Chapter 3: Airborn Tragedy

Book: Moon Demon

Author: Huang Yi

Chapter 3: Airborn Tragedy

The sound of splashing water came from the bathroom.

Ling Duyu put on a bathrobe while he waited for Zhuo Chu Yuan to finish showering. His head looked like it was covered in white dust, which was left over salt after the sea water dried. After coming ashore, he revealed his amazing heisting skills, spending little effort to jump a small car parked on the side of the street. The crafty rabbit took Zhuo Chu Yuan to another one of his lairs.

He made a long distance call to Chen Wupeng, what a pity that he had already departed. The apparent hurry to get back to the city had him lost in thought as he crossed his arms.

The bathroom door opened and Zhuo Chu Yuan walked out using a large towel to dry her luxuriant hair that was hanging down to one side. She was wearing a fancy blue japanese style night gown. The front of the robe had a deep opening revealing cleavage that only accentuated the exquisite volume of her chest, making Ling Duyu instinctively swallow.

As Zhuo Chu Yuan dried her hair to one side, at the same time she reached her hand out to grab the telephone.

Ling Duyu rushed over and slammed her hand back down.

Zhuo Chu Yuan coldly looked up saying, "Why did you do that?"

Both of them were standing nearly in the same place, Ling Duyu could feel the rush of her breath on his face. He was six feet tall, in comparison Zhuo Chu Yuan would have been petite for a model, but she was only three inches shorter than him. Standing together as a couple, they would make an extremely good match. Unfortunately, since both of them were on the verge of exploding there weren't any romantic thoughts at all.

Letting out a snort he firmly said, "If you make a call to the police, I guarantee that within one hour those commandos will be parachuting down here!"

Without yielding at all Zhuo Chu Yuan replied, "What kind of proof do you have to base that on?" She then removed her hand from underneath his.

He laughed in spite of trying not to, "Proof? Their timing in striking was flawless, they also made clever use of you by waiting for the search warrant. They were wearing your uniforms, as if they were allies. The way they finished you off so quickly, if they didn't have precise intelligence then what am I supposed to believe?"

His sarcastic way speaking only made Zhuo Chu Yuan more angry. Her face tightened and she said in a low voice, "I admit that what happened was not a coincidence, but that does not mean that the police was their information source."

Ling Duyu shrugged his broad shoulders, "This society values freedom, and as my guest you may think what you want, but you will never force me to change my mind."

She replied, "That is not an idea, it is called prejudice."

Ling Duyu respectfully replied, "That group of unwanted guests moved like thunder, and were well equipped even though they were heavily disguised. Anyone with a sharp eye could tell they were a unit sent by the government. The government is well known for their intelligence network, its possible that Interpol has a mole planted within." Narrowing his eyes while taking a look at her he said with a grin, "Maybe you are their mole and are now carrying out the clever ruse of a beautiful woman inflicting pain on herself to gain my trust."

With a frosty stare Zhuo Chu Yuan said, "Mr. Ling, please watch what you say. I have personally promised the Egyptian president that I will retrieve their priceless national treasure for them. Regardless of any tricks you try to pull I am not going to quit half-way." She took the phone without asking him and dialed a number.

The receiver transmitted the sound of a man's voice, "Zhong Yue Han."

"Superintendant Zhong, this is Zhuo Chu Yuan."

Zhong Yue Han cried out, "Director Zhuo, where are you, we sent everyone to look for you!"

Zhuo Chu Yuan wrinkled her two delicate eyebrows, she was apparently not happy with Zhong Yue Han's shouting at her, "Don't ask me that! What is the present situation?"

Suddenly comprehending he gently replied, "Ma Xiu Ming and seven plainclothes officers were hit with anaesthetic needles. Fortunately the dosage wasn't very strong. They are already awake, but we are keeping them at the hospital for observation."

"And the aggresors?"

Zhong Yue Han awkwardly sighed, "All of them were first class experts. Except for the two large holes they blew in the house, there is nothing left of them. Our demolitions expert said they used explosives that are common in the international market. There is almost no chance of tracing the original source. The investigation is still underway, but I doubt there will be any concrete results."

"Did you find anything after searching the house?"

He immediately responded to her angry voice, "Your organization sent an expert, Specialist Tan who performed as expected. He discovered a hidden compartment in Ling Duyu's study just like you said." He went on to recite a long list of firearm names.

Do not reveal my whereabouts, I will contact you again." As soon as she hung up the phone she turned around to look for Ling Duyu.

