Read Online The Forbidden Temple by Patrick Woodhead - Free Book Online
Authors: Patrick Woodhead
Tags: adventure
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believe they were related.
At the doorway, he managed a faint smile. ‘Maybe you’re right, Dad. Give me a while to think about the job. And I’ll call Mum too, let her know I’m back safe and that we’ve had this chat. Meanwhile, I’ve got a cracking headache. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take all my work back home today, to catch up. I’ll get more done there anyway, without any distractions.’
His father looked at him for a moment, before nodding uncertainly. ‘OK. Well, let me know. Good to have you back, Luca.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’
He turned and walked out of the office, the effort of smiling making his face ache. As he entered his own small office, he slammed the door shut and stood in the centre of the room, the anger surging through him. After all these years, how could his own father understand so little about what made Luca tick?
His eyes settled on his desk, the paperwork stacked in two crooked piles. With a sudden sweep of his arm, he sent them flying against the long bank of windows, papers fluttering down like leaves. They settled across the thick carpet, a mass of densely printed forms and Post-it notes, edges stirring in the steady draught from the air conditioning.
This is not the way it’s going to be, Luca said to himself, his eyes screwed tight as if in prayer.
This is not it.
Chapter 10
THE DIRECTOR GENERAL of the Public Security Bureau in Beijing slammed his hand down on his desk, making his aide jump.
‘How can this have happened?’ he seethed. ‘I was told our intelligence was a hundred per cent.’
The aide looked down at the carpet nervously, waiting for the storm to pass. He was a short, compact man, with a neat chin and eyebrows that slanted at sharp angles. He stood in silence, hating the fact that he always had to deliver the bad news.
‘If I may, sir, our sources tell us that the brothers were very similar-looking. There might only have been a year or so between them.’
‘That’s no excuse!’ the Director General shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk once again. ‘If word of this gets out, it’ll destabilise the entire damn’ province!’
The aide thought quickly. He knew from experience that when the Director didn’t have someone to punish directly, the blame was more likely to fall on him.
‘Sir, I believe it was Second Lieutenant Chen who was the cause of the mistaken identity. Please instruct me on how you intend to deal with his inexcusable error?’
The Director General breathed out slowly, bringing his right hand up to his heavily lined forehead and smoothing back his grey hair. Despite his age, he still had a thick shock of it that was peppered withdark streaks, and his high-arched nose gave him a hawkish appearance accentuated by his sharp eyes.
Suddenly he stood up and paced over to the window. He poked one long finger through the slats of the closed blinds, looking out at the multitude of people thronging the streets far below.
The aide waited in silence as the seconds passed, watching the tension set his superior’s hunched shoulders together. Eventually the Director swung around again, his face rigid with determination.
‘Call Captain Zhu Yanlei.’
‘Sir?’ The aide looked startled.
‘You heard me. Call Zhu. I want him standing here in three minutes.’
The aide walked quickly over to the phone and dialled the three-digit internal number. He knew it by heart – Zhu was someone with whom he had had protracted dealings in the past. In fact, if there was anyone in this office he feared more than the Director, it was Captain Zhu.
Two years ago he had been told to reassign Zhu from the field to an office job, based a few floors below where they were now standing. Despite his always having achieved results, it appeared that even by the PSB’s standards, Zhu’s methods were too much to stomach. The aide still remembered the case files he had studied with photos of the state of some of Zhu’s ‘interviewees’. The images
At the doorway, he managed a faint smile. ‘Maybe you’re right, Dad. Give me a while to think about the job. And I’ll call Mum too, let her know I’m back safe and that we’ve had this chat. Meanwhile, I’ve got a cracking headache. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take all my work back home today, to catch up. I’ll get more done there anyway, without any distractions.’
His father looked at him for a moment, before nodding uncertainly. ‘OK. Well, let me know. Good to have you back, Luca.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’
He turned and walked out of the office, the effort of smiling making his face ache. As he entered his own small office, he slammed the door shut and stood in the centre of the room, the anger surging through him. After all these years, how could his own father understand so little about what made Luca tick?
His eyes settled on his desk, the paperwork stacked in two crooked piles. With a sudden sweep of his arm, he sent them flying against the long bank of windows, papers fluttering down like leaves. They settled across the thick carpet, a mass of densely printed forms and Post-it notes, edges stirring in the steady draught from the air conditioning.
This is not the way it’s going to be, Luca said to himself, his eyes screwed tight as if in prayer.
This is not it.
Chapter 10
THE DIRECTOR GENERAL of the Public Security Bureau in Beijing slammed his hand down on his desk, making his aide jump.
‘How can this have happened?’ he seethed. ‘I was told our intelligence was a hundred per cent.’
The aide looked down at the carpet nervously, waiting for the storm to pass. He was a short, compact man, with a neat chin and eyebrows that slanted at sharp angles. He stood in silence, hating the fact that he always had to deliver the bad news.
‘If I may, sir, our sources tell us that the brothers were very similar-looking. There might only have been a year or so between them.’
‘That’s no excuse!’ the Director General shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk once again. ‘If word of this gets out, it’ll destabilise the entire damn’ province!’
The aide thought quickly. He knew from experience that when the Director didn’t have someone to punish directly, the blame was more likely to fall on him.
‘Sir, I believe it was Second Lieutenant Chen who was the cause of the mistaken identity. Please instruct me on how you intend to deal with his inexcusable error?’
The Director General breathed out slowly, bringing his right hand up to his heavily lined forehead and smoothing back his grey hair. Despite his age, he still had a thick shock of it that was peppered withdark streaks, and his high-arched nose gave him a hawkish appearance accentuated by his sharp eyes.
Suddenly he stood up and paced over to the window. He poked one long finger through the slats of the closed blinds, looking out at the multitude of people thronging the streets far below.
The aide waited in silence as the seconds passed, watching the tension set his superior’s hunched shoulders together. Eventually the Director swung around again, his face rigid with determination.
‘Call Captain Zhu Yanlei.’
‘Sir?’ The aide looked startled.
‘You heard me. Call Zhu. I want him standing here in three minutes.’
The aide walked quickly over to the phone and dialled the three-digit internal number. He knew it by heart – Zhu was someone with whom he had had protracted dealings in the past. In fact, if there was anyone in this office he feared more than the Director, it was Captain Zhu.
Two years ago he had been told to reassign Zhu from the field to an office job, based a few floors below where they were now standing. Despite his always having achieved results, it appeared that even by the PSB’s standards, Zhu’s methods were too much to stomach. The aide still remembered the case files he had studied with photos of the state of some of Zhu’s ‘interviewees’. The images
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