Ice and Fire: Chung Kuo Series (30 page)

‘Are you taking the piss, rat’s arse?’

Kim’s smile faded slowly.

‘Didn’t you hear the bell?’ Janko continued, and the group of boys behind him laughed,
as if it was the funniest thing anyone had ever said.

Dull-wits
, thought Kim, surprised that he had missed the bell. He glanced across at Tung Liang
and saw at once how uneasy he was. Strangely, he found himself trying to reassure
the young
Han. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘I’m all right, Tung Lian. Really I am.’

Janko echoed back his words, high-pitched, in what he must have thought was a good
imitation of Kim’s voice, and the ghouls behind him brayed once more.

He felt a slight twinge of fear at the pit of his stomach, but nothing that cowed
him or made him feel daunted in anyway by the boy in front of him.

‘I don’t want to fight with you.’

‘Fight?’ Janko laughed, surprised, then leaned towards Kim menacingly. ‘Who said anything
about fighting? I just want to beat the shit out of you, rat’s arse!’

Kim looked about him. Boys blocked both his way back and his route to the entrance
doorway. He looked up. Yes, he had thought as much. The two overhead cameras were
covered over with jackets. He
had been set up. They had planned this. Perhaps since they’d heard Chan Shui was absent.

So Janko wasn’t alone in hating him. Far from it.

‘Please, Janko…’ Tung Liang began feebly, but Janko barked at him to be quiet and
he did so, moving back out of the way.

So I’m alone
, Kim thought.
Just as Anton said I’d be. Them and us. Or, in this case,
them and me.
The humour of it pleased him. Made him laugh.

‘What’s so funny, rat’s arse?’

‘You,’ said Kim, no longer caring what he said. ‘You big strutting bag of bird shit.’

But Janko merely smiled. He moved a pace closer, knowing there was nowhere for Kim
to run this time.

But run Kim did, not towards the door or back away from Janko, but directly at Janko
– up, onto his chest and over the top of him as he fell backwards, his mouth open
wide in surprise,
then away towards the toilets.

‘Stop him!’ yelled Janko, clambering to his feet again. ‘Block the little bastard
off!’

Kim ran, dodging past anyone who tried to stop him. He would lock himself in. Hold
out until Nung came out to investigate, or T’ai Cho came up to see why he’d not returned.

But they had pre-empted him. Someone had sealed all the locks to the toilet doors
with an ice-based glue. He checked them all quickly, just in case he had been mistaken,
then turned. Janko was
standing there, as Kim knew he would be, watching him.

Kim looked up. Of course. They had covered the camera here, too.
Very thorough
, Kim thought, and knew from its thoroughness that Janko had not been involved in
planning this. This was all
far too clever for him. Janko was only the front-man, the gullible dupe who would
carry out the plan. No, he wasn’t its architect: he had been manipulated to this point
by someone else.

The realization made Kim go cold. There was only one of them in the whole Casting
Shop capable of planning this. And he was not here…

Janko laughed and began to come at him. Kim could feel the hatred emanating from the
boy, like something real, something palpable. And this time his hands weren’t empty.
This time they
held a knife.

‘T’aiCho! T’aiCho!’

He turned. Director Andersen’s secretary was running down the corridor after him.

‘What is it?’

‘It’s Kim...’

‘Where is he?’

A slight colour came to her cheek.

‘The boy, I mean! Where’s the boy?’

She was close to tears. ‘I don’t know!’ she wailed. ‘Supervisor Nung’s note was only
brief. He gave no details.’

‘Gods!’ T’ai Cho beat his brow with the palm of his left hand, then began to hurry
her back towards Director Andersen’s offices.

Outside Andersen’s door he stopped, then spoke to her slowly, making sure she understood
what she had to do.

‘I know it’s embarrassing, but it’ll be more embarrassing for the Director if he doesn’t
get to hear about this. Whatever sing-song house he’s in, get a message to
him fast and get him back here. Here! Understand me, woman?’

When she hesitated he barked at her. ‘Just do it! I’ll go and see how the boy is and
sort out things that end. But Director Andersen must be contacted. The whole Project’s
in
jeopardy unless you can get him here.’

The firmness of his instructions seemed to calm her. She bowed and went inside, to
do as she’d been told.

