Tong-tong was in an agitated and yet dreamlike state. The man wiped both sides of his face and raked his fingers through his scalp to the back of his neck. The continuous action appeared to simultaneously soothe and enrage him.
He paced the stage with big and slow strides. “I just can’t believe this,” he said into the wireless mic. “How could this be?”
We were sitting in stadium seats in a below-ground-level auditorium. The first row was occupied by five of Tong-tong’s personal bodyguards. Lee, who was sporting a black eye but seemed alert, was handcuffed to a chair on the stage. Seated on either side of him were two unamused air force officers.
We had already passed the mic around the room once. Peggy went first with her account of the night. Nancy said that she knew that a police presence would rouse suspicion from the bystanders and the kidnappers alike, so she had called the two most-competent “agents” she knew, Frankie and Dwayne.
Frankie could have talked about the shadow in the video and how he tipped off the police that the place had to be near the entertainment park. Instead, his story started with how he and Dwayne snuck up to the guard booth. Dwayne added that he had punched Lee in the face out of anger and apologized for it.
I didn’t know what to say to account for myself, especially when I saw a throbbing vein on Tong-tong’s forehead. I decided to offer him my condolences. “Tong-tong, I hope that now we’ve found the guy, you find some solace.”
With that, I handed the mic to an air force officer who looked about my age. She opened a manila envelope, withdrew a sheet of paper and read aloud from it.
“Our preliminary investigation of the papers found in the guardhouse show that the documents appear to be genuine. We have already apprehended Chinese agents, identified by the paper work, who were working in the National Immigration Agency to aid in this plot.
“The guard has been identified as Lee Wei-yin, also known as Lee Shui-long, a grandson of Lee Shih-chao, who was the older brother of Lee Shih-yao, who is the father of Tong-tong. Lee Shih-chao, who is now deceased, was not able to escape from China until the Korean War began in 1950. Shih-chao boarded a ship bound for Bangkok, Thailand. Shih-chao tried to get in touch with Shih-yao by phone and letters, demanding his share of the family fortune that Shih-yao had managed to bring to Taiwan years earlier. Shih-yao apparently never replied.
“Shih-chao started a business in import-export that did well for years but collapsed in the financial crisis of 1997. The entire family was plunged into debt and shame. In 1999, when Wei-yin was thirty, he went to China to work for a rival’s company and complained frequently that Tong-tong’s father stole the family fortune.
“The Chinese government had been interested in a chip that Tong-tong had been shopping around several years ago. Taiwanese manufacturers were successful in lobbying Tong-tong to not make the chip, which would disrupt too many operations within the semiconductor industry. That interest became more pronounced earlier this year after Taiwanese company SMC relocated wafer-fabrication plants to Malaysia from China after attempts were made to steal its intellectual property.
“The Chinese Ministry of State Security contacted Wei-yin about a year ago, after determining that he was indeed related to the well-known Lee family of Taipei. They had wanted Wei-yin to ingratiate himself to Tong-tong and steal the chip design. Wei-yin went along with it but he had his own plan.
“With two other as-yet unidentified members of his family, Wei-yin entered Taiwan in January with a migrant worker program. Because he held a college degree, he was eligible for higher-placement positions, which is how he was appointed a security guard.
“Wei-yin was supposed to approach Tong-tong only in a friendly manner but instead plotted the kidnapping. He planned to sell the chip design to the highest bidder, not necessarily China. The unavailability of the design thwarted the plan. We are interrogating agents from the immigration department about the other two kidnappers, who may have left the country already.”
The officer finished reading and slid the paper back into the envelope. She carried the microphone to Tong-tong along with the envelope.
“Is this the only copy of this report?” asked Tong-tong. The officer nodded. He folded up the envelope and stuck it inside his suit jacket. It was the last thing he said clearly.
Tong-tong continued to slowly walk along the edge of the stage and at times he walked dangerously close along the edge. I saw Nancy and then Dwayne stifle yawns. I wish I hadn’t seen them. I remember hearing a theory that yawning was a vestigial remnant of a group-howling activity that our primate ancestors practiced. Its contagiousness is bred in our bones. I yawned so hard I teared up.
When I regained control of my face, I found that Tong-tong was staring right at me.
“Am I boring you, Jing-nan?” the room’s speakers thundered. “This man almost killed me and you’re so unconcerned that you’re falling asleep?”
