by Dan Lee
‘Cool!’ said Johnny, his eyes shining. Matt guessed that he wasn’t just pleased because of the day off; he was looking forward to seeing the treasures of China’s past. Matt felt some of the same anticipation. He couldn’t wait to see the Emperor’s Jade Dish up close – with any luck, he thought, he’d soon be holding his very own jade dish. The tournament trophy!
It was a bright, crisp autumn morning as Matt’s class piled excitedly on to the school coach – a luxury gleaming silver double-decker with air-conditioning and tables between the seats. Matt and his friends made straight for the upper deck. They had a great view of the city from here, with its busy streets and towering hi-tech skyscrapers.
The journey passed quickly, as they pointed at things through the window, chatting and laughing and joking. Catarina shared out some sweets that she had smuggled aboard.
Soon the coach was stopping at the top of a huge public square.
‘This is Tiananmen Square, everybody!’ called Mr Figgis. ‘This is where we get off!’
Matt and his mates ran downstairs.
‘Slow down!’ said Mr Figgis. He was a short, slightly tubby man with wispy fair hair and a tweed jacket. ‘Two straight lines, please! Two straight lines!’
He led them through an arched gate, and along a busy thoroughfare lined on both sides with souvenir stalls. Another imposing gate greeted them at the end, where a uniformed guard checked the ticket Mr Figgis showed. He nodded and they passed through into the Forbidden City.
Matt looked around. They were in a spacious courtyard, with huge marble palaces, decorated with carvings of dragons, of cranes, of clouds, of torches and of tortoises. After the skyscrapers of modern Beijing, it was like stepping back in time.
‘That’s the Palace Museum!’ said Mr Figgis, pointing to one of the larger and more ornate buildings at the far end.
They walked up the broad marble steps. A museum official was waiting to greet them in the entrance hall. He was a thin, rather weedy-looking man with a straggling moustache and protruding front teeth. He wore a dark suit with a name-badge on the lapel which said MR PEI: ASSISTANT CURATOR.
He bowed politely. ‘You are the Beijing International Academy?’
‘Yes, indeed!’ said Mr Figgis, bowing in return.
‘Welcome. We are most sorry for postponing your visit. You will be pleased to know that everything is back to normal. The security system is functioning once more, and our Board of Directors will be reviewing the situation to see if it needs an upgrade. But rest assured you may enjoy your tour in perfect safety.’
Matt saw Shawn’s jaw tighten at the mention of his father’s security system. Shawn didn’t speak, but Miles did. Miles was one of Carl’s cronies. He didn’t do any martial arts, but if sneering had been a competitive sport, he would have been a black belt.
‘Hey, I’ll tell you something funny!’ he said loudly. ‘This guy here’ – he patted Shawn on the shoulder – ‘his dad designed your security system! The one that doesn’t work properly and needs an upgrade!’
Shawn looked as though he was about to explode. Matt gave him a sympathetic glance. Mr Pei coughed in embarrassment, covering his mouth with his hand.
‘Er, as I say, the system is under review. Shall we commence our tour?’
The class followed Mr Pei into the museum. Matt looked again at Shawn. His eyes were glued to the floor and Matt hoped that Shawn didn’t feel too bad. He hadn’t known Shawn for long, but he hated to see his friend so unhappy.
Chapter 5
THE TIGERS ARE FORMED
The rooms of the museum were wide, with high ceilings. Everyone’s footsteps echoed. Matt felt as though he was walking through a cathedral. All around were lifelike statues of warriors, of lions, of horses; vases decorated with flowers, birds, dragons; vessels of porcelain, jade and gold.
‘Oh wow!’ whispered Johnny. ‘Isn’t this cool?’
‘Well cool,’ Matt agreed. The only trouble was, they were hardly given time to stop and look at anything. Matt certainly didn’t have time to speak to Shawn and see how he was. Mr Pei led them round at a super-brisk pace, calling out the dynasty that each room represented as they walked through, before hurrying on to the next.
‘This is great!’ said Catarina. ‘A museum trip and a speed-walking workout all in one go!’ The class laughed.
‘Shh!’ said Mr Figgis with a warning glance.
‘And this is the room of the T’ang Dynasty,’ said Mr Pei, ‘which ruled China from ad 618 to ad 906 in your Western calendar. Many artefacts of great artistic merit are on display here.’
Matt recognized the room of the T’ang Dynasty: it was the room he’d seen on the virtual tour, the room with the Emperor’s Jade Dish. And there it was, a glowing gold and green disc, mounted on its stand in a glass case in the centre of the room. To his surprise, however, Mr Pei did not draw attention to it, but hurried them along, saying, ‘Now follow me through to the room of the Five Dynasties – in this period the art of porcelain-making reached new heights –’
‘Sorry,’ said Matt, ‘but – isn’t that the Jade Dish over there?’
Mr Pei appeared taken aback for a moment. ‘Er, yes, Emperor’s Jade Dish, entirely correct. Now let us proceed to the next room, where the porcelain collection is of great interest –’
‘But surely we can stop and look at the Jade Dish?’ said Matt. ‘I mean, isn’t that the main reason we’re here?’ He looked to Mr Figgis.
Mr Figgis cleared his throat. ‘We would like to stop and take a proper look, if you don’t mind,’ he told Mr Pei. ‘Our Academy is competing for a replica of that dish in the martial arts tournament next month.’
‘Naturally I am aware of that,’ said Mr Pei stiffly. ‘Very well. There is much to see, but we will make a brief stop here.’
Matt and his friends exchanged puzzled glances. Mr Pei seemed to be behaving strangely – it was almost as if he didn’t want them to look at the Jade Dish.
Mr Pei led them to the glass case. ‘Well, here it is,’ he said shortly, and then took a few steps away, as if waiting impatiently for them to finish looking at it and move on.
Everyone clustered around the Jade Dish. ‘Don’t push!’ said Mr Figgis. ‘Let everybody have a chance to see.’
The Jade Dish was illuminated from above by a spotlight. Matt gazed at the brilliant golden faces of the dragons, staring out from the rich green background. It was beautiful. The colours were richer, the details more intricate than they had appeared on the computer screen. Apart from that it was just as he remembered – or was it? Looking closer, Matt had a faint sense that something was not right, that there was some subtle difference. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. Perhaps he was imagining it? He stared hard at the dish, impressing every detail on his memory.
‘Could those at the front step back now – give the others a chance to see!’ said Mr Figgis.
Matt stepped back reluctantly. Those who hadn’t had a chance to look yet crowded around. Matt looked at a few of the other exhibits while he was waiting – some jade jewellery, some terracotta animals – and he noticed something interesting. The glass cases for these exhibits were slightly dusty and smeary, while the one in which the Jade Dish stood was gleaming. There was also a thin layer of dust covering the floor around the other exhibits – but there hadn’t been any dust at all around the case in which the Jade Dish was displayed. Did the museum pay extra attention to the Jade Dish because it was such a special exhibit? Matt wondered.
Johnny, meanwhile, was at the front of the little crowd, staring in awe. ‘Hey, man, that’s beautiful,’ Matt heard him say. Johnny turned to Mr Pei. ‘I bet you have to be careful cleaning it, don’t you? You wouldn’t want to drop it!’
There was a murmur of laughter from the group. Mr Pei, who was still hovering around as if he wanted to get moving, gave a small smile. ‘As you say, it is a delicate task. That is why we clean it only once a year. Every Chinese New Year, to be precise.’
Hold on, Matt
thought to himself. Chinese New Year was in February. They were in November now. The dish and its case had not been cleaned for nine months if what Mr Pei said was true. But that was not how it looked. Someone had definitely been cleaning up around the case recently. Matt wondered whether to say anything, but Mr Pei didn’t give him the chance.
‘Now we really must move on,’ he said briskly. Clearly, Mr Pei had had enough of the Jade Dish.
‘Come along then, class,’ said Mr Figgis.
‘In the next room,’ said Mr Pei, walking rapidly away so that they had to trot to keep up, ‘we will see the porcelain of the Five Dynasties, which is remarkable because…’
∗
‘There’s something funny going on,’ said Matt. They were back at the Academy. It was after supper, and he, Shawn, Olivier and Catarina were in the common room, playing pool. Johnny was off at basketball practice. The common room was actually a whole suite of rooms where pupils could relax outside lesson-time: there was a room full of the latest video games, a television room with a huge widescreen plasma T V, a table-tennis room with five full-size tables, a quiet room with a deep-pile carpet and easy chairs and a tropical aquarium – and there was the pool room. The pool room overlooked the Academy gardens, which were landscaped in classical Chinese style with pagodas, weeping willow trees and burbling streams crossed by little bridges.
Catarina bent low over the table and lined up her shot. She struck the cue ball hard; it hit a yellow ball with a crack and the ball shot across the table, hitting the corner of a pocket and bouncing back. She straightened up. ‘What do you mean, funny?’
Matt had been thinking about the museum and the Jade Dish. There was something mysterious going on, even though he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe it had something to do with the break-in? If he could get to the bottom of this, it might shed some light on the unexplained failure of Shawn’s dad’s security system. Shawn would feel much better knowing what had happened – or might have happened.
‘I mean at the museum,’ he said. ‘Did anyone else notice there was no dust around the Jade Dish? And that the case was cleaner than all the others in that room?’
Shawn shrugged. ‘So? They cleaned it up, what about it?’
He took his shot. The red ball just missed the centre pocket. He handed the cue to Olivier.
‘But Mr Pei said they only cleaned it at Chinese New Year – why would he say that? Unless someone cleaned it without him knowing?’
‘But why would they do that?’ asked Shawn.
‘That’s the mystery!’ said Matt.
‘I don’t get it,’ said Catarina. ‘So there’s no dust, OK. But the Jade Dish is still there, right?’
‘Yeah, but what if it’s been tampered with in some way? It looked kind of… different.’
‘I didn’t notice that,’ said Olivier. ‘Why would anyone tamper with it, anyway?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Matt. ‘I just think there’s something funny going on. Don’t forget there was that break-in there a few weeks ago.’
‘Yes…’ said Shawn slowly. ‘The way I see it, someone got past my dad’s security system that night, and no one has explained how. I reckon it must have been an inside job – someone who knew how the system worked must have disabled it.’
Olivier took his shot, missed and handed the cue to Matt. ‘But what’s that got to do with the Jade Dish?’
‘What if stealing the coins and the postcards was just a cover-up?’ said Matt. ‘What if there was another cleverer crime that no one knows about? If we could prove there was, and find out who did it –’
‘My dad would be in the clear!’ said Shawn.
‘Right!’ said Matt. He bent over the table and took a snap shot; the red ball went racing up the table and dropped into the far pocket.
‘Nice!’ said Shawn.
‘Yeah, but – how’re we gonna find out who did it?’ asked Catarina. ‘Whatever they did.’
‘We need to go back to the museum,’ said Matt thoughtfully. ‘Take a closer look.’
‘But it’s out of bounds,’ objected Olivier. ‘We’re not allowed to leave school premises without permission.’
‘No…’ said Matt. He had had an idea. It would be far better to visit the museum at night, when it was empty and they could carry on their detective work unobserved. But this would be a very serious breach of school rules indeed. Would the others be up for it?
There was only one way to find out.
‘What if we went at night?’ he said. ‘And broke in?’
There was a short silence. They looked at each other across the table. They had stopped playing now, caught up in the excitement of the idea.
Catarina grinned. ‘Hey – sounds like fun! Count me in!’
‘If we got caught,’ said Olivier, ‘we’d be in big trouble.’
‘I think it’s a great idea,’ said Shawn suddenly. ‘This business has ruined my dad’s reputation. I spoke to him on the phone last night and he’s feeling pretty low. I’ll take a risk to help him – prove that his security system wasn’t at fault.’
‘Well, when you put it like that…’ said Olivier. ‘OK – I’m in too. I don’t want you guys having all the fun without me!’
‘We’ll do it tonight!’ said Matt. ‘We’ll go the museum and find out how anyone could have disabled that system.’ Matt knew Shawn had to be right – something dodgy had to be going on. If Shawn’s dad was anything like Shawn, he must be a technical genius – there was no way he’d invent a system that simply didn’t work. But Matt and his friends would have to operate undercover. ‘This has got to be a secret,’ he said. ‘If anyone finds out what we’re doing, we’ll probably get expelled.’
‘So we don’t tell anyone?’ said Shawn. ‘Not even Johnny?’
Matt thought hard. Johnny was one of his best friends at the Academy. But Johnny was not someone who liked breaking rules. Matt couldn’t imagine him breaking into a museum. There would be serious consequences if they got caught. It didn’t seem right to risk implicating him, or anyone else. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘If we’re really doing this, we’d better not tell anyone at all. Let’s swear each other to secrecy.’
He put out his right hand. The others, forming a circle, did the same and all four hands met.
‘We’re in this together now,’ said Matt.
‘A secret society!’ said Catarina, laughing. ‘Cool!’
‘If we’re a society,’ said Olivier, ‘we need a name.’
‘Any ideas?’ asked Matt, looking around at his friends. No one could think of one.
Matt spied Master Chang through the window. He was walking through the garden, crossing one of the bridges, his head bowed as if deep in thought. The answer dropped straight into Matt’s head.
‘I’ve got it!’ The others looked at him expectantly. ‘Remember Chang’s grandfather, and that elite fighting team? We can use their name. The Tangshan Tigers!’
‘The Tangshan Tigers!’ mur mured Shawn.
Catarina and Olivier nodded, smiling. The name was perfect.
The Tangshan Tigers were bor n.
Chapter 6
THE FIRST MISSION
At eleven o’clock that night Matt got out of bed, taking care not to wake Johnny, who was snuffling softly in his sleep. He dressed quickly in dark clothes and slipped out of the room.
The wide landing was lit by a soft blue glow from panels set into the walls and ceiling. The same blue glow bathed the stairs. Matt trod softly, keeping to the shadows as far as he could, in case any teachers should still be up and about, or security guards prowling around. But he didn’t see anyone.
Matt was the first to reach the agreed meeting place: the back entrance, which led to the Academy playing fields. His stomach was tense with excitement. It was a relief when Catarina turned up a minute later, casually chewing gum.
‘All right?’ whispered Matt.
‘No problem.’
Shawn and Olivier arrived together. They all excha
nged a thumbs-up, grinning.
‘OK,’ said Matt. ‘Let’s go!’
The back door was locked securely, but could be opened from the inside; Matt drew back the bolts and pressed the buzzer to release the catch.
‘Wait!’ whispered Olivier. ‘How are we going to get back in?
‘Good point,’ said Matt.
‘I know a little trick,’ said Catarina. She took her chewing gum and carefully stuck it over the door-catch. ‘See?’ The door swung to gently behind them, without clicking shut.
‘Neat,’ said Matt.
The playing fields were silvery-grey in the moonlight. There was a side-gate that led out on to the road. As they made their way across the field towards it Catarina gave a low laugh. ‘Wait a minute! Does anyone remember the way to the museum?’
‘I do,’ said Matt. His photographic memory had recorded the route. Then a thought struck him. ‘It’s a long way, though. We’ll be out all night if we walk. Let’s take our bikes!’
‘Good call,’ said Shawn.
The bicycle sheds were on the way to the gate. Each grabbed his or her bike. Matt was particularly proud of his bike – a birthday present from his mum. It was a cool hybrid, with the chunky wheels of a mountain bike and the light frame and ten gears of a racing bike. Just right for speed in the city.
They wheeled their bikes over the field towards the gate.
‘Hold on,’ said Matt. ‘What are we going to do about that?’
He pointed at the CCTV camera mounted on top of the gate.
‘Let me try something,’ said Olivier. He slipped off his jacket and sidled along the perimeter fence towards the camera, keeping out of view. With one deft movement he threw the jacket up in the air. It dropped neatly over the camera and hung there, completely covering the lens.
Shielded from view they unbolted the gate, and a few moments later they were bowling along the road on their bikes. The streets were brightly lit but few cars or people were around. Matt felt the wind blowing through his hair and grinned. They were on their way to solve a mystery and prove that Shawn’s dad was no dud.