"Van Lustbader, Eric - Jake Maroc 02 Shan(eng)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Lustbader Eric)

Before Henry Wunderman, Jake's surrogate father, Jake had had foster parents. Solomon and Ruth Maroc, Jewish refugees in Shanghai, had taken him and his mother in. She had been sick and dying. The Marocs cared for Athena and her frightened child.
By that time, Jake's real father, Shi Zilin, had already gone with Mao, giving up his family, all that he held dear, in order to direct the fate of the new China.
Zilin worked behind the scenes with Mao, consolidating his power, entrenching himself through all the agonizingly bloody years of revolution and struggles for power, through the fall of Mao, the Gang of Four, the abrupt end to the Cultural Revolution. Until he was beyond all the infighting, the internecine warfare that led, inevitably, to the purges. Philosophies eddied and flowed around the seat of power in China. But because he was secreted away from it, Zilin was always spared.
Not that there weren't those who had tried to destroy him. The latest in the long line had been Wu Aiping, who had set himself up at the head of the group known as the gun, reactionary ministers who were opposed to Zilin's forward-thinking views on economic and industrial progress.
But Jake's father had outfoxed Wu Aiping, as he had all his other enemies. Now the thinking of those who ruled China had turned his way, and though old and ill he had journeyed south to meet his grown sons, Jake and Nichiren, the child of his mistress.
One son had lived, the other had died in the pitched battle on the veranda of the villa high on the cliffs overlooking Repulse Bay. Ni-chiren, having found out that his father had also been his Control, had attacked Zilin. Jake had only wanted to protect the old man. His father. And in the process Jake had killed his brother. One could say half-brother, but what in the end was the difference? The same blood- Zilin's blood-flowed through their veins. Neither had known it until the very end. They had spent a good deal of their adult lives hunting one another, hurting one another, as bitter enemies. It had been Nichiren who had been responsible for Jake's daughter's murder at the Sumchun River three-and-a-half years before. As part of the American organization known as the Quarry, Jake had done his best to track Nichiren down. As he had peeled away the layers of deceit, he had gone from seeing Nichiren as a lone-wolf assassin to being controlled by the Russians-by General Daniella Vorkuta. Until recently Vorkuta had been the head of the KGB's most feared extraterritorial wing, the KVR. And then, Jake had discovered that Nichiren was in fact being controlled by Zilin out of Beijing.
It was all part of Zilin's master plan, what the old man called his Ten, his harvest. Shi had created an inner circle, a yuhn-hyun of powerful people. Included in the inner circle were the major tai pan- the heads of Hong Kong's most powerful trading houses-and also the dragons, the overlords, of the three largest Triads, the secret societies.
And the man to direct them all? Jake Maroc or Jake Shi, take your pick. The tai pan of all tai pan, the most special one. Jake was Zhuan.

Ever since he had been reunited with Zilin, Jake's obsession had been the old man, his father. His days were spent at Zilin's side, deep in conversation. His zeal taxed even the old man's phenomenal endurance.
They would sit by the shoreline, their trouser legs rolled up, their bare feet in the surf. Even hunger did not stop their dialogue; they ate while they spoke, hardly tasting the food they were brought. Neither of them noticed the Triad members assigned to them, who strolled the beach, looking fondly at babies toddling on still-soft legs, carefully searching the faces of any others who entered the vicinity of father and son. Both Jake and Zilin appeared oblivious to danger.
On this day, there was a mist in the air, as if the night had refused to relinquish its hold. It is time for you to begin your work as Zhuan."
Zilin sat as a child might, his legs straight out in front of him. The brace was off the right leg, but his gnarled hand massaged the atrophied muscles along its upper length.
"Talk is constructive up to a certain point," Zilin said. "After that, only action matters."
Though it was in the low sixties, a winter coat was draped across Zilin's bony shoulders. His baggy cotton trousers were rolled to just below the knee. Still, in spots, the fabric was darkened, splashed by the surf of the South China Sea.
"The Zhuan is the tai pan of all Hong Kong tai pan. He is the head dragon of the inner circle. The Zhuan will eventually control all business throughout Asia. He will be the funnel through which Beijing will make its deals, through which the Indonesianized Chinese businessmen will clear their profits. Through him the British will do their trading. As will the Americans, the Japanese, the Thais and Malaysians."
Zilin stared out to where the sunlight was a swath of beaten brass over the waves. "This is the ultimate stage of my ren, my harvest. For fifty years this has been my dream-a united China. I have told you how I came upon the beginnings of Communism in China. My first wife, Mai, was Sun Zhongshan's assistant." He was speaking of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Guomindang. "We met in Shanghai at the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
"I have already told you of my boyhood in Suzhou, of how much time I spent in the garden of my mentor, the Jian. Here it was that I was taught the overriding importance of artifice in life. The Jian's garden looked so perfectly natural that I believed for some time that every tree, bush, shrub, rock and hill in it had been there for hundreds of years-since, even, the beginning of time.
