The Girl From Peking

by George B Mair

  He checked the safety catch of his Biretta, subconsciously tensing for action as she opened the door of her suite.

  A man and woman were standing in one corner and Grant heard Tania gasp with surprise. The woman was her mirror image: almost an identical twin, but the man was Chinese, and he bowed apologetically as he moved the sub-machine gun. ‘Be so kind as to be seated.’ His voice was soft, but the words were loaded, and Grant had long ago learned when to obey orders. The Biretta dropped on carpeting and Grant froze.

  ‘That’s much better.’ The gun relaxed—just a shade—as the girl double-checked on the drapes, closing a last tiny chink of street lighting before walking towards Tania and staring at her curiously.

  ‘So this is what you did?’ Her voice was a melodious mezzosoprano, but her eyes were colder than steel and she spoke in French.

  The man shook his head. ‘Not me, Miki. Professor Fan must be given full credit.’ He motioned towards a mirror just behind Grant’s chair. ‘Stand up and look at yourselves. The resemblance is extraordinary.’

  Tania rose without a word and turned towards the glass as the man moved his gun slightly. ‘Deceptive things mirrors. You are even more alike in reality.’

  The gunman was at least ten paces away, but his trigger finger was already taut against steel and the girls were almost identical twins.

  ‘That is exactly what they are, Doctor Grant,’ he said. ‘Or at least were—in a way that is.’

  ‘You have an advantage over me,’ said Grant. ‘Who are you?’

  The man shook his head. ‘I do the asking.’

  And then Tania interrupted. ‘His name is Maksud Wang and he is head of Security in the Chinese People’s Republic.’

  Wang looked at her curiously. ‘Life in Paris has affected your training. Were you not taught the importance of secrecy?’

  ‘But you carry it too far. Were all the girls you offered twins?’ Tania was already thinking far ahead of Grant and had already begun to see what might have happened.

  Maksud looked at her with mild surprise. Almost with regret. ‘Take off your dress,’ he said at last.

  She hesitated, and then as Maksud raised his gun she slipped it over her ankles.

  ‘Now take your bra and let the shoulder straps fall round your arms.’

  She again looked at him curiously but did as she was told and the other girl stepped forward. She was carrying a length of strapping and anchored it round the shoulder straps, ending with a loop round the upright spars of the chair before she drew it taut and fastened the buckle. ‘Just a little restraint to prevent you doing anything silly,’ said Maksud as he turned to Grant. ‘Now trousers off.’

  Grant unzipped his flies. The girl caught them as they reached his knees and produced a pair of ‘three-grip’ handcuffs from a bag on the floor beside her. Before he realised what was happening she had whipped his pants off, anchored his right wrist to his left ankle and his right ankle to the connecting chain. Only his left arm was now free and she bound it to the leg of his chair with cord from Tania’s dress.

  The man then opened a bottle on the table and poured himself a glass of liquid. ‘Rice wine. I’m sorry I daren’t take the risk of offering you any, but I’m sure you understand. Especially you, comrade Tania.’ His voice changed, and he spoke with open contempt. ‘We trained you. We gave two years of our lives towards making you useful and now you prove unreliable. My people here contacted me immediately you caused that explosion in your dressing room because you had broken orders and betrayed your promise to carry out every detail of this operation exactly as it had been explained to you.’

  He paused and lifted one finger. ‘A small error, you may think, but it attracted attention and made future operations more difficult.’ He hesitated, as though marshalling his thoughts. ‘But you had also been indiscreet in your social life. A little too much contact with secretaries at various capitalist Embassies. And of course too much interest in Doctor Grant. Which all adds up to being politically unreliable.’

  Grant had faced almost every conceivable type of opposition, but he reckoned that no exercise had produced so many top flight experts. Or so many twists. And Maksud Wang’s words were Tania’s death sentence. In his circle the words ‘politically unreliable’ were always an overture to elimination. ‘She never put a foot wrong,’ he said. ‘I gave her an ace rating. And so did my department.’

