Daylight on Iron Mountain (32 page)

‘Chi Lin Lin? What’s up? You don’t look the ticket.’

Chi Lin Lin looked down. He seemed reluctant to answer Jake. Then he started to cry.

Jake reached out and took his shoulders gently in his hands. ‘
Aiya
… what’s the matter?’

Chi looked up at Jake through his tears. ‘I went home. To have a shower
and get a change of clothes. And while I was there… well, there have been rumours,
Shih
Reed. Awful, terrible rumours.’

Jake felt a strange dread. ‘What kind of rumours?’

Chi looked past Jake at the wall-mounted camera, as if afraid to say what he was about to say, then said it anyway.

‘They say that Tsao Ch’un has killed one of his closest servants. One of the Seven. They say…’ His lip trembled. ‘They say it’s war.’

‘What’s that?’ Yang said, coming across. ‘
War?
What nonsense is this, Chi Lin Lin? You’ve not been spreading rumours have you, boy? The gods help us all if you have, because—’

Jake cut him off. ‘It’s war. I thought it was earlier. And now I’m sure of it.’ He looked to Chi again. ‘What else are they saying?’

‘Nothing. At least, nothing that makes sense. There have been deaths, it seems. Random assassinations. Awful things, apparently. But no one knows anything for sure. The news channels… they’re hiding it. Trying to make out that all’s well and nothing’s changed, only…’

‘I knew it,’ Jake said. ‘I thought it had to be that. Tsao Ch’un and the Seven, finally at each other’s throats.’

‘Gods!’ Yang said, appalled. ‘Don’t even say it!’

‘What’s that?’ Advocate Meng asked, coming across.

‘War,’ Jake said, thinking suddenly just how small a matter his case was in the circumstances. ‘Tsao Ch’un has declared war on his trusted servants.’

Jake returned to his room and lay down. He had not slept well the previous night and now he felt exhausted. Even so, he changed the screen onto one of the more reliable news stations, turned the volume down low, then lay back. But sleep quickly overtook him and, when he woke, his head was filled not with thoughts of the war, but with the dreams that had come to him.

Dreams? Or memories?

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the dreams had been of Alison and his days at College. They had never actually gone punting, yet while he slept that was what they were doing, Alison lounging in the long, narrow boat while he pushed them through the water, as the luxuriant green banks of the Isis flowed past.

Somewhere south of the city they had stopped off at a pub and from its
balcony they had looked back at the dreaming spires, framed by his own night-time imaginings in a perfect sunlight that was roseate pink, making the whole thing seem to glow with warmth.

‘Home from home’, he’d used to call it. Which was not surprising, after the spartan austerity of the Academy. That you could have framed in mud and ice and rain. In heaving lungs and aching legs. And other ‘let’s not mention it’ things.

Only it hadn’t all been bad. He remembered how he had enthused to Alison about the datscape. About the smell and feel and touch of it. About the
rush
he got every time he went inside. Addictive, even then.

But that day they had talked about the death of loved ones, and she had sat there, her head slightly tilted to one side as she listened to every word. About the crash, and after. About… well, simply about being. And that evening – in the real world that now seemed like a dream – she had taken his hands and led him to her bed, where they had made love for the first time. Eighteen she was, he nineteen. Destined, she’d said.

Destined.

Here they were, at the tail ends of their lives, and destiny had led them different paths.

He had tried to get her earlier, but she had been too busy to take his call. But now she called him back.

‘We should get you better accommodation,’ she said, looking past him at the state of the room he was in. ‘That can’t be comfortable.’

‘It isn’t, but listen… the case…’

‘I’ve heard from Advocate Meng.’

‘Right… so what’s to be done?’

Alison smiled, somewhat wearily it seemed. ‘It’s already done, I’ve spoken to Ludo and he’s authorized a beefing up of our presence in court. Five new advocates. And I’ve agreed to finance an investigation into Judge Wei and his connection to the Changs.’

Jake stared at her, astonished. ‘How did you manage it? I mean… how the hell did you get this past Wolfgang?’

‘I didn’t. Again you’ve Ludo to thank. He knows how to placate his uncle. He’s the son Wolfgang never had, and he’ll be running things one of these days. You might say that what Ludo wants, Ludo gets. And you’re Ludo’s hero.’

