It was after dinner when Suling quietly asked to talk to me in private. Suling’s black hair hung down close to her face heading towards her soft shoulders. It hung down her face slenderizing her facial features. Like all Chinese females who had moved to America her frame had developed some curves that made her appearance outstanding.
Her soft light blue eyes which had always been a beacon to her soul reflected her true feelings about me, so I knew if I looked directly into them, they would reveal much of her hidden truths. The softness of her completion and lips were inviting.
At five foot seven, she was an eye-catching beauty. She always walked, talked, and acted with a touch of class that she had been raised with. Her cultural mannerisms would seem different here in America but only if you took the time to see them. With the changes in her diet since arriving in the new country, life had turned her body into something she would never have been if she had stayed in China.
She had grown a nice set of breasts and had some meat on her hips giving her some curves caused by the additional fats she was taking into her body. Her voice still held a softness that could draw most in, but she still refused to allow anyone to get close to her. Her walk-in life like me had left it hard for us to blindly trust anyone. They had to earn it and that took close contact over a period of time. Even in childhood, it had taken me months to get her to open up to me.
It still was hard for me to comprehend that informalization ruled the land. Here it was normal to call a complete stranger by their first name as if you had known them all your life. In China you would still refer to them as Mr. or Mrs. until you had built a relationship with them and had accepted their walk in life.
At first, when we had met as mere children, Suling had always talked in the third person. For her, at that time it seemed to give her a layer of protection that she had apparently needed. It took getting to know her situation at the time to understand why. She did not want those who she did not know or trust to learn that she was the one having all the problems.
There was no doubt that the little caterpillar had evolved to become a beautiful, majestic butterfly. One that still stood apart from all others. Many a man would find she would be loving and supportive partner in the walk of life if she would let them into her reality. Suling would have had no problem in finding someone to share her life with if her growing up had been normal like most children.
The last private conversation we had was back on the night she was letting me know that all her family was being forced to leave China because they had been deemed undesirable. The government had believed her father to be unretainable and was no longer a value to their country. Having stripped the family of all their assets they had eagerly allowed them to go.
That night she had left me in tears because we both had known it was not her desire to go. She had wanted to stay with me because of our emotional attachment to each other was that strong. Before that night was over, I had learned that she had seen me as her future husband and the father to all her children.
We both knew we were too young and that it was not meant to be. I told her when she said they were all going to America that in time I would find my way there too. I now understood that she had always believed I would find her and had been waiting for my arrival.
We walked together towards the edge of the plateau after changing to watch the dance of the flames come alive as the sunset behind the mountain in the west. Our frames were so close together that they felt they were together. I knew from what I sensed that she was trying to find the words she felt she needed to say to me.
Suling was surprised to see how fast the sunset in the valley as the sun began its fall behind the west side of the mountain. Darkness came to the valley quickly when the traces of the sunlight shrunk as it quickly climbed up the mountainside to the east until it was gone. The more daylight shrunk the more the dance of the flames below came alive. It was as if the world in front of us was transforming right before us.
We were blessed for we were sharing a moment of silence as we took in the dance of the reflection of the gas-burning flames growing in brightness as the darkness filled the space. Their effect is being reflected in the darkness of the land.
Suling took my hand holding it tight as if she had something to say but seemed to be waiting for the right moment. It felt that her hand was right where it had always belonged. I heard her whisper to herself ‘it’s truly that beautiful.’
Between the two of us returned the sense of contentment and peace that we had always shared as we were growing up. It was showing me that the feeling, desires, and emotions that we had shared in our youth were still present. It gave me an idea of what to expect.
Ever since we had been little grasshoppers the closeness between us had been a bond forged out of steel. It made me realize that this bond between us that once broken would always leave us feeling incomplete. For both of us this moment was a reminder of what we meant to each other back then and now.
There was a slight breeze blowing across the flat which made the pattern of the reflection of light come alive as if it had a new sense of freedom. A couple of the burning gas flames got passed through by those tiny twisters that can be seen on a hot summer day. It created for the moment a pattern of light on the land that was quite unique.
“I can stand and watch this for hours,” I said. “Each night seems to develop its own pattern. It seems to have a way of clearing things that race through my mind.”
“Your adopted father, the master,” Suling said. “Is a thinker who looks for the logic in all things. Everything had to have structure, balance, and a reason for being. I see a lot of him in you. You, like him, are a man who walks alone in the solitude of your reasoning.”
“He is a wise man,” I replied. “It allowed him to foresee certain events before they happened and take the steps to make sure what took place did not affect his overall plan for his life.”
“Dirk, Mom, and Dad told me that they had talked to Alana and you about me,” Suling said. “I wish they hadn’t because they have seemed to have read the situation wrong. Because of our walk-in life, it’s been hard for them to grasp my feelings.”
“That I can understand, after all, they missed a lot of your formative years while you were growing up” I replied while waiting for an explanation. “Their thoughts are based on what you told them, what they heard, and what they believe. I have wondered if they discerned what you were saying or just heard. It sounds like you have not been completely honest to yourself or them.”
“Dirk, let me be completely honest,” Suling said softy. “nǐ yǒng yuǎn shì wǒ wéi yī de yí gè” which means you will always be my only one in Chinese. “I have always loved you and always will.”
When she said that I began to see what was about to happen. Suling was going to use me to try to convince herself that what she felt, believed, and knew was not real.
“From the first time you heard me weeping as I hid beside the pond behind the temple,” Suling said. “I knew that you had been sent to me, to guide me through the difficult years. You were the physical that came in answer to my prayers. You are and always will be my rock. I can see a lot of God-like qualities in you because you have been the foundation on which I built my life.”
“You were and still are the complete opposite of my cousin Lui Wei,” Suling said as she continued. “In you, I saw all that was good, in Lui Wei I saw and faced the evil daily. You taught me to resist and overcome by separating myself mentally from the situation. You gave me strength and taught endurance when I had none.”
