China Blue V ©

Mark placed a phone call, "Sammy, Mark Littleman here, I need you to do something for me." Mark requested. "Yeah Mark, how can I help you man?" came Sammy's reply. "Listen, I had this problem arrive today and I need it looked into." Mark stated. "Sure, no problem Mark, just let me know what it is you want me to do and when. Have I ever let you down before?" Sammy assured Mark. There was a pause, and then Mark started again, "A man arrived today from the states. He is from the home office and I want to know what he is up to. I know the company has used your services in the past for background checks on potential clients, so I want you to use some of your well placed connections to find out exactly what he is doing here.” “Sure, sure thing Mark. Just give me his name and where he is staying and I will see what I can dig up on him." Sammy answered. "His name is Travis Williams, he is staying at the Four Winds, I don't know what room he is in. He is not a small man Sammy and he looks as if he can handle himself pretty well if he has to, so watch yourself on this one." "No need to worry about me Mark, I can handle myself just fine." Sammy stated. "What I meant Sammy is don't screw this up. Just make yourself available when I call, understand Sammy?" Mark demanded. "Yeah Mark, I understand you okay. You know that if this is something personal, I can't offer you the same rates s I do Memdec, right? And I will need half up front and the rest when I finish, as soon as I finish. Not that I don't trust you man, it is nothing more than business." Sammy replied, trying not to let Mark have the upper hand on the conversation. Sammy liked to feel he was in control and not being controlled. "Don't worry about your money Sammy, you will get it, just do like I ask and see what he is doing here, okay?" Mark parlayed and then hung up then phone. Standing there, he was trying to think what Travis was up to and why he wasn't told more by his boss. Paranoia started setting as he tried to think of anything he may have failed to cover over or for something he may have over looked. Sitting at his desk, he logged on and went to the accounting server and searched for the files he kept on the financials. He had always kept two sets of financial s once he arrived here. One for corporate and the accruals of the revenue the facility took in and the one that he kept for himself. Mark had a bad habit of selling chips at higher price than Memdec would have normally sold them for, then entering the amount that it would normally sell for on the corporate accounting system and taking his profit from the sale and entering it on his personal statement. Once the contracts were signed, he would take them back to his office and change the numbers on them. It did not bother him that the client had a copy of the contract with the higher price, if it was caught, he would make it up with a few free chips to the client and smooth things over. As long as he could keep it in Tianjin, he could control it. He would not do it with every contract, just the high volume contracts, where the profit margin per chip for him was low enough; it was rarely caught by the client, but yet enough in volume that Mark could make his life in Tianjin very comfortable. Mark then pulled up the electronic copies made of each of the contracts he had altered and compared them to the information that was entered in the corporate accounting files. He did not notice any discrepancies here. Everything looked good as far as he could tell. He then looked at his records to see if maybe something had been transposed from his files to the corporate files. Sitting back and stretching, trying to ease the soreness in his shoulders, he happened to glance at his watch. "Crap!" Mark said to himself. 8:47pm, he had a dinner engagement with a possible client at 9:30pm on the other side of Tianjin that he could not afford to miss. Logging off and shutting down his system, Mark grabbed his jacket and hurried out the door of his office.

As he exited the elevator in the lobby, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket and started dialing. "Ahh, Mr. Ling, I am happy I was able to catch you. This is Mark Littleman and I wanted to inform you that I may be a few minutes late." Mark started his apology. Ling Tung, a very powerful man with a reputation to back it up, was not one to keep waiting. "Mr. Littleman, is this how you normally conduct your business by being late and apologetic for it? I have many things that I have yet to do before I can call my day finished and do not have time for tardiness, especially with so much at stake." Ling Tung said in a calm but commanding voice. Mark continued his apology, "I understand Mr. Ling, but something came up at the office that required my personal attention. It is not time for our appointment, I still have 40 minutes before we are to meet, I just wanted to let you know I could be a few minutes late. I assure you, in the future Mr. Ling, this will not happen." "I hope not Mr. Littleman, for your sake, I hope not. It is a very poor reflection on you and worries me that maybe you will handle our shipments in the same manner. I will expect you shortly Mr. Littleman and I have very little time to waste on waiting. If you do not make it, I will have to look in other places for what I am seeking." Ling Tung's voice a bit sterner pushed the point across to Mark.

