Ying Ning sat astride Stone’s lap, her face centimetres from his. ‘Try not to become excited,’ she said with casual irony, massaging her butt into his groin. It was another of her "tests". Stone was sitting in a chair with Ying Ning facing him, holding a hypodermic syringe. He closed his eyes once more as the Chinese girl rubbed his brow with alcohol gel, and then jabbed the needle in.
‘You nice and still, Rockhead,’ she said. ‘Bao An wriggles like a girl!’
‘I bet you do too,’ said Stone.
Ying Ning didn’t respond to this kind of thing. She held her hand steady with the needle. Considering she was smoking at the same time. The injections were to create swelling under the eyebrows, lips and chin. Just enough to fool the facial recognition systems they would encounter at all points of entry to the People’s Republic. Ying Ning, Stone and the two Chinese lads would all travel on false ID’s.
Ying Ning was a hard-bitten operator. Difficult for Stone to read, with a flint-hard exterior. She said nothing about herself, and made no attempt to establish a connection with Stone. Sure, she used her sexuality, and she tried to ridicule him. But that was just an attempt to unsettle him — a defence mechanism. At best she flirted — but then so do lots of insecure people. Stone had no human connection with Ying Ning at all, whereas with Carlisle, who he despised, that connection was instant.
And it had to be like that. What Ying Ning was doing was dangerous. China21 was illegal, and Ying Ning would be executed, probably in public, if she was caught breaking the rules. China is a tough country, run from the top. Everyone knows the rules, and individuals don’t matter that much. The greater good always comes first. People know the penalties for stepping out of line, and mostly they don’t do it.
Stone was getting the measure of Ying Ning, and could only guess she had some kind of death wish. Mere idealism wasn’t enough for what she was doing. She was now taking a further step, beyond her tirades against capitalists and profiteers, to challenge the very core of what ShinComm and the Chinese state were up to. It was dangerous stuff.
As for Stone. He’d supposedly been deported, back to England. Now he was using a false ID and setting out into Mainland China in search of Oyang — whose last friendship group, comprising Semyonov and Terashima, had not exactly fared too well.
There was also the issue of Professor Zhang and the Gong An. Stone could find himself “disappeared” if they caught up with him in China.
As Ying Ning sat on his knee, flirting and making the injections, it was clear that Ying Ning enjoyed the danger. She was doing this for the same reason as Stone. For all the repressed anger, even guilt, Stone felt about Hooper, he was now being swept along by the desire to find out about Semyonov, to find out about the Machine. Because Stone got off on this stuff in the same way that Ying Ning did.
Ying Ning explained the first part of the plan as she worked. ‘You will travel to Shanghai, by ship this evening from Hong Kong direct to Shanghai. Takes thirty-six hours. You will be my boyfriend — Jonah Edward Richards, from Chicago.’ That was the name in the passport Carlisle had given him.
Ying Ning stung another injection into Stone’s upper lip, while playfully blowing smoke rings above his head. Yep. Definitely enjoying this.
‘In Shanghai I need to show you something,’ said Ying Ning.
‘Show me what?’
‘I can’t say. But you’ll see why I need your help.’
That was interesting. Ying Ning never asked for help. She was the one with a plan, telling her lapdogs what to do.
‘What about Oyang?’ asked Stone. ‘He’s the only one we can get to who knows about the Machine, and…’
Ying Ning practically snorted. ‘You trust Oyang?’
‘Of course I don’t trust him,’ said Stone. ‘But he’s a senior director of ShinComm, and he was the closest person to Semyonov. We can use him for information. Junko’s file says he trained as a Chinese diplomat. He opened Semyonov’s first business contacts in China and became Semyonov’s righthand man in China with ShinComm.’
‘Oyang’s the worst kind of Chinese,’ Ying Ning spat back. ‘Will do anything for money.’
‘We’ve got to try him,’ said Stone. ‘Oyang was Semyonov’s best friend. And since Semyonov was killed, my bet is he’ll talk.’
Ying Ning was still sitting in Stone’s lap. She looked directly into Stone’s cool grey eyes for a second, her face screwed up and skeptical. ‘Oyang is a “naked official”,’ she said. ‘That means a corrupt Chinese official who has moved his family to another country. He moved his family to Switzerland, so he can escape at any time.’
‘So you think Oyang is a filthy, capitalist running dog,’ said Stone. ‘You say that about everyone with money. Not a reason to ignore him.’
‘We talk about it in Shanghai. Like I said, I have something to show you.’ She tapped her finger lightly on the tip of his nose. The kind of thing a love-struck girl would do, but entirely bogus.
Fascinating. Stone could see Ying Ning loved the danger just as much as he did. That was why, behind all Ying Ning’s bogus flirting, there was a vibe of attraction resonating between them.
When Stone got back to the pleasant surroundings of the Zhonghua Hotel that evening, the game suddenly changed. There was a message on the NotFutile.com anonymized email server.
Meet me tomorrow. ShinComm Tower, fifty-sixth floor.
It was Oyang. Forget Ying Ning’s plan of thirty-six hours on a boat. The next morning Stone went to the airport and paid cash for a flight to Shanghai. He’d catch up with Ying Ning if and when.