“You have always walked with a maturity that was beyond your years,” Suling said. “It took my coming to America to understand how old souled you actually are. Mom and Dad believe it is because you keep the traditions of the old world, and it is reflected in everything you do. They fail to understand that like your adopted father, the master you see our reality with a different eye than most.”
“You speak with wisdom little sister,” I said. “I did not fully understand it either until Alana came into my life. Her parents have always said she walked with the heartbeat of a different drummer. She taught me that what I am as a man in a lot of ways is quite unique. Until she came into my life, I thought it was something everyone had. She, beside you, is the only person who accepted me as I am. Every day we share things with each other. These things naturally draw us in further. In ways, it seems we can communicate without talking.”
“Alana’s approach to people can seem a bit abrasive, to those who don’t understand her,” Suling said. “Just as abrasive as you used to be. Learning tack has mellowed you out. At first, until I got to know and understand you, I feared you because your insights and views of things were so completely counter to what I knew to be social norms. That is how differently you have always walked. Together the two of you bring a bit of softness out of the other. I feel that the two of you compliment the other.”
“That explains why her parents feel that she has changed,” I said. “Thank you for pointing that fact out. The Master, my adopted father always believed that when you found your true soul mate then as a human you would become a completely different person because both would walk with the same heartbeat.”
“I tried to tell my parents that it was what I saw in you as a man,” Suling said. “That I wanted from the man with whom I will build a relationship. I guess I did not get them to understand. It’s further complicated because in their eyes I should already be married to a man of our culture with three or four little ones tagging behind me.”
“So, when talking to me and Alana, they were taking a leap of faith,” I said. “Hoping that my sense of duty, honor, and respect of the old ways would force me to go along with their wishes of seeing you with children.”
“It was complicated by me with Alana because I guess I did not explain well enough just what my thinking was,” Suling said. “That perhaps was caused by my speaking two languages during the conversations because I failed to realize that her grasp of our native language was nonexistent. I hope that you will forgive me for any problems I may have created.”
“A little advice,” I said. “Remember to mention that it’s the sù zhì (qualities) that you see in me that you want in a man. That one little word expresses so much and leaves no room for confused thinking.”
“Dirk,” Suling added, “If I can’t find that man soon it would not be hard for me to go along with what my parents wanted. After all, that was our original plan. It would always be an honor to me to carry and bear your children. Until we left for America that was my lifelong dream.”
Suling’s honesty did not surprise me, but the strength of her words did because it showed what had always been in her heart. Her words took me back to my adopted father, the master who passed on his wisdom about what he had observed about Suling and me.
“Suling is a passive submissive in nature. Your guidance is allowing her to become more balanced in her approach to life. It is allowing her to become more than what she was meant to be. You are not only her brother in her heart,” he said. “But the one who was meant to be her soulmate. Her love for you is so deep and pure that she would lay down her life for you. I see that in you also because you naturally protect her in every way you can. The two of you are so close that you are each part of each other's second nature. If it were a different time, you would be an Emperor and she would be your wife.”
“In looking for a long-term relationship be sure to be open to different things,” I said. “It was hard for me to grasp. I still find it difficult at times not too harshly speak out when I feel that someone is doing something so stupid because of their lack of knowledge of how things work.”
“Remember the time we found the two doves procreating,” Suling said. “I wanted to rush in and disturb them, but you stopped me because you saw it as a normal function. As you said you have to see it from their eyes and respect their life as it is.”
“We were still quite young then. It seems like a lifetime ago,” I said. “Now I would have said let’s not disturb the balance of things.”
Suling looked at me as if she were coming to a new understanding of things. After a few more minutes of silence as we watched the reflection of the flames on the flats down below, she spoke.
“That was Satan’s first sin, he was affecting the balance that God had created between all things,” Suling said. “Adam and Eve at that time walked with the same understanding as all living things.”
“And since that time everyone in the world has been trying to find what God took away when he removed his blessing on the earth,” I said in agreement with her thought. “Not understanding or seeing that it is only God that can restore what we all have lost. Most don’t understand that it's man’s own conduct each day that proves just how unworthy we are of it.”
I guess Suling saw a smile on my face because she asked, “What thought brought that out?”
“I never understood until this moment that when God created Adam and Eve that he had created a brother and sister who would mate and have children who would do the same. Today it would be considered as taboo and not acceptable. It just shows how little we understand about what God’s original purpose was.”
“God if that ever came out and became public can you imagine the problem it would create for those who proclaim their religious scholars,” Suling said. “It would force them to reevaluate everything they believe.”
“Suling, would you do anything you knew would bring harm to any member of your family,” I asked? “I asked that question because it laid down the foundation of what love is.”
“There is a natural tendency to protect our family from day one,” Suling said. “Because in a way we are one. It supplies a balance that I never saw before. Do you think mankind knows that?”
“No, because they would never see or understand that until we as humans find a way to bring a balance to all things in life, that all our efforts to make the world a better place as a collective is wasted,” I said. “For those like you and I who know we can only live life trying to bring that balance to those whom we love.”
Suling moved closer to me so that our bodies were touching. It was then that I began to sense that there was more going on at that moment than what I had perceived.
“Each living and breathing creature contains the same ingredient that provides us all with life,” I started to clarify. “Without it, our existence comes to an end. Few understand the importance of blood.”
“Dirk every man who shows an interest in me automatically gets compared to you and fails to measure up,” Suling said in complete honesty. “You have always set standards for yourself that far exceed others.”
Suling at that moment got a look on her face that displayed her unconditional love. I knew at that moment that from now on I would always have to use discernment with her. Her love for me was as pure as the freshly fallen snow on the mountain. Everything I said from that point on would have to be done with protecting my relationship with her.
The Master, my adopted father had stressed that in our walk-in life the greatest challenge that came every day was how to get through it without doing any harm. I now saw what he said in a new light.
