by Guy Salvidge
“It could be Cheng,” she said as the display read 6, 5, 4.
“Cheng? Who invited him?” But Ji Tao saw fear on Bao Min's face. He pushed her back against the wall, pressing his weight on her. His face was too close to focus on now.
“The lift won't go lower than -3,” Ji Tao said softly. He was hurting her, but she did not try to shift position.
“It's on G now, boss,” one of the men said.
Bao Min stalked away, leaving her slumped in the corner. Her cheekbone was hurting intensely. She thought it might be fractured.
Ji Tao saw that the lift had stopped on G. One of the men had had the idea of calling the other lift, which now came rumbling down from -5.
“Don't let that lift go back up. Keep it open!”
“Shall we go up?”
“No, wait here.”
Ji Tao heard a rumble from above, then the number on the panel started changing again. -1, -2. It stopped on -3, as she knew it would.
Bao Min came over again. “How did you know it would stop there?” he demanded.
“You need the key to go down further,” she said. She had been holding it in her hand the whole time; now she handed it to him. She wondered why she hadn't given it to Liang when he had asked. He must be hiding around somewhere. Maybe he would try to save her. This was the armaments level, after all. Those rooms were probably stacked to the roof with guns.
“That's not your friends, then?” Bao Min asked. His tone had softened somewhat.
“I think it's Cheng. He's working for the government now.”
“Oh he is, is he? I thought Cheng worked for me.”
“Not any more,” Ji Tao said. “He'll be coming down the stairs now. He knows we're on this level because your friend called the lift down.”
“You idiot!” Bao Min said to the man. Ji Tao couldn't hear any sound from the stairwell above, but she knew it wouldn't be long coming.
“You'd better get ready,” she informed Bao Min. “Cheng will shoot you.”
“Shut your face, bitch!” the man who had called the lift said, glaring at her. He drew a pistol from his belt.
“Don't touch her,” Bao Min said. “We'll sort her out after we've dealt with Cheng.” Then he turned to her. “Want to see your brother's severed head? I'll cut it off for you.”
“I can hear something,” the other man said, drawing his pistol. Sure enough, Ji Tao could hear sounds from above. What if it wasn't Cheng? Could it be Sovann? As the men watched the stairs, Ji Tao moved her hands surreptitiously, hoping to find that they had not been bound tightly. She dared not try too hard, in case they noticed. Where was Liang? She had seen him ducking off into the main part of the level. Bao Min had not seen him.
She heard her brother's unmistakable voice call out: “Bao Min, is that you down there?”
The men looked at Bao Min. “Yes,” he called out. “It's me. I've caught your sister.”
“I'm coming down,” Cheng said. “I've got the Shuang twins with me.”
“Don't try anything,” Bao Min said. “Come down slowly.”
Bao Min and his men covered the stairwell with their pistols. First Cheng, then the twins, tall men with black hair, came down the stairs. All three were wearing the green tunic of the Inner Shield Authority, and all three had their arms raised. The twins were identical.
“What are you doing here, Cheng?” Bao Min asked, training his pistol on Ji Tao's brother.
“I've been ordered to retrieve the sleepers,” Cheng said.
“Who ordered you?”
“Silex.”
“This is my loot,” Bao Min said. “You've been cut out of the deal.”
“And that is my sister,” Cheng said. There was no warmth in his eyes. “Give her to me.” Cheng lowered his arms and took a step toward Ji Tao.
“What about the loot?”
“You can have it. You got here first.”
“All right. We'll untie her.”
Then, as Bao Min's attention wavered for a split second, Cheng acted. Ji Tao saw it with great clarity. Cheng pulled a pistol out from the back of his pants, raised it and shot Bao Min in the face, all in one fluid motion. Bao Min fell backward and there was a brief fire fight. Ji Tao couldn't look away as pistols flashed before her. When it was over, Bao Min's accomplices lay dead, as did one of the twins. Cheng and the other twin remained unhurt. Cheng shot several bullets into the bodies of Bao Min and his men, as though to remind himself that they were dead, and then he turned his attention to her.
“That was easier than I expected,” he said, stepping over Bao Min. He proceeded to retrieve the pistols from the corpses. “It's quite a chase you've led me on,” he said, removing the clips from the pistols and tossing the pistols aside. “I'm surprised you made it further than cousin Liang. He was a good swimmer.”
Ji Tao didn't speak, but her brain was ticking over. Sovann must have told Cheng that Liang had drowned. She must have genuinely thought that.
“Untie her,” Cheng said to the surviving twin. He had been standing there looking at his brother's broken form. The twin came over and loosened the rope. Ji Tao got to her feet, but everything inside her was numb.
“What are you doing, Cheng?” she asked.
“Retrieving the loot.”
“You mean the sleepers? Why is Silex so interested in them?”
Cheng shrugged.
“Are you going to kill me too?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “You'll probably get thrown in jail with Sovann.”
“So she's alive?”
“In prison, yes. I haven't got time for this; we can talk on the way back. Don't worry, you won't have to walk. There's a helicopter on the roof.”
“A what?”
“Helicopter. You might have seen one near Zizhong. Now give me the key; I don't think the sleepers will want to see this mess.”
“Bao Min has it.”
In actual fact, the key was lying on the floor near Bao Min's outstretched hand. Cheng bent over to pick it up while the twin looked on.
“Now are you going to help me wake the sleepers, or are you going to stay here?” Cheng asked. “On second thoughts, you'd only get in the way.” He turned to the twin and said, “Shuang San, tie her up again.”
Shuang San did as instructed, tying her hands behind her back. Then he indicated that she was to sit down in the corner.
Cheng made his way over to the stairs, then turned back. “Don't try anything, sister. I won't hesitate to shoot you, understand?”
She nodded and he went down the stairs.
The reality, that Ji Tao was sitting in a room full of bodies, started to dawn on her. There were four corpses sprawled across the room. Blood from Bao Min's neck was trickling toward her.
“Was he your brother?” she asked Shuang San.
He nodded but did not speak.
“What was his name?”
“Shuang Si.”
“You were twins?”
“Yes.”
“You know your boss, Chen Cheng? He's my brother. Shuang San, untie me.”
He shook his head. “I must obey his instructions.”
“He doesn't care about you or your brother.”
“I can't disobey him, even if I wanted to.”
“They've done something to you, haven't they?”
Shuang San nodded, but said no more. He looked at the blank wall.
“Shuang San,” Ji Tao said. “What will you do if I untie myself?”
“I won't let you,” he said, still looking at the wall. “Don't try.”
Stalemate. Ji Tao wondered if he would shoot if she tried to loosen the bonds. Where was Liang? He must have heard the shooting. Surely he would have found a weapon by now.
The pressure door slid open.
Shuang San turned toward the sound, pistol in hand.
“There's only one left, Liang!” Ji Tao said. “He's got a gun.”
“Be quiet,” Shuang San said.
The door closed again
.
“He'll kill you,” Ji Tao said. “That's my cousin Liang in there. Look, this is the armaments level. Your pistol will be no match for the rifle he'll have by now. You can give up now if you want.”
“Be quiet or I shoot!”
Ji Tao shut up and waited. For a few seconds nothing happened. There did not appear to be any movement behind the door. What was Liang playing at? The pistol was shaking in Shuang San's hands. Ji Tao felt sorry for him, but she dared not speak.
The door hissed open—smoke billowed out—a rifle crack—Shuang San fell dead. Then Liang stepped through the smoke, his face covered by a mask. The air filters began to clear the smoke away.
“Hurry up!” Ji Tao said. “Cheng must've heard that.”
Liang pulled the mask off and untied her. “I can't believe I did it,” he said. “I didn't think I could.”
“You can feel sorry for him later. What are we going to do about Cheng?”
“Let's get out of here.”
“No! After we've come so far, you want to run away?”
“I'm not shooting your brother, Ji Tao!”
“I'll talk to him then. He's got a helicopter on the roof.”
“A what?”
“A metal bird, like Mo Ti said. We can go back to Baitang in it. But he'll probably hand us over to the Inner Shield Authority.”
“He's your brother, he wouldn't do that.”
“What makes you so sure? Look, let's calm down for a minute. Maybe he didn't hear anything. Cheng doesn't know you're here; he thinks you drowned.”
“Drowned? Why?”
“Sovann told him.”
“So she's alive?” Hope flickered in his eyes.
“He captured her and put her in a prison in Zhenghe.”
“I don't think I can shoot him,” Liang said. “Not my own cousin.”
“He'll shoot you if he sees you.”
Liang shook his head. “I can't do it.”
“Then I'll have to do it myself,” Ji Tao said. She felt grim. Could she really kill her own brother? “I'll need you to distract him. You'll have to hide. I'll stash a pistol in my belt, just like he did.”
Liang looked alarmed. “Are you really going to shoot him?”
“I don't know yet; I'll try to talk some sense into him first. But if I mention your name, you create a distraction, okay?”
“All right.”
Ji Tao retrieved the pistol from Shuang San's corpse. His eyes were open, his face devoid of expression. Ji Tao pushed the thought of him away. She checked that the pistol was still loaded—it was—then crept over to the stairwell.
“You take the rifle,” Ji Tao said. “It's dark down there.”
Liang nodded and followed her down.
It was cold in the crypt. Cheng was moving between the freezers, tapping away at the control panels. Dim light emanated from the tubes. Most of the coffins flashed red. How many live sleepers had there been? A dozen or more, in addition to Kai Sen. Liang shuffled out of sight, crouching between the tubes. Cheng had not seen her yet. But now she spoke:
“Cheng, it's me, Ji Tao. I want to talk to you.” Her breath escaped in clouds. It was freezing down here, and yet Cheng seemed not to notice.
Cheng stopped mid-stride, turning toward her. His face was red. “What are you doing down here? Where's Shuang San?”
“I killed him,” Ji Tao said.
“Impossible.”
“I tricked him, brother. It was...easier than I expected.”
“You can help me with this, then. We've got to take these sleepers back to Baitang.” Cheng started going about his business again. Several of the tubes were already open, their occupants inert.
“No, Cheng. How do I know I can trust you?”
Cheng stopped again. “You're going to have to, sister.”
“What have you been ordered to do?”
“Retrieve the sleepers, like I said.”
“What about me? Are you going to turn me over to Silex?”
“You can't keep running. He'll find you in the end.”
“You betrayed us,” Ji Tao insisted. She looked down at the faces of the dead. They looked like they were sleeping. And then her eyes wandered to the nearest live sleeper, who was beginning to stir. “You betrayed your own family, Cheng.”
Her brother was on the other side of the chamber. He wasn't listening to her. Ji Tao didn't know where Liang was hiding; she dared not look for him.
“Silex sent you after us, didn't he?”
Cheng looked up. “If not me, then it would have been someone else. You should think yourself lucky that I came when I did. What do you think Bao Min would have done with you?”
“You don't care about us,” Ji Tao continued. “You don't care at all.”
“I'm not talking to you. Now be quiet.”
“Poor Sovann,” she said. “Poor Liang, drowned in the river like that.”
“It was his own fault if he couldn't swim.”
The nearest sleeper was beginning to stir. Her eyes were open. Ji Tao went over in her mind what she was going to do.
“I swim just fine, cousin Cheng,” Liang's hidden voice said. “I just got my foot caught on something, that's all.” His voice seemed disembodied. Where was he?
Cheng whirled around. He strode over to Ji Tao, too quickly for her to act. She wavered. Too late. He pointed the gun in her face. “Where is he?” Cheng demanded. “Come out, you bastard!”
“You wouldn't shoot your own sister, would you?” Liang said. Ji Tao still couldn't tell where he was. The sound seemed to reverberate around the room.
Cheng peered into the darkness—a roar in her ears—a quicksilver flash—then he stumbled against a tube and slid backwards to the ground.
“You shot him!” Liang said, coming out from behind the row of tubes. He inspected Cheng. “He's dead.”
“I did?” Ji Tao asked. But the pistol was in her hand. “I did,” she said.
It was so cold in here. She wanted to sit down, but where? “Go over to the lift,” Liang said. “Look, here's the key.” He handed it to her. “Quickly,” he said.
The pistol was still hanging loosely in her grip. Ji Tao put it down on the floor and went over to the lift. She pressed the button and the lift rumbled downward. The doors opened, flooding her eyes with light.
*
Ji Tao was in shock; she was standing in the lift, arms hanging limply at her sides. Liang could see that, but he had more pressing matters to attend to. He had to drag Cheng's lifeless body away before the sleepers could see what had happened. Who knew what kind of questions they might ask? Cheng had been heavy in life, and he was equally heavy in death. How would his soul ascend to heaven from this far underground?
Liang puffed and groaned, making slow progress. His leg was beginning to throb again. Liang considered asking Ji Tao to help him, but thought better of it. She was close to the edge of her personal abyss already. Being confronted with what she had done would be too much. Liang knew this, so he heaved and groaned, dragging Cheng's corpse by the arms. At least the exertion helped to keep him warm.
Eventually he had to give up. Surveying his work, Liang saw that he had only moved Cheng about ten metres from where he had fallen. His body was still partially visible behind the line of tubes, but it would have to do. There was no blood, just a small black hole in the middle of Cheng's forehead. Ji Tao's aim had been deadly, which was just as well. Liang wondered what had possessed Ji Tao to kill her brother so coldly. He had been right before, when he had imagined she'd be willing to abandon anyone or anything that got in her way. In this regard, Ji Tao differed less from her brother than she perhaps imagined.
The sleepers were stirring. Each of them wore the same thin robe. Liang would have to get them out of the crypt as quickly as possible. Thus began the tiresome task of helping the sleepers out of their tubes, which was like helping elderly grandparents out of bed. He could not understand their babble, and he didn't try. Liang just pointed to the lift, whe
re Ji Tao was waiting, and shooed them on their way. The lift was not big enough for them all, so Liang had to entrust Ji Tao with the task of supervising half of the sleepers on their way up to the roof. Eight sleepers packed into the lift, and Ji Tao followed them in.
“Wait for us up there,” Liang said. “I'll be up in a minute.” Ji Tao nodded and the doors closed.
Liang called the other lift down. It was brutally cold down here, and the sleepers were suffering ill effects already. Liang made no attempt to communicate with them. He was drained of emotion now, operating on some final reserve of energy before complete exhaustion set in.
“Get in,” he said as the doors opened. The sleepers shuffled in. They did not look so impressive in the harsh light of the lift. They looked thin, pale and g, not unlike plague victims.
He counted them off: “...thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Is that everybody?” A short, dark haired woman, indicated to the crypt. Had someone been left behind?
“Wait here,” he said to the woman. “Don't let the lift go without me.” He did not want to have to walk all the way back up to the non-restricted levels. That would mean climbing past the level with the bodies of the dead men.
Liang saw it almost straight away. The sixteenth and final sleeper had not moved from her tube. Was she breathing at all? It did not appear so. Her body was still, and Liang could detect no pulse. This was the face of death.
You nearly made it, Liang thought sadly. The tube said you were alive; you had one blue light left. But the frail life that had existed in the tube had flickered out. She had his deepest sympathies.
That was the end, then. Fifteen living sleepers, huddling in thin medical garments. Sixteen if you counted Kai Sen. Sensing that the cold was beginning to colonise his bones, Liang turned away. He gave his attention to the living, indicating to them that the final sleeper had perished. They watched him without speaking. Then Liang pressed the button for the top level and the lift began to rise. It rose past the bodies of Bao Min and his henchmen, past the body of the man Liang had shot dead. It rose through the subterranean levels, past the reception, and up through the anonymous levels of the office tower. Liang was leaving all of this behind; he had no desire to see any of it again. The thought of plundering the underground grounds held no lustre for him now. His adventure was over. Let someone else retrieve the precious things of the past.