A Killing Air

by Nigel Price

  More pause. Then, “They say they’ll swap me for Miller. But you have to let them out of here.”

  Okay. How to do this?

  He went across to Miller and hauled him upright, leaning against the cellar wall. He slapped him lightly round the face, shaking him awake at the same time. Miller groaned. Harry slapped him some more.

  Miller opened his eyes and focused on Harry with difficulty. He groaned again for good measure. Harry dragged him to his feet. To the metal door he shouted, “Tell them to move to the back of the room. I’m coming in.”

  He didn’t have the slightest intention of going into a pitch black room with those two thugs waiting for him, both still armed. Instead he gave them a moment to take their places, no doubt to either side of the door ready to club him senseless, then as quietly as he could, he turned the key unlocking the metal door.

  The next second he dragged Miller up the cellar steps and planted him on the top one. He crouched down behind him, using his body as a shield again. Peeking round, Harry shouted into the cellar.

  “Okay, come out.”

  Muffled by the distance, he heard Lisa’s voice. “I thought you said you were coming in.”

  “I lied.”

  He saw the door handle turn. The door slowly swung open. Lisa appeared through it, clutched by both guards who did their best to hide behind her. Her eyes were red. Both guards had handkerchiefs tied round their mouths. They looked like adults who had never grown out of playing cowboys and indians. Harry reckoned he had a reasonable chance of hitting both with lucky shots. With anyone else as their human shield he would have given it a go. Brannigan? Go for it. Alderton? Please. Even Delaney? Hm, okay. Even him. But Lisa?

  He lowered his gun, keeping the muzzle ready in case either of the guards was stupid enough to try anything.

  Lisa was rubbing her eyes. “What now?” she called up the stairs.

  “Wait,” Harry replied.

  “But …”

  “Just hang on.” He gave Miller a shove. “What was on the Hideyoshi-maru?”

  Miller was completely baffled by the change in direction. “The what?”

  “The fucking ship? What killed the village children? It was something to do with the Hideyoshi-maru, wasn’t it?”

  “Oh piss off.”

  Harry thumped him on the side of the head with the pistol. “Don’t tell me to piss off.” He gave him another shake. Down in the cellar, Thug Men looked on, puzzled. Gun Man called something. Lisa said, “He asked what you’re doing?”

  “Tell him to shut the fuck up. I’m busy.”

  She declined to translate, shrugging an answer instead.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Miller replied. “Just pharmaceutical products. Stuff like that.”

  “I need a list.”

  “Why?”

  “Something Chau did, something related to the ship’s cargo, killed those children. I’m going to find out.”

  Harry felt Miller crane round to try and look at him. He caught the look of fear in his eyes. “How the hell did you know that?”

  Bingo. Thank you for playing.

  Miller realised his slip. “Good luck with that. You’re talking nonsense. You’ve no idea what killed the children.”

  Ah. “So you agree Chau’s stuff about a fire in a crèche was bollocks?”

  “That’s what I meant. I mean, it was the fire.” In spite of being held with a gun to his head, Miller’s frustration was palpable.

  “Do you keep a copy of the manifest here?” To encourage Miller to answer, Harry jammed the muzzle of the pistol back under his chin, pressing it against its old friend the windpipe.

  Miller coughed. “Don’t be stupid. This is Ryder’s home. Why on earth would he keep shipping documentation here?”

  Another jab with the gun. “Don’t be rude, Clive. The manifest?”

  Miller could feel his windpipe being pressed shut. He started to choke. “If I told you, my life wouldn’t be worth living.”

  “Then give me the manifest and leave the rest to me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can’t. That’s all.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  Gun Man shouted up the stairs. He too had his gun jammed under a chin. Lisa’s. The force of it was pushing her head back.

  “Can’t or won’t?” Harry shouted in Miller’s ear.

  “They were all destroyed.”

  “Why?”

