Jake Maroc - Shan Part 20

Maluta laughed now. "But take heart, my dear Daniella Alexandrova, I have not marked you for termination of any kind. You are much too special a creature. You are, rather, to be treasured."

"And shown off in public." She watched him. "That was what you did with me tonight."

"At the Bolshoi? Why, of course. It's all part of the game."

"What game?"

Shadows broke along Maluta's thin face as if its angularity had the power to slice up light. "You were intelligent enough to work your way into the Politburo. Up until this moment, you've had it all your own way. You have trapped menbright men, even brilliant men, in my opinionbecause you were able to exploit a common weakness in them.

"Because they wanted to possess youbecause you were clever enough to feed that desire in themthey provided you with all you needed to rise up the sluzhba's structure. Imagine! They would have gone to the ends of the earth for you. They sold their souls to you, bowed their heads before you, conferred to you all that made them powerful. For this" His hands pressed roughly against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "And this." Found the swelling mount at the apex of her thighs.

Listening to this outpouring of the collective masculine ego, this litany of distortion, made Daniella ill. It was as if he believed that she merely had to open her legs to Karpov and Lantin and they had become children.

A red rage began to suffuse her and she could feel her rational mind closing down in just the same way that one feels cold at the extremities when one is severely depressed.

She stopped that and began to think. Do not, she thought, become what he has accused you of being: a purely emotional creature devoid of intelligence or rational planning. He has said that you think* that you decide with your c.u.n.t. Will you now prove him right?

Maluta's eyes gleaming, city lights on the Moskva behind him, a nocturnal animal's glimmering. The river seemed to breathe along with them, its current a sigh or moan, silent punctuation.

"These were not men," he continued relentlessly, "at least not by my standards. You feel that you have arrived, that you deserve a measure of respect, even of equality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now you must be shown your proper place. You must, in fact, learn the humility of your station a and of your s.e.x.

"You dared much when you insinuated yourself into this cynosure. Perhaps some comment on your audacity, and foolishly admire it.

"Audacity is to be admired only in great men and in the n.o.blest of animals."

"And women fit into neither category." She knew he was baiting her but she seemed incapable of ignoring him.

"Indeed not." He lit another cigarette. By the flare of the lighter Daniella could see the hatred in his eyes and wondered at it. "By my lights you never should have been elevated into the Politburo. I fought against the nomination. But too much was already being made of the intelligence you have gathered for the sluzhba. So much for my minority opinion. I pride myself on my pragmatism. Now that you are here I shall endeavor to make the most efficacious use of your talents."

"I'm glad you think I have some."

"When you open your legs, men listen." He spit out tobacco and, perhaps, something more, something intangible. "That you are a s.l.u.t is a given. It is because you are that I can use you."

Daniella had to restrain herself from leaping at his throat. The flush of anger was so intense she felt her body break out into sweat.

Maluta gave her a thin smile. "You'd love to kill me, wouldn't you, Daniella Alexandrova? You're good at that, too, I'll give you that. s.e.x and death, your metier, eh?" He laughed again.

"But I will have you by my side, even when I become Party President. You are far too valuable an a.s.set for me to squander away. In any event, I need you and, as I have indicated, I am a supremely pragmatic man. Which is why I am slightly disappointed in you tonight. True, you found a clever way to destroy s.h.i.+ Zilin. But your attempt on Jake Maroc's life was a disaster. This does not please me. And are we any closer to penetrating Kam Sang? Perhaps I should punish you. I have contemplated that all through Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky's music lends itself to such thoughts."

When Daniella said nothing, Maluta took a step toward her. She smelled his cologne, the residue of tobacco, the acc.u.mulation of the day's sweat, a miasma threatening to choke her. "You surprise me, Daniella Alexandrova. I expected you to raise your voice in your defense." His head c.o.c.ked to one side. "No? Well, no matter. No defense would really suffice." He shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps you have already figured that out."

