Into Xinjiang by Ben Colbridge

Author:Ben Colbridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2023-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

9

The Counterfeiters’ Work

Inside his house, Ali showed Dan the bathroom – a small, windowless room with a long-drop toilet and wooden plank with a round hole in it that served as a seat. A roll of paper sat at one end. From the adjacent wall protruded a small tap and short length of hosepipe that was to be used for both washing hands and keeping the wooden plank clean.

Next door, a small bedroom housed a single bed, dark wooden wardrobe and a three-drawer chest of drawers on which sat a Chinese-made television. A frameless old mirror, so aged that most of the reflective surface was gone, hung on the wall. The bed was made with thin white sheets but given the scorching temperatures Dan didn’t expect to need much else. High in the top corner of one wall was a small window about eighteen inches square covered by an ornate grille of Islamic design. Dan could see the wooden beams of the courtyard through it.

Ali passed Dan a bottle of cold water as they joined Lisa and their driver outside again. Dan sat and gazed up at the clear blue sky, watching birds wheel freely high over the city.

Standing up to leave, the driver shook Dan’s hand. It was unusually sincere and Dan was taken aback by the gesture. Perhaps the driver recognised his battle against the aggression of the Han Chinese. Perhaps Lisa had fabricated a different story entirely. Dan still didn’t understand her motivations.

“We need to talk about our next moves,” Lisa announced as the driver pulled out of the courtyard and back into the labyrinth of Kashgar’s Old Town. “Ali is heading out to get some food for you so let’s go into your room. We can’t be overheard speaking English out here.”

The two went inside and sat on the edge of the bed, facing each other. Lisa spoke first. “Have you thought about how we get across the border? I must admit, having never done this before, I’m a bit out of my depth here,” Lisa lied. “I was OK getting us this far only because we happened to be driving to Urumqi when you and I met and then, by pure coincidence, Feng’s brother was available to bring us down here. Beyond this point, I’m far less certain.”

“How do you know Ali?” Dan enquired. “And when did you set up the switchover?”

“Ali’s a good friend of mine,” Lisa explained. “We used to work for a tour company here in Kashgar a while back. He’s a great guy. He’s one of the modern young Uighurs: up-to-date with what’s going on in the world, internet-savvy and reasonably well educated. Don’t get him wrong, he’s passionate about his opposition to the Han Chinese being here in what he sees at the Uighur homeland, and he’s just as militant as the generation before him. I called him on that last stint of the journey. He’s been out of work since the authorities closed down the company he was working for six weeks ago, accusing them of spreading anti-Chinese sentiment among international visitors.

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