With the contract signed, the plan moved into its execution phase. The first payment of thirty percent, roughly one hundred thousand RMB, was transferred to Lin Tao's corporate account as a down payment for the materials.
The moment the money hit his account, Lin Tao's transformation was complete. He immediately took twenty thousand to buy the latest iPhone and a designer watch. The rest, I later found out through Lin Wei's proud chatter, was used to put a down payment on a flashy, second-hand BMW. He wasn't a CEO, he was a lottery winner on a spending spree.
I watched all this with cold detachment. Every dollar he wasted was another nail in his coffin.
According to the plan, Lin Tao contacted the German manufacturer and placed the order for the waterproofing membranes. I had already vetted the manufacturer; they were reliable and professional. The production and shipping would proceed without a hitch. The "accident" I was designing had nothing to do with them. It needed to be clean, external, and, most importantly, fall squarely under the "force majeure" clause that Lin Tao was now responsible for.
My target was the logistics leg of the journey. The materials would be shipped by sea to the nearest port, then transported by a domestic trucking company to a temporary storage warehouse near our construction site before final delivery. This domestic transport and temporary storage phase was the perfect stage for a "tragedy."
I used my authority as project manager to "recommend" a logistics partner to Lin Tao.
"Tao," I told him over the phone, "I've worked with a company called 'Yuan Da Logistics' before. They're not the biggest, but their prices are good, and the boss is a friend of a friend. Using them might save you a few thousand."
"Great, brother-in-law! Send me their contact!" He was all too happy to save money.
What I didn't tell him was that Yuan Da Logistics was a small, poorly managed company on the verge of bankruptcy. Their trucks were old, their drivers overworked, and their warehouse security was a joke. I had discovered this through my own due diligence, filed away for just such an occasion.
The clock started ticking.
The German manufacturer shipped the goods on schedule. I tracked the vessel's progress online. For three weeks, as the container ship slowly made its way across the ocean, I lived a double life. By day, I was the diligent Project Manager Chen, attending meetings, inspecting the site, and pushing for progress. By night, I was a silent predator, monitoring every detail of my prey's journey.
Lin Wei was happier than she had been in years. Her brother was a "CEO," driving a BMW, and their family finally had a "pillar of success." She attributed all of this to my generosity.
"I knew you had a good heart, Chen Xu," she said one night, snuggling up to me. "You just needed to see how capable my brother is."
I turned to look at her, a profound sense of irony washing over me. "Yes," I said, stroking her hair. "He is very... capable."
Capable of walking step by step into the grave I had dug for him.
The ship docked at the port. The container was unloaded. Yuan Da Logistics picked it up. Everything was proceeding exactly as planned. The final act was about to begin.