Recovering herself somewhat, she said, "What about Carelin and Reztsov? Do you think they will stand around and watch you gather power? Either of them would be next in line, should Genachev die."

"Is that so?" Maluta said. It was just what he had wanted her to say. She is so predictable, he thought. "Termination is not the only way to remove obstacles from one's path."

"What do you mean?"

Waiting for the fear to appear on her face and finding it, he reached out and grabbed her by the front of her coat. He swung her around with astonis.h.i.+ng power. Slammed her back against a tree trunk.

"Look at yourself. I have paralyzed you, Comrade General. You, the head of the First Chief Directorate of the sluzhba. You know I can do the same with Mikhail Carelin. Do you think that Reztsov is beyond my power?" Abruptly his face darkened. "You are with me now, remember that. If you are stupid enough to disobey me, you will be immediately picked up and charged with premeditated murder. It will be Lubyanka for you, or a gulag for the rest of your life."

With a sound of disgust, he let her go. "You've still to deliver to me Jake Maroc's head. As for the secrets to Kam Sang, if you do not deliver them within ten days I will be forced to take other measures."

"You are asking too much," Daniella said desperately. "These things"

"Will get done, Comrade General. Otherwise, I shall be forced to order the immediate destruction of Kam Sang."

"What?" Her heart beat fast. The destruction of a military installation inside China's border? Was he insane?

"Oh, come," Maluta said, "these matters are easily arranged. Pilot error, an unfortunate mistake, et cetera, et cetera. It is nothing we have not used successfully before." He grinned at her. "And it will be done, Comrade General, believe me. One way or another, Kam Sang will be rendered useless to the Chinese."

In a moment, she could hear the sound of his boots crunching through the crisp layer of snow as he climbed the bank of the Moskva, which lay thick and glowering, heavy undercurrents sweeping reflected light downward into its murky depths.

From where he sat at the restaurant's table, Huaishan Han could see the Hill of Longevity rising up on one side. He was at the best table at the Ting Le Guan, on the north sh.o.r.e of the lake beside which the Summer Palace was built.

The restaurant, which specialized in fresh fish brought out of the lake each day, was in fact within the precincts of the Summer Palace, some forty-five minutes from the heart of Beijing.

Huaishan Han's ancient eyes traced the contours of the Hill of Longevity within whose shadow he now sat. It is both ironic and fitting, he thought, that this hill should be manmade. Nothing goes on forever, but still man in his egotistic way must strive to bring into his life the possibility that part of his essence at least will survive the decay of his corporeal body. Did the engineers who designed the Hill of Longevity, Huaishan Han thought, have this in mind when they began their project?

The pavilions within which Ting Le Guan was housed had recently been restored, their glazed tile roofs, handsomely decorated columns and interior walls bringing back a semblance of the former splendor of the capitalat least that was how it appeared to Huaishan Han. That was why he dined here often in the Pavilion for Listening to the Birds Sing. That and because here he could be near the Hill of Longevity and contemplate its meanings for him. Though his villa was not far distant, it had no view of the Hill.

Though Ting Le Guan was well known for its food, Huaishan Han certainly did not frequent it for that reason. He had not been able to taste anything for so many years that he ate by color. What appealed to his eyes he ordered and, in some way unfathomable to his intimates, enjoyed.

It was a bit early in the year still for the birds to be flitting through the trees lakeside, but Huaishan Han did not mind a bit. The quiet of the lake, the security of being surrounded by the complex structure of the Summer Palace and all the memories it conjured up for him made his time here exceptional. And there was always the Hill.

It was his impression that s.h.i.+ Zilinwhen he had been alivehad liked manmade hills. But then s.h.i.+ Zilin had been partial to yuan, the carefully sculpted gardens of Suzhou. Huaishan Han supposed that was because s.h.i.+ Zilin had been born in Suzhou and therefore had harbored a particular affection for the gardens. He himself found them confining, overrefined.

