Houston, 2030: With Proper Legwork

“So you must understand.Imagine somebody who is not as tough and smart, who has lived inthe civilized world for forty goddamn years and have dreamed ofabundant energy for the last fourteen? How do you convincehim that the energy doesnot come out of nothing?”

“So you believe somebody is still huntingfor this non-existent Rossi's secret?”

“Chen thought this time it was the MainlandChinese. But could be the ex-CIA too. Since the 2018, he and Victorwere moving every year or even more often. Chen is not his originalsurname, by the way. He has changed it several times.”

“Chen has lived in the GRS for almost twoyears.”

“Yes. He had hopes thatall the chasers finally gave up. But still, he had no illusions andcarried his gut-driver with him at all time. It just turned out that he must runagain…”

Kate nods. “I think youare a tough through-Meltdowntoo, Mister Lee. You were willing to give yourlife to save Victor.”

Lee smiles and bows,“Thanks. I am not a hero, not as much as you think. But theMeltdown taught me twomain rules. The first is…”

“The First Rule? Like, the Slum Rules?Everybody must give once a day?”

“You can put it that waytoo. The proper first Meltdownrule translation is like this: if the strong careonly for themselves, nobody will survive. In wider sense, we are toprotect our neighbors. At all cost.”

“Don't you find it's a bit excessive? Goingto gallows to protect your neighbor?”

“Not to the gallows. Onlyto your Station slammer – for few days. Here comes thesecond Meltdownrule: always have a Plan-B! Chen Te-Sheng and I,we decided our Plan-B, no problems.”

Kate shows her thumbs-up. “Can I guess?”

“Sure.”

“In case the Policediscover the body, you are ready give a written statement that youhave killed your neighbor, Chen Te-Sheng. After Victor is released,you will stall the Police long enough, so Victor can pack up andleave. Meanwhile, Chen Te-Sheng would visit a Police Department insome other city and identify himself.”

“Absolutely right. Weagreed that in four days time he will report his wallet stolen, andshow his driver license, which, by pure chance, has not been in hiswallet, that's all. The incident will be recorded. Later in thecourt, I would just withdraw my statement. My neighbor killed astranger. He threatened me, so I hid both the murderer and the bodyin my shack till the midnight. The body in the ditch is positivelynot Chen Te-Sheng, so my written statement is garbage anyhow. Thatis because I am still afraid that the villain Chen Te-Sheng mayreturn.”

“All they can pin on youis the obstruction of justice, and hardly even that. Undeniably,you have assisted the murderer, but you have not been a part in thepremeditated murder. Or even an accessory to murder – nobody canprove the prior knowledge. Brilliant! Absolutelybrilliant!”

“Exactly. And hence ourSherlock Holmes got it right… Back to our business! I have two waysof writing things up. The first is my doctors' shorthand, but forthe statement it will not do. The second way, as you may imagine,is perfect in every detail, but quite slow. Are you OK to wait, orprefer to write the statement for me? If you take care of myjustice-obstructing statement, I can use the time and scribble foryou my special tea recipe…”

***

We are returning home athalf past four. Kate sits behind me, on the bike's cargo platform,holding her skate and a brand-new Chinese wisdom scroll.‘Apparent is not alwaysreal.’

The scroll contains thefinal piece of evidence – the one we will never use. If you crackopen the lower bamboo stick of the scroll, few inches of paperwithin have ten fingerprints – from the body presently decomposingin thick mud at the bottom of the irrigation ditch. Mister Lee hastold us so, but neither Kate nor I want to check his words. Thefingerprints may or may not reveal the spy's identity. But breakingsuch a handsome piece of art for the useless identity check? No,not us. Thespy died of his own stupidity. He believed in free energy. Betterhe believed in free cheese in a mousetrap.

“Are you positive VictorChen is going to be released?” Kate asks.

“I have no doubts. Woxmanhas a dead case. Victor is smart. He knows to keep his mouth shut.There is no dead body and no fingerprints on thegut-driver… In fourdays, an e-mail comes, saying that Mister Chen Te-Sheng is aliveand well, but has his wallet picked, let say, in Dallas. The DAwill surely decide not to play clown in front of the jury. Afterthe mail, Victor will be out of the slammer in minutes.”

“We are committing an obstruction of justiceright now. It's a criminal offense, you know?”

“You are talking garbage. Nobody needs toknow Lee has told us everything. If worse comes to worst, I willstate under oath that you had a nasty attack of your phantom pain,and we went to see a traditional Chinese doctor.”

“You will be lying. Under oath.”

“But you had a pain attack.”

“Not a single bit.”

“What? So you lied to Mister Lee?”

“I didn't. He asked if Ihad the pain and I told him ‘Yes, sometimes.’ ‘Sometimes’ doesn't mean‘now’.”

“So you knew he was a doctor?”

“Not necessary a doctor, but positively amedicine man.”

“How?”

“I buy my Wonder-blend at the Chinesemedicine shop. The very moment you opened the shack door, Irecognized the smell.”

“Awesome! Youknow, Lee played the same trick on Woxman. He told him: ‘I have it!Looks like a body!’ The man did not lie a single word of it! He hadit, and it was the body! Our Woxman was standingone foot away, looking at the rotten snag. He assumed that he knewbetter and didn't lean over to check it himself. The brand-newDeputy Investigator deserves his dead case.”

“Forget it,” Kate playfully slaps me on theback. I know it's her quarter-strength slap. “Deputy Wile E.Coyote! For us, the case is closed! By the way, are you aware thatwe, once again, have no water in our jerrycan?”

“Believe me, I've noticed. No worries, RoadRu

“What about your dreamking-size camper? You said: Wi