A Dragon for Christmas by Gavin Black

Author:Gavin Black [GAVIN BLACK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780020235
Publisher: The Langtail Press Ltd

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That afternoon I came down from my hotel room to the politest of summons, almost polite enough to be Japanese and not socialist at all. But the delegation wasn’t waiting for me in the lobby; it was in one of the private conference rooms which I hadn’t seen before. From the point of view of decor there was a lot to be desired in that room, one wall another mural of China rampant in extraordinary chemical pigments and not a vestige of a lost taste for the æsthetic. There were four contemporary chairs, thought about in Sweden, conceived in Moscow and born in considerable pain and stress south of the Great Wall. Two of them were occupied, one by Miss Feng, showing her knees, and the other by Commissar for Trade Chow.

“Ah,” said Chow, with great joy at seeing me so fit and well. “Mr. Harris. We have come in haste to see you.”

“Well, bustle is certainly a symptom of progress,” I said.

His broad smile wavered for a minute but stayed. Miss Feng rustled in her chair. I couldn’t look at the girl without wondering just where she had received her training in this continuous sending out of bounce signals. My bet was still Hong Kong, though. She had that stamp. The only thing that might rid her of it would be a session in a People’s volunteer work camp. And this lassie was well dug into safety. I had the feeling that if I were Chow and little Miss Feng ever went missing from my outer office that would be the moment when I’d take off on a quick mission to Albania with the hope of slipping over the border into Greece and eventually getting to Switzerland. She was a new kind of status symbol, you might almost say a barometer. And any cool breezes sneaking into that Ministry office block would be sniffed out by this girl before you could say sabotage. Chow could smile now he had her, but watch, boy, watch! You believe in Stalin, remember?

I must have been grinning.

“You are in excellent spirits, Mr. Harris. I am so happy this is so. After this morning’s misfortune.”

“Oh, yes, a good marksman.”

“Please!” The smile had quite gone. “We are greatly upset. It is to be fully investigated.”

“Oh, naturally.”

“At the moment no possible explanation.”

“It could be a careless guard. Well, not careless, determined. Full of zeal. We have them, too, you know. People who use their trigger fingers first and think afterwards. They’re an embarrassment to any democracy.”

Chow wasn’t quite with me, but little Miss Feng was right there. I got a message saying that if I’d had any future at all in China she would have been enchanted to accompany me up. This girl would always be interesting to have around as the intelligent man’s guide to his ascent rating. Down there in Singapore I have an English secretary, extremely efficient, but rather solemnly married to a university lecturer and under the mistaken impression that it is important for a woman to exploit to the full the cultural opportunities of her environment.

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