Part 33 (1/2)

Ben nodded then placed his stone. A sente move again. Defensive. DeVore looked at him, then gave a little shrug. ”Strange,” he said. ”I was sure you were going to make a more aggressive play.” ”And if I had?”

The smile was predatory. ”I would have bitten your f.u.c.king head off.”

A TRAIL OF SMOKE.

Seated at the far end of the crowded table from her son, Emily frowned, surprised to hear such bitter words from him.

”Lin Sung? Do I hear you right? Do you really think we've achieved nothing these past eight years?”

”Well, if s true,” Lin Sung said, refusing to meet his adopted mother's eyes, his face almost scowling as he spoke. ”We're just p.i.s.sing in the wind! We kill one corrupt official and DeVore replaces them immediately with another, equally corrupt! We destroy one munitions dump and he builds two in its place!” ”So what do you suggest?” Lin Chao asked gently. ”You want to bomb Frankfurt, maybe? And Bremen, and Munich?”

Sung swallowed, then. ”It would be a start At least he'd know he had a fight!” ”I see.” Chao looked about him at the others gathered round the table. Most, like himself, seemed saddened by this suggested escalation, but one or two met his eyes challengingly, his young brother Lin Han Ye among them. ”And what about the innocents who would die? The mothers and children? The old people and the sick? Don't you care about them, younger brother?” ”Does DeVore care?”

”That's not what I asked. Don't you care?”

Sung struggled with the notion a moment, then. ”Of course I care. You know I do, Lin Chao. But DeVore's just taking the p.i.s.s out of us, can't you see that? He's using the fact that we care to stifle our effectiveness. To nullify and castrate us!”

”I see. So what you're saying is that we should become more like him. Adopt his rules, his ways?”

”That's not what Lin Sung is suggesting at all,” the stranger on Lin Qiao's right answered, turning to face him, his grey, steel-like eyes staring humourlessly at Chao. ”We merely want to widen the conflict” Looking into those eyes, Chao felt himself go cold. He had only been marginally conscious of the stranger until that moment, but now it seemed as if he sat alone, facing the man. ”I'm sorry,” he said, after a moment, ”but we have not been introduced.””Horton,” the American said, putting out a long, spa.r.s.ely-fleshed hand. ”Feng Horton. I represent my good friend, Coover.” Lin Chao took a mental step backward. Horton. Now that he had the name, the face slipped into place. He had seen the file on this one. His full name was Feng Horton, otherwise known as ”Meltdown”. Horton had been a ”Son” once; one of those who had been incarcerated by Wu s.h.i.+h back in '07. If the rumours were right - and who could tell what was true and what false in the chaotic aftermath of the collapse of City North America? - it had been Horton who had been behind the ”Campaign for Racial Purity”, Horton who, so rumour had it, had boasted of eating ”nothing but good Han meat”.

And now here he was, sitting at their table, discussing policy. Chao looked to Emily. ”Mother?”

”What is it, Chao?”

”May I speak with you, in private?”

Emily looked about her, then nodded. ”You will excuse us a moment, ch'un tzu. We shall not be long.”

They went through, into Emily's own rooms, then closed the door.

”Well?” she asked.

Lin Chao kept his voice low. ”Why is that man here?” ”Because Coover is the power now in America. Word is he has destroyed Egan's Western banners and all the land to Denver is his. Horton is his man.” ”You know what is said of him?”

She nodded. ”I too was once the subject of such rumours, don't you remember?”

”Yes, but thafs different What they say of Horton ...”

”May or may not be the truth. But we must deal with him now if we wish to throw down the tyrant”

”And put another in his place?”

”It is a risk we take.”

Chao shook his head. ”I do not like it It feels wrong.”

”Like Daniel felt wrong?”

”There I was wrong, I concede. But this... to embrace such a one, I feel, would be a grave mistake. Already he speaks of widening the campaign, of bombing cities and hurting innocents. I, for one, would vote against it” ”And I too, Chao.” She smiled. 'Til not be Coover's puppet if thaf s what you fear. Yet it would be well if we came to an agreement with the man. He can give us weapons and supplies, and the G.o.ds know we are in dire need of both right now.”

”And in return?”

”In return we continue to be a pain in the a.r.s.e to The Man.”

Lin Chao hesitated, then, encouraged by Emily, smiled a reluctant smile.

”Now come,” she said. ”Argue strongly, but also listen.” They went back. In their absence Tybor had arrived. He sat now next to Lin Sung, his tall figure looming over the table as he spoke quietly to one of Emily's lieutenants.

”Tybor,” Emily said, greeting him. ”Have you any news?” Tybor had taken three men and gone to bring home the carts. For the last three or four hours he had been in the labs, a.n.a.lysing the strange-smelling powders that had been in the sealed plastic wrappers.

Tybor met her eyes gravely. 'Tm afraid there was nothing we could use.” ”Nothing?” Emily felt a strange little tremor inside at the thought Had Michael died so needlessly then?

”Nothing useful” And the way he said it made her understand that this was not something he wished to pursue in an open meeting. She made to move things on, but Horton interrupted. ”Are you speaking of the powders Michael was bringing back from the old GenSyn works in Milan?”

Tybor looked to Emily, who shrugged. ”Yes,” he answered.

”And you've destroyed them?”

Again Tybor hesitated, then, ”Not yet”

”Good,” Horton said. ”Because I'll take them off your hands.”

”I'm not sure...” Emily began, but Horton interrupted once again. 'Til pay you well. Enough equipment to launch a new campaign and whatever supplies you need.”

Lin Sling's eyes lit up at this offer. He looked to his mother, expecting her to be equally enthusiastic, but she was looking down. ”Forgive us, s.h.i.+h Horton, but we shall have to consider your kind offer.” She raised her eyes to meet his. ”We need to consult... you understand?” ”Oh, perfectly. But if it helps persuade you, we can provide you with cruisers.

And artillery.”

Emily stared at him, astonished. What had Michael brought back that he wanted so much? ”Cruisers?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper. Horton nodded. ”We could supply them within a week, from Africa. Would six be enough? You'd get spares, of course, and expert back-up.” With that many cruisers they could take on DeVore's patrols and make the Wilds their own, and that, in itself, would make them so much more effective. But at what cost? Horton seemed far too keen to close this deal. Besides, how did he know what Michael had brought back? Or was he guessing, gambling on the reputation of GenSyn's big Milan plant? Of course, none of it was in the plant itself. If it had been, DeVore would long ago have plundered it But much remained - hidden away - that had once been produced there. Like the cache of powders Michael had stumbled upon and bought ”Lcf o oolJ thie mooting to a does,” Emily said, her thoughts racing. ”Tybor, Lin Chao... Daniel... come through, we need to talk.” She saw the flicker of frustration in Lin Sling's eyes, the way he glared at Daniel, who'd been included in the decision-making process rather than himself, and knew she would have to deal with that. But not now. Right now she had to find out what was going on.

Emily waited until the others had gone, then, closing the door behind her, she turned to face Tybor. ”Well? Just how dangerous is it?”

A TOAIL OF SMOKE.

Tybor hesitated, then. ”If s hard to say. In its sealed form if s not harmless at all, but when if s activated ...”

”What do you mean, activated?”