Daylight on Iron Mountain by David Wingrove Read Free Book Online Page A

once Number One stepped back, as if Jiang had drawn a gun. He yelled at Jiang.
    ‘What are you doing?’
    Jiang winced. Was their whole conversation to be nothing but a shouting match?
    ‘I have come to see Chun Hua,’ he said, trying to remain calm, not to let himself be drawn down to this other’s level. ‘That in your hand is the minister’s permission. As you’ll see, it has his chop…’
    ‘His chop? Fuck his chop!’ the man said and tore the permission in half.
    Jiang stared at him, shocked. ‘But you can’t…’
    Jiang stopped. Maybe he could. That was, if he was Tsao Ch’un’s man, answerable to him alone. And that did make a kind of sense. Maybe Steward Ho had got it wrong. Maybe all that money had been spent for nothing.
    Jiang took a long breath, then began again.
    ‘Forgive me, Steward…?’
    ‘Shao Shu… I am First Steward here. You want to see someone, you get
my
permission,
understand
?’
    ‘Forgive me, First Steward Shao. It is
my
misunderstanding. Only I wish to see Chun Hua.’
    ‘Chun Hua?’ The man’s face had a faint flicker of mockery in it that Jiang found troubling. He stroked his beard, as if considering. ‘Well, I don’t know, I…’
    ‘Is there a problem? She is here, I take it?’
    ‘Ah yes… only…’
    How much?
he wanted to ask; only he knew he could not be that direct. Men like Shao liked to wrap their corruption up in the guise of necessity.
    ‘I understand,’ Jiang said. ‘There are expenses, neh? The preparation of the rooms… the attendance fee for your clerks…’
    First Steward Shao smiled. ‘I am glad you understand, General. I will have my assistant draft an agreement.’
    ‘Oh…’ Jiang Lei frowned. ‘I thought maybe…’
    ‘We have your details, General. You have only to authorize the payment.’
    Jiang blinked.
The bastard was tipped off. He knew I was coming.
    But what could he do? Turn about and march away from there? Leave the odious little prick without his ‘fee’ ? But that would mean he’d not get to see Chun Hua, and that was worth a great deal to him right now.
    He waited. Five minutes passed. Long, wordless minutes that stretched his patience, and then finally the clerk appeared.
    As one of the younger servants knelt, his head bowed, to make a back for the document to be rested on for signature, Jiang looked to Shao Shu again. Shao was watching him intently now, to see how he’d react.
    Even forewarned by that, the figure written on the sheet shocked Jiang Lei.
    Fifty thousand yuan!
    The involuntary intake of breath he took betrayed him. Even so, he kept his face blank, signing his name in both Mandarin and English, then appending his thumb print over Shao Shu’s chop.
    Another of the First Steward’s men took the document at once and whisked it away. He was gone in a moment.
    It was a full month’s salary. And though he could afford it, even though he was willing to pay twice that to see his beloved wife and daughters, Jiang was angry now. It was a clear abuse of Shao’s position.
    The junior stewards stepped back to allow Jiang passage, while FirstSteward Shao, all charm and smiles now that he’d been paid, bowed low and put out an arm, indicating to Jiang that he was to step through.
    Inside, beyond the security gate, five whole levels at the very top of the stack – First Level as it was known – were occupied by a massive three-storey mansion built in the northern style. Its steeply sloping red tile roof was lit from overhead by panels that resembled the open sky. That was an illusion, of course, but it was a striking one, strengthened as it was by the call of birds in a nearby copse of trees, the branches of which swayed gently in the artificial wind.
    Jiang caught his breath. The house and its surrounding gardens were beautiful. He could imagine Chun Hua and the girls enjoying life here.
    ‘Come,’ Shao said, walking towards a doorway to their right, which was accessible by a short flight of pale grey steps. ‘I