The man hesitated.
‘What do you want from Yoyo?’
‘Thank you.’ Jericho switched off the projection. ‘Yoyo’s father, Chen Hongbing, has hired me. He’s worried. Truth to tell, he’s worried sick.’
‘And what makes you think his daughter might be here?’
‘Among other things, your friendly and forthcoming manner. Incidentally, who do I have the pleasure of addressing?’
‘I ask the questions, friend.’
‘All right.’ Jericho raised his hands. ‘Here’s a suggestion. I tell the truth, and you stop the hackneyed dialogue. Can we agree on that?’
‘Hmm.’
‘Your name’s Hmm?’
‘My name’s Bide. Zhao Bide.’
‘Thank you. Yoyo’s living here, right?’
‘It would be a bit much to call it living.’
‘So I see. Look, Chen Hongbing is worried. Yoyo hasn’t been in touch for days, she didn’t turn up for their meeting, he’s a bundle of nerves. My job is to find her.’
‘And do what?’
‘And do nothing.’ Jericho shrugged. ‘Well, I’ll tell her she really should call her father. Do you work here?’
‘In a very loose sense.’
‘Are you one of the City Demons?’
‘One of—’ Something like annoyance flickered in Zhao’s eyes. ‘No, what makes you think so?’
‘It would make sense, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Do I look like one?’
‘Not a clue.’
‘That’s right. You’re clueless.’
‘Right now I think that Yoyo’s closest friends are the City Demons.’
Zhao looked at him mistrustfully.
‘Check my story,’ Jericho added. ‘You’ll find all you need to know about me on the internet. I don’t mean Yoyo any harm. I’m not from the police, I’m not Secret Service, I’m nobody she needs to be afraid of.’
Zhao scratched behind his ear. He seemed at a loss. Then he grabbed Jericho by the upper arm and propelled him towards the door.
‘Let’s go and drink something, little Jericho. If I find out that you’ve been lying to me, I’ll bury you here in Quyu. Alive, just so you know.’
They sat at a café in the sun across from the venue. Zhao ordered, and a girl with so many appliqués stuck onto her shaven scalp that she could have been mistaken for a cyborg brought two bottles of ice-cold beer.
They drank. For a moment, glorious silence reigned.
‘It won’t be easy to find Yoyo,’ Zhao said eventually. He took a long swig at his bottle and belched loudly. ‘It’s not just her father who’s lost sight of her. So have we.’
‘Who’s we?’
‘Us. Yoyo’s friends.’ Zhao looked at him. ‘What do you know about the girl? How much did they tell you?’
‘I know that she’s on the run.’
‘Do you know why?’
‘Why do you ask?’ Jericho raised his eyebrows. ‘Wondering if you can trust me?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘And I don’t know if I can trust you, Zhao. I only know that this isn’t getting us anywhere.’
Zhao seemed to consider this.
‘Your knowledge for mine,’ he suggested.
‘You begin.’
‘Fine then. Yoyo’s a dissident. She’s put the Party in a fine old tizzy these last few years.’
‘True.’
‘As part of a group calling themselves the Guardians. Criticising the regime, calling for human rights, the odd act of cyber-terrorism. All ideas you can agree with. Until recently, she got away with it.’
‘Also true.’
‘Your turn.’
‘On the night of 25 May, Yoyo left her flat in a hell of a hurry and fled to Quyu.’ Jericho took a swig, put down his bottle and wiped his mouth. ‘I can only speculate as to why, but I should imagine she saw something online that scared her.’
‘All true so far.’
‘She was found out. Or at least that’s what she thinks. With her previous record, she must be more frightened of being exposed than of anything. She was probably expecting a visit from the police or the Secret Services that same night.’
‘Quyu is her fallback position,’ said Zhao. ‘It’s practically free of surveillance, no scanners, no police. Terra incognita.’
‘Her first port of call was the City Demons workshop. It’s just that it’s not safe there for very long. So she came here to the Andromeda, as she has done before.’
‘How did you find out that she was at the Andromeda?’
‘Because she posted a message to her friends from here.’
‘And you read it?’
‘It brought me here.’
Zhao narrowed his eyes mistrustfully.
‘How did you get hold of the message? Usually only the security services can manage something like that.’
‘Take it easy, little Zhao.’ Jericho smiled. ‘Cryptography is part of my job. I’m a cyber-detective; most of my work has to do with industrial espionage and IP infringement.’
‘And how did Yoyo’s father get hold of you?’
‘That’s really none of your concern.’ Jericho tipped cold beer down his throat. ‘You said that Yoyo has disappeared again.’
‘Looks like. She was supposed to be here.’
‘When did she vanish?’
‘Sometime today. Could be that she’s just gone for a walk. Maybe we’re worrying unnecessarily, but she usually says if she’ll be gone for a while.’
Jericho turned the bottle between his finger and thumb once more. He wondered how to proceed. Zhao Bide had confirmed his suspicions. Yoyo had been here, but that wouldn’t be enough to set Chen Hongbing’s mind at ease. The man needed certainty.
‘Maybe we really don’t need to worry,’ he said. ‘The City Demons let her know I was coming. This time Yoyo disappeared because of me.’
‘I understand.’ Zhao pointed his bottle at Jericho’s silver COD, gleaming in the sun in front of the Andromeda. ‘Especially given that you travel fairly ostentatiously, by our standards. CODs don’t come to Quyu often.’
‘Clearly.’
‘Could be that Yoyo was running from the other guy, though.’
Jericho wrinkled his brow. ‘What other guy?’
Zhao swept his hand further to the right. Jericho followed the motion and saw another COD parked at the other end of the factory hall. Startled, he tried to remember whether it had already been there as he arrived. He had been distracted by the surprise of reaching the Andromeda, combined with the realisation that Daxiong had been leading him by the nose. He stood, and put his hand up to shade his eyes. As far as he could see, there was nobody in the other car.
Coincidence?
‘Did somebody follow you?’ asked Zhao.
Jericho shook his head.
‘I blundered around half of Quyu before I got here. There was no COD behind me.’
‘Are you sure?’
Jericho fell quiet. He knew all too well that a person could be followed without his knowledge. Whoever had parked that car could have already been on his tail in Xintiandi.
Zhao got up as well.
‘I’ll check you out, Jericho,’ he said. ‘But my sense for the pure and good tells me that you’re clean. We’re obviously both concerned for Yoyo’s wellbeing, so I suggest that we team up for a while.’ He got out a pen, scribbled something down on a scrap of paper and passed it to Jericho. ‘My phone number. You give me yours. We’ll try to find Yoyo together.’
Jericho nodded. He saved the number and handed over his card in exchange. Zhao was still an unknown quantity, but at the moment his suggestion was the best he had to go on.
‘We should make a plan,’ he said.