Ling Tung, before Mao's revolution, had been here, exploiting the vast resources China held. In the days of dynasties and kingdoms, he would have been seen as a warlord. Placing his claim on anything he could see as useful and profitable, by force if necessary, but found subtle intimidation as his preference. He had always been a man who could get his point across without getting physical very often. He commanded a small army of questionable soldiers to do his bidding when it came to that unseemly task. He was not one who liked to get his hands too dirty. He had spent his time in the trenches, developing his skills and his strategy. He was orphaned at a very young age, his father killed by the Japanese during WWII and his mother abandoning him shortly after. Left to wander and beg on the streets of Shanghai at the age 0f 11, Ling Tung quickly learned what it took to survive. An unguarded duffle bag or knapsack here and there, left alone by some wide eyed absent minded soldier to gawk at the sinful marvels Shanghai had to offer, made for a quick coin or two and a full belly thereafter. The American and British soldiers always offering the best in what was stored away in those canvas treasure chests, often taken advantage of early in his career, as he liked to call it, by the more experienced purveyors of opportunity, Ling Tung quickly learned the tricks of his trade. Enlisting the help of the prostitutes, Ling Tung would lure soldiers to the women, and as they were being "entertained" by these ladies, Ling Tung would quietly slip in and relieve them of their worldly possessions. This was always much more profitable than pilfering their duffle bags and knapsacks, a bit more risky, but worth it in the long run. He would give a share of his ill-gotten gains to his female collaborators and then head down to the docks and air strips to set his trap for the next unsuspecting victim. He always found the Americans and British much easier than the others that came to China, their vanity and egos always worked in his favor. As peasants started coming in from the rural areas, Ling Tung found another valuable resource, they would bring with them the medals, watches, samurai swords and other military accoutrements the dead Japanese soldiers would have with them, and Ling Tung would greet them on the out skirts of town and barter for their spoils, often gained by personal misfortune and loss. Ling Tung knew how to take advantage of this and soon relieved them of all except the clothes on their backs. He also found another valuable commodity in them. The peasants themselves, cheap, affordable and when hungry, willing to do his bidding. This is when Ling Tung started building his army, or his Shanghai Soldiers, as he liked to call them. Recruiting the brightest and the strongest, he started training them and molding them into images of himself. Taking into account each one's specialty and exploiting that. Never letting the other know all of his operation, but just enough to work effectively, he soon found that he could manage his growing numbers comfortably and through others that he felt he could trust, from a distance. If one got a bit too ambitious or tried to take more than his share, Ling Tung would see that a weighted swimming lesson in Shanghai harbor was forth coming. He did not tolerate disloyalty or dishonesty within his ranks and ruled with a fist and fast justice. He found teaching by example was far more effective than wagging his tongue.

The war couldn't last forever and he realized this. His coffers growing daily, he soon started expanding his operations and looking at other ways to exploit the riches around him. He found that in the antiquities of China. With the world as his market, he found that there was a very high demand for these priceless items and much more profitable than what the foreign soldiers could bring in. He also found another way to increase his profit line, reproductions of these artifacts and selling them as the original piece. Museums, some of his best clients and ones that could not be fooled, would get the originals, but not before Ling Tung had his craftsmen make what seemed to be perfect copies, and using these copies he exploited the foreigner’s greed and vanity in another way. Soon, Mao's revolution started and he had to hide his fortune outside of China. He found British controlled Hong Kong to be safe and easily accessible for his minions to mule his money to banks there, which again earned money as it gained interest by investing in Hong Kong's growing and viable economy. A capitalistic safe haven in a sea of communism, Ling Tung felt safe and secure knowing that his empire within this new empire would survive.

Not one to get complacent in his success, Ling Tung was always looking for new ventures to expand on. One he found towards the early sixties and into the seventies was the opium trade, very lucrative, with very little investment capital, but very high return upon delivery. He set up trade routes throughout China, Mongolia, Tibet and close Middle Eastern countries for this raw material that was converted to high grade heroin in clandestine labs scattered from Shanghai to the Wuliang Mountains. Not one operation being able to complete the processing of the opium into its final product, but rather done in stages at various labs. Ling Tung found that in this way, it was harder to track, easier to hide as each facility just concentrated on a specific point of production, they could be kept small. Another plus, was that his inventory was kept split up and constantly moving. No warehousing of the product made it harder to detect. His routes outside of China were varied and not used in succession in order to export his product. North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal all offered an easy and often unmonitored exit out of China. Most of it sent via caravans through the jungles and over the mountains, out of sight of roads and check points. Once out of China, the caravan, accompanied by Ling Tung's most trusted associates, would head for the nearest port and meet with the buyer where final arrangements and payments were made. With the heroin trade waning in the mid eighties and borders tightening up and the US DEA and Drug Czar cracking down on heroin and it's trafficking, Ling Tung started looking for other ways to keep the cash flow continuing. He could have stopped and retired long ago and lived very comfortably on his past successes, but Ling Tung was not an idle man. And for now, it was not as much for the money to be made as it was the challenge to make it. With each new venture, came new challenges and this is what he lived for. Out witting his opponents and staying a few steps ahead of them, disappearing around each corner in their pursuit of him.

