An Inch of Ashes (14 page)

He saw the boy frown and explained.

‘I don’t trust the labels Berdichev put on these projects. What he says they were intended for and what their actual use was to be, were, I suspect, quite different.’

Again the boy nodded. Then he spoke.

‘But why me? And why keep these things secret from the Marshal?’

Li Yuan smiled. It was as they’d said; the boy had a nimble mind.

‘As far as Marshal Tolonen is concerned, these things do not exist. If he knew of them he would have them destroyed at once, and I don’t want that to happen.’

‘But surely your father would back you in this?’

He hesitated, then, looking at the official sternly, said, ‘My father knows nothing of this. He thinks these files have already been destroyed.’

T’ai Cho swallowed and bowed his head. ‘Forgive me, Highness, but...’

‘Yes?’ Li Yuan kept his voice cold, commanding.

‘As I say, forgive me, but...’ The man swallowed again, knowing how much he risked even in speaking out. ‘Well, I am concerned for the safety of my charge.’

‘No more than I,
Shih
T’ai. But the job must be done. And to answer Kim’s other question, he is, in my estimation, the only one who can do it for me.’

Again T’ai Cho’s head went down. ‘But, Highness...’

Li Yuan stood angrily. ‘You forget yourself, T’ai Cho!’ He took a breath, calming himself, then spoke again, softer this time. ‘As I said, I too am concerned for Kim’s safety. Which is why, this very day, I interceded on the boy’s behalf.’

He picked up the warrant and handed it to T’ai Cho, seeing his puzzlement change to bewildered horror. The blood drained from the man’s face. T’ai Cho bowed his head low, one trembling hand offering the warrant back. ‘And you had this rescinded, Highness?’

‘Not rescinded, no. Postponed. Kim lives because I wish him to live. My father has made him my responsibility. But I am a fair man. If Kim does as I wish – if he comes up with the answers I want – then I will tear up this document. You understand, T’ai Cho?’

T’ai Cho kept his head lowered. ‘I understand, Highness.’

Fei Yen was sleeping when he came in. He stood above her, in partial darkness, studying her features, then turned away, noting her discarded riding clothes there on the floor beside the bed. He undressed and slipped into the bed beside her, her body warm and naked beneath the silken sheets. He pressed up close, his hand resting on the slope of her thigh.

In the darkness he smiled, content to lie there next to her. He was too awake, too full of things, to sleep; even so he lay there quietly, mulling things over, comforted by her warmth, her presence there beside him.

He understood now. It was only natural for her to be jealous. It was even possible that some strange, feminine instinct of hers had ‘known’ about his earlier relationship with the girls.

He closed his eyes, listening to her gentle breathing, enjoying the sweet scent of her, the silkiness of her skin beneath his fingers.

After a while he rolled from her and lay there, staring up through layers of darkness at the dim, coiled shape of dragons in the ceiling mosaic, thinking of the boy. Kim was promising – very promising – and he would make sure he got whatever he needed to complete his work. And if, at the end of the year, his results were good, he would reward him handsomely.

That was a lesson he had learned from his father. Such talent as Kim had should be harnessed, such men rewarded well, or destroyed, lest they destroy you. Control was the key. Directed interest.

He stretched and yawned. He had not felt so good in a long time. It was as if everything had suddenly come clear. He laughed softly. It made him feel wonderful – hugely benevolent.

A smile came to his lips as he thought of the thing he had bought Fei Yen that very evening, after he had come from the boy. A thoroughbred; an Arab stallion bred from a line of champions. Its pure white flanks, its fine, strong legs, its proud, aristocratic face; all these combined to form an animal so beautiful he had known at once that she would want it.

He had bought it there and then and had it shipped directly to his stables, here at Tongjiang. He would take her first thing in the morning to see it.

He smiled, imagining the delight in her face. Beside him Fei Yen stirred and turned on to her back.

He sat up, then turned, looking down at her. Slowly, carefully, he drew back the sheet, letting it slip from her body, exposing her nakedness. For a while he simply looked, tracing the subtle curves of her body, his fingers not quite touching the surface of her flesh. So delicate she was. So beautiful.

Wake up,
he thought.
Wake up, my love.
But the wish was unrequited. Fei Yen slept on.