Love was meant to be expressed, encouraged, nurtured, and protected when given freely from one to another. Suling although her speech was expressing one line of thought, her mind, body, and heart were speaking another.
The master had made it quite clear that what we heard, what we listened to, and believed could be changed by what we perceive. It is only by looking at one's long-term conduct concerning their lifestyle that could the truth be seen. How one conducted oneself in relation to other humans' behavior exposed the real person hidden inside.
Alana was right. For most of my life, Suling had stood by me. Suling would never feel complete as a woman until she was my wife. Her desire for that was so strong that she would wait until either she or Alana passed away for it to come. Publicly she would never admit it because it was her burden in life to carry. It raised questions inside of me that I knew would take weeks of deep thinking to sort out.
I locked eyes with Suling, her eyes were so revealing. I guess mine was that way to her because she began to blush. For a moment she lowered her head to avoid looking at me as if she did not want me to see it. I was thinking that she was beginning to see through my eyes what I knew. Suling was looking at me in a way that made it clear in her eyes I was the one she had chosen to be her one.
“I was trying to diffuse the situation. I thought I had put my dreams for us behind me. Then the night of the prom seeing you again made them that much stronger,” Suling admitted honestly. “By the look on your face and the depth coming through your eyes, I see that I have failed. Alana said I could try but it would not work. I guess we proved her right. It is further complicated because Fen has been in love with Alana for months.”
“Does Alana know that Fen feels that way?” I asked.
“Not that I am aware of,” Suling said. “Fen has been busy researching on the role of what a consort is supposed to do. According to what she has learned you have built your home wrong because you don’t have rooms for her and me on both sides of the master bedroom. Some of the historical textbooks make it clear that many throughout the years that they were long term lovers behind the doors of those they served.”
With the truth now out, I knew I had to tread very carefully because my relationship with two women was now going to have to be treated with delicacy. Suling and Fen were expecting relationships based on what they were learning not on what they knew.
“Across the valley where the iron ore is being mined out is where we will be making large volumes of scotch in the space that is being created. They are mining twenty-four hours a day to speed up the process,” I said trying to change the direction of our chat. “I will begin working shortly on the office building and equipment building we will need along with a few spaces for a residential living component for when that company is established.”
“Towards the current office building we are building a new subdivision,” I said. “David is in discussion with the county about building a small eight classroom school. We want a grocery store, a gas station, and all things that are needed in a small community. We figure by the time it is all set up we will have a population of about three thousand. David is requesting that when the school is complete that you be put in as its principal.”
Suling had a smile on her face that seemed like it was a mile wide. I guess my words conveyed that I wanted her in the long term close to me.
“I guess Alana has explained to you that nothing will be decided until after we have wed,” I said. “When this all first came up, we agreed to firmly establish our relationship first.”
“Yes, and why! We are already discussing how our relationship as sister wives might work out if you decided it was in your heart to accept it. With you and I being older Alana and I agreed that if what we both want comes to be it will be an equal relationship between us three.” Suling said. “As Alana explained there are a few things that you have to work out for yourself before anything can be decided.”
“In the Zen teaching one of our greatest quests is finding the way to walk through life doing no harm,” I said. “Alana because she is and always will be the love of my life, will have a say in everything I do. She wants to push our marriage up and has begun applying pressure on her parents.”
“Alana is more than ready to assume the position of being one of your partners in the walk of life and is already talking about carrying your firstborn. Fen says it’s all she talks about when they are at school,” Suling said. “I told her that I thought that you both should wait until the truth of what was behind your parents' death came out.”
“I am well aware of that,” I said. “Alana has been in a rush to push life since we have completed building the house. I told her father that he should not give in to her wants until the danger that has to come has been confronted.”
With that said Suling turned towards me. Moving into me she wrapped her arms around me in the darkness as she pressed her body tightly against mine. Raising her head towards mine she brought her mouth to mine.
That one long deep French kiss stirred my body which caused a normal response. It led to quite a few others. Suling in those long tender kisses was telling me more than what a page of words could say. I could feel her stiff nipples pressing against my flesh even though we both wore clothing. It reaffirmed my thoughts.
After Suling and I broke it off, I could see the tears of joy in her eyes. Our physically connecting had reaffirmed every she believed.
“In your mind, you still may be conflicted on what you should do. Alana and I both believe that we will be sister wives. The closeness of our bodies, its natural response, and the beating of your heart is showing me another side of the story. Your heart and body want me as much as I want you,” Suling said with a lot of hope in her voice. “The tenderness you naturally expressed shows the strength of your true feelings. Now that we know that two-thirds of the battle inside you have been won it won’t be so hard convincing the remaining third.”
I watched her walk away from me as she headed back into the house her whole body showed her newfound confidence. Both Alana and she were of one mind which was going to make things difficult for me going forward.
********
My thoughts went back to when the master and I had seen the two mountain goats going through a situation of pure will.
‘Watch the female,” he had said, “and her approach to the male.”
We stood there watching their body movements for a few hours before saying a word. He wanted me to see how she slowly began using her presence and her dominant traits to slowly bend his will towards what she wanted them to do. It took her most of the afternoon before he gave in.
“We human men respond to females just as the male goat did,” the master said. “The female goat has worn his will power down and moved him into doing what she wants.
“There is nothing in life that can replace love, determination, will, and patience,” The master, my adopted father explained. “The female will use the strength of her love for her partner to reinforce her will. It creates a power in life that cannot be equaled. Yet it still can be destroyed because love is the most delicate thing that our creator ever created. It is the one thing that can never be explained or understood because human's view of what love really is, as different as each one of us.”
I stood there watching the dance of the flames on the valley below. Trying to get a glimpse of what was unknown. I just knew that with the house now built it was time for me to focus on finding out what the truth was concerning my parents and their walk in life. I had never thought the life lesson that the master was teaching me would apply to my situation with Suling and Alana.
