Ebony Scales

Chapter 2

Preparations for the trip to Chengdu were more difficult than Joy and Longwei’s first infiltration to Hefei. Chengdu was much farther away, over five hundred kilometers driving, and there was a lot they didn’t know about the city. While the school’s textbooks and downloaded cultural files on a computer could tell them how many people and some of the historical and cultural relevance of the ancient grand city, the fact of the matter was that when it came to the Triads and the seedier side of the city of almost eight million, they knew next to nothing.

Even Joy’s former investigations involving connecting the Triads to the government weren’t helpful. Joy had been based in Shanghai, near the coast, and had focused a lot of her investigations in the financial hub, along with the connections between Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. However, Chengdu was largely unknown to her, although she knew that its position was the westernmost important city in China and that the Triads had to be entwined deeply into the roots of the city.

Another obstacle was finding someone to take over in Longwei’s absence. For too long, the village had looked to Longwei and his ancestors as the only decision making authority in village matters, and the idea of the village going without a dragon-shifter at its head for an indefinite amount of time seemed to paralyze a lot of them. Joy lost count of the number of meetings Longwei held with various villagers, from small groups to a few that involved everyone, even the children. In the end, Longwei had to invoke his “authority” and appoint three village elders, including the doctor and the head teacher at the school, to act in his stead. Longwei was sure that even if one of them decided to go on a power trip, the other two could check him. At the same time, he made sure that each of them was wise, and in some ways he thought they may end up being better leaders than he was.

The final obstacle was more practical. How were they supposed to live? The last operation had been fast and short, with both of them taking quick apartments that they hadn’t even needed to pay rent on, except for a small deposit. They had relied on Joy’s savings from her last few paychecks as a newspaper reporter, and had done fine. This time, in addition to even paying to get to Chengdu, they knew it would take more time to figure out how to hurt the Triad, and costs would be higher. The dodge of working at a nightclub wasn’t going to work again, they were sure, as even the Triad as far away as Chengdu would be on the lookout for a curvaceous black American woman like Joy. Longwei on the other hand might blend in a bit better, as long as he didn’t reveal his dragon nature.

At least the transportation would be easy. They had siphoned enough gasoline from the Triad trucks that the one truck still in full operating condition could drive all the way to Chengdu without a problem. In addition, the trucks the Triad had used were relatively new, with none having more than thirty thousand kilometers on them. Since the villagers had only used two rifles in the first attack, there was no bullet damage on the truck, and the few scrapes and scratches could be excused due to travel and rough driving.

“I guess we’re just going to have to wing it,” Joy eventually said. “We don’t have access to the Internet, we don’t even have a phone line until we get farther out. I mean, I can jack my cell phone into my laptop, it has a data plan so I might get a signal, but it’s not like we’re going to have a lot of preparation.”

Longwei sighed, nodding. “This isn’t the smartest move we could make.”

“But it’s the only one available. If you really feel the Triad will come back in force, we have to do something to pull them away, and protect this village.”

The night before Longwei and Joy planned to depart from the village, they were surprised at dinner time to have a guest stop by. Yingtai came to the gate of the temple, a bag slung over her shoulder, her wrapped hand held gingerly in front of her. When Longwei greeted her, she responded with a liquid flow of Chinese that was so fast that Joy could not understand a single word she said. She kept repeating herself it seemed, but Joy was quickly flummoxed at what she was trying to say. Finally, Yingtai stopped, and looked at Joy. “Please,” she begged, her voice heavy with emotion.

“What did she ask?” Joy asked Longwei, who looked at the young woman seriously. Whatever had been said, Longwei was obviously thinking seriously. “Come on, Longwei. What did she say?”

Longwei shook his head to clear his thoughts, and turned his attention back to Joy. “She wants to come with us. Most of it was begging to be allowed to come with us.”

“And what do you think?”

Longwei sighed. “Yingtai’s never left this village before. The farthest she’s ever been is about twenty kilometers away, where there was once a traveling carnival that my father took the children to see. We trekked all day to go see that carnival, and when we got there, they were packing up to leave. They hadn’t realized that our village was the only thing within distance, and were going to move on. My father convinced them to come to the village for the evening, so we were at least able to enjoy a little bit of some of the minor magic acts and things like that.”

Joy looked at Yingtai, whose face was filled with hope and confusion at the unknown conversation. Shifting to her Chinese, Joy patted her on the shoulder. “Yingtai, why do you want to come with us?”

Thankfully, Longwei was able to translate for her. “I want to help. I cannot be helpful at home, and I can be helpful.”

“What do you think you can do?”

Yingtai smiled. “I can do the things you cannot. I can get work in companies, companies where low level Triads come. I can work in laundries, or a restaurant, or other businesses that Triads shake down. With two Chinese working, we double our chance of success.”

Joy couldn’t fault Yingtai’s logic. “You know what your saying is dangerous? If the Triads know that you have given information to Longwei….”

“I know. But, it is safer than staying put,” Yingtai replied. “There are a few of us who feel the same way.”

“How many?”