He lay there a while longer, unable to relax, then got up and put on his robe. His desire had passed the point where he could lie there and forget it. He went through into the marbled bathroom and stood there in the shower, letting the cold, hard jets of water purge him.

He stood there a while longer, mindlessly enjoying the flow of water over his limbs. It was lukewarm now, but still refreshing, like a fall of rain, clearing his mind. He was standing there, his arms loose at his sides, when she appeared in the doorway.

‘Yuan... ?’

He looked up slowly, half-conscious of her, and smiled. ‘You’re awake?’

She smiled, looking at him. ‘Of course. I was waiting for you.’

She slipped off her robe and came to him, stepping into the shower beside him, then gave a small shriek.

‘Why, Yuan! It’s freezing!’ She backed out, laughing.

He laughed, then reached up to cut the flow. Looking across, he saw how her skin was beaded with tiny droplets.

‘Like jewels,’ he said, stepping out.

She fetched a towel then knelt beside him, towelling him, tending to him obediently, as a wife ought. He looked down, feeling a vague desire for her, but he had doused his earlier fierceness.

She stood to dry his shoulders and his hair, her body brushing against his, her breasts and thighs touching him lightly as she moved about him. Turning from him, she went to the cupboards, returning a moment later with powders and unguents.

‘A treat,’ she said, standing before him, the fingers of one hand caressing his chest. ‘But come, let’s go through.’

She laughed, then pushed him through before her. It was a raw, strangely sexual laugh; one he had not heard from her before. It made him turn and look at her, as if to find her transformed, but it was only Fei Yen.

‘I’ve missed you,’ she said as she began to rub oils into his shoulders, his neck, the top of his back. ‘Missed you a lot.’ And as her fingers worked their way down his spine he shivered, the words echoing in his head. ‘Like breath itself, my husband. Like breath itself...’

Six hours later and half a world away, in the Mids of Danzig Canton, Marshal Tolonen was standing in the main office of the newly formed Wiring Project. He had seen for himself the progress that had been made in the three days since he had last visited the laboratories. Then there had been nothing – nothing but bare rooms: now there was the semblance of a working facility, even though most of the equipment remained in cases, waiting to be unpacked.

Tolonen turned as Administrator Spatz came hurriedly into the room, bowing low, clearly flustered by the Marshal’s unannounced arrival.

‘Marshal Tolonen, please forgive me. I was not expecting you.’

Tolonen smiled inwardly.
No
, he thought,
you
weren’t. And I’ll make it my practice in future to call here unannounced
. He drew himself upright. ‘I’ve come to advise you on the last two appointments to your team.’

He saw how Spatz hesitated before nodding and wondered why that was, then, pushing the thought from his mind, he turned and snapped his fingers. At once his equerry handed him two files.

‘Here,’ Tolonen said, passing them across. ‘Please, be seated while you study them.’

Spatz bowed, then returned behind his desk, opening the first of the files, running his finger over the apparently blank page, the warmth of his touch bringing the characters alive briefly on the specially treated paper. After only a minute he looked up, frowning.

‘Forgive me, Marshal, but I thought the last two places were to be filled by working scientists.’

‘That was the intention.’

Spatz looked aside, then looked back up at the Marshal, choosing his words carefully. ‘And yet... well, this man T’ai Cho – he has no scientific background whatsoever. He is a tutor. His qualifications...’

Tolonen nodded. ‘I understand your concern,
Shih
Spatz, but if you would look at the other file.’

Spatz nodded, still uncertain, then set the first file aside, opening the second. Again he ran his finger over the page. This time, however, he took his time, working through the file steadily, giving small nods of his head and occasional grunts of surprise or satisfaction. Finished, he looked up, smiling broadly. ‘Why, the man’s record is extraordinary. I’m surprised I’ve not heard of him before. Is he from one of the other Cities?’

Tolonen was staring past Spatz, studying the charts on the wall behind him. ‘You could say that.’

Spatz nodded to himself. ‘And when will he be joining us?’

Tolonen looked back at him. ‘Right now, if you like.’

Spatz looked up. ‘Really?’ He hesitated, then nodded again. ‘Good. Then there’s just one small thing. A mistake, here on the first page.’ He ran his finger over the top of the page again, then looked up, a bland smile on his lips. ‘The date of birth...’

