snarky_panda (snarky_panda) wrote in mulanficspace, @ 2007-06-08 20:16:00 |
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Title: Prey
Summary: Alternate universe suspense story set in the 20th century, specifically the early 1980’s. The memory sections take place in the 1960’s, during China’s Cultural Revolution.
Disclaimer: Everything from the Disney movie belongs to Disney.
Link here for beginning of story.
Chapter Four
They lay side by side under the covers, facing each other. Shang reached out and began to massage her shoulder gently.
“Mulan, there’s something I’ve been wondering. You said you came to San Francisco two years ago. Why didn’t you contact me when you got here?”
“When you left Hong Kong, we didn’t stay in touch. It seemed to me…” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I didn’t want it to look like I was chasing you.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that.”
“It would have felt like it to me. And other people would have thought it. Besides, you didn’t seem to want to stay in touch. You never wrote to me once you came here.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “You don’t need to apologize. I know things happened quickly for you. And you had a right to feel…or not feel…the way you did.”
“There always seemed to be a wall between us…you’ve always had secrets. I figured you had your reasons for keeping certain things private and I respected them. But…you’re right. I think it made me a little gun shy about taking things to the next step. And then my mother was pressuring me, too. About getting married before I went overseas. She already had someone picked out for me…and I didn’t want that. I just needed to get away from everything for a little while, to figure out what I did want.”
At a loss as to how to answer him she remained quiet.
“You were so on edge all last week.” Shang steered the subject back to the previous topic now. “I knew you were in trouble. My friend is a police officer; when I mentioned the name of your company…he knew it. He wouldn’t say anything about it, but…I could tell something was up. And I asked him to keep an eye on you.”
Mulan stiffened.
A cop? He’d had a cop watching her?
The thought filled her with terror and she felt as if she was going to suffocate. What if he’d seen her with Fei-pu? Now that he was dead, what if she was linked to him and suspected of being the one to kill him? She was in a foreign country, in violation of her work visa, and with no rights that a citizen would be entitled to. And she’d still seen Shang speaking with Mr. Luo. What if they were all trying to frame her? It certainly would be another way to get her out of the way.
“His name is Yong Lee, but he adopted an American name. Everyone calls him John now. He only checked up on you to make sure you were safe.”
“You were talking to my boss!” she finally blurted out, sitting up. He mirrored her movement. “I saw you, Shang!”
“What?” He appeared to be genuinely confused.
Choked sobs began to make their way out of her throat and Shang shifted closer, placing gentle hands on her shoulders.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really, I don’t.”
“My boss. Mr. Luo. I saw you with him in front of the Bank of Hong Kong the other morning.”
A look of recognition crossed his features. “Mr. Luo? He used to be my neighbor until I moved in here…why should you care that I was talking to him?”
“Your neighbor?”
“Yes.”
“Do you work with him at all?”
“No. But we run into each other every once in awhile. Chinatown is a small place, you know that. So we greet each other and talk. He asks me about my new place, I ask him about his wife and kids. There’s nothing secret about our conversations, Mulan. We’re just old neighbors. Why are you afraid of him?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s not my boss anymore anyway, since I quit. So you won’t need to have your friend check up on me anymore.”
“Why did you quit your job?”
Mulan took another deep breath and closed her eyes, uttering a quick silent prayer that what she was about to do was the right choice. She was about to open up a door, which meant trusting him enough to let him in on some parts of her life that up to now had remained secret.
Her eyes opened and she focused on him. “Some people think that I looked at something that I shouldn’t have. But I didn’t. Someone else did. But those people think that I did and didn’t believe me when I told them I didn’t.”
Shang blinked and shook his head, looking bewildered. “What?”
“I can’t say anymore about it.”
“You haven’t said anything about it,” he exclaimed in frustration.
“Now everything is so much more complicated,” she continued, ignoring his remark. “Why did you have to go and sick your cop friend on me?”
“Because I care about you and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I swear, Mulan, I never had any other intention but to help you. And all he did was check up on which hotels you went to and he made sure that you were safe. I would think you’d feel protected.”
