CH 5

Fatty Sun’s death was a big blow to Liu Ergou. He suggested disbanding our little team and said that he really couldn’t do another kidnapping. We had spent so much time and effort in getting this together but failed to earn any money out of it and worse still, we even lost an accomplice. He decided he was better off stealing old ladies’ purses from the market.

Since he had put it that way, I couldn’t really talk him out of it, so I asked, “What are we going to do about the kid then?”

“Send him back!” Liu Ergou noticed the awkward expression on my face and added, “I kidnapped the boy, so I’ll send him back.”

This fellow was always so bold when it came to doing stupid things. I asked, “What are you going to say when the police ask where the boy came from?”

The way Liu Ergou managed to convince himself that a lousy plan was going to work really amazed me. “I’ll just say that I happened to see him wandering about all by himself along the streets.”

I shook his head. “The police have records of you and Fatty Sun picking pockets together and before this, both of you were also part of Chen Dadong’s bank robbery plan. The two of you didn’t need to go to jail in the end, but you’re definitely on a list of sorts. Fatty Sun has been shot dead in the streets after failing to extort money and you’re just going to send the hostage back, saying you found the kid randomly on the streets? Who’s going to believe you?”

“I’ll just dump him somewhere then.”

“If you dump the kid somewhere and a kind soul sends the boy to the police station, what difference would that make? I don’t really care, since the kid hasn’t seen me before. But he’s seen you before. Aren’t you afraid he’d tell on you to the police?”

Liu Ergou said glumly, “What should I do then? Or…I’ll buy the kid some good food and nice toys, then beg him not to tell the police about us and that’s the end of the whole matter?”

I couldn’t believe he just said that. Who on earth carried out a kidnapping and ended up having to compensate the hostage instead? This would definitely be a first in the history of kidnapping. But this was one field of work where you couldn’t just decide not to do it anymore once you started.

I scoffed. “The kid’s from a rich family. Why would he care for anything you buy him?”

“I can’t keep him here, and I can’t let him go either? What else can I do then? I can’t possibly kill the boy and bury him there, right?”

I said, “You dare to think about killing a kid but you’re afraid of extorting money from Wang Jianguo?”

“I’m not scared, but Fatty Sun’s death…”

I cut him off, “That happened because he didn’t listen to instructions.”

“But…”

“No buts. The family has already called the police, so whether you do it or not, you’re already guilty of kidnapping. Since that’s the case, why don’t we just extort as much as we can?”

“That’s one way to put it, but…”

“No buts. Think about it. If we pull this off and get a few million from the family, then you wouldn’t need to wake up super early and steal that pathetic amount of money from old ladies. I would be able to stop my life of crime as well. We wouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet and we could go to another country and live the way we like. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

As Liu Ergou started imagining the future, he began to fantasize about becoming like Yang Guo and Xiaolongnv of The Return of the Condor Heroes, the lovers who overcame all odds and eventually lived in seclusion and happiness for the rest of their lives. He murmured, “You’re right. I could get married, bring my wife to a different land and live happily ever after.”

Immediately after he said that, worrisome thoughts crept into his mind again and he sighed. “The problem is that Wang Jianguo has already called the police, so the police will definitely be involved in the next transaction as well. Do you think they’d immediately move in on us like they did to Fatty Sun? I’m not afraid to die, since that would just put an end to everything. But as Chairman Mao taught us before, we shouldn’t be so quick to sacrifice ourselves when the revolution has not succeeded yet. So, before we get the ransom, I don’t want anything to happen to me.”

These were wise words indeed. Our lives were more important than the hostage’s.

I said, “Don’t worry, we won’t release the hostage as long as we don’t receive the ransom. As long as we don’t release him, the police will not dare to do anything hasty.”

Liu Ergou asked an important question, “Then what happens after we do release the hostage?”

I paused to think, then gave an answer that didn’t answer his question, “We cannot release the hostage so easily. We’ve got to make sure we’ve received the correct amount of ransom money.”

Liu Ergou noticed that I hadn’t answered his question and asked with a thoughtful expression on his face, “While I still have the hostage, the police will not dare to do anything to me. But once I release the hostage, I won’t have anything to protect myself anymore.”

He was hoping to both get the money and stay alive, so after thinking about it some more, he asked, “Do you think we could collect the ransom first and not release the hostage?”

