The interrogation facility in Zurich was a converted warehouse on the edge of the industrial quarter, its exterior deliberately nondescript, its interior a maze of soundproofed rooms and one-way mirrors. Li Yun had seen places like this before, in the hidden corners of the Changsun empire, in the bowels of Solomon's rig. They always looked the same. They always smelled the same. Disinfectant and old coffee and the metallic tang of fear.
James Calloway met him at the entrance. The Australian officer had not slept in two days, and it showed in the shadows under his eyes and the slight tremor in his hands. But his voice was steady.
"The leader is talking. The others are not, but the leader is. He wants a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"Reduced sentence in exchange for information. The Swiss prosecutors are considering it."
They walked through the corridor to a room with a one-way mirror. Through the glass, Li Yun could see the scarred man who had led the assault on the Alpine facility. He was sitting at a metal table, his wounded shoulder bandaged, his hands cuffed in front of him. His face was calm, almost bored, as if he had been in rooms like this many times before.
"His name is Viktor Haas," Calloway said. "Former German special forces, discharged under questionable circumstances. He has been working as a mercenary for the last decade. His employer for this operation was a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands, but the money trail leads back to a consortium of investors with ties to several governments."
"Which governments?"
"That is what we are trying to find out. Haas is offering names, but he wants guarantees. Witness protection, new identity, relocation. The full package."
"Does he deserve it?"
Calloway looked at Li Yun. "Deserve is not the question. Useful is the question. If his information leads to the buyers, we can dismantle the entire network. The governments, the military companies, the intermediaries. All of it."
Li Yun turned back to the glass. Viktor Haas was staring straight ahead, as if he could sense he was being watched. His expression was unreadable, but Li Yun had learned to read unreadable faces. He had learned it from Peter Changsun, from Solomon, from Varenkov. Haas was afraid. Not of prison. Not of the Swiss authorities. Of his employers.
"He will not talk without guarantees," Li Yun said. "He knows what happens to people who betray the buyers."
"He told us as much. He said his employers have a long reach. He said they have already killed two people who tried to cooperate with the investigation."
"Then he needs to know we can protect him. Really protect him. Not just a safe house and a new name."
"What do you suggest?"
Li Yun was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Let me talk to him."
The interrogation room was cold and bare, the only furniture the metal table and two chairs. Viktor Haas looked up as Li Yun entered, and something flickered in his eyes. Recognition. Perhaps even respect.
"Mr. Li. I was wondering when you would come."
"You know who I am."
"I know everything about you. Your file is extensive. The mutiny on the Sea Vulture. The assault on the mothership. The destruction of the compound. The escape from Solomon's rig. You have been a very busy man."
"And you have been trying to kill me."
"It was not personal. It was business. My employers wanted the research. You were in the way."
"And now?"
Haas leaned back in his chair, his cuffed hands resting on the table. "Now my employers have abandoned me. I was captured. I am a liability. They will want me dead before I can testify."
"Then help us stop them. Give us the names, the accounts, the contacts. Everything you know."
"And in return?"
"Protection. Real protection. Not just from the Swiss. From me."
Haas laughed, a short, humorless sound. "You? What can you do that the Swiss cannot?"
"I destroyed the Changsun Group. I destroyed Solomon's operation. I destroyed the compound and the research and everything your employers wanted. I have been fighting people like you for months, and I am still here. That is what I can do."
The mercenary stared at him for a long moment. Then he nodded, a slow, measured gesture. "There is a man. A financier based in Singapore. He is the one who coordinates the buyers. He has connections in half a dozen governments. If you want to stop the hunt, you need to stop him."
"What is his name?"
"Tan. Richard Tan. He operates through a web of shell companies, but his real business is procurement. He finds things for people who cannot find them themselves. Weapons, information, people. He was the one who connected Solomon to the buyers. He is the one who hired my team."
"How do we find him?"
