She turned away, suddenly very still. Her voice changed, became smaller and yet harder than before. ‘Then let a thousand sing-song girls come. Let them be wives to you. But not Fei Yen...'
He went to her, taking her shoulders gently, wanting, despite his anger, to make things right between them, but she shrugged him off, turning violently to confront him, the fury in her eyes making him take a step back.
‘What kind of a woman do you think I am? Do you think me like them? Do you really think I have no pride?' She drew herself up straighter. ‘Am I not the wife of a great prince?'
‘You know what you are!'
‘No. I only know what you would have me be.'
He went to answer her, but she shook her head dismissively, her eyes boring into him. ‘I tried hard, Li Yuan. Tried to dispel my doubts and tell myself it was Nan Ho. I tried to be loving to you. To be a good wife in every way. And how did you repay me? By cheating on me. By bringing in those whores behind my back...'
He felt something snap in him. This was too much. To call his girls whores. Even so, he answered her quietly.
‘Be careful what you say, Fei Yen. Those girls were my maids. They took good care of me in my childhood. I have a great affection for them.'
She laughed scornfully. ‘Whores...'
His bark of anger made her jump. ‘Hold your tongue, woman!'
He stood there commandingly, suddenly very different; all childishness, all concession gone from him. He was shouting now. ‘It is not your place to criticize me. I have done nothing wrong. Understand me? Nothing! But you...' He shivered with indignation. ‘To have the audacity to dismiss Master Nan... Who in the God of Hell's name do you think you are?'
She did not answer. But her eyes glared back at him, their look wild and dangerous.
‘Nan Ho stays, understand me? And I shall see the girls, as that's my wish.'
He saw a shudder of pure rage ripple through her and felt himself go cold inside. Her face seemed suddenly quite ugly; her lips too thin, her nose too brittle, her perfect brow furrowed with lines of anger. It was as if she were suddenly bewitched, her words spat back at him through a mask of hatred.
‘If that's your wish, so be it. But do not expect me in your bed, Prince Yuan. Not tonight. Or any other night.'
His laughter was harsh; a bitter, broken sound; the antithesis of laughter.
‘So be it.'
He turned and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him as he went, his departing footsteps echoing, unrelenting, on the marble tiles.
DeVore was pressed up against the wall, Gesell's knife at his throat.
‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you.'
DeVore stared back at Gesell, a vague, almost lazy sense of distaste in his eyes.
‘Because I don't know what you're talking about.'
‘You lying bastard. You killed those two men. You must have. You were the only one outside the central committee who knew what they were doing. Only you knew how crucial they were to our plans.'
There was a movement behind Gesell.
‘Not the only one...'
Gesell turned. Mach had come in silently. He stood there, watching them. Ascher went across, confronting him, her anger, if anything, more pronounced than Gesell's.
‘I say we kill him. He's m">otstm"> Mabetrayed us. Spat on us.'
Mach shook his head. ‘He's done nothing. Let him go.'
‘No!' Gesell twisted DeVore's collar tighter. ‘Emily's right. We can't trust him after this.'
Mach pushed past the woman. ‘For the gods' sakes, let him go, Bent. Don't you understand? I killed them.'
Gesell laughed uncertainly. ‘You?'
Mach took the knife from Gesell's hand and sheathed it, then removed his hand from DeVore's collar. Only then did he turn and look at DeVore, inclining his head slightly.
‘I apologize, Shih Turner. You must excuse my brother. He was not to know.'
‘Of course,' DeVore stretched his neck slightly, loosening the muscles there.
Gesell rounded on Mach. ‘Well? What the hell's been happening?'
‘I'm sorry, Bent. I had no time to warn you. Besides, I wasn't sure. Not until I'd checked.'
‘Sure of what?'
‘They were Security. Both of them. They must have been sleepers. Records show they left Security five years back – a year before they joined us.'
A slight tightening about DeVore's eyes was the only sign that he was interested, but none of the others in the room noticed it, or the way he rubbed at his wrist, as if relieving an itch there; they were watching Mach, horrified by this new development.
‘Security...' Gesell hissed through his teeth. ‘Gods...'
‘There are others, too. Three more. In two separate cells.'
‘You made checks?'
