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Li walked with purpose toward the bus stop.

It was only a ten-minute walk, but he was already running late for an early meeting in the old city.

He needed to make up for lost time.

He carried a small black briefcase with him.

What it lacked in volume it more than made up for in utility and portability.

Besides, it’s more than enough for everything that I need, he thought to himself as the bus approached.

The bus coughed and sputtered as it lumbered to a stop, emitting thick black smoke and a vaporous sigh when the autobrake engaged.

The once white sides of the vehicle had an old-style ad for a local dentist who promised whiter teeth with just one bleach treatment.

The phone number was so faded that Li couldn’t make it out. Under the windows, the ad strips appeared to have been attached by hand and clung to the side as if they might fall into the street at any moment.

A video image flickered onto the strip closest to Li, advertising the latest summer action movie.

It was the remake of a popular movie released ten years ago that the film studios down south were hoping to make another big pay day on.

Some things never change.

An elderly woman with a grim expression on her face and a cane hobbled toward Li and stood beside him.

There both waited, under the sparse shelter of the otherwise abandoned bus stop.

He couldn’t tell if her vision was impaired in some form or if she just didn’t want to acknowledge his presence.

Upon seeing the bus, she removed a worn pair of red glasses with cloudy thick lenses and produced a small silver case from her purse.

With shaking hands, she clicked open the case and pulled out an unblemished pair of silver glasses.

Not long after she put the glasses on, the stern expression on her face molded itself into a crooked smile, showing yellowed teeth.

Li wasn’t sure what advertisement she was viewing, but whatever it was had instantly changed her mood.

He silently stepped around the woman and entered the bus.

A blast of cool air from the overworked air conditioner helped to relax his turbid thoughts.

The frigid air made him reminisce about how he had gotten started in his current line of work.

*              *              *

Born in Fuyang, Zhejiang Province in Eastern China, Li Ma had come a long way from the small mountain town of his youth.

At the age of 9, Li’s father uprooted his entire family from China and moved them all to San Francisco.

A reticent boy with a brilliant mind for pattern recognition and mathematics, Li excelled in the American public school system with ease.

He found the curriculum mildly challenging, yet tedious when compared to the rigid academic and cultural standards of the Chinese educational model, but still put maximum effort into his school work.

Upon his high school graduation in 2018, he was accepted to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as an engineering major.

Like any other college student from an immigrant family, Li endeavored to study hard in order to earn his degree then get a good job.

However, for Li his transition from the son of a poor Chinese immigrant, to the son of a wealthy self-made business magnate, would come to be a footnote in the biography of his life.

Two years after enrolling at Caltech, on a balmy September afternoon, Li was walking back to his dorm room after a lecture, when a woman approached him.

She had pale-ivory skin with dark auburn hair and intelligent jade green eyes.

Her full lips were angled ever so slightly upward into a friendly grin.

Even at his young age Li could tell this was no ordinary woman.

She walked as if she were accustomed to carrying heavy things long distances, yet her posture was straight as a board.

Her clothes: snug pink jeans, a white t-shirt, revealing her navel deep-seated in taut abdominal muscles, were too new and clean for her to be an average college girl.

She carried a black backpack with no logo that flopped on her back as she moved toward him, indicating she carried little or no books at all.

By the time she flashed a quick smile and introduced herself as Sarah, Li knew she was not a college student.

During that first encounter, they only exchanged pleasantries and some small talk, before Sarah continued on her way.

The entire meeting lasted less than five minutes, and left Li wondering who she really was and what she wanted from him.

Over the next six-week period, Li ran into and noticed Sarah in the oddest of places.

During his early morning runs, he would see her auburn hair bouncing on an adjacent route, slowing only to greet him with a smile and a sharp wave, as she sweat and took lengthy strides to maintain her pace.

While walking on campus, she appeared on benches and in common areas.

Sometimes she was reading on her phone, or listening to music; other times she just seemed to be hanging around.

Anytime he saw her, Li gave a small wave, then went about his business.

On the few occasions that he had time to stop and speak with her, strangely, he found himself doing most of the talking.

Sarah was a good listener.

Smiling and nodding at the proper intervals, contributing her own perspective and jokes at ideal moments, and occasionally even flirting a little with him.

But despite the fact that she was an excellent conversation partner, Li didn’t know much about her, for she rarely talked about her past.

Without explicit revelations about herself, Li was forced to assemble her identity based on contextual clues he had gathered.

