Soucek stood there, panting, his arms shaking, and looked across at Lehmann, amazed.
"Mutes," Lehmann said, as if it explained everything.
Soucek laughed softly. "But they were talking. I heard them . . ."
"That one . . ." said Lehmann, pointing to the one who lay there, the big throwing knife deeply embedded in his throat. "And that one over there." The man he indicated was face down, a garrote wound tightly about his neck. "The rest had been operated on."
Soucek bent down and looked. It was true. Four of the dead men had had their larynxes surgically removed. "Why?" he asked, looking up.
"It's an old trick. I saw it at once."
From the nearest room the sounds of pleasure grew louder briefly, then died away. Then, from the end door, stepped two more figures. Soucek tensed, reaching for his knife, but it was only Haller and Becker.
"Just in time, I see," said Haller, grinning.
"Keep your voice down," said Lehmann in a fierce whisper. "YouVe brought the bags?"
Haller half turned. "Becker has them."
"Good. Then let's get these bodies through to the end room and tidy up."
They worked quickly, taking the corpses down and piling them onto the bed beside the whore and the house guard. Then, while Haller cleaned up in the corridor, Becker got to work.
Soucek looked away from the grisly work and stared at Lehmann. "I don't understand. What's going on?"
Lehmann watched Becker a moment, then turned to face Soucek. "Who did this, do you think? Who would set K'ang up this way?"
Soucek thought a moment. "Lo Han?"
"Exactly. It had to be Lo Han. K'ang A-yin threatens no one else. And Lo Han would have heard that both I and Peck had joined up with him. He'd be worried by that. He'd think there was a reason for it."
"Maybe. But why this? Why the silence? The secrecy?"
Lehmann looked down at Becker again. "You could say that I didn't want to inconvenience S/iih K'ang, or interrupt his pleasure, but the truth is I want to meet Lo Han. To find out a bit more about him."
Soucek made to speak, then stopped. Lehmann turned, looking at what he'd seen. It was the Madam. She stood in the doorway, her mouth open in horror, watching Becker. . "How did he pay you?" Lehmann asked, looking at her coldly.
For a moment she seemed not to have heard him, then her eyes jerked away from what Becker was doing and looked back at Lehmann. "What?"
"What did Lo Han give you to set this up?"
"I ... I..." she stammered, then, turning aside, she began to heave.
Lehmann looked away, disgusted. "Never mind. You can tell Shih Soucek here." He looked back at Soucek. "We'll be gone in a while. Tell K'ang that I got tired of waiting. Tell him I've gone looking for other sport."
"And if he asks what?"
"Tell him it's drugs. Tell him IVe gone to get some drugs."
THE RESTAURANT had been cleared, guards posted at every entrance. Beneath the broad slatted steps, elite marksmen lay behind low, makeshift barriers, their high-powered rifles covering the approach corridors, while in the busy kitchens Wu Shih's own personal taster sampled each dish as it was presented to him, sending them through only when he was completely satisfied.
At the center of the dark, tiled surface Marshal Tolonen sat facing Kim across a table crowded with silver trays of delicacies. Briefly the old man turned away, talking quietly to his ensign, then he turned back, facing Kim again.
"I'm sorry about all this, Kim, but Wu Shih is determined that nothing happens to me while I'm in his City. It might seem a little much, but such measures are necessary these days. We live in difficult times."
"Difficult but interesting, neh?"
Tolonen laughed. "So some might say. For myself I'd prefer things a little duller and a little safer."
"And is that why you're here, Marshal Tblonen? To make things a little safer?"
"Call me Knut, boy," he said, leaning forward and beginning to fill his plate with various bits and pieces. "But yes, you might say I'm here to make things safer. Between you and me, I'm not quite sure what it is I'm looking for, but I know the smell of rottenness when I catch a whiff of it, and there's something rotten buried in these levels, you can be sure."
"Is there any way I can help?" Kim asked, reaching for a plate.
Tolonen looked back at him. "It's nice of you to ask, but until I know what exactlyis been going on here, it's hard to say what I'll need. I'll bear it in mind, though, boy. And very kind of you too. Oh, and by the way . . ." The old man felt in his jacket pocket with the fingers of his golden hand, then passed a sealed note across the table to him. "Li Yuan asked me to hand this to you personally."
Kim took the note and, setting down his plate, turned it between his fingers, studying the great seal a moment. He glanced across, noting how the Marshal was busy filling his plate, then looked down again, slitting the envelope open with a fingernail.
Inside was a single sheet, handwritten in Mandarin; the message brief and familiar.
Dear Kim,
You have been much in my thoughts of late. Working on the proposed amendments to the Edict, I have often stopped and thought how helpful it might have been to have had you at my shoulder, advising me. But before you mistake me, this is no appeal for help, but a heartfelt thank you for all you have done in the past. I merely wished you to know that should you ever need help, in any way, you have only to ask. I hope all goes well for you.
With respect,
Li Yuan He looked up. Tolonen was watching him, smiling faintly. "So . . . how's it all going?"
"Things are fine, though there's not much to report, really. IVe been holding fire on the business front, while IVe been working on some new patents."
"Patents, eh?" Tolonen narrowed his eyes, as if he thought the whole thing slightly dubious.
Kim laughed. "Nothing illegal, I assure you. In fact, to be honest with you, I was surprised to learn what could actually be done within the existing guidelines. IVe spent a long time recently, checking out what was already on file . . ."
Tolonen interrupted him. "I'm sorry, boy, I don't understand . . ."
"At the Central Patents Office," Kim explained quickly. "It was hard work sifting through all that stuff, but worth it in the end. Originally, all I wanted was to check whether existing patents had been registered in any of the areas I was working in."
"And were there?"
"One or two, but nothing even vaguely like what I proposed. However, in looking through the register, I noticed that there were whole areas—areas permitted under the Edict—which had essentially gone undeveloped these last one hundred and twenty years."
Tolonen eyed him curiously. "Whole areas? You mean, like whole fields of research?"
Kim shook his head. "In the context of what's there—and we're talking about several billion patents on file—you'd probably consider these 'gaps' quite small, but in terms of the research possibilities, they're vast. I could have spent months there, simply locating more such 'gaps.'"
"I see." Tolonen took a mouthful of tender pork and chewed for a moment, considering. "Have you ever thought of speeding the process up?"
"How do you mean?"
Tolonen turned his head slightly, indicating the access slot just beneath his right ear. "One of these. I'd have thought it would make your job a whole lot easier."
"A wire?" Kim looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. "I don't know. . ."
The old man leaned toward Kim. "Looking at things from the outside, it strikes me that more than half your work involves what you might crudely call 'processing' information. Now, if you were to find a way of speeding that up, you'd get a lot more done, surely?"
"Maybe."
Tolonen laughed gruffly. "The only thing that surprises me is that you hadn't thought of it yourself. You're usually way ahead of me. Way ahead!"