He found his most recent venture in technology. Small, easily hidden and something everyone wanted, by far the most lucrative yet, but with a higher price and much more serious consequences if caught. This would be considered as treason if caught and he would have to answer with his life. But that was the attraction this brought to him, the challenge. Now he would not be dealing with peasants, farmers, thugs and the like. Now he would be dealing with politicians and corporate heads. He considered them the worst thieves and liars of the lot. Their game was cut throat and full of intrigue. He never had been in the arena with such opponents before and there were a whole new set of rules when dealing with them. But like him, they played for keeps, worthy adversaries in this high stakes game of intrigue and espionage.

Mark pulled up to the valet at they entrance to the Golden Panda restaurant and handed the keys to the young man eagerly waiting to park his car. "Please be careful with it." Mark politely asked the young man and handed him 50 Yuan, "There will be fifty more later if nothing has happened to my car when I am ready to leave." Mark said smiling. "No problem sir, I will watch it myself.", the young man assured him. Turning Mark walked beneath the gate of the entry to the restaurant. Four large square teak posts, two on each side, topped with two quarter crescent cross members, the larger one on the bottom spanning all four posts with the smaller one above, just the two inside posts. He could smell the scent of jasmine flowers as he walked along. It was growing everywhere you looked. Sweetly fragrant, it covers the walled garden outside as well as the gate he had passed under. It grew over head on slated pergolas where you could sit beneath while you had your meal. "A very nice place indeed.", Mark thought to himself. Looking about, he spotted Ling Tung towards the back of the outside walled garden facing the crowd with his back to the wall. Even though Ling Tung had spotted him the moment he entered, he paid no attention to him as he walked in his direction. Standing in front of his table, Mark held out his hand, "Mr. Ling, made it sir, with ten minutes to spare." Not even looking up Ling Tung replied, "Your promptness is noted Mr. Littleman, please have a seat.", Ling Tung motioned to the chair directly across from him. Feeling a bit put off, Mark took the chair across from Ling Tung and pulled himself up to the table. "Might I suggest the duck Mr. Littleman, they have a wonderful way of preparing it here, an orange sauce with a slight hint of jasmine. Very delicious." Ling Tung suggested. Please, Mr. Ling, call me Mark, all my friends do." Mark said, smiling, wanted to bring the business at hand to a more personal level. "Ah, Mr. Littleman, we are not friends though and I do not see this relationship attaining that level of trust. No, Mr. Littleman, this is strictly a professional arrangement and I think it is best if we keep it that way." came Ling Tung's answer without looking up. "It makes things much easier to deal with, should the occasion arise." Mark sat looking at Ling Tung across the table, feeling a bit nervous and apprehensive now about dealing with the man. He would not want to make any mistakes on this one. "Accepted Mr. Ling." Mark complied. Ling Tung finally looked up when the waiter came to the table, "We will both be having the duck, black tea with honey and moon cakes afterwards."