Abruptly, he understood that it no longer mattered. This inner debate about yuan was as dead as s.h.i.+ Zilin. That pleased Han a great deal.

"Huaishan tong zhi?"

"Yes."

"Shall we order?"

Huaishan Han broke his gaze from the magnetic force of the Hill. He looked into the long, thin face of Jin Kanzhe. "Your stomach growls, does it?" He grunted. "I no longer feel hungry just as I no longer require sleep. I am long past the age where three meals or eight hours of sleep are a daily necessity. When I close my eyes now, I do not sleep. I dream of battlefields and blood, of the politics of change, of the requisites of Communism. I hear the people of China calling me from the border of sleep. In the blink of an eye I rest now, out of age or of habit I do not know. I am not sure that it matters." He waved a thin hand, as bony as a fish. "But go on, then. Do not allow my speaking to interfere with the gratification of your stomach." He grunted again. "No prawns for me tonight, no. Just a couple of jiao zi, that's all."

Jin Kanzhe did as he was bade, ordering the deep-fried dumplings for the old man, a whole fish for himself, and mao taia white liquorfor them both to drink. The spirits came almost immediately and was poured for them. Then they were left alone. Jin Kanzhe would have preferred to order more courses but he was careful not to do so in the old man's presence. Considering Han's disability, it would have been disrespectful.

"Tell me, Jin tong zhi" Huaishan Han said, "did you dream last night?"

Jin Kanzhe, who by this time was used to the old man's seemingly bizarre questions, said, "Yes, I did. I dreamt of carp swimming in a clear brook. They were golden and when the light struck their scales they shone like miniature suns."

"Hmmm," Huaishan Han said contemplatively. "This is an auspicious omen." The skin of his face seemed to be folded over again and again upon itself, so that tissue-thin layers lay in translucent creases that appeared to have no beginning and no end. His hands and jowls were heavily marked by liver spots, dark whorls upon his rice-paper-like skin.

"The carp represents China," Huaishan Han said. "Or, more accurately, the people of China. The golden people." He nodded now, his head bobbing on its stalklike neck. It was a simple gesture made odd because of how the old man was forced to sit, one misshapen shoulder higher than the other. Jin Kanzhe had heard that Huaishan Han had broken his back many years ago. "It is good." Huaishan Han mused for a bit, his eyes opaquing as they often did when he was deep in thought. "Tell me," he said in his odd floating voice, "do you have children?"

Jin Kanzhe sighed inwardly. The old man not only knew that he did indeed have children but also how many, their names and ages. Han had met them many times. Nevertheless, Jin Kanzhe repeated like a sutrathe list of his six children, their names and ages.

Huaishan Han nodded as if hearing all this information for the first time. Then he said, as he always did, "It is a blessing, Jin Kanzhe, to have children." This was the only time the old man used Jin Kanzhe's full name. "Children are the most important aspect of life. I myself tried for many years after my first wife died to procreate. I took three other wives and, once, a mistress with translucent skin. I have outlived them all but I have nothing to show for it. None of them were able to conceive.

"Doctors. A pox on all doctors!" he cried with more animation than he had shown all evening. "None of them were able to tell me a thing. My women were fertile. I was potent. Potent, they told me, until I was almost eighty. Yet I have no children.

"You do not know what that is like, Jin Kanzhe. You cannot. You are not cursed as I am."

Were those incipient tears sparkling in the corners of his eyes, Jin Kanzhe wondered. It was entirely possible. Huaishan Han was obsessed with the subject of children. Any other man would have rested now, knowing that his enemy was dead.

But not Huaishan Han. He wanted more. He wanted to destroy s.h.i.+ Zilin's son as well. His enemy's child.

"I do not think of children," Jin Kanzhe said carefully. "My expertise lies in other areas. Like Hong Kong."

