Xiaozhou? Wake up. Xiaozhou? Wake up.”
I open my eyes, then shut them again, gradually returning to my body after a journey to the most self-annihilating depths of sleep. Where am I? Who am I? Someone named Xiaozhou whose face hurts, I guess. Someone who saw a man die with a knife sticking out of his face. Someone who had his consciousness erased by five deft fingers.
“Where’s Wei?” I ask.
“She is gone,” Sun says.
“What? Gone gone?” I open my eyes again, prop myself up on my elbows.
“She took Xiaofang and a suitcase. She told me you were sleeping in here.” Sun says this slowly, like he’s going out of his way not to imply anything. “We have to meet Gregoire in an hour.”
“Oh.” I drop back into bed, close my eyes. “Okay, I’ll be up in a minute.”
After Sun leaves, I pry myself out of bed and discover that every single muscle in my body is sore. I fish Dad’s Casio out of my pants pocket and check the time: 11:30 in the morning. So I got about three hours of the sleep of the dead. Better than nothing.
Someone thoughtful left a full glass of water on the bedside table, and I down it with a thirst that seems to originate in my legs. I rinse off in Wei’s shower and dry myself with a supersoft blue towel. I poke through her remaining toiletries. Shower puff, leg razor. Surprisingly ordinary stuff for a highly evolved sex-angel from Planet Orgasm. No supersecret love perfume or mind-numbing opiate pills. Or maybe she took that stuff with her. Gone gone, with no goodbye. If I had more than a quarter inch of hair, maybe I could pull some out in anguish. Instead, I splash some cold water on my face and poke my puffy left temple hard enough to wake myself up. More time later to mope over love lost. I need to pack. I need to check my email.
V-Man. First of all, really glad to hear from you and see your fucked-up face. We’ve been missing you a lot.
Jules and I accessed the information. Not much history had been retained but we did find some communications between Rou and Ouyang. On January 23 Rou wrote to Ouyang (Jules’s translation):
I have arrived at the Beacon Street house and made contact with Old Li and Dr. Ancona. Old Li is still being stubborn.
If you recall, the pregnant-lady house was on Beacon Street. Ouyang replied a couple of hours later:
Give him a few more days and then proceed as I instructed. Make sure he knows the consequences of being difficult. He will give in when he realizes that we are serious. Otherwise, you know what to do.
Later, on January 29, Rou writes to Ouyang:
I guess you already heard about Old Li. There also was a break-in at the restaurant. We are upping security and I am bringing in another guy from Beijing. Please call as soon as possible. Waka waka waka, I yearn to be skull-fucked in prison.
No reply to that email. Nothing on Zhao or Dong. I saved the Chinese originals for you to look at later if you want. Cuz I wouldn’t vouch for the fidelity of these translations. Your sister is a hottie, but right now she’s a few feathers short of a whole duck. I know you’re both going through something crazy. I hope this helps. We’re all looking forward to having you back here soon to steady the ship.
I find Sun at the kitchen table, eating chilled cucumber slices with garlic and noodles in peanut sauce out of Styrofoam containers.
“I bought some for you, too,” he says, gesturing to more noodles.
“Thanks. I heard from Eli and Jules. Rou was staying at the house with the pregnant ladies. And Ouyang gave him instructions to threaten Dad. I think he had to be the killer. Rou didn’t bring in the guy with the ponytail, the ‘new head of security,’ until after the first break-in at Happy Year.”
Sun sets his chopsticks down and looks at me intently. “Nothing else?”
“Nothing else.”
“Okay, we need to—” Sun stops talking and springs to his feet at the sound of someone rushing down the stairs.
Ai comes through the door pale and frantic, a whirl of cashmere suit and silk scarf.
“What happened? What—it was you!” he bellows, clocking the bruises on my face.
Sun assumes a deferential stance, angling his head down and his torso to the side. “Old Ai, I’m glad you’re here. As Xiaozhou was trying to find information about Old Li’s death, he was abducted by Ouyang’s men. I found him and brought him back here. I hit Ouyang with a knife.”
“He’s dead! Do you know what this means? Please don’t tell me they know you are here.” The Qing silver coin appears out of a suit pocket, and Ai worries it with both hands as he paces back and forth.
“His people may know who we are, but they do not know where we are. I’m certain there’s no connection to you.”
“Brother Zhao called me just now. All he knows at this point is that Ouyang is dead. He’s got people asking questions all over the city. You can’t stay here!” He steps toward me and lowers his gaze. “Young Li, I have let you down. I wish I could help you, but now both of us are in great danger. You must return to America immediately. For your own safety.”
“I am very sorry that I brought you trouble,” I reply. “I already have a ticket to leave tonight.”
Ai gives me another one of his hard, awkward hugs, not a long one this time. Then he turns to Sun with the kind of expectant look that I’ve gotten from Coach Vaughn in time-outs after botched plays.
“I’m leaving, too,” Sun says. “You won’t see me again.”
Ai gives a tight nod. “I have to go see Brother Zhao immediately. Please don’t delay. Go to the airport and get through security. You’ll be safest there.” Halfway to the door, he turns back toward us. “Goodbye, young men. Don’t live like Brother Li and me.”
He holds my eye for a moment, and then, with another slam of the steel door, he’s gone.
Sun grasps the back of a chair with two hands, picks it up, flexes his wrists, puts it back down. His forearms and neck are knotted with veins and small, hard muscles.
“We have to go,” he says.
“Okay. I just have to pack.”
I head back to my room and start shoving things into my gym bag. When I snatch the orange shoebox out from under my bed, I immediately notice that it’s lighter than before. And there’s something bouncing around in there.
I snatch the lid off and there it is: Wei’s lipstick tube of pepper spray. A smile spreads across my face, then vanishes just as quickly.