The Mistake
Copyright© 2026 by A Well Traveled Man
Chapter 6
Li headed to Torrey Pines Golf Course after breakfast on Thursday morning. Ben Carpenter, the club pro, met Li on the practice range and watched him warm up. Then they went to the starting line, and Li teed off. Ben let Li plan his shots and only offered input when he saw an issue. The greens were another issue as the holes were moved, and Ben coached Li on where to place the ball on his approach shot.
When Li finished the round, they added up his scorecard. He shot a two-over par, and Ben congratulated him. He told Li that he needed to practice alone for a few weeks, then they would do a tune-up. Ben advised him to play at least 2 days a week, and 3 if possible. They shook hands goodbye, and Li headed home. His makeup kit arrived, so he skipped swimming and read the books. Then he applied a beard and mustache and put on a pair of fake glasses.
Then he went to the hidden lab in the basement and took his picture. Li downloaded it into the computer, and now all he needed was an address. Wearing his disguise, Li grabbed some cash and went to the mail center. He signed up for a mailbox using his alias, John Conroe, and told the clerk to forget about checking his ID. John, his alias, paid for a year’s box rental and returned home. Li returned to the lab, completed his driver’s license, and printed and laminated it.
Sam the forger had a special press that gave the right texture, so it looked authentic. Li gathered his Social Security and credit cards and returned to his room. He removed his disguise, put the makeup kit in the closet, and hid his alias ID. Then Li checked the time, went to the pool, stripped, and swam laps, thinking about how to buy the 50 acres for the city. He got out and lay on the lounge to dry off. Once dry, he showered, dressed, and waited for Mom’s arrival.
Li decided to wear his John Conroe disguise and visit the La Jolla Property Records department in person. He planned to ask the clerk about the property and read their mind to find out what the lowest offer they would accept was. Mom arrived home, breaking his train of thought, and he went to the kitchen. While they ate, Li told her about his golf lesson. Li told her what Ben had told him about practicing for two weeks alone. Mom gave him an update on what was happening at the lab.
She told Li that he didn’t need to come in tomorrow as they had a meeting that would interrupt their work. Li asked what it was about, and Mom said she didn’t know. But she would guess it had something to do with the incident in the cafeteria and parking lot. They finished dinner, said goodnight, and went to bed. Li read another book about the Haung clan and fell asleep.
Early Friday morning, Li was in the basement practicing martial arts on the boxing bags. When he finished, Li showered, dressed, and went to the kitchen. After breakfast, Mom left for work, and Li put on his disguise for his alias, John Conroe. Then he grabbed his laptop, drove to the La Jolla Property Records department, and went to the service desk. When the clerk arrived, John inquired about a 50-acre lot. She looked it up on the computer and told John it would cost $750,000.
Li read her mind: the price of the property was asked at 750k, but to accept no less than 250k. John told her he would offer no more than $250,000, and she reluctantly accepted. John got out his laptop and transferred the funds from Martin Blake’s Cayman Island bank account. She asked for his driver’s license, and the paperwork was completed within thirty minutes. He was informed of the property restrictions, and John Conroe thanked her and left.
Driving home, Li stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods and picked up a camo tarp and netting. He also got a package of tent spikes and headed home. Li got his purchases and hiked to the SUV, covered it with a camo tarp and netting, then secured it with tent spikes. Li searched for the best place to put a pole barn and located one 25 yards away. Then he paced the property, facing the street, for the fence distance, and returned home.
He removed his disguise, hid his alias ID, stripped, and went to the pool. Li swam laps for thirty minutes, then lay on the lounge and dried off. Having enough sun, he went to his room, showered, and turned on his computer. Li completed altering the firewall and started on the anti-virus program. When his stomach started grumbling, he saved his work and went to the kitchen.
