Free The Middle Kingdom by David Wingrove Page A

excuses.
    Lehmann met him
halfway, on the path beside the lake.
    "It's good
to see you, Howard. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
    DeVore bowed his
head respectfully, then met the other's eyes. "I've come to
investigate you, Pietr. The General wants answers."
    Lehmann smiled
and turned, taking the Major's arm and walking beside him. "Of
course." Light, filtering through the overhanging vines, made of
his face a patchwork of shadows. "Soren Berdichev is here. And
Edmund Wyatt. But they'll understand, I'm sure."
    Again DeVore
gave the slightest nod. "You know why IVe come?"
    Lehmann glanced
his way, then looked forward again, toward the pagoda. "It's Lwo
Kang's death, isn't it? I knew someone would come. As soon as I heard
the news, I knew. Rumor flies fast up here. Idle tongues and hungry
ears make trouble for us all." He sighed, then glanced at
DeVore. "I understand there are those who are misconstruing
words spoken in my audience with the Minister as a threat. Well, I
assure you, Howard, nothing was farther from my mind. In a strange
way I liked Lwo Kang. Admired his stubbornness. Even so, I find
myself . .. unsurprised. It was as I thought. As I warned. There
are those for whom impatience has become a killing anger."
    DeVore paused,
turning toward the Under Secretary. "I understand. But there are
things I must ask. Things you might find awkward."
    Lehmann shrugged
good-naturedly. "It's unavoidable. The Minister's death was a
nasty business. Ask what you must. I won't be offended."
    DeVore smiled
and walked on, letting Lehmann take his arm again. They had come to
the bridge. For a moment they paused, looking out across the lake.
The peacock cried again.
    "It is
being said that you had most to gain from Lwo Kang's death. His
refusal to accommodate you in the matter of new licenses. His recent
investigations into the validity of certain patents. Most of all his
rigid implementation of the Edict. That last, particularly, has
harmed you and your faction more than most."
    "My
faction? You mean the Dispersionists?" Lehmann was quiet a
moment, considering. "And by removing him I'd stand to gain?"
He shook his head. "I know I've many enemies, Howard, but surely
even they credit me with more subtlety than that."
    They walked on
in silence. As they reached the pagoda, the two men on the terrace
came across and stood at the top of the slatted steps.
    "Soren!
Edmund!" DeVore called out to them, mounting the narrow stairway
in front of Lehmann. "How are you both?" They exchanged
greetings, then went inside, into a large, hexagonal room. Black
lacquered walls were inset with porcelain in intricate and richly
colored designs. The ceiling was a single huge mosaic; a double helix
of tiny, brightly colored pythons surrounded by a border of vivid
blue-white stars. Four simple backless stools with scrolled,
python-headed feet stood on the polished block-tile floor,
surrounding a low hexagonal table. On the table was a small green
lacquered box.
    Despite the
heaviness, the formality of design, the room seemed bright and airy.
Long, wide-slatted windows looked out onto the lake, the orchard, and
the surrounding meadows. The smell of blossom lingered in the air.
    It was almost
more Han than the Han, DeVore observed uneasily, taking a seat next
to Lehmann. A rootless, unconscious mimicry. Or was it more than
that? Was it Han culture that was the real virus in the bloodstream
of these Hung Mao; undermining them, slowly assimilating them,
"as a silkworm devours a mulberry leaf." He smiled wryly to
himself as the words of the ancient historian Ssu Ma Ch'ien came to
mind. Ah, yes, we know their history, their sayings. These things
have usurped our own identity. Well, by such patience shall I, in
turn, devour them. I'll be the silkworm delving in their midst.
    "So how's
the Security business?"
    DeVore turned on
his stool, meeting Edmund Wyatt's query with a smile.
    "Busy. As
ever in-this wicked world."
    Despite long
years of acquaintanceship Wyatt and he