She went upstairs to change into something more savoury than the j.a.panese garb. It amused her to think of the enemy"s materials being used against them, though she didn"t really feel comfortable with the need. If only that nurse had not got herself killed, she could have played the part of the j.a.panese woman. It wouldn"t be long, though, before her part would be finished, and she and Kwok could get out of the business and live more comfortably somewhere else.
In a way, the thought was saddening, for she knew that barring accidents she would outlive Kwok, along with everyone else. At first she had tried to tell herself that she didn"t care for him at all, but it hadn"t worked, and thinking about their future life led her naturally to wonder what life would be like after losing him. She would have to come to terms with it someday, but so far the idea always chilled her, making her need his rea.s.suring presence even more.
Fear bred, she knew, and it could be borne of love as well as of anything else.
The Doctor gave another three inaudible blasts of the whistle, then grimaced. "You"d think he would have got here by now."
He and Li were sitting at a rice stall on the street, still chained together. This was the old Chinese city, rarely visited by foreigners, so many pa.s.sers-by paused to stare at the Doctor, never having seen a non-Chinese before. n.o.body seemed bothered that he was handcuffed and Li suspected it was because they didn"t realize that this wasn"t a normal state for a westerner.
"The city is no place for a dog," Li observed. He was beginning to wonder if he had been taken for a ride.
"K9 is no ordinary dog." A chorus of startled cries and shouts rose from along the street, and several coolies and porters jumped into the middle of the road to get out of the way of whatever was approaching. Whatever it was was too low to be visible through the crowd, and Li drew his gun just to be on the safe side.
The crowd parted and a squarish metal construction in the vague shape of a dog slid up to them. "I"d put away the gun if I were you," the Doctor said in a low voice. "Guns make him nervous." Li did so but kept his hand near it, just in case. He had never seen anything quite like this thing. The Doctor glared at it. "What kept you? No, never mind. Where is Romana?"
"Mistress Romana is at the Club Do-San. She said to tell you that she has located the whereabouts of the leaders of the Tong of the Black Scorpion."
The Doctor grinned. Li was only frustrated; he had spent days piecing together the Black Scorpion"s movements, and it was galling for some d.a.m.ned deus ex machina deus ex machina to come and deliver their address. "Well? Where is it?" to come and deliver their address. "Well? Where is it?"
"Mistress Romana did not say. Logic would suggest meeting to discuss the subject."
"Yes, well, I think the inspector would like to compare notes about me with the Black Scorpion a little earlier than that. Do you remember what I taught you about being a bloodhound?"
"All memory is fully accessible."
"Good, good." The Doctor produced the locket he had taken from the a.s.sa.s.sin at the police station, and opened it to reveal the geomantic compa.s.s. "Scan this blood sample again."
K9"s probe extended. "Cellular structure patterned and memorized."
"Good dog; now, scan for a matching cellular genetic pattern. I want to find the original owner of this blood."
"Scanning."
Li gave the Doctor a blank look. "If that belonged to a Tong soldier, the chances are that any blood on it was from some street girl they killed to avoid paying her fee."
"All the a.s.sa.s.sins who tried to kill us in your station had lockets like this, with the same blood type. That means the blood is all from the same person for a reason. Now, either it belongs to the woman from the docks, or to someone else who is valuable to the Tong as a mascot and therefore still alive.
Either way, it"s likely to lead us to their headquarters." Li nodded. It made sense of sorts, but things were not that simple these days.
"Pattern match detected," K9 announced after a few moments. "Bearing two-two-seven degrees, fourteen point three kilometres."
"We"ll take my car," Li said in a tone that was clearly not that of a mere suggestion.
"Warning, master. Blood sample is highly charged with chronons."
The Doctor gaped. "What? That blood is a chronon radiation source?"
"Affirmative. The iron content in the red cells has been temporally polarized by chronon decay."
"That"s impossible!" He looked at Li. "Don"t you think it"s impossible?"
Li pulled him towards the car. "I think this whole case is impossible."
The two armed guards who flanked the main door scarcely gave Kwok a second glance as he strolled into the house. It had taken far too long to carry the stolen goods to Utsonomiya, even though the thirty-seven-mile journey was accomplished with one step. He hoped that next time HsienKo would choose a target situated on a Dragon Path they could drive through.
HsienKo was in the dining-room eating a late breakfast.
She had changed into a black trouser-suit of light silk and unbound her hair so that it could fall between her shoulderblades. Kwok bent to nuzzle her neck before sitting beside her. "Did you get everything?" she asked.