“By the police?” she scoffed bitterly. “The police are corrupt and cruel.”
“Some of them are.”
“Almost all of them.”
“Do you really believe that?” he asked incredulously.
“That’s how it is where I come from.”
“We come from the same place, Mulan.”
She hesitated again, debating. What could it hurt to tell him? Somehow she sensed that whatever he was up to, he didn’t have the power to send her back to China. And he hadn’t harmed her. He certainly could have the night before if that was his intention; she was dead to the world then.
“No, we don’t.”
He stared at her, appearing stunned. “What?”
“I’m not originally from Hong Kong. I arrived there when I was nine. Just in time for the riots.”
“Oh. I had no idea...”
She shrugged. “How could you? I never told you.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing bad happened to me. It’s just…we were scared. Always scared. And even after we reached Hong Kong we never stopped being scared. There was always the chance that something bad could happen. And now the British are giving Hong Kong back to the People’s Republic of China.”
“Not until nineteen ninety-seven,” he corrected her quietly.
“And I don’t want to be there when that happens. I was hoping I could stay here and bring my aunt over. That won’t happen now that I left my job. I was here on a work visa.”
Shang gently smoothed down her hair, then he put an arm around her and pulled her close. “Tell me what happened.”
That morning, for the first time in her life, Mulan told another person the story of her parents and the Red Guard, and of her flight to Hong Kong with Aunt Qiu-yue.
*******
Only a few minutes before she’d finally ceased crying. Shang sat behind her, his legs straddling her on each side, massaging her shoulders and her neck. Mulan sighed as she felt some of the tension lift and her muscles relax.
“I understand why you’ve kept this to yourself for so long, Mulan. But I’m glad you told me.” He kissed the back of her head tenderly. “And I’m sorry I messed up your original plan. I thought you were in trouble and I really was trying to help.”
“Nothing can be done about it now. I know you were worried about me.”
“Very. I wish you would have told me the truth in the first place.”
“For so long I’ve been taught that I can’t trust anyone. I’m not sure I know how to,” she remarked sadly. Indeed, though she’d revealed much to him just now, she was still afraid. A part of her worried that he might turn on her, even though she could see the love and caring in his eyes when he gazed at her.
“What about your job, Mulan? You said someone thinks you looked at something you shouldn’t have.”
“Yes.”
“But why did you leave? Wouldn’t that make you look guilty now?”
“I was afraid they would harm me.”
“Are you sure of that? I mean, maybe…you grew up under such duress. Is it possible that you’re reacting because of your past experiences and seeing danger where there isn’t any?”
“Maybe. But I don’t think so. Any way you look at it, I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” she sighed.
“What did you do with your things?”
“I checked my bag into a locker at the bus station.”
“I’ll drive you down there later to pick it up. And then…you’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you want.”
“I’m afraid they might be watching you now, too.”
“Then you might as well stay with me. They can watch us both at the same time. And so can my friend.”
Although her back was to him he must have sensed her frown.
“He’s a good guy, Mulan,” he reassured her.
She groaned in disappointment when his hands ceased massaging her.
“Sorry, I’m hungry,” he chuckled. “I’m getting up to make us breakfast.”
His eyes roved over her body as she climbed out of bed. “You can wear one of my shirts since all you have here is that lovely dress. Not that I’d mind if you came to breakfast in your underwear, but I don’t want you to be cold.”
Mulan punched his upper arm playfully and followed him to the closet where he retrieved a large T-shirt for her to wear.
Fifteen minutes later she sat at the kitchen table while Shang scrambled up eggs and made toast and coffee for them.
“We’re having an American breakfast.”
He’d already brought the Sunday paper in and set it on the table. She grabbed it and began to thumb through the pages, anxiously looking to see if there was another story about the ‘unidentified Chinese man’ in Mission Dolores Park. Once again she found a small article in the local news section of the paper. Although his name hadn’t been released they did reveal the name of the company that he had worked for. In addition, the article went on to say that another employee in the same company was missing. Again no name was released; but she knew they meant her.
