Daylight on Iron Mountain (23 page)

‘What do you want?’

‘You should not be here. You know that, don’t you?’

Jake laughed. ‘I know nothing of the sort.’ He stood. ‘Are you one of Chang’s men? One of his paid thugs?’

If it came to a fight he would get trampled. The man was thirty years younger than him and fit. Fighting fit, by the look of him. Nonetheless, he would not be bullied. He had been through too much in life to be bullied by some little shit!

The man was sneering now, contemptuous. ‘You are a very stupid man,
Shih
Reed. Incredibly stupid. You do not know who you have taken on. If we wanted we could crush you like a bug. You and everyone you love. Only my Masters… they would like to see this thing settled. Not to drag on. So they have sent me. To intervene. To help you see sense.’

Jake lifted his hand and poked the man’s chest. ‘Listen here, you little shit. Just fuck off! You understand that clearly enough? Fuck off. And tell your Masters to fuck off, too. I’ll see them in court tomorrow,
understand
?’

The man looked down at the spot where Jake had touched him and nodded. ‘I’ll tell them,
Shih
Reed. And I’ll look forward to seeing you again.’ He smiled, tightly. ‘Until then, neh? Until then.’

Jake didn’t mention his ‘meeting’ with the thug. Advocate Yang was clearly overwhelmed enough as it was.

‘Yang Hung Yu?’

‘Yes, Jake?’

‘Why did you take this on?’

They were sitting in Fu Nan’s tea house, two decks up from the court complex, a
chung
of Fu Nan’s finest green
ch’a
before them. It was Yang’s treat to Jake.

Yang smiled apologetically. ‘The circumstances of this case… they are far from normal, neh? If it were just a matter of the law…’

He sighed, then picked up his bowl and sipped from it. ‘You understand… I
will
do my best for you,
Shih
Reed, only…’

‘Only we’re going to lose. Is
that
what you’re thinking?’

Yang sat back, his dark, Han eyes studying Jake a moment. ‘As I see it, we have come this far. Further, perhaps, than Chang Yi Wei and his brothers thought we’d come. Win or lose, you have cost them a great deal of money, Jake. Representation like that is not cheap, neh? Then again, they have a great deal to lose should you win this case. As for Judge Wei…’

‘You know him of old, neh?’

‘Oh yes.’ Yang set his bowl down. ‘And when the stakes are not so high… he can be a relatively fair judge.’

‘
Relatively?
’

‘Ah yes, my friend. Everything is relative… at this level.’

‘And the Changs?’

Yang looked away. ‘There I must apologize, dear friend. I was naive. I did not understand until today just what this meant to them.’

‘And?’

Yang hesitated. ‘I might be wrong. I truly hope I
am
. Only… I am afraid they will not rest until they’ve destroyed you. That show today… the only reason we have a hearing to attend tomorrow morning is because Judge Wei sees it as a means of hiking up his cut. Have no illusions. He
will
make a deal with them. We are only there, I fear, because we’re leverage.’

‘And if I protest?’

‘You could try, my friend. You could most certainly try. Only… how should I put it? Let us just say that those to whom the matter would be referred might find it rather…
awkward
, things being as they are.’

‘Meaning…?’

Yang shrugged. ‘Just this… Were you to ask me to show you an honest man, I would show you a man who was not a judge.’

‘Not a…?’ Jake shook his head. ‘Is there no hope whatsoever, Yang Hung Yu? Are all my efforts to get justice to be mocked by these half-men?’

Only Yang did not answer that. Yang did not have to answer.

*

Alone again, Jake went back to his room. A black mood had descended on him since his meeting with Yang Hung Yu.

He would have called home and spoken to Mary, only that would only have made things worse – to have to admit to her that he was on a fool’s errand. That he had wasted their life’s savings on some Quixotic attempt to get justice, when the truth was there was no justice to be had, just the force of money.

It was enough to drive a man to drink, or to murder.

Yes, he would have happily strangled that odious bastard, Chang Yi Wei. Put his hands around the bastard’s throat and choked him. Only Jake knew he’d never get the chance. And even if he did, they’d nail him. Because they looked after one another, these Han. The whole thing was one giant web of connection and corruption. Of
kuan hsi
, as they called it, giving it a ‘cultural’ face. And he had taken them on! What kind of idiot did that?

The sensible thing was to withdraw, now, before he spent the last few
fen
he had. Why, the room alone was costing him a small fortune. Fifty
yuan
a night, and look at it!

Only he knew he couldn’t. Not while there was even the slenderest of chances left. Because to go back to Mary with his tail between his legs just wasn’t an option. How could he face himself if he surrendered now? If he let those cunts trample him in the dust?

This was why he’d been having the dreams. He knew that now. He had been pushing himself too hard, taking on too much, when he really should have been resting after his life’s labours.

But then, nothing in his life had been easy. It had been his curse to live in interesting times. For the most part he had coped with that. Time and again he had been a survivor. And that was no small thing, for Tsao Ch’un had even sent assassins after him! Only now he was too old. To fight this further fight… just then it seemed beyond him.

No. He would call Mary later. Let her know he’d be here at least another day. But not now. Not while he felt like this.

A
bove the ancient limestone parapet, the banner fluttered on the breeze that blew in from the east.

It was just before dawn and in the faint pre-morning light, the
Ywe Lung
, the great wheel of dragons that was emblazoned on the banner, could barely be discerned, the seven powerful forms blurred into a great circular swirl of black.

It was early, yet already Tongjiang was a hive of activity. Through the glowing windows of the palace one could glimpse servants running this way and that, making their final preparations. Grim-faced stewards dressed in sombre black robes barked out orders while lesser minions bowed and scraped and hurried here and there, bearing loads of silver and crystal and finest antique porcelain, for today was the day of Li Peng’s coming of age.

