The Risk Agent

36

1 P.M.

CHONGMING

CHONGMING ISLAND

Inspector Shen Deshi sat imperiously, legs crossed, in the corner of the brightly lit assembly room of Chongming’s PSB, fifth precinct. He wore dark glasses. He studied the group, amazed at the youth of the precinct’s few patrol officers, trying to remember if he’d ever been that young.

His decision to keep the money had put him in a reflective mood. The surprise on the Mongolian’s face as he’d slid off the ferry would not leave him. Perhaps he’d been too hasty. If well-connected, the Mongolian’s employer could make hell for him. So could Kozlowski, if any evidence surfaced that the Mongolian had chopped the American cameraman to pieces. He needed to pull a blanket over all of this and let it go to sleep. A deep sleep. And quickly, before it got out of hand.

The police captain called his group to order. Their uniforms were loose and ill-fitting; three were women, two old dogs not yet thirty and one quite the stunner, who managed to fill out her uniform nicely. He thought this woman might accompany him on his rounds.

He listened to the captain detail the situation: a fugitive foreigner, considered dangerous, in league with a Chinese woman, both wanted for questioning on multiple assaults, possible kidnapping, extortion and a homicide. A big case on Chongming Island was a stolen water buffalo; the patrol officers were collectively drooling at the thought of pursuing a real-life fugitive, not because they would enjoy the pursuit, which they would, but because the only way out of a hellhole like Chongming Island was to gain the attention of one’s superiors and request reassignment. For the nine officers gathered, their captain was waving a lottery ticket in their faces.

Shen considered the stop a necessary diversion. He wanted to establish himself with the local police in the event things went as badly as he expected they might; and he hoped to wave the scent of the fox in the face of the hounds and send them scampering in the wrong direction, leaving him to pursue the prize alone. Or almost alone. The young female officer seemed worth taking along.

Fifteen minutes later, they were seated side by side in his car; she hung on his every word, knowing better than to ask where they were going.

“I have contacts in the private sector,” he told her, knowing he impressed her. “In this case, it’s a crime lab used by the Europeans and Americans. I was offered information an hour before the Americans were to receive it. I am looking for a tannery on the island. One in operation in the recent past.”

“Chongming Tanning,” she said immediately.

“What of it?”

“My late uncle on my mother’s side worked there until it was closed by authorities. The closing brought his family much hardship.”

“A blue building?” he said. “Near water?” He’d seen the Mongolian’s video. He was guessing it was near water because the cameraman’s hand had been found in the river.

“The same.”

“Please, direct me to this place.”

“Take a right at the next street,” she said.

Shen steered the car sharply right. She reached out to brace herself, and leaned against him, exactly as he’d wanted.

“How long?” he said.

“Ten, fifteen minutes, at the outside,” she said.

“I like your mouth,” he said. “The shape of your mouth.”

She blushed and looked away. “Thank you.”

He took her by the hair and turned her head to face him. “I would like it better in my lap.”

She flushed. Her lips went white.

“You do not wish to displease me, neh?”

He enjoyed seeing terror on her face, the sense of power it instilled. Officers took sexual favors all the time, but not Shen Deshi. He intended to make up for lost time. He slid his seat back and pulled her face into his lap. “You are about to earn yourself a promotion,” he said.

He nearly drove off the road as she finished him off, his right hand down her shirt, his left choking the steering wheel.

She collected herself and then it was as if it had never happened.

“You will direct me to within a quarter mile of the tannery,” he said. “I will park someplace out of the way. You will stand watch and notify me of anything out of the ordinary.”

“It is a deserted area,” she said. “After the tannery closed, other companies moved out as well.”

Land, any land, was too precious to abandon. “Why would they do this?”

“Local committee declared the area a future park.”

“What was the real reason?” he asked. There was no point in building a park on a sparsely populated island.

“This was the only reason I ever heard.”

“Tell me, how did your uncle meet his end?”

She said nothing for a moment. “Illness. Cancer of the blood.”

“Was he alone in this?” Shen Deshi said.

“You’ll turn left soon,” she said, pointing.

He swung the car left.

“This road leads to River Road. Then right on River Road.”

“I see I picked the right partner,” he said. “You have done well.”

She flushed with anger and embarrassment.

“I am glad for the chance to work with you,” he said. “Cooperation between departments is to be rewarded.”

“Take the next right.”

He traced her jawline. “We work well together, is it not true?” he said.

She shivered. Looked as though she might be sick.

“Pull over please!” she called out softly.

Shen Deshi yanked the car to the side of the road.

The woman threw open the door and vomited.