"He has a residence in Singapore, but he rarely stays there. He moves constantly, using private jets and yachts. But there is a gala next week, at the Marina Bay Sands. A charity event for ocean conservation. He will be there. He always attends. It is good for his image."
Li Yun filed the information away. A gala. A public event. A target who believed he was untouchable.
"If this information is good," Li Yun said, "you will get your deal."
"It is good. But there is something else you should know." Haas leaned forward, his eyes suddenly intense. "Tan is not just a financier. He is a true believer. He thinks the compound can be used to create a new world order. He is not motivated by money. He is motivated by ideology. That makes him more dangerous than Solomon ever was."
"Thank you for the warning."
"Do not thank me. Just make sure he does not find out I talked. If he does, I am dead, no matter where the Swiss hide me."
Li Yun stood up and walked to the door. He paused with his hand on the handle. "One more question. The woman, Elena Voss. Why did your employers want her?"
"Insurance. They believed she had information about the compound, passed down from her father. They were going to extract it from her, one way or another."
"And now?"
"Now they know she knows nothing. The interrogations of the other prisoners, the intercepted communications, all of it confirms it. She is no longer a target."
Li Yun felt something loosen in his chest. "That is the first good news I have heard in a long time."
He left the interrogation room and found Calloway in the corridor. "Singapore. Marina Bay Sands. A gala next week. A man named Richard Tan."
"I know the name. He is on our watch list, but we have never had enough evidence to move against him."
"You have evidence now. Haas will testify."
"Haas's testimony is a start, but it is not enough. We need documentation. Financial records. Communications. Proof that Tan is connected to the buyers."
"Then let me go to Singapore. Let me get the proof."
Calloway stared at him. "You want to infiltrate a gala at one of the most secure hotels in the world, and gather evidence against a man who has connections in half a dozen governments?"
"Yes."
"That is not a plan. That is a suicide mission."
"It is not a suicide mission. I have an invitation."
Calloway blinked. "You have an invitation?"
"Elena Voss works for an ocean conservation organization. The gala is a charity event for ocean conservation. She has been invited, and she can bring a guest."
"And you think Tan will not recognize you? Your face has been on every news broadcast for weeks."
"He will recognize me. But he will not be able to do anything about it. Not in public. Not at a charity gala surrounded by diplomats and journalists. It is the safest place to confront him."
Calloway was silent for a long moment. Then he said, "I will need to clear this with Canberra. And with the Swiss. And with the Singaporean authorities."
"Clear it quickly. The gala is in six days."
The next days were a blur of preparation. Elena agreed to the plan without hesitation, her eyes bright with the same resolve Li Yun had seen in her father's eyes at the end. The Swiss authorities provided documentation, falsified identities, and a cover story that would withstand casual scrutiny. The Australian government provided diplomatic support. And James Calloway provided the one thing Li Yun needed most: a way to record everything that happened at the gala.
"If Tan is there, and if he incriminates himself, we will have enough to arrest him," Calloway said. "But you need to be careful. Tan is not like the other buyers. He is not a government functionary or a corporate mercenary. He is a zealot. He believes in what he is doing."
"I have dealt with zealots before."
"Not like this one. Tan has been building his network for twenty years. He has connections in places we cannot even identify. If he feels threatened, he will not hesitate to kill you, diplomatic consequences be damned."
Li Yun nodded. The fire in his chest was burning steadily, a controlled flame that had been tempered by everything he had endured. He had faced down captains and mercenaries and corporate heirs. He had destroyed empires and burned legacies to ash. One more target would not break him.
The night before they left for Singapore, Li Yun stood on the roof of the safe house in Zurich, watching the stars. Elena joined him, her coat wrapped tightly against the cold.
"I have been thinking about my father," she said. "About what you told me. About his confession, his death, his final request."
"And?"
"I think I understand him now. Not forgive him. Not excuse him. But understand him. He was a man who believed he could control something that could not be controlled. And when he realized he could not, he tried to undo what he had done."
