Limit

by Frank Schätzing

  ‘Okay, it was a mistake!’

  ‘A big mistake.’

  ‘Could I have guessed, out of all the billions and billions of mails, I would hit on one that had already been infiltrated?’

  Jericho looked at her. His rage had flared up for a moment, less about the mistake than about the fact that someone with Yoyo’s experience could have made it. With her complacency, she hadn’t just put her own life on the line. Almost the whole of her group had been killed, and Jericho didn’t feel exactly safe. Then his fury evaporated. He saw the mixture of fear and dismay on her face and shook his head.

  ‘No. You couldn’t.’

  ‘So who’s on my case?’

  ‘Our case, Yoyo, if you’ll forgive me. If I might just remind you about me and my problems.’

  She averted her head, looked out at the sea and back at him.

  ‘Okay. Ours.’

  ‘Doubtless someone with power. People with money and influence, technically advanced. To be quite honest I doubt that their communication is still at the experimental stage. You’ve tried something out. They’ve been doing it for ages. Just by chance you’re using the same protocol, which allowed each of you to read the other’s data. From that point it gets speculative, but I also believe that they’re influential enough not to be dependent on other people’s emails.’

  ‘You mean—’

  ‘Let’s assume they’re sending mails from their own servers. Quite officially. They’re based in public institutions, they can check incoming and outgoing traffic, and pack anything in there as they see fit.’

  ‘They sound like senior officials.’

  ‘You think it’s the Party?’

  ‘Who else? All the Guardians’ operations are – were – directed against the Party. And we have no illusions about it, the Guardians are – were—’

  ‘—another word for Yoyo.’

  ‘I was the head. Along with Daxiong.’

  ‘I know. You mouthed off, which got State security on your back. Since then you’ve tried to find ways of protecting yourself. Second Life, parasite emails. And in the process, without meaning to, you break into a secret data transfer, and your worst fears become reality. There’s something about “coup” and “liquidating” in connection with the Chinese government, and a minute later they’ve tracked you down.’

  ‘What would you have done in my place?’

  ‘What indeed?’ Jericho laughed mirthlessly. ‘I’d have got the hell out, just like you did.’

  ‘That’s comforting.’ She hesitated. ‘So did you – were you on my computer?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Jericho expected another blaze of fury, but she just sighed and looked out at the ocean.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I haven’t been snooping. I’ve just tried to introduce some clarity into the whole business.’

  ‘Did you get anywhere with the third website?’

  ‘The Swiss films?’

  ‘Mm-hm.’

  ‘Not so far. But there must be something on there. Either you need a separate mask or there’s something we’ve overlooked. At the moment I think it’s about a coup in which the Chinese government was – or will be – involved, and that someone knows too much and that his liquidation is being considered.’

  ‘Someone called Jan or Andre.’

  ‘More likely Andre. Did you research the address in Berlin?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Interesting, isn’t it? Donner be liquidated. Somebody called Andre Donner runs a restaurant specialising in African delicacies at that address.’

  ‘The Muntu. I’d got that far.’

  ‘But what does that tell us?’ Jericho reflected. ‘Is Andre Donner in danger of being liquidated? I mean, what does a Berlin chef know about Beijing’s involvement in some sort of planned coup? And what about the second man?’

  ‘Jan?’

  ‘Yes. Is he the killer?’

  Or, is Jan the same as Kenny? Jericho thought, but kept the thought to himself. His imagination was fizzing. Basically the fragment of text was too mutilated to provide any useful conclusions.

  ‘It’s an African restaurant,’ Yoyo said thoughtfully. ‘And it hasn’t been around for very long.’

  Jericho looked at her in amazement.

  ‘Okay, I’ve had more time to look into it,’ she added. ‘There are reviews on the net. Donner opened Muntu in December 2024—’

  ‘Only six months ago?’

  ‘Exactly. You can hardly find any information about the man himself. A Dutchman who lived in Cape Town for a while, perhaps was even born there. That’s it. But the African connection is interesting in that—’

  ‘—in that Africa’s familiar with coups.’ Jericho nodded. ‘That means we need to take a closer look at the more recent chronology of any dubious or violent government takeovers. An interesting approach. Except that South Africa is ruled out. They’ve been stable for a long time.’

