The Master of Rain Part 75

There was a long silence. Lu said, "Good-bye, Mr. Field."

The Chinese turned and walked very slowly to the door.

Lewis turned his hat in his hand. He moved around the room, waving it at the grand ceilings and the portraits of administrators, admirals, and generals that adorned the walls. "This is China, Richard, though in here you wouldn't know it." He stopped and turned to Field. "We can never tame the tiger. Only ride it for a time."

"I know."

"You won."

"It doesn't feel like winning."

Lewis turned away.

"Will he send the girl?" Field asked, unable to contain the question.

Lewis faced him again, his expression serious. "I don't know, Richard. Only he can answer that. You will leave safely, in deference to me, but the girl is his possession." Lewis exhaled. "I cannot say, nor am I in the business of trying to save Russian girls through some foolish romantic notion. But you've done all you can. You must leave now."

Lewis spun his hat in his hand once more and then turned and walked to the door. "Good luck, Richard," he said. "Begin again. That's my advice. And be less ambitious in what you strive for next time. We must temper ourselves. Too grand and unrealistic a set of expectations can only lead to heartbreak. And not just your own."

Field felt the tightness in his throat again.

"Don't you want to know where she is?" Lewis asked.

Field found it impossible to reply.

"She's at her friend's house, Field. At Katya's." Lewis put on his hat. "Good-bye. I doubt we'll meet again."

Field listened to the sound of Lewis's footsteps disappear, then walked to the window and watched him emerging into the gardens, his white suit and hat brilliant in the sunshine. He stopped in the middle of the lawn, his stance casual, his hands in his pockets. A young woman in a flowing white dress approached him, her face flushed with the heat and the excitement. Lewis took off his hat and bent to kiss her, a hand resting easily upon her shoulder.

Katya's face looked older through the window of the house in the French Concession, her eyes framing questions that Field could not answer. She led him through the kitchen to Chen, who was leaning against the wall at the bottom of a winding staircase.

Field wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to calm himself. "I couldn't-"

"I know."

"No, I asked that you be protected-"

"Don't worry, Field."

Chen's calmness helped still Field's nerves and the guilt that had been consuming him since he'd left the consulate.

"Come with us, with me. Get your wife and family and come with me, on the boat."

Chen shook his head.

"If you stay, you know they will kill you."

"I was born here. I will die here if necessary."

"They'll hunt you down. You know it better than anyone."

"They will try."

Field looked down at the floor. "I could have used Lu's notes to change things. I could still do as I threatened and send them to the right people in London and Washington, to the New York Times, New York Times, newspapers in England, Tokyo, Paris." newspapers in England, Tokyo, Paris."

Chen laughed, tipping back his head, his smile only fading when he realized that Field had been serious. "There will be change here, Field, have no fear." Chen shook his head, smiling again. "No, no." He pointed up the stairs. "She is there. The boy was tired."

"Where will you go, Chen?"

"I have friends."

"In the city or elsewhere?"

"In all places."

Field suddenly understood. "You're a communist . . ."

"Whisper it quietly." Chen smiled.

Field shook his head.

"One day, you may come back to China, Richard. Then you will find no Lu Huangs, no Macleods, no taipans, and foreigners will be welcomed as honored guests."

Field stared at him. "Who else? There are many-in the force, I mean."

"They will have their time." Chen nodded. "The girl waits for you."

"There are three men at the gate. They followed me from the consulate."

"Of course."

"Will you go now?"

"When it is time."

Field hesitated. "Will Lu keep his word?"

Chen shook his head solemnly. "I do not know."

Field offered his hand, but Chen waved it away to indicate that it was not the end. Field held his stare until he rounded the corner and was climbing the last few steps to her room.

Natasha was asleep on the bed, in her dressing gown, her head resting on her arm. She was curled up, her hair spilling across the white sheet.

She awoke and pushed herself upright, her eyes bleary. "Richard?"

He sat down beside her.

"You must leave." Her voice was sleepy. "They will come for me now."

"It will be all right, Natasha."

"No, you must-"

"Natasha." He took hold of her arms fiercely. "It will work. Trust me."

She pushed herself onto her knees and stared at the empty bed between them. "Alexei is asleep in the next room. I . . ." She fell toward him, her arms around his neck.

When she released him, she took his face gently between her hands, her mouth close to his. "You have risked everything for me," she said.

