Thunder God

CHAPTER FIVE

The following morning, the cab raced through the tunnel under Kowloon Bay and emerged on Hong Kong Island just as the sun was breaking through a thick bank of clouds to the east. Hawke’s mind once again turned to Lea Donovan, and he wondered what was happening to her at this moment — if she was still in Hong Kong… If she had read his text telling her how he felt about her — and who had taken her, and why.

He was knocked from his speculation by Scarlet Sloane nudging him in the ribs.

“Pay the man, Joe.”

Hawke paid the fare and moments later they were taking the elevator to the tenth floor of the skyscraper Lexi had described the previous evening.

Jason Lao’s office was stark and professional. One framed picture of a woman Hawke guessed was his young wife, and a couple of simple pot plants, both plastic. The main attraction was the breathtaking view of the bay and the humming chaos of Kowloon rising up behind it.

For a few moments after Lexi had made the introductions, the atmosphere in the office was awkward, and things got even worse when Lao buzzed through on the intercom and had his personal assistant bring another person into the room.

The man was roughly the same dimensions as a grizzly bear and by the look on his face shared many of the same personality traits. He had a straight-forward crew-cut, silver at the sides, and wore a blue blazer with cream-colored chinos.

“Please meet General Frank McShain, he’s with the US Army and is here representing certain interested parties inside the American Government.”

“Just what the hell is going on?” Hawke asked.

“Take it easy, Joe,” Lexi said.

Lao and McShain shared a concerned look.

“We only wish we knew,” Lao began. “All we know is we’ve picked up chatter pointing to something big that’s about to reach boiling point in the underworld here and on the mainland.”

“Something big?” Scarlet said. “Gee, thanks. Now we know that we can get to work.”

Hawke shifted awkwardly in his chair. “How does this tie into the disappearance of Lea Donovan and the murder of Felix Hoffmann?”

“Very recently,” Lao continued, “not long after the death of Hoffmann, a piece of famous artwork was stolen from a gallery here in Hong Kong. The picture was a portrait of one of the Four Beauties.”

“The Four Beauties?” Hawke asked.

Lexi rolled her eyes and sighed.

“The Four Great Beauties are part of Chinese legend, Mr Hawke,” Lao said. “They were four women from various ancient dynasties reputed to be the most beautiful women in the world.”

“Never heard of them,” said Scarlet.

“Your ignorance of our culture wouldn’t surprise any educated Chinese person,” Lexi said sharply.

Hawke coughed. “So who were they?”

McShain shifted uneasily in his seat and scratched his stubble as Lao continued.

“The first was Xi Shi from the famous Spring and Autumn Period. She lived during the time you would call the seventh century before Christ. The second was several hundred years later, during the Western Han Dynasty, and her name was Wang Zhaojun. The third was Diaochan, who lived around eighteen-hundred years ago and the fourth and final beauty was Yang Guifei who lived during the Tang Dynasty, a mere twelve-hundred years ago.”

“And whose portrait was stolen?” Hawke asked.

McShain cleared his throat and leaned forward in his chair. His voice was deep and coarse, and his Brooklyn accent heavy. “It was a picture of Xi Shi, but the significance of that we just do not know.”

Scarlet smoothed the leather on her pants with a slow-sliding hand, cream white, black fingernail polish. “And who took it?”

Lao once again took over the briefing. “The identity of the thief is not known, but we do have a lead. His name is Victor Li, a small-time scumbag pushing heroin around the bottom of the city. His day job is working as a fence for smuggled diamonds and rumor has it he knows something about the missing portrait. He’s also worked as a pimp.”

“A missing picture is hardly a threat to world peace,” Scarlet said.

“Maybe you should listen more and talk less?” Lexi said.

“You what?” Scarlet turned in her chair to face Lexi.

Hawke sighed. “Leave it!”

“The point remains,” Scarlet said, winking at Lexi and returning to face Lao, “that a stolen portrait is not exactly the plot of Goldfinger.”

Another glance between Lao and the American general.

“No, but it doesn’t end there,” McShain said. “Our intel is pointing to a major and devastating attack on an unspecified city.”

Scarlet wished she had listened more and said less.

“What kind of attack?” Hawke asked, straight to the point.

McShain fixed his eyes on Hawke. “We don’t know that either, but we’re pretty sure it’s got something to do with an earthquake.”

“I’m sorry,” Hawke said, confused. “An earthquake is a natural phenomenon. How can that be used to attack somewhere?”

McShain started to turn a strange greenish-white color and looked distinctly uncomfortable. “What I’m about to tell you is the highest level of Top Secret imaginable and I wouldn’t even consider breathing a word of it to you had Sir Richard Eden not instructed my superiors that you should be told.”

“Good old Dickie,” Scarlet said, and crossed her long legs.

A flick of the eyes from McShain. “The US Government has for some time been able to trigger earthquakes artificially and…”

“Wait a minute,” Hawke said, suddenly alert. “You’re not telling me those nutcases on the internet were right all along and it’s been you guys causing all these quakes everywhere?”

“No, I am not telling you that,” McShain said firmly. “The technology has only been used in strictly controlled test conditions on an American island in the Western Pacific, far, far away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world.’

