Satori - Don Winslow [73]
Kang waved the wire in front of his face. “I will make you tell me without any ‘deal.’ ”
“Probably,” Nicholai agreed. “But possibly not. You know that I was raised as a Japanese. What is your experience with Japanese under torture? And what if you make a mistake? What if you miscalculate and I die under your ministrations? Then you will never know.”
This is delightful, Kang thought. Exciting. A different script, a departure from the usual. He asked, “Know what?”
“How you can get power over Voroshenin.”
He saw it in Kang’s eye. It was fleeting, but it was there. Power over Voroshenin was a very desirable prize. Kang was desperate to get out from under the Soviet thumb.
Stone moved.
Breathe and store your ki. Breathe and store your ki.
Kang laughed, but the scoff was unconvincing. “And you can tell me how to get Voroshenin under my power.”
Nicholai nodded.
“How?”
“Put down that wire.”
Kang set the wire down. “How?”
“Blackmail.”
“Specifically?”
Nicholai shook his head. “If I tell you, how do I know I walk out of here alive? How do I know I leave China alive?”
“You’ll have my word.”
“You think me a fool.”
Kang nodded toward the wire. “If you make me perform ‘Drawing the Jinghu Bow Across the Strings,’ I promise that you will tell me. As you said, spare yourself that agony. As for your life …”
Breathe and store your ki. Breathe and store your ki. Do not waste effort negotiating over lies. Lull him now, lure him into overconfidence, draw his stones into the trap.
“Yuri Voroshenin,” Nicholai said, “extorted my mother into handing over a considerable fortune, which he placed into various bank accounts and investments. It was quite some time ago, but interest accrues, and Yuri is now an extremely wealthy man. I am sure that he wouldn’t want Beria to hear of it, much less Uncle Joe. Do you have a tape recorder?”
“Of course.”
“Get it,” Nicholai said. “I will relate the whole story, and Voroshenin will be yours.”
Breathe and store your ki. Breathe and store your ki.
Kang got the tape recorder and Nicholai passed on to him the whole story that his mother had told him about what happened in Petrograd thirty years ago.
74
“HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?” Haverford asked.
“Thirty-one minutes.”
The “traffic” scenario was out. Either Hel had taken off or he was under adverse control.
Give the scramble order, he thought.
Sauve qui peut — every man for himself.
But if you pull the extraction team and Hel is alive …
75
COLONEL YU GOT UP from his chair, left his office, and walked down the hallway.
The general was at his desk. He heard the door open, looked up from his work and quietly said, “Yes?”
“I’m afraid it’s time, sir.”
“For?”
“Southern Wind.”
He explained the situation. When he had finished, General Liu said, “Make some tea, please.”
“General, I really think that —”
“Make tea,” Liu repeated softly. “And steep it three times.”
76
NICHOLAI FINISHED his speech.
Kang said, “So that is why you wish to kill Voroshenin.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No,” Kang said. “I hated my mother.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kang shrugged.
“But certainly the Americans didn’t sponsor you to come on a matter of personal revenge,” Kang said. “Why did they send you?”
“To kill Voroshenin,” Nicholai answered.
“Why?”
Nicholai told him all of it — the whole plot to drive a wedge between Beijing and Moscow.
Because it didn’t matter now.
All he needed now was for Kang to make the anticipated move. There was a chance that he wouldn’t, but Nicholai discounted it. A man’s nature is his nature — Kang had revealed his — and he would act according to that nature.
Kang did. “You have told me everything now?”
“Everything.”
“Very well,” Kang said. He picked up the wire. “It is time to resume the opera.”
Breathe and store your ki. Breathe and store your ki. Nicholai allowed fear to seep into his throat as he said, “But why? I told you everything!”
“Exactly.”
“But there is no point now!”
“The point is,” Kang said as he squatted in front of Nicholai, “that I will enjoy it.”
Stones in place.
Nicholai forced all the energy into his