Ice and Fire: Chung Kuo Series by David Wingrove

Author:David Wingrove [Wingrove, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Dystopian, Action & Adventure, Fiction
ISBN: 9780857897992
Google: tbyqvLQb-QsC
Amazon: B00A25NLYU
Publisher: Corvus
Published: 2012-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 41

THE DARKENING OF THE LIGHT

It was two in the morning and outside the Berdichev mansion, in the ornamental gardens, the guests were still celebrating noisily. A line of sedans waited on the far side of the green, beneath the lanterns, their pole-men and guards in attendance nearby, while closer to the house a temporary kitchen had been set up. Servants moved busily between the guests, serving hot bowls of soup or noodles, or offering more wine.

Berdichev stood on the balcony, looking down, studying it all a moment. Then he moved back inside, smiling a greeting at the twelve men gathered there.

These were the first of them. The ones he trusted most.

He looked across at the servant, waiting at his request in the doorway, and gave the signal. The servant – a ‘European’, like all his staff these days – returned a moment later with a tray on which was a large, pot-bellied bottle and thirteen delicate porcelain bowls. The servant placed the tray on the table, then, with a deep bow, backed away and closed the door after him.

They were alone.

Berdichev’s smile broadened. ‘You’ll drink with me, Chun t’zu?’ He held up the bottle – a forty-year-old Shou Hsing peach brandy – and was greeted with a murmur of warm approval.

He poured, then handed out the tiny bowls, conscious that the eyes of the ‘gentlemen’ would from time to time move to the twelve thick folders laid out on the table beside the tray.

He raised his bowl. ‘Kan pei!’

‘Kan pei!’ they echoed and downed their brandies in one gulp.

‘Beautiful!’ said Moore with a small shudder. ‘Where did you get it, Soren? I didn’t think there was a bottle of Shou Hsing left in all Chung Kuo that was over twenty years old.’

Berdichev smiled. ‘I have two cases of it, John. Allow me to send you a bottle.’ He looked about him, his smile for once unforced, quite natural. ‘And all of you chun t’zu, of course.’

Their delight was unfeigned. Such a brandy must be fifty thousand yuan a bottle at the least! And Berdichev had just given a case of it away!

‘You certainly know how to celebrate, Soren!’ said Parr, coming closer and holding his arm a moment. Parr was an old friend and business associate, with dealings in North America.

Berdichev nodded. ‘Maybe. But there’s much to celebrate tonight. Much more, in fact, than any of you realize. You see, my good friends, tonight is the beginning of something. The start of a new age.’

He saw how their eyes went to the folders again.

‘Yes.’ He went to the table and picked up one of the folders. ‘It has to do with these. You’ve noticed, I’m sure. Twelve of you and twelve folders.’ He looked about the circle of them, studying their faces one last time, making certain before he committed himself.

Yes, these were the men. Important men. Men with important contacts. But friends, too – men he could trust. They would start it for him. A thing that, once begun, would prove irresistible.

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