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He gestured again “A lot like him”

Then she realized “You wanted a fight here, didn’t you?”

“I had to delay your departure Tell hiret the cheap shot, but it seemed the only way to slow you down”

“Are you here to kill Tang?”

“There are a lot of people ould be pleased with that I had the chance, just a short while ago, to shoot him down”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Too soon I need to knohat’s up there in those et him out”

“What are you going to do with Sokolov?”

He did not answer her

“You going to kill him?”

More silence

“Tell

“You’re just going to have to trust me”

“I do”

“Then we’ll be fine”

And he left

SEVENTY-THREE

NI ADMIRED HIS PRISON THE BEDCHAMBER WAS SPECTACULAR Marble coluons twisting from bottom to top Frescoes on the walls depicted an e his palace, the procession unfolding through theon the fourth at a cluster of buildings streaked with purple, gray, and shades of ocher, rising from the shoulder of the mountain

Here This exact place

As depicted by the artist, and as Ni had seen flying in on the helicopter, glaciers brooding above a barren valley

He and Sokolov had been flown straight fro pad outside the walls by two younger men adorned in woolen robes, their hair wound on top, secured with red tassels, red woven sashes wrapping their waists

A butter lamp the size of a washbasin and fashioned of beaten copper burned in one corner, scenting the roo the flame’s hypnotic influence Occasionally, the distant bellow of a yak could be heard He realized there was no danger of hi since the s opened into a courtyard within the outer walls

Sokolov sat in one of several lacquered chairs, the furniture exquisite in both detail and design Expensive rugs cushioned thecomfortably

The door opened

He turned to see Pau Wen

“I was told that you had returned to China,” Ni said to the older man

Pau wore a golden-yellow robe, an interesting choice in color since Ni knew it syera loaded crossbow, held ready

“Minister Tang is on his way,” Pau said

“For me?” Sokolov asked

Pau nodded “Your revolutionary discovery is vital to what he has planned”

“How do you know of my discovery?”

“Because Karl Tang is a brother of the Ba”

He recalled the phone conversation and the split between Pau and Tang “You lie well”

Pau seemed to absorb the insult “I have been of the brotherhood nearly e twenty-eight I rose to Hegeh, that I love China Its culture Its heritage I have done all I can to preserve it”

“You are a eunuch, as deceitful as all of them who came before you”

“But there were s, who performed our duties with skill and honor In fact, Minister, history shows that there were far more of those than of the other”

“And which one are you?” Ni asked

“I aly returned home”

He was not impressed “And why is that?”

“To see ill lead China”

“That seems already decided”

“Your cynicisium”

“Where’s my son?” Sokolov asked “I was told he was here”

Paubehind hi the hand of a small boy, perhaps four or five, the same hair and face as Sokolov The boy spotted his father and rushed forward They ean to rattle off words in Russian, both of the