Daylight on Iron Mountain

by David Wingrove

  He had pleaded with his grandfather. Pleaded to see it for himself. Because until he saw it he couldn’t, wouldn’t believe.

  They had driven to the local hospital in silence, their faces fixed and ashen, him in the back behind them. His grandfather’s hands were locked, it seemed, on the wheel of the old BMW, the smell of the leather seats strong. There in the corridor, the two of them standing either side of him, their hands gently holding his, he had glanced up and looking from one to the other, saw the devastation in their faces, the disbelief.

  That corridor. How he wished he could end it there. How he wished he had woken then. Only he hadn’t. He had walked on, towards that door. And inside?

  Inside was his whole world. Gone, destroyed in an instant. It was there, outside the glass-panelled door, that his grandmother had lost her courage.

  ‘Go on… go on in…’ she’d said, her voice a pained whisper. ‘I can’t…’

  Clutching his grandfather’s hand, he had gone inside, into that part-lit room. There to his left, laid out on two trolleys, were his parents, their bodies stretched out beside one another. Together in death as they had been in life, their pale corpses laced with the wounds they had received when their car had hit another head-on.

  Overtaking. A young man of twenty-two. Not a scratch. Not a single fucking scratch. No, and no licence either, no insurance. He was UP. A non-person.

  Jake remembered how in the dream, he had turned, looking up at his grandfather. ‘Where is she, Granddad? Where’s May?’

  And then he saw her, on the small trolley to his right, close by the doctor’s desk. Covered over, only her face exposed, peaceful and marble white. He had walked across and looked. Saw how her eyes were open; how they stared out into nothingness.

  Where is she?

  Eight years old, he’d been. A happy child. Loved and loving. And then that.

  Jake shuddered and looked down.

  He was sixty-eight now. A grandfather. Sixty years had passed since that autumn day, and still it had the power to unman him. To reduce him to this shivering state.

  He looked about him at the shabbiness of the room. From that moment to this – where had his life gone? It seemed to have flown so fast. And this latest thing with the court case. It was never meant to be like this. None of it. Life was supposed to have been so easy. Wasn’t that what they had promised him as a child?

  Jake groaned, then lay down on his side, afraid to close his eyes, afraid lest he found himself back there again. In that childhood garden where things had first come apart.

  God help me, he thought, bringing his hands up, placing his thin, trembling fingers against his old and shrunken face, as if to shut it all out. God help me for the wreck I am.

  Jake woke. There was an urgent banging on his door.

  ‘Shih Reed! Shih Reed! You must come!’

  For an instant he was disoriented. Then he understood.

  ‘Hold on, Chi Lin Lin… I’m coming.’

  He hauled himself up, then sat there a moment, getting his bearings.

  ‘Shih Reed…’

  Give me a moment.

  He felt dreadful. It was wasn’t just the dreams, it was his age, the state of the mattress, not to speak of his anxiety about the case.

  Jake looked down at the timer at his wrist, then swore. He hadn’t meant to sleep so long.

  ‘Shih Reed!’

  ‘All right!’ He reached out and unlocked the door, then stood, feeling the faintest bit unsteady, the faintest bit nauseous. Wishing he were home, in his own bed. All this…

  Chi Lin Lin popped his head around the door. ‘Advocate Hui is summing up,’ he said anxiously. ‘The Judge will be deciding very soon. You should be there, Shih Reed!’

  ‘I know, I know… and I will be there. But let me comb my hair, Chi, and put on a fresh cloak.’

  ‘But Shih Reed…’

  He turned, letting Chi see the state he was in. ‘You want the Judge to see me like this? No. So give me a few moments, my young friend. I shall be there.’

  Advocate Hui closed the file he had been reading from, then bowed, gravely and respectfully, before taking his seat again among his team of advocates.

  Jake looked to Yang Hung Yu. ‘Well?’

  Advocate Yang gazed down. He was not the picture of confidence; more like a man who knows he has lost before the game’s begun. And maybe he was right to feel that way, only the law was on their side. Or should have been. The Chang family had acted illegally, and they could not be allowed to get away with it.

