Battlefield 4: Countdown to War (21 page)

45

Kovic opened his eyes but could see nothing. Had his eyes been gouged out as well? He had a vague memory of Tsu knocking him about the face after Chang had left the room. Every part of his body stung as if he had been attacked by a swarm of hornets. What had he told him? It was coming back. He had recited random names from his extensive knowledge of politburo apparatchiks until Tsu realised that they were just that – random names.

‘That’s the problem with torture, isn’t it, Tsu – you may get answers but how do you know they’re the truth? We know all about the pitfalls of torture. We spent thousands of hours chasing leads from rendered detainees who gave us the first thing that came into their heads to stop the pain.’

Tsu hadn’t liked that answer much and Kovic expected not to make it to the end of the session. But apparently he was still alive.

He felt his eyes. They seemed to be intact. He was just in complete darkness. Then with his fingers he explored the area around him. The rough rock surface was slimily damp. There was a foul smell of human waste. He tried to raise himself a little, but his head hit hard rock. He was in a crevice no more than thirty inches high, deep inside the mountain rock.

Now it was all starting to make sense – in a mad kind of way. Chang was Tsu’s client. If Tsu was working for Chang when he killed the Americans on the border then Chang must have been the architect of the whole
Highbeam
set-up. He would have had the clout to get the North Koreans to cooperate. His aim must have been to disgrace the current Beijing administration for its collaboration with the US, and create the opportunity to foment anti-American feeling. But to what end? He had focused his hostility on Jin Jié, but
he was just one man – influential, yes, but an outsider. Chang had talked grandly about putting the capitalist genie back in the bottle, turning the clock back. Then the border incident was just an appetiser for what he was cooking up. It was as if he wanted nothing less than a new cold war – or even a hot one.

As he recovered his senses, Kovic realised he wasn’t alone. Someone, or something, was sharing his cell. He felt something nudge his hand. Something cold and soft: a rat? He moved it away. A minute later he felt the nudge again and a slurping sound. The sound was a word.

‘Here.’ The voice was no more than a lisping whisper. ‘Follow.’

Kovic let his hand be nudged and didn’t move it away this time. He was pushing it in a direction where the floor met the wall. But he was at the extremity of what the chain attached to his wristband would allow. He forced his arm forward until the band cut into his flesh.

‘Feel – under.’

There was a slot-like gap where the wall met the floor, no more than an inch wide, just enough for Kovic to insert his little finger. He felt something smooth, a blade.

‘I made – can’t use now.’

Kovic withdrew it from its hiding place. It was no more than half an inch wide but a promising six inches long.

‘Hey, thanks. Who are you?’

But there was no answer.

Kovic slid the blade under his right cuff . Then he drifted back into unconsciousness.

46

Kovic came to again to find himself being pulled from his crevice by the chains attached to his wrists. He struggled to shield his eyes from the blinding torchlight coming from the two guards who were manhandling him. They tried to stand him up, but under his bare feet it felt as if the ground was covered in broken glass. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked down and saw that the soles of his feet were a bloody mass, and remembered Tsu beating them. Then they put a blindfold over his eyes and tied it fast and dragged him out into the open air.

‘Kovic. My God, what have they done to you? ’

It was Qi. He must be looking right at him.

He didn’t want to risk talking so he just nodded an acknowledgement, then moved his head around as if trying to focus after his time in the dark.

‘Okay, there’s twenty-plus in paramilitary kit, all carrying Uzis. Looks like they’re waiting to board the chopper
.’

Kovic nodded a response.

‘
Something else you should know – all hell’s broken loose in Shanghai: eighty-plus killed by a bomb in People’s Square. No one knows what the fuck’s going on.’

The guards dragged Kovic further into the centre of the courtyard. He felt the sun on his back, so reckoned he was facing north. He tried to blank out the searing pain in the soles of his feet.

‘There’s a scaff olding on the north face of the perimeter wall, with a long plank of wood on top
,
which sticks way out over the edge. They put it up overnight, next to the steps
.’

Before Qi had worked it out, Kovic guessed.

Oh, fuck
.

‘Tsu?’ He said the name aloud, figuring the guards would assume he was asking them.

‘No sign
.
Wait! Some big doors opening on the south side. That’s him. Same para gear as the others. Coming towards you now.’

