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Thirty-Seven

"So," Zhu Irzh said, some while later. "We've not only managed to destroy another Ministry and fatally wound a governmental minister; we've also lost an employee of the Ministry of War. They will be pleased." They were grouped in the demon's hotel room. Zhu Irzh had effected a change of clothes from his own luggage; Jhai had improvised a bedspread as a sari. Her tigress accessories seemed to have diminished somewhat. Su Yi's spine, wrapped in the ridiculous cape, lay on the floor at their feet. Occasionally, it twitched, a convulsive movement like the tail of a cat, mirrored by the still unconscious form of Daisy.

"Underling No came with us of her own accord," Chen said. "Not that I expect War not to make as much political capital out of it as they can."

"I am very sorry," Miss Qi said. Her ethereal features were crumpled with distress, which in Chen's eyes was an improvement on the frozen glaze of a few hours before. Qi, he thought, and not for the first time, was a lot tougher than she looked. "I had some regard for Underling No."

"I bet she stayed behind to look for her mum," Zhu Irzh said. "It's why she came with us, after all."

"Do you think," Jhai said slowly, "that Su Yi will really be missed?"

"I don't even know where she'll go," Chen said. "What happens when that sort of thing—well, happens to a person? You'd go to the lower levels, wouldn't you?"

"Usually," Zhu Irzh said. "But Su Yi's a minister. And she was assaulted by a Celestial. For very good reasons," he added hastily, "but it's really going to complicate matters. I'm surprised we haven't been picked up already. The Ministry of War won't offer any further support, for the reasons they gave us."

"I am prepared to stand trial," Miss Qi said. She raised her chin defiantly. "If necessary, I'll take full responsibility. I shall make sure that everyone understands that I was acting on my own initiative, while the rest of you were being held prisoner."

"This is Hell, dear," Zhu Irzh said. "No one's going to care whether we were really involved or not, they'll just prosecute us anyway."

"Perhaps I could bribe someone," Jhai said.

"Not even you are rich enough to put forward the kind of money Hell would want for this," Chen said. "But it's a generous offer."

"What happened to 'you have to act with authenticity'?" Zhu Irzh asked.

"I am acting with authenticity."

At this point, Daisy began to stir. Miss Qi eyed her with distaste. "I cannot be certain," the Celestial said, "but I believe that is one of the people who kidnapped me."

"Daisy's always had an eye to the main chance," Zhu Irzh said. He gave his sister a little push with his foot. As he did so, she blurred. A second Daisy appeared a few feet away.

"Well," Jhai said. "Looks like your sister's got some magic of her own."

Zhu Irzh snorted. "It'll be borrowed, you can be sure of that." He leaned over the unconscious girl and shook her. The second Daisy shimmered and was gone. "Daisy! Wake up!"

Daisy stirred again, moaned, hauled herself upright against the bed. "What—?" She looked up at her brother. "You fucker, Irzh."

"You're a fine one to talk," Zhu Irzh retorted. "I'm not the one who's been in the pay of the Minister of Lust, am I? What were you, Daze, some kind of hired help?"

Daisy spat out a small, glowing coal that sizzled a burn in the carpet. "Screw you. While you've been swanning off on Earth, Irzh, I've been the one trying to keep the family together in the face of Mother's treachery."

"Daisy, what are you talking about?"

"The Ministry of War, Irzh, is what I'm talking about. Remember Grand-dad's coup? I suppose you were very clever, getting hold of the old bastard's heart like that. But Mum's been trying to stage a coup of her own."

"I think you'd better explain," Chen said, quietly, but his tone seemed to reach Daisy in a way that her brother's antagonism had not. Something like fright glittered across her face.

"A while ago, not very long, something happened down here in Hell. I don't know what it was, but it caused no end of a stir. Suddenly the kuei were everywhere, asking all manner of questions—of everyone, even respectable families. People became very frightened. The Emperor hasn't done much for years, and suddenly, all this activity and interest."

