After the ceremony he went across and congratulated them, holding Karr to him fiercely. "I am so pleased for you, Gregor. I always hoped—" He stopped, choked by the sudden upsurge of feeling.
Karr laughed, then pushed him back to arm's length. "What's this, my friend? Tears? No . . . this is a time for great joy, for today my heart is fuller than it has ever been."
He turned, raising a hand. At the signal the doors behind him were thrown open, revealing a long, high-ceilinged room, all crystal and lace, the tables set for several hundred guests.
"Well, dear friends, let us go through. There is food and drink, and later there will be dancing." He looked across at his bride, smiling broadly, holding out his hand until she joined him. "So . . . welcome, everyone. Tonight we celebrate!"
THE GOLDEN EYE of the security camera swiveled in its dragon-mouth socket, following Shou Chen-hai as he approached. Moments later the door hissed back. Beyond it, in the tiled entrance hall, the Chief Steward was waiting, head bowed, a silken indoor robe over one arm.
Shou Chen-hai went inside and stood there, letting Wong Pao-yi remove his outside garments and help him on with the lightweight pau. For a moment he breathed deeply, enjoying the cool silence of the anteroom, then turned, looking at his servant. "Where is everyone?"
Wong Pao-yi lowered his head, repeating the words he had been told to say. "Your first wife, Shou Wen-lo, is visiting her mother, Excellency. She will be back in the morning. Your second wife, Shou He, has taken the boys to buy new robes. She called not long ago to say she would be another hour."
Shou nodded, satisfied. "And Yue Mi?"
The old servant hesitated. "She is asleep, Excellency. Would you have me wake her and send her to your room?"
Shou laughed. "No, Steward Wong. Later, perhaps. Just now I'd like a bath."
Wong Pao-yi bowed his head again. "It is already poured, Excellency. If you will come through, I will see to your needs personally."
"There's no need. Just bring me a drink."
Alone in the bathroom, he kicked off his thin briefs, then set the wine cup down and peeled the pau over his head. Naked, he stretched, feeling good, enjoying the sight of his own well-muscled body in the wall mirror, then picked up his wine cup again, toasting himself. The girl had been good. Much less tense than before. Much more willing to please him. Doubtless that was her mother's doing. Well, perhaps he would reward the mother. Send her some small gift to encourage her efforts. Or maybe he would have them both next time, mother and daughter, in the same bed.
The thought made him laugh, but as he turned he slowed, sensing another presence in the corridor outside.
"Wong Pao-yi? Is that you?"
He took a step forward, then stopped, the heavy porcelain wine cup falling from his hand, clattering against the side of the bath.
"What the fuck ... ?"
It was a man, dressed in the orange and yellow work fatigues of Maintenance, standing there, a handgun raised and pointed at him.
"Wong Pao-yi!" Shou called, staring back at the man, conscious of his nakedness, his vulnerability. "Wong Pao-yi, where are you?"
The man laughed softly and shook his head. "Been having fun, Shou Chen-hai? Been fucking little girls, have we?"
Anger made Shou take two more steps before he remembered the gun. He stopped, frowning, seeing the odd look of enjoyment on the man's face.
"What do you want?" he asked. "All I have is in the safe in the study. Cards, cash, a few other bits and pieces—"
The man shook his head. "I'm no robber, Shou Chen-hai. If I were, I'd have taken you earlier, in the corridors."
Shou nodded, forcing himself to stay calm. If this were one of the rival Triad bosses trying to muscle in on the deal he had made with the Big Circle, then it would not do to show any fear in front of one of their messenger boys. He puffed out his chest, wearing his nakedness like a badge of courage.
"Who sent you? Fat Wong? Li the Lidless? Or was it Whiskers Lu?"
The man waved the gun impatiently and thrust a piece of paper at Shou. Shou Chen-hai turned his head slightly, not understanding, but at second prompting took the paper. Looking down at it, his stomach turned over.
It was a terrorist pamphlet. Itemizing his crimes. Saying why they had had to kill him.
"Look, I..." Shou began. But there was no arguing with this. No way of dealing with these bastards. His only chance was to jump the man. But as if he knew this, the man took a step backward, pulling back the safety. He was watching Shou intently, his eyes gloating now.
"Been having /un?" the man insisted, jerking the gun forward, making Shou jump and give a tiny whimper of fright. "Been fucking little girls?"
Was that it? Was it someone hired by his underling Fang Shuo? And was all this business with the pamphlets merely a cover? He put out one hand, as if to fend off the man.
"I'll pay you. Pay you lots. Much more than Fang Shou paid you. Look, I'll take you to the safe now. I'll—"
"Shut up!"
The man's mouth was formed into a snarl, but his eyes were cold and pitiless and Shou Chen'hai knew at once he had been mistaken. He was a terrorist. There was no mistaking that mad gleam, that uncompromising fanaticism.
"Your kind revolt me," he said, raising the gun and pointing it at Shou's forehead. "You think you can buy anything. You think—" He stopped and turned abruptly, following Shou's eyes.
A second figure had come into the corridor. She, too, wore the orange and yellow of Maintenance. Taking one look at how things were, she raised her gun and came forward.
"You stupid bastard! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The man gave a visible shudder of anger, then turned back, facing Shou Chen-hai. Even so, his face had changed, had lost its look of hideous amusement. Shou could see immediately how things stood between the two—could sense the acid resentment in the man—and at once began working on a way to use it. But it was too late.
Ywe Hao pointed her gun and fired twice, then, a moment later, a third time, standing over the slumped, lifeless body to make sure it was dead. There was blood on the ceramic tiles. Blood in the glasslike water of the bath. She turned and looked at Vasska, her anger making her voice shrill.
"You fucking idiot! I've had to send Erika to do what you should have done. Now go! Go and link up with her. Now!"
The man huffed out his resentment, but lowered his gun and began to turn away. He was two steps across the room when he stopped and turned back.
"Someone's coming! I can hear footsteps!"
She looked up at him, shaking her head. He was such a fool. Such a bloody amateur. Why had she had to get him on her team? Quickly she placed the papers on the corpse. Then, straightening up, she went out past Vasska and into the corridor. At the far end a man had come into view—barefoot, it seemed, and in his indoor clothes. As he came closer, she recognized who it was. It was the old Security guard, Leyden.
"No . . ." she said softly. "Please no . . ." But he kept coming. A few paces from her, he stopped.
"Chi Li... What's going on? 1 thought I heard shots. I..."
His voice tapered off. He was frowning and looking at the gun in her hand, part of him understanding, another part refusing to understand.
She shook her head. There wasn't time to tie him up. No time even to argue with him. Training and instinct told her to shoot him and get out, but something held her back. Vasska, coming alongside her, looked at the man and raised his gun.
"No . . ." she said, reaching out to restrain his hand. "Let him go. He's not armed."