They were outgunned as well as outnumbered. Even with what they had, Wu and Zhou would be no match for the guards with their Uzis. Kovic needed a Plan B but there wasn’t much time to dream one up. He knew this had been a suicide mission, so he deliberately hadn’t thought too much about the outcome. He wanted to find Tsu and he had. He wanted to confirm that it was he who killed his team on the border and who else was behind it, which he had. And now he was about to pay the price with a fast trip back down the mountain. With his fingertips he felt for the home-made blade in his sleeve. It was trapped behind the metal cuff on his wrist. He could feel Tsu’s breaths near him now, short, quick, excited. He addressed his men.

‘Before we embark, a little appetiser. And a reminder of what the consequences are if any of you arouse my displeasure.’

Tsu whipped off the blindfold.

‘You smell disgusting.’

‘Guess that’s what happens when I get near you.’

Tsu struck him across the face. A ring on his forefinger cut a furrow across his cheek and he felt the blood run.

‘Up the steps, you worthless piece of shit.’

‘That would be a whole lot easier if you hadn’t beaten the crap out of my feet.’

‘You don’t shut up, do you? Maybe you will when you understand what’s happening.’

‘Yeah, yeah, the old walk the plank routine. Thought you’d be bored with that by now, but maybe you don’t have the imagination to think of anything new.’

Kovic reasoned that if he was going to go, he wasn’t going to give Tsu the satisfaction of seeing any flicker of fear. He continued in Mandarin for the benefit of his men.

‘No wonder you were such a reject at high school. Is it true that your dick is as thin as a pencil? Is that why all the girls laughed at you? ’

Kovic saw a couple of the guards exchange astonished glances, trying not to laugh. His hands were still shackled, about thirty inches of chain connecting the metal cuff s, with a similar arrangement around his ankles. All the time he kept his hand pressed over the cuff on his wrist, wary that the blade might drop through. He needed Tsu to come close again so he could use it.

The guards were filing into the helicopter as the pilot started the engines. He could see Qi, the top of his head just visible over the parapet on the south side. Beside him was Wu, half hidden behind the gun-sight. Kovic shook his head. Even with his level of marks-manship, it was too risky a shot and doubly disastrous if he missed and alerted Tsu to their presence.

‘Up the stairs. Get on with it.’

Kovic refused to move.

‘
Is it true you are so sexually perverted you can only do it with a chicken? ’
To this Kovic added a stream of orgiastic clucking.

Tsu came forward, grabbed him by the chains and hauled him up the steps. A stiff wind was blowing from the east and Kovic felt it tug at his clothing. Tsu prodded him forward.

‘I’m through with you, Kovic.’

‘Just as I thought we were beginning to get along.’

Tsu kicked him hard and Kovic fell against the planks. He was beyond the edge of the parapet now, nothing beneath him except a few thousand metres of crisp mountain air. Tsu pulled him back up on to his feet. Kovic worked at the blade furiously, but it was jammed in the metal band. It was now or never. Below, some wisps of low cloud hung damply, waiting to receive him. Suddenly, the blade came free, too fast for him to catch it. He watched in despair as it pinged off the granite wall and flew downwards, glinting in the sun.

It was gone.

Tsu, surprised, looked down – and Kovic saw another chance. He yanked his fists upward so the metal cuff s hit Tsu under the chin. Then he pushed forward with all the strength that his exploded feet would allow so that they both fell. He didn’t care if they both went over; at least he would be sure of finishing the job. But they didn’t. Tsu landed on the stone of the parapet, Kovic on top of him. Tsu
writhed and struggled to free himself. He was in much better shape than Kovic after his night of torture and was soon on top, bearing down, trying to press his thumbs into Kovic’s eyes. Kovic tried to fight him off , but his movements were limited by the metal cuff s. Then he saw one last opportunity, stretched his arms out and raised them as high as he could. He couldn’t see any more, he could feel thumbnails almost piercing his eyelids. As Tsu pressed down, Kovic swung the chain so it wrapped around Tsu’s neck and with what strength he had left he crossed his fists and kicked out at the same time. Tsu was now half off the parapet, his arms flailing. Kovic could hear someone coming up the steps.

‘Take out the chopper!’ he yelled, in the hope that Qi would pick up the order and pass it on to Wu. For a second nothing happened. Only Wu had the marksman’s skill and knowledge of the right place to hit an aircraft. Then it came – the shot – followed by a massive blast as the machine’s fuel tank erupted. The rush of air nearly sent them both over the edge. But it was Tsu who slipped. He scrabbled desperately to get some purchase on the stone. Kovic kicked out again and Tsu’s weight dropped. Now he was suspended by the chain, his own weight tightening it around his neck. His body twitched and jerked, his fingers scratching at the chain and his legs flailing, but there was nothing he could do. All Kovic had to do was hold on just long enough.