"Like stirring a hornet's nest," Chen said.

"And then a whole section of the kuei disappeared. Went to Earth, to that city of yours. Looking for something, or someone. Mum got the wind up. She was really shady about what she was doing, but eventually I found out—stupid bitch had been playing politics and attracted the attention of the kuei. When they went to Earth, she and a bunch of other people held a séance—can you believe?—tried to summon up a human spirit to find out what was going on. They managed to finish off the first one, some little girl from the Opera—her spirit ended up in Lust, that's how I know all this. Then they tried to get hold of someone else and Mum ended up being possessed—what a mess."

"Those men at the party," Jhai said. "I thought they were gate-crashing."

"So mother is involved in a plot," Zhu Irzh said. "Why does that not surprise me?"

Jhai snorted. "Sounds like my mother."

"Are you saying," Chen said slowly, "that your mother has been involved in some kind of anti-Imperial coup?"

Daisy nodded.

"Like I said," her brother remarked, "doesn't surprise me. Mother's always been ambitious. And if she was stupid enough to attract the attention of the kuei, then the Minister of War's the only one powerful enough to protect her. And possibly not even then."

"About my kidnapping," Miss Qi said. Frostily, she drew herself up.

"All right, I'll admit it," Daisy said, very sullen. "I've been trying to get hold of Grandfather's heart for a while, in case Mum tried to do something stupid with it. Then you got hold of it, and I panicked. I cast a replica of myself at the banquet and arranged the snatch."

"But you seemed surprised to see me," Zhu Irzh said. "You must have known we were here, along with Miss Qi."

Daisy spat out another coal. "Of course I knew. I started keeping tabs on you when we first found out you were coming to Hell."

"Which raises the question," Chen said, "as to why we were invited." Chaperones to Miss Qi, to make sure she was granted passage? A legitimate excuse, for War to bring a Celestial down to Hell? What had been planned for Miss Qi?

"I think this robs us of any real support from War," Miss Qi said. "Detective Inspector Chen, we have to leave. I have been through enough."

Chen agreed. "If we can," he said. But when they opened the curtains, they found out the answer to that.

 

"My gods," Jhai said, staring out over the hotel parkland. "There's a lot of it, isn't there?"

"Reminds me of Beijing, on military day," Chen said as they watched the tanks roll past. The parkland, which previously had been almost pleasant, was now a wasteland of churned mud and clouds of dust, thrown up by the tank treads. Like the other engines of destruction that they had seen on the plain, the machines were much larger than their human equivalents. Chen had no idea whether the hotel management had been consulted on the sudden transformation of their gardens into a military test site; one assumed that they hadn't. The tanks rolled over what was left of the Ministry of Lust and left bloody smears of flesh behind, trampled into the soil. Hell was a better place for the destruction of the Ministry, in Chen's opinion, but he also wondered what the repercussions were going to be.

Overhead, aircraft of proportionately massive size thundered along, leaving billowing fumes in their wake. There were hundreds of machines, both aircraft and infantry, a rolling panoply of military might that moved through the heart of the city.

"What prompted all this?" Chen asked. "Surely not the destruction of Lust?"

"It would be helpful if we still had Underling No," Zhu Irzh said. "Assuming she'd tell us. But they've been building up to this for a long time. Remember what we saw inside the Ministry of War? Those planes? Something's been on the go for a while."

"Told you so," Daisy said.

Someone hammered on the door, making Miss Qi leap.

"What is it?" shouted Zhu Irzh. "We're in a meeting."

"For gods' sake," Jhai muttered. "That's not going to put them off, is it?"

But a voice said, "Oh, sorry! We'll come back later, then."

Zhu Irzh turned to Jhai and was about to say something, but next moment, the entire door burst inward in a shower of splintered wood, and the Lesser Lord of the Ministry of War appeared in the gap, holding a weapon like a howitzer.

"You lot," the Lesser Lord said with remarkable cheerfulness, "are coming with me."

 

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