told me. He and I had long chats during the first week after we met. I told him all about the school. He took a great interest in that. And then, one day he came to me and said he wanted to make a deal. He would tell me a bunch of lies about himself, which I could use to negotiate an early release for my parents and myself. I could have a letter written by him, in which he would request the British authorities to provide my father with a job and a house.’
‘Do you have that letter?’
‘Of course.’
Tursun slipped his hand inside his shirt and brought it out again with a badly crumpled sheet of Chinese writing paper. He unfolded it carefully and passed it to David. Outside, a nightjar called, its lonely cry echoing briefly among the trees. Tursun looked up, unsettled by the bird’s call.
‘This is Matthew’s handwriting all right,’ David said. He glanced through the note. ‘And here’s a little message for me. “David, you bastard - if you don’t set Tursun’s mum and dad up properly, I’ll come back and haunt you.” Doesn’t leave me much choice, does he? I’ll have to keep this. Do you understand? It’s evidence you met Matthew.’
‘You will give it to the right people?’
‘You can be sure of that. You’re a precious asset, Tursun. The state can spare a few thousand to see you’re treated properly.’
‘He said he wanted to train me to be him. To know everything there was about him. He said I was to claim to be a reincarnation, that it would draw less attention to me once I got to India. We spent weeks going over everything I had to know. Names, dates, places - all the things I’ve told you. And more there hasn’t been time for yet.’
‘I don’t see how …’
'I have a perfect memory. Like a tape recorder. He only had to tell me something once or twice, and I’d have it in my memory for good. Have you got people who can do that?’
‘There are people like you, yes. Some of them do amazing feats with numbers.’
‘He told me how to pass myself off as him, so I could be sure of getting attention, and then he gave me details of Operation Hong Cha. I wasn’t supposed to know what it was all about, just to be able to pass on what he’d found out.’
‘Do you know more?’
‘Yes. A lot more.’
‘We’ll start on it again tomorrow, then.’
The nightjar called again, just once. David looked up. He wondered where Matthew was. They’d been good friends. They’d worked together twice in Sinkiang, and Matthew had saved his life once in Lop Nor. Back home, he’d saved Matthew after the break-up of a long-term relationship. They’d been close. And now? Now, the only link between them was a twelve-year-old boy with frightened eyes and the memories of another man.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
T he journey home was swift and lonely. David checked more than once, but he was sure there was no tail. It was an elegiac return, like a lover’s homecoming when he has left a much-loved mistress behind. He had lost Matthew Hyde for ever, of that he was now sure. Chang Zhangyi would not have left him in that camp for long. And after that … ?
Everything shook as a jet fighter whizzed past overhead. As the crashing faded, he wondered what was going on. Night flights were ordinarily banned. There’d be a flurry of complaints tomorrow. David guessed the plane had flown out of Brize Norton, an air force base that normally plagued the country to the west of Oxford. Either someone had made an almighty mistake that they wouldn’t be allowed to forget in a hurry, or orders had come from very high up requesting night-flying practice within British airspace.
He pressed on, exhausted after a long day. It might almost have been better if he’d just stayed on at Carstairs, in order to get an early start with Tursun in the morning. But he had to see that Sam was all right, had to find a way of making up to him about today. And he needed to speak to Dr Rose as soon as possible.
He didn’t care much what
‘Do you have that letter?’
‘Of course.’
Tursun slipped his hand inside his shirt and brought it out again with a badly crumpled sheet of Chinese writing paper. He unfolded it carefully and passed it to David. Outside, a nightjar called, its lonely cry echoing briefly among the trees. Tursun looked up, unsettled by the bird’s call.
‘This is Matthew’s handwriting all right,’ David said. He glanced through the note. ‘And here’s a little message for me. “David, you bastard - if you don’t set Tursun’s mum and dad up properly, I’ll come back and haunt you.” Doesn’t leave me much choice, does he? I’ll have to keep this. Do you understand? It’s evidence you met Matthew.’
‘You will give it to the right people?’
‘You can be sure of that. You’re a precious asset, Tursun. The state can spare a few thousand to see you’re treated properly.’
‘He said he wanted to train me to be him. To know everything there was about him. He said I was to claim to be a reincarnation, that it would draw less attention to me once I got to India. We spent weeks going over everything I had to know. Names, dates, places - all the things I’ve told you. And more there hasn’t been time for yet.’
‘I don’t see how …’
'I have a perfect memory. Like a tape recorder. He only had to tell me something once or twice, and I’d have it in my memory for good. Have you got people who can do that?’
‘There are people like you, yes. Some of them do amazing feats with numbers.’
‘He told me how to pass myself off as him, so I could be sure of getting attention, and then he gave me details of Operation Hong Cha. I wasn’t supposed to know what it was all about, just to be able to pass on what he’d found out.’
‘Do you know more?’
‘Yes. A lot more.’
‘We’ll start on it again tomorrow, then.’
The nightjar called again, just once. David looked up. He wondered where Matthew was. They’d been good friends. They’d worked together twice in Sinkiang, and Matthew had saved his life once in Lop Nor. Back home, he’d saved Matthew after the break-up of a long-term relationship. They’d been close. And now? Now, the only link between them was a twelve-year-old boy with frightened eyes and the memories of another man.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
T he journey home was swift and lonely. David checked more than once, but he was sure there was no tail. It was an elegiac return, like a lover’s homecoming when he has left a much-loved mistress behind. He had lost Matthew Hyde for ever, of that he was now sure. Chang Zhangyi would not have left him in that camp for long. And after that … ?
Everything shook as a jet fighter whizzed past overhead. As the crashing faded, he wondered what was going on. Night flights were ordinarily banned. There’d be a flurry of complaints tomorrow. David guessed the plane had flown out of Brize Norton, an air force base that normally plagued the country to the west of Oxford. Either someone had made an almighty mistake that they wouldn’t be allowed to forget in a hurry, or orders had come from very high up requesting night-flying practice within British airspace.
He pressed on, exhausted after a long day. It might almost have been better if he’d just stayed on at Carstairs, in order to get an early start with Tursun in the morning. But he had to see that Sam was all right, had to find a way of making up to him about today. And he needed to speak to Dr Rose as soon as possible.
He didn’t care much what
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