Scarlet laughed. “From the human race, you mean?”

McShain ignored her. “The technology in question was evolved by our scientists from an earlier design by Nikola Tesla.”

“This just gets better and better,” Hawke mumbled.

“I’ll say,” Lexi said.

“Very recently, and around the same time as Hoffmann’s death and the disappearance of your agent and the portrait, the US Navy was transporting the device from the test island to Japan where it was going to be transferred to a ship in the fleet at Yokosuka.”

“And don’t tell me,” Hawke said, “you guys accidentally lost your new toy?”

McShain sighed and looked to Lao, who responded coolly.

“The device in question was taken in a daring assault as the transport vessel crossed the Philippine Sea. The only clue we have was sprayed on the side of the American ship during the raid.”

“And that was what?” Scarlet said.

Lao held up a photo of the graffiti. It was two Chinese characters totally unintelligible to Hawke and Scarlet.

“What does it say?” Hawke asked, his interest officially captured.

“These are the characters for Lei Gong.”

“I’m still lost, Jason,” Hawke said. “What does it mean?”

“Lei Gong is a name, Mr Hawke,” McShain said. “It means Lord of Thunder.”

“General McShain’s right,” said Lao. “In Chinese mythology Lei Gong, or Lei Shen to use his other name, was the God of Thunder.”

“Sounds like a reasonable chap,” Scarlet said.

Jason Lao took a deep breath. “Of all the ancient Chinese gods, the Thunder God was not one to mess with. He appeared to the world as half-man and half-bird, and punished those mortals who transgressed the boundaries of Taoism. His wife was Lei Zi, the Goddess of Lightning.”

Scarlet clicked her tongue. “They sound like they’d be real fun at a swingers’ party.”

Hawke rolled his eyes and turned to Lao. “But why was his name sprayed on the side of the American ship?”

Lao shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe whoever took the device has a serious ego problem and thinks he’s some kind of god.”

“Or maybe,” McShain said, “they were giving us some kind of warning about what we’re in for.”

Lexi nodded. “I think so, yes. Why else waste time doing this during what had to be a lightning raid?”

“Very funny, darling…” Scarlet said.

Lexi looked at her confused. “Sorry?”

“Thunder God, lightning raid…”

“Oh, I didn't mean to…”

Lao interrupted the moment. “This was also sprayed on the ship.” He held up another photo of more Chinese characters. “It says the whole world will fear me.”

“Not another one,” Hawke said, recalling Zaugg.

“I’m sorry?” Lao asked.

“Nothing. Carry on.”

“Either way,” Lao continued, “it’s come down to us to get to the bottom of it, and when I say us, I mean you.” He looked steadily at Hawke and Scarlet. “Our intel is limited, but we think that the first earthquake attack is merely a prelude to a much bigger strike somewhere else in the world, so it’s imperative we find out who’s taken the device and take them out before they kill millions of people.”

“And then the US Government is going to want the device back in safe hands,” McShain said sternly. “And the whole thing remains Top Secret, got it?”

His tone suggested that taking the information to a newspaper might be the sort of thing you’d live to regret. Hawke and Scarlet both nodded in agreement.

“One thing I still don’t understand,” Hawke said. “What connects the murder of Felix Hoffmann and the portrait of Xi Shi with the stolen Tesla device?”

“Nothing at all,” Lao said, “apart from the fact this was found on Hoffmann’s body.” Lao passed another photo to Hawke and his eyes widened to the max when he saw it. He was looking at an image of Hoffmann’s dead body in a morgue, and cut into his corpse were the only two Chinese characters that he now recognized.

“Lei Shen, the God of Thunder?”

Lao nodded. McShain looked nervous.

“This detail was of course omitted from the official public record,” Lao said. “According to the official story Felix Hoffmann was killed in an attempted robbery.” He smiled briefly. “But these characters were carved into his stomach, and as Eden told you, Agent Zhang’s calling card — the origami dragonfly — was left at the scene of the murder as well. Clearly, she was framed for the murder of Felix Hoffmann.”

“Clearly,” Scarlet said, glancing suspiciously at Lexi out the corner of her eye.

“I did not kill Felix Hoffmann, I swear,” Lexi said.

“I believe you,” Lao said. “And so will everyone else in here if we are to work together and stop this nightmare from getting any bigger, agreed?”

Hawke nodded. Scarlet made a muffled note of reluctant agreement.

Lao offered an appreciative glance at them all. “So the writing on Hoffmann’s body clearly suggests his death is connected to the theft of the Tesla device, and his expertise on ancient Chinese artwork tie everything together with the missing portrait of Xi Shi. As far as your agent is concerned, we know she had Hoffmann under surveillance while he was here in the city recently, so her disappearance is linked to this also, but we don’t know the full reason why these things are connected yet. We do know, however, that somehow they are and we have to work out what it is before whoever is behind this murders millions of innocent people.”

Scarlet shrugged. “Another day, another dollar.”

“You think you can handle this?” McShain asked.

“Pretty sure,” Hawke said. “But we’re going to need more help so I’m going to make a call.”

“And what about you?” McShain said, facing Scarlet.

She sighed. “Don’t ask me. I’m still dazed by Joe Hawke using the word phenomenon.”