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?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment