The Dragon and the Needle (9 page)

He tried to reassure her by smiling and saying, ‘They found you “clean” … they found me the same.’ He looked at her. This would be the moment, he thought. Straight into it. ‘Look, Eleanor,’ he spoke with a firmer tone, ‘I suppose when one’s country calls on you to work for it, clandestinely that is, someone other than myself would be talking to you … initially, that is.’

They stared at each other with similar thoughts in their minds, unknown to each other. They both wondered what would happen next.

He went on, ‘It happens that I’ve been chosen to start the wheels turning. They believe that you can give an impetus to the work going on – the work to find out what the hell is causing these deaths.’

He had raised his voice a pitch higher, but she kept calm and replied, ‘What makes them, and you, think that I can help?’

He thought, that’s a good question. Oriental medicine might treat ordinary ailments and although China had its modern specialists, how could it possibly help? China has not yet even begun to catch up with the West! It was the moment for him to find out more from her.

‘Look!’ Mike’s voice was strong. ‘No way would they want me or you, if they thought for one moment we were not worth all this effort. I know why they want me. Now, Eleanor,’ his voice softened, ‘why do you think that they want you?’

If her face did not give a clue to her innermost feelings, her voice did: there was a note of fear in it as she answered. ‘I wish I knew.’ She paused and went on, ‘My late husband had …’ She stopped speaking.

‘You told me he was murdered in the New York subway. It must have been terrible for you.’

‘Yes,’ Eleanor said. ‘He was a fine man and a brilliant doctor. He was hoping to give to American medicine something new, wonderful and permanent.’

‘Permanent?’

‘Yes. He wanted to rid America of its strong prejudices about Oriental medicine.’

She stopped speaking again. They were staring intensely at each other. She was waiting for him to reply. To say ‘What prejudices?’, or ‘Perhaps there is good reason for prejudice!’ But instead he took her hands in his and said, ‘I’m able to understand now how dedicated he must have been. Did you love each other very much?’

The directness of his question threw her for a moment. Of course they had loved each other … but supposing he was still alive? How could Chen have loved her and disappeared from her life? But that had not happened! She had seen him dead and had been certain it was him.

‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘and I decided to work, work and work again for his ambitions. I went to China to study in depth there,’ she hesitated, then added, ‘but you know that as well?’

‘Yes.’

‘You seem to know a lot about me.’ She smiled.

‘Yes,’ Mike smiled back, ‘but not about …’ he paused, ‘not about the real you.’ Then he said, ‘What do they think you can do? Why on earth do they think that Oriental medicine can be of any help?’

She was still smiling as she answered, ‘I am supposed to be very competent. That’s what they know about me … so far.’

Her expression changed to a frown as he repeated the words, ‘So far?’

‘Look,’ she said, ‘I must get back to work. Let’s meet again soon.’

‘Okay, but can you tell me this first? Why do you think that Professor Dorman was so interested in you?’

‘For the same reason that others’ – and she emphasised the word ‘others’ – ‘are, I suppose: my experience, my skills and …’

He interrupted quickly. ‘Yes, I can understand that, but they…’

Eleanor cut in, speaking the words loudly, ‘Who are they?’

‘Everyone concerned with ENDS, America, England, everyone!’

‘Mike,’ she said, ‘you really do flatter me. The way you are talking to me makes it sound as though the CIA are involved!’

‘Believe you me, they are!’ She was making it easier for him. He could hurry along. ‘They are badly in need of success, especially after the death of the President’s daughter! And now we have Lord Helman’s son over here. He’s dead, aged twenty-six. You’ve heard?’

‘No, I hadn’t.’ She spoke calmly, determined to fight off her inner feelings, her concern. She listened to his reply. It sounded as though Helman’s son was a typical young man of an aristocratic rich English family.

Then she heard Mike saying, ‘… there is likely to be danger for both of us … and I had no idea before I met you, what kind of person …’ He stopped, lost for words for a moment, then, ‘I’m not sure that I want you involved.’

She felt sick inside. Mike knew so much about her – and so little. Her world was changing to a world outside of medicine, to intrigue, murders. She got up and went across to the window. She turned around to face him.

‘Perhaps we both need to get our priorities right first,’ she said. ‘Like, what exactly is it that we can do about these mysterious deaths? Why you, why me?’

Still sitting on the sofa he said, ‘They think, and Dorman was convinced, that you could help, but I’m not!’ But he was thinking, Could she? And would Dorman’s missing papers give the vital clue?

He stood up and went across to join her at the window, adding, ‘What still concerns me is the part Oriental medicine can play in all this.’

They stood facing each other.

‘There are two points,’ Mike said. ‘One, if you may perhaps admit …’ he paused, choosing his words carefully, ‘that acupuncture, for example, is a fringe therapy.’ He swallowed hard, then continued, ‘And point two; if it is fringe, there’s no need for you to be involved, and thereby at risk.’

So, she thought, he does have hang-ups, doubts! There was anger inside her, but controlled, as she replied, ‘If you think that, we are both wasting our time!’ Then she added, ‘Why don’t the police do more? They have their medical experts! They’re the ones that should bring Professor Dorman’s killers to justice!’

‘I hope they do! More than anyone else!’ Mike said. ‘But it’s the unexplained deaths all over the world …’

She interrupted, ‘I know that, Mike, but Professor Dorman was interested enough in Oriental medicine to think that I could help. Why do you snipe at acupuncturists?’

The directness of her question caught Mike off guard. He stared at her in surprise.

‘Well, you did!’ she went on quickly.

Mike cut in, ‘I didn’t snipe at them!’

She moved away from him, sitting down once more. He knew he had to control his feelings: as she had walked away from him he had nearly lost his temper, and that would lead nowhere. But his face had darkened. Perhaps they both needed a breathing space away from each other for a few days. But after a moment he decided he could throw caution to the winds.

He blurted out, ‘Why are there so many untrained, medically untrained, people in Oriental medicine, especially in acupuncture? It’s downright dangerous!’

She shook her head irritably and said, ‘Maybe. But you know damn well that there are plenty of qualified doctors who are useless, even dangerous!’

‘We all have different qualities. But at least my colleagues are trained and qualified to practise medicine.’

She spoke loudly across the room. ‘Qualified? I admit there are a lot of unqualified people in my profession, and I don’t like that one bit, but it is changing for the better all the time. Remember, the Chinese have had it for over five thousand years.’

‘That proves they haven’t changed much over the years.’

That did it. Eleanor exploded. ‘Let me ask you a question! Would you agree that the pharmaceutical industry has contributed more than any other organisation to the therapeutic advances in medicine?’

He lowered the tension by smiling and saying, ‘Yes, that’s true; it’s certainly true to say that many of their research scientists are not medically trained.’

She quickly added, ‘And it’s to many of those very people that we owe the sulphonamides and antibiotics.’

‘Yes,’ Mike said, ‘and penicillin only became a practical proposition after it was developed by Pfizer…’

Eleanor spoke in softer tones. ‘And isn’t it true that some “qualified” doctors hand out drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies with gay abandon?’

Mike smiled and nodded.

‘Is that better than so-called unqualified acupuncturists?’

‘No,’ Mike said.

‘And,’ Eleanor continued ‘Merck developed streptomycin and all the subsequent antibiotics were discovered and developed by drug companies.’

Mike smiled again as he replied, ‘So?’

‘So,’ she repeated the word with a smile, ‘don’t forget that I’m a qualified Western doctor, and I know the great debt owed to many of those non-medically trained researchers, as you would call them.’

‘So?’ repeated Mike, still smiling.

‘So, there are some non-medically trained acupuncturists who obtain amazing results. And anyway, they are all trained practitioners, even if they haven’t got Western medical degrees.’
She frowned. ‘It is wrong to discard ancient systems because they use age-old methods of treatment.’

‘Look, Eleanor,’ Mike replied as he walked slowly back towards her, ‘I think we’re arguing at cross-purposes. Of course I understand what you say.’ When he reached her side he held his hands out towards her, ‘And the fact that Stuart Dorman thought enough of you to want your help.’ He paused as she took his outstretched hands. As he pulled her up towards himself she noticed how tall and strong he was.

‘We’re not playing games with each other,’ he said. ‘We’re really trying hard to get to know each other!’

