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He ignored her insulting tone “And how is our patient?”
The First Infectious Disease Hospital, located just outside Chongqing, cared for nearly two thousand people afflicted with either tuberculosis or hepatitis It was one of eight facilities scattered throughout the country, each a forbidding coreen fences, places where the contagious could be safely quarantined But the security these hospitals enjoyed alsoof any sick prisoners from the Chinese penal system
Like Jin Zhao, who’d suffered a brain heo
“He’s lying in his bed, as he’s done since the first day he was brought here,” the doctor said “He clings to life The daain, per your order—no treatment has been administered”
He knew she hated his usurpation of her a
uthority Gone were Mao’s obedient “barefoot doctors,” who, according to the officialthe h she was the hospital’s chief ad was the national y, a member of the Central Committee, first vice premier of the Chinese Communist Party, and first vice president of the People’s Republic of China—second in power only to the president and premier himself
“As I made clear last time, Doctor,” he said, “that was not my order, but the directive of the Central Coiance”
He voiced the words for the benefit of not only the foolish woman but also the three members of his staff and two captains from the People’s Liberation Arreen uniform with the red star of the motherland emblazoned on his cap One of the most likely to lowingly of him
“Take us to the patient,” he calmly commanded
They walked down halls lined with lettuce-green plaster, cracked and luhted by weak fluorescent fixtures The floor was clean but yellowed froical masks, tended to patients clad in striped blue-and-white paja much like prisoners
They entered another ward through a set of swinging h for a dozen or y white sheets
The air stank
“I see you left the linen alone,” he said
“You did order me to do so”
Another mark in his favor for the inforo, but had suffered a heed with treason and espionage, tried in a Beijing court, and convicted, all in absentia since he’d remained here, in a coma
“He is just as you left him,” the doctor said
Beijing lay nearly a thousand kilometers to the east and he supposed that distance bolstered this woman’s nerve You may rob the Three Armies of their commander in chief, but you cannot deprive the humblest peasant of his opinion More of Confucius’ nonsense Actually the government could, and this insolent bitch should heed that fact
He motioned and one of the uniforms led her across the room
He approached the bed
Theprostrate was in hisand unkempt, his emaciated frame and sunken cheeks reminiscent of those of a corpse Bruises splotched his face and chest, while intravenous lines snaked fros
“Jin Zhao, you have been found guilty of treason against the People’s Republic of China You were afforded a trial, froret to inform you that the Supreme People’s Court has approved your execution and denied your appeal”
“He can’t hear a word you’re saying,” the doctor said from across the room
He kept his eyes down on the bed “Perhaps not, but the words must be spoken” He turned and faced her “It is the law, and he is entitled to proper process”
“You tried hi there,” she blurted out “You never heard a word he had to say”
“His representative was afforded the opportunity to present evidence”
The doctor shook her head in disgust, her face pale with hate “Do you hear yourself? The representative never had the opportunity to even speak with Zhao What evidence could possibly have been presented?”
He couldn’t decide if the infored to one of his staff or one of the ar for sure anymore All he kneas that his report to the Central Co, so he decided to make clear, “Are you sure? Not once has Zhao co?”
“He was beaten senseless His brain is destroyed He will never awaken from the coma We keep him alive simply because you—no, excuse me, the Central Committee—ordered it”
He caught the disgust in the wo else he’d seen more and more of lately Especially from women Nearly the entire hospital staff—doctors and nurses—oreat strides since Mao’s Revolution, yet Tang still adhered to the adage his father had taught him A man does not talk about affairs inside the home, and a woman does not talk about affairs outside
This insignificant doctor, employed at athe enor ruled a land that stretched five thousand kilometers east to west and more than three thousand north to south Much was uninhabitable ions in the world, only 10 of the country arable Nearly one and a half billion people—more than America, Russia, and Europe combined But only 60,000,000 were members of the Chinese Communist Party—less than 3 of the total The doctor was a Party member, and had been for more than a decade He’d checked No way she could have risen to such a high erial position otherwise Only Party-e e spread across fifty-six minorities The doctor’s father was a proovernment, a loyal Party member who’d participated in the 1949 Revolution and personally known both Mao and Deng Xiaoping
Still, Tang needed to overnment He decided to aid our enemies—”
“What could a sixty-three-year-old geocheovernment? Tell me, Minister I want to know What could he possibly do to us now?”
He checked his watch A helicopter aiting to fly him north
“He was no spy,” she said “No traitor What did he really do, Minister? What justifies beating a man until his brain bleeds?”
He had not the time to debate what had already been decided The informant would seal this woman’s fate In a es—most likely sent thousands of kilometers west to the outer reaches, where problems were hidden away