Thanks to our conversation I had a new understanding in a biblical sense of what a sister wife meant. I knew that with this new knowledge that I would have to do a complete reevaluation of what I thought about concerning male-female relationships.
I could sense a storm coming, but not one that supplied needed nourishment for the land. It would be a game played by humans to protect themselves from me discovering the unknown. I just knew I would need all the focus, will power, and determination to survive through to the end.
The master had explained to me on the way to the American Embassy during our last few hours together that he was taking me there because he felt that the Chinese Government was moving in. When I questioned why he felt that way.
The master said, “Over the last few weeks the temple has been watched. Some of our brothers have noticed people trying to go where they should not. Outer private areas have been touched with nothing moved or out of place. Their scent is notable because there is a difference in the air thanks to one who wears perfume. Only a professionally trained person could carry out that. They were working their way into inner sanctums looking for you.”
“What does that all mean,” I asked not seeing the full picture.
“The Chinese government plays a long game,” he replied. “They can take the littlest thing and slowly over time create a tool that can be used to create an advantage over others. They may have been able to force one of the new brother’s by using their own family’s history to force them to reveal that there is one living with us that no one talks about.”
“That would explain it all,” I said. “It also implies that they don’t know who but want to find out and explains why we are doing this.”
“In life, the simplest answer is usually the correct one,” my adopted father said. “Although most humans would never admit it. I know that when we arrive at our destination our walk together in life will come to its end. Remember always that I carry you with me in all I do. Having you come into my life made me a better man. I will miss you like a father who has lost his son.”
A tear rolled down my cheek as I remembered our last few minutes together. It was the only time I had ever seen tears come to his eyes. His last words to me had said it all.
“Wo ai ni er zi,” were his last words to me. Then he was gone. Those simple words said everything because it was the first time, he had ever said I love you son.
My adopted father had no choice but to leave me so that I could have the protection of the American government in front of me. I must have been standing there for quite a while because Alana had put on a sweater and walked out to me. I was oblivious to how much it had cooled.
********
“I was starting to get worried about my future husband,” Alana said. “Has something got you upset? Perhaps it was finding out for yourself how my future sister-wife feels.”
“After Suling left my side,” I said, “I was thinking and remembering a few things that my adopted father and I had shared. In a way, my mind was preparing me for what is about to come. When you get home send me a text to remind me to text you my parent's full name along with her maiden name. We need to put the past behind me before we go forward.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“What about Suling’s feeling?’ Alana asked.
“I know her feeling about me has not changed since we started growing up together,” I said. “I had hoped that time and distance had changed them, but I am afraid they have only become stronger. She will wait until she dies to become my wife and never complain about it. I am going to have to figure out what best for all going forward.”
Alana leaned against me and kissed me before saying, “You kissed her, I tasted her lipstick on your lips. Like me, she is and always will be yours. The question you have to answer for yourself is are you willing to destroy a life, to protect what you believe is morally right?”
I was looking across the flats towards the other side of the valley when Alana took my hand into hers and said, “Right across from us on the side of the mountain would be the perfect spot to build your second wife’s home for her and your children. Suling is planning to have at least three.”
“You and Suling seem to have it all planned out,” I said.”
“Suling just finished telling me about the beginning of our society, and how it was formed,” Alana said. “That truth alone should cause you to do a lot of thinking because the bible from the beginning to the end shows that God’s views changed based on the conditions in front of him.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “I see her logic and it disturbs me because it is forcing me to question my arguments against taking a second wife.”
“Legally she can’t marry you,” Alanna said. “Morally, Spiritually, and emotionally in her mind she already has. That is why she has begun the process to have her last name changed to Wuming. Suling chose that to be her last name because she believes that doing that will always keep you close to her. She like me is a virgin and will remain so until it’s time for you to take responsibility for what has always been yours.”
********
Within two weeks Alana had all the background material available from the web. Nothing stuck out except one company who my father’s father a man name Archibald Raul Campbell represented. The reason it stood out was that it was part of the complete military supply system.
He was one of the heads of a firm that was under contract to the American Government. Its latest design had led to the creation of the stealth airplane. My Grandfather whom I had never met was one of the board of directors.
I googled his name and got quite the bibliography on him. I learned that he had three sons two living one dead who lived in the city of Boston. He sat on the board of six companies all in some manner connected to the military. Two things stuck out, his political affiliation and who he went to school with. Yet according to what I was learning he had never served in the forces.
My parent's death was mentioned but it was not explained how they died. The question I had to ask myself was since I had been born in China, did he know of my existence?
I had found a firm that created a way to turn the microchip into a stick that could be stuck into a modern computer. It had cost four hundred dollars. Once opened it froze because I did not have the correct password.
Suling’s father in my last meeting with him had said the key I was looking for would be found on the ring. I looked at it like I always did and saw nothing but the strange pattern that it had always had. What I saw did not make sense. As Alana and I looked at it together we both could not figure things out because even the black pattern had no rhythm or pattern to it. I was upset that my mind was drawing a blank.
Even Alana’s parents could not figure it out after examining it closely as we had. The more we all dwelt on it the more frustrating it became because no clue or direction could be found.
The answer came to me a couple of weeks later when I was helping her father install a new weathervane on top of one of his barns. He had found it in a small antique shop he had gone into while waiting for his truck to be loaded with some supplies he had bought.
It was the most unusual thing I had ever seen because to most it would see its design was upside down or sideways. When I asked him about it, he explained that someone had designed it as a conversation piece, and he had liked it. That was when it came to me. What I had failed to apply was basic logic.
After Sunday dinner I asked, “Alana can you get me a couple of pieces of scrap paper and a pencil?”
It took her about two minutes to bring it to me. She watched me as I took the ring off my finger and began writing down the individual Chinese letters, I gleaned out of it from the outside and the inside of it. He had added lines where spaces would have been to form an unending line between the Chinese letters he had laid out, side to side.