  ‘Your honour…’ he began. But Judge Wei was having none of it.

  ‘In Mandarin,’ he barked. ‘This is no peasant’s court!’

  It didn’t augur well.

  Yang cleared his throat, then began again. But he was barely three or four sentences in when the Judge interrupted him again.

  Jake leaned in to Chi Lin Lin. ‘What did he say?’

  But Chi Lin Lin wasn’t to be allowed to answer. Banging his gavel, the Judge ordered them to be silent.

  Yang, standing there, looked bewildered. He began to address the Judge again, and again found himself shouted down.

  For a moment there was complete silence, then, raising his chin to look about him, the Judge uttered what could have been no more than five, maybe six words in Mandarin.

  This time the host on the benches opposite were up out of their seats, protesting violently, waving their files so angrily that you’d have thought Jake had won.

  Bemused, Jake looked to Chi Lin Lin again. ‘What did he say?’

  Young Chi was grinning now. ‘He says we can present our evidence. We’re over the first hurdle, Jake! He says the case can go to trial!’

  After that debacle with GenSyn, Jake had gone back to the levels. Made his peace with Boss Wu and tried to settle in. Only it was hard. And then fate – and who knew whose face fate wore? – intervened and he was offered a job, and a good job at that. Market advisor to an up-and-coming company quoted on the Hang Seng – MicroData, known familiarly on the market as ‘Emdee’. It had been a good firm to work for, and he’d made good friends – Han and Hung Mao.

  He had worked for Emdee for almost twenty years. Until last year, in fact, when he had finally retired on half salary. It was a good pension; enough to lead a comfortable life with Mary and the kids. Only then the old owner had died. The Chang family, who it seemed had long coveted the company, had shoehorned their way in, buying a controlling share and immediately selling off the lucrative parts to rivals.

  That much was legal. It wasn’t nice, but it was within their rights as owners. Only then, in an attempt to reduce operational costs, they had announced a reduction in pension payments.

  Overnight Jake’s income had been cut by two-thirds. It was outrageous, and totally illegal. Ex-employees, Jake among them, had formed an action committee, meeting to debate what could be done. Only the Changs quickly infiltrated that committee and, in the most brutal fashion, threatened and bullied some of the weaker members until they dropped out.

  That had been three months ago. Since then, Jake – and a handful of others – had been preparing their cases, living off their savings while they did so. It was very much a do-or-die gesture, but the law was on their side.

  Or ought to have been.

  Now the three of them sat in the nearby canteen, eating noodles and trying to make sense of what had just happened.

  ‘You know what I think?’ Yang Hung Yu said, leaning in close to whisper to the other two, as if he did not want to be overheard. ‘I think it’s all a bargaining ploy. I think the Changs have offered Judge Wei a lot of cash to drop this case. Not to let it proceed. Only, by granting our suit, he gets the chance to ask a much higher sum.’

  Jake stared back at him, dismayed. ‘You think?’

  Yang leaned in again. ‘Judge Wei is a very rich man. That’s all I say.’

  Beside him Chi Lin Lin was nodding, as if he knew it for a fact.

  ‘Then we’re sunk.’
r />   Yang smiled at that. ‘Not sunk. But badly holed, neh?’

  The second session began just after two, the senior lawyers for the Changs crowding the front desk, chattering away in half-whispered Mandarin, their agitation clear. Judge Wei, it seemed, was driving a very hard bargain. Jake might almost have found it amusing, the Changs being screwed by one of their own kind, only he stood to lose all he had worked for. And if he did, they’d fall, and he did not know how he – let alone Mary – would cope with that. He had to win. Justice had to prevail. If it didn’t, it made a mockery of the last twenty years – of Tsao Ch’un’s great experiment.

  A total fucking mockery.

  Out front, the haggling seemed to be over. Advocate Hui and his men took a step back, then, as one, gave Judge Wei a respectful bow. A deal, it seemed, had been made.

  ‘All right,’ Judge Wei said, looking across at Yang Hung Yu. ‘Advocate Yang, you have an hour to present your evidence.’

