Mingmei Yip - The Nine Fold Heaven

I didn’t reply.

“Does it mean that all you told me about yourself the first day wasn’t true?”

“No, Edward, it wasn’t lies.” I lied again. “I was molested by the Red Demons’ head. Only he didn’t kick me out, but instead forced me to be his spy.”

He sighed heavily. “Jade, how sad that a young girl like you had to endure all this suffering….”

I began to cry. “I’m scared, Edward. Now both gangs are after me.”

He thought for a while. “I don’t think so.”

“But why not?”

“Because the gangs are too busy killing each other to take the number one position. Jasmine, I am sure there are more important things on their minds than getting rid of a singer. They may want revenge, but they want money more.”

Of course, I’d been a minuscule bit of pretty fluff squeezed between two powerful machines. But I had even lost that status. Now I was out of sight and out of mind, at least I hoped that was all I was—just empty air between the two machines.

“So you don’t think my life is in danger?”

“Not if you’re telling me the whole story.”

Of course, I was too well trained to tell anyone everything, no matter what the circumstance. I’d left out a lot, not only my lovers and my baby, but also the large amount of money and jewelry I’d taken from Lung’s safe, and my escape to Hong Kong and return. And, most important, that my “real” name was Camilla.

I said, “But my boss has lost face. So he—”

“But since no one knows that you secretly worked for his rival, maybe he’s lost face to you, but not the public. Anyway, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Edward, I don’t think anything can be done.”

As if suddenly remembering something, he asked, “Jasmine, you never let me know your address. So, where have you been hiding?”

“Please, Edward, I really can’t tell you that.”

“Jasmine, I’ll try my best to protect you,” he sighed, then pressed his lips tenderly against mine.

Soon his tongue was writhing agonizingly inside my mouth; one of his hands held my waist as the other one lifted up my dress and began its search. Aroused by this foreigner’s passion, I responded by pressing my small body against his muscular one and kissing him back with equal intensity.

After long moments, we finally released each other and he said urgently, “Tonight, let’s go to my place, I want you to stay with me.”

Feeling completely overwhelmed by my lies and this man’s love, I willingly let myself be led to wherever his desire was pulling.

Outside the small garden, Edward opened the car door for me, then walked to the other side. As he was about to open the other door, I felt something was not quite right.

“Edward, I think I just saw someone…”

“Where?” He started to look around suspiciously.

“We better leave—”

Alas, before he could reply, a tall masked man dashed out from behind some trees.

“Edward, watch out!” I yelled.

Then a big fist struck my head and I collapsed to the ground.

I heard Edward cry out angrily, “You leave her alone!” followed by a thud and a grunt. There was more yelling, fists striking flesh, car doors slamming, and then the engine roaring and tires screeching.

After that, deadly silence.

As I struggled to get up, I realized that I’d just lost another man from my life—I’d warned him, but to no avail.

Through the tears stinging my cheeks, I saw that Edward’s car was still where he had left it. Fortunately for me, the kidnappers had been in too much hurry to take his keys, or perhaps assumed that a woman would be unable to drive.

My hands were still shaking when I arrived at the governess’s cottage to tell her the terrible news. Emily Andrews’s face looked as pale as if it had been snowed on.

“Oh, my God, Miss Chen, how horrible, what happened?”

I told her everything I knew, which was not much.

“Who would do something like this?”

I knew it was one of the warlords, most likely my former boss, Big Brother Wang. Or maybe even Rainbow Chang’s Pink Skeleton Empire. After all, she had not hesitated to have me snatched so she could try to intimidate me. And she wanted me to help to get Edward out of her way so he could not interfere with her lucrative loan sharking. But, of course, I was not going to share these speculations with Emily, lest she suspect me.

“Emily, there’s a kidnapping almost every day in Shanghai. So I guess it must be one of the general’s enemies. Can you think of who this might be?”

Emily looked horrified by my remark. “But General Miller is such a nice and decent man!”

“Emily, around here nice people stand out, and so they attract attention from the wrong kind of people and get hurt!”

“Oh, my God! I must call the police.”

“Don’t worry too much, Emily. I believe the general will be safe—probably all the kidnappers want is money.”

“I hope you’re right, Miss Chen.”

There was probably a lot more to it than this, but I did not want her to be alarmed. Or to call the police, as they were probably in on it.

“Emily, can I give you some advice?”

“What’s that?”

“Please call the police later, not now. And please don’t let them know that the general was with me.”

“But why not?”

“Emily, even if the general and my relationship is innocent, it’ll be a scandal all over the gossip news tomorrow. What could be juicier than the American Consul General being kidnapped when he was accompanied by a young Chinese woman? And these gossip columnists will add anything their wildest imaginations can cook up to make the story as sensational as it is untrue. You don’t want a scandal that will smear your boss’s reputation, do you?”

“Of course not, Miss Chen.”

“Then please do as I say. Call the police later to report that the general’s missing. But absolutely don’t mention that he was with anyone, for all of our reputations.”

“But you drove his car back here, so how could he—”

“You can say that he went out by himself and didn’t come back. Anyway, give as little information as possible. The more one talks, the more trouble they will cause.”

“You’re absolutely right, Miss Chen.”

To my great sadness, there was no real news about where Edward was, or when he’d return, if he ever would. All the newspapers offered theories about who was behind his disappearance, but none said anything of substance. Of course, some of the papers were controlled by the gangsters and the rest were terrified of them.

Rainbow Chang’s column read:

The newly appointed acting American Consul General Edward Miller has been missing for more than forty-eight hours. He left home for a night out by himself and never returned.

You and I, dear reader, are asking ourselves: Where is our Consul General? Let’s hope we will not be seeing him soon in a funeral.

So it looks like—at least to me—that this is not going to be pretty. Ambassadors do not just vanish into thin air—even those who are “ghosts,” albeit white ones. So he must have been kidnapped. However, there has been no demand for ransom. So it is to be feared that what the kidnapper wants is his life—or his death.

But why would anyone want him dead? Because he got in the way of the wrong people, that’s why. We all know that Edward Miller wanted to “clean up” Shanghai. Alas, since he speaks Chinese, he should know the saying, “When the water is too clear, there’ll be no fish. When a man is too honest, he will have no friends.” On the other hand, “When a man is evil enough, no one will dare to be his enemy.”