“When you write in Chinese you write from top to bottom starting on the left side of the page working to the right,” I said. “Not side by side like the English language but going from top to the bottom and working across. The strange pattern on my father’s ring is actually Chinese letters written side by side until it completes the circle on the ring.”
Alana watched me as I wrote out what I now saw from the ring. The only thing that was missing was the markings that defined the Chinese letters. Then I took the Chinese characters and translated the letters into the English alphabet before writing them side to side until I found a version that made the possible words make sense. It took about twenty minutes of working with the letters to figure it out. The words written on the ring read ‘zi shen de ming zi”
Alana's eyes lit up in excitement as she asked, “What does it say?”
“God’s name in Chinese,” I said.
“Could it be that simple,” Alana asked.
“Depends on what language it was written in,” I replied.
“What do you mean,” Alana asked?
“Was it designed and written in Chinese, English, Hebrew or Greek,” I said, “and which name of God was used. Was it the I am, Jehovah, Adonai, or others? God is known by many names throughout the bible and the history of man.”
“It sounds like it is a puzzle within a puzzle,” Alana said. “Why would he do that?”
“Because the odds were that most in the Chinese government would not have exact knowledge of what they were trying to wipe out,” I said, “and if they did without knowing the bible’s history and its relationship with mankind their minds would be locked in the wrong direction.”
I guess I got lost in my own thoughts for a few moments. For the first time, I was seeing the brilliance in my father’s actions. His logic would make Spock proud. He had complicated the simple making it complex. Leaving a mystery for me to solve. To solve it I would have to figuratively walk in his mind.
I guess Alana could see the traces of wetness in my eyes because she said, “You have just come to understand the father you never had a chance to know in a new way. Do you think he knew that you would be the one to reveal his secrets?”
********
It took me three weekends to figure the pattern out. By the time I put it all together I had a new respect for the man I hardly remembered. I had to discover through research that Hebrew is read from right to left. Most of God’s names were too short or too long for them to work. Then I remember that the Hebrew writings at one time had no vowels.
God’s name consisted of four letters in Hebrew which were yhwh. I knew that was too short, so I needed to know how to pronounce it. The second thing I had to figure out was it the modern Hebrew language or the traditional. Was it ‘Yud -hey-Waw-hey or ‘Yud-hey-vav-hey. It turned out the traditional was the one. That simple revelation explained a lot. Yet it was wrong. I had entered it in the way I would normally write it, so I typed it up the way it would be read if written in Hebrew, and it opened.
I was so excited I grabbed the laptop and drove over to the Conner’s residence as fast as I could. I was so excited that I forgot that it was almost two in the morning. Boy, were they upset until I revealed what I had done.
After Bonnie made us all coffee Ian said, “Okay open it up, and let’s see what we got.”
“Alana turn on the printer,” Bonnie said. “The printer is an ‘Epson WorkForce’ twenty-seven sixty. Wi-fi password is eight zero three two six eight five one four seven zero.”
The file opened as soon as I put in the English pronunciation of God’s name in as it would be read in Hebrew. We discovered it contained sixty-four pages. I printed out two copies. It was detailed and well laid out. It showed how the relationship that Gungwu Wang and my fathers’ father had started and evolved.
They had met during their university years. Wang had been born in nineteen forty-two and was a bit older than my grandfather. We learned that for the last ten years of my father’s life he had been building a case that could convict his father for espionage.
Wang and my grandfather’s relationship had been lifelong. I learned that most of my grandfather’s money had been earned through his investments in China. Every two years it was his routine to travel back to China. The only time that did not take place was when my parents were serving the Christian community in China.
During that time, he went to North Korea. Everyone was puzzled by that, but I was not because I understood the full relationship between those two countries. Many who disappeared from Chinese society ended up in North Korea’s work colonies. My grandfather had only gone over with them when they first arrived to help them get settled.
As we read the pages a clear picture of their long-term relationship came out clear. It was at the point that we understood why my grandfather was a member of the American Communist party and was indeed guilty of passing secrets to the Chinese government.
A list of his contacts in America and China took up over two pages. My father’s father was referred to as the ‘arc’ in a lot of the documents that detailed secret meeting of files being transferred and cash being paid. Now things about what had happened were beginning to make sense.
“It looks like your father believed that his own father had brought the Chinese government down on him,” Ian said, “Because he saw his own son being a danger to his existence.”
This new revelation was verifying everything my adopted father and I had believed. The attack on the Christian community was just a cover-up to hide their true agenda. My parent's death was not a matter of law but an execution to protect their American asset, my grandfather.
That was when Alana pulled up Wikipedia and discovered that Gungwu Wang was a current member of the national congress and had been since two thousand and seventeen.
“It also says that he is the head of China: Development and Governance and shows the references they got the information from,” Alana said. “Do you know what that department basically does?”
“It sets policy and oversees the propaganda structure of the government,” I said. “At least it did until I left China.”
Before shutting down my laptop I transferred the file to three other sticks and then reformatted it.
“Dirk, do you want me to place one of the sticks and one copy of the information in our safe,” Ian asked? “ For protection.”
“That might be a good suggestion,” I said. “The master one will go into the safety deposit box at the bank on Monday.”
“You’re going to have to turn the information over to the authorities,” Bonnie said. “It’s going to require a lot of explanation on your part.”
“That’s the least of my problem,” I said. “As La Chey once said to me. It is usually the one you call your brother or a dear friend that turns on you. The master, my adopted father had taught me that it can take a minor thing that happened years ago that creates a situation that another can use to an advantage.”
“Are you saying that you can’t just turn it over to the local FBI,” Alana asked?”
“If the news is correct the Chinese have had agents working with politicians for years,” I explained. “It’s safe to assume that they have their fingers in all government departments. The second question we need to face, is if everyone is pointing a finger at one country like Russia, we have to ask who they are protecting and why?”
