Chapter 5: An Unusual Appointment

“What happened? Duan Fei, go and take a look.”

Duan went out and soon returned. “I heard the police are after a wanted man. Apparently he’s the former county chief’s secretary. His name is…”

“Sun Ping,” Lin Ying said.

Duan looked at her. “Right, that’s him.”

Lin was startled. Under the rules, county chiefs were not allowed dedicated secretaries, so local governments generally called them liaison officers instead. Officially, only leaders at the provincial level could have personal secretaries.

Sun Ping, Gao Lan’s liaison, was a wanted man?

Gao Lan had only recently died, and already her liaison was being hunted. Could that really be a coincidence?

“Doesn’t this seem suspicious?” Xu Pang asked, a cold glint in his eyes. A county chief had died in her own quarters, and her secretary had become a wanted man so soon afterward. Something about it felt wrong.

“Until we know what happened, we can’t do anything. Let’s wait and see.” Lin looked out the window. It was growing dark, and police were everywhere in the street. Sun Ping appeared to have committed a serious offense.

“Fatty Xu, go see if you can find out what he’s accused of.” Xu nodded. Gathering information was his specialty.

“Duan Fei, find a place to watch outside. Call me immediately if anything unusual happens. Xie Zhijun, find the highest vantage point nearby and send me its location.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the two men answered together and hurried out.

Lin paced the room. She hadn’t yet notified the county Party committee or government office of her arrival, and already she had encountered this. Since she was here, she would see how effectively the Gaoshan police operated. She headed outside.

At the doorway, a young man came toward her. “Hello, comrade. Could I borrow a light?”

Lin frowned and looked him over. He was thin, wore glasses and had a mild, scholarly appearance. Couldn’t he see she was a woman?

She immediately sensed something was wrong. Smiling slightly, she turned back. “There’s one inside. I’ll get it for you.”

The moment she entered, the young man followed quickly, closed the door and locked it with a click.

Lin turned sharply, a hint of a smile on her face. Interesting. Was he trying to rob her?

Her eyes were calm, her composure radiating confidence. The young man hesitated, then gritted his teeth and reached into his pocket, gripping something inside.

Lin tensed and moved her right hand toward her waist.

“Listen, I’m not a bad person. I don’t know who you are, but my instincts tell me you’re not with the police outside.”

Lin was taken aback. Why had he reached that conclusion? She said nothing, watching him warily.

After a pause, he slowly pulled a USB drive from his pocket and looked at her. Lin frowned, unsure what he wanted.

“Take this drive to Liu Yang, a secretary at the city government office. He’ll give you something in return. But if you don’t give it to him, you could get yourself killed. I suggest you do it as soon as possible.”

Without waiting for an answer, he placed the drive on the table and turned to leave.

What was he doing? Lin wanted to call him back, but in the end she said nothing. He opened the door and walked out.

She picked up the drive, wondering what he wanted. Before she could work it out, a commotion broke out outside the hotel.

“There! He’s over there! Don’t let him get away!” A jumble of footsteps pounded along the street.

Lin hurried to the doorway and looked out. The young man vanished around a corner, with more than a dozen plainclothes officers chasing him.

“Stop! Sun Ping, stop right there!”

Sun Ping? That young man was Sun Ping? Lin frowned. She didn’t understand why he had entrusted the drive to her, though from what she had seen, he seemed to have run out of options.

He wanted her to give it to Liu Yang, a secretary at the city government office. Questions crowded her mind. She had met Gao Lan’s secretary, and he had handed her a USB drive. Was it a coincidence, or had Sun Ping known who she was and chosen her deliberately?

Unlikely. He probably didn’t know her.

Could it really be such a coincidence?

Meanwhile, in the county Party committee office, Ma Guoliang received unsettling news. When he hung up, he was so furious he wanted to curse. The new police chief was also acting county chief. What kind of arrangement was that? What did the higher-ups take Gaoshan’s standing committee for? Police chief, deputy county Party secretary and acting county chief—all three posts in one person. What kind of monster was she?

Wait. Someone had mentioned the acting chief post earlier, but he seemed to have blocked it out.

Unease crept over him. Those positions would surely give her a seat on the standing committee and control of both the county government and the public security bureau. Gaoshan had never seen anything like it. Even he, the county Party secretary, had never enjoyed such an arrangement. Both positions he had earmarked for his own people had slipped away at once.

He wanted to curse, but it was too late for that. What were the higher-ups thinking?

He picked up the phone and arranged a smile on his face. “Secretary Chang, you’re still up?”

“Ah, Lao Ma. Yes. What is it?”

“I wanted to ask about a personnel appointment in our county. The new police chief is also acting county chief. Did you know about it?”

Such a combination was highly unusual, almost unheard of. With a county chief controlling public security, any trouble could become a serious matter.

“You want to know whose idea it was?” Chang Yukun was no fool. Ma hadn’t called in the middle of the night to catch up.

“Exactly.”

“It wasn’t the city’s arrangement. It came from the province.”

Ma’s heart jolted. The province? A fresh wave of unease washed over him. What message were they trying to send?