  ‘In bed or as my agent?’ Maksud was indifferent. ‘But the things which matter are serious. She also allowed herself to be taken prisoner in spite of wearing suicide equipment. She failed to kill you when she had the chance. She made no real effort to escape when your team took her away from her temporary prison to the car. And finally,’ he added grimly, ‘she was foolish enough, when she knew that she could be traced by radio, to fall into a trap and allow you to take her to a hotel which must have been monitored by your own people.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’ Grant’s voice was edged with irritation. Where had he slipped up?

  Maksud’s left hand covered his mouth for a brief second. ‘Your taxi driver was photographed at La Madeleine and his face is on our files as a staff member of NATO counter-espionage.’ He inclined his head in a slight bow. ‘I always salute efficiency, because most of my own people are extremely efficient, and Tania Monham has naturally been under observation ever since she landed in Hong Kong, because we had to make sure! So naturally when she disappeared on her way to her hotel after the party comrade Miki immediately took her place.’

  Grant forced himself to look upwards. He was crouched in a position which made every movement agony. ‘What about the lady? She seems to be Tania’s twin sister. Or is she simply a double?’

  He saw the muscles of Tania’s legs tense as she waited a reply. ‘Her name,’ said Maksud at last, ‘is really Kamegeamiki. But we call her Miki for short. She was identical twin to the girl who gave Tania Monham her face.’

  ‘And died?’ Grant was stating a fact. It could have been done in no other way.

  Maksud nodded. ‘That was unavoidable but she was a patriot and was decorated by the State.’

  Miki again interruped. She was sitting demure on a Louis Seize divan and her two piece suit contrasted with the heavy décor around. ‘This is news, comrade Maksud. My family thought Tania had been killed in an accident. They were grateful for money which was paid by the insurance company. But I have heard nothing of all this. Is it permitted to ask what happened to my twin?’

  Maksud sipped his wine and studied his finger-tips. ‘I don’t normally discuss such things,’ he said at last, ‘but I will tell you both a little, even if it is only to show David Grant how impossible it will be for NATO or any other grouping of Western Imperialist nations to outwit my government.’

  Miki crossed her legs and leaned back against a cushion. ‘You told me that my sister had been chosen for special work by our great People’s government, but that she had been killed in a motor car accident. You then asked if I would be willing to take her place, as it was necessary for someone who looked like me to be trained for a special mission.’

  Muksad nodded affably. ‘Correct. And that is what we did.’

  ‘That is what we did.’ The girl looked at the ceiling. ‘You cut me off from the world. I saw only teachers for almost two years. I learned both French and English. You taught me how to attract sophisticated men. My teachers taught me Western table manners and how to converse. I read any newspapers which were given to me, but I was never able to buy one and no one ever left a news-sheet lying about which had not been censored.’

  Maksud’s personality became slightly more formal. ‘You have complaints?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, I try only to reconstruct the past. I was told that the political situation was complicated, and that I mustn’t become confused by reading things which could disturb my training. Which is why a few paragraphs were sometimes cut out. And I could understand. But now I wonder. What was the real reason, comrade?’

  Maksud
again bowed and his neck seemed almost too slender to support such a powerfully moulded skull. ‘For a few days there was an occasional reference to this girl. She had choosen your sister’s name after the face transplant and I obliged her by allowing her to use it. You see, comrade,’ he added quietly, ‘I like to keep my people happy. And when a certain situation developed which led to publicity for your sister, or rather to comrade Tania here, it was wiser not to disturb you be letting you see the news. I was again thinking of your peace of mind.’

  The girl bowed. ‘And I am most grateful. But I am thinking now of all the other things I learned from my teachers. I became fantastically efficient with guns, knives and blow-pipes. I learned how to use many drugs and was even trained to accept death if death proved unavoidable.’ She looked at Maksud anxiously. Almost too anxiously, thought Grant. ‘Did I do well?’

  The man smiled. ‘Brilliantly. This girl who was given your sister’s face is a near genius, but you are a real genius. You have a natural aptitude for learning.’

  The girl became more demure than ever. ‘And did I become even better than my teachers?’

  Maksud sounded slightly impatient. ‘Better than some. Especially with the blow-pipe.’

  ‘And they taught me psychology. I did learn to know how to accept death. Did I also do that well?’

  Maksud was puzzled. She was more enigmatic than he had expected. ‘Your reports were excellent and you learned how to face death.’

  ‘And you, comrade,’ said the girl quietly. ‘Can you face death as bravely as my sister must have done? Or as I did? Because, remember, the tests were very severe.’

  A bead of sweat was breaking on Maksud’s forehead and he nodded abruptly. ‘But now we stop this talk. Your sister died to give one of my staff a new face, because it was necessary to use a certain highly trained agent who was already known to this man Grant, who is a war-mongering spy. Obviously I had to deceive him, and only this girl knew his mind. But in order to deceive him her appearance had to be changed, so Professor Fan gave her your sister’s face. It was a triumph of plastic surgery.’ He sat down and mopped his forehead with a silk handkerchief.

  ‘But my sister faced death. How long did the operation take?’ She turned towards Tania, who replied almost automatically.

  ‘It was done in stages and she lived with me for over a year before the doctors killed her.’

  Miki’s hand flickered for a second and Maksud sat motionless when she produced a tiny blow-pipe from behind the cushion of her divan. He was now sweating heavily and his gun had dropped to the carpet. Miki smiled at him, almost with pity. ‘Now let us see if you do know how to face death, comrade.’ She was holding the ivory tube near her lips and Grant could see the point of a dart lying halfway up the pipe. ‘You have deceived me from the beginning, but if you had told me the truth both my sister and I would have co-operated. We would have decided which of us would die. And the other would have become your slave. As I was. Instead!’ Her voice became hard. ‘I now find you have told me nothing but lies. Though I am grateful that you made me so expert with poisons.’

  The man’s eyes were dull and there was a flush on both cheeks. ‘Why did you do it?’ He seemed unable to lift his arms and even his feet dangled, semi-paralysed.

  ‘I was suspicious when you brought me here so quickly last night, but when I stood beside you at the window and watched this man and woman walk along the street you said something which made me guess that my sister had been murdered.’

  ‘So you killed me on a guess?’ Maksud’s voice was still strong.

  She shook her head. ‘No, I waited until you had told your story. The poison takes about ten minutes to begin to work. But even then, if you had spoken differently I would have given you a glass of water when you began to sweat and you would have taken it never knowing that it held the antidote.’

  ‘And now?’ The man was sitting erect but his head had begun to wobble and Grant saw his neck muscles tense with effort as he fought to keep steady.

  ‘You accepted a pinch of snuff just before they arrived so you avoided my use of darts. But if you had refused I would still have poisoned your wine.’ She flicked open the seal of her signet ring to show a cavity packed with fine yellow powder. ‘It would have been easy to drop it into your drink. Especially when you were wondering what to do with your latest victims. Now tell me,’ she added gently, ‘can you face death?’ It is still over an hour away. But you are semi-paralysed. The paralysis will extend until you can’t breathe. And then . . .’ she waved her hands expressively, ‘you will die.’

  Maksud looked at the wall clock. ‘I have over an hour?’

  ‘I think so. The dose varies with weight. But you may be lucky.’

  ‘And you know that this man must already have sent members of his organisation to steal the tapes we were going to use.’

  She laughed. ‘There has been some talk about these tapes but I am more interested in the photographs which were taken when I myself was working?’

  Grant’s limbs were seized up with cramp, but her words snapped him back to action stations. ‘What photographs?’

  Miki strolled across the room. ‘A man looks so non-lovable sitting with only his shirt. Aren’t you angry?’

  ‘What photographs?’ he repeated.

  She lit a slim cigarette. ‘I have been reading the newspapers today. And I heard the radio.’ She looked at Muksad Wang with a cynical smile. ‘You taught me to be efficient. The waiter brought me papers while you were bathing, and I discovered what happened last night at the Élysée Palace. In fact,’ she added, ‘it was the first thing to make me suspicious, because the woman was named, and the name was that of my sister. Then again, although we all know that the Western press is heavily censored, the articles said enough to make me wonder. Tania Monham was also photographed with the President of France. And although it was a bad picture it looked like my sister. And at first I thought that was why I had been chosen. To take the place of a woman who was my double so that I might find some big secrets which would help our government.’ She blew a perfect smoke ring. ‘But the more I thought, the more I began to wonder . . . about everything . . . and later you said enough at the window to make my suspicions certain. I knew for sure that you had killed my sister. And so,’ she said simply, ‘I decided to kill you. It was reasonable. But tell me, are you happy facing death?’

  ‘The photographs,’ snapped Grant. ‘Tell me more.’

  ‘So impolite!’ She turned back to Maksud. ‘Even we can be civil to one another while you are dying, and even although you know that I am killing you. But these Western people are savages. Speak with more respect, Doctor Grant.’

  Grant gritted his teeth. ‘I beg your pardon, but I would be grateful if you cared to tell me about these other pictures.’

  She bowed. ‘Much better! Shall I tell him or shall you, comrade?’

  Maksud’s voice had thickened and his face was strained. ‘You will say nothing. It was done for our people.’

  She tittered again. ‘How silly men can be! Don’t you understand that my revenge will be much more sweet if you die knowing that your work has gone for nothing.’ She sat down again, this time beside Tania. ‘So I’ll tell you. And then,’ she continued softly, ‘you can both have a little pinch of snuff and die like comrade Maksud. And then we shall find out if you can face death as bravely as he is doing.’

  Grant forced himself to be polite. ‘That will be a privilege, Madame.’

  Her eyes hardened. ‘I am a virgin. Call me Miki.’

  He again drilled himself to be gentle. ‘Forgive, Miki. But I’ll die more easily if I hear your story.’

  ‘You won’t die easily.’ She smiled. ‘But you will hear my story. After my training they smuggled me out of China from near the edge of Mongolia to North Korea and then by air to Tanzania. We stopped over there for a few days and I wore purdah so that no one could recognise me.’ She lit another cigarette. ‘The rest was easy. I used a different hair style,
altered the shape of lips and eyes with make-up, wore special foundation clothes and flew to Paris on a scheduled flight under another name. This time I was an Amerasian from Taiwan with comrade Maksud as my uncle.’

  She looked appreciatively towards the dying man. ‘Comrade Maksud was very clever in his day. Our passports were marvellous. Incidentally,’ she said again, ‘how does it feel to face death, comrade? You are comfortable knowing that you did your duty? You hope that one day there will be a statue erected to your memory near the Sun Palace? You wonder if our people will ever discover what happened to you. Remember my own lessons. Can you make them work? Is it going to be a great adventure? If there is no God you will simply sleep. And if there does happen to be a God you will live in Paradise with a thousand Houris. Think, comrade Maksud. In less than an hour from now you will know the real answer to a great mystery. Won’t that be a terrific adventure? And do you remember that other lesson? We don’t remember being born, or living in our mother’s womb. Why then should we fear rebirth into another world where, probably, we won’t even remember this one? But if we do it may be a world from which we can return occasionally to see what is happening. Are you looking forward, perhaps just hoping a little, to coming back to see that statue?’

  ‘Forgive, Miki,’ said Grant quietly. ‘But if you want to get a full revenge perhaps you might annoy him more if you were to tell us about the photographs.’

  The girl stared at him coldly. ‘I think we’ll find something better than snuff for Doctor Grant. But I know what you mean. And, for once, I do agree. Comrade Maksud must listen to all his plans being explained to the enemy.

  ‘And this was his programme. They told me that a woman would compromise the President of France by being photographed with him. They actually told me that. And they even told me that this woman was a spy, that she had also been trained in Peking and that she had been sent to France in a blaze of publicity which would direct attention away from ourselves. Comrade Maksud said that I would be able to operate much more efficiently and with greater safety if all the Western police were kept busy watching someone who was doing really harmless things. Because although she had been highly trained and ordered to speak with the Prime Minister so that a tape recording might be made, they were not so very important for this particular mission. After all, it would have been easy for good technicians simply to record broadcasts made by any famous man and then adapt to requirements. Nowadays experts can build up a tape to order making any public figure say anything.’