Private Beijing

Chapter 65

Zhang Daiyu and I were in the surveillance van parked a short distance from Liu Bao’s building. It looked as though he had settled in for the night at his penthouse. Several guests had arrived for dinner, including Fang Wenyan, Liu Bao’s contact from the Guoanbu. Hua had identified some of the other guests as mid-level government officials and promised us a full background work-up on everyone, but he was dead on his feet and needed rest, so I had sent him and the physical surveillance team home.

Zhang Daiyu and I sat in front of the surveillance console, and she translated some of the chatter around the sixteen-seater dining table. It was mostly about sport and sports cars, and they drank nothing but champagne as the caterers served the meal. We heard a regular popping of corks and the talk grew more raucous.

“He’s got a call,” she said, putting the audio feed from the apartment on speaker.

I heard background hubbub and Liu Bao saying something.

“He’s telling someone to come with him,” Zhang Daiyu translated.

“It’s a shame we don’t have video,” I remarked.

The listening devices Hua had planted were extremely difficult to detect. Cameras would have risked giving us away, but these tiny microphones concealed around the building circumvented even Liu Bao’s counter measures.

There was a moment during which no one said anything but we could hear footsteps, giving us a sense of which device had the best ear on them. The hubbub of the dinner grew fainter when Zhang Daiyu switched to the listening device in Liu Bao’s home office. Then a door closed and the noise of the dinner party was gone.

“I’ll translate as best I can,” Zhang Daiyu said as Liu took the call.

“This is Liu Bao. Go ahead, Angel, the line is secure. I have Wenyan with me. You’re on speaker.”

“The Americans grabbed me,” Angel revealed. “The personnel at Private have connections to the US Government and had me arrested. I have become a liability here. They are sending me home.”

Zhang Daiyu carefully kept the tone of her translation even and didn’t capture the anger in Angel’s voice.

I heard Liu Bao curse and didn’t need that translated, such was the venom he put into the words.

“You were supposed to discredit them,” he said. “You were supposed to kill his friends.”

Fang Wenyan cut in here. “Careful what you say.”

“It’s a secure line,” Liu Bao snapped at him before addressing Angel. “Your failure will complicate things. The downfall of Private was part of the deal.”

He hit or kicked something.

“We will speak more when you get here. The brotherhood does not appreciate failure,” Liu went on angrily.

There was a moment of silence and I assumed Angel had hung up.

Fang spoke up then. “Use Shang Li to draw Jack Morgan into the open. Aren’t you glad we kept him alive? Use him to bring Morgan to you. Our friends will be satisfied if we kill him. They will honor the deal if we bring them the head of Jack Morgan.”