I propped myself up and tried to look alert. This was embedded in my muscle memory from years of school and cram school. “Mr. Lee,” I said to be respectful, “I’m really sorry, but I’m usually asleep by this time.” The acoustics in the room were good enough that a mic wasn’t necessary, but I wasn’t going to tell Tong-tong that. Not while he was in this state.
“I’m usually fucking asleep by now, too, Jing-nan! It’s one thirty in the fucking morning!”
“I know you’re tired, too. Maybe we should take a break for the night, have the authorities take custody of Mr. Lee and let them figure out what to do.”
Tong-tong wrung the mic with both hands, probably imagining that it was my neck. “Don’t you know what an embarrassment this is for me? For my family, including Peggy, your friend and classmate? How can we hold our heads up when people find out that I am related to the piece of shit who kidnapped me?” He paused briefly to prowl the stage some more. “No way am I handing this guy over to the police.”
“Why don’t you just kill me?”
We all turned to Wei-yin. He had his head down.
“I would love to oblige you,” said Tong-tong. “But I can’t. My conscience won’t allow me to kill one of my own.” He breathed heavily into the mic. “I think you felt it, too. When you were supposed to shoot me, you shot Associate Vice President Peng Wan-chang instead.”
Wei-yin nodded slightly without lifting his head.
Tong-tong continued, his voice strained. “Why didn’t you write to me? Or call me? Of course I would have helped you and your family. I could have even brought you all here to Taiwan.”
Wei-yin sat up with his neck deferentially bent. “Your father didn’t help my father.” Lee’s voice was heavy with resignation. “Your father never answered any of my father’s letters. Why would you be any different?”
Tong-tong stamped his right foot twice. “I would’ve been! I am not my father! I’ve always wondered what happened to the family that got separated.”
“Sure you did.”
“He never told me he got those letters. Maybe they never reached him.”
Lee reached over to scratch his knees, causing his handcuffs to clink. “We got one letter back from his secretary telling us that your father didn’t know us and to never write again.” Lee’s face was somber as he pointed his free hand at Tong-tong. “Your father denied knowing his older brother.”
“How is your father doing now?”
With some incredulity, Wei-yin said, “He’s dead.”
“Oh yeah, the report said so. Well, my father’s dead, too.” Tong-tong said it again, to himself: “My father’s dead.”
I looked at Peggy. I don’t know what I expected to see. Dismay? Mild amusement? She had also reverted to school behavior and was doodling, detached but still aware.
Frankie had his eyes on Wei-yin. Maybe he was recalling what it was like being a prisoner. Dwayne was pinching himself to stay awake.
Nancy was staring at me. I wished she were close enough for me to give her shoulder a reassuring touch. All I could do was nod and she returned the gesture.
I wished we didn’t have to spend so much time in strained situations like this. I wished we were zoned out on the couch watching big, mushy American shows on Netflix.
That was not our lot. She knew that.
A sobbing sound came over the speakers. Nancy and I broke away from our shared reverie to see Tong-tong, who was, remarkably, hunched over embracing his former captor.
“I’m going to take care of you,” he said through tears. “This is what family does for each other.”
“Dad,” said Peggy as she continued to draw, “are we seriously going to put him up in one of our apartments? The guy who put you in a dog cage.”
Tong-tong sniffed hard. “Oh, no,” he said. “Actually, we can’t even have him in this country, at this point. No, he has to go back to Thailand. We’ll provide for him, though. Give him money to start a company.”
Peggy gave a resigned sigh. “He killed someone, though.”
“Well, I’ve already provided for Mr. Peng’s family. They have no cause to complain.”
Wei-yin turned in his chair. Maybe my thinking was impaired but the black eye made him look like a stuffed toy. “Do I really have to go back to Thailand?” the toy asked.
Tong-tong slapped his shoulder, hard enough to prove he was straight. “Oh, yes,” said Tong-tong as he signaled his bodyguards sitting in the front row of the audience. “You’re leaving tonight and never coming back.”
Tong-tong’s two guys got up and stood at the front of the stage. Three air force officers, including the one who had read the letter, approached and all five of them conferred together.
Frankie stood up, stretched and headed for the left exit of the auditorium.
“Hey, Frankie,” called Tong-tong. “Who said you could go?”