  Gun Man had had enough. He did a Harry, firing a shot into the cellar ceiling. He followed it with a burst of Mandarin. With the gun in one hand, back under Lisa’s chin, with his other he squeezed her throat. His face was a vicious sneer. Lisa tried to wriggle out of his grip.

  “Tell them to let her go,” Harry ordered.

  “Then let me go,” Miller answered. “Do the swap. Then get the fuck out of here.”

  Harry mustered his phrase then said in Mandarin, “Bring the girl here.”

  Gun Man swapped a glance with Sidekick and started towards the stairs.

  “Stand up,” Harry said. He hauled Miller to his feet. Together they filled the doorway at the top of the steps. He aimed carefully at Gun Man’s face as he approached. Down in the cellar, Sidekick looked on. Harry knew that if given the slightest chance they would kill him. They would probably take out Miller too if he got in the way.

  “Okay, now let go of the girl,” Harry said to Gun Man. He could see the calculations in Gun Man’s brain as if they were displayed on a whiteboard. Any second now the whole thing could go wrong.

  And then it did.

  Gun Man blazed off a round straight at Harry. In the same moment, as the gun was taken from under her chin, Lisa twisted, turned and scratched his face. A great raking claw from top to bottom. Fingers gouging his eyes. She yanked herself from his grip. Pushed him off balance.

  Focused on making his shot count, Gun Man missed one of the steps. Lisa flung herself up them. Behind her, Harry could see Sidekick pulling a gun of his own from his pocket, his knife cast aside. As Lisa came within range, Harry put his hand in Miller’s back and shoved with all his might. Miller’s arms flayed like streamers as he left the ground and sailed down the stairs. Lisa flattened herself against the wall to let him pass. Harry grabbed one of her wrists and hauled her to him. Past him. Out of the cellar.

  Down below, Miller crashed into Gun Man, Sidekick struggling for an angle behind them to get a clear shot at Harry. He couldn’t find one. He blazed off two shots regardless, both hitting brick.

  Harry pulled back from the top of the cellar steps and slammed the door on the chaos and wreckage of fallen bodies down below. Turned the key, locking it. Unlike Lisa’s cell door, this one was wood. It could be smashed open.

  “Help me with this,” Harry said. A vast dresser stood against the wall of the vestibule. Solid rosewood with ornate designs carved upon it. Lisa joined him, putting her back against it. It barely moved.

  “This weighs a ton.”

  “It’ll keep them down there. Did you see any windows?”

  “No.”

  “Me neither. Now push.”

  Inch by inch the dresser moved across the wooden floor, gouging huge scratch marks as it went. On the other side of the cellar door there was a hammering. Someone had made it up the steps. The door handle was going berserk. Harry knew that any second shots would be fired at the lock and they’d be out. With one monumental effort he drove his back against the dresser using all his might, Lisa gasping beside him as she did likewise.

  The dresser slid into place. It completely covered the cellar door behind it. One final shove jammed it up against the door and wall, sealing Miller and Thug Men down below. It would be impossible for them to get out until someone chanced along and moved it out of the way.

  Forty One

  “Are you okay?” Harry asked.

  She stared back, the bruises on her face screaming at him. “What do you think?”

  Harry f
elt the anger building. “I’ll burn the fucking house down around them. They’ll roast alive in the cellar.”

  She placed a hand on his arm. “Let’s just get out of here. We can have a barbecue later.”

  The hammering on the other side of the cellar door was muffled by the vast dresser wedged against it. There was no time to clear up the mess. Harry left the bodies of the men he had shot where they lay and went back to the kitchen. The two guards he had punched senseless were still on the floor, but groaning, slowly coming round. He pulled them back to back, found some twine and tied them securely until he was sure they would stay where they were. There was no one else in the villa. He assumed the gardener was still somewhere out in the grounds. He probably never came inside. At some point a cook or other house staff might turn up but with any luck he and Lisa had some time to get clear.

  She was leaning against the front door. Shock was catching up with her. She was pale and shaking.

