Tempted Tigress (18 page)

Mother Francis wasn't very nice to him because she's a shrew. She said he wasn't a God-fearing man. She's stupid because he gave us everything! I got a necklace too. It's a real pearl on a string and I'm never taking it off because Susanna will steal it like she stole my doll.

Best of all, he said I should call him Father. He said because my father and he were such good friends, my father would want him to be my new father and that it was all perfect. I have a real father again! And best of all, he lives in Shanghai! He can come visit me whenever he wants. Mother Francis said she would never allow me to live with that man because he didn't go to church.

I don't care. I'm going to live with him some day. He's going to be my real father! And he said I looked beautiful in my new dress! I have a FATHER!!!!!

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:

And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

from "Kubla Khan: Or, a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment"

Chapter 8

Zhi-Gang sipped his tea carefully as he stretched his legs out in Governor Bai's main dining room. The man hadn't lied; this was indeed the Emperor's favorite tea blend. Which meant the governor had spent time with Lie-Zi. Which meant he might well recognize both Zhi-Gang and Jing-Li as the Emperor's great friends who were now running for their lives. Unless, of course, he knew that Zhi-Gang was the Enforcer, in which case, Bai might just be shaking in his boots. It was hard to tell.

Zhi-Gang smiled up at his host, pretending to savor the special tea. In truth, he barely wet his lips as he tried to plan. He had never excelled at court politics, preferring instead to discuss matters of public policy or Confucian ethics. But some things were simple survival in Peking, and so his actions were rote. He had already enjoyed the good meal, since he was fairly certain none of it would be poisoned. He was still too much an unknown for Governor Bai to kill him outright. And while he traded pleasantries and gossip, he took his time inspecting the governor's home.

The man was clearly corrupt, with an eye for opulence and a taste for female flesh. Zhi-Gang had already heard at length about the governor's five concubines. That alone indicated corruption. No man could afford five women on his official salary. And given the way the man eyed Marie despite her hideous clothing, Zhi-Gang knew Bai was interested in a swap as well.

At one time, Zhi-Gang might actually have considered it. What was a woman but something to barter, made for a man's enjoyment and to be used for his own ends? That was what he'd been taught and how most of the elite behaved. But not Zhi-Gang, and certainly not since the nightmares had returned. His sister should not have been bartered. His "wife" would not either.

He still intended to offer her up for Bai's use. An offer was an enticement, a ploy, a tease. It gave him an excuse to enter the governor's home and look around. Jing-Li would naturally be doing his own investigations among the servants. Between the two of them, they would find ample blackmail material on this corrupt dog. Which meant that his little drug-runner wife would remain his and his alone.

The thought made Zhi-Gang smile in anticipation. Meanwhile, Jing-Li was whistling that ridiculous opera aria he so loved. It was a signal, of course. It meant the man had found something. Wonderful, but unneeded. Zhi-Gang had already learned enough on his own. But at least his friend was now in position by the door. It was finally time to act.

Zhi-Gang delicately pretended to sip from his full teacup while he leaned back in his cushioned seat. His knives were in easy reach, still on his belt, and his vision was clear enough at this distance—a mere table width—to act effectively.

"You spoke no lie," he drawled, indicating the tea. "This is indeed the Emperor's favorite blend, and you are obviously favored of the Son of Heaven."

The governor preened.

"You are aware, I assume, that the Emperor has taken ill? That his mother, the revered Empress Dowager, is forced to rule in his stead?"

The man nodded. All knew, even governors of a backwater hole such as this.

"Then you know as well that it is a lie."

Governor Bai leaned forward. "Truly? What have you heard?"

Zhi-Gang almost rolled his eyes. Did the man think he was being subtle? With a sudden burst of fury, Zhi-Gang threw his tea in the moron's face. He was then across the room, both his knives pressed hard against the man's fleshy chin before Bai could do more than sputter. Then Zhi-Gang began to release his rancor.

"Do not lie to me, traitor to China! You serve me the Emperor's drugging tea and think I do not know who you are? What you are doing?"

"No! No!" the man gasped. "The tea is pure! I drink it all the time!"

It was a lie; the governor would only bring this brew out for special guests. He would not waste it unless there was someone to impress. Of course, Zhi-Gang's accusations were also a lie, but that did not stop him from pressing his blade harder against the man's flesh or making a show of tensing his arms in preparation of a killing stroke.

"Fool! I know it is laced with a white man's poison, one that makes the will weak and the mind open."