After weeks of observation, he knew the following information: age: late twenties early thirties, marital status: definitely single, interests: running, Billy Eilish music, playing chess, weightlifting (he had seen her doing all of the above at least twice), personality: astute, introverted, hard-working.

He also knew she had probably grown up in nearby Orange County and most likely had close family members in the area (he had watched her talking on the phone animatedly one day without her being aware).

One afternoon, under a steely gray sky in November, they met for tea off campus.

Outside in the nippy open air, Li wore a light jacket over an orange Caltech shirt, and jeans.

Across the table, Sarah sat in black winter leggings with dark red rectangles on the sides, wearing a coal gray Caltech hoodie.

Beside their cloth face masks, steaming cups of tea had been placed before both of them.

Li ordered red tea, while Sarah had black herbal tea.

At the proper moment during their chat, Li disclosed all of the personal facts he had gleaned about Sarah’s personality, background, and hobbies.

When he finished, Sarah’s face flushed with uncharacteristic embarrassment, providing a momentary glimpse at her genuine self.

The real girl behind the mask. Seconds later, she recovered her usual cool facial features, lowered her voice, and made him an offer.

She said she represented important people in the United States government.

Her people were looking for scholars and young college students like Li, to help them get a better understanding of Chinese culture in America.

She also explained how the coronavirus pandemic of that year had already claimed nearly a quarter million American lives, and that Li’s support could possibly prevent another quarter million more from being lost.

After the pitch was complete, Sarah blinked her pretty eyes casually, crossed her legs, sipped her herbal tea, then leaned back in her chair, hands folded in her lap, eyeing him with anticipation.

Her refined jade eyes reflected anxious impatience beneath their composed luster.

Li had been only mildly surprised by her proposition.

He had watched enough American movies and read enough articles online to know somewhat how these things worked, without having experienced them first hand.

There was no doubt about it, Sarah was some type of U.S. government agent, most likely working for the infamous Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

She (They) wanted to recruit him because he was born and raised in China, spoke Mandarin fluently, and was an engineering major.

He was also a young 20-year-old male at the time, which was probably why they had specifically chosen her, an attractive, White female, with jade colored eyes for his potential recruitment.

They had thought of every detail.

His school schedule, daily routine, even down to the cultural nuance of the jade eyes to remind him of his birth country.

Had they really gone through so much trouble for him? Possibly.

Li sat at the table as Sarah’s eyes bored into him.

The way her foot bounced in the air, and her neck muscles tensed, Li could tell she was very uncomfortable when she had no control over things.

He did not want to trouble her, but this was now about him.

It was his decision.

With her true purpose unmasked, Li wondered what he should do?

It took him a week to mull the decision over.

Sarah offered to pay a hefty sum in exchange for Li’s junior intelligence gathering efforts.

She told him his talent as a brilliant engineering student, and native Mandarin speaker, would be helpful in keeping America safe.

Li thought long and hard.

Though he had no need of extra money thanks to his father’s wealth, he found his engineering path dull and monotonous.

When he was honest with himself, he enjoyed the study of engineering, more than he did the application of it in a sterile laboratory or corporate office.

Although it had been strange being followed by Sarah for almost two months, he had been able to figure her out with only his powerful instinct as a guide.

Sarah herself had reluctantly admitted that to him.

How good could he get if he actually had her training?

He decided to find out.

A week after they had met for tea, he contacted Sarah and formally accepted her offer.

He had no idea that decision back then would lay the foundation for a long career in the intelligence world.

A career that would take him around the world, allow him access to society’s labyrinthine under chambers, back alleys, and sewers, and culminate in his current position as Chief of Intelligence of Cereus.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*              *              *

Comfortable in his bus seat, Li’s mind focused on the message he had received only an hour prior.

Could it really be happening? Order 5428?

After all these years, he never thought it would occur so unexpectedly.

No training scenario or exercise had prepared him or any of his colleagues for this situation; now, essentially, they were all flying blind.

He rubbed his temples with his fingers in a circular motion to help clear his head.

He needed to focus on who he should meet with first when he arrived at the capitol building.

Should he speak with the governor?

Or maybe the mayor might be the better choice?

He allowed himself to lean back in his seat and relax his shoulders as he developed a concrete plan of action.

First, he needed to call a meeting with the state leadership to calm and reassure them that he and the organization had everything under control.

Next, he would need to get on a conference call with the other remaining　Founders, to determine how they could conduct an organized transfer of power and leadership to all of the comvils.