  “What do we do?” she said, her voice a thin reed of sound. “They will kill us, Harry. We are going to die now.”

  “We’ll be okay,” he said, finding it impossible to believe it himself.

  “How? You’ve killed people. They told me I’d never be free again. They said I was going to prison. After this I’d never even make it that far.”

  “The only thing we can do now is take down Chau. Nothing else will save us.”

  “Take down Chau? He’s got everything! Power, guns, money. What chance do we have?”

  “We’ve got to expose him for what he is. We’ve got to shine a bright fucking light on his corruption. On whatever he did to kill those kids. If we can do that, we might – just might – get out of this with our lives.”

  “The manifest,” Lisa said. “Is there any point searching for it here?”

  “I doubt it. I suspect Miller was telling the truth. If that was a way of finding out what killed the children they’ll have destroyed every copy. Maybe that was what had been in the empty cabinet in the forest hut. They left all the useless, innocent files and destroyed the important ones.”

  “Then we’re lost.”

  Try as he might, Harry found it hard to disagree with her. “Let’s get out of here.”

  He went to the front door and checked outside. There was no one to be seen. Across the parking area in front of the villa, they headed straight down the driveway. Harry kept his gun out of sight but ready, down by his side in case he needed it to shoot their way out.

  Nothing. Just the slightest breeze stirring the overhead branches, and above them the unending covering of grey cloud. It was suffocating. He quickened his step. The gates came into view. A camera perched on top of them, its square eye directed onto the empty road beyond.

  He hunted for a way of opening the automatic gates. They were shut fast, no locks or levers or handles. He took hold of them and shook them. They were rock solid.

  “What about this?” Lisa said, finger on a button set into the wall. She pressed it, half expecting alarms to sound, dogs to be released, machine guns to start firing. With a shudder, first one gate, then the other started to wobble open, the huge iron structures creaking back on runners buried in the driveway.

  Out on the road all was quiet. Harry guessed the direction of David Lin’s car and set off, Lisa close behind him. “Can you run?”

  In answer she broke into a limping trot. Being tied to the chair had done her no favours. Her limbs felt stiff and sore. “Where are we going? Have you got a car?” Then, slowing to a walk again, “How did you get away from the airport? Last time I saw you, you were under arrest like me.”

  Harry was hunting for their salvation. As he did so he gave her the short version of his encounter with his old friend. They had gone some three hundred yards and Harry was beginning to wonder if he should have turned in the other direction, when the man himself appeared and hailed them. Lin waved from the side of the road, head and shoulders protruding from the bushes where he had been keeping out of sight.

  “I was wondering where the hell you’d got to,” he said, face anxious. “And please tell me those weren’t gunshots I heard?”

  “You heard them?” Harry asked.

  “Bloody hell.” Lin turned on his heel, heading towards his car. “Bloody hell.”

  Lisa and Harry swapped glances. Harry shrugged.

  “I suppose this is Lisa?” Lin asked.

  Lisa held up a hand in a half-hearted greeting. Lin took note of her bruised face. “Are you all right?”

  “I will be once we get away from here.” Then she added, “Thank you for coming to get me.”

  Lin managed a weak smile. “Any friend of Harry’s is a good enough cause for me to get myself killed.”

  Lisa glanced at Harry then got the joke. Her smile was the weariest humanly possible.

  They got into the car and as Lin started the engine, Harry gave him a burst transmission of what had just happened. Lin repeated his earlier refrain of “Bloody Hell.” Twice. “So what do you want me to do?”

  “Can you take us to Tianjin? Drop us there then go. I don’t want you to get into this any deeper than you already are.”

  “What can you do there?”

  “The manifest. I can’t believe they’ve destroyed all copies. They must have kept one.”