After what happened to Fatty Sun the last time, I stopped him from going down the same path. “Don’t even think about it. We’d better do an honest transaction this time round. Fatty Sun was shot dead by the police on the spot precisely because he couldn’t produce a photo of the hostage and at that time, he was only asking for $30,000. This time, we’re asking for a few million, so if we don’t hand the hostage over, I’m afraid…”

Liu Ergou spat angrily, “It’s so hard to trust a fellow human!” Then he looked down and sighed repeatedly.

I said, “I have something that will make sure that the police wouldn’t dare to do anything to you even after you’ve handed the hostage over.”

“What’s that?”

I smiled and led him into a room, then opened a box, revealing its contents.

Liu Ergou’s expression changed dramatically after taking just one glance at the inside of the box.

This could be considered a weapon in itself and it came in a squarish burlap bag. If one had never watched the movie Dong Cunrui*, one might not know this weapon. In the movie, the hero had turned the tables by killing the enemies with this weapon!

“That’s…that’s a bag of explosives!” Liu Ergou paled in horror.

I was very specific about it. “This is TNT.”

Liu Ergou looked confused, so I explained, “It’s like C4 in Crossfire.”

Liu Ergou got it this time. “THAT’S EXPLOSIVES!”

I said, “So, since you know how much damage it can cause in the game, I’m sure you can guess how powerful it is in real life. You can hand over the hostage, and if the police dare to make a move on you, show them that you’ve got this! I’m sure none of them are willing to be blasted to smithereens.”

But Liu Ergou cherished his own life more, so he shook his head vigorously and said, “It’s not worth it if I end up dying with a bunch of police officers.” He paused and quickly tried to hide his fears, “I’m not saying that I’m afraid to die, but as the old adage goes, it’s a crime to waste anything. It’ll be so sad if the millions of dollars we took so much effort to get our hands on went up in smoke just like that, wouldn’t it?”

I said, “The police wouldn’t dare to do anything to you. Injuring the innocent is a big taboo to them.”

But Liu Ergou was still worried. “It’s still not safe tying so much explosives to myself though. What if it goes off by accident? It’s fine if I end up dying, but what about the money?”

I revealed the truth to him, “There’s no what if. The gunpowder is fake.”

Liu Ergou immediately tore off the corner of the bag, poured a little onto his palm and smelled it like he knew what gunpowder actually smelled like. He had no clue but he bravely pretended like he was knowledgeable on these matters. “Hmm. You’re right. It’s fake. Once you pack this powder into bags like that, it’d look like the real thing.”

After saying that, he held it up and inspected the powder carefully. “But I’m afraid that the police won’t recognize this stuff and shoot anyway. Then our efforts would still go to waste.”

I laughed. “The police should know about such things in their line of work.”

Liu Ergou didn’t think it was enough. “I suggest that we write the letters TNT in black sharpie on the bag. That way, the police would know immediately.” Then he suddenly seemed to have thought of something and changed his mind, “No, I think writing it in English letters isn’t a good idea. We’d better write the word ‘explosives’ in Chinese instead.”

After he was done with that, he started complimenting the neat design of the red and blue wires on the other end of the bag. “Aren’t these the wires that the main character of movies always has to decide which one to cut? Since the bag of explosives is fake, why don’t you add on more wires? Some police officers these days aren’t afraid to die for the sake of cracking a case, so why not make it eight or even ten wires? That way, we’ll reduce their chances of cutting the ‘correct’ wire, right?”

As he said these things, he suddenly thought of something else and continued making this whole thing even more complicated than it needed to be as he added, “Oh! Hollywood often features a sort of bomb that’s connected to one’s pulse, also known as a dead man’s switch. Once the heart of the person tied to the bomb stops beating, the bomb will go off!”

I said, “This is a simple kidnap and ransom case. I don’t think we need to make ourselves look like terrorists.”

Liu Ergou cackled. “The explosives are fake and they’re just meant for scaring others, so why not make them even scarier?”

He could see that I wasn’t buying into his plan, so he sighed and said, “Look, I’m not saying all this because I’m afraid to die. But the details really make a difference to whether our plans succeed or fail. I just don’t want our plans to go to waste!”

I said, “Once you’ve got explosives on yourself, the police will not dare to do anything to you. Creating a dead man’s switch is an additional and unnecessary step. What has this got to do with our plans going to waste?”

“That’s because you’ve left out one thing!”

“Oh? What did I leave out?”

Liu Ergou emphasized every syllable, “A…sniper!”

TL notes:

*Dong Cunrui: He was a real Communist soldier who was supposed to plant explosives in the enemy camp but couldn’t find a good place to do so, so he ended up igniting them and effectively blew himself up along with the enemies.