Lisa See - The Interior

"Madame Leung, it is I, Liu Hulan. And this is Henry Knight."

The party secretary seemed not to understand. This woman, obviously sick but dressed in her fine silk suit, was no one she knew. As far as the old man? Yes, it was him, but he never came in here during working hours.

"We're in trouble," Hulan continued rapidly. "You must help us."

"This is no place for visitors!"

A shot rang out. Even with the racket of the machines the sound was loud, sharp, and distinctive. Madame Leung turned and saw Doug with the weapon in his hand, Amy Gao at his side. He lifted his weapon again and aimed for the little cluster of people. Before he could pull the trigger, his targets scattered. He fired anyway. Women screamed. Some instinctively fell to the floor. Others made as if to run, but he and Amy blocked the door. There was no place to go.

Hulan peeked around the flocking machine and saw David and

Henry about ten feet from her, behind the engine for the main assembly line. Their heads were down by the exhaust, the fan blowing David's hair away from his forehead. Then Hulan took in as much of the room as she safely could. No one had been shot as far as she could see. There was no movement except for Party Secretary Leung, who slowly crept on all fours under some machinery against a nearby wall. Hulan turned back to Doug. He was saying something to Amy and motioning to the wall not far from Madame Leung. Amy strode forward purposely, unafraid. Why should she be afraid? She held a gun and she had backup. Madame Leung fell flat as Amy passed the machine she was under, but the woman with the gun didn't notice. Amy got to the wall, reached up, and pulled down several levers. One after another the machines ground to a halt. The room fell silent.

"Come out, Dad," Doug called across the cavernous room. "You're in no danger."

"What's happening?" a girl yelled in Mandarin.

Doug waved his gun toward the sound of the voice. Again, silence. Hulan edged around the machine. She saw Siang and Peanut huddled together.

Doug reached down, grabbed a girl of about twelve, and held the gun to her head. "Dad, I'm asking you to come out and talk to me or this girl dies."

Henry started to stand. David grabbed a handful of Henry's shirt to keep him down, but the older man jerked the fabric out of David's grasp and stepped out from behind the conveyor's engine. Doug tossed the girl aside. She fell, then quickly scrambled for cover.

"Did you always know, Dad? Is that why you wanted to sell?"

"No, son, I didn't know it was you until I saw all of your papers together. And during this last hour I've been trying to understand, but I can't."

"Then why sell?"

Henry closed his eyes as if in pain. When he opened them again, his eyes were hard. "Are you going to let these people go?"

"Why sell?" Doug demanded.

"I thought you'd get a better price while I was still alive, and together we could deal with the tax consequences."

This, of course, was what Pearl Jenner had written in her coverage of the sale, and it had been the accepted reason bandied about on Wall Street, but Doug didn't believe it. "You didn't want me to have the company," he stated matter-of-factly.

"If that's what you want to believe-"

"Admit it!" Doug aimed the pistol.

Henry raised his hands in supplication. "I'll admit it if you'll let these people go."

Hulan took this as her cue. Drawing on her last reserves, she edged back out of sight, then crawled along the floor. This meant putting weight on her hand. The pain was excruciating, and with every yard she gained she thought she would pass out again.

"Dad, you know I'm not going to do that. I can't. Things went too far."

These words chilled Hulan. Either that or she shook from pain and the cold sweat that had broken out over her body. She reached a little group of women, whispered instructions, and moved on. David too had begun to move, making his way slowly and quietly to a position behind Amy, who stood with her gun aimed at Henry's back.

"Tell me why, son. Isn't that what you're supposed to do now? Tell us why."

Doug didn't respond. Instead he looked around the room apparently searching for something.

"Doug!" Henry shouted. "I'm talking to you!"

Doug looked back at his father. "What is it, Dad?"

"I need to know why."

"But there's so many reasons, and"-he grinned-"so little time."

"Tell me we have time for this at least. Accord me that courtesy."

Across the room, Madame Leung kept moving, also stopping occasionally to whisper to girls and women. Did she have the same idea as Hulan? Or was the party secretary just trying to make her way to the door? If she was and Doug or Amy caught her, she'd be dead in a second.

Doug sighed. "Okay, but if you're stalling for time, it won't do any good. As everyone has said before, this place is in the middle of nowhere. What has to happen now can't be stopped."

Henry agreed with an abrupt nod.

"I was never interested in the company, Dad. You knew that. Everyone knew that. You thought I wasn't good enough. Everyone else thought I wasn't talented enough. I've heard it my whole life at those toy conventions-your dad's a hard act to follow, or you've got some pretty big shoes to fill. Then you got sick and you sent me here to get this place built. I met Governor Sun and, of course, his assistant, Amy. She was the one who first told me how profits could be made without any outlay of capital."

"Skimming off the salaries," Henry said.

"I know it doesn't seem like much," Doug said. "But look, three hundred thousand a year tax-free ain't bad."

"That's chump change."

"It's not when you start adding in other factories. Once I got here, I saw we could expand easily-just as Mattel and Boeing have."

"Those are legitimate businesses."

"It doesn't matter how you get there. What matters is the profit. Do the math, Dad. Four new factories, each with a three hundred thousand skim-"

"But it still wasn't enough."

Hulan reached her old workstation. She brought a ringer to her lips to keep Siang and Peanut from making a sound, but their eyes widened in disbelief and surprise as they recognized her. Then she leaned in and whispered. It was her last act before she lost consciousness again. From his position across the room, David saw Hulan sink to the floor and the two Chinese girls try to wake her.

"Exactly!" Doug said. "The turning point came with Sam amp; His Friends. You're home, supposed to be resting, and you come up with this great idea. That's what makes you a genius. That's why you're in the Toy Hall of Fame. But you didn't see the potential."

"I saw it. That's why I wanted to sell now. We'd get the best price while I was still alive."

"No, you don't see what I see. The dolls are nothing. The money's in the technology. If you'd spent any time with Miles and Randall, you'd have seen that's what they wanted."

"Was Miles your partner?"

Doug humphed. "He's a lawyer, Dad. Give me some credit."

"But he knew what you were doing out here."

"Sure. But he had his eye on a bigger prize. Seal the deal, leave his firm, and go over to Tartan. They were talking stock options, the works. You would have known that if you'd paid any attention." Doug shook his head. "But you didn't pay attention, which is why we're here. All you had to do was spot trouble, i.e., our company was paying Sun Can bribes, and you would have nixed the whole thing, because you'd do anything to protect that guy. Am I right?" When Henry didn't respond, Doug screamed, "Am I right?"

"Yes."

"But you didn't back out of the deal because nothing went as it was supposed to. I gave that little tramp the information, and what does she do? She fucks it all up. I wanted her to give the works to that measly little do-gooder who'd been nosing around. But instead she splits it up. Keith shows a variation of it to Miles, who buries it for his own personal gain. Keith died because he didn't have the guts to expose what he knew. She also sends some of the papers to Sun, and he does everything he can to cover his ass. But I still counted on Guy Lin. He at least did what he was supposed to do."