The look on Alana’s parents made it clear that they were beginning to see the situation I was facing.
‘Do you really think it is that bad in our American society,” Ian asked?
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” I said. “I have to act like I believe it is because the Chinese Government will do everything, they can in order to find a way to stop this information from coming out. It’s clear the Chinese Government killed my parents to protect my grandfather’s identity.”
“So how do you plan to deal with it,” Bonnie asked?
“I have an annual meeting with the Epa and the Governor of the state coming up,” I said. “I will use their suggestions to guide me.”
“Why those two,” Ian said.
“They have earned my trust,” I said. “Just as I have earned theirs.”
“d'fhéadfadh na déithe dul leat,” said Alana in Gaelic which means may the gods go with you.
Her words were just what I needed to hear, Mom and Dad Conners were not surprised when I took her into my arms and planted a deep long one.
“Our daughter is hoping for you resolve it quickly,” Ian said with a chuckle. “We have told her that we would not say yes to her pushing up the date of your marriage unless this is resolved.”
Looking into my future wife's eyes I saw the fear she was experiencing so I said. “If it comes to the point where it is life or death, I will gladly lay down my life for you.”
“Is tusa mac d'athar,” Alana said in Gaelic, which means you are your father’s son. “You will do what you do because of your views about what is right or wrong.”
That is when it hit me, I was despite my limited time with him, I was my father’s son because I could not blindly accept those doing wrong for what they thought was the greater good.
For most of the next week, I was not available to anyone as I was following my adopted father the master’s teaching. When faced with a problem that would test the character of most of those he knew or associated with he would go off until he had worked things out.
********
Thursday night I called my girlfriend.
“I’ve been worried sick,” Alana said. “You have not contacted or answered my calls and texts all week. Why?”
“I had to mentally prepare myself for what is going to come by working it all out in mind,” I explained. “So that I am prepared for all possibilities and outcomes.”
I guess that was when it hit home with her because Alana said, “You sense danger and betrayal. You fear the worst because of what was done to your parents.”
“Talk to Fen,” I said. “In private and inform her what's going on and that I need her to watch the actions of her brother closely going forward. She needs to be able to disclose to me every little thing that does not seem normal. Have her convey the same thoughts to Suling, in the same manner, this weekend.”
“I can do that but why?” Alana replied.
“I’ve spent the last few days searching out for the weakest link,” I said, “To conclude that it’s the one that works out of Washington DC. On Monday I will make my opening move to see where it leads.”
“How do you that without revealing any details,” Alana asked?
“By planting a thought, that will lead one to conclude a conclusion,” I said. “That will require the person to follow up on.”
On Friday China time I called the embassy that had brought me home. Two of the three of the security team that had looked after me were still assigned to the area. Once I had identified myself, I asked them to call me back on a secured line.
It took me about half an hour to reveal what I had learned so far. When they asked what I did with the information I told them I had made three copies which were now all in secured locations. I told them what I needed and why. After giving them my email address, I knew the game was on.
They were not surprised by what I had revealed to them. I learned that they had suspected but had no proof. The money my grandfather had brought home from China had a well-documented trail that provided enough to prove that it was made legally. They had believed that the paper trail may have been phony but had not been able to prove it.
When I gave them the name of who I expected would call them they suggested they would take a detailed look to see what they could learn about him.
Monday morning, I called Chris Devereau, one of Epa’s upper management answered my call as soon as he was informed that it was me. After verifying that he had received all the latest data on our ongoing project I got serious.
“Chris, I need you to inform the governor that after our official meeting that I am going to need a few minutes to get both yours and his guidance on a serious matter,” I said.
“What does it concern,” Chris asked?
“The events behind what caused my parent's death,” I explained. “I’ve learned the primary reason was not what I was led to believe.”
“Wow, and how did that happen,” Chris asked with his voice showing a bit more concern.
“I recently got some of my parent's belonging returned to me from China,’ I explained. “From the same embassy that my adopted father had dropped me off at. I am going to be seeking advice from the Governor and you on what to do before going forward.”
As soon as we ended the conversation, I knew that something did not seem right. I just did not know what or why. My mind went back to my adopted father the master who always said those who are afraid of the truth coming out will come after the one who holds it out of hate.
That conservation came out after we had helped a Christian man who was being persecuted by the state. The monks had hidden him from the authorities until one of the brothers had found him a freighter willing to take him on as a rookie employee in the middle of the night.
I texted Alana and asked her to do a background search on Google on Chris Devereau and email me a copy of what it said.
I then texted her and said don’t do anything but call me as soon as possible.
“What wrong?” Alana asked me when she called.”
“I just remembered that Google works closely with China and has put certain restrictions on those who use their program in their country because of the request of the Chinese Government,” I said. “China has had years to create a back door into Google’s system to mine it for information that could be of value to them.”
“Oh my god,” Alana said.” They may know already that someone is on to them. Bring the program with you tonight so we can reformate and give the computer a new identification. Tomorrow at school I will leave the laptop in the cafeteria.”
I arrived right as they were finishing dinner. Bonnie offered me a plate, but I informed her that I had already eaten.
Most don’t know that even though the internet became mainstream in the early nineteen nineties it had been around for years before that. As a result, with China always playing the long game they would find a way to get their fingers into anything that could provide them with an advantage when needed.
Every foreign company that did business in China knew their computers were compromised and acted accordingly. They did not know to what extent. The news claimed the intellectual theft of data and systems cost the American economy billions a year. A lot of this theft could have been achieved thanks to the back doors they created.
Alana brought me the computer and watched me reformate it after we had printed out the background information on Chris Devereau that she googled and did a Facebook check on. I found nothing that would cause be suspect anything. There appeared to be no visible possible links.
“Wait a minute,” Ian said after doing a windows ten search on lobbyists on his own desk computer. “Squire Patton Boggs is a lobbying firm that has long represented the Chinese Embassy in Washington. They have an employee named Carl Devereau. Is he related to Chris?”