"I have reached an agreement," he said. "I must leave today, now, but you and Alexei will follow in two weeks, and we will meet in Venice." He lifted her chin. "Together in Venice, the two-three-of us."

Hope flared briefly in her eyes, then she lowered her head.

"You're free, Natasha. Both of you are free."

"I cannot come to the wharf."

"I understand."

She looked at him, tears in her eyes. He moved toward her, but she raised her hand. "You must go."

Field stood and she came to him, her arms around him, her tears wet on his face. "My love," he said as he caressed the back of her head.

And then she released him again and turned away, so as not to look at his face. "Good-bye, Richard," she said with a finality that suggested she was certain she would never see him again.

He waited for her to turn around.

"Please go, Richard."

His throat was dry. "I cannot."

"You must."

Field felt the tears welling in his own eyes and he turned back down the stairs. Chen had gone and Katya was sitting at the kitchen table. He stopped in front of her. "It will be all right," he said, but as he moved beyond her and stepped onto the path outside, he felt as if he were drowning.

When he calculated that he had gone far enough to be seen from her attic window, he stopped and turned around.

She was not there.

Fifty-seven.

The quayside was busier than Field had seen it, streams of coolies running up and down the gangplanks, loaded with leather trunks, cranes above them swinging cargo onto a steamer moored astern of the Martinez. Martinez. The sudden hoot of a horn made Field jump. The sudden hoot of a horn made Field jump.

A coolie bent down to take a hold of his bag.

"No," Field said, trying to prevent him, before realizing it was hopeless and showing the man his ticket with the cabin number listed above the second-cla.s.s stamp.

Field followed the man up the gangplank.

Once on deck, they ducked through a door and down a steep companionway to the base of the ship.

Field was sharing a cabin above the engine room, which was all that had been available, and his companion had not yet come aboard. He watched the porter lift his bag onto the lower bunk-it would be cooler below-before turning expectantly. Field shoved a note into the man's hand; he looked at it but did not move.

Field reached into his pocket and gave the man all the small change he had left, which was not much. After the porter had reluctantly withdrawn, Field shut the door and locked it, then took out and checked his revolver.

He sat down on the bunk and faced the door, then looked around the small cabin, trying to ignore the smell of diesel and oil and remembering how sick he had been in the tiny third-cla.s.s cabin on the way out. It would, he thought, be simplest for Lu's men to kill him now. His body wouldn't be discovered until they were well out to sea.

He stood.

He took out his key, locked the door after him, and climbed quickly up the steps to the deck. He walked to the rail overlooking the quayside, where he was in full view of a hundred people or more.

Field scanned the crowd.

Every face was a disappointment, though he told himself he had not expected her to come.

The sun was sinking slowly over the city, but was still bright enough to make him squint as he watched the plumes of smoke blowing across the rooftops in the gentle, late-afternoon breeze.

The horn on one of the funnels above him let out a series of loud blasts, and Field turned back to the quayside to watch the last of the pa.s.sengers saying their farewells. His eye was drawn to a smartly dressed woman in a yellow dress and small, fashionable, matching hat, who was saying an emotional farewell to her husband and teenage children.

There was another, longer series of blasts, and the coolies a.s.sembled by the gangplanks. They pulled them back, then caught the ropes from the bow and stern as the Martinez Martinez drifted slowly out into the current, its engines surging as the propellers began to churn the muddy waters of the river. drifted slowly out into the current, its engines surging as the propellers began to churn the muddy waters of the river.

And then he saw Penelope, a small, frail figure amid the crowd. She raised her hand to him and he acknowledged it.

She stepped forward, coming to the very edge of the quay, her eyes fixed on his, her hand suspended in midair. He could see that she was crying.

Field raised his own hand as the liner gathered steam and the propellers turned faster and the quayside began to recede, then he walked slowly down to the stern, flicking his cigarette far out into the river. He watched the sampans bobbing up and down in their wake.

"Mr. Field?"

He turned to see a man in uniform, with a gray mustache and a pleasant smile.

"I'm Captain Ferguson."

They shook hands.

"Mr. Lewis asked me to make sure your voyage is comfortable, so if there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask. You are down below?"

Field nodded. "Yes."

"We'd be happy to move you up into a first-cla.s.s cabin on deck here. We have one available."