"Mr. Ling, what I bring to the table is a new technology, well not exactly new, they have been experimenting with it in the states for several years now and its applications were limited, mainly due to software restrictions and code when compiling the programs to utilize it. But our researchers have made tremendous break thru’s in the last year and a half and the possibilities for this new technology is unlimited. Right now, we are looking at military applications for it's use. Imagine, having a missile that can virtually think for itself once launched. Being able to avoid detection or any threat to destroy it and its payload, unmanned vehicles on the battlefield that will be able to think and correct themselves without human intervention, to know the difference between a tree and a soldier. A technology that is able to learn and expand its knowledge and teach itself how to utilize that, to create battle plans and then execute them on the field, able to change and adapt at a moments notice and still carry out its mission. Pilot less fighter planes carrying out bombing raids and dogfights all without one person controlling it. Biotech applications Mr. Ling, yes, cyborgs are another arena where this technology can be applied. Experiments are already under way in France and Russia looking into the soldier of the future, medical uses in the replacement of limbs and even enhancing the thinking process of the brain. Mr. Ling, we are now standing on the threshold of a new tomorrow and we are the lucky ones to be standing at that door now. The possibilities are endless." Mark sat back in his chair looking at Ling Tung, whose expression had not changed at all. "Very nice Mr. Littleman, but it's application and capabilities mean nothing to me. You could have saved all of that for your mirror while you were shaving. All that concerns me is the price, availability and delivery. My clients I am sure have already thought about its applications. Several of my clients only require two or three chips, as they have the facilities to manufacture them themselves. The others, will want them in quantity and when needed. Mind you Mr. Littleman, this is nothing like that corporate world you live in. There are no parameters for a delay in the product or miss-shipments. No excuses for additional time or a change in the plans. No Mr. Littleman, my clients run a bit tighter ship than what you are used to. And the penalties for any delays or failures in delivery can be very harsh. They as myself do not deal in what ifs and maybes or possibilities. We deal in reality, in what is placed before us and its worth on the open market. I am nothing more than a middle man, one who provides a service for others. And Mr. Littleman, let me make this very clear, what comes to me, good are bad, will eventually be visited on you. So, how is it you Americans like to express it? Ahhh yes, don't let your tongue overload your ass Mr. Littleman, if you do, it will have less worth than pig dung. ", Ling Tung looked intently at Mark waiting for his reaction.

The waiter set their meals in front of them and uncovered the dishes. Mark sat there looking at his, having somewhat lost his appetite. "Everything okay Mr. Littleman?", Ling Tung questioned him. "Is it not to your liking?" "No, No, everything is fine and I am sure it is quite delicious. It is just that it is getting late and to have such a heavy meal this time of night, I am afraid it may not set too well with me." "Now, now Mr. Littleman, do not let our little talk worry you. I just believe in laying all the cards on the table so we both know where we are standing at in this matter. Nothing hidden, it would make me feel much better if someone had been so open with me and not let me believe this is going to be a walk in a garden. Now, cheer up Mr. Littleman. We both have a very good chance to get very rich off this new venture," Ling Tung said smiling for the first time. He had Mark right where he wanted him. Off his guard and that was the way he was going to keep him. Mark picked at his dinner for the next hour, unlike Ling Tung who ate like it was his last meal. There was nothing more than a pile of bones on his plate when he finished. The waiter set their tea on the table and poured each a cup of the dark strong liquid. "At least try the tea Mr. Littleman, it will help calm you and relax you. Let the stress of the day melt away." Ling Tung kept at him. He knew it would be a long while before Mark would feel anything near being calm and relaxed. Ling Tung looked at Mark over the rim of the cup as he sipped his tea.

The waiter brought the check over to the table and Ling Tung gestured to the waiter that Mark would be taking care of it. As they both stood to leave, Ling Tung looked down at Mark's plate. "Sad you had lost your appetite Mr. Littleman and such a waste of food. So many children in China are starving right now." Ling Tung said chuckling. Looking Mark straight in the eyes, "Don't feel sorry for them Mr. Littleman. I was one of those starving children your parents used to use as an example to get you to finish your meal and look at how prosperous I turned out." As they started walking out, Mark noticed four men in dark suits get up and follow close behind. Once they exited the restaurant, Mark handed the valet his ticket. While he waited on his car, Mark noticed that Mr. Ling did not have to wait for his car. It was waiting on him. Before he entered the back seat, Ling Tung turned and looked at Mark and said, "Mr. Littleman, until we meet again. I hope you have been very enlightened by tonight’s meeting." Mark looked at him and forced a smile on his face, "I enjoyed our talk very much Mr. Ling. I hope you have a nice evening." Mark handed the valet the second fifty Yuan as promised and got behind the wheel. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" he said to himself out loud. Driving off he looked into his review mirror, as he pulled away, he noticed another car pulling away from the curb and leave in the direction he was taking. Mark could feel his hands start to sweat.

Parking his car in the parking garage of the apartment building he lived in, Mark looked back at the entrance just in time to see the car that had left the restaurant at the same time he did, slowly drive by. Locking his car he quickly headed for the elevator and up to his apartment. "Damn, I need a drink.", he thought to himself on the way up.