Private Beijing

Chapter 63

Hua returned to his surveillance team, and Zhang Daiyu and I spent a tense day at the workers’ hostel on Changcui Road. I was meant to be reviewing the files Hua had put together on Liu, but in truth passed the hours waiting for Zhang Daiyu’s phone to ring and trying to glean nuggets of information from her strained conversations.

Her uncle had said her request to get into Qincheng Prison once more was impossible to arrange, but Zhang Daiyu didn’t give up and enlisted the help of her aunt, his wife, to convince Ma Yuhang that a meeting with David Zhou was essential for his niece. It became a family effort. There were calls from Zhang Daiyu to uncle and aunt, then between husband and wife, until finally, shortly before lunch, Ma Yuhang conceded he would try to get us in again.

The passing hours turned afternoon into evening, and it was a little before 6 p.m. when he finally rang and Zhang Daiyu listened to a few terse sentences from him. She replied gratefully and hung up.

“Seven-thirty p.m. exactly,” she said to me. “That’s when we have to be at the gate.”

Time seemed to slow during the sixty minutes before we had to leave, but eventually we were in a taxi heading for Qincheng. We presented ourselves at the same heavy door we’d used on our first visit, but this time our experience was different.

At 7:30 p.m exactly Ma Yuhang opened the door to us in person and furtively ushered us inside. He said something to Zhang Daiyu, who translated to me, “Shift change. We need to be quick. Like before.”

I glanced into the operations room to see one prison officer behind the thick bullet-proof glass. He was facing in the other direction, studying an information poster pinned to a wall, and I got the impression he was deliberately looking the other way as Ma Yuhang led us inside. We bypassed the X-ray machine and metal detector, both of which were unmanned.

Her uncle spoke to Zhang Daiyu in hurried tones that bordered on hostile at times. We moved further into the prison, heading along the same corridor we’d walked before. Ma Yuhang used his key card to open the heavy security doors and within minutes we were outside the interview room where we’d first encountered David Zhou.

Ma Yuhang spoke to Zhang Daiyu and she translated for me

“We have a few minutes only,” she said. “He’s called in many favors to get us this far, but they will only last so long.”

I nodded to him. “Xièxie nǐ.”

Ma Yuhang bowed his head in reply, but clearly wasn’t happy. He opened the door and ushered us inside.

I have no idea how long David Zhou had been waiting in this bare gray concrete room that reeked of fear and misery, but he looked surprised and somewhat relieved to see us. He fidgeted with the shackles that tethered his wrists to the table.

“You seem less hostile than previously,” I told him.

“I thought I was about to meet my end,” he said. “So anyone other than an executioner is a most welcome sight.”

Ma Yuhang shut the door behind us and stood guard outside. Zhang Daiyu and I took seats opposite Zhou.

“I was sitting here trying to make my peace with death but failing badly. I really don’t want to die. Life is too good.” He smiled sadly.

“You’re expecting people to reach you in here?” I asked.

“Why not?” he replied. “You did.”

“People like Liu Bao?” I asked.

We didn’t have a lot of time and I was going to have to risk sharing some of the intel we’d acquired if I was going to get David Zhou to trust me.

He looked surprised and a little impressed. “Liu Bao is a mere foot soldier.”

“Pretty powerful foot soldier,” I remarked.

“You only say that because you haven’t seen the power of the men he serves.”

“We know he’s connected to the Guoanbu,” I revealed.

“He is Guoanbu,” David countered. He looked around the room uncertainly and added softly, “As am I.”

I exchanged a surprised glance with Zhang Daiyu. My surprise was two-fold. I was shocked to learn this prisoner worked for Chinese State Security, but also that he’d trusted us with the information. Assuming it was true, of course. He had no reason to lie to us and my instincts told me I could trust him, but I had learnt long ago that nothing is ever what it first seems.

“I met Liu Bao the night your people were attacked. He told me I was finished and that my demise would be used as an opportunity to take out another enemy.”

“Private,” Zhang Daiyu observed.

“Why would he consider us an enemy? Why would he use us to take you out?” I asked.

Zhou had relaxed a little now. Gone was the taciturn, suspicious man we’d encountered during our first visit to Qincheng. He seemed almost relieved to have someone to talk to. I could only imagine how hard his life was in this place.

“I have no idea why your business was targeted,” he replied, “but he wanted me gone because I have been tasked by my superiors with bringing him to justice. For months I have been investigating him for embezzling state funds as part of his operations. I was authorized to engage with him and build sufficient trust that he would use me to process the finances for an arms deal in Africa.”

“Process the finances?” I asked. “You mean money laundering?”

Zhou nodded. “I was able to prove the money he received for the arms deal was not the same amount he returned to the Guoanbu bosses. There was a thirty-million-dollar shortfall, but before I could present the evidence, I was arrested for the murders of your colleagues. I have not heard from my superiors, so I can only guess they have been purged or convinced to remain silent. I underestimated Liu Bao and I regret that deeply. He is far better connected than I could ever have imagined. There’s a war going on. A war for the heart and soul of China.”

“We heard,” I responded. “Someone told us there is a battle raging within Guoanbu.”

“What’s happening here to me, to you, is a manifestation of that battle,” Zhou confirmed.

“But what do we have to do with it?” I asked. “Private has no interest in such things.”

“I don’t know, but you are involved whether you like it or not,” he replied. “Liu Bao and his sponsors believe in the power of the individual. In your country people would say they were right-wing, but such terms have little meaning here. They believe in self-enrichment above all else, and as a result they support the idea of Chinese empire and conquest. This isn’t about spreading ideology. This is about unparalleled greed.”

“I still don’t understand where we come in,” I remarked.

The door opened and Ma Yuhang stepped in and said something to Zhang Daiyu.

“We have to go now,” she translated. “Or else we will become permanent residents.”

She got to her feet and I did likewise.

“I can’t help you. I don’t know why Liu Bao chose to target you. Private never came up during my investigation,” David Zhou said hurriedly.

“Thank you, Mr. Zhou,” I said. “I hope you receive justice.”

He nodded and smiled as Zhang Daiyu and I followed Ma Yuhang from the interview room.

Zhang Daiyu’s uncle was on edge and kept chivvying us along as we made our way through the building. There were two more prison officers by the entrance and one of them approached us and asked a question. I couldn’t understand Ma Yuhang’s reply but I recognized its tone. He bawled the man out, overcompensating with a show of authority to hide the fact he himself was doing something illegal. The tirade worked and the officer backed off, chastened.

Moments later we were outside and Zhang Daiyu and her uncle exchanged hurried words.

“He says never to ask him to do this again,” she translated.

I bowed and thanked him formally. He didn’t acknowledge this, instead hurrying inside and slamming the heavy steel door.

“Did you get what you needed?” Zhang Daiyu asked.

“Well, we now know we’re caught up in some kind of power struggle within Chinese Intelligence, but I don’t feel any closer to understanding why Private has been sucked into it.”

“Liu Bao knows,” she remarked.

“Right,” I agreed, as we walked away from the prison. “So our challenge is to figure out a way to get him to share his secrets.”