The Dragon and the Needle (14 page)

‘I can’t …’ Was there a note of hysteria in her voice? She started again, ‘I can’t understand what you are saying to me.’ As she said those words she regained some confidence – sometimes to argue back gave strength. ‘First you talk about my husband, assuming I believe he’s alive … then what makes you think for a moment, that Dr Clifford would be on anyone’s side? Let alone China! He is a doctor!’ She paused. Was Ah-Ming still there? She had not heard him ring off.
‘Hullo? Hullo!’ she repeated, then, ‘Are you there?’ There was no reply. The line had gone dead.

Before she finally fell asleep, Eleanor began to concentrate her thoughts on her future. Especially the immediate future. How far was the CIA involved? And Mike? He must be involved at the highest levels, but not with China, nor any Oriental country, nor would he ever be tied to a foreign power or group. Ah-Ming was playing games. Were these mystery deaths really murders? Purpose killings? Was Oriental medicine being used as a means of … She checked her thoughts and sat upright in bed. Then her thoughts came rushing back into her brain. Professor Dorman’s death was murder, obvious assassination. But the others throughout the world? There was no known cause. Perhaps Dorman was beginning to know too much? He had to be killed quickly.

She got up and went across to the window. As she looked out at the quiet street below she thought of the changes taking place in her life. Her eyes travelled upwards to the sky. A full moon was appearing from behind fast-moving clouds. She looked at her watch. It showed four o’clock. The full moon was near the Tiger Day and she remembered that Tiger Days were propitious in China for military adventures.

‘What have I done?’ she said aloud, and then silently to herself: It’s not a question of what I have done, but what I’m going to do.

Later that day she was having lunch with Mike. As he spoke to her about the intelligence branches in London, he covered briefly the need for her to be vetted by the Americans.

She said, ‘Why?’

‘Because that’s the way it’s done. And not only vetted.’ He paused, looking into her eyes with love and concern and went on, ‘They may want to send you on a course, teaching you how to look after yourself.’ He hesitated again, but smiling at her, said, ‘Though I’ll always be around to help.’

‘Look after myself?’ She felt sick inside.

He sensed her mood, and took one of her hands in his. ‘Look, Eleanor, my commitment to all this is total. Not only to bring to justice Dorman’s killers but also to stop these terrible deaths!’

‘I know,’ she said.

‘And for the moment,’ he continued, ‘you say we must not tell anything to the police.’

‘No!’ She took her hands away from his and stared into her after-lunch coffee cup. Mike glanced across to the table where his bodyguard was sitting. The man was in deep conversation with a colleague, but frequently looked in his direction.

Mike lowered his voice to a loud whisper. ‘Eleanor,’ he murmured and the quietness of his voice made her look up at him quickly, ‘MI5, the CIA, and others, all of them, they’re in this up to their necks. So are we!’

‘I realise that, Mike.’ She thought, the less said, the better.

He went on, quietly. ‘Somewhere in the world there is some one, or some group, or country, intent on destroying our civilised way of life. Whatever we think of our civilisation, it’s all we’ve got. A way of killing is being used against us. We’ve got to do all we can to defeat it.’

‘The way you’ve put it makes me feel like it’s a kind of crusade.’

She understood what he meant. It was time for her to stop rummaging through her mind on rights or wrongs. It was like drinking a glass of clear cold water, that cleanses the system on a hot day.

‘You know,’ she said, ‘I’m ready to do what I can to help.’

Although Mike had warned Eleanor, the vetting, screening, questioning and speed of interviews came as a surprise. For a few days no one contacted her, not even Ah-Ming. Then the letter arrived in her office from the American Embassy.

She glanced at the American Eagle on the envelope. As she pulled out the letter from its envelope she guessed what she would read; as she did so her heart missed a beat: so this was it! ‘Read on!’ she said aloud. It was straight to the point:

Dear Doctor Johnson,
Would you be kind enough to call me here at the Embassy on receipt of this? It’s a matter of some importance and urgent …

The letter finished with the writer’s extension number.

Eleanor reached for her direct outside line and dialled the Embassy. The extension number was answered immediately. The man’s voice had that quiet air of authority possessed by diplomats. It thanked her for calling so quickly, and asked her if nine o’clock the next day would be convenient for her to call at the Embassy to see him. When she hesitated, he firmly, though politely, insisted she must come tomorrow. She agreed, and he had the final word. ‘It could be wise,’ the man said, ‘to begin organising the temporary shut-down of your medical practice.’ He rang off abruptly, not giving her time to agree or disagree.