  ‘An hour? But, my Lord…’

  ‘An hour,’ Judge Wei repeated, his face hard and stern. ‘Now get on with it. Before I rule against you!’

  Jake felt his heart sink. An hour. They would barely scratch the surface in an hour. He knew it for a fact. And why? Because the Changs’ legal team would eat away at most of that with their queries and interruptions. If they managed to get ten minutes it would be something!

  And so it proved. Only, five minutes from the end, in the midst of yet another interruption by Advocate Hui, a messenger appeared at Judge Wei’s shoulder, handing him a sealed envelope.

  Wei So Yuan signalled to Hui Chang Yeh to carry on, while he slit the seal open with his long fingernails and removed a single sheet of paper.

  Jake watched him, trying to make out what it was. Only Judge Wei’s face did not change. Whatever was written on that paper seemed to have no power to move him in any way. He merely folded it, then pocketed it casually.

  ‘Advocate Hui,’ he said, as if tiring of the matter. ‘Sit down now, please, and let Advocate Yang give his summing up.’

  Yang’s face lit. At least he would get to the nub of it.

  Advocate Hui, however, seemed unconcerned. So maybe the letter was confirmation of some kind. A signed agreement between the Changs and Judge Wei. Maybe it no longer mattered whether Yang gave his summation or not.

  Jake looked down. If they lost this today, he could always go to appeal. Only this had cost him just about everything he had, and to go to appeal would cost him another twenty thousand yuan at the very least, according to Yang, and where would he find that kind of sum?

  Oh, he could borrow it off Peter, maybe. Only he didn’t like to. In fact, he had not even told Peter what had happened. His pride forbade him. That and Mary’s fear that they might drag him down with them if they lost.

  No, it was best Peter knew nothing about this.

  Jake looked up again. Yang Hung Yu was bowing to the Judge, his summation given. He came back to the benches, and sat down next to Jake.

  ‘The law is on our side,’ Yang said, leaning in.

  Maybe, Jake thought. But the money is on theirs.

  Judge Wei sat back a little, as if considering what to do next. Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.

  ‘We shall reconvene… tomorrow. Until then…’

  For a moment the Chang family and their lawyers clearly did not register what had been said. Then there was uproar again, and the same waving of files, the same angry faces, the same huddle at the desk, as Hui Chang Yeh and his team crowded about Judge Wei.

  A half an hour later, Jake sat on the bench outside, waiting for Yang Hung Yu to return from renewing their passes. They were rescheduled for nine the next morning, when Judge Wei would hear evidence from Chang’s team. Until then, his time was his own.

  The proceedings had tired him. So maybe it would be a good idea to get a few hours’ kip. Only he was afraid of that. Afraid he’d have the dreams again. So maybe he’d find a tea house. Get himself a paper and catch up on the news…

  ‘Shih Reed…’

  He looked up. The man – a Hung Mao – was short and squat, but powerfully built, his face hard and menacing, his hair cut razor short.

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘You should not be here. You know that, don’t you?’

  Jake laughed. ‘I know nothing of the sort.’ He stood. ‘Are you one of Chang’s men? One of his paid thugs?’

  If it came to a fight he would get trampled. The man was thirty years younger than him and fit. Fighting fit, by the look of him. Nonetheless, he would not be bullied. He had been through too much in life to be bullied by some little shit!

  The man was sneering now, contemptuous. ‘You are a very stupid man, Shih Reed. Incredibly stupid. You do not know who you have taken on. If we wanted we could crush you like a bug. You and everyone you love. Only my Masters… they would like to see this thing settled. Not to drag on. So they have sent me. To intervene. To help you see sense.’

  Jake lifted his hand and poked the man’s chest. ‘Listen here, you little shit. Just fuck off! You understand that clearly enough? Fuck off. And tell your Masters to fuck off, too. I’ll see them in court tomorrow, understand?’

  The man looked down at the spot where Jake had touched him and nodded. ‘I’ll tell them, Shih Reed. And I’ll look forward to seeing you again.’ He smiled, tightly. ‘Until then, neh? Until then.’