  They fell silent for a while.

  ‘You wanted to know who we were dealing with,’ he said at last. ‘To engineer coups you need money and influence, both political and economic. But above all you need to have a capable executive, and one that’s willing to engage in violence. So these people have managed to set an expert with reinforcements on your trail. Equipped like an army. So let’s assume that certain government circles are behind this. Then I think I can put your mind at rest in one respect.’

  Yoyo raised her eyebrows.

  ‘They’re not interested in dissidents,’ Jericho said finally. ‘They don’t give a damn about what you’re up to. They would have hunted down anyone who got in their way …’

  ‘Very reassuring,’ Yoyo sneered. ‘And instead they have hordes of cops who will, when time’s up, give me the pleasant feeling that it’s not because of my dissident activities that they’re going to kill me. Thanks Jericho. I can sleep again at last.’

  He gazed along the beach. Shimmering in the double sunlight, it looked oddly vivid. Patterns formed spontaneously in the sand and immediately blurred again. Some of the flower-like creatures spread their wings, transparent and veined as leaves. Clouds of golden dust puffed up among them, and were carried over the edge of the island, where they scattered in the wind. Yoyo and Daxiong had programmed a world of unsettling beauty.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I have a few suggestions. First of all I need your permission to upload your data onto my computer. As far as I can tell, all your backup systems have been destroyed.’

  ‘Apart from one.’

  ‘I know. Can I ask what computer you’re connected to at the moment?’

  She chewed her lip and looked round, as if there were someone there to advise her.

  ‘It’s at Daxiong’s,’ she said reluctantly.

  ‘Where? In the workshop?’

  ‘Yes. He lives there.’

  ‘And you’ll get away straight after the meeting.’

  ‘Daxiong’s cellar is safe, we—’

  ‘Kenny fires rockets,’ Jericho interrupted her gruffly, ‘which means that nothing is safe. The workshop is registered as Demon Point, under the name City Demons. It’s only a matter of time until Kenny turns up there or sends someone. Does Daxiong have a complete copy of your data?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then let me download it.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Jericho thought for a moment and counted the points up on his fingers. ‘Secondly, we’ll follow the African trail. Thirdly, we’ll try to crack the Spanish website with the films of Switzerland. Both down to me. Diane has the relevant programs, she—’

  ‘Diane?’

  ‘My – my—’ Suddenly he felt embarrassed. ‘Doesn’t matter. Fourthly, what do all six pages, valid and invalid, have in common?’

  ‘That’s obvious.’ Yoyo looked at him uncomprehendingly. ‘They contain, or contained—’

  ‘And following on from that?’

  ‘Hey! Can you stop sounding like a bloody headmaster?’

  ‘Someone
will have to check them,’ Jericho continued, unfazed, ‘to make sure that the mask – the decoder program – always fits. In terms of content there doesn’t seem to be a connection, all the pages are publicly accessible and registered in various countries. But who initiated them? If we can find a common initiator, we might be able to find out which other pages he controls. The more pages we find that fit our mask, the more we will decode.’

  ‘I don’t know how to do that. And neither does Tian.’

  ‘But I do.’ Jericho took a deep breath. For a moment he imagined it was the clear air of the ocean planet flowing through his capillaries, but he was only breathing whatever the air-conditioning was blowing into his room. With every word he uttered he felt strength and resolution returning. The certainty that he hadn’t been handed over defenceless to Kenny and the people behind him flooded his consciousness like a physical glow. ‘Fifth, we assume that Andre Donner is on the hit list same as we are. And that immediately gives us two reasons to get in contact with him. To find out more about our own case, and to warn him.’

  ‘If he needs a warning.’

  ‘So we have nothing to lose. Do we?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Okay then.’ He hesitated. ‘Yoyo, I don’t want to keep coming back to it, but who else have you told about your discovery? I mean, which of them—’

  ‘Which of them is still alive?’ she asked bitterly.

  Jericho said nothing.

  ‘Only Daxiong,’ she said. ‘And you.’

  She crouched down and let nacreous sand slip through her fingers. The thin streams formed mysterious patterns on the ground before vanishing in a shimmer of light. Then she raised her head.

  ‘I want to call my father.’

  Jericho nodded. ‘That would have been my next suggestion.’

  He wondered if it mightn’t have been more sensible to make contact with Tu first. But that decision was entirely up to the girl at his feet, who was now slowly standing up and looking at him with beautiful, sad eyes.

  ‘Shall I leave you alone?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’ She gave an unladylike sniff, and turned her back on him. ‘Maybe it’s better if you’re here.’

  The fingers of her right hand moved through the void, etching something into it. A moment later a dark field appeared in the clear air. An old-fashioned dial tone was heard, absurdly mundane and out of place in this strange world.

  ‘He hasn’t activated picture mode,’ she said, as if apologising for Hongbing’s backwardness.

  ‘I know, his old phone. You gave it to him.’

  ‘I’m amazed he’s still using it,’ she snorted. It went on ringing. ‘He should really be at the car dealership. If he doesn’t pick up, I’ll call th—’

  The dial tone stopped. There was a quiet rustling sound, along with other background noises. No one spoke.

  Yoyo looked uncertainly at Jericho.

  ‘Father?’ she whispered.

  The answer came quietly. It crept up ominously, a fat, weary snake rearing up to take a closer look at its next victim.

  ‘I’m not your father, Yoyo.’

  * * *

  Jericho didn’t know what was going to happen. Yoyo was stricken, her friends were dead. She had to deal with the sort of images that are only bearable in nightmares, whose horror subsides in the morning light. But there was no awaking from this nightmare – Kenny’s voice seeped like poison into the island idyll. But when Yoyo spoke, there was nothing but suppressed rage in her words.

  ‘Where is my father?’

  Kenny took his time, a long time, before answering. Yoyo in turn said nothing, waiting frostily, so both of them remained silent, a mute test of strength.

  ‘I’ve given him the day off,’ he said at last. He crowned the remark with a smug, quiet chuckle.

  ‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

  ‘No one told you to ask questions.’

  ‘Is he well?’

  ‘Very well. He’s taking a rest.’

  The way Kenny said ‘very well’ was designed to suggest the precise opposite. Yoyo clenched her fists.

  ‘Listen, you sick fuck. I want to talk to my father right away, you hear? After that you can make your demands, but first give me a sign of life, or else you can go on talking to yourself. Did you get any of that?’

  Kenny let the rustling noise continue down the line for a while.

  ‘Yoyo, my jade girl,’ he sighed. ‘Clearly your world-view is based on a series of misunderstandings. In stories like this the roles are assigned in a different way. Every one of your words that doesn’t meet with my absolute approval will cause pain to Hongbing. I’ll let you off with the “sick fuck”.’ He giggled. ‘You could even be right.’

  Vain as a peacock, thought Jericho. Kenny might be a pretty exotic specimen of a contract killer, but he seemed much closer to the profile of a psychopathic serial killer. Narcissistic, in love with his own words, flirting affectionately with his own obnoxiousness.

  ‘A sign of life,’ Yoyo insisted.

  All of a sudden the black rectangle changed. Kenny’s face filled it almost completely. He hovered above the pearly beach like a spirit in a bottle. Then he vanished from the camera’s perspective, and a room became visible, with a wall of windows at the back, bright daylight falling through them. The outlines of some items of furniture could be seen, a chair with someone sitting on it. In front of it, something black, massive and three-legged.

  ‘Father,’ whispered Yoyo.

  ‘Please say something, honourable Chen,’ said Kenny’s voice.

  Chen Hongbing sat as motionless on his chair as if he had become a part of it. With the light behind him, it was almost impossible to make out his face. When he spoke he sounded as if someone was walking on dry leaves.

  ‘Yoyo. Are you okay?’

  ‘Father,’ she cried. ‘It’s all fine, everything’s going to be fine!’

  ‘It— I’m so sorry.’