Frankie’s arms hung loosely at his sides in a casually menacing manner. “Who said I couldn’t?” Without waiting for Tong-tong to answer, he called to us, “This way.” Nancy, Dwayne and I followed.
As I was about to pass Peggy, who was still doodling, a thought crossed my mind.
“Hey, Peggy, have you thought about that chip that the Chinese want?”
She was shading stitches on the face of Frankenstein’s monster. “A little.”
“Maybe you want to reconsider getting Ah-tien a new trial?”
“Fuck that guy. He didn’t help us in our time of need.”
I paused and looked around. Wei-yin looked resigned to whatever fate had in store. Peggy, too.
Nancy was waiting for me in the doorway. Dwayne stood behind her, frowning and making vaguely threatening gestures at me. It was time to go.
On my way out, I realized that the other guard, Chen, was nowhere to be seen. I wondered what they did with him.
I had the hardest time sleeping. For some reason, all my senses were heightened. Maybe we had been exposed to radiation as we walked by a secret weapons lab at the air force headquarters. Maybe my mind was a battleground as my subconscious tried to work out a way to help Nancy’s former sugar daddy while my id was torching the drawing board.
Or maybe my life was in danger without me being fully conscious of it.
I was able to hear every slightest sound. Nancy’s breathing was deep and its slow cycle became universal in stature in the dark. There was no beginning or end, there was only in and out. Only a few hours ago, we were in danger and now here we were, safe in bed.
Man, I had to piss. I slipped out to go to the bathroom. After, I went to the kitchen to drink some tap water that tasted salty and perfumed.
I sat in the dark of the living room, which wasn’t actually dark at all. The cable box, the television and DVD player all watched me with angry, unblinking red eyes.
There was a soft knocking sound at the door. I wasn’t that surprised to hear it and maybe I had been expecting it, considering that I was up.
I moved through the apartment and glanced through the peephole. I was satisfied with what I saw and undid the locks.
“Hello, Ju-lan,” I whispered as I opened the door.
“Hello, Jing-nan,” she whispered back. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“I was awake, anyway, but Nancy is still sleeping.”
“I’m glad I didn’t disturb her. I just wanted to talk with you.” She entered cautiously and I closed the door behind her. She walked stiffly to keep quiet, which I appreciated on Nancy’s behalf.
“Can I get you a glass of water? I’d offer you ice cubes in it, but I think it would make too much noise.”
For some reason, she chose to ignore my question. “There’s nobody else here, is there, Jing-nan?”
I rubbed my hands. “Just me, you and Nancy. If you want to say something you want to keep private, you’re not going to have a problem here.”
Her face twitched as if she were about to sneeze. Ju-lan opened her pocketbook, I assumed to grab a handkerchief.
Instead, she came up with a gun.
“Whoa,” I whispered. “What’s this for?”
The fingernails of her grip gleamed. “Stay quiet and come with me.”
“Tell me what this is about.”
“Shut up, or I’ll make Nancy come with us. You want that?”
“No, I don’t. Can I at least put on slippers?”
“Just be quick.”
I glanced at the double rack of footwear by the door. Could I possibly leave a clue of what happened to me?
Ju-lan read my mind. “Jing-nan!” she hissed. “Hurry!”
I walked into a pair of rip-off Crocs. I hoped they managed to hold up, wherever I was headed.
“What did I ever do to you, Ju-lan?” I whined. “I know you’ve been screwed over by men many times, but not by me! I even let you speak at my open mic.”
“I have nothing against you, Jing-nan, and I have even less against Nancy. This is just business.”
She made me leave first and closed the apartment door behind us.
A car was waiting by the curb. The rear passenger door opened and a large man wearing shades stepped out. He gestured for me to get in. I ducked and sat in the middle seat, next to a man wearing a fedora pulled over his face. The large man heaved himself back into the car. He leaned over and crushed my right side as he shut the door.
“Pardon me for that,” he rasped as he eased his body away from me. “Little tight back here.”
“Maybe you should let me out,” I said. “I’ll take the bus instead.”
He laughed through his nostrils.
Ju-lan climbed into the front passenger seat and lifted something to her face. I smelled coffee. She sucked her teeth and said, “I think it’s time for lights out on this one.”
I turned my head to try to avoid the blow and the last thing I remembered was my body jerking back in my seat.