That will be the hard part and it might not go as smoothly as we surmised.

Outside of the window, the bus sped past patches of open farmland south of Yuba City and was quickly approaching the newer suburbs on the west side of Lincoln.

Most were single family houses that repeated themselves in a uniform pattern after a block or two, with a few wealthier properties sprinkled in for those fortunate enough to be able to afford them.

The entire area north of Sacramento had seen explosive population growth in the early twenty-first century.

This necessitated a large number of homes to be thrown up fast with little regard for how to sell them.

As a result, Li knew that over fifty percent of them were vacant, with few to no pending inquiries.

The thought and the sight of the homes made him feel like a failure. If only we had intervened sooner.

His moment of regret was interrupted by the distant chime of a bell from deep within his inner ear.

The chime echoed softly, slightly beyond the edge of his awareness at first, but loud enough to make itself known.

He had personally chosen the tone because it was calming and neutral, which made it easier for him to focus when he needed to use it.

Identify caller.

His thought triggered a prompt response from the device resting in the jacket pocket of his suit.

“Call from Rodan.”

A distant male voice spoke into his ear.

Li’s neutral expression now gave a hint of uncertainty.

With the events of the morning, he was unsure about the conversation he was about to have with his closest colleague and long-time friend.

Whenever he thought of Rodan Mitchell, the ox came to mind.

Loyal.

Steadfast.

Diligent.

Indomitable.

These were the classic positive traits of one born in the year of the ox.

Born in 2021, Li knew that the element associated with Rodan was metal.

The elemental pairing brought the image of a detailed pewter figure to Li’s mind.

Crafted with precision, but heavy and hard to move, especially if it was very large, like Rodan.

According to dominant belief, oxen were also introverted, indecisive, and skeptical people.

So focused on their gradual and unbroken march toward their objectives, they were prone to self-centeredness and sometimes had difficulty understanding and expressing their true thoughts.

Li knew all Chinese zodiac traits were anecdotal.

They were based on thousands of years of Chinese folklore, superstition, and countless generations of parents’ attempts to frighten unknowing children into becoming good people.

Even with that knowledge and decades of lived experience, he still found kernels of truth in the old-fashioned beliefs.

He had seen Rodan’s personality and, at times, the trajectory of his life and career, manifest just as the animal wheel of fate had ordained.

Rodan, as an ox, was oblivious to these things.

It was only natural.

Call from Rodan.

The voice repeated itself three times, providing Li with a moment to collect his thoughts.

Answer call.

Rodan’s voice boomed in his mind, inciting a brief feeling of nausea.

Must be the new implant, Li thought.

“What’s your ETA?” Rodan asked.

“I’m on the bus right now. Should arrive at the capitol by 1030.”

“Gotcha. Just wanted to give you a heads up that there’s an active protest scheduled for today.”

“Is that right? What time?”

“Our sources are sayin’ around 1100. But you know how reliable they can be.”

“Right. Peaceful or armed?”

“Right now, word says it’s one of the peaceful groups. Some treehuggers from Napa. I don’t think they should be much of a problem. But we’ll keep an eye out.”

Break.

He put a mental stop in the conversation to consider Rodan’s words.

A protest? Today?

Most peaceful protests were scheduled weeks in advance, and he hadn’t read any reports or received any notifications from any of his sources about one this morning.

Something was off.

Continue.

“You still there?”

Rodan’s voice pierced his thoughts and coincided with an abrupt lane change that the bus had to make.

Li felt bile surge up his esophagus, he swallowed hard to force it back down.

“Yeah still here. Have they said anything about next steps?”

“Naw not yet. Still waiting on word from one of the big bosses. We still don’t know which one pulled the trigger yet.”

“Got it. We’ll find out more soon enough. Ok, I’m signing off.”

“Li, one more thing…watch your back out there. We don’t know what’s gonna happen from here.”

“I will.”

End call.

Li’s eyes moved to the slim black briefcase stowed on the floor of the bus between his legs.

It had been nearly ten years since he used his service weapon while on the job.

He stared at the case and hoped that he could add another day onto that number, although he had his doubts.

In nearly thirty years of service with the organization and prior to that in the military, he had received countless hours of various kinds of training.

During all that time he knew that his greatest asset in any foreign situation was his instinct.

It was a skill that rarely failed him and had even saved his life on more than a few occasions.

Once again, his internal alarm was active and warning him that today was going to be a very long day.

Next: "Protest - Part 2"