The Russian Concubine Part 63

To their surprise his words were greeted with the sound of a key turning and a heavy bolt being drawn top and bottom, then the oak door swung open. In front of them an elderly Chinese man with a long old-fashioned braid lay unconscious on the cobbles, while beside the door stood a bearded man with a chunk of firewood gripped in his hand.

'Liev Popkov!' Alfred exclaimed. 'How . . . ?'

'Never mind how he broke in,' Theo urged. 'Let's get searching. '

He drew his gun. The Russian pulled a pair of well-used long-barrelled pistols from his belt, and Alfred waved a small Smith & Wesson uneasily in the general direction of the buildings. Theo felt a kick of adrenaline in his guts. Almost as good as opium running on the Peiho on a stormy night. He raced toward the first doorway but found only empty rooms. They searched the place thoroughly, every building and every ramshackle outhouse. No Lydia. A farmer, his two burly sons, and a handful of women were the only occupants.

One of the young wives admitted readily, 'Feng Po Chu has gone. Two days ago. Took his p.i.s.s-making men with him.'

The Russian let out a roar of frustration. They were too late.

59.

Lydia held on to the pain in her breast. She sat huddled over her knees, one hand pressed hard against the wound to stem the bleeding. She never expected to be glad to be back inside Box, but she was. She had cried with relief when they locked her up again in the dark.

She'd stuck to her story. Chang An Lo was dead. If she could make Po Chu believe it, maybe she would survive this. No. Don't think that. That's too far ahead. Think only as far as the next moment. Think of now. No. Don't think that. That's too far ahead. Think only as far as the next moment. Think of now.

He hit her a few more times, but that was all. It was as if the sight and smell of her blood, the taste of it as he licked his chin, satisfied some inner urge. For the moment. But like any addict, he would be back for more. Her nipple throbbed, but somehow the pain had flicked a switch in her head and woken her out of the torpor she had been slowly sliding into, where Death stood waiting with a smile and open arms. Life was more complicated. Harder to do. And pain meant life, so she kept telling herself pain was good.

Chang An Lo.

Mama.

Sun Yat-sen.

Even Alfred.

Her slender army of faces to fend off fear.

And Polly's. Her friend's face came reluctantly, but it did come at last.

I can do this. I can. Survival. That's what I'm good at.

The sound of the bolt at the top of the stairs.

She started to breathe deeply, ready for the water. But the footsteps were different, heavier, stumbling, and she felt her throat close with panic. The dim light grew brighter in the holes, the feet came closer. She stared upward. What this time? Water? Hot oil? Acid? Anything?

The roof flew off. She blinked. A hand grabbed her hair. Her knees felt like they were set in concrete but when the pull dragged at her scalp, she pushed against the walls with her hands and got herself to her feet. Instantly she was yanked over the edge and collapsed in a heap of flailing limbs on the cellar's dirt floor. A man laughed. She tried to stand, but fell. Another laugh. Loose and malicious. A booted kick on her bare b.u.t.tocks urged her to her feet and this time she made it. She knew who her tormentor was even before she saw his face.

Po Chu. Back for more.

But this time was different. He was drunk. And he was alone.

She could smell the alcohol on him, maotai maotai on his breath and in the sweat on his smooth skin, quivering in his muscles. He released his grip on her hair but seized her arm and thrust her back against the damp earth wall. She knew what was coming. His lips found her mouth, chewing on her flesh, and she let his big soft tongue enter her mouth and slide down inside her throat. She couldn't breathe. Choked. on his breath and in the sweat on his smooth skin, quivering in his muscles. He released his grip on her hair but seized her arm and thrust her back against the damp earth wall. She knew what was coming. His lips found her mouth, chewing on her flesh, and she let his big soft tongue enter her mouth and slide down inside her throat. She couldn't breathe. Choked.

He laughed, the high whinny of a horse. One strong hand gripped her wrist as his body crushed hers against the wall, grinding his hips into hers, his other hand forcing its way between her legs. Her flesh crawled at his touch. But she didn't resist. Instead she stroked his broad back with her free hand. He breathed hard as his mouth lowered to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and he sucked on the wound, sending pain shooting up into her brain, but she kept stroking, mewing, arching against him, hands roving. Down to his hips. Into his trousers.

His groan of pleasure as her hand encircled his engorged p.e.n.i.s disgusted her but at last he released her other wrist and wrapped his arm around her naked waist. Pulling her against him and dragging down his trousers, making it easy for her. She kept one hand busy on his p.e.n.i.s to distract him while she slid the other up under his jacket to where she could feel the hard bulge of a gun holster under his left arm.

She opened her legs.

Instantly he thrust at her. In one quick movement she slid the gun out, pushed its muzzle against his ribs and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Po Chu screamed something at her, his spittle spraying into her face, and grabbed for the gun, but she s.n.a.t.c.hed it away and slammed the heavy metal into the side of his head. He went down. Dropped to his knees. But his hands still clung to her and he started to rise, clawing his way up her, fingers digging into her hips.

Her breath had stopped. But her mind was clear. If she didn't end it now she was dead.

You would kill a man. If you had to. Chang's words in her ears. Chang's words in her ears.

She sought out the safety catch. Pointed the barrel right in his face. Fired.

