Satori - Don Winslow [72]
So tempting, so rich with possibilities …
And the idea to kill Voroshenin at the opera was lovely in its irony. Very un-Western, but then again, this “Guibert” …
Should I go and tell the general? Yu asked himself. Actualize the escape plan and demand that he leave immediately? Years of long work would be wasted, hopes squandered, dreams of a truly Communist country indefinitely delayed, perhaps destroyed … But can you take the chance of the general being arrested, tortured, shot?
Where is this man “Guibert”?
71
NICHOLAI STRUGGLED not to vomit.
Chen screamed and screamed, his body tossed against the chains as Kang sawed the wire back and forth through his testicles, all the time offering advice on how to better vocalize.
“Hum qi,” he coached, using operatic terms. “ ‘Exchange breath’ — slow in, slow out. Now ‘steal breath’ — a sharp intake, please, sudden, fierce. That’s it … very good …”
Nicholai made himself focus on his own breathing. In deep through the nose, force it down into the lower abdomen, hold and store, release … deep through the nose, force it down into the lower abdomen, hold and store, release … hold and store, hold and store, deeply in the abdomen until you can feel it in all your muscles …
He tuned out the sound of Chen’s agony.
“I confess, I confess I confess!” Chen screamed.
But Kang appeared not to hear him and continued “Drawing the Jinghu Bow Across the Strings” until Chen shrieked at a pitch that was scarcely human. He would not stop until Chen demonstrated all the mouth shapes of a proper opera singer: kaikou — open mouth; qichi — level-teeth; houkou — closed mouth; and, finally, cuochun — scooped lips.
Kang pulled the wire out and Chen’s neck dropped. His body went limp. Sweat dripped off his skin onto the concrete floor.
“I am a spy,” Chen said between sobs. “I was part of the conspiracy. I helped him every step of the way.”
“To send arms to rebels in Yunnan?”
“Yes.”
“To murder Chairman Mao?”
“Yes.”
“Who gave you your orders?” Kang asked. “Was it General Liu?”
“Yes, it was General Liu.”
Nicholai knew that Chen would say anything now, agree to anything, to prevent Kang from resuming the torture.
And Kang had revealed more of his strategy.
Remain calm — Kishikawa-sama came to him — and keep your thoughts as clear as a pool. Breathe and store your ki.
Liu is the target, he realized, and you are only a string of stones on the way to that target.
Very well.
Kang turned to him and said, “Now, Mr. Hel, it is your turn.”
He held up the wire.
72
“IT REALLY ISN’T NECESSARY,” Nicholai said. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Kang smiled. “Admit that you are not ‘Michel Guibert.’ ”
“I admit that I am not Michel Guibert.”
“Admit that you are Nicholai Hel.”
“I admit to being Nicholai Hel.”
“Why did you come to Beijing, Nicholai Hel?”
Nicholai leaned forward in his chair as far as the straps would allow. He looked straight into Kang’s eyes and answered, “I came to Beijing to kill Yuri Voroshenin.”
Kang turned pale.
73
“GET THAT PIG out of here,” Kang ordered. “Wait outside.”
Position on the board changed, Nicholai thought. Not wanting underlings to hear anything that sensitive, Kang has removed those stones for me. Breathe and store your ki. Breathe and store your ki.
The agents unhooked Chen and dragged him out of the room. When the door closed, Kang asked, “You admit that you came to assassinate Voroshenin?”
“Admit it?” Nicholai said. “I proclaim it.”
“Why?”
Nicholai jutted his chin toward the wire in Kang’s hand. “I wish to spare myself needless pain. And I wish to make a deal.”
“You are in no position to make any deal.”
“How do you know?