T’ai Cho found Nung slumped over his desk. OD’d. He had been ready to lay hands on
the supervisor to get at the truth of things but it was too late for that now. The
message to
Andersen must have been the last thing he managed to do in his worthless life.

He looked about him, then noticed one of the boys hanging about at the far end of
the Casting Shop. He ran across to him, grabbing the boy by the arm so that he could
not make off.

‘Where did they take Kim? You know, the Clayborn? Where did they take him?’

He noticed the strange look of revulsion the boy gave him at the mention of Kim, but
held on, shaking the boy until he got some sense from him. Then he threw him aside
and ran on, towards the
lifts.

They had taken him to the local Security post. Of course! Where else? But he was not
thinking straight, he was just acting now, following his instincts, trying to get
to Kim before they hurt him
any more.

The soldier at the desk told him to sit and wait. He lifted up the barrier and went
through anyway, ignoring the shout from behind him. Then, when the soldier laid hands
on him from behind, he
whirled about and shouted at the man.

‘Do you realize who I am, soldier?’

The tone of absolute authority in his voice – a tone he had once used to cower unruly
boys fresh from the Clay – worked perfectly. The soldier backed off a pace and began
to incline
his head. T’ai Cho pressed the advantage before the soldier could begin to think again.

‘My uncle is the Junior Minister, T’ai Feng, responsible for Security Subsidies. Lay
a finger on me and he’ll break you, understand me?’

This time the soldier bowed fully and brought his hand up to his chest in salute.

‘Good! Now take me to your commanding officer at once. This is a matter of the utmost
urgency both to myself and to my uncle.’

As the soldier bowed again and moved past him, T’ai Cho realized fleetingly that it
was his robes that had helped create the right impression. He was wearing his lecturer’s
pau
with the bright blue patch, in many ways reminiscent of the sort of gown worn by
a high official.

The soldier barely had time to announce him – and no time to turn and query his name
– before he burst in behind him and took a chair in front of the Security officer.

This officer was less impressed by tones and gowns and talk of uncles. He asked immediately
to see T’ai Cho’s permit card. T’ai Cho threw it across the desk at him, then leaned
across almost threateningly.

‘Where’s the boy? The boy from the Clay?’

The officer looked up at him, then down at the permit card. Then he threw the card
back at T’ai Cho.

‘If I were you,
Shih
T’ai, I’d leave here at once, before you get into any more trouble.’

T’ai Cho ignored the card. He glared at the officer. ‘Where’s the boy? I’m not leaving
until I’ve seen the boy!’

The officer began to get up from his chair, but T’ai Cho leaned right across and pulled
him down.

‘Sit down, for the gods’ sake, and hear me out!’

T’ai Cho shivered. He had never felt such anger or fear or urgency before. They shaped
his every action now.

‘
Where is the boy?
’ he demanded fiercely.

The officer moved his hand slightly and pressed a pad on the desk, summoning help.
He was certain now he had another madman on his hands.

‘Understand me,
Shih
T’ai. The boy is in safe hands. We’re seeing to the matter. It’s a simple case of
assault of a citizen by a non-registered being. We’ll
be terminating the NRB in about an hour or so, once authorization has come down from
above.’

‘
You’re doing what?!’
T’ai Cho screamed. He stood up violently, making the officer do the same; his hands
out defensively, expecting attack.

‘Please,
Shih
T’ai. Sit down and calm down.’

The door slid open quietly behind T’ai Cho, but he heard it even so and moved around
the desk, so that his back was against the wall.

‘You have no jurisdiction here,’ the officer said, his voice calmer now that he had
assistance. ‘Whatever your relationship to the boy, I’m afraid the matter is out of
your hands.’

T’ai Cho answered him at once. ‘It’s you who doesn’t understand. Kim Ward is not an
NRB, as you so ridiculously put it, but one of the most brilliant and important
scientific minds in the whole of Chung Kuo. SimFic have negotiated a contract for
his services for
ten million yuan
.’

He had said the last three words slowly and clearly and with maximum emphasis and
saw the effect the fantastic sum had on them.

‘Ten million?’ The officer gave a brief, thoughtful laugh. Then he shook his head.
‘Oh, no. I don’t believe you,
Shih
T’ai. This is just more of your talk of
important uncles!’

