Free The Second Wave by Leska Beikircher Page B

met them at the back door, all but a
teenager, and led them to his chamber via a few secret passageways.
His official employer didn’t need to know just how deep their own
security specialist was involved with the local organized
crime.
    “This is so cool!” George blurted out when he
inspected the ticket. They were in his lab, sitting on the floor.
The computers surrounding them seemed to bleep their approval.
    “I’d sell my best hard drive to get my hands
on one of these!”
    John didn’t understand the boy’s excitement.
“You’d give up your life here to go to some village in the middle
of nowhere?”
    John had heard they didn’t have any computers
or other technological advances there. Why anyone in their right
mind would want to live in the equivalent of the outlawed zone was
beyond him.
    “Yeah, but dude!” George beamed. “The middle
of nowhere on another planet!”
    A lot made sense seen in this new light.
Another planet indeed. Now John understood why the ticket was so
valuable, and why Celem had made such a big deal out the whole
business.
    “Yes, there is no doubt about how cool it
is,” Celem chided George, angered by the boy’s blabbering. “But the
question is, can you hack into it?”
    George made a sound and a face as if that was
quite possibly the easiest thing he had ever done in his short
lifetime, and just questioning this was a personal affront. But his
crowing was cut short by a stern snort from Celem. Suddenly
nervous, George fidgeted with the ticket and finally admitted
between clenched teeth, “It is incredibly difficult.”
    “Don’t worry.” Celem grinned. “The payment
will be generous. In fact, we can pay you right now. I have a
lovely story with me.”
    “Please,” George replied woodenly, “tell me
it.”
    John watched George hook up the computers
with growing suspicion. The boy might be used to lying, but he
wasn’t very good at it. What he said sounded like lines from a
badly rehearsed script. Something was off, John decided. His hunch
was confirmed when Celem stated, voice too cheerful, “With much
pleasure, George. It begins, funnily enough, with Yahya telling me a story yesterday. You remember,” he turned his body to
John, who was sitting close to him, “the one about the sad woman. I
liked it very much, and then I thought to myself, Celem old fool, I
thought to myself, how can a man like Yahya come into the
possession of such a piece of jewellery?”
    John carefully went for his gun, but George
suddenly spun around and held a dagger to his throat, forcing him
to stay put.
    Celem laughed. “Did he try to draw his
pistol? No, Yahya, don’t ruin this. I’ve only just started with my
story. Where was I?…Yes, I was thinking to myself. I do this quite
a lot, to be honest, I have good, fresh brains. When I was all
done, I called for Lijuan, one of my girls, very talented with her
mouth. She came here last year from China. I wanted to treat her to
something, so I told her the story of Meng Jiang Nu, and what do
you know? She had already heard it! I must apologize for my
clumsiness with words, but I assure you that the story makes up in
suspense what it lacks in poetic prose.
    “Lijuan wanted to know who told me the legend
and, naturally, being a mild-mannered man with no secrets, I told
her about you, Yahya. She said, she didn’t know anyone named Yahya,
but she had heard about a man named Yuehan Huzi. A man, as it
turned out, wanted badly by the Shanghai Dragon Clan, whose liaison
Lijuan, in addition to being a woman of many talents, is.”
    Celem, pleased with himself so far, made a
theatrical pause to let this information sink in. In the meantime,
unable to move due to the dagger’s tip boring into his neck, John
treated young George to a smile.
    “What are you telling me, Celem? Did you rat
me out to the Shanghai mob?” He addressed Celem, but never let
George out of his sight, who was getting queasier by the minute. He
wasn’t used to this sort of