Well, she thought, here we go!

Within a few minutes she was calling her friend Margaret again. She came to the point immediately. ‘Can you take over my patients from tomorrow?’ Eleanor asked.

‘Of course,’ Margaret said. ‘For how long?’

‘At least a month.’

‘A month!’ Margaret laughed into the telephone. ‘Some people are lucky!’ Then she said seriously, ‘I’m glad you’re going to have a rest. Are you going away?’

‘Not exactly, Margaret,’ Eleanor spoke with care, her lips against the mouthpiece. ‘I have to go to France to see a sick patient and then escort her back to New York, where she lives.’

‘Aren’t there any relatives who could help?’

‘No, that’s the problem.’ She marvelled at herself, that lying came so easily to her – she seldom resorted to untruths. ‘Whilst I’m in the States, there are some loose ends I want to tie up there.’ She waited for Margaret to speak, but there was only a leaden silence. Eleanor spoke loudly, ‘Are you there?’

‘Yes, of course I am. I was thinking.’

Was Margaret such a close friend after all?

‘Well, if you think you can’t help,’ Eleanor said, ‘I’ll hang up, and try to find someone else.’

‘No, wait!’ Margaret exclaimed, afraid Eleanor would put down the phone. ‘I thought you were having a rest, and it just seems strange to me.’

‘What seems strange?’

‘That you need to go to such lengths for a patient.’

‘Well, why on earth shouldn’t I?’

‘Eleanor, are you in some kind of trouble? I can sense it in your voice.’

Damn! Eleanor thought. I’m not such a good liar after all. She couldn’t go back now. ‘Trouble? No, certainly not. Look, perhaps I’ll have to think of another way to organise things.’

That seemed to settle it for Margaret. ‘If you think it’s the only way you can help your patient, then of course I’ll help.’

Eleanor breathed silently with relief and went on to explain that she might not be away for the whole month. Julie would tie up patients at Margaret’s convenience; she would send copies of all the patients’ health records. She finished by saying, ‘That’s marvellous of you, Margaret. Thanks!’

‘You just take care of yourself as well, my dear.’

As Eleanor replaced the receiver, she was conscious of the great changes coming into her life. She was giving up the care of her patients instead of looking after them. The sooner it was all over, the better.

She called Julie and asked her to come into her consulting
room. She knew that this might be more difficult than the call she had just made to Margaret. Yet her lying to Margaret was actually a half-truth, for she did have a patient in France. She realised that Julie, an intelligent girl, had already sensed that Eleanor was involved in a serious drama of some sort. Mike’s bodyguard had been very secretive at the dinner they had shared, but had indicated that his responsibility was to care for Mike’s safety.

Julie did not ask any questions, but she became disturbed as Eleanor gave her the instructions to carry out for Margaret Wormald, and the reasons for her leaving London. ‘But, Doctor, you haven’t seen your patient in France for a long time now and …’

‘I had a call at home from her. She’s far from well and homesick for New York. She’s over seventy – I feel I owe it to her, Julie.’

Julie seemed reassured and said, ‘Oh, I see. I understand. Do you want me to write to her?’

‘No. As a matter of fact, I’ve arranged everything myself.’ As Julie showed surprise, Eleanor rapidly added, ‘The whole idea of a break appeals to me as well, Julie.’

The young woman immediately looked happier and responded quickly. She had been worried about her boss for quite a while. ‘That’s a different matter, Doctor. You know you can leave everything safely in my hands.’

By the following morning Eleanor was ready for her encounter at the American Embassy. She was taken down to the lower depths of the building and led into a large office. An intelligent-looking man was sitting behind a huge desk, empty except for a telephone and a large file, open in front of him. She guessed he was in his early forties. After formal introductions he watched her coolly, summing her up. Eleanor was the first to speak.

‘That’s a large file in front of you. Surely it’s nothing to do with me?’

He smiled thinly. ‘Wrong,’ he said. ‘It has a lot to do with you.’

‘How come?’

‘We have files on everyone who may be able to help us.’

‘I see,’ she replied nervously.