“Yes, there’s one listed why?” I said after rereading the printed material.
“It says he serves as a strategic adviser to clients in the U.S. and abroad focusing on global business development. Carl Devereau helped lead the effort to grant China the most favored trading nation status in the late nineteen nineties.”
I looked at Ian with a new sense of emergency.
“He was also linked into the FBI’s investigation into ZTE’s violation of the sanctions on Iran. When it became public knowledge, he resigned.” Ian added. “It’s also noted that ZTE has close ties to the United Front which is a political-influence arm of the Chinese Communist Party.”
With the laptop reformatted I turned it back on and uploaded the program to reformat its identity and give it a new IP number.
“It’s crazy, I can’t believe it’s that easy to connect someone to the Chinese Government,” Alana said. “Dad, what gave you the idea of checking into lobbyists?”
“Something Dirk had said when he figured out what his dad’s ring said,” Ian explained. “I just started going through the lists of employees until I found one that had the same last name.”
“Ian run a Facebook search to see if we can tie them in as family members,” Bonnie asked?
Using Google and Windows ten it took about ten minutes before he had pictures of both sides side by side on his screen. The family resemblance was seen. All four of us were not surprised when Facebook verified that they were brothers.
“What do you think is going to happen next,” Alana asked?
“Do you remember when we went into the restaurant to save Suling from Fen’s brother?” I asked.
“Most of it, why do you ask?” Alana asked with a sound of puzzlement.
“Suling revealed that night that I was the Wuming,” I said. “With the way, I humiliated Fen’s brother I am sure he would remember.”
Alana's eyes got wide and open as the information registered. It automatically became clear how close they may be.
“Omg!” Alana said. “That’s why I had to inform Fen. Le Chey believes he’s an agent for the Chinese Communist Party.”
The look on the Conner’s face I will remember all my life because I think they were all beginning to realize how infected American society was with people acting on behalf of other countries.
“It also gives more detail as to why the Chinese government hunted me for so long,” I said. “They may have believed that I was the key to finding the file my dad had created that would expose the corruption within our own country.”
“I think that we are going to be keeping a closer eye on our daughter,” Ian said. “Starting tomorrow until this is all finished, we will be driving her to school in our four by four.”
********
She had picked him up this Wednesday Morning and had followed him as per her supervisor's orders looking for the right moment to make contact. Her superiors believe that he alone would know what the Wuming was up to.
The Zen Master was known to be a strong-willed man who had a fierce reputation for not backing down. It would take every ounce of training she had to outwit him, but she knew it had to be done. When it had been revealed that someone was living in the temple that did not belong, she had been on the team who was ordered to find out who.
They had reached halfway into the very depths of the inner sanctions before their inside informer informed his contact that he was gone. Three days later they learned that the one they had been searching for was at the US embassy finally in safe hands.
They did not know for sure if the Zen master had been the one that had gotten the one with no name to safety, but it was their strongest lead. Based on new information that had come from above that implied emergency she had been ordered to find out what he knew.
Yet the master was of average build, average height and if was not for his monk's attire you would never have noticed him. Many who had challenged his leadership had soon learned how fast they went down in defeat. Even those agents with years of training were afraid to face him.
Even in the temple, he was a man who was respected for it was quite common for the other monks to come to him for advice. He was already at the point in his development where other monks would spend their lives working to achieve.
In the only recorded video of him standing up against six so-called professionals in a demonstrative fight, not one had been able to land a hand on him. It was only by playing the video at half speed that could you see the blur his movement created.
Yong Ling knew he was being followed but he did not know why. Since his adopted son had been left at the US embassy the Chinese authorities had left them alone. Until this morning. He was going through the local open market checking out the wares the vendors were selling when he first noticed her. Hers was a face he had not seen in a long time.
Once it was established that he was the reason she was here. He had to know the reason why? He had led her into a local park where he was now waiting. Having safely stashed his purchase for a fast pick up later he had moved himself so he could get himself in a spot where he could overpower her.
As she came through the semi-private area for the third time looking for what she had lost he caught the scent of her perfume and realized who she was. Yong Ling reached out and pulled her back into his chest and put his hand over her mouth to silence any sound she might make.
“nǐ shì shuí? nǐ xiǎng yào shén me?” Which means who are you and what do you want.”
As he held her, she reached into her pocket and took out her business card. The first thing he read was that she was with the American consulate. He let her go and listened.
“nǐ de yǎng zǐ yǒu wēi xiǎn. nǐ huì shuō yǔ ma?” She replied. He was surprised because she said his adopted son was in danger then asked if he spoke English.
“I speak seven languages English is one of them,” Yong Ling said, “Why do you think I am the right man?”
“Wuming’s real name is Dirk Campbell,” The lady responded. “I’m Susan Wong, I was part of the security team that got him out of the country.”
Susan Wong watched looking to see if they had found the right man. Looking to see if tears would fill Yong Ling’s eyes. Instead, she saw the look of death because he knew the name, she had given him was false.
“Who and why are they coming after him?” The master asked not expecting the truth.
“Scott contacted us on Friday, he found the file and successfully got in after figuring out the clue that his father had left for him,” She said, “he said that his father had proved his own father was selling government secrets to the Chinese authorities. The attack on the Christian community was a cover-up so they could in the eyes of the world legally get away with executing them.”
“The American government is nothing but a ship of fools,” Yong Ling said with authority. “For years they have been sending money to support the Christian community in my country with the full knowledge of knowing the government just seizes it all because they believe it will buy votes back home.”
“They will be coming after him,” Susan Wong explained. “We suspect they will try to draw him using a female whose first name is Suling. Her father is the man that you know as Le Chey.”
Yong Ling raised his hand and went into a seldom-used move one that is only passed on by the secret six masters to the one chosen to replace them.