"Yes. The trucks will be at the Arch by now and will return for the guns at dusk."
"Good. Feng"s still on duty, if you want something to eat."
Kwok shook his head, getting up to leave. "I want to have all Vogler"s guns checked, just in case."
"Don"t you trust anyone?"
He sat back down, taking her hand. "Only you." He had never quite known why that was the case. He had met her at the plagiaristic Canton Club, where one of HsienKo"s late rivals had decided to set up a Chinese version of America"s Cotton Club. The Canton Club had been wrecked in the air strike from the j.a.panese aircraft carrier Hosho Hos...o...b..ck in 1932. back in 1932.
He had been a lowly bouncer then, and she a regular visitor to the offices upstairs, where trade agreements between Tongs were thrashed out sometimes literally. She had asked to borrow his car on the first night and he had allowed it, though it was foolish. He had instinctively felt that he had known her long enough for her to earn his trust, though intellectually he knew better.
He was quite surprised when she returned it the next night, and surprised again that it hadn"t been used in some crime.
After a few days he felt that he"d always known her. After a few weeks they were engaged to be married. But...
But this business of hers had to be finished first. It was important to her, so he knew better than to deny her it. Indeed, he wholeheartedly approved, once the reality of the Dragon Paths had been proved to him. To do so, she had taken him to New York in the wink of an eye.
He had seen the potential immediately the shock had worn off.
More than that, he had seen how intelligent and imaginative she was to have exploited her discovery like this.
He wished they could travel together more often, to enjoy each other"s reactions to every new location.
They would travel again, he was sure, once this business was finished. Then he would never be apart from her again.
Every time they parted, he was secretly terrified that he would lose her, and so he went on the more dangerous trips himself.
He didn"t fear death half as much as he feared loss.
Soon, though, he could relax. Everything was progressing as planned.
The Doctor and Li peered through the shrubbery at the landscaped gardens which surrounded the mansion on three sides. Croquet hoops were set into a flat lawn, while a carefully arranged stone garden surrounded a wide pool filled with daintily coloured fish. A low bridge arched over the pool for decorative effect.
A gravel driveway went round to the front of the house on the far side. The Doctor looked at K9 who was between the two men. "Are you sure this is the place?"
"Affi" The Doctor clapped a hand over his snout, m.u.f.fling the sound from his speaker mouth.
"Shh! You"re supposed to whisper when breaking and entering. Didn"t they teach you anything at obedience school?"
"Obedience school negative," K9 replied at a lower volume.
"Ma.s.sive increase in chronons locally."
"I imagine there would be..."
Li had little time for this sort of behaviour; it wasn"t getting the job done. "Obviously he thinks this is the right place. Now let"s go in and find out whether any of those people from the docks are here." A deep rumbling and growling started up from the front of the house, and a series of trucks moved along the drive. They all bore the Tsingtao Breweries logo.
The Doctor snapped his fingers "K9; follow those trucks and keep an eye on them. Off you go." K9 reversed back into the shrubbery and disappeared off on his own. "This would be easier if you"d unlock these cuffs."
"I"ve lost enough face to you already. Trust has to be earned." Determined to rea.s.sert his control of the situation, Li circled to the right around the fish pool, dragging the Doctor with him. He didn"t get very far before b.u.mping into what felt like a more solid branch. He turned to push it aside and saw that it was in fact a leg. One of three pairs of legs, belonging to grim-faced men who were pointing rifles at them.
The Doctor stood with a disarming grin. "Ah, you must be the valets. My friend and I were just wondering if you would be kind enough to show us to the lady of the house."
Li glared at him. "I"m a police officer " he brandished their cuffed wrists by way of proof " and this man is my prisoner. I just want to ask your employer a few questions."
The Doctor coughed. "Well, I thought my way was better, but if you want to do things the dull way, then don"t blame me if they don"t serve the tea on the best china."
"Look, I"m just doing my job."
The nearest guard jerked his head towards the front of the house. "This way. Move."
Ten.
wok had found the guns to be satisfactory. Vogler had Kbeen an honest dealer after all; it would have been worth using him again. He locked the storeroom door when he left, and almost b.u.mped into a uniformed guard who was crossing the courtyard towards him. The soldier saluted. " Dai lo Dai lo, we"ve caught two intruders. The policeman and the gwai lo gwai lo from the Gongpinglu Wharf." from the Gongpinglu Wharf."