Ling Duyu noticed that she had a different glint in her eye, it seemed to him that things had taken a dark turn. He didn't know that she had just got a few helpful cards to play.

Zhuo Chu Yuan turned the tables. She took hold of the robe and pulled it up adjusting the chest, slowly and deliberately right in Ling Duyu's face as she gradually walked towards him.

He wanted to slap her, but he knew he couldn't do that.

When she stopped walking towards him, Zhuo Chu Yuan said with a charming smile, "Mr. Ling's house is luxuriously furnished, and you also have a world renowned reputation as an electronics specialist. That is why I specifically asked for an electronic specialist to come help us, and he made some huge finds. In Mr. Ling's study he discovered a hidden closet in the wall. Inside that closet he found a splendid signal interference and jamming device installed, that allowed it to evade metal detectors. It was a extremely admirable piece of work."

Ling Duyu sighed and sat down on the sofa. The arms and ammunition from his hidden closet were no doubt in the hands of the police. Possession of firearms were illegal so he was facing heavy charges. Zhuo Chu Yuan was very fierce and went straight for his weak point.

Zhuo Chu Yuan walked behind the sofa and layed her hand down while she whispered into Ling Duyu's ear, "Mr. Ling never had the intention to cooperate with us, even though we did." Her voice was extremely pleasant to hear, but Ling Duyu was not in the mood to appreciate such things.

With a wry smile he responded, "I have always been a good citizen, and I am very happy to cooperate with the police. How can Miss Zhuo say these things?"

She lightly said, "I forgot to tell you that I have also been trained as a CSI forensic investigator. This afternoon as soon as I arrived at the airport, I rushed straight to the crime scene and made a detailed inspection. I found a bunch of strange tiny objects. Maybe, as such a cooperative citizen, you can help me find a firm answer."

Astounded Ling Duyu said, "You have my undivided attention."

"The five fingertips on the right hand of Professor Xie's corpse were blemished by little blue paper fibers. Using that and paying close attention to the shape of his hand, he should have died grasping a book. I am not sure if my theory is correct."

Ling Duyu smiled, "Director Zhuo is careful and astute. Is there anything that can be hid from you? There was a journal that I removed." He was defeated by the news. He could deal with the constant attacks by escaping immediately, but he would become a wanted criminal chased by a warrant soon afterwards.

Zhuo Chu Yuan's spirit was aroused, as she fixed her eyes on him. She patiently waited for Ling Duyu to make a confession.

"Suppose I hand the journal over to you, how will that benefit me?" They had both reached a point where they could bargain for what they wanted.

With a cunning smile she said, "If you can help us find the 'magic stone', I promise that you will not be prosecuted for possessing illegal arms."

Getting angry Ling Duyu retorted, "That nuisance of a "magic stone"! This is the first time I have said it with my own mouth, how can I possibly help you find it?"

The color in Zhuo Chu Yuan's face drained, "That is your problem, first hand over the journal."

Still indignant he said, "When we fled the house I activated a destruction device. That journal is now just a heap of ashes."

Zhuo Chu Yuan anxiously asked him, "Did you read the contents?"

Seeing her anxious appearance, his heart began to cool. He leisurely said, "I saw about half before your assault interrupted my reading. All so that you could talk about things that we both already knew."

Zhuo Chu Yuan couldn't hide her disappointment, "What were the contents of that half?"

Ling Duyu noticed she wasn't still trying to coerce him with the illegal weapons charge. Feeling more at ease he said, "I can tell you everything, but I am not sure it will be very useful to you. When I was flipping through the journal I noticed that the last two pages had been torn out."

"Was anyone there before you?"

"Right now the only clue came this afternoon from Chen Wupeng. He may know something."

Zhuo Chu Yuan looked at the clock on the wall. It was just after 9:00am, the start of office hours for the airlines. She opened up the telephone book and started calling different airlines. After the seventh call the female secretary immediately responded with, "Mr. Chen Wupeng will be arriving this afternoon at 3:00pm on flight number 708"

They both sat there in astonished silence.

Zhuo Chu Yuan finally said, "Miss, how were you able to tell us Mr. Peng's flight information without looking up the passenger list?"

"You were the fourth person to call asking for his information."

"I am a police officer, can you give me more information about the three previous callers"

The secretary mumbled, "Well..."

In an authoritative voice she said, "What language were the phone calls in?"

The secretary hesitated before saying, "Of the three phone calls, two were in English and the other one was in Japanese. They were all spoken fluently, but..."

"But what?"