  “That’s wishful thinking.” Lin turned onto the road and set off, accelerating away from the villa as fast as he could. “In any case, how on earth do you think you’ll get into Chau’s offices? You saw for yourself the guards all over the place. And even if you got in, it’s a huge block. Where would you start looking? And …”

  “All right.” Harry was feeling exhaustion catch up with him. He held up his hands in surrender. “All right. Just drop us off and then get clear. Tell your staff at the airport that when you took me from the building I had a gun on you. If we get caught I’ll corroborate the story.”

  “If you get caught?” Lin glanced over from the steering wheel, aghast. “It’s a matter of when, not if.”

  From the back seat Lisa leaned forward. “He’s right, Harry. It’s hopeless. It’s only a matter of time before Miller and the others get free and then they’ll come after us with the full force of the police. Now you’ve killed some of them, there’ll be helicopters, everything. We don’t have a chance.” She sank back in her seat and stared out of the window at the passing misery.

  They drove in glum silence for a while. Then David Lin: “I didn’t mean you should give yourselves up.”

  “What then?” Lisa said.

  Lin was deep in thought. “Is there somewhere you can lie low? Hide for a while?”

  They thought about it. “There’s my apartment in Beijing,” Lisa offered.

  “I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” Harry said, struggling to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

  “Why not? They won’t know where I live.”

  “It can’t be too hard for them to find out,” he answered. “A hotel would be safer.”

  “In Beijing they’re all booked for the National Congress,” Lin said. “And as you know, the first thing you have to do when you register is hand over your passport so they can log your details with the police. They’d be kicking in your door within minutes.”

  He glanced in the rear-view mirror and caught Lisa’s desperate expression. “I suppose there’s my place. You could both hide there.”

  “Never,” Harry said. “You’ve already done too much. The moment they get out of that cellar, they’re going to come to the airport to find out why I wasn’t on that plane.”

  “Because they were all grounded.”

  “You know what I mean,” Harry said. “Why I’m not still there under guard.”

  Lin stared at the road. The car was back on the expressway and heading along at a good speed. His hands gripped the wheel. “And I’ll tell them my story. You and the gun, forcing me. I need to get back to the airport and go straight to the police. Get to them before Chau’s men do. Get my story in first. That w
ay it’ll be more convincing.” He glanced briefly at Harry. “And you and Lisa have to go to my apartment. There’s nowhere else.”

  “We can’t, David. If we were found there, it would blow your story wide open and incriminate you. And your story’s already pretty bloody weak. In any case, what’s the point in hiding if we can’t find some way of fixing Chau? We’ll have to come out at some point. Whenever we do, the police and Chau’s men will have us. And when they know where we’ve been, they’ll have you too.”

  “It’s a long shot,” Lin said after a while, “but consignments are insured. Chau might have destroyed his copies of the manifest, but couldn’t there be a chance that Miller forgot about the insurance company’s copy?”

  “Yes, David. That is a long shot. In fact it redefines the term ‘long shot’. Pushing it into regions where …” He smiled. “But thanks for trying. In any case, it could have been insured with anyone.”

  “If you can give me the approximate months when you think the shipment might have come in, I have contacts in the customs department. The Hideyoshi-maru can’t have made that many trips. The customs documentation will have a note of the insurance company, so we go there and see if they have a copy. Their offices won’t be guarded like Chau’s fortress. We just walk in and ask for it.”

  Lin beamed from ear to ear. Harry twisted round and looked at Lisa. She shrugged, as dubious of the plan as Harry. “I can’t think of anything else,” she said.

  “I think what you meant to say was, ‘Well done, David, on an excellent idea’,” Lin chortled.

  Harry’s main worry was for his friend. “I can’t let you do this, David. It’s too dangerous.”

  “That’s my decision not yours. I appreciate your concern for my safety, but I made my choice the moment I escorted you out of that room.” He glanced across. “I think we just need to get on with this.”

  “You mean, bring about the downfall of one of China’s most powerful men, alter the course of the nation’s history, save Asia from war, and live to fight another day?” Harry said.

  “Pretty much,” Lin answered. “Cool guys, eh?”

  Lisa stared out of the window. “Yeah. Real kick-ass.”