Skinner's Box (Fang Mu (Eastern Crimes)) Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand signals at the sniper. Bracing himself, he took a sudden lunge forward and placed himself right in front of the window.
    "Damn!" The voice in his ear was furious.
    Fang Mu closed his eyes. For a split second, he thought he heard a 7.62 caliber bullet whistle through the air, crack the glass, and pierce his flesh with a thud. He could even feel his body burning with the heat of the bullet as it penetrated....
    Five seconds went by, and nothing happened. Fang Mu opened his eyes. His forehead was covered in cold sweat.
    He forced a smile at Luo Jiahai. "Come on; let's get out of here."
     
    No sooner had they walked out the door than the hidden SWAT agents rushed over to receive Luo Jiahai. He was trundled swiftly down the stairs and shoved into a police car. Fang Mu only had time to get the words, "Don't hit him" out of his mouth. The little girl was hurried over to the local hospital, and immediately afterward a sea of investigators flooded the scene of the crime to conduct their business.
    Fang Mu's body felt sore and flaccid. He had to lean on the handrail in the stairwell to make his way slowly downward. Frenzied policemen jumbled past him, and now and then one of them would clap him on the back and say, "Good job!"
    The sudden release of tension left Fang Mu exhausted. He shuffled through the front door of the building one slow step at a time. Outside, a somber Bian Ping and Constable Duan were waiting for him.
    Bian Ping neither praised him nor criticized him. He just said flatly, "A hard job done. Why don't you go sit in the car and rest a while?"
    Fang Mu didn't dare say anything more. He leaned over to remove his gun and holster and handed them to Constable Duan.
    As Duan received them, he fixed his eyes on Fang Mu for a few seconds, and then he held his thumb and forefinger up and closed them together until the gap between them was only about a quarter-inch wide.
    "Zero-point-two seconds." He paused. "Zero-point-two seconds. If I had reacted just zero-point-two seconds too slow, I would have shot you dead."
    Fang Mu smiled weakly and murmured, "Thank you."

 
    CHAPTER
2 Reunion
     
     
     
    V ery early next morning, after a good night's sleep, Fang Mu went to the Public Security Bureau. But he was not the first to arrive; as soon as he went in, he was informed that Captain Bian Ping was waiting for him in his office.
    Bian Ping looked beat; his eyes were bloodshot, as if he had been up all night. Fang Mu glanced at the ash tray that was overflowing with cigarette butts, and was just trying to guess which case had the knowledgeable Bian Ping scratching his head when, inadvertently, he caught a glimpse of some photos on the desk. One of them was of the woman's body that had been lying in that living room the previous afternoon, and he realized it was the Luo Jiahai case.
    Bian Ping noticed him gazing at the photos, so he got straight to the point. "This kid's quite interesting."
    Fang Mu handed him a cigarette and lit it for him, then lit himself one. "Are the case files at the precinct?"
    "Yes."
    "Did Luo Jiahai confess?"
    "Nope." Bian Ping rubbed his neck. "The precinct spent all night questioning him, but all the bastard would admit to was killing the old woman; as for his motive, he said nothing. But they got a pretty good idea of where he's coming from. You might not believe this, but he might have committed another murder."
    "What?" Fang Mu was stunned. "It was that girl who wore red, right?"
    Bian Ping stopped and raised his head to look pointedly at him. "That brings me to the question I wanted to ask you. How did you know about a girl who wore red?"
    "I guessed." Fang Mu paused. "From how Luo Jiahai's eyes moved."
    "Okay, I'm listening."
    "Under normal circumstances, if someone is right-handed, then when he's deep in thought and his gaze strays up and to the left, it means he's thinking about something that happened in the past. If it strays up and to the right, it means he's imagining something he's never