‘
Me?
’ Sheer disbelief made him laugh. ‘You’re spinning me a line, girl!’

‘Not at all. He
loves
the datscape. He’s in it all the time. Once this is over he wants to meet you and…’

The words seemed to die on her lips. She looked down, her face changing suddenly. ‘Jake…?’

‘What?’

‘These rumours…’

He could see she wanted reassuring. That for all that she seemed in control, she was still a little girl. Her father’s daughter. The same little girl he had met all those years ago. So tough on the outside, but inside…

‘It’ll sort itself out,’ he said. ‘See if it doesn’t.’

‘You think?’

‘I know.’

She smiled, grateful to him. ‘I’ll speak to you later, yeah?’

‘Yeah. And thank Ludo for me.’

Afterwards he sat there, his back against the thick plastic of the wall, staring at the news screen. Wondering if that were so, if it
would
sort itself out, because things were already escalating. There were reports of trouble in the local stacks, appeals for calm.

And then Mary called.

‘Hi, sweetheart, I…’ And then he stopped, taking in her face. She was as white as a sheet. ‘What’s happened?’

He saw how hard it was for her even to begin to say. She was on the verge of breaking down.

‘Some men…’ She took a long, shivering breath, then continued. ‘Big men, thugs… they came here, Jake. Threatened us. They…’

A tear rolled down her cheek.

‘Did they hurt you?’

She shook her head. ‘They…
warned
me. Said…’

‘Said what?’ he asked gently, when she didn’t continue.

He ought to go home. He knew it now. What with all that was going on. Only if he did, the Changs would have won.

‘Listen,’ he said, trying to keep in control. ‘I’ll speak to GenSyn…’

‘
GenSyn?
’ She looked up, staring at him, not understanding. But then she wouldn’t have. He hadn’t told her yet.

‘They’re helping us… I’ll explain it all later. But I’ll try and get protection.
I’m sure we could work something out. Until I’m back.’

Mary looked close to tears again. ‘Can’t you come back now, Jake?’

‘Tomorrow. Once things are settled. I promise you. Only I have to be here now. There’re things need to be decided.’

‘But can’t you do that from here, Jake? I’m…
afraid
.’

That got to him. In all of their life together, she had never been afraid. Not enough to say as much, anyway. Only if he wasn’t in court what kind of signal would that send?

‘Look,’ he said. ‘I’ll sort something out. Okay? And then I’ll call you again. But don’t be afraid, sweetheart. Things will be fine. I promise they will.’

Only what were his promises worth? It wasn’t as if he was an influential man.

He called Alison again and told her what had happened.

‘I’ll get onto it at once,’ she said, clearly pleased that there was something she could do. Some task to keep her busy and stop her worrying about the bigger picture.

Good old Alison
, he thought, as he cut connection.
What would he have done without her?

Only he didn’t have time to think about it, for right then Chi Lin Lin arrived, to tell him he had to get back to court at once.

He arrived, late and breathless, taking his seat even as the Judge began his address.

‘
Who the fuck is that?
’ he asked, leaning in to whisper to Yang.

Yang gripped his arm. ‘
Didn’t Chi tell you? Judge Wei had an accident. This is Judge Yo. He’s in charge of things now.
’

Judge Yo was tall and skeletal in appearance. He looked like a hanging judge: his features, particularly his eyes, exuding a humourless disdain for the proceedings.

‘I will have
silence
while I speak!’ he said coldly, glaring at Yang and Jake. ‘And before we begin, let me make it clear… any attempt to influence my decision will be punished to the full extent of the law. You understand me,
ch’un tzu
? Good. Then let us proceed.’

‘So tell me, ‘ Jake said, three hours later, when they took a break. ‘Is Judge Yo a good thing or bad?’

Meng Hsin-fa looked up from where he was studying some papers he had just received by courier.

‘I’m hoping good. But it’s hard to say. Judge Wei’s accident, it would seem, was far from accidental. And if it
was
the Changs who were to blame, then why would they take such action without knowing who would replace him? No. I would reserve judgement for the time being. But listen. I’ve been instructed to delay things – to seek a postponement until tomorrow. Help is on its way, it seems. Reinforcements.’