After lunch, Li completed the anti-virus program and downloaded a freeware encryption program. He needed it to protect his programs and the projects he turned in to the university. Li was in a zone and completed the encryption program when Mom arrived home. He saved his work and then started toward the kitchen. Li stopped, said shit, realizing he was nude, returned to his room, quickly dressed, and went to the kitchen.
Mom had dinner ready, and while they ate, she asked what he did today. Li lied a little, telling her he studied, swam, and did some programming. Mom told Li about the meeting, and, as suspected, the three lab techs were fired. George Whittingham, the VP of research, reminded everyone that dating or being in a relationship with someone in the same department was against company policy.
Li asked whether he had to leave the company, and Mom laughed and said George was referring to a romantic relationship. Then Mom told Li his tux and suits were ready at the tailors. So, they would go there first thing, then go shopping, and LI groaned, causing laughter. They finished dinner, said goodnight, and went to bed. Li stayed awake and read another book about the Haung clan. This one referenced the medallion and what it could do. He could hardly wait to test it out, but he fell asleep.
Saturday morning, Li showered, dried off, and saw the medallion on his chest illuminated. Following the instructions in the book, he traced his finger clockwise around the medallion. He looked into the mirror, and he disappeared. Li could see himself, but he was invisible to others. He traced his finger counterclockwise around the medallion, and he reappeared in the mirror. The only problem with his new skill was that he had to be nude for it to work.
Otherwise, his clothes would show with no one inside. Li got dressed and went to the kitchen, thinking about the other thing mentioned in the book. Tapping the medallion twice would make people not notice him. That would be harder to test, and he would try today. But it worked the same if he tapped it twice again, everything would be normal. Mom arrived, they ate breakfast, then drove to the tailor. Charles greeted them, and they went into a fitting room.
Li had to try on the tux and the three suits, and luckily, everything fit. Mom paid the bill and thanked Charles for the excellent work. Leaving the shop, Li told Mom that Charles looked sad, that no further adjustments were needed, and they laughed. Then the dress shopping began. Li asked why she needed more dresses, and Mom explained the difference between formal and cocktail dresses. He still didn’t understand, but went with the flow.
Six dress shops later, Mom was satisfied with her six new dresses. It was a good thing they stopped for lunch after shopping at the mall, because they didn’t get home until after 7 p.m. They put their clothing away, and Mom made dinner. While they ate, Mom said,” Hopefully, we’ll know about the Washington D.C. schedule soon.” We need to make plans too.
They finished dinner, said goodnight, and went to bed. Li read the book about the Haung clan. This one referenced the medallion, and if tapped once, the person nearest would be susceptible to your commands. Li finished the book and wondered what else he would learn, and fell asleep.
After breakfast on Sunday morning, Li did his online course homework, then double-checked his encryption, firewall, and antivirus programs. He encrypted the firewall and anti-virus programs, then installed them on his laptop and desktop computers. Once installed, he ran a virus check on both computers and found six viruses. Li wondered who sent them as he put them into quarantine. That’s when the idea of trackers came to mind.
He was in a zone programming when Mom called him for lunch. He saved his work and went to the kitchen. While they ate, Mom said,” We need to go to the market.” After lunch, they went to pick up what they needed. Returning home, Li saw a large box by the front door. They put the groceries and supplies away, then Li got the box. It came from the Padres and held all the gear he wore during training, including his glove, shoes, and bat.
There was also an envelope from his trainer, Carl Jones, inside. Li opened it, and Carl said, “Your foul ball catch at the game has turned into an internet hit.” The Padres management wants you to throw the first pitch at a home game. Please call me so we can schedule it ASAP. Carl signed it. Li showed the letter to Mom, and she said, “Let’s wait until we find out the details of our Washington, D.C. trip.” He agreed.
After lunch, Li returned to his room and continued programming the trackers. They would contain his worm and upload the hacker’s computer files to his cloud account. The trackers would also give him a backdoor to the hacker’s computer, so he could cause further damage if necessary. Li finished the tracker program and installed it on the firewall.