Huaishan Han grunted. "Hong Kong. Another curse! That disgusting den of capitalist greed will be the downfall of China yet. d.a.m.n s.h.i.+ Zilin to ten thousand flaming purgatories for his incursion into that place! What evil G.o.ds possessed him to believe in such a quarter for the salvation of our country." He shook his head sadly. "How misguided are people a important people. People whom other people listen to and rely upon for accurate information.

"s.h.i.+ Zilin believed himself a celestial guardian of China." He laughed sourly. "What an idiotic notion! What rubbish all this mystical claptrap is. Celestial guardian, indeed! He sent his family into Hong Kong and he wished to give them powerto transfer his vast power to them. To an area outside of China. Whatever we do or say we will do in the future, one thing is very clear. Hong Kong will always be Hong Kong. Now and forever it is what the foreign devil made of it. The corruption of it goes too deep. We will waste our time in trying to change it. Better by far to cut ourselves off from it, to forget that it exists."

The food had come some minutes ago but Huaishan Han appeared oblivious to it. Jin Kanzhe longed to dig in but he could not begin without his elder and it would have been unforgivable of him to remind the older man of what was so obvious. Therefore, Jin Kanzhe did nothing but listen. That was all right. He was in the presence of a power so strong that it was tangible. Jin wouldand indeed hadput up with much more than hunger for that.

"Why is Jake s.h.i.+ still alive?" Huaishan Han demanded. "Why isn't the shape of my revenge taking place?"

"Colonel Hu requires more time," Jin Kanzhe said. "It is, he says, difficult to induce our plum to ripeness." He watched Han carefully. "In any case, he told you quite clearly at the beginning that in dealing with the human mind, rigid timetables were impossible to keep. You said"

"I've waited long enough!" Huaishan Han shouted. "You tell Colonel Hu that!"

Increasingly Huaishan Han was losing track of time and place. He seemed to Jin Kanzhe to be living in another world altogether. The old man's mind dwelt increasingly in his own inner landscape. But if that were the case, whence did his incalculable power stem? He possessed riches beyond the imagination of any Chinese Jin Kanzhe knew. Where did they come from? This was the man's essential enigma that Jin Kanzhe wanted to solve. "Our lizi is most precious. I trust we are agreed on that."

At this, Huaishan Han smiled. "Our dangerous little plum, yes. Our precious one." He gave Jin Kanzhe a sharp look. "Why should there be a question at this late date as to her disposition? It has all been arranged."

Jin Kanzhe hid his exasperation. There was something seriously wrong with Huaishan Han, Perhaps it was merely old age. Alzheimer's disease was not uncommon, or any one of a number of similar brain dysfunctions. What would become of the old man's plans, he wondered, if he were not around to see to their implementation. And what was his reward for keeping everything running smoothly? Huaishan Han treated him as if he were an accountant. He wanted-"he deservedhis share of the old man's wealth.

"Yes. It is all arranged, Huaishan tong zhi," he said easily. "But, fortuitously, s.h.i.+ Zilin is dead. Do we really need to go on now?"

"What do you mean?" Huaishan Han said. "Doesn't s.h.i.+ Zilin live on?" And Jin Kanzhe thought, It has finally happened; he has lost his mind entirely. "Doesn't s.h.i.+ Zilin live on through his son, s.h.i.+ Jake?" Huaishan Han's wizened head was trembling. His hand grasped at the tabletop, seeking perhaps something tangible to crush.

Jin Kanzhe made no comment; there was none appropriate.

Huaishan Han glowered at his companion. "I have waited in the shadows for so long, Jin tong zhi. So long. s.h.i.+ Zilin's power was such that I could not return to Beijing for a very long time. But he could not stop me from making inroads for myself with those ministers in power whom I singled out. Sometimes I used my own name, at other times, I employed a false one. It did not matter other than it kept s.h.i.+ Zilin from finding out about me.

"Now, though you and others call me minister, I am nothing of the sort. I am more like a natural resource of China. My power is still outside the government. Because of s.h.i.+ Zilin. His wretchedly long life has given me precious little time in which to work.

