November 14th, 2011



Life is sad but nothing is sadder than faded beauty Gu Kailai reflected as she starred into the gilded mirror. She had been a beauty once. Beauty enough to catch a princeling and later a tall handsome foreigner. Beauty enough to hold them…for a while. Those days were gone. No one would believe they had ever existed if the only clue was the round haggard face she looked at now. She barely believed it herself.

But she remembered. She remembered that it had felt like a dream, a wild glorious dream, even then. Now she lived in a realm between the spirit world and this world of power and money. The power and the money were all she had from the halcyon days. That and the memories would have t be enough after tonight.

She looked at her Rolex. He would be here soon. Just like the old days. She knew him well, as well as she knew her husband. He would want a drink first and she had a bottle of his favorite out in the living room. He would let himself in, have a couple of drinks, then come to her. He might pause to bargain first but he probably wouldn’t. He was a randy bastard; all men were, especially foreigners. He would want to make her pliable first and he knew exactly how to do that.

She took off her expensive but matronly dress and put on an even more expensive negligee, one he had given her in Paris. It was red, white, and blue. And very expensive. Everything had been expensive in those days. That was how they measured the worth of things. That’s how they measured the worth of themselves.

A single tear escaped from her right eye and she gently plucked a tissue from the box on the dresser and dried it. No tears tonight. Everything must be perfect for him; perfect for her. After all, it was the last time. It must be perfect. She would make sure of it.

Neil Heywood was shaking as he pulled into the parking lot of the Nanshan Li jing Holiday hotel. He had fond memories of this 700 US dollar a night resort in a country where most people didn’t make 500 dollars a month. The only people who could afford it were rich businessmen and corrupt government officials. He considered this place the perfect example of how far the lie that was the communist dream of Red China had gotten off track.

Not that he minded or was offended. It had worked out great for him. While Bo Xilai gave stirring speeches about the growing gap between rich and poor, Neil got rich transferring rooms full of Bo’s money to the UK, America, Canada, and Australia. The Bo family had money everywhere. A lot of money. They lived like the princes’ people called them but when Neil asked for his fair share they reacted with anger and outrage. Xilai had threatened Neil’s life at their last meeting. Like Neil was some Chinese peasant that could be thrown in a “black jail” then executed and forgotten. I am a British citizen, he reminded himself and people in the British government know exactly what’s going on here.

He got out of his BMW and went directly to the room Kailai had reserved for them. It was their favorite and he had grand memories of this particular suite.

He had stopped shaking. He was confident now. She probably just wanted to fuck he told himself. She would want to bargain his fee down. She wouldn’t dare attempt violence here. He was wrong on all accounts.

“Neil is that you?” she asked softly in Chinese from the bedroom as he entered the suite. He went straight to the bottle of Ballantine on the table and poured himself a stiff one.

“Yes love” he replied in the same language. “Just having a little drink. I’ll be right there.” His Chinese was perfect, after all, his wife was Chinese.

“Take your time dear. We have all night. Tomorrow also…if you have time.”

He relaxed a little more as the scotch warmed him. They would come to an agreement. He considered telling her now that he wouldn’t change his mind. What he was asking for was peanuts compared to the massive fortune she asked him to move. Fuck, he had a family to consider too. He poured himself another drink.

No. He would wait until after sex. She was so much more agreeable, much more…pliable, after an orgasm. Besides, he was already hard. Taking off his tie he entered the bedroom.

He didn’t turn on the light. He knew she preferred sex in the dark these days. As his eyes adjusted to the light he saw her laying in the middle of the huge bed covered from the neck down under a red silk sheet. He sighed. She could be so…prudish sometimes.

As if she had read his mind and wanted to refute that thought she flung the sheet aside, drew her legs up and spread her knees in a wanton display of her sex.

“Come eat me.” She whispered. “Then fuck me like it’s the last time.”

Stripping off the last of his clothes he complied.

November 15th, 2011

Wang Lijun was used to cleaning up messes for the Bo family but this one was bold even for that family of megalomaniacs. A white man, a British citizen, a former family friend; there would be repercussions if this wasn’t handled exactly right. He could handle it. He would handle it. But the price would be steep this time.

“Cremate the body immediately. We’ll come up with an appropriate story. We can say he drank himself to death.” Kalai walked over to the half full bottle of scotch as she spoke. She picked it up gingerly, almost lovingly, then walked into the kitchen and poured the remaining contents in the sink. She ran the water a long time but Lijun doubted she would ever be able to completely wash away the memories.

She went to the bedroom and looked at the body of her lover one last time. He had died peacefully in his sleep after the exertion of sex had sent the poison seeping throughout his body. He had died content, maybe happy even. What more could a man ask for?

He had come to bargain but her husband was through bargaining. He was about to make his big move for control of China and there could be no loose ends. She and her husband were united in two things. The quest for ultimate power and the future of their son. Bo Xilai had his suspicions about Neil but some things simply remained unspoken in China. With Neil’s death all the suspicions, accusations, and worries were over now, she thought.

She couldn’t have been more wrong.