  ‘No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I really am!’ A moment later her eyes filled with tears. With a visible effort of will she forced herself to calm down. Kenny appeared in the picture again.

  ‘Terrible quality, this phone,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid your father could hardly hear you. Perhaps you could come and see him, what do you think?’

  ‘If you do anything—’ Yoyo began unsteadily.

  ‘What I do is entirely up to you,’ Kenny replied coolly. ‘He’s quite comfortable at the moment, except that his mobility is a little restricted. He is sitting in the sights of an automatic rifle. He can speak and blink. If he suddenly feels like jumping in the air or just raising his arm, the gun will go off. Unfortunately it will also do that if he tries to scratch himself. Not quite so cosy, perhaps.’

  ‘Please don’t hurt him,’ sobbed Yoyo.

  ‘I’m not interested in hurting anyone, believe it or not. So come here, and come quickly.’ Kenny paused. When he went on talking, the snakelike tone had left his voice. Suddenly he sounded friendly again, almost matey, the way Zhao Bide had spoken. ‘Your father has my word that nothing will happen as long as you cooperate. That involves telling me the names of everyone who knows about the intercepted message, or even what was in it. And you are to give me every, really every drive with a download of the message on it.’

  ‘You destroyed my computer,’ said Yoyo.

  ‘I destroyed something, yes. But did I destroy everything?’

  ‘Don’t contradict him,’ Jericho whispered to Yoyo.

  She said nothing.

  ‘You see.’ Kenny smiled as if his assumption had been confirmed. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep my word. And bring that shaven-headed giant with you, you remember the one. You will both come in through the front door, it’s open.’ He paused. Something seemed to go through his head, then he asked, ‘By the way, has this guy Owen Jericho been in touch with you?’

  ‘Jericho?’ Yoyo echoed.

  ‘The detective?’

  Jericho had been keeping out of view o
f the phone, so that he saw the scene in Chen’s flat, but couldn’t be seen by Kenny. He gave Yoyo a sign and shook his head violently.

  ‘I have no idea where that idiot is,’ she said contemptuously.

  ‘Why so harsh?’ Kenny raised his eyebrows in amazement. ‘He saved you.’

  ‘He wants to jerk me around the same as you do, doesn’t he? You said he killed Grand Cherokee.’

  A flicker of amusement played around Kenny’s lips.

  ‘Yes. Of course. So, when can you get here?’

  ‘As quick as I can,’ sniffed Yoyo. ‘Depends on the traffic. Quarter of an hour? Is that okay?’

  ‘Completely okay. You and Daxiong. Unarmed. I see a gun, Chen dies. Anyone else comes through the door, he dies. Anyone tries to disarm the automatic rifle, off it goes. As soon as everything’s sorted out, we’ll leave the house together. Oh, yes – if reinforcements are waiting outside or anyone tries to play the hero, Chen dies too. He can only leave his chair when I’ve deactivated the mechanism.’

  The line went dead.

  The weird calls of big animals reached them from the distance. A breeze rustled the bushes that lined the beach to the meadow, and set clusters of blossom bobbing up and down.

  ‘That bastard,’ groaned Yoyo. ‘That damned—’

  ‘Whatever he is, he’s not omnipotent.’

  ‘He isn’t?’ she yelled at him. ‘You saw what’s going on! Do you really think he’ll let him live? Or me?’

  ‘Yoyo—’

  ‘So what am I supposed to do?’ She shrank back. Her lower lip was trembling. She shook her head, as tears ran down her cheeks. ‘What on earth am I supposed to do? What should I do?’

  ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘We’ll get him out of there. I promise you. No one’s going to die, you hear?’

  ‘And how are you going to achieve that?’

  Jericho started walking up and down. He didn’t really know either, yet. Bit by bit, a plan was starting to form in his head. A crazy undertaking that depended on a whole series of very different factors. The glass façade behind Chen Hongbing played a part in it, as did the captured airbike. He needed to talk to Tu Tian as well.

  ‘Forget it,’ said Yoyo breathlessly. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Wait.’

  ‘But I can’t wait! I have to get to my father. Let’s get out of here.’ She held her right hand out to him.