With lingering fear in her voice she continued, "The first English phone call the speaker had a wierd tone, almost as if he wasn't all there upstairs. After I gave him Mr. Wupeng's flight time he just repeatedly mumbled, 'Thats very good! Thats very good!' over and over. After a while I got scared and hung up the phone."

With no expression she said, "What is your surname?"

"My surname is Ma."

Zhuo Chu Yuan thanked her and hung up the phone.

Ling Duyu looked at her, she didn't want anyone to think she cared about anything. He noticed a look of concern in her eye, but he didn't hear a word of what she said.                

Zhuo Chu Yuan picked up the telephone again, dialed Zhong's number, while she said, "Are you in the mood to take a trip to the airport?

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2:45pm

The autumn sun peeked into the terminal from the west.

A light breezed danced through the deep blue sky. It was a beautiful day.

Through the large glass window of the airport arrival gate, Ling Duyu watched an airplane gracefully descend to a runway that reflected blinding rays of the sun back to his eyes.

Ling Duyu hid the fact that he was attentively looking around, but the enemy was concealed very well. He couldn't spot anyone suspicious. He only noticed a few plainclothes detectives watching him from distant locations. This was Zhuo Chu Yuan's so called "protection", but they were also using him as bait to make the enemy reveal themselves. They also forced him to wear a wire-tap on his body so they could listen to anything he said. It goes without saying that he was extremely irritated.

Within the large concourse camera flashes mixed with joyous laughter. Moving around excitedly several Japanese tourist from a travel group were taking pictures of each other. If someone told him that the entire group were made up of Japanese Bunya Okono members he wouldn't be surprised. The Bunya Okono easily had that kind of power.

It was near Zhuo Chu Yuan where he first noticed three people by the telephones. One had to be a governmental spy, one had to be a Bunya Okono family member, and the third certainly had to be "M".

Ling Duyu laughed to himself, who is going to guard him, they didn't assign enough people for that, it looked like Zhuo Chu Yuan was going to be defeated by him. At this moment she was waiting on the tarmac. As soon as the plane landed Director Zhuo arranged a special deboarding so they could retrieve Chen Wupeng who would be accompanied by several special police. An elaborate escape plan had already been set up. A bullet proof car used for dignitaries, followed by two police cars and an escort of six motorcycles. In addition the honor guard was commissioned to protect Chen Wupeng as he deboarded. Even heads of state didn't receive such a welcome.

Flight 708 drew a beautiful arc in the sky as it slowly approached the airport. It turned toward the runway and began its slow descent. It was like watching a slow motion sequence in a movie.

Ling Duyu still felt at ease when suddenly his facial color made a drastic change.

He suddenly felt a dangerous premonition. This was the second time in the day. The first happened at 2:00 am while he was meditating in his office, and the second had just occurred.

He felt that a major crisis was approaching, but he didn't know what it was.

The quiet runway under the gentle sun extended out, the airplane's landing gear was lowered, like a large bird extending its wings the airplane descended toward the tarmac.

All was normal.

But Ling Duyu's hands and feet were ice cold, a shiver ran up his spine.

He knew that a horrendously terrible event was about to happen.

By now Zhuo Chu Yuan and several heavily armed airport special security officers were standing to one side of the runway near the airport terminal, they were all staring at the other end watching the jumbo 747 make its descent. On that airplane was their distinguished guest, Chen Wupeng who they were waiting for respectfully, he was possibly the only clue left in the world for this investigation.

She was holding a radio tuned to the pilot and air traffic controller's frequency.

The pilot said, "Everything is smooth, the landing gear is down, start decelerating and initiate the landing procedure, please report the runway conditions. Over."

"Runways is open, you are cleared for landing. Over"

Following the transmission there were 34 seconds of silence.

The airplane descended straight to the runway.

Zhuo Chu Yuan held her breath, the investigation was about to move on to a new stage.

So far everything had gone smoothly, but suddenly the nose of the airplane dropped from a 45 degree angle to a 75 degree angle, straight towards the runway.

Zhuo Chu Yuan's heart gave a jump as her face turned a grayish white. The people around her all began to rush to the other end of the runway.

The radio control tower shouted a trasmission, "708, what happened?!"

A sorrowful voice responded, it still sounded like the pilot but was strangely different, "Nobody can destroy me, when I have enough strength I will certainly be back." The transmission continued with wild laughter that covered up the shouting from the control tower. Then the sound of struggling mixed with a loud alarm could be heard from the airplane transmission.

The nearly vertical airplane hit the runway.