"But now my time has come, Jin tong zhi. Now my star is in the ascendant. All my preparations were for a purpose and that purpose is at hand. With s.h.i.+ Zilin's departure from Beijing ten months ago, I was welcomed here by the friends I cultivated for years on end. My private army is a.s.sembled; it but awaits my final commands.

"And now that I possess the means to wipe out s.h.i.+ Zilin's entire line, now that he will be truly dead, I will be able to give those commands."

Slowly, as if recovering from a dream, Huaishan Han became aware that there was food before them. He seemed surprised, as if he had forgotten that they were in a restaurant or what such an establishment was for.

"I am hungry," he said. And with that p.r.o.nouncement he commenced to devour the dumplings after first having splashed them with a generous amount of soy and chili sauces.

Nothing more was said until the food was gone. This did not take Huaishan Han long. When he was finished, he put aside his chopsticks and set his gaze on the middle distance. It was as if his companion had ceased to exist or had never been there at all.

The moment Jin Kanzhe was finished and tea had been brought, however, Huaishan Han said, "Where did you serve your tour of duty while you were in the army, Jin tong zhi?"

"In Cambodia, mainly," Jin Kanzhe said. "Just like Colonel Hu."

"Ah, Hu," Huaishan Han said. "He learned some dark tricks among the Khmer Rouge, did he not?" His laugh was eerie. "There is a blackness about his spirit, as if somewhere inside of him he has been singed."

"I suppose it is so," Jin said, thoughtfully. "Colonel Hu was wounded twice. The first was not bad. But the second time, he was not so lucky. A tracer bullet caught him in the gut. The wound required extensive surgery. They took a yard of his intestines out. The pain will never really go away." Jin shrugged. "I suppose that is why he is so bitter about our offensive in Cambodia. His pain made him lose sight of China's political imperative.

"The Russians were backing the North Vietnamese. The Americans had taken up the French position of luring Prince Sihanouk with their siren songs.

"China's was an elementary decision, from my point of view: back the insurgents, the Khmer Rouge. Their barbarism was wholly justified, don't you think, given the circ.u.mstances? They were given the task of burning an entire nation's politically and morally corrupt past. And, in its place, creating a new regime, a new politic, a new society."

Huaishan Han's eyes contemplated his companion. "Tell me, Jin tong zhi, what was Cambodia like?"

Jin Kanzhe pushed his plate away. There was nothing whatsoever left of the fish, not even the bones. "Have you ever been to h.e.l.l?" he said.

For the first time since he knew him, Huaishan Han's expression showed something other than his inner pain and the overriding thirst for revenge which, despite his disclaimers to the contrary concerning the future of China, appeared now to be his sole reason for living.

"h.e.l.l," the old man said, "is where I have been residing for the past thirty-eight years."

"Gone? Gone where?" Bliss asked.

"To j.a.pan."

"Where? Where in j.a.pan?"

"That is his business, bou-sehk," Three Oaths said. "It is not for us to question the goings and comings of the great Zhuan."

Bliss heard something in his voice but she was too distracted to dwell on it. "Why isn't he here?" She had just returned from the hospital where every test imaginable had been run through her brain. The doctors, having found nothing of a conclusive nature, wanted her to remain several days longer to be subjected to further tests. She had refused.

"What is wrong with me?" she had asked them.

"We don't know," they had said. "Nothing." Grasping sheets of computer printouts delineating the wave patterns of her brain. "We suggest that you stay here longer."

"Why?"

"So that we can find out."

"Find out what?"

"Why all our tests show us nothing."

"Then there is something," she had said.

"There is nothing," they had replied, "that we can find. So far."

"The EEC?" It always came back to the EEC, the center of their concern, "Certain spiky responses," they said. "One or two giving the pattern a skew out of the norm."

"Then in your opinion there is a problem."