Bamboo and blood

Chapter Three

The next morning as I left for the mission, it was hard not to notice the man waiting across the street. I could tell he was waiting for me, because after looking at him from my window for a few seconds, I knew he had genes from generations in the desert. What the hell was he doing here? Yet it didn't surprise me, somehow, to see him. Everyone was here-my brother, the Man with Three Fingers, M. Beret-and they were all waiting for me. Why shouldn't he join the crowd? Half of them wanted me to leave. The other half wanted me dead. I didn't know which half he belonged to yet. Maybe he'd tell me over a cup of coffee and a roll.

"Good morning, Inspector. How unexpected to find you here." Jeno put out his hand as I walked across the street.

"You don't really think I believe that, do you?" I put my hands in my coat pockets. "If you handed me that hundred-dollar bill right now, Jeno, I wouldn't give it back."

He shook his head. "Business has not been good, I'm sorry to say. I can't pass out money like I used to. Perhaps we can fix that. Do you have time for a cup of coffee before the talks start? You drink coffee?"

"You know about the talks? Which tab are they, A or B?"

"This is the enlightened West, Inspector. We don't keep secrets. The talks are reported in the papers, which I read every morning over coffee."

Around the corner was a cafe run by a Turk; I'd been there once or twice. It was close, that's all that recommended it. As we entered, Jeno nodded toward a table in the corner. Several old men were already drinking beer and arguing. The owner, in an undershirt and chewing on a cigar, looked up from his newspaper from time to time, but didn't seem concerned. It was warmer than my hotel, but that wasn't saying much.

"You find Geneva dull, no doubt." Jeno looked different sitting here in the West. He was more relaxed, perhaps. In Pyongyang, he had been guarded every moment, even though he pretended not to be. His attention had darted around. In the middle of a conversation, he had quickly glanced at someone coming through the door or moving across the lobby. Here, I had the sense that he didn't have to worry about peripheral movement, with shadows.

"I haven't seen enough to make a judgment."

"Oh, come now, Inspector. You've seen plenty. Don't tell me you haven't been walking around, taking in the sights. What is it you said to me? 'When it rains, you go out for a walk. When it's freezing, you go out for a drive.'"

"What I've seen is a lot of familiar faces, not all of them welcome."

"Surely that doesn't include me. When I heard you were here, I dropped what I was doing and came right away. I actually owe you a great deal."

The owner came up to the table. "Gunaydun, Jeno, my friend. Bon jour." He looked at me. "Konnichiwa."

"The Inspector here is not Japanese, Ahmet. He is Korean."

"I was in Korea, in 1950. We murdered the bastards good."

"He is from North Korea, Ahmet."

Ahmet didn't seem fazed. He chewed on his cigar, which even unlit smelled bad. "What do you know about that?" he said and rolled the cigar in his mouth.

"Perhaps you could bring us some coffee," Jeno said. "Leave the mud out of it if you can, and leave that thing in your mouth with the rest of the dog, would you?"

"You know him?" I watched the owner disappear behind the bar. He was a big man, big chest, thick forearms, broad hands, and eyes that had an unnatural gleam. He still had a full head of hair. When he was younger, he must have been a tank. If he had been in Korea in 1950, he'd seen a lot, none of it pleasant.

"Ahmet runs errands for me sometimes. He is dependable." Jeno said something more, but I didn't hear him, because just then a young woman stepped into view from the back room, and my heart began thudding loud enough to crowd out all other sound.

"… daughter," Jeno hissed at me.

"What?"

"I said that's Ahmet's daughter."

"Not his granddaughter?" I took a breath, and that seemed to help my heartbeat fall back to normal.

"You look like a man who needs a drink, Inspector. Or a cardiologist."

I didn't want to see a cardiologist. Who needed doctors? There was nothing wrong with my circulation. The woman glanced my way as she moved slowly across the dining room to the kitchen. Before she disappeared, she turned to look at me, a long, caressing, lingering look. It seemed to go on and on. Somehow, I remembered to take another breath. Or maybe I didn't need one. Oxygen was irrelevant. Those eyes of hers were sustenance enough.

"You are here on assignment, I suppose." Jeno rapped the table with his knuckles. "Are you still here, Inspector?"

"Of course. You asked if I was on assignment. As opposed to what? Sightseeing? Taking a skiing holiday?" I tore my eyes away from the kitchen. Where had this princess been the other times I'd come in? I would have eaten five meals a day here if I'd realized she was in residence. I'd take up washing dishes, waiting tables, sweeping the floors. Sweeping. No, something else, perhaps.

"Would you like to go skiing?"

"I prefer your mountains at a distance." I glanced hopefully back toward the kitchen, but no one emerged.

"Dinner, then, if you can tear yourself away from that kitchen door."

"I don't think I can have dinner with you." Was there reason ever again to eat anywhere but Ahmet's? Was there reason to even go back to my hotel? I could live here, the dining room. Cigars were fine; I had absolutely no trouble with old men who smoked cigars.

"Why not?"

"If I have dinner with you, I'll have to write a report. Actually, I'll have to ask permission beforehand. It's impossible to get an answer back from my ministry for several days. Anyway, we may have a dinner as part of the talks this evening. I have to keep my schedule free."

Jeno shook his head. "I'll see you at 8:00 P.M. I assume your heart rate will have returned to normal by then. You can get permission after the fact. I do it all the time."

"Isn't 8:00 P.M. a little late for dinner?"

"Inspector, eight o'clock is still early around here to dine. Most people are only nibbling on appetizers at that hour. A car will come by to pick you up. Nothing fancy, either the car or the restaurant."

"Turkish food?"

"Forget it. Ahmet will kill you if you fool around with her. The girl's name is Dilara, if you can believe it."

"Why not?"

"It means 'lover.'"

Ahmet appeared with our coