Peter May - Snakehead

Hrycyk banged out of the court in a foul mood. He hissed at Margaret, ‘You people are putting the whole goddamned country at risk!’

Margaret shook her head calmly. ‘This country’s in far greater danger from people like you, Agent Hrycyk. You’re a dinosaur, did you know that? A relic from another age.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ he said sourly and moved off to engage in a whispered conference with Miss Carter.

Margaret turned to find Mendez standing looking at a flag mounted inside a glass case on the wall. It had green, white and red vertical stripes with the date 1824 crudely scrawled on the central white band. The bottom left of the band was defaced by a single bullet hole. ‘You know what this is, my dear?’ he said. ‘It’s the flag that was flying over the Alamo when John Wayne and Richard Widmark got killed.’

Margaret laughed. ‘Don’t you mean Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie?’

Mendez smiled and tugged at his white goatee. ‘I can only ever see the actors,’ he said. ‘Hollywood spoils history for us, don’t you think?’ He turned twinkling eyes on her.

Her smile faded. She said, ‘Felipe, you took a real risk in there. Putting your reputation on the line like that.’

He laughed out loud. ‘My dear, my reputation is already in tatters. I have absolutely nothing to lose.’

Li approached them and held out his hand to Mendez. ‘I don’t know how to thank you, Professor.’

‘Just take good care of her,’ Mendez said. ‘And make sure she sticks to that diet.’

Margaret had a sudden thought. ‘Shouldn’t we send a copy of the diet up to Fort Detrick for Steve Cardiff?’

Mendez said, ‘I’m way ahead of you, my dear. It’s already done.’

‘Dr. Campbell…Mr. Li…’ They turned at the sound of Agent Fuller’s voice. He was accompanied by Hrycyk and by a well-groomed Chinese man whom Margaret had seen hanging around outside the college when they first arrived. ‘I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Yi Fenghi. Mr. Yi works for Councilman Soong, an elected member of Houston City Council and the recognised spokesperson for the city’s Chinese community.’

Yi bowed stiffly and shook hands with them each in turn. He was a small man, no more that five-six or seven at the most. He had a clean-shaven, round face and dark hair brushed straight back from his forehead and fixed there with gel. He wore an Armani suit, a white silk shirt and a plain blue tie. ‘Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Campbell. Gentlemen.’ His English was correct but stilted.

‘What do you say we go take a seat over there?’ Fuller said, indicating a group of comfortable chairs by the window forming a square around a central table. And they moved away from the figures milling outside the courtroom and arranged themselves around the square. The window looked out on to a car park at the back, within the horseshoe shape of the college.

Fuller said, ‘Apparently yesterday’s raids have created a fair amount of panic in Chinatown.’

Yi cut in. ‘Councilman Soong is very anxious that the community work with the police and the INS to sort out any problems that may exist. He has already been approached by many community leaders concerned that there has been no communication with the authorities over this new clampdown. So he has called a meeting for this afternoon and hopes that representatives from your agencies will also attend. For information and advice.’

‘I think we should go,’ Fuller said. ‘We’re going to need the community on our side when this thing really breaks. What do you think, Li?’

Li looked at Yi speculatively. He said, ‘I think if the messenger dresses in Armani suits and silk shirts, then his boss must be worth a few kwai .’

Yi was unruffled. ‘Councilman Soong is chairman of the Houston-Hong Kong Bank,’ he said. ‘He is a ve-ery rich man. He has heard a great deal about you, Detective Li. He would very much like to meet you.’

‘Would he?’

‘He is from Canton. He began life in America as an illegal immigrant himself. He was granted amnesty by President Bush after Tiananmen. So now he is a real American.’

‘The living embodiment of the American Dream,’ Li said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Margaret glanced at him, curious about his attitude. Then he said, ‘Okay, let’s meet with Councilman Soong.’

Yi stood up, smiling. ‘At two o’clock this afternoon, then. At Minute Maid Park.’

‘A fucking baseball stadium?’ This from Hrycyk. He could not hide his incredulity.

Yi said, ‘Councilman Soong has a private suite at the stadium which he uses for confidential meetings.’ Yi grinned. ‘And Councilman Soong says, no soft soap, please. He likes to play hardball.’ He nodded and headed toward the door.

Margaret said to Li, ‘You didn’t like him much, did you?’

Li said, ‘He’s a type. You come across them all the time in my job. Low life off the street. A hundred-dollar haircut and an Armani suit doesn’t hide that.’

Hrycyk said, to no one in particular, ‘I don’t know how he can tell. They all look the same to me.’

Mendez ignored Hrycyk and said mischievously, ‘Ah, but don’t they say that it’s clothes that maketh the man?’

Li said, ‘They also say that a leopard never changes its spots.’

Margaret laughed. ‘Never exchange proverbs with a Chinese, Felipe,’ she said. ‘You’ll never win. They’ve got more of them than the rest of the world put together.’

There were storm clouds gathering in the sky. Great dark, rolling accumulations of rain filled with electricity and the promise of thunder. A hot wind had sprung up from the southwest and blew the dust of nearly six rainless weeks along the edges of the highway. Convicts in scuffed white prison outfits, trustees, raked the trash at the roadside, sweating freely in the hot humid midday.

The Holliday Unit was all the more oppressive, somehow, under the black sky. Margaret sat in the car park in Mendez’s Bronco, the engine running to power the air-con. He had told her to leave it for him at her office car park. Baylor was only five minutes away in the Texas Medical Center, and he would get the shuttle bus down to pick it up when he was finished there. He went off with Li, Hrycyk and Fuller to get a ride into Houston. Now Margaret sat waiting at the prison gate for Xiao Ling. She was going to take her to the Forensic Center on Old Spanish Trail, and Li would pick her up after the meeting at Minute Maid Park to take her to Washington.

Margaret was full of trepidation. Xiao Ling’s English was limited, and she was expecting to be picked up by Li. Margaret tapped the wheel impatiently, aware of the guard watching her from the tower. She had called up to him twenty minutes ago that she was there to collect Xiao Ling. But there was still no sign of activity. Then she saw the main door of H block opening, and Deputy Warden Macleod emerged with Li’s sister, dressed as she had been yesterday in her short blue dress and white high heels. It was a bizarre contrast to the prison uniform she had worn in court, a transformation from cowed illegal immigrant back to cheap prostitute. If clothes did not make the man, she thought, then they certainly made, or unmade, the woman.

She got out of the car and walked to the outer gate to meet them. As she did, the first heavy drops of rain started to fall from the sky. Margaret felt them big and cold on her bare arms and neck.

Deputy Warden Macleod said, ‘She’s all yours, doctor.’

Xiao Ling stood looking at her, and then glanced bewildered beyond her to the car park. ‘Li Yan?’ she asked.

Margaret shook her head. She pointed at Xiao Ling, then at herself. ‘You come with me.’

Xiao Ling appeared confused. Frightened even. She shook her head. ‘No.’