The explosion set her head ringing and sent Po Chu hurtling back down to the floor. By the uncertain light of the oil lamp on the stairs she could see that his face had become an oozing black crater with shards of glistening white bone. She gaped at it. The gun was shaking in her hand. But in place of the horror she expected to feel, there was only a deep visceral satisfaction that came out of her mouth as a ringing war cry.

She started to run.

Corridors confused her. She twisted and turned, seeking a door that would take her outside, but each time she threw one open it led only into yet another room. Voices behind her. She fired at their shadows. Again and again. A bullet grazed her shoulder. She hurled herself into a room where two frightened young Chinese children cowered under a tiger skin, picked up a stool, and slammed it into the window. Gla.s.s and shutters exploded. Cold air rushed in.

She leaped through the opening, dimly aware of pain in her feet, and found herself in a garden where winter vegetables were growing in neatly tended rows. It surprised her that it wasn't dark outside, the light a thin misty grey, but she had no idea whether it was dawn or dusk. Another bullet tore past her hair. She swung around, fired, aiming at nothing. Run. She ran. Over loose earth. Through a stableyard. Horses. Dogs barking. Run. Out. Into the open. Fields, a path, trees. More shots and men behind her, closer. Then suddenly in front of her a solid row of Chinese faces. A pair of hands seized her. No, not now.

Not now that she was free.

'No,' she screamed and raised her gun to the man's face.

'Lydia. It's me.'

She stopped screaming. Lowered the gun. Squinted at the blur that was a face. Grey uniforms all around her.

'Here.' A greatcoat was flung around her shivering naked body. 'It's all right. You're safe now.'

She blinked hard. The man's features settled into a familiar image. 'Alexei Serov,' she gasped and retched all down his chest.

60.

'Mama.'

'What is it, my darling?'

'You don't need to sit here all night.'

'Shh, sleep now.'

'I'm okay, you know.'

'Of course you are. So shut your eyes and dream sweet dreams.'

Valentina was seated on a low chair beside Lydia's bed, her elbows on the quilt and her chin propped on her hands, gaze fixed on her daughter's face. She looked tired, grey lines in a fine web around her eyes and mouth. For the first time Lydia could see what she'd look like when she was old and white-haired. She gave her mother a fleeting smile. They both knew the dreams were anything but sweet. In the hospital the doctors had kept her drugged with something that numbed the pain and the brain but let in the nightmares, so now that she was home she refused all tablets and instead remained awake.

Three nights her mother had stayed at her bedside, three nights of being there each time Lydia opened her eyes. When she heard Valentina softly humming the overture from Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet in the early hours of one morning, it made her cry. in the early hours of one morning, it made her cry.

'Where is he, Mama?'

'Who?'

Lydia put out a hand and cupped it around her mother's. 'You know who.'

The green lamp was on in the corner of the room, but Valentina had draped a ruby scarf over it, so that the light was muted to the colours of a winter's sunset. Enough to see her mother's eyes.

Valentina turned Lydia's hand over in her own and with one slender finger slowly traced the lifeline on her palm right down to her wrist. 'He's a prisoner.'

'Where?'

'How should I know, dochenka dochenka?'

'Who has him?'

'The Chinese, of course. You know what they're like, always at each other's throats.'

'Do you mean the Kuomintang?'

'Yes, I suppose so, the ones in those dreadful peasant uniforms. '

'Is he alive?'

Valentina sighed elaborately and her mouth softened. 'Yes. Your wretched Communist is still alive.'

'How do you know?'

'I made Alfred make inquiries. Don't look so happy, Lydia. He's not for you. You must forget him.'

'I will forget him the day I forget to breathe.'

'Dochenka! You've been through enough. Stop this madness.' You've been through enough. Stop this madness.'

'I love him, Mama.'

'So you must unlove him.'

'I can't. More than ever now.'

Valentina sat up straight, placed Lydia's hand gently down on the quilt, pulled her kimono tightly around herself, and folded her arms.

'Very well, darling. So. Tell me. What is it that your stubborn little soul wants? What plans have you hatched in that convoluted head of yours?'

There was a long silence. Downstairs the grandfather clock chimed three. Lydia could hear her mother's breathing.

'Mama, I nearly died in that Box.' She spoke softly.

'Don't, sweetheart. Don't.'

'I'd always thought survival was enough. But it's not.'

It was seven-thirty and the sky was just growing light when Lydia went downstairs. Valentina was in the bathroom and likely to remain there for some time judging by the scent of bath oil wafting under the door, so Lydia knew Alfred would be alone and unprotected.

'h.e.l.lo.'

'Good heavens, Lydia, you startled me.' He was sitting at the breakfast table engrossed in the newspaper, a bowl of steaming porridge oats in front of him. 'Shouldn't you be in bed, my dear?'

She slipped into the chair opposite him. 'I need your advice.'

Alfred put down his paper and gave her his full attention. 'Anything I can do to help, just say the word.'

'Mama said you made inquiries about Chang An Lo.'

'I did.'

'I have to go to him. So . . .'

'No, Lydia.'

'Alfred, if it hadn't been for him, I'd be dead.'

'Well, really I think it's that young Russian gentleman who . . .'

'No. It was Chang An Lo. He was the one who got the Chinese troops searching for me. That's what Alexei Serov himself told me in the woods. So you see, I do need to speak with him.'

Alfred looked uncomfortable. He picked up his spoon and stirred his porridge, added a sprinkling of sugar to it, then shook his head sadly. 'I'm so sorry, Lydia, I can't help you. Chang An Lo is not allowed visitors.'