Chapter 26
“Come on,” demanded Alice, once they had a moment to talk. “Answer me. How’s it possible your brother has been alive all this time and he didn’t even try to contact you?”
It was the third time she’d asked.
Alice couldn’t imagine her own brother not moving heaven and earth to find her, to let her know he was alive. And vice versa.
It had been a mad scramble after her father landed the plane at a small airport outside of Fuzhou. He’d slipped them their travel documents, then handed them over to a woman waiting by a car.
“She’ll get you to the HaiXia ferry to Taipei. Go.” He looked around, then back at them. “Quickly.”
“But how are we supposed to find Kai-wen?” Vivien demanded.
“You’ll figure it out.” He turned to Alice. “I know I’ve been the worst possible father. But I love you and your brother. Always have. Always will.” As he hugged her, he whispered, “Trust no one.”
“Come with us. They’ll kill you for this.”
“If being married to your mother didn’t kill me, nothing will.” He smiled, to take the sharp edge off that comment. “I’ll die of old age, in my bed.”
“With coconut bun crumbs stuck to his pajamas,” said Vivien.
“Not for the first time,” said Liu.
Reaching out to his former wife, he straightened her Shanghai Tang. And for a moment, a blessed moment, the world paused and there was no crisis. No mounting catastrophe. The big bad thing hadn’t happened. Wasn’t happening.
The big bad thing wasn’t one of them.
“Go.”
And they did.
At the port, they found complete pandemonium. Thousands were pushing and shoving, elbows up, panic on their faces, as they fought to get inside the terminal and onto the ferry to Taipei. Fought to get out of China.
“Fuck,” whispered Alice.
“Fuck this,” said Vivien. Without looking back to make sure Alice was following, Vivien plunged into the crowd.
“Excuse me. Excuse me,” said Vivien, while Alice pressed up against her. Any distance between them would mean being swamped and separated.
Oddly, saying “Excuse me” seemed to work. At least the courtesy amid the chaos surprised people just long enough for the two women to push past. Trailed by a slipstream of abuse.
Normally Alice would have been mortified. But she’d discovered in the past twenty-four hours a deep desire not to die. They were getting on that ferry to Taipei no matter what.
Moments later, just as the door to the terminal was within reach, Alice felt more than heard her mother moan.
She followed her gaze and saw a slender man in a dark suit making his way toward them.
The solid wall of flesh between the man and the two women liquefied as people moved away. Dropping their eyes.
Not wanting to see. Not wanting to know.
Alice tried to back up, but no movement was possible. They were cemented in.
“Madame Li?” He bowed.
To Alice’s surprise, and grudging admiration, her mother hauled herself to her full height and bowed back. “Shi.”
There was no use denying it, so might as well meet Fate with dignity.
For her part, Alice wanted to weep and beg and fall to her knees. She was exhausted and had no fight left. No dignity. She couldn’t even muster terror. All that was left was garden-variety fear.
“Come with me.”
It was not a request. The man gripped Vivien’s elbow, while Vivien held on to Alice.
They were dragged forward, toward and into the terminal building.
As soon as they entered, they were surrounded by wails of anguish.
It felt like an assault, as hundreds of men, women, and children read the messages on their phones and learned the fate of loved ones.
Communication was being restored, and with it came the scope of the disaster. The planes. The trains. The cars. The fires—those were proving the worst, as transformers and generators and furnaces and wall sockets burst into flames when the power came surging back.
“Come,” the man said. “Hurry.”
Alice considered screaming, shouting, drawing attention to their own looming catastrophe. But she knew no one would respond. Those who were not overcome by grief were far too afraid of the MSS to come to the rescue of two strangers.
She could not blame them. Alice suspected she’d also turn away. Had turned away. Yes. She was no different. A coward.
How had this MSS agent found them? Surveillance cameras probably. But were they even working? Maybe her father had been captured. Tortured. And had told.
Or maybe he hadn’t needed to be captured. Tortured. Maybe he’d just told. Informed. Wasn’t that what people of his sort did? Maybe this was the plan all along.
“Through there.” The man pointed to a door. “Now.”
On the other side, a woman in a uniform was waiting. She bowed to Vivien. “Come with me, Madame Li.”
“What’s happening?” Alice whispered to her mother.
“Be quiet. Just keep your eyes down and do as she says.”
The uniformed agent looked around to make sure no one was watching, then pointed to the loading bay. “Quickly.”
Before Alice knew it, they were on the ferry. They found seats on the upper deck, at the bow. The point closest to Taiwan. To safety.