Using the technique of the Bak Mei which is a highly sophisticated fast and aggressive system so seldom used that it was rarely seen within the Chinese martial arts community. Using the ging (sacred power) his hand and arm went from stillness to knocking her in less than four seconds. To the untrained eye, it would be seen as an act of brutal force but the way he had taken her out would not leave a mark.
After catching her he laid her down in the brushes. Using his hands and fingers he touched on the scalp in six places and whispered. “Fawn Wang, when they find you, you will report back to those who sent you that I was not the one you were looking for. We talked but I had no clue to anything you were implying. You will go to Madame Wing’s and offer your services as a whore willing to serve anyone as per your supervisor's orders.”
Madame Wing would make sure that the assets her latest recruit had brought would bring in lots of money. She loved taking down the high and mighty when given the opportunity. From the moment she entered the house she would be painted like all her girls making it hard for her to be found. Once broken in she would offer her to the rich and powerful government officials who were her top paying clients then move her down as the newness of her wore off.
Yong Ling for the second time in his life had been forced to use his knowledge to change the direction of a person’s life. The first one he still had second thoughts about. This one he would not because he had seen her for weeks trying to sneak into the temple just before he had taken his son to safety.
Today he would go about his business as if nothing had happened but come tomorrow when the American embassy unlocked their doors, they would find him waiting. It was time for the six masters to travel for the first time to America and for them to learn their internal security was compromised.
If Dirk was indeed facing trouble, he needed to get to him. Dirk would need to have the full teachings that were locked in his mind to use as needed to guide him on the road ahead. It had been hard to get the other five of the secret six to go along with his adopted son being the one to pass the ways of the old on.
But when he explained the mental strength, the child had to use to resist the lashes, he had to take because he refused to give up the cross. Even they had been impressed. Thus, at the age of about ten Dirk had begun learning what a true master could do when called upon.
Most had to have experienced life before they were chosen that’s why certain guards had to be put in place so that the knowledge could not be misused as he grew up.
The ging was strong in him, perhaps the strongest that he had ever seen. When each lesson had been learned to his complete satisfaction. He would go to where Dirk was sleeping and block it in his mind.
What every master of the Bai Mei was able to do was make the impossible possible by bending the rules of physics when needed to create an advantage. Most of the special effects they used in martial arts movies were juvenile in comparison to what they could do.
When Fawn Wang failed to report in at the appointed time her supervisors started becoming concerned. When she missed the second one, they started to worry because losing contact with Gungwu Wang’s granddaughter meant a major problem for those assigned to handle her.
If she were not found soon someone would come in the night and take those who were considered responsible away. At the start of the next day, it would be as if they never existed. Those who knew of their disappearance knew better than to ask lest they suffered the same fate.
********
Fawn Wang awoke in the brush, her mind was foggy, her purse was missing along with her identification and her electronic devices. The last thing she remembered was being sent out on a routine assignment, but she could not remember where.
Slowly as her mind cleared things became clear. She had gotten herself mugged while on the way to Madame Wings to offer herself as a recruit. Her supervisors must have had gotten approved to take her down. For that to have happened it must mean that major cleansing was to be taking place in the upper areas of the government.
Prostitution had been illegal for years, but Madame Wings operations had been allowed to flourish because of it serving the greater good. The party used her as the means to set up those deeded troublesome to any change of agenda the United Front wanted to bring forth.
It made removal of them easy for breaking the law. If it was a low life they were sent to prison for a lot of years, if it was higher-ups who held power, they were sent to North Korea’s prison work camps where they were never heard from again. It was believed to be a sentence of death because it was believed the average time, they survived there was less than seven years.
Fawn Wang wondered as she headed to her assignment if her supervisors were behind her mugging to make it easier for her story to be sold to Madame Wing.
Madame Wing was in total shock. She had gone into her private office to take a private call when she saw a former classmate from school standing there waiting for her.
She did not know that Little Ling had become a Zen monk.
“It’s been a long time, my old friend,” Wu Wing said. “What brings you here after all these years?”
“Have you ever heard of the one they call the Wuming?” Wong Ling asked.
“Yes, the upper crust was upset that he got away,” Wu Wing answered. “We lost quite a few clients because of him getting out of the country.”
“They sent an agent to talk to me about that matter,” Wong revealed. “Sadly, she now believes I know nothing.”
“Why does that concern me?” Wu asked.
“The very nice looking lady now believes she has been ordered to come and work undercover as a whore in your stable,” Wong said. “To begin to investigate you. With her assets, she will be a very profitable source of income. She should show up within the next twenty-four hours.”
“Why did you do this to her?” Wu Wong asked out of curiosity.
“The Wuming is my adopted son, the agent told me they are going after him,” Wong explained. “I will be heading to America because I need to stand beside him.”
Wu Wong looked at her former classmate and studied him for a few minutes before deciding if she would go along with his plans. She had to answer for herself if he was telling the truth.
“What’s the agent's name and why is so important that she not be found,” Wu Wong asked?
Young Ling slid his hand into a pocket and handed her an identification card. The name on the card was Fawn Wang. She knew that she was the granddaughter of an especially important man. After reading it she cut the card up and threw it away.
“You know that all my ladies have to go through their day with their faces painted traditionally,” Wu Wing said. “That way when they decide they no longer want the life their past can remain secret.”
Wu Wing caught the smile come across her old school classmate’s face and realized that that was what he was counting on.
“I will be sure to provide her with enough information that will keep her going in the wrong direction, “ Wu Wing said. “Thank you for giving me the chance for being able to even the score with a few I would prefer not having to answer to.”
The master bowed in respect, then was gone before she could speak again.
Wu Wing thought about the gift she had just been given. For years she had been looking for a way to take down those who always took most of what she made to line their own pockets. Now fate had stepped in to provide her with the opportunity to use their rising star against them.
Wu Wing decided that if it worked out the way it was now pointing the Zen temple would get the biggest donation it has ever had.