Bai's eyes were darting from Zhi-Gang's face to the door. He was wondering where his guards were. But Jing-Li had clearly taken care of them. Lazy bodyguards were easy to distract, and now Jing-Li stepped into the governor's full view.

"Confess all, Governor," Jing-Li said with pretend regret. "It is the only way to save your life."

"C-confess?" the man stammered. "Confess to what?"

"We know the truth. We know that you are in league with the Emperor to poison all of China—"

"No!"

"We know that you buy opium from the whites and sell it to China's poor—those you have sworn to protect!"

"Ahggg..." It wasn't clear what the man meant to say, but his expression clearly admitted guilt.

"Slaves, too," Zhi-Gang continued. "China's flowers sold to the whites through the rat I just killed this morning."

The man's eyes were bulging in terror, but his hands gripped Zhi-Gang's arms. "Not me..." he whispered.

"Dog! Do you not understand? We have already learned of these things! Do you imagine I would have killed the slaver before learning of these things? We already know of your crimes!" Then he dropped his voice, his posture stiffening as he delivered the final blow. "And as the Emperor's Enforcer, I have the right to execute you for your crimes."

He saw understanding seep into the governor's feeble mind. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he studied Zhi-Gang's face, and then Bai abruptly paled. "But... but... But the Enforcer wears glasses!" he gasped. "Lie-Zi told me!"

Zhi-Gang grinned. "I could put them on if you like."

The man sputtered, his gaze darting about the room to no point. His guards were not coming. Zhi-Gang allowed him to stall—for a time—but in the end, he began his interrogation. "Tell me about these girls you have sold."

"But it is nothing!" Bai gasped. "Peasant girls sold by their paren—" His words were cut off on a gasp as Zhi-Gang drew blood. The crimson stain welled on the edge of his blade, shiny in the lantern glow.

"Do not women add value to a man's home? Beauty and song? Sweet nectar for their husband's pleasure, and sons to bless his old age?"

"Peasants and ugly girls," the governor whispered. "No one of value."

Rage darkened Zhi-Gang's thoughts, and his hands trembled with the need to slit this bastard's throat. Bai was a putrid excuse for a governor and part of a system of graft and illicit trade that the Emperor had tried to end. It actually hurt Zhi-Gang to pretend—even for a moment—that this corrupt system was supported by the Son of Heaven. But he claimed allegiance to the Empress Dowager. Therefore, all corruption had to stem from the enemy camp—her son—when the blame lay far more at the eunuchs' feet.

Either way, Bai had important information. But Zhi-Gang felt sullied by the game he had once embraced. So he jerked his head in Jing-Li's direction, signaling that his friend should continue the interrogation. He had already grown weary of it.

Jing-Li crossed the room on silent feet to stand over the quivering governor. "Who bought the girls?"

When the man did not answer, Jing-Li set a firm hand on Zhi-Gang's arm, pressing gently backward. Zhi-Gang hadn't even realized how hard he pushed on the governor's neck. The man didn't dare speak for fear of slitting his own throat. And still, Zhi-Gang found it difficult to pull away. So he leaned forward instead, whispering his words for fear that he might scream them otherwise.

"You kill China, do you know that? Every bribe that warms your body steals food from the people's mouths. Every time you smoke an opium pipe, you open China's doors to the white thieves that kill our country. That you would dare sell our children to the ghost devils makes you worse than a dog. Your life is forfeit, Governor Bai." He would have finished it then. He would have drawn the blades together with relish if it were not for Jing-Li.

His friend eyed him with a dark warning, the words clear though totally unspoken:
Do not push too hard. We are still outnumbered and very far from our friends.

Zhi-Gang swallowed. Corruption was part of China and had been since long before even the Qing ruled this land. One man could not hope to stand against it, least of all himself, and yet the need burned inside him nonetheless. In the end, necessity stayed his hands. He pushed away with a snort of disgust, turning his back to this dog who had—at a minimum—allowed his sister to be sold.

"Save your life, Governor." Jing-Li spoke in a low undertone, inaudible to any but the three of them. "Tell us of the girls. Where did they go from here? Who purchased them?"

"I... I only know of three. Brothels in Shanghai where... where I had no need to pay."

"Name them."

He did. With the ease of a steady customer. Zhi-Gang turned to face him. "And when you went there to whore, did you ever look in the girls' eyes? Did you recognize their faces as the children of the servants who draw your water, as the babies of the farmers who grow your food? Did you see them and remember? Even once? As you rutted between their legs?"