First Strike Read Online Free PDF Page A

bobbed up and down with excitement.
    â€œYoshi!” he exclaimed as they reached him. “Yoshi!” He bowed abruptly and quickly.
    Jade bowed back. “Yoshi!” she replied, echoing his greeting.
    Rich copied her. “Yoshi!”
    The boy’s smile faded. Then it reappeared and he bowed again. “Yoshi!” He straightened up and tapped his chest with his finger. “Yoshi!”
    â€œYour turn, Dad,” said Rich.
    â€œYeah, don’t be rude,” Jade told him.
    Dad dutifully bowed his head. “John Chance,” he said. Then he smiled at Rich and Jade. “Yoshi is his name .”
    The boy grabbed Jade’s holdall from her before she could object. In exchange he gave her the cardboard sign. Then he hurried off across the airport.
    â€œAre we being mugged?” Rich wondered, grinning.
    â€œHe wants us to follow him,” said Jade.
    â€œReally? You think?”
    â€œChildren!” said Chance, sternly. But he was smiling too as they all followed Yoshi to the main exit.
    Outside, the temperature was about the same as it had been in London when they left—mild, but not warm. There was a light drizzle that hung like mist in the air. Yoshi was opening the boot of a battered car waiting at the kerb, its engine humming. He dumped Jade’s bag inside and gestured for Rich and Chance to put their bags in the boot too. Then he slammed theboot closed and hurried round to the front of the car.
    â€œHe’s never driving,” said Jade as Yoshi opened the right-hand front door of the car and got in.
    As she spoke, a man in the other front seat turned to look at them. He was laughing.
    â€œLeft-hand drive in Wiengwei,” he said.
    Mr Chang was like a larger version of his son Yoshi. His smile was semi-permanent, and his hair was thinning and edged with white. He explained he had not come into the airport to meet them himself because if he stopped the car it took for ever to get it started again. As he drove, threading his way between a mass of bicycles, he spoke over his shoulder to Chance, Jade and Rich who were jammed in the back.
    â€œI have been making inquiries. Discreet inquiries of course. The man who will know the answers to your questions runs a factory in the city. We go there now, and he is expecting us. OK?”
    â€œOK,” Chance agreed. “What have you told him?”
    â€œAbout you? Nothing. I have allowed him to assume you are French. I will translate, and he won’t know English from French from Greek.”
    â€œHow does he get his information?” Jade asked.
    â€œHe has contacts in the Chinese military. He gets things for the soldiers. Cigarettes, drink, magazines.”
    â€œSmut,” Jade muttered.
    â€œ Newsweek , Hong Kong edition,” Mr Chang corrected her. “Books too. My friend will know whether nuclear missiles were really ever stationed in Wiengwei, and if so where. The declaration the Chinese government made at the disarmament talks was rather vague and may have been a bluff anyway. But there are certainly many military bases in the province.”
    â€œDespite the rebels?” Rich asked.
    â€œBecause of the rebels. Some of the bases have been taken over by the rebels.”
    In the front passenger seat, Yoshi suddenly spoke up excitedly.
    â€œWhat did he say?” Jade asked when the boy had finished.
    Mr Chang laughed. “He says he has never met westerners before. He says he thinks you are very nice. And he is fascinated by the yellow colour of your hair. He asks if it is dyed.”
    â€œTell him no,” said Jade.
    â€œAnd tell him we think he’s very nice too,” Rich added. “Especially my sister.”
    Mr Chang didn’t really park the car. He just stopped it in the road and got out.
    â€œWe try not to attract too much attention,” he said. “Yoshi has baseball caps for you. Wear them low, so people cannot easily see your hair and eyes. Your