The Runner (The China Thrillers 5) by Peter May

Author:Peter May [May, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

I

Li cycled up Chaoyangmen Nanxiaojie Street as the first light broke in a leaden sky. He had taken his father out for a meal the night before, and they had sat staring at each other in silence across the table as they ate. For all the hurt and misunderstanding that lay between them, they had nothing to say to each other. He had been tempted to call Margaret and suggest he drop by, but it was her first night with her mother and instinct had told him to stay well away. He would meet her soon enough at the betrothal. Instead he had gone to bed early, and risen early to be free of the atmosphere that his father had brought to the apartment. He wasn’t sure when he would get away from the office tonight, so his sister had agreed to collect the old man from Li’s apartment and take him to the Imperial Restaurant on Tiananmen Square where they had booked the room for the betrothal meeting. Li was dreading it.

The narrow street was busy with traffic and bicycles. Braziers flared and spat sparks on the sidewalk as hawkers cooked up breakfast in great stacks of bamboo steamers for workers on the early shift. Everyone wore hats today and more muffling. Although it was perhaps a degree or two milder, the air was raw with a stinging humidity that swept in on a north wind laden with the promise of snow.

It was too early for Mei Yuan to be peddling her jian bing on the corner of Dongzhimen Beixiaojie. Right now she would be among those hardy practitioners of tai chi, who would have gathered among the trees of Zhongshan Park as soon as it opened its gates. He would catch breakfast later.

Lights flooded out from the offices of Section One into the dark, tree-lined Beixinqiao Santiao, as Li wheeled his bike past the red gable of the vehicle pound and chained it to the railing at the side entrance. The first officers were arriving for the day shift as the night shift drifted home for something to eat and a few hours’ sleep.

Wu was at his desk when Li popped his head around the door of the detectives’ room. The television was on, and he was watching an early news bulletin. He jumped when Li spoke. ‘Anything new overnight?’

‘Oh, it’s you, Chief.’ He hurriedly turned the sound down on the television. ‘We got beat in the swimming. And didn’t do too well in the track and field either. We might just have pinched it, only the women’s three thousand metres champion failed to turn up, and the Americans took it by half a lap.’

Li sighed. ‘I was talking about the investigation, Wu.’

‘Sorry, Chief. Nothing really. A lot of legwork and not much progress.’

The door of Tao’s office opened, and Qian emerged from it clutching an armful of folders, juggling them to free a hand to switch out the light. ‘Morning, Chief.’

‘Qian. I thought it was a bit early for the Deputy Section Chief.

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