sister Yeva is also one of us, but she has different heart to see different things. Very silly girl, but nothing gets past my beautiful Yeva!”
“All angels have wings,” I told Yan. “Some just choose to pluck a few feathers from them to make a feather duster so they can clear away sorrows to find the truth, as ridiculous and infuriating as it may be at times. It is a different sort of adventure.”
Yan looked around the room, wiped away her tears, then stood up straight. “That’s how you found my sister’s killer?”
“Yes, it was a big part of it. You have Malka to thank. She tipped me off about Rong and made the switch of the pouches. It is not a full-time position, unless you want it that way, but there is no reason why you should take it so far. The ladies pick their assignments and stay as long as they think is wise. They have their own lives, careers, and families and they find this job helps them with their day jobs – gaining a new perspective how the world works through woman’s work and child’s play does wonders for refining one’s own magnum opus. You don’t have to have answer today or even six months from now…”
Yan looked up at me with a steady determination. “Count me in.” She then turned to Malka and walked over to give her a hug. “Thank you so much. It means a lot to me, that someone can be there for you and you never even knew it. I want to try it. I don’t know about the danger or even how someone can stand being a servant for people like this…”
“It is not dangerous when you what you are doing and we will show you,” said Katerina.
“And the only thing you will ultimately serve these people are their just desserts. It is the least we here can all do so that we hold up our half of the sky,” I added. “Now, if you will excuse me, ladies, I have a garden and animals to attend and Kipp has been getting into all sorts of mischief with Helmut and Jasmine who have finally put aside their differences to help me raise our newest addition. Just so our latest member is aware, you all are free to make yourselves at home. I picked up a few choice pies at Queen’s Heights and got some scrumptious delights from Redley’s Garden Cafe while I was there, too. I will be around in the back if anyone wishes to relax or chat.”
As I left my living room, I could see the confidence come back to Yan as she began to ask questions to her newest friends who were more than happy to share stories of their loved ones, themselves, and all the impossible people who finally met their match in these sensible women who would not go away even when danger screamed its loudest.