"The Doctor?" The guard nodded, and Kwok was chilled.
These men were hunting HsienKo, and now they had found her. "Hold them until I warn HsienKo." The guard nodded again and ran off. Kwok went back into the house through the kitchens and returned to the dining-room. She wasn"t there.
After a few minutes, he found HsienKo taking in the morning air on the balcony outside her suite. He was a little surprised: she usually preferred to relax in a pool she had found some time ago on a journey through the Dragon Paths.
Kwok had been there with her many times and had judged it to be in South America somewhere, but still didn"t know exactly where it was. Probably neither did she. "HsienKo," he said as impa.s.sively as he could he was still on duty, after all "the perimeter guards have caught two intruders by the fish pool.
One of them"s the policeman who was at the safe house and the docks; the other is the gwai lo gwai lo who was at the docks, the one you called Doctor." who was at the docks, the one you called Doctor."
HsienKo turned, a wry look creeping across her face.
"Well, I suppose that explains why the men you sent to the police station failed to return." She didn"t sound too concerned, Kwok noted.
"Was I wrong to send them?" He had thought she would be pleased by his initiative.
"Of course not; there are always such formalities to be observed. Now that those formalities are past, we can get down to business. Bring the intruders to the dining-room; I"ll be along in a moment. I have to prepare for a. trip to Hsinking this afternoon."
"Hsinking?"
"The j.a.panese Twelfth Army is only a few miles north of the Jade Emperor, and I don"t want them coming any closer.
At least not until we are in a position to avoid them. The thought occurs that if the officer in charge of strategic planning was out of the way, along with all the written orders, requisitions and intelligence reports..."
"Their advance would be halted until a replacement was found." Kwok understood perfectly, though he knew that she would not be looking forward to killing. Nor should she. He nodded. "I"ll go. This is not for you "
"He won"t obey anyone else quite as well. You know that.
Bring in the intruders."
He turned to go, wishing she would let him bear the burden of guilt for what had to be done. "Wait." She frowned, looking around oddly as if trying to remember something. "A box...Spread the word that the men should look out for a large blue box, perhaps the size of a walk-in cupboard. It should be much the same as the police boxes we saw in London yesterday."
"I don"t see why, but all ri" Kwok broke off, recalling his trip through town that morning. "I"ve seen a box like that...It was on the Waibaidu bridge; I thought it was odd, because I"d never noticed anything like it there before. I a.s.sumed the Settlement Police had set it up as a little corner of home."
HsienKo"s answering smile almost glowed. "Excellent!
Send a truck to collect it. I"ll want it taken to the Jade Emperor when we go there. How many guards are with the intruders?"
"All the patrols are in threes."
"Make it five. I don"t imagine our guests will be any danger to us, but fewer guards than that would be an insult to the Doctor."
The Doctor and Li had been thrust unceremoniously into a well-fitted dining-room that might have belonged in some elegant French chateau. Li"s gun had been confiscated by the guards and the contents of their pockets had been deposited on a silver platter. The long mahogany table that filled the centre of the room had place settings for up to twelve people, and the silver platter was left at the end nearest the doors. Two impa.s.sive guards stood by the door, while three more blocked the three large bay windows.
Li wasn"t used to being in this situation, and wasn"t sure how to handle it. All he knew was that he should be the one guarding them. The Doctor dropped into a chair, forcing Li to sit next to him, and rattled the rim of a gla.s.s with a fork.
"Shop!"
The guards ignored him. "What are you doing?" Li hissed.
The Doctor would shame him by behaving so chaotically.
"Demanding better service, though I think a takeaway might be more rea.s.suring. I mean, if they"re going to put us in a dining-room, they might as well feed us." Li was about to respond with a warning to be quiet, when the door opened and Kwok, accompanied by the green-eyed woman, entered the room. Li was surprised to see that the lithe pockmarked warrior now had a bandaged eye.
The woman"s glance barely lit on Li, and rested on the Doctor. She nodded faintly to herself, then turned the movement into a slight bow. "Please excuse the delay. I am HsienKo, and this is Mr Kwok. I"m very glad you could join us."
The Doctor jumped to his feet, startling Kwok into reaching for his gun. HsienKo, however, stayed his hand before the weapon was half drawn. "You must be our hostess. I am very pleased to meet you at last. This is Inspector Li, and I"m th"
"The honour is all mine, Doctor. I trust you"re both comfortable?" Li felt a surge of satisfaction, then a rapid chill.