He looked down and saw the rifle barrel wave gently as Simms picked a target.
Now this, Simms thought, is what I call a target-rich environment. Now let me see… Well, first things first.
He tightened his grip and centered the cross hairs.
Neal knew he couldn’t hit Simms from that distance with the pistol in a thousand years, but he gave it a try. The pistol bucked in his hand as he pulled the trigger.
The shot didn’t even distract Simms. He chuckled to himself as he followed his target, waiting for the two of them to get closer together so he could make an easy adjustment for the second kill. Or should I try for a double kill with one shot?
No, that would be vulgar.
He practiced his lead once and waited for the ideal shot.
Neal put both feet to the rock and pushed. His ribs strained and screamed as he as he pushed, wedging his back against the slope. Then the shale began to give way underneath. The rock began to slip.
Time to stop fucking around, Simms said to himself. He began to put just the right amount of pressure on the trigger.
The boulder gave way and started to roll. Neal watched it bounce over the path and pick up speed as it tumbled toward Simms. Please, God… please, please, please.
He heard the shot go off a half-second before the boulder hit.
He looked up and saw Pendleton drop.
Like he’d been shot.
Then he heard Li Lan scream.
He sprang to his feet and ran toward her.
Simms was about to grease the babe when he felt a jolt through his hands as a big fucking rock hit the gun barrel and tore the rifle from him.
Son of a bitch, he thought. They just don’t want to make this easy. Well, he’d just have to do her with the knife. He wished she’d quit screaming, though.
Neal heard her wailing as he made it to the summit.
She stood with her back to him, Pendleton in her arms. There was a big hole in his back. The other two men stood as still as statues on the edge of the pavilion.
She was dragging Pendleton to the edge of the cliff, to the Buddha’s Mirror.
“No!” Neal screamed as he ran toward her. “Noooo!!!”
She turned toward Neal as she reached the edge.
The two Chinese men started to run toward her.
Neal was close enough to see her eyes, close enough to see her smile, close enough to reach her with one lunge as she turned, looked into the Buddha’s Mirror, cradled Pendleton in her arms, and jumped.
Neal sprawled on the edge. He peered into the mists below, into the Buddha’s Mirror, but he couldn’t see them. All he could see was the mist, and golden circles of light, and in one golden circle his own face. His own soul.
He closed his eyes and sobbed.
“We thank you for your assistance,” Xao said. He raised his teacup in the form of a toast.
“You are very welcome,” Simms answered.
They were sitting at a pavilion on the summit.
“I must confess,” Xao continued, “that when we started to lure the traitors here, we did not know we would have the assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Peng has been most thorough.”
Peng blushed. He was burning with rage, but could not let it show. Xao’s plot had been foiled, but Xao would come out of it as a hero. Without the bodies, Peng could prove nothing. It would be his word against Xao’s, and he knew he would come out the loser.
“The woman was obviously unstable,” Xao continued.
“Apparently,” agreed Simms.
“Perhaps she loved him.”
“Emotional involvements are dangerous in our type of endeavor.”
“Just so.”
Xao turned to Peng. “You have been very loyal, Xiao Peng, almost to the point to cause concern. For a while it seemed that you thought that I was a traitor, and yet you were willing to conspire with me.”
Xao’s eyes burned into him.
Peng said, “Comrade Secretary, it is not for me to question your instructions, but merely to carry them out.”
Xao’s smile had the warmth of a dagger.
“Even so, accept my gratitude.”
“Humbly, Comrade Secretary.”
Xao turned to Simms. “You will inform your superiors that the problem of Mr. Pendleton is resolved?”
“They will be most grateful.”
Jesus, thought Simms, can we cut the Oriental bullshit and get out of here?
“What about Carey?” Simms asked. “It would be awkward to bring him back to the States.”
“A reckless young man,” Xao answered. “Prone to the sort of rash behavior that leads to accidents. This is a dangerous mountain, particularly on the stretch known as the Elephant’s Saddle. Careless hikers have been known to slip and fall, especially if they were foolish enough to attempt to traverse it at night.”
“But I am afraid I have little choice, Secretary Xao. I wonder if I could borrow a flashlight?”
“Of course. Xiao Wu and my driver will escort you. Mr. Peng will stay here for the night. We have much to discuss.”
Xao smiled pleasantly at Peng. So pleasantly that Peng wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. Xao stood up and offered his hand to Simms.
“Thank you for all your help,” he said.
“Don’t mention it.”
They both laughed at his joke.
Wu sat with Neal at the pavilion near the summit. Neal’s hands were tied behind him. In the three hours since Pendleton’s murder and Li’s suicide he hadn’t uttered a sound, just stared into the distance.
Simms came up, stood in front of Neal, and then kicked him in the ribs. Neal toppled over on his face.
“That’s for the swim in the river,” Simms said.
The driver picked Neal up gently and lifted him to his feet.
“You like to walk, Neal,” said Simms. “We’re going for a walk.”
Simms held a large flashlight in one hand. So did the driver.
The soldier led the way. Simms pushed Neal in behind the soldier, and Wu brought up the rear. They trudged slowly down the Buddha’s Ladder as the driver carefully pointed out the trail with his flashlight. They reached the bottom and started along the Elephant’s Saddle.
“You want to be real careful, Neal, so you don’t slip and fall.”
Neal heard the words with intense relief. They were going to kill him after all.
They’d walked for a couple more minutes when he heard Simms say, “I guess this will do.”
Neal waited for the push. Neal wanted the push.
“Cocksucker.”
Neal turned and saw Wu kick Simms’s feet out from under him. Simms tottered on the edge for a long moment, flailing his arms as he tried to regain his balance. Then he tumbled into the darkness. His scream echoed in the night.
Then the driver lifted Neal into his arms.
21
Robert Pendleton squatted in the muck of the rice paddy for a moment and came up with a beaker full of mud. He held it up to the light, swished it around, and looked at it carefully.
“It’s the nitrogen content that’s crucial, as you know.”
Zhu smiled and nodded.
“We’ll take this back to the lab and see what’s what,” Pendleton said. He waded up to the dike, shook the mud off his shoes, and looked around him. Dwaizhou’s broad paddies and fields shone green and fertile in the morning sun. He inhaled the fecund scent of the rice crop, so different from the sterile smell of the corporate laboratory, so much richer.
AgriTech, he remembered, had always bragged that it was “where the action is.” No, he thought, this is where the action is.
And what would the boys in the office say if they could see me now? In my green Mao suit, little Mao cap, and rubber sandals? They probably wouldn’t give me a tee time on the company course.
Gee.
He decided to stop off at home for lunch, handed Old Zhu the beaker, and said he’d meet him at their makeshift lab later. The lab was actually pretty good. Nothing like AgriTech, but still pretty decent, all things considered, and he’d given Xao a shopping list to fill as time, money, and secrecy allowed.