Peter May - The Runner

Li said, ‘And who was it who drew the Procurator General’s attention to this alleged inaccuracy?’

‘I don’t think that’s the point.’

‘I think it’s very much the point.’

The Commissioner took Li firmly by the arm and steered him closer to the wall. His voice reduced itself to an angry hiss. ‘Don’t play games with me, Li. I think you know very well who it was. Loyalty is not something you inherit with the job. You have to earn it. And I am hearing that all is far from well between you and another senior member of your section.’

‘If I’d been Section Chief at the time of his appointment, he would never have got the job.’

The Commissioner glared at him. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Li. The decision would not have been yours to make.’ He let go of Li’s arm and took a deep breath. Although Li towered over him, he was still a solid and imposing figure in his black dress uniform, with its three shining silver stars on each lapel. ‘Are you going to tell me why this report was doctored?’ Even his use of the word ‘doctored’ rang a bell for Li.

Li said quietly, ‘Perhaps you should ask the Minister, Commissioner.’

Hu narrowed his eyes. ‘Are you telling me the Minister asked you to alter an official report?’ Li nodded. ‘And do you think for one minute he would admit to that?’

And Li saw for the first time just what kind of trouble he could be in. He said, ‘One or two minor facts were omitted purely to save embarrassment for the people involved. That’s all. Nothing that materially affected the case.’

‘The fact that the Chinese weightlifting champion was screwing the wife of a senior member of BOCOG is hardly a minor omission, Section Chief.’

‘The Minister—’

Hu cut him off. ‘The Minister will not back you up or bail you out on this, Li. Take my word for it. In the current climate, he has far too much to lose. Everyone from the lowliest officer to the Minister himself must be seen to be beyond reproach. Don’t forget that his former Vice-Minister was sentenced to death for his misdemeanours.’

Li protested, ‘Li Jizhou took nearly half a million dollars in bribes from a gang of smugglers! Saving a few blushes over a marital indiscretion is hardly in the same league.’ But he was kicking himself. He knew he should never have agreed to it.

The Commissioner glared at him angrily. ‘You’re a fool, Li. Fortunately, it’s not too late to do something about it. Get the officer concerned to issue a full and accurate report, and we will redefine the current report as “interim” and withdraw it.’

Li knew there was no way around it. When the revised report found its way into circulation, scandal was inevitable. And given the high profile of Jia himself, there was a good chance it was going to find its way into the media as well. All he could think about were Jia’s parents, the sad old couple he had encountered on the doorstep of their son’s apartment. He said, ‘The current investigation into the death of Jia and several other leading athletes looks like turning into a murder investigation, Commissioner.’

The Commissioner was clearly shocked. ‘I thought he died of a heart attack.’

‘He did. But in common with all the others, he was suffering from what we think was a virally induced heart condition that would certainly have killed him, if fate had not delivered the blow first. At least one of those others was murdered — the swimmer Sui Mingshan. And three others who supposedly died in a car accident were dead before the car crashed.’

The Commissioner looked at him thoughtfully. ‘And your point is?’

‘That Jia looks certain to become attached to a murder inquiry that is going to shake Chinese athletics to the core, Commissioner. Bad enough with the Beijing Olympics looming on the horizon. How much worse if there is a link between Jia and a high-ranking member of the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games?’

The Commissioner took a long moment to consider his point. At length he said, ‘Take no action for the moment, Section Chief. I will speak to the Procurator General. And others. And I will let you know my decision.’ He paused. ‘But just don’t think you’ve got away with anything. Do you understand?’

Li nodded and felt the scrutiny of the Commissioner’s probing eyes trying to decipher what lay behind Li’s consciously blank expression. ‘You said two things, Commissioner.’

‘What?’

‘You wanted to speak to me about two things.’

‘Ah…yes.’ And for the first time Commissioner Hu avoided his eyes. ‘It is a matter I had intended to raise with you this week anyway.’

‘To tell me I had been allocated a married officer’s apartment?’

Anger flashed quickly in Hu’s eyes and he snapped, ‘You know perfectly well there’s no question of you getting an apartment!’

Li felt the resentment that had been simmering inside him for weeks now start bubbling to the surface. If the Commissioner thought Li was going to make this easy for him, he was mistaken. ‘Really? That’s the first time anybody has ever conveyed that particular piece of information to me. So I don’t know how I would know it, perfectly well, or otherwise.’

For a moment he thought the Commissioner was going to strike him. ‘You sonofabitch, you really are hell-bent on putting an end to your career, aren’t you?’

‘I wasn’t aware I had much of a choice, Commissioner.’

‘My office asked you several weeks ago,’ the Commissioner said in a very controlled way, ‘for information about your intention to marry the American pathologist, Margaret Campbell. That information has not been forthcoming.’

‘That information,’ Li replied evenly, ‘was provided in full detail when I made my application for married accommodation. Nothing has changed.’

‘So you’re still intent on marrying her?’

‘Next week.’

The Commissioner took a very deep breath and raised his eyes towards the faces gazing down on them from the Martyrs’ Wall. ‘You really are a fool, Li, aren’t you? You know that it is Public Security policy that none of its officers may marry a foreign national.’ He sighed his frustration. ‘In the name of the sky, why do you have to marry her? We’ve turned a blind eye to your relationship up until now.’

‘Because I love her, and she’s carrying my baby. And I’m not going to creep around at night making clandestine visits to see my lover and my child. If marrying her is such a threat to national security, I’d have thought conducting an illicit affair was an even greater one. And if you’re prepared to turn a blind eye to that, then aren’t you just being hypocritical?’

The Commissioner shook his head in despair. ‘I don’t know what your uncle would have thought of you.’

‘My uncle always told me to be true to myself. He used to say, the universe is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.’

‘And there is nothing I can say that will change your mind?’ Li shook his head. ‘Then I will expect your resignation on my desk by next week.’

‘No.’

The Commissioner looked at Li in astonishment. ‘What do you mean, no?’

‘I mean I am not going to resign, Commissioner. If you are going to insist on enforcing this policy, then you are going to have to remove me from my post.’

The Commissioner narrowed his eyes. ‘You really are a stubborn…arrogant…bastard, Li.’ His raised voice caused heads to turn in their direction from the shooting range. He quickly lowered it again. ‘If you insist on following this course, then believe me, I will strip you of your commission and I will remove you from the force. You will lose your apartment, and your pension, all medical rights and rights to social security. And who will employ a disgraced former police officer?’ He paused to let his words sink in. ‘Have you really thought this through?’