The way he smiled made Jake think that there was something he wasn’t telling them.

‘This help… is it something special?’

‘Oh, very special,’ Meng answered, his smile widening. ‘But let’s not spoil it for you, Jake, neh? This is something I want you to see with your own eyes.’

There was a note waiting for him when he went back to his room. Or rather, an envelope, in which there was a note and a key and other things, including a picture of them both when they were young.

Alison and I
, he thought, remembering the day it had been taken. Graduation day. And the year? 2040. August the eighteenth, to be precise. His twenty-first birthday.

They had been the perfect couple, perfectly matched. Only now that he looked at it, across the space of forty-seven years, he could see just how brittle they had been. How shallow the soil in which their love had grown. Like two actors, pretending it was fine, when deep down they both knew it wasn’t.

Destined. How could she ever have thought they were destined?

Looking back across a lifetime, he understood it clearly now. She had always struggled to be sociable, to fit in. There was always some defect in her. A lack. Which was why, perhaps, she had made the change from old world to new so easily. Her indifference to music and to culture in general – something that had been a weakness in the old world – had proved a strength in Tsao Ch’un’s City.

Only it wasn’t fair to single her out. It wasn’t only her, after all.

No, as a Hinton web-dancer he had lived a schizophrenic existence. In the datscape he had been one thing, a magnificent creature of instinct:
sensitized to taste and smell and touch; his brain rewired to do his job; parts of him stripped away by the drugs he took. Devolution to a purpose, they’d termed it. All to improve his web efficiency. But outside…

Outside he had been every bit as shallow as her. Unsentimental. A creature of surfaces, keeping nothing and travelling light, afraid to make too deep a contact with life, because life had this nasty habit of betraying you. When you made attachments it would rob you of them, suddenly and viciously. Hadn’t he learned that much from life? Hadn’t that always been the way of it? Such that, when Alison came along, she had made it easy for him to live like that. Unattached. Pretending everything was fine. Because that was what society had wanted.

And even afterwards, with Kate.

He looked down, saddened by the realizations he had come to.

Yes, even with Kate there had been a part of him that had faked it. He had loved her, true enough, but that love had been a shallow thing, all in all. Shallow enough that he had forgotten about her for years at a stretch. Those years when, in adversity, he had found true love. Had learned to take the risk and love someone as she had deserved to be loved. His sweet darling, Annie.

Yes, and had her taken from him. As if to remind him what the rules were.

Jake smiled, remembering her. How just the thought of her would always make him smile.

Jake set the photograph aside and picked up the key. According to her note, she had found him better quarters, fifty levels up, away from the shithole he was staying in.

Which was kind of her, only what was all of this about? What did Alison want from him? Because she must have known he would never leave Mary. He was much too old for all that…

Or was it just residual fondness?

He thought of the anxiety in her eyes the last time he had spoken to her, and felt a disquieting sadness. That was the trouble with this world. That you couldn’t protect all those people you wanted to protect.

Jake packed up his things and made to leave. But first he checked the news once more, the screen lighting up to show a familiar media face.

Chiu Fa had been on earlier, rubbishing the rumours. Chiu was one of the more famous newscasters, popular in the Mids, and his calming reassurance seemed to have done the trick there. But down here in the Lowers
there was unrest, as the word-of-mouth rumours spread of military activity and a whole spate of assassinations.

If it wasn’t a war, then
something
was going on. A campaign against the Triads? That was one rumour. Only that couldn’t be true, because if it were the Ministry would be working its propaganda channels for all they were worth.

No. This was something that
involved
the Thousand Eyes.

Jake was returning the key to the desk clerk when Chi Lin Lin found him again.

‘
Shih
Reed… you must come at once.’

‘Is there trouble, Chi?’

Chi almost smiled. ‘There is always trouble, neh, Master?’

Jake noted that ‘Master’. Chi had clearly reassessed things.

But this once Chi didn’t lead him to the courts, but to a bar in the Mids, close to Jake’s new quarters. Meng Hsin-fa and his team were waiting there, along with Yang Hong Yu.