Chapter 15 The Hero on Television #3
Money laundering.
Illegal gambling.
Connections that stretched overseas.
The fortune controlled directly or indirectly by Jin now exceeded half a billion dollars.
And Tan Lee was alive.
A police officer.
Jin's eyes narrowed.
If certain older family members saw this broadcast, they'd recognize him.
If attorneys connected to the trusts investigated—
Problems.
If Tan himself began asking questions—
More problems.
And he was already attached to the raid on Golden Meridian.
Was that a coincidence?
Jin didn't believe in coincidences.
Victor entered ten minutes later.
Tall.
Broad.
Perfectly dressed.
He closed the door behind him.
"You saw."
Jin gestured toward the screen.
"Who else knows?"
Victor sat.
"Not many people understand what they're looking at yet."
"Yet."
"Correct."
Jin poured another drink.
His hand was steady now.
"Verify him."
Victor nodded.
"Already started."
"I want everything."
"Adoption."
"Schools."
"Police career."
"Family."
"Woman."
"Friends."
"Financial records."
"Everything."
Victor hesitated.
"His connection to Golden Meridian?"
Jin's expression hardened.
"Find out whether he was there because of us or because of luck."
"And if it's luck?"
Jin looked back toward the television.
Tan smiled during some old family photograph.
Terrence stood beside him.
Eva on the other side.
A Black brother and sister around him.
Family.
Tan looked happy.
That irritated Jin more than it should have.
"He was supposed to be gone."
Victor said nothing.
Jin's voice became quiet.
"I left him hidden."
Victor knew enough about Jin's past not to respond.
"For two days."
Jin stared into the glass.
"I came back."
The confession surprised even him.
The apartment had been destroyed.
No Tan.
He'd searched behind the concealed wall.
Nothing.
For years the memory haunted him.
But another memory existed too.
Relief.
Some shameful part of him had realized what Tan's disappearance meant.
No heir.
No competition.
No little prince, everyone expected Jin to bow before.
He'd hated himself for that relief.
Eventually, success made guilt quieter.
Now Tan was back.
Not physically.
Not yet.
But the dead had returned.
And they wore a badge.
That evening, several older members of the Lee community watched the same broadcast.
Mr. Huang stood behind the counter of Golden Harmony Grocery when Tan's face appeared on the small television near the ceiling.
A customer said,
"Good officer."
Mr. Huang didn't answer.
Then the camera showed the pendant.
His stomach dropped.
He reached for the remote and turned off the television.
His wife looked at him.
"What?"
Mr. Huang spoke in Mandarin.
"They will see him."
Her face changed.
"Who?"
"You know who."
She closed her eyes.
"After all these years..."
Mr. Huang looked toward the darkened television.
"We should have told Terrence."
His wife shook her head.
"No."
"If Jin learns—"
"He already knows."
"How can you know?"
"Because everybody watches the news when police raid one of their businesses."
Silence.
Mr. Huang looked toward the locked front door.
"He saved that boy."
His wife stared.
"What boy?"
"Tan."
"No."
"Terrence saved Tan."
He thought of the officer standing in his store years ago.
I'm here as his father.
Mr. Huang had dismissed the word.
Not anymore.
Now Tan carried children from darkness the same way Terrence once carried him.
Mr. Huang's eyes filled with regret.
"Maybe we chose wrong."
His wife whispered,
"We chose survival."
"Sometimes they look the same until later."
Back at the David home, Eva had organized an impromptu celebration before Tan could stop her.
Again.
He arrived at seven intending only to check on his parents.
Cars already lined the street.
Tan parked.
"No."
Amari laughed from the passenger seat.
"You knew this would happen."
"I specifically told Mama not to do anything."
"That guaranteed it."
They climbed out.
The front door opened.
Gloria appeared wearing a shirt she had apparently purchased that afternoon.
Across the front:
PROUD GRANDMA OF A HERO
Tan stopped walking.
"No."
Gloria spread her arms.
"You like it?"
"Where did you even get that?"
"Custom print shop."
"In six hours?"
"People respect me."
Amari covered her mouth, laughing.
Tan pointed toward the shirt.
"I'm not coming inside until you change."
Gloria turned around.
The back read:
OFFICER TAN LEE DAVID
Tan closed his eyes.
"Oh my goodness."
Gloria smiled.
"Exactly."
Terrence stepped outside behind her.
He wore a normal shirt.
Thank God.
Tan looked at him.
"You allowed this?"
Terrence held up both hands.
"Your grandmother is an independent adult."
"You could've stopped her."
"I value my life."
Gloria swatted him.
Amari laughed again.
Then Eva appeared.
She didn't tease.
She simply walked down the steps and hugged Tan.
Hard.
Tan wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey, Mama."
She didn't answer immediately.
When she pulled back, her eyes were red.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again."
Tan smiled.
"I'll put it on the calendar."