In his dressing chamber, Li Chao Ch’in, the lord of Tongjiang, member of the Council of Seven, stood at the great stone window, letting his Master of the Bedchamber, Cho Yi Yi, bring his ceremonial clothes and dress him. As he was dressed, he looked out past the high walls of his palace towards the northern mountains as the light leaked back into the world and things took on form and colour once again.

He was glad this day had come; proud that his son had grown so tall and true. Li Peng was a strong, handsome young man, a credit to his family and his race. Today Li Chao Ch’in would present him to his fellow lords, and to his Master, Tsao Ch’un himself.

Today, Li Peng would officially become his heir, his right-hand man and helper, and a prince in his own right. From today his son might even take his place at Council, if need be – if he, Li Chao Ch’in, were ill or otherwise indisposed.

He smiled. It was a good day. A day to celebrate.

His thoughts drifted back momentarily, to the early days, when the whole world had been against them, and they had fought to impose their will upon the land. Back then each day had been a struggle, and he had often thought he would never see a day like this – never see a son of his grow strong and tall, the very image of himself. As solid as an iron link in a great chain. Just the thought of it made his heart swell, tears form at the corners of his eyes.

Li Peng was twenty-five years old! So brief a time, it was, and yet so long in terms of what they had achieved. When Li Peng had been born, there had been no Chung Kuo, only a thousand fractured, warring states, like a shattered bowl that needed to be mended.

For the past four years, since he was twenty-one, Li Peng had spent most of his waking hours with his father, learning the tasks which one day he would inherit, when he was one of the Seven, and T’ang. And that day would surely come, now that the world was pacified. Now that there were no more enemies to fight.

‘Master…’

He turned slightly, letting Cho Yi Yi fasten the buttons of his ceremonial jacket, a long, green silk gown decorated with royal-blue medallions, each one stamped with a miniature version of the
Ywe Lung
that flapped and fluttered from the great oak pole outside.

Elsewhere, he knew, his wives and daughters would be getting dressed, putting on their finest silks for the occasion. Likewise, in the various guest chambers scattered throughout the palace, his fellow T’ang would be up and readying themselves. For this was not just a family occasion. One day Li Peng would join their sons, taking his place in Council alongside those others, like Tsu Lin, Tsu Chen’s son, Fan Li, son of Fan Chang, and Wang Lung, Wang Hui So’s eldest boy.

All of them fine fellows. Every last one of them proud to be their fathers’ sons. Proud to one day take on the burden that their fathers daily carried; to be part of this grand venture which, in their lifetimes, had come to such fruition.

Li Chao Ch’in took a deep breath. On days like this he could think of nothing he wanted more than to serve; to offer up his life and those of his family to the great cause of unity.
To be his Master’s hands…

They had come a long distance, all of them. But now, today, they could relax and look back down that path from whence they’d come.

Twenty-five years…

Li Chao Ch’in turned from the window, looking about him at those who stood by, their heads lowered, obedient to his wishes. He grinned broadly, his smile instantly mirrored back from a dozen familiar faces.

‘Such a day…’ he cried, raising his arms, as if to embrace them all. ‘Such a fine and glorious day!’

Li Peng stood among his cousins, staring down at the marbled floor, his face set and hard.

The ceremony ought to have started an hour back. The great hall was packed, the Seven gathered on the dais just across from him. Everyone who was anyone was there. Or almost so. For one person wasn’t.

Tsao Ch’un had not come. Or rather, word was that he was delayed. He had been due two hours back. He had promised Li Chao Ch’in he would come, to give his blessing. Only the due time had come and gone and still there was no sign of him.

‘
Where is the man?
’ Tsu Lin hissed beneath his breath, so only his fellow sons – cousins as they called themselves – could hear.

‘
Fucking some maid, no doub
t,’ Wang Lung whispered, his tense body language revealing just how angry he was.

‘
It is a snub
,’ Pei Lin-Yi, the eldest of them, said impatiently, a scowl on his lips. ‘
By insulting you, Li Peng, he insults us all
.’

‘
Hush now
,’ Li Peng said, disturbed by what was being said. ‘
He is our Master, after all. We are but…
’

‘
His hands…
’ the others said, as one. But for once there was a darkness behind the expression. To be late was one thing. But to send no word of explanation…

Li Peng’s head went down again. It wasn’t anger he felt but disappointment. Bitter disappointment. It felt almost as if Tsao Ch’un was making a point. Keeping them waiting to remind them who was Master here.

Maybe. But was this the way to treat one’s most loyal servants?

There was a sudden buzz of noise from the main body of the hall. Li Peng’s head bobbed up at the sound. Had he come? Was Tsao Ch’un here?

At the far end of the hall, near the two big doors that led out to the gardens, there was a disturbance in the crowd. People were being pushed aside. Voices were being raised. At first Li Peng didn’t understand, but then, as the crowd separated, he saw what it was and recognized one of the intruders, a big brute of a man who was naked to the waist.

Li Peng’s mouth fell open in shock.

It was Tsao Ch’un’s bodyguards! His so-called ‘Honest Men’ – a hand-picked little mob of murderers and cut-throats that he had come to depend upon more and more of late. Word had it that they they lorded it over the Black Tower, taking their authority direct from Tsao Ch’un. That their word – their wishes – were as his. Only what were they doing here? To bring them here was
unthinkable
. An outrage!

The heavens knew Tsao Ch’un had been unpredictable of late, but this was shocking behaviour even by his standards.

Li Peng looked across, saw at once how his father had blanched at the sight of Tsao Ch’un’s men. How he now lifted his robes in one hand and hurried towards the stairs.

‘
Aiya!
’ he said, hastening to join his father, pushing past his cousins in his haste. ‘Kuan Yin preserve us from such men!’