They kissed.

She noticed the lines of anxiety on his face. She felt very close to him – too close! She moved away. ‘We’ve got to get to know each other,’ she said. ‘But I must get on with my work, too. It’s very important to me.’

‘Of course,’ Mike said gently.

They sat down on the sofa side by side. ‘Tell me more about your work,’ he said.

She smiled at him. ‘What more can I tell you? You had better start studying acupuncture!’

‘That might be a good idea,’ Mike said. ‘Certainly Stuart Dorman felt he was on to something related to it, which explains why he wanted us to meet.’

She suddenly remembered Ah-Ming’s threats to her, and began to wish that Professor Dorman had never heard of Oriental medicine. Then she would never have become involved. She looked at Mike. But then she would not have met Mike!

‘Anyway,’ Mike said, ‘tell me more. I do want to understand more. It might help us both.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I could start by telling you case histories, even reported cases of success with AIDS, but perhaps more to the point, I could tell you that I have cured cancer, glaucoma, arthritis – especially rheumatoid arthritis – asthma, migraines,’ she paused and said, ‘Oh, Mike, the list is endless!’

‘By using Oriental medicine? By using acupuncture?’

‘Of course!’ She looked at Mike’s face. He was listening intently. ‘It is impossible to explain without understanding the basic Chinese attitudes to health, to life itself,’ she said. ‘Acupuncture treatment is not a specific result of scientific analysis, experimentation, research. It is a way of life, a way of treating the human person as a whole.’

That’s good,’ Mike said.

‘Acupuncture is concerned with balance,’ she went on, wanting Mike to understand. ‘Balance of the whole person in relation to the world, as well as to the body and mind. My husband was working on some fascinating new discoveries at the time of his death. He had just returned from a visit to China when he was killed. It was tragic – not only for him, but perhaps for the Western world as well.’

‘But Western medicine has proved there are severe limitations to the therapy and …’

‘Proved!’ Eleanor exclaimed. ‘What is proof? And why do we in the West always need facts? And if you want proof, see my patients!’

‘All right, Eleanor. But if Oriental medicine can cure,’ he paused, smiled, and said, ‘perhaps it can kill as well!’

Smiling back at him she replied calmly, ‘And so can the surgeon’s knife.’

‘Touché,’ he said. ‘I think we’re getting to know each other much better,’ he smiled. ‘Eleanor, perhaps together, maybe, we can succeed in finding the answers.’

She nodded. ‘Yes, we must! We’ll meet again soon.’

As Mike was leaving her flat, he understood why Stuart Dorman wanted her help. She was a very remarkable woman. He opened the front door and they stood closely together. Wearing no make-up, she looked beautiful, he thought. They kissed, and as he moved slowly away, he took her hands in his, saying, ‘I’m determined to look after you – whatever happens. You know that, don’t you, Eleanor?’

She smiled. ‘Yes, I believe you.’

After she had closed the front door, she went to the window that looked out onto Brook Street. Could Mike really look after her? How could he cope with the strength and subtlety of China? Ah-Ming had told her that her husband was alive in China. She couldn’t believe that … yet perhaps it was true. There was so much doubt and confusion in her mind. How could Chen have let her believe he was dead? Could she ever love him again?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Mike climb into a waiting car. As it drove to the junction of New Bond Street she imagined she saw his face through the car window, looking towards her flat. Now there was this man, this strong man in her life too. She felt determined to help him solve this terrible problem of ENDS.

As Eleanor made her way back to her consulting room in Harley Street, the taxi driver spoke to her about the bad standard of driving, the continuing delays, the pollution. She nodded agreement when he caught her eye in the rear-view mirror, but her mind was occupied in trying to make some sort of order out of the meeting with Mike, and the options now open to her with Ah-Ming. For the present she could not desert her patients, though she did have a contact, another woman acupuncturist called Margaret Wormald, who she could rely upon if the need arose. She remembered one particular patient she was due to see again soon, a young woman suffering from acute gastritis, turning to chronic. She had applied the needles at the point of Chengman, slanting them one to two
taun
deep. It had brought about almost immediate relief. Had it lasted? she wondered. It should have succeeded – it always had – so why should she have any doubts?