Zho and all the layers, down to the street-level gang, belonged to 41S.
41S was a New York criminal gang that had its origins in the powerful 14k and Sun Yee On Triad gangs in the city.
The 14K and Sun Yee On were two of the largest Triad gangs that had their origins in mainland China and Hong Kong in the eighteenth century. The gangs had survived through the centuries, and had grown, despite the best efforts of various law enforcement authorities.
The Triads had branches all over the world and were involved in prostitution, drugs, weapons, and people smuggling, counterfeiting, and assassination.
The 41S had been formed in New York a decade back, by one Alex Peng Huang, who had once been in the 14K. Peng Huang had risen up the ranks in the Triad gang and ran several gang members in midtown Manhattan.
He had found his ambitions thwarted in the 14K. He had found the ways of the Triad stifling. Peng Huang studied criminal gangs in the city and learned how the most successful ones adapted to changing times.
His gang didn’t change. It stuck to tradition and rigid hierarchies. Its recruitment was failing.
Peng Huang, whose folks from Hong Kong, wanted to grow faster than his gang would allow him to. He wished to capture territory from rival gangs; he wanted to be feared.
In a bold, audacious move, Peng Huang reached out to like-minded members not just in the 14K but also in its rivals, the Sun Yee On.
In a secretive meeting in a business hotel, he outlined his plans. It wouldn’t breakaway from tradition entirely; it would adopt the same hierarchy the Triads operated, but there would be fewer layers.
There would be more autonomy. Street-level gangs would run their business the way they felt best. There would be top level directions, but those would be limited to policy.
Peng Huang liked policy. It was a corporate term. His gang would be more corporate like.
There were ten attendees at that meeting that night. Most of them were gang bosses in the two triads. Three of the gang bosses signed up to Peng Huang’s 41S that same night.
Three others were killed on their way home. Two others found their wives dead when they reached their homes. The last two got the message. The meeting was never to be spoken of.
They didn’t. They had reason to fear Peng Huang. Everyone in the 14K and Sun Yee On had reason to.
For Peng Huang, had Zho.
Zho had been a Red Pole, an enforcer in the 14K, the chief enforcer in the New York chapter. He also was enforcer in Peng Huang’s gang.
That wasn’t the only connection that linked the two men. Peng Huang’s folks had found Zho, shivering and crying, in the ship they arrived in.
The ship carried illegal immigrants stowed away in containers in its holds. Each container held masses of humanity who looked forward to reaching land, America, where they would make their dreams come true.
Peng Huang and his parents were in one container, along with tens of other people. Zho, a young boy, a couple of years older than Peng Huang, was in the same container, along with his folks. In the crossing, Zho’s parents died, as did several other immigrants; the lack of sanitation, fresh air, and habitable space taking its toll on the frail and elderly.
Peng Huang’s parents adopted Zho and he became family.
Peng Huang and Zho. The former had ambition, cunning, and street smarts. The latter was a cold blooded killer, the likes of whom the 14K had never seen before.
The 14K and the Sun Yee On soon found out about the breakaway gang, which Peng Huang mockingly named the 41S.
The two gangs made outraged noises. Talked of honor and brotherhood. At one point, the hostile discussions nearly resulted in bloodshed.
No one wanted to go against Zho however, and the 41S was left alone. It was a small gang after all. How much territory could it capture?
The 41S didn’t stay small for long. Peng Huang was a charismatic gang boss and he attracted youth who were disenchanted with the Triads.
The membership grew to thirty, then fifty, and reached a hundred in no time. That was still tiny compared to the larger, established gangs in the city. Size wasn’t what Peng Huang was interested in, however.
He wanted power.
He visited Hong Kong and mainland China frequently and established contacts with powerful men. He created alliances and partnerships, another corporate word that he liked.
In New York, he formed his network; corrupt police officers and politicians. City officials and builders. Those who existed at street level. Chinese cab drivers, cleaners, doormen, and store owners. In the ten years of forming 41S, Peng Huang’s gang in New York became known as the go-to gang for those back in China.
Killing Cain was a contract that had come from China. There were other contracts related to Cain.
Zho returned to his office, his mind back to its equilibrium state.
He lit a joss stick, seated himself, and made the call. He wasn’t worried about taps on his phone or bugs in his office.
Peng Huang had a Chinese firm that took care of security. They said they were better than the NSA and claimed they had hacked into the NSA’s servers and pirated classified intel. Zho had no reason to doubt them. He would have dealt with them a long time back, if they hadn’t lived up to their claims.
He spoke in Mandarin and briefed Peng Huang on the developments.
He waited when he had finished and in the stillness at the other end, heard the murmuring of a woman and Peng Huang shushing her. This time of the day, Peng Huang would be with his mistress. One of them.
Zho didn’t have any. He had no romantic liaisons. The work was his gang. Peng Huang was his brother. There was no room in his life for women.
‘You’re sure he didn’t speak to her?’ Peng Huang asked finally, referring to Cain and the woman they knew as Meghan Petersen.
‘Yes.’
‘Where’s the other woman?’
‘Dead. Where he left her. Someone will find her at some point.’
‘You’re keeping watch?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will the watcher take care not to be made?’
‘Yes.’
Peng Huang snapped his phone shut and slapped the rump of the woman beside him. She wriggled it invitingly. He ignored it and lay back on the bed.
The developments weren’t bad, but they weren’t welcome. Still, some complications were to be expected.
Peng Huang knew only part of the plan, but he knew it was big and bold and had several moving parts. Some disruption had been factored in. Peng Huang rose from his bed, padded to the bathroom and freshened up. He went to the balcony of his fourteenth floor apartment and looked down at midtown Manhattan as he made a call.
Peng Huang too had a boss.