"Imagine then my consternation when the Jian revealed to me his secrets. . . the secrets of the garden. The hillock he had made himself to create a certain calming effect. The stones he had had brought from a brookside; these trees planted from here, those shrubs he had lovingly put in but three weeks ago. Yet all was harmonious, natural. Surely, I had thought, the hand of Buddha had shaped this space-not the mind of one man.
"But it was true. I saw that it was true; I became part of the Jian's plan for his garden.
"All this was never truly out of my mind as I grew up. And by the time my family moved to Shanghai and I went to college I knew that somehow I must employ the Jian's strategy in the game of life. I was already a wei qi grand master. On the game board, as well, I was able to use artifice to win matches.
"In those days, Jake, my friends spoke about nothing other than ridding our shores of the foreign devil who had invaded us. The foreign devil systematically pulled the natural resources out of China for their profit and at our expenses.
"But China was divided, at war with itself. How then could it also fend off the foreign devil? This was the subject of many debates. I listened but rarely made a comment, for I saw how clever the foreign devil were. And I thought, if we could only employ artifice-give the foreign devil what they thought they needed-then we could begin to use them as they had been using us. We could begin to harness their talents in the service of China.
"But first China had to be united. I had no clear idea how such a vast country, riddled with poverty and unrest, could be tamed.
"Then I went to the fateful meeting in Shanghai. I came face to face with the concept of Communism. And I knew instinctively that I had found the means of bringing peace to China.
"This, Jake, was the first stage of my ren, of my fifty-year harvest. But it required that I leave Shanghai, leave Athena, my second wife and your mother . . . leave you. I had no choice. China came first. China has always come first.
"Now at last we are in the final stages. You will be the conduit through which the power of all Asia will flow. China will at last be whole again. Not by destroying Hong Kong as some in Beijing still fervently wish to do, but by utilizing all the advantages that the foreign devil have given to this Colony: free trade, open markets, an unhindered, unlimited pipeline to the West. Without losing face we can solicit the industrial and electronic aid we so desperately need from the foreign devil.
"Within the spreading arms of the inner circle all China will prosper and grow.
"It is your joss to see the fruits of my ren, my harvest. Over the years Communism will wane. It was a powerful tool for us in the past. It roused the colossus that is China out of its slumber and moved it to a certain point. But now it is stagnating us. We have been strangling on doctrine while the world around us has moved into another age. If we cannot move also into this great new realm, then China is doomed to backwardness and is in real danger of being subordinated to Moscow. The Soviets have sought for many decades to control the direction of our future."
Zilin moved uncomfortably and for the briefest moment a flicker of pain shadowed his face. "I knew from the beginning, Jake, that I could not go beyond the stage of Jian. I have accomplished enough in my lifetime-now that I have found my son. I am the creator. It was for you to be Zhuan, the international conduit through which all Asian and Asian-related business flows. I admit that I could not control all the forces that must now come into play, not only from the Mainland and Hong Kong but in Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, Tokyo and Osaka. Some of those contacts have been made and have been passed on to you. Others you must make yourself. That is for the Zhuan to do-as it is to continue the fight to subdue our enemies."
A junk with a sail the color of pumpkins turned the point, tacking out to sea, its hull canted over as the winter wind took it.
Zilin held out his hand and Jake produced an oval of carved jade depicting two creatures locked in mortal combat. At some time it had been cleaved into four pieces which were now bound together by solid gold clasps. "Now it is not enough to dream and to spin webs of power." He turned the jade over and over in the palm of his hand. "Schemes will fail us in the end, if the yuhn-hyun, the inner circle, breaks apart. The bond between those of the ring may be more fragile than you can guess. Yes, the Triad dragons and the tai pan of my choosing are bound by this fu, the emperor's seal of carved lavender jade that you and Nichiren and Bliss and Andrew Sawyer brought together."
He lifted the oval into the sunlight. Its translucence was aglow with a radiance that almost brought the two carved animals to life. "But consider what the fu depicts: the legendary battle between the dragon and the tiger for supremacy of the earth. This is, perhaps, also what we truly speak of when we imagine the enormous task before the yuhn-hyun. First, to protect the new emerging China from its enemies, the Soviets, the British, the Americans, and those in Beijing who are determined that Communism shall not die. Second, to unite Hong Kong and the Mainland, gradually adding Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines. To take a strong and homogenous China swiftly into the twenty-first century.
"We must not become divided among ourselves. For now the forces are linked: my brothers, Three Oaths Tsun and T. Y. Chung; Andrew Sawyer, loyal to me and my family through the unimaginable favor I did him so many years ago; the dragons of the three major Triads.