"That is a generous interpretation."
"It is the only interpretation that allows me to move forward. I am his daughter. I carry his name, even if I did not know it for most of my life. I cannot change what he did. But I can choose what I do."
Li Yun looked at her. She was young, barely twenty-three, her whole life ahead of her. And yet she had been forced to confront the darkest parts of her father's legacy, to run from killers and hide in safe houses, to face the truth about who she was and where she came from.
"You are braver than most people I have known," he said.
"I am not brave. I am just tired of running. And I want this to end."
"It will end. One way or another, it will end."
The next morning, they boarded a flight to Singapore. The city-state glittered in the tropical sunlight, a monument to wealth and power and the relentless pursuit of both. The Marina Bay Sands rose above the skyline like a ship balanced on three towers, its infinity pool shimmering in the haze.
The gala was held in the grand ballroom, a cavernous space filled with crystal chandeliers and white orchids and the soft murmur of wealth congratulating itself on its own generosity. Li Yun wore a tuxedo that had been tailored for him by the Swiss authorities. Elena wore a blue gown that matched her eyes and the pendant at her throat.
Richard Tan was holding court near the bar, surrounded by a circle of admirers. He was a small man, impeccably dressed, with a smile that never reached his eyes. Li Yun watched him from across the room, memorizing his gestures, his mannerisms, the way he touched people on the arm when he wanted something.
"Are you ready?" Elena asked.
"Yes. Stay close to me. And if anything goes wrong, get to the embassy."
He walked across the ballroom, and the crowd seemed to part for him, sensing something in his demeanor that made them step aside. Richard Tan looked up as he approached, and his smile faltered for just a moment.
"Mr. Tan. My name is Li Yun. I believe you know who I am."
Tan recovered quickly, his smile returning. "Mr. Li. Your reputation precedes you. I was not aware you would be attending tonight."
"I was not aware you would be here either. It seems we both have surprises."
"Indeed. What can I do for you, Mr. Li?"
"You can stop hunting me. You can stop hunting Elena Voss. You can tell your buyers that the compound is destroyed, the research is gone, and there is nothing left to find."
Tan's smile did not waver, but his eyes grew cold. "I have no idea what you are talking about. I am a financier, Mr. Li. I invest in legitimate businesses. I have nothing to do with compounds or research or hunting anyone."
"Then you will not mind if I share what I know with the Singaporean authorities. Viktor Haas has been very cooperative. He has told us everything."
Something flickered in Tan's eyes. Fear. Or anger. Or both.
"You are making a mistake, Mr. Li. I am not a man you want as an enemy."
"I have had many enemies. Most of them are dead or in prison. You are just the next in line."
Tan stepped closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You think you have won? You think destroying the compound and the research ends this? There are other ways to achieve what Chimera promised. Other scientists. Other resources. You cannot stop progress, Mr. Li. You can only delay it."
"Then I will delay it as long as I can."
Li Yun turned and walked away. Behind him, he could feel Tan's eyes boring into his back. The confrontation had been brief, but it had been recorded. Every word, every gesture, every flicker of emotion. It would be enough for Calloway and the Swiss and the Singaporean authorities.
But it would not be enough to stop Tan. The man was a zealot, just as Haas had warned. He believed in something larger than himself, and that belief would not be shaken by a single confrontation at a charity gala.
The fire in Li Yun's chest was still burning. And it would keep burning until every buyer, every financier, every true believer was brought to justice.
The gala continued around him, the music and the laughter and the clinking of glasses. Li Yun found Elena at the edge of the ballroom, her face pale but composed.
"It is done," he said. "He knows we are watching."
"Will it be enough?"
"No. But it is a beginning."
They walked out of the ballroom together, into the warm Singapore night. Behind them, Richard Tan was already on his phone, making calls, planning his next move. The hunt was not over.
But for the first time in a very long time, Li Yun felt something that might have been hope.
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