T’ai Cho shook his head, then spoke again, his voice ringing with firmness and determination.
‘There’s one more thing you don’t understand. I don’t care what
happens to me. But you do. That makes me stronger than you. Oh, you can think me a
liar or a madman, but just consider – if you ignore my warning and go ahead without
checking up, then
you’ll be liable directly to SimFic for unauthorized destruction of their property.’
He laughed, suddenly horrified by this nightmare, sickened that he should even need
to do this.
Couldn’t they see he was only a little boy – a frightened little boy who’d been savagely
attacked?

Still the officer hesitated. ‘There are certain procedures. I…’

T’ai Cho yelled at the man; using language he had never before in his life used. ‘Fuck
your procedures! Get on to Director Andersen at once. Unless you really want to be
sued for ten
million yuan!’

The officer blanched, then consulted his compatriot a second. Swallowing, he turned
back to T’ai Cho. ‘Would you be willing to wait in a cell for half an hour while we
make
checks?’

T’ai Cho bowed. ‘Of course. That’s all I want you to do. Here,’ he took a jotpad from
the pocket of his robe and, with the stylus from the officer’s desk, wrote
Andersen’s office contact number and his name on the tiny screen. ‘You’ll find they’ll
switch you through twice, so hold on. It’s a discrete service.’

The officer hesitated, then gave the smallest bow, half-convinced now that T’ai Cho
had calmed down.

‘Andersen?’

‘That’s right. He might not be there at once, but keep trying. I’ve asked his secretary
to get him back there as soon as possible.’

An hour later T’ai Cho and four soldiers were taking Kim back to the Project. Kim
was heavily sedated and secured in a special carrying harness. It was hard to see
what injuries, if any,
he had received in the fight with the other boys. His face seemed unmarked. But he
was alive and he was not going to be ‘terminated’, as that bastard in the Security
Post had termed
it.

Now it was up to Andersen.

Director Andersen met him at the top gate. ‘I owe you, T’ai Cho,’ he said, slapping
the tutor’s back. But T’ai Cho turned on him angrily.

‘I didn’t do it to save your hide, Andersen. Where
were
you?’

Andersen swallowed, noting the open disrespect. ‘I… I…’ he blustered, then he bowed.
‘I’m sorry, T’ai Cho. I know you didn’t. Even so, I’m
indebted. If there’s anything…’

But T’ai Cho simply strode past him, disgusted, thinking of Nung and what had been
allowed to happen to Kim. All of it was indirectly Andersen’s fault. For not making
all the right
checks beforehand. If there was any justice, Berdichev would have his hide for it!

Half an hour later he was back in Andersen’s office.

‘They’re what?’

Andersen looked at the package the messenger had delivered ten minutes earlier and
repeated what he had said.

‘The boy’s family are suing us for assault by a property owned by the Project. They’ve
started a suit for fifteen million yuan.’

T’ai Cho sat back, aghast. ‘But the boy attacked Kim!’

Andersen laughed bitterly. ‘If that’s the case, T’ai Cho, why is their boy on the
critical list and not Kim? Here, look at these injuries! They’re horrific! More than
seventeen broken bones and his left ear bitten off. Bitten off! The little savage!’

T’ai Cho glared at him, then looked down at the 2D shots the family’s advocate had
sent with his package. Gods! he thought, revolted despite himself. Did Kim do this?
And he was
afraid Matyas would kill
him
!

Andersen was muttering to himself now. ‘Fuck him! Fuck the little bastard! Why did
he have to go and attack one of them?’ He looked at T’ai Cho. ‘Why didn’t you
tell me he was capable of this?’

T’ai Cho went to protest, then thought of all that had been happening the last week
or so. Were there warning signs? The restless nights? The problems with Matyas? Should
he have foreseen
this? Then he rejected all that. He threw the photos down and, with all the angry
indignation of the parent of a wronged child, he stood and shouted at Andersen across
the table.

‘He didn’t attack this boy! I
know
he didn’t! They attacked him! They must have! Don’t you understand that yet?’

Andersen looked up at him scornfully. ‘Who gives a shit, eh? We’re all out of a job
now. There’s no way we can contest this. Nung’s dead and the cameras were all covered
over. There’s not a bruise on Kim and the other lad’s in critical’ He laughed. ‘Who
in their right mind would believe Kim was the victim?’