In the concourse of the airport, Ling Duyu could not believe what was happening before his eyes.

He saw the airplane hit the runway.

"BOOM", a ball of flame instantaneously spread out onto the runway, it looked like a series of continuous detonations.

Ling Duyu jumped up quickly, wildly shouting, "NO!"

The entire frame of the Jumbo 747 passenger jet disintegrated in the flames, dense clouds of smoke shot up miles into the sky. Debris was scattered all around the runway from the staggering impact.

There was another explosion and more fire.

In front of Ling Duyu the concourse windows all shattered. The force of the explosion was so strong that the glass couldn't withstand the shockwave.

The airport seemed to calm down before another explosion rocked the foundation of the building.

Following it was a deafening wave of sound. There were some people who fell down, some people were scrambling towards the exits, suddenly thousands of people were thrown into chaos.

Ling Duyu's eyes smoldered, he never thought this would be possible, but it really did happen.

What was this "Magic Stone"?

What power caused the destruction of the entire airplane?                        

The sound of fire engines surrounded the airport. Now what? Under these circumstances it would be a miracle if they could even find a complete corpse.

Murder! A despicable murder.

It took Ling Duyu a brief moment to calm down. His many years of meditation along with repeated life threatening situations allowed him to be able to quickly steel his nerves and, with an iron will, confront situations calmly. He had been the first person at Professor Xie's crime scene and now Chen Wupeng was dead, in the rush to find the 'magic stone' Ling Duyu was going to be the primary focus.

He had to go.

Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that there were people close by all around him.

Ling Duyu shouted out loudly, borrowing some of the inner anger he had built up. He used this opportunity to melt in to the rushing human tide.

The chaos in the concourse was astonishing, ten seconds before the airplane exploded the world had never seen anything like this. Men, women, and children were all shouting frantically, it happened at the airport's busiest time, while thousands of people were crowded together. When the impact of the blast wave shattered the glass walls it caused an instant panic, fear rapidly spread to hearts of the people. There was an indiscriminate stampede as a result and a mad rush to reach the exits.

The sound of four fire engines approaching only increased the crowd's fear.

This gave Ling Duyu the perfect opportunity to escape.

Thousands of people continually rushed forward, the movement of the human tide made it even more difficult for enemies to reach him.

Ling Duyu's physical conditioning was much better than the average person, keeping his body low he drilled into the human tide and worked his way to a side door he spotted earlier.

Ten yards away from the side door an enemy appeared, a tall well built solid looking man. He was moving toward him against the rushing tide. Ling Duyu immediately noticed a glistening black pistol clutched in his hand.

Ling Duyu called out an apology while at the same time using his shoulder to hit a stranger in front of him. He knocked him forward causing him to stumble and fall towards the armed man.

The man lifted his hand up to shove the falling stranger out of his way while his other hand lifted up the pistol. He was just about to shoot, but how could have known that Ling Duyu didn't retreat. Instead he followed right behind the falling stranger.

The armed man's view was blocked, he didn't see Ling Duyu rushing forward until he finally shoved the falling man out of his way. Amazingly, Ling Duyu magically appeared and he was only three feet away.

He immediately lowered the raised pistol and took careful aim, but it was already too late.

Even though the armed foreigner was expertly trained in weapons and hand to hand combat, something already unexpected had happened. On top of that he was also dealing with Ling Duyu who was a world-class master.

He was just about to pull the trigger when Ling Duyu shot his hands out and clamped on to the right hand holding the gun. The man made a miserable sound as the pistol fell from his hand, his abdomen was immediately in severe pain because he received a simultaneous knee strike from Ling Duyu. His body bent over in pain and he was struck by a second blow to the side of his neck. Everything went black as he crumbled to the ground.

Ling Duyu defeated the opponent, but he didn't dare to delay anymore. He quickly rushed through the side door. The river of people around him continued to move at a furious pace and he moved along with them towards the concourse exit.

He squeezed himself to the right side of the passage. His goal was to quickly leave the airport, he originally wanted to take a car from the parking lot, but it was too dangerous.

The sirens from the fire trucks could be heard all around, it continually reminded the people of the terrible tragedy that just took place.

While Ling Duyu was walking he pulled off his yellow jacket, he reversed it and put it back on now a blue color. He then took out a fake beard with adhesive and put it on his face. He added a pair of thick glasses that made him look like he had a severe case myopia (near-sightedness). The new additions immediately changed him into a scholarly looking professor. The magnitude of this crucial situation forced him to use all the means at his disposal.