China Maroc #01 - Jian by Eric Van Lustbader

Author:Eric Van Lustbader [Lustbader, Eric Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, General, China, Maroc; Jake (Fictitious Character), Amerasians
ISBN: 9780345466815
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 1985-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Jian

Book Three

HSING-I

[thought and action in unison]

Hong Kong/Tokyo/Moscow/Beijing/Washington

SUMMER, PRESENT

“Five hundred on Fa Shan!”

“Eight hundred to cover that! Clubfoot Su will carry the day!”

“You're both wrong, by all the gods! Their oarsmen are as weak as infant's piddle! Three Oaths Tsun's craft will win, and here's one thousand that says so!”

“How inconsiderate you are of our host,” a fourth voice cried. “A fornicating week's profits say the Dragon Boat of T. Y. Chung will emerge the winner!”

This set off another round of betting, more furious than the first.

Slit-eyed, T. Y. Chung watched them from the cockpit of his sloop, Loong Wang, the Dragon King. He was a moon-faced man who looked to be anywhere from his mid-sixties to his early eighties. He was slim, though not tall. His raw-silk Savile Row suit, the color of mint tea, was impeccably tailored to gain him a semblance of height he otherwise would not possess. His feet were clad in comfortable moccasins hand-stitched for him in London to his own last.

It was Sunday, the Double Fifth, the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar, and T. Y. Chung had organized this outing of friends, business associates, and enemies aboard his yacht, picking them up at Central and sailing south around the Island for the traditional Dragon Boat races. Though they were also taking place at Stanley, Tai Po, and Yaumatai, the most important of the races was being held here in Aberdeen.

“Two thousand on Fa Shan! His boat won the first and third heats! Just now a great gull dipped down over his boat! I have a feeling in my sacred member!”

“That's how you make all your decisions!” There came a chorus of raucous laughter. “Twenty-five hundred says the gods of rain are with Club-foot Su this day!”

“Another three thousand on T. Y. Chung! He won last year, didn't he? All gods bear witness, he'll do the same again today!”

No one spoke of the whispers that had raced like sheet lightning last year. Though no official protest was raised, it was claimed by some that T. Y. Chung's craft had illegally veered, causing a neighboring boat to run into Three Oaths Tsun's, one hundred yards from the finish line. That delay had ensured Chung's victory. To a man, all the guests wondered whether this would be the moment of Honorable Tsun's revenge.

It was said that the Dragon Boat races dated back 2,300 years. Legend had it that a poet-statesman named Chu Yuan had turned himself into an instant folk hero by throwing himself into Lake Dongting in a province now known as Hunan to protest the inhumane policies of the ruling prince.

Fleets of local fishermen took to the waters in a vain attempt to find and save Chu Yuan. At last, giving up their search, they contented his spirit by throwing packets of cooked rice into the lake to turn away any evil spirits who might seek to harm him.

There were, of course, other stories of the origins of the Dragon Boat races, but this was the one that T.

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