  Jake didn’t mention his ‘meeting’ with the thug. Advocate Yang was clearly overwhelmed enough as it was.

  ‘Yang Hung Yu?’

  ‘Yes, Jake?’

  ‘Why did you take this on?’

  They were sitting in Fu Nan’s tea house, two decks up from the court complex, a chung of Fu Nan’s finest green ch’a before them. It was Yang’s treat to Jake.

  Yang smiled apologetically. ‘The circumstances of this case… they are far from normal, neh? If it were just a matter of the law…’

  He sighed, then picked up his bowl and sipped from it. ‘You understand… I will do my best for you, Shih Reed, only…’

  ‘Only we’re going to lose. Is that what you’re thinking?’

  Yang sat back, his dark, Han eyes studying Jake a moment. ‘As I see it, we have come this far. Further, perhaps, than Chang Yi Wei and his brothers thought we’d come. Win or lose, you have cost them a great deal of money, Jake. Representation like that is not cheap, neh? Then again, they have a great deal to lose should you win this case. As for Judge Wei…’

  ‘You know him of old, neh?’

  ‘Oh yes.’ Yang set his bowl down. ‘And when the stakes are not so high… he can be a relatively fair judge.’

  ‘Relatively?’

  ‘Ah yes, my friend. Everything is relative… at this level.’

  ‘And the Changs?’

  Yang looked away. ‘There I must apologize, dear friend. I was naive. I did not understand until today just what this meant to them.’

  ‘And?’

  Yang hesitated. ‘I might be wrong. I truly hope I am. Only… I am afraid they will not rest until they’ve destroyed you. That show today… the only reason we have a hearing to attend tomorrow morning is because Judge Wei sees it as a means of hiking up his cut. Have no illusions. He will make a deal with them. We are only there, I fear, because we’re leverage.’

  ‘And if I protest?’

  ‘You could try, my friend. You could most certainly try. Only… how should I put it? Let us just say that those to whom the matter would be referred might find it rather… awkward, things being as they are.’

  ‘Meaning…?’

  Yang shrugged. ‘Just this… Were you to ask me to show you an honest man, I would show you a man who was not a judge.’

  ‘Not a…?’ Jake shook his head. ‘Is there no hope whatsoever, Yang Hung Yu? Are all my efforts to get justice to be mocked by these half-men?’

  Only Yang did not answer that. Yang did not have to answer.

  *

  Alone again, Jake went back to his room. A black mood
had descended on him since his meeting with Yang Hung Yu.

  He would have called home and spoken to Mary, only that would only have made things worse – to have to admit to her that he was on a fool’s errand. That he had wasted their life’s savings on some Quixotic attempt to get justice, when the truth was there was no justice to be had, just the force of money.

  It was enough to drive a man to drink, or to murder.

  Yes, he would have happily strangled that odious bastard, Chang Yi Wei. Put his hands around the bastard’s throat and choked him. Only Jake knew he’d never get the chance. And even if he did, they’d nail him. Because they looked after one another, these Han. The whole thing was one giant web of connection and corruption. Of kuan hsi, as they called it, giving it a ‘cultural’ face. And he had taken them on! What kind of idiot did that?

  The sensible thing was to withdraw, now, before he spent the last few fen he had. Why, the room alone was costing him a small fortune. Fifty yuan a night, and look at it!

  Only he knew he couldn’t. Not while there was even the slenderest of chances left. Because to go back to Mary with his tail between his legs just wasn’t an option. How could he face himself if he surrendered now? If he let those cunts trample him in the dust?

  This was why he’d been having the dreams. He knew that now. He had been pushing himself too hard, taking on too much, when he really should have been resting after his life’s labours.

  But then, nothing in his life had been easy. It had been his curse to live in interesting times. For the most part he had coped with that. Time and again he had been a survivor. And that was no small thing, for Tsao Ch’un had even sent assassins after him! Only now he was too old. To fight this further fight… just then it seemed beyond him.

  No. He would call Mary later. Let her know he’d be here at least another day. But not now. Not while he felt like this.

  Chapter 17

  THE SEVEN