*******
When they returned home after driving to the bus station to retrieve Mulan’s bag, a car was parked in front of Shang’s house.
“That’s my friend John Lee’s car.”
“Oh, no…”
“He’s probably just stopping by to say hello to me. Don’t panic.”
John Lee got out of the car and greeted them at the stoop of Shang’s house, explaining that he was there on business. Mulan felt her face blanch and her stomach knotted up. Shang squeezed her hand reassuringly and invited his friend into the house.
As they sat in the living room together, John introduced himself to Mulan and explained that he had some questions for her. He pulled out a pad and pen from his jacket pocket and prepared to write her answers down.
“Ms. Chen, I believe you know a Mr. Wen Fei-pu?”
“Yes, we used to work for the same company.”
“Used to?”
Mulan swallowed nervously. “I quit. This past Tuesday was my last day.”
“Mr. Wen was found shot to death in Mission Dolores Park on Friday morning.”
She didn’t answer, having learned a long time ago to only offer information to the police when asked a question.
“Perhaps you read about it in the paper?” he prodded.
“I did read an article about a Chinese man found there.”
“What was your relationship? Were you friends?”
“No, just co-workers.”
“You also withdrew all of your money from your account at the Bank of Hong Kong, and you haven’t been in your apartment since Tuesday. Are you planning to go somewhere?”
“I’m sorry,” Shang interrupted. “Forgive me for interrupting, but is she suspected of a crime? Does she need to call an attorney?”
“I know she didn’t shoot Mr. Wen, Li Shang. You were worried, and as soon as you told me where she worked, so was I. I kept an eye on her like you asked, and now I’m her alibi. Another officer and I took turns watching her all day Thursday. If she’d shot him, one of us would have seen her.” He turned to Mulan. “I did see you with him early that morning. And then you went to a hotel in the Mission District. At around eight o’clock you went to the park. You were going to meet him?”
“Yes, but he never showed up.”
“Another man came over to you, though. A Mexican.”
She nodded. “He didn’t tell me his name. All he said was that Mr. Wen told him to pass on a message to me that he couldn’t make it. So I went back to my hotel room.”
“Why were you meeting him?”
“When I ran into him on Thursday morning he told me that he needed to talk to me. But he wouldn’t tell me what it was about and he wanted to meet somewhere out of Chinatown.”
“So you don’t know what he wanted to talk to you about.”
“No.”
“What have you been running away from?”
Mulan squirmed uncomfortably and glanced at Shang. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t asked Officer Lee to keep an eye on her, no one would have a clue who she was. And she might have been long gone now.
“Ms. Chen, I’m a part of the department’s Asian Gang Task Force. For a long time now we’ve been investigating the company that you were working for. Mr. Luo is smart and he covers his tracks. As much as we suspect that his outfit is involved in organized crime we have no proof. But the fact that you ran tells me that you must know something.”
“I don’t,” she insisted.
“What was your job when you were there?”
“I kept inventory of all incoming and outgoing merchandise, I liaised with our clients and with sales representatives, stuff like that.”
Officer Lee glanced at Shang, then withdrew a card from his pocket and handed it to her. “If you can think of anything that might help us further, give me a call. Where can I reach you if I need to ask you anything else?”
“She’ll be staying here,” Shang answered for her.
“Very good. Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Chen.”
Mulan watched as Shang accompanied him to the front door. The two men exchanged quiet words that she couldn’t hear, then Officer Lee left and Shang rejoined her on the couch.
He put his arms around her and drew her close. “Don’t look so worried, Mulan.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Listen to me. You said that Mr. Luo suspects that you know something…”
“He does. And the fact that he only thinks it has got me in trouble.”
“Then, you might as well tell the police the truth.”
“I told him what I know.”
“You know more than you’re telling, Mulan. He knows it and so do I. Look, you might as well come clean. They’ll protect you. And maybe they’ll finally get this guy and his people off the street. You’ll be safe.”
With a bitter laugh she shook her head.
“I’ll never be safe.”