To Kai-wen.
Alice sat on the hard wooden bench and took a deep breath of the fresh, cool sea air.
“What just happened?” she whispered. “They let us go?”
“We’re not out of China yet,” Vivien hissed. She brought out her phone.
“No,” said Alice. “If you turn it on, they’ll find us.”
Vivien smiled, but without humor. “You think they don’t know? No one escapes China unless the regime wants them to. They’re letting us go.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. I wondered, when your father got us out so easily, but now it’s obvious.”
“What’s obvious?”
Vivien turned in her seat to look at her daughter. The main gangway had been lowered and passengers were rushing in, scrambling for seats.
“The keys to the vehicle just happen to be in it? The plane? The driver waiting for us? At first, when we were in the car, I thought we were escaping, but then I realized it wasn’t an escape so much as an ushering out of the country.”
“And Dad was in on it?”
“Not just in on it, I think he planned it all.”
“Why?”
“I don’t really know.” Vivien looked out to sea, while elbowing an elderly woman who’d dared shove against her on the bench. “But I think they must want us to lead them to Kai-wen.”
“Wouldn’t Dad know where he is? If he is the one who got him out?”
“They might’ve lost track of him. He might know he’s in Taiwan, but not where. That’s why he didn’t tell us where to find him.”
“He doesn’t know.” The awful truth was sinking in. “But why would they want him now?”
A large man pushed against her so violently she almost fell off the bench. Her mother leaned over and punched him on the shoulder. He turned to retaliate, then looked into her eyes and leaned away.
So it’s not just me, thought Alice.
“Tiananmen was decades ago,” she said. “Look at what’s happening now, today. These attacks. I’m thinking Chen and the MSS have bigger worries than Tank Man.”
More and more people were boarding the ferry. Fighting over the few remaining seats. Shoving people to the deck. Pushing. Yelling. Desperate to get out of China before something even worse happened.
Vivien was silent. Staring ahead. And Alice followed the train of thought. To the only possible conclusion.
Dear God, she thought, the MSS, the regime, my father all think Tank Man, Kai-wen, my uncle, is running Pangu.
“Is he?” Alice asked.
“Is he what?”
“Running Pangu? Is that why they’re trying to find him? Is that why he never contacted you?”
Vivien’s silence took up more space than the yelling and crying all around them.
More and more and more people were appearing on the deck. Standing, leaning, sitting on the floor. Trying not to get trampled.
Why don’t they close the gates? Lift the bridge? Why don’t they stop them??
“Jesus.” The panic attack slammed into her. “We have to get off. This thing’s going to sink. We’re going to—”
“Pull yourself together! We stay, we die. At least this gives us a chance. Sit. Stay.”
Alice had a sudden realization that her mother had always treated her and Kevin as unruly puppies.
People were pressed up against her. Their bodies in her face. She could smell their odor. Their terror. It was smothering.
Alice felt herself suffocating. Drowning in their fear. In her own.
“Deep breath in,” Vivien ordered. “Through your mouth. Come on. Listen to me. Deep breath out. Four times. And think of something nice.”
Coconut buns. Coconut buns. Coconut—
And that brought her to her father. Who had given her coconut buns, and played piano softly as she drifted off to sleep. Her father with his comfortable paunch and deep, protective hugs.
Was he dead? Had Chen’s people found and killed him? It seemed likely. Or—
Was he alive? Had her father orchestrated their escape, not to save them but to help the regime track down Tank Man, trusting that his former wife and daughter could find him? And once they did, what would Chen to do to him? Them?
The ferry began to move. She heard splashes. Screams. She closed her eyes tight, but of course that did nothing to drown out the cries of the people who’d fallen into the water, trying to leap into the departing boat.
Slowly the sounds faded. Stopped. Out of the harbor the ferry rolled and swayed and pitched and rocked. Heading for Taiwan. For Kai-wen.
“How’s it possible your brother has been alive all this time and he didn’t even try to contact you?” she asked yet again. “Is he running Pangu? And why did Dad let you believe he betrayed you and turned him in? Especially because you left him!”
“Enough!” Vivien snapped. “I don’t know, all right? Satisfied? I didn’t even know he was alive, so stop asking me.”
Vivien clasped her hands together into one tight fist. Her carefully manicured nails were chipped and broken, her fingers bleeding and smeared with red dirt from the centuries-old warriors.
Her Shanghai Tang was ripped and ragged.
She knows, Alice thought. Or at least she suspects. And the answer scares her.