I bow my head again, “I’m sorry I was not a male, bàba.”
“I’m not. I adore you,” my father replies as he grasps my chin and raises my head.
I push up on my knees to embrace him.
“We’re an honorable family, bàba. We always will be. My sister and I will make you proud.”
“I know you will. You’re both good girls.” My father lets out a long sigh as I stand up and help him to his feet. “You should go help your mother. She’s making her special chicken dish. If you can learn the skills behind it, the men will be fighting over you to be their wife.”
I step back and bow to my father before leaving him alone with his thoughts in the basement. I may only be ten years old, but I’m perceptive. I see the fear behind his eyes for the future, and I can’t help wondering if my grandfather would have been better staying in the rice fields rather than swapping one taskmaster for another. If my father’s family hadn’t come to San Francisco, would we have freedom in our home country now rather than a life indebted to the mafia?
Present Day
“Watch out,” I shout at one of the Yi Shu generals as he battles with another leader from the Jīn Long faction.
The Jīn Long are our long-standing enemies. If it weren’t for them, we’d rule California in its entirety, but as it stands, they control Los Angeles and the south, while we control the north, from Salinas to the border with Oregon. It’s a large territory, and both factions are prepared to fight to the death to keep there portion.
“Jaxon, I need your help,” one of my fellow soldiers shouts my way as he races through the abandoned warehouse we’re in.
The Jīn Long are trying to steal our latest supplies from China. We aren’t in the habit of dealing in drugs and weapons like they are. These are white goods we’ve imported illegally without any duty being paid on them to sell on. It’s a lucrative trade here in California where everything is so expensive, and everyone wants the latest model.
“Coming,” I respond and raise the batons I’m fighting with.
We never use guns, even if they would end this fight a lot sooner. Both the Jīn Long and the Yi Shu are old school when it comes to weapons. We settle our battles in traditional ways.
The man who I’ve been sparring with comes for me again, but I’m too quick. With rapid flicks of my wrists, I bring the batons down upon his head and stun him into unconsciousness. I could finish him off with the sword at my waist, but I don’t know his history. He could have a family, and I won’t deprive anyone of a father. I know only too well the suffering it leads to.
Chasing after the Yi Shu soldier who called for my help, I make my way farther into the warehouse and quickly discover why he wanted me—the Jīn Long have started a small fire, and if it is allowed to spread, it will destroy our stock. In a warehouse with no firefighting equipment or sprinklers, it needs to be put out as soon as possible. We don’t exactly maintain health and safety rules in this place as it’s not, in any sense of the word, legal.
“Fuckers are going to pay for this,” I yell in anger before racing deeper into the building. The rear of the warehouse backs onto the sea. It’s the only water available to douse the fire. “We need buckets, anything we can carry water in,” I instruct the soldiers now gathering around me. “Form a line,” I order, taking command as the most senior soldier there. “Pass the buckets along.” I point to several of the men. “You, you, and you keep a lookout.”
I’m sure most of the Jīn Long have already left the building, but there may be a few remaining stragglers who are determined to prevent us from saving the stock.
Everyone sets about their tasks. I’m handed several large containers, and dipping them into the water, I fill them before passing them back along the line so the fire can be extinguished.
“Keep going.” I shout encouragement, “We’ve got this.” I try to sound positive, but even I’m getting increasingly worried as the flames appear to be growing.
“Maybe we should get out of here,” one of the men suggests when sirens sound in the background. Fortunately, they aren’t heading this way and fade after a couple of seconds. “If the fire department comes and we’re discovered here, we’re all going to land in trouble.”
“And we’ll be in even more trouble if we let this stock burn. I don’t particularly want to tell Gaozu we ran away with our tails between our legs because we feared getting arrested. Do you?” I scold the man before thrusting another full container of water into his hand. “We carry on until I say there’s no more hope. Got it? Now move faster.”
My words don’t fall on deaf ears, and in a few minutes, the flames begin to die down. We’re finally winning the fight.
“Come on, we’re going to do this,” I shout more encouragement, and the men in the line work even faster when they realize we’re about to win what seemed like a losing battle.
I’m soaked to the skin in seawater, but adrenaline is coursing through my veins, and I don’t really feel the ache in my arms from the exertion of lifting the full and extremely heavy containers.
“It’s out,” one of the men from the front shouts triumphantly, and placing the container I’m holding down onto the muddy ground, I bend over at the waist to catch my breath.
We did it. Our stock is saved. The Jīn Long didn’t succeed in wounding us too deeply. Patting the back of the guy next to me, I give him further orders.
“We need to make sure the embers can’t reignite, and we need to check no other fires have been started in the factory. Keep water available and search the entire building. Any Jīn Long still lurking are to be rounded up and readied for questioning.”
“Yes, sir.” The man bows to me and relays my order to the other men.
I take a few more breaths and stretch my arms, before picking up my batons, from where I discarded them earlier on the floor, and make my way back to the front of the building. A few dead bodies of men from both factions litter the floor, but it’s the corpse at the entrance to the building that shocks me the most. The general I’d tried to protect at the start of the fight is now lying decapitated in a pool of crimson blood.
“Fuck!” I yell, and a flock of pigeons flutters up into the sky.
I should have stayed and helped him. He was a good man, a skilled fighter, and a vital part of the Yi Shu. His loss will be a big blow to us. I’d trusted in his abilities as a fighter and left him.
“What happened?” I question one of our men who’s lying injured on the ground. He’s wounded but not badly. I’m sure he’ll survive after a trip to our hospital—one that’s run by the Yi Shu and not sanctioned by the city authorities.
“It all happened so quickly.” The man is pale and looks defeated. The elation on the faces of the men who saved the stock from burning inside the warehouse is not present out here. “He was fighting one minute, then on his knees the next. Wang’s general appeared and took our general’s life. It seemed like it was planned. A trap.”
I look back into the warehouse. We’ve been played. The fire was simply a diversion so the real target was left vulnerable. Wang, the leader of the Jīn Long, wanted to inflict a devastating blow to us and killing one of our top leaders did just that.