Darkness Under Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page B

find myself surrounded by a group of your countrymen. They seem very upset with me, and I’m going to put you on speaker.”
    Avakian hit the button, set the volume all the way up, and held the phone out in front of him. An action that by its very strangeness took some of the edge off the rapidly developing hysteria. A couple of them were still shouting, but the rest had paused to see what was going to happen next. And as the intensity of their yelling died down it became easier for everyone to hear Commissioner Zhou yelling through the phone.
    Which now made them all shut up and edge nearer to listen to what the voice was saying. A couple actually bent over and presented one ear so they could hear better. Avakian really had to restrain himself from kicking the nearest one in the head.
    But Commissioner Zhou kept yelling, and the mood definitely changed. Everyone started looking uneasy, as if they might be the ones in trouble now.
    The sirens were louder, and then a couple of cops came running across the grass from the Aquatic Center. Blue uniforms, ties blowing back over their shoulders, walkie-talkies to their ears. They rushed up on the little gathering, eyes wide, buzzing on the same adrenaline everyone else was.
    The difficulty with the angry citizenry now solved, Avakian’s new problem was to calm the police and cut them off from that particular source of information before it led to any snap judgments everyone would regret later. So he calmly handed his phone to the nearest cop, who was nearly as unhinged by that move as everyone else had just been. Automatically he put it up to his ear and barked out a question. Then he was just listening, and Avakian and everyone else could see the steady change in his posture. He didn’t quite come to attention and click his heels, but he definitely straightened up.
    Now all the Chinese were looking both sheepish and worried. One of them at the outer edge of the circle started backing away, as if to slip off while everyone was otherwise occupied. But the other cop ran around the circle and pushed him back into the group.
    The first cop handed Avakian back his phone with a little bow. Then he abruptly shifted gears and exploded all over the crowd, shouting and slapping everyone within reach. His partner took the cue and joined in.
    The Chinese now reminded Avakian of nothing more than a bunch of poodles who’d yapped, snapped and lunged trying to establish dominance. And when that had only gotten them a crack across the muzzle they were allwhining and submissive. After all, he thought, we weren’t that far away from the pack ourselves.
    He got back on the phone. “Here I am, Commissioner. I’m afraid the man I was following got away.”
    â€œI surmised this. Regrettably, we have lost him also. We had been following you both on closed circuit camera, but he scaled a fence to leave the Olympic complex and entered a dead spot in the surveillance zone.”
    â€œThere is one thing,” said Avakian. “He left his camera bag outside the Indoor Stadium.”
    That brought some excitement back into Commissioner Zhou’s voice. “Then please once again give your phone to the officer. I will have a car bring you to the stadium, and I will meet you there.”
    â€œHold on,” Avakian said. The two cops now had the group all sitting down on the pavement. The bulk of the slapping around was done, but the haranguing was still going on. Though they were still dealing out a few shots every now and then for good measure. He had to give a little whistle between his teeth to get their attention. They turned around quickly, and he handed the phone to the one who’d had it before.
    The squad car took a little longer. The cops kept the group sitting there, probably waiting to be dragged off for questioning and some more slapping. They were now all regarding Avakian with considerable bitterness, as the source of their misfortune.
    Avakian was