“I’m not picking them; they’re picking me. They come knocking on the door in the dead of night, promising to deliver whole sections of the country, army units, security files, whatever I want.”
“They have probably done the same with the Chinese.” Most of the names were of people used to landing on their feet.
“I don’t care whose tummy they are rubbing, as long as they realize they can’t afford to ignore me. We need a quiet transition, as seamless and unremarkable as we can make it. Nobody raises his head, nobody gets hurt. This is a list of what we like to call our guides, people who know where the paths are, and where they lead. If these are the right paths, and everyone cooperates, all that happens is that the sign in the front window changes. ‘Under new management.’ ”
“The immaculate omelet, made without breaking a single egg. I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so. I don’t think so, either, but that’s what the plan calls for. If you ask me, there’s no chance things will stick to the script, and when they don’t, we have to go to plan B.”
“Always plan B. Why not start there?”
“You won’t like it. Trust me, no one will like it.”
“Tell me honestly, Major. Do you really think you can blow the whistle, point to the scoreboard, and convince twenty-three million people that you’ve won the game?”
“I don’t know why anyone would believe it, but I’m telling you it’s already happened. It doesn’t matter what the people at the bottom think. They’ll do as they’re told. But the ones at the top, they can see what has happened. I’m not going to spend a lot of time analyzing the causes. The fact is, I’ve never seen so many whipped dogs in my life.”
“Is that so?”
“You saw that group at the table the first night. If I shift my chair, they wet themselves. They’re not cooperative, but they are resigned.”
“Good. In that case, you have probably already looked into how many of your army divisions are going to have to stay for the next hundred years to keep all the dogs in line. Do you think you’re going to pacify the whole country? Go up to the mountains in Chagang sometime and tell me that. Try driving a tank through hills and dales of Yanggang. How long do you think the railroads will last? Will you guard every tunnel and every bridge?”
“It’s
“Of course! You’re a Christian. I should have guessed.”
“That’s not relevant.”
“Oh, no? You expect me to think that your heart doesn’t race when you look around and think of the possibilities for converts.”
“Be serious. Are you with us or against us? I don’t have time to kick this ball around.”
“I know, I know; you are on a tight schedule. Only I don’t think you realize yet what is going on outside the bubble of this compound.”
“Let me try inserting something you may find interesting. Your grandmother was a Christian.”
“Is that so?” Pang did his homework. Kim did his homework. Pretty soon, I’d have a nice genealogy chart to hang in my house.
“She was educated at a Methodist school in Haeju. That’s where she grew up, wasn’t it?”
“You seem to have the file on my grandmother. You tell me.”
“I thought you knew.”
“Fascinating, all fascinating. And it means what? I’m next in line to be Pope?”
“The Pope isn’t a Methodist.”
“What a coincidence. Neither am I.”
“Look, O, you may not believe it, you may not like it, but the biggest change either of us will ever see is already here. Not on the doorstep, not in the wings. It is here, now. In a year, this rump state of yours will not exist. Understood?”
“Within a year, I get to bring in the tray with your breakfast.”
“Maybe.”
“And my friends? What happens to them?”
“Depends who they are.” Kim picked up his pencil. “Who are they?”
“And my world?”
“Your world? I should think you’d be happy to see it disappear. Besides, the new one won’t be so bad.”
“Is it already on display at the hotel? I get headaches.”
Kim put all the papers in a neat pile. “Things have been quiet up to now. But we go into phase two soon. I need a decision from you. Help me make it smooth, or I guarantee you won’t live to see the end of it. That’s the way it is going to be.”
“More threats. That’s the sum total of what you have in your fancy knapsack.” Kim’s eyes dared me to keep going down that path. I decided it was time to try a new tack. I didn’t have a lot of options at the moment; I might as well try purring. “You’ll keep Zhao off my back?”
“He won’t come near you.” The response was automatic, almost as if he was hypnotized. Zhao was a fixation. It was clear to me that nothing worried Kim as much as, nothing blotted out more light or consumed more oxygen than, his fear of Zhao. He didn’t control the gangster, and it scared the hell out of him.
“You’re going to protect me sort of like you protected Captain Sim.”
“Sim was working against me, Inspector. I let Pang have him. In fact, I told Pang where he’d be.”
“Don’t try that with me. There’s a key difference. Sim was one of yours. He didn’t know which way was up around here. I do.”
“Are you bargaining with me? Because you don’t have any leverage, Inspector. None. Not a tiny bit, not a sliver. None.”
“Keep believing in angels if it makes you sleep any better.” Purring was hard work. I’d have to practice.
8
The next day, I stayed in my hotel. The phone rang; I didn’t answer it. A note came under the door; I didn’t open it. When the maid came to make up the room around ten o’clock, I went downstairs and stopped at the front desk. The man of a thousand stares was waiting in the lobby. He had on a striped shirt. It accentuated his thinness. He made Luis look like a water buffalo.
The desk clerk looked annoyed. “Who is that guy? He won’t talk to anyone. He just stands around, staring at nothing. I’ve put up with him long enough. I’ve had it. End of the line.”
“It only looks like he’s staring at nothing. Actually, he has wide-angle vision, sort of like a walleye pike. If you pay attention, you’ll see his eyes move independently.”
“Yeah, sure. And my fingers dance the rumba on Thursdays. He looks like a friend of yours. He only showed up when you did, as I recall. When you go away, so does he. He’s like a wart. Get rid of him before I call security.”
The only person I liked less than the staring man was this clerk. “That probably won’t do any good. He works for them, or somebody like them. What harm is he doing, standing there?”
“It makes the guests nervous.”
“I’m your only guest. Do I look nervous?”
“Why did you come down here? You’re not the chatty type.”
“It gets lonely up there in the room. Besides, I thought you might give me some