‘Oh, don’t be worried,’ he urged, ‘it’s good to know that Uncle Sam has patriots like you, willing to help him.’

‘In what way do you think I can help?’

‘I think that Dr Mike Clifford has gone some way to explain that.’

She nodded agreement.

‘Well,’ he continued, ‘just as the States has been the leading military light in the United Nations, it’s also got similar influence in the World Health Organization.’

‘I see.’

He leaned forward to emphasise his words. ‘Dr Johnson. There’s no need for me to beat about the bush. These mystery deaths have reached the point of becoming pandemic; not in the sense of the cause being disease, but the way in which it’s affecting the whole world. Now there is a finger pointing in a certain direction, as to the cause.’

‘And what direction is that?’ she asked.

‘It’s towards China.’

She frowned, and it was not missed by him.

He stared at her. ‘It’s simple, really.’ His eyes hardened as he spoke. ‘China decided quite rightly that she could not succeed militarily against the world. So she has chosen another way.’

Eleanor thought of Ah-Ming, and then suddenly wished that Mike was with her and then, that he had told her more of Dorman’s ideas and his own. But she reacted quickly enough. ‘And what way is that?’

‘That is what we have to find out!’ Then he paused, placing
his hands on top of the file. ‘This file has told us a lot about your background.’ He flipped through some pages and then stopped at one of them. ‘Here, for instance, we read of your marriage to a Chinese doctor, who was later murdered.’ He looked up at her and said, ‘That must have been terrible for you.’

She nodded slowly but inwardly prepared herself for the inevitable information that would follow.

‘You went back to China after his death. Why did you do that?’

‘I wanted to study and learn more about Oriental medicine. To carry on his work.’

‘And on several occasions, Doctor, when you were in Beijing, you were interrogated by the Chinese police.’

They had dug deep, she thought. ‘Yes.’

‘And you were detained by them.’

‘No, although they thought that perhaps I was politically involved.’

‘Why didn’t you make contact with our ambassador?’

‘There was no need to ask for help.’

‘But weren’t you a bit alarmed or frightened?’

‘Yes, I suppose I was. But had I done that it might have made things difficult for my Chinese friends.’

He smiled. ‘Do you have any Chinese friends over here and in the States?’

‘Yes, of course. Many of them help to keep me up to date with Oriental medicine.’

‘Up to date?’ he repeated the words. ‘But I thought Oriental medicine was thousands of years old.’

There was a long silence during which she stared at him, while he returned the blank expression. What was he trying to do? Make her angry? She was troubled in her mind.

At last she broke the silence by saying in a cold voice, ‘Do you believe Oriental medicine can help in finding the causes of ENDS?’

His eyes shifted from her face to his desk, then he looked at her with a sideways glance and said, ‘I’m very sceptical about acupuncture being of help, but I suppose we must follow every possible path. Do you think Oriental medicine will lead us to a successful solution?’

His question put Eleanor on edge. She knew how to sidestep most questions about acupuncture; this one was not so easy. She said, ‘It might do that. On the other hand I’ve no basic reason to think it would – at the moment.’

‘Perhaps you mean some way in which infected needles are being used during treatment?’

‘No, not these days. So many people use the therapy and by now any virus would have been identified.’

‘The British seem to believe that you can help to solve the ENDS problem.’

‘It’s surely a matter of finding out why these people are dying. There is no disease apparent at all, is there?’ Feeling more relaxed, as they moved away from awkward questions, she smiled and went on, ‘Perhaps it’s the old story.’

‘What would that be?’

‘We get called in when Western medicine comes to a dead end.’

‘Well, we’ve certainly got too many dead ends – literally. Anyway, Doctor, we will be giving the OK to MI5, the British area of contact for you. You’ll find that will come from Dr Clifford. And good luck.’

On the way to the door of his office he said, ‘By the way, have you recently had any contact with your late husband’s father?’

She was startled by his question. ‘I’ve been told he’s dead,’ she replied coldly.

As he opened the door for her he said, ‘I’m so sorry.’

She left the Embassy feeling that the interview was absurdly inconclusive and yet … they were clever people, living with intrigue. She began to ask herself why he had asked her about
Chen’s father, and why he had not probed deeper about China and her time there. Did he know about Ah-Ming? Was her husband still alive in China? And if so, did he know that too? Had she in fact done all right? Not too badly, she thought. But now she needed to see Mike very badly.