Tolonen looked away, snapping his fingers. A moment later his equerry returned. This time he was accompanied. ‘There’s no mistake,’ Tolonen said, turning back.

There was a look of astonishment on Spatz’s face. ‘You mean,
this
is Ward?’

Tolonen looked across at the boy, trying to see him as Spatz saw him; as he himself had first seen him, before he had seen the films that demonstrated the boy’s abilities. Looking at him, it seemed almost impossible that this scrawny, dark-haired creature was the accomplished scientist described in the personnel file, yet it was so. Berdichev had not been alone in believing the boy was something special.

Spatz laughed. ‘Is this some kind of joke, Marshal?’

Tolonen felt himself go cold with anger. He glared back at Spatz and saw the man go white beneath the look.

Spatz stood quickly, bowing his head almost to the desktop. ‘Forgive me, Marshal, I did not mean...’

‘Look after him, Spatz,’ Tolonen answered acidly. ‘Allocate a man to take care of him for the next few days until his tutor, T’ai Cho, joins him.’ He shivered, letting his anger drain from him. ‘And you’ll ensure he comes to no harm.’

He saw Spatz swallow drily and nodded to himself, satisfied that he had cowed the man sufficiently. ‘Good. Then I’ll leave him in your custody.’

Spatz watched Tolonen go, then turned his attention to the boy. For a moment he was speechless, still too astonished to take in what it all meant, then he sat heavily and leaned forward, putting his hand down on the summons button. At once his assistant appeared in the doorway.

‘Get Hammond in here,’ he said, noting the way his assistant’s eyes went to the boy. ‘At once!’

He sat back, steepling his hands together, staring across at the boy. Then he laughed and shook his head. ‘No...’

Now that the first shock was wearing off, he was beginning to feel annoyed, angered by the position he had been put in. Now he would have to return the money he had been given to put names forward for the vacancies. Not only that, but in the place of real scientists he had been lumbered with a no-hoper and a child. What had he done to deserve such a thing? Who had he angered?

He looked down at his desk, sniffing deeply. ‘So you’re a scientist, are you, Ward?’

When the boy didn’t answer, he looked up, anger blazing in his eyes. ‘I’ll tell you now. I don’t know what game people higher up are playing, but I don’t believe a word of that file, understand me? And I’ve no intention of letting you get near anything important. I may have to nursemaid you, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you bugger things up for me.’

He stopped. There was someone in the doorway behind the boy.

‘You called for me,
Shih
Spatz?’

‘Come in, Hammond. I want you to meet our latest recruit, Kim Ward.’

He saw how Hammond glanced at the boy, then looked about the room before finally coming back to him.

‘You mean,
you’re
Ward?’ Hammond asked, unable to hide his surprise. ‘Well, the gods save us!’ He laughed, then offered a hand. ‘I’m Joel Hammond, Senior Technician on the Project.’

Seeing how the boy stared at Hammond’s hand a moment before tentatively offering his own, how he studied the meeting of their hands, as if it were something wholly new to him, Spatz understood. The boy had never been out in society before. Had never learned such ways. It made Spatz think. Made him reconsider what was in the file. Or, rather, what wasn’t. But he still didn’t believe it. Why, the boy looked nine at the very most. He could not have done so much in so brief a time.

‘I want you to look after the boy, Hammond. Until his... guardian arrives.’

‘His guardian?’ Hammond looked at Kim again, narrowing his eyes.

‘T’ai Cho,’ Kim answered, before Spatz could explain. ‘He was my tutor at the Recruitment Project. He was like a father to me.’

Gods, thought Spatz, more convinced than ever that someone up-level was fucking with him; willing him to fail in this. A boy and his ‘father’, that was all they needed! He leaned forward again, his voice suddenly colder, more businesslike.

‘Look, Hammond. Get him settled in. Show him where things are. Then get back here. Within the hour. I want to brief you more fully, right?’

Hammond glanced at the boy again, giving the briefest of smiles, then looked back at Spatz, lowering his head. ‘Of course, Director. Whatever you say.’

‘Well, Yuan, can I take it off yet?’

He turned her to face him, then untied the silk from her eyes, letting it fall to the ground. She looked up at him, wide-eyed, uncertain, then gave a small, nervous laugh.