‘This is for Olsen and all the others.’ Kovic gave the chain an extra tug. ‘And for Louise.’

Tsu’s tongue hung out of his mouth like it was trying to escape. His eyes bulged in dismay. He was trying to speak but Kovic didn’t care. He had heard enough.

Gradually Tsu’s strength ebbed away and his body hung limp. Kovic couldn’t hold on much longer. It would be too cruel if Tsu’s dead weight carried him over. Wu was running towards him along the parapet.

‘Get me out of here!’

He stopped, twenty metres away. ‘Head down.’

Kovic turned and Wu fired. The explosion stunned him, but the bullet did the job. The chain sprang apart and Kovic looked up in
time to see Tsu’s corpse smash into the wall and then bounce out again and fall down and down and down, head twirling over heels until it was engulfed by the clouds.

47

Fudan Road, Shanghai

There was no one else to tell. Hannah didn’t spare her father any details and after she had finished, he sat in silence processing what he had heard. They were in his study, surrounded by memorabilia: photos of him with Mao, Deng, his staff , and his medals. His patriotism was undimmed by the years in exile. He was the one she measured herself against, his stoicism and forbearance she tried to live up to, but lately she had started to question whether those fine values were relevant to her now – especially today.

‘I’m sorry I had to burden you with this. And I hope you will understand I had no alternative.’

She was braced for his reaction. She knew that as an exemplary Communist he had always cherished the sanctity of the state and respected its authority, despite the past. How would he respond? Surely he would accept it was self-defence, though she was under no illusion that she would have a hard time convincing a court of that.

To her surprise, the old general’s mouth curved into a small smile. He wiped a strand of silvery hair from his brow.

‘Your method of dispatch shows great ingenuity, I will say that for you. And the fact that he was in the act of ingesting an illegal substance does leave his reputation somewhat compromised.’ Then the smile vanished. ‘But I’ve always warned you, dearest Shuyi, your impetuousness would land you in trouble.’

She let out a long silent sigh. How many times had she heard this before?

‘Of course, I will make some inquiries and see to it that you are not implicated. The chances are that the powers that be will wish this sorry incident to be hushed up. Such an ignominious demise
does nothing to help the reputation of the MSS.’ He let out a small hoarse laugh. ‘And based on what you’ve told me it sounds like he could have – slipped.’

Then his brow furrowed again. ‘For the time being you must take great care not to upset anyone. Further unusual acts could focus suspicion on you and cause people to suspect you. As we used to say, keep the peak of your cap pulled down and your eyes low.’

‘But how can I, knowing what I know?’

She had told him about the bomb in the square and the call-to-action text.

‘Really, my dear, it could have been from a friend in the Navy Ministry to that poor boy.’

‘It’s an official internal Chinese Navy number and the text was broadcast to over two thousand people!’

He wasn’t hearing her. The fate of the Director of the MSS was one thing, but he wouldn’t hear of the navy’s good name being brought into disrepute. It was one thing to have exposed a single bad apple at the MSS, but his respect for the armed forces, as for all state institutions, remained inviolable.

‘My advice is to let that lie. Especially in these times of heightened tension with foreign elements.’ He tapped the chair arm with a gnarled finger. ‘And also with the return of your friend Jin Jié—’ He shook his head as if the mere thought of him was distasteful. ‘You don’t want any – how shall I put it – repercussions from your association with him.’

He wrapped his gown around him and stood.

‘I must return to bed. You get some sleep, my child, and we’ll talk about it some more in the morning. I’m sure it will all look a bit diff erent by then.’

He stooped to kiss her on the forehead and walked slowly out of the room. She watched him go. All her life she had looked up to him as the fount of all wisdom. Now he seemed deaf to her, deaf to what was happening in his beloved China.

She went to her old room and lay down on the bed. But what exactly
was
happening? The sight of young people dead and horribly wounded . . . It was as if the country was unravelling and she didn’t
know why. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. The Director had been deaf to her concerns, just like her father. Were they
all
in denial? Why?

She thought again about Kovic. She hadn’t breathed a word about him. Turning him loose was a classic example of what her father called her impetuousness. Anyway, it didn’t much matter now. He had ignored all her texts. She would be surprised if she ever heard from him again. Maybe it didn’t matter now. Her own future was in jeopardy. She took out her phone. She needed to call Jin Jié and see that he was safe. Then she saw all the missed calls and the text.

For fuck’s sake call.

It was from Kovic.