She slapped his arm.
"Not funny."
"I know."
Then she touched his face.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Really."
Eva nodded.
Then hugged him again.
Tan saw Terrence over her shoulder.
His father gave him a small smile.
No embarrassment.
No cameras.
No headlines.
This mattered more.
Home.
Inside, the celebration was exactly as chaotic as expected.
Travis had flown in that afternoon after seeing the news.
Ella came directly from the hospital still wearing scrubs beneath her jacket.
DeAndre brought a bottle of sparkling cider because Gloria refused to allow "all that drinking" despite the fact everyone was grown.
Raymond arrived with three other men from the barbershop.
Calvin and Denise Davenport came too.
Simone walked in carrying cupcakes decorated like tiny police badges.
Tan stared at them.
"I hate all of you."
Simone smiled.
"You're welcome."
Harold handed Tan a plate.
"Eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Hero gotta eat."
Tan looked toward Amari.
"See what you started?"
"I didn't invite anybody."
"You're enjoying it."
"Very much."
For nearly two hours, Tan endured hugs, jokes, questions, and people replaying the television footage despite his repeated requests to stop.
Then the national segment aired.
Everyone crowded into the living room.
Tan remained standing near the hallway.
The anchor introduced the story.
Video rolled.
The warehouse.
Victims.
Tan carrying the child.
Then—
A photograph of Tan at five years old.
Panda.
The room changed.
Terrence stared at the screen.
Eva covered her mouth.
Tan's expression tightened.
The reporter explained that Officer Tan Lee David had himself been separated from his biological family as a young child before being rescued by Officer Terrence David and eventually adopted into the David family.
Then came the interview recorded earlier that evening.
A reporter had spoken with both Tan and Terrence outside police headquarters.
On screen, Tan looked uncomfortable.
Terrence looked amused by his son's discomfort.
The reporter asked,
"Officer David, your son says you are the reason he became a police officer. What did you see in him when you first found him as a child?"
Terrence looked toward Tan in the recording.
Then answered.
"A scared little boy who needed somebody to stop."
The living room became silent.
Terrence on television continued.
"I didn't know he'd become my son."
"I didn't know where his life would lead."
"I just knew that day, he needed help."
The reporter asked,
"When did you realize he had become your child?"
Terrence laughed softly.
"Before the paperwork did."
Eva started crying.
Gloria did too.
Amari looked toward Tan.
He wasn't watching television anymore.
He was watching his father.
The reporter turned toward Tan.
"What does hearing that mean to you?"
On screen, Tan swallowed.
"Everything."
Then he looked at Terrence.
"My father taught me that family isn't just who you come from."
"It's who keeps showing up."
Tan standing in the living room closed his eyes briefly.
He hadn't realized how emotional the interview sounded until now.
The reporter asked,
"And today you showed up for forty-seven people."
Tan shook his head.
"A lot of officers showed up."
"But yes."
He paused.
"Someone did it for me once."
Terrence's hand rested on his shoulder.
The segment ended.
For several seconds, nobody in the David living room spoke.
Then Gloria sobbed loudly.
"I can't take it."
Tan laughed through his own emotion.
"Grandma."
She rushed toward him.
Soon Eva joined.
Then Ella.
Amari.
Harold.
Travis.
Tan found himself trapped inside a family hug he absolutely had not requested.
"Okay."
Nobody released him.
"I can't breathe."
Still nothing.
"SWAT officer suffocated by relatives is gonna look ridiculous in tomorrow's paper."
That finally made everyone laugh.
They pulled away.
Terrence remained standing near the television.
Tan looked at him.
The room gradually resumed talking.
But father and son stayed locked on one another.
Tan walked over.
"Didn't know you were gonna say all that."
Terrence shrugged.
"They asked."
"You made Mama cry."
"That's not hard."
Eva shouted from across the room,
"I heard that!"
Terrence smiled.
Then his expression softened.
"You good?"
Tan nodded.
"Yeah."
He looked at the paused television image.
The child in his arms.
"I keep thinking about him."
"The little boy?"
"Yeah."
Terrence nodded.
"You will for a while."
Tan looked toward his father.
"You think that's what you felt when you found me?"
Terrence didn't answer immediately.
Then—
"Something close."
Tan smiled faintly.
"He grabbed my vest."
"Wouldn't let go."
Terrence's eyes softened.
"You didn't either."
"What?"
"At the hospital."
"You held onto my shirt most of the ride."
Tan laughed quietly.
"I don't remember that."
"I do."
They stood beside one another.
Tan looked toward the family filling the room.
"What if you'd kept driving?"
Terrence immediately shook his head.
"Don't do that."
"I'm serious."
"You weren't supposed to get hit by that car."
"That's as far as the thought needs to go."
Tan nodded.
Terrence rested a hand on the back of his neck.
"Today wasn't about paying some debt."