Mach nodded. ‘I'm keeping tags on them. They'll hear what happened. I want to see what they'll do. Whether they'll sit tight or run. If they run I want them. Alive, if possible. I want to find out what they're up to.'
Ascher was shaking her head. ‘It doesn't make sense. If they had their men inside our organization, why didn't they act over Helmstadt?'
Mach glanced at DeVore, conscious of how much he was giving away simply by talking in front of him, but he'd had no choice. If Gesell had killed DeVore, they'd have been back to square one. Or worse: they might have found themselves in a tit-for-tat war with DeVore's lieutenants. It was almost certain that the man had given orders to that effect before he'd come here at Gesell's summons.
He turned, facing Ascher. ‘I thought of that. But that's how it works sometimes. They're ordered to sit tight until the thing's big enough and ripe enough to be taken. They obviously thought that Helmstadt was worth sacrificing.'
‘Or that you wouldn't succeed...' DeVore said.
Mach looked at him. ‘Maybe...'
The three men had been an advance squad; trained technicians. Their job had been to locate the communications nerve-centres surrounding Bremen. It was a delicate, sensitive job; one upon which the success or failure of the whole attack depended. The idea was for them to place special devices at these loci – devices that the regular maintenance crews would think were innocuous parts of the complex of delicate wiring. Those devices would sit there, unused, for months, until the day when the Ping Tiao launched their attack. Then they would be triggered and Bremen would suffer a massive communications blackout.
That had been the plan. But now things were in chaos.
Gesell looked down. ‘Do you think they've passed on what they knew?&rMayat Hheyemen woulsquo;
Mach shrugged, his expression bitter. Even killing them had not appeased his anger. ‘I don't know. I hoped to keep one of them alive for questioning, but they fought hard. It was as if they'd been ordered not to be taken alive.'
‘That's so.' Again DeVore entered the conversation. He moved closer. ‘You should take one of them now, before they hear of it.'
Ascher nodded. ‘I think he's right. What if they take poison or something?'
Mach shivered, then bowed his head. ‘Okay. We'll take them now. But if it's like it was with the others, it won't be easy.'
DeVore narrowed his eyes, studying Mach. His respect for the man had grown enormously. Matton and Tucker had been two of his best men; not merely good at their task of infiltrating the Ping Tiao but good fighters, too. He was sorry to lose them. Sorry, too, to have had his network of spies uncovered, his eye amongst the Ping Tiao blinded. Now he would have to depend upon cruder means – on bribery and blackmail. Unsatisfactory means.
‘Concentrate on just one of them,' he said, meeting Mach's eyes. ‘Take him yourself. Then bind him tightly, so there's no chance of him harming himself. After that you should do things slowly. Time, that's all it needs. Time will break the spirit of any man. Then you'll find out what you want to know.'
Mach stared back at him steadily. ‘You've done this?'
DeVore nodded. ‘Many times.'
‘Then I'll do as you say.'
DeVore smiled. ‘Good.' But it would be too late. As soon as Mach had revealed what he had done, DeVore had pressed the tiny panel at his wrist, opening the channel that switched everything he was saying direct into the heads of his three surviving agents. Already his men would have heard his words and taken the appropriate action.
‘And if we discover nothing?' Gesell asked, looking directly at DeVore.
‘Then we continue. We must assume now that they know about our plan to attack Bremen, but not when or where we will strike. Or how precisely. Meanwhile, it would profit us to seem to change our plans. To look for other targets. And let them know...'
Mach looked up again, smiling for the first time since he had entered the room. ‘I like that. A diversion...'
DeVore nodded and smiled back at him. ‘What does Sun Tzu say? "The crux of military operations lies in the pretence of accommodating one's self to the designs of the enemy." Well, we shall seem to back off, as if discovered, but in reality we shall continue with our scheme. If they know nothing of your plans then no harm has been done today. And even if they do, they'll not expect us to pursue it after this, neh?'
Mach studied him thoughtfully a moment, then nodded. ‘Yes. But I must go. Before they hear...'
Haavikko closed the door behind him then gave a small shudder, staring at the tiny slip of plastic in his hand. His senior officer had been only too glad to approve his new posting. From Major Erickson's viewpoint it must have seemed a blessing to be rid of him. He had been nothing but trouble. But now he was Karr's man; part of his special services unit. Still a lieutenant, but with a future now. And a friend.