"But these dragons, especially, will be wary, constantly seeking to gain an edge over their rivals within the inner circle. Nor can they be counted upon for substantial amounts of capital. Their support is manifest in other ways. These facts we cannot dispute nor waste energy in trying to change. It cannot be changed. Joss.
"We must ever be aware that our enemies-powerful enemies in many countries-seek to smash the yuhn-hyun. If they should succeed, then Hong Kong will become a mercantile battleground. Each country, each faction will seek to exploit to his own advantage the riches that flow through Hong Kong. There will be a cessation of profits. There will be war. And China will sink back into the medieval sloth it is only now beginning to outgrow. Divided, we are vulnerable and may be cut down. Seek to avoid this at all costs. You are Zhuan. Without your strength and expertise China will never make the transition into a modern world power. Without you and the inner circle there is no hope for us as a people."
Zilin turned his head away from the flat oblate of the sun. Within the shadows, his black eyes sparked with ethereal energy. Any lesser man would have already succumbed to the debilitating pain of his degenerative disease. But though his body had betrayed him, his mind was so disciplined that it could effectively cut itself off from the network of nerves that constantly throbbed with pain.
"Our enemies are known to us, father," Jake said. "In Russia, General Daniella Vorkuta seeks control of the inner circle, and of all Hong Kong. But her agent here, Sir John Bluestone, tai pan of Five Star Pacific, is well known to us-though he does not suspect that his cover has been blown."
But already a warning had been sounded. The spies Jake employed throughout Hong Kong had reported an odd occurrence: a weekend party aboard Sir John Bluestone's 130-foot yacht, Trireme. The guest list included at least four powerful tai pan. Jake had not been able to find out the names of everyone who was there yet the knowledge that four powerful tai pan had been together with Bluestone for a significant amount of time was enough to make him uneasy.
Perhaps the weekend was nothing more than a two-day lark on the South China Sea. After all, Bluestone's entertaining was legendary in the Crown Colony. But there was that warning buzz, that question mark that Jake could not erase no matter how hard he tried. How he would have liked to have a spy among the crew of the Trireme. He made a mental note to work on that when he returned to the office.
"You are forgetting the agent, still unknown to us, who informed Chimera that you possessed a piece of the fu," Zilin said. "You must find this spy and destroy him. How we have suffered because of his treachery: the death of Mariana; the death of your brother, Nichiren. Retribution must be taken."
"The spy is deeply buried, father." Jake could not get the party on the Trireme out of his mind. "I am afraid that many roots will have to be unearthed before we discover who it is." "Time is a commodity we are short on, Jake." "Would you have me tear apart the entire inner circle?" The Jian shook his head. "Absolutely not. The inner circle is all-important. If that is destroyed, then my entire life-all my sacrifices, all the pain, all the deaths I have caused and have been witness to- will have been in vain. Only the yuhn-hyun can hold the new China fast against its enemies from without and, just as importantly, from within. But this spy has demonstrated time and time again the ability to hurt us deeply."
He reached out in a rare physical gesture to grip his son's arm. "You are the Zhuan. By all means do as you see fit. I know that whatever happens you will not fail me. You must keep the yuhn-hyun together at all costs. I must emphasize these words: at all costs. If you cannot be ruthless with your allies as well as with your enemies then you will not succeed as Zhuan. And my ren, my fifty-year harvest, will have been for naught.
"Consider China's recent history. Our own petty bickering allowed the foreign devil to invade us. Our ignorance of world culture allowed the foreign devil to exploit us all. But it was because China had been turned into a huge nation of poverty-stricken coolies that I knew a concept such as Communism could galvanize even a nation as large as ours.
"But Communism was only a means to an end. Those ministers in Beijing who still cling to its rigid tenets do so only because of the power it gives them. Communism is no longer useful to China. On the contrary, it is impeding our progress. My goal all along has been to use Hong Kong as the sword with which to slowly shed our old, outdated doctrines without losing face. The method was obvious to me. Beijing could not be seen to discard wholesale what it had espoused for so many decades.
"My ren has been a constant struggle to save China from itself." The old man shook his head. "Hong Kong is the key to our-to all of Asia's-future safety and prosperity. Unfortunately, our enemies know this as well."
He bowed his head and Jake said, "Father, what is it?" Suddenly the Jian seemed old, frail, desperately tired. Like an after- noon sky abruptly devoid of sunlight, Zilin's countenance was bleak, wintry.
Jake felt his stomach tighten in a spasm of anxiety. "Father, are you in pain?"
The old man shook his head. He held himself carefully as if afraid that he would shake apart. "The pain I feel has nothing to do with my illness." He closed his eyes. For a long time not a word passed between them. Gulls cawed shrilly above them, circling in the watery sunlight. Mist lay along the water like dragon's breath. Jake felt the imminence of terror, lurking in the mist.