Mom called him to dinner, so he saved his work and went to the kitchen. Mom said there wasn’t much lab work to do tomorrow, so why don’t you mow the lawns and service the pool? Li said, “Sure, Mommy, I’ll do domestic chores tomorrow,” and they laughed. They finished dinner, said goodnight, and went to bed. Li bypassed reading and came up with an app idea. He’d call it “Opps,” and it would delay emails, texts, memos, and social media postings for ten minutes. Then it will ask if you’re sure you want to send/post this. He finished the app and crashed.
Li went to the basement early Friday morning and practiced martial arts on the gauntlet of boxing bags. When finished, he showered, dressed, and went to the kitchen. Mom arrived, ate breakfast, and then headed to work. Li called their Barrister in Canada and asked him to register the copyright for their new app. When he agreed, Li emailed it to him with a description of the app. It was encrypted, so no one could copy or access his programming.
Then he mowed the lawns with the riding lawnmower, then skimmed the pool and added chemicals. When done, he went online, searched for fence companies, and made appointments for three on Monday afternoon. Li drove to an In-N-Out drive-thru, got lunch, and picked up a newspaper. Returning home, he ate and checked the classifieds. There was another fence company that looked interesting, and he called.
Dan Coleman of Coleman Fencing answered, and Li, using his alias John Conroe, told Dan what he wanted. Dan asked for the address and said he was in the area if they could meet. John agreed to meet in forty-five minutes, and they said goodbye. Li did a quick BBB (Better Business Bureau) check, and they had an A+ rating. He put on his John Conroe disguise, grabbed 10k in cash, and drove the F150 to the property.
Dan showed up on time, measured the fence, and marked the gate location. Li read Dan’s mind, and he was an honest man who completed the work as he promised. He quoted John a price, and he asked if there was a cash discount. Dan gave John a 15% discount, and John paid a 10k cash deposit. Dan gave John a receipt and said they would start setting poles on Monday. He said it should take seven to ten days to finish.
John asked if he knew anyone who built pole barns. Dan’s eyes lit up, and he said they did and asked to see the location. John showed Dan the area, and he said he’d work up an estimate and have it ready on Monday. They shook hands goodbye, and he left. Li returned home stripped and swam laps in the pool. He felt good about having the fence and pole barn handled, and getting power would be next. While drying off, he canceled the other appointments, then showered.
Li enjoyed working nude and wished Mom weren’t so against it. But he understood and respected her wishes and would do it when she wasn’t home. Li called UC San Diego and spoke to the Director of Admissions, Robert Reed. He asked Mr. Reed if he could test out of ten courses. He said, “That’s a lot,” asked which ones, and Li gave him a list. Mr. Reed told Li he needed time to schedule it and would call him back next week.
It’s going to be busy before we head to Washington, D.C. Then Mom arrived home and called him to dinner. Li quickly dressed and went to the kitchen. While they ate mom told Li she got the schedule for their trip. It’s going to be a week-long affair, and we leave a week from Monday. Tuesday evening, we have dinner at the British Embassy. On Wednesday, we meet the president at the White House, then visit Capitol Hill and meet with our state’s congressmen and senators.
The State Dinner is Thursday evening, and we come home Friday morning. Li said it sounds like a lot of ass-kissing, so stock up on Chapstick. They laughed, and Mom said George had told her how important this trip was to the Scripps Institute. Li said so, I’m supposed to limit kicking assholes’ balls. Mom laughed and said,” Eliminate it if possible, or do it discreetly.” While finishing dinner, Mom said,” Let’s check out yard sales tomorrow and Li agreed. They said goodnight and went to bed.
Saturday morning, after breakfast, Li and Mom got a local newspaper and checked the classifieds. There were four yard sales listed, so they went to the first one. Mom bought a lamp, and they went to the second one. Li bought two boxes of books, and they went to the third yard sale. It was children’s clothing, so they headed to the fourth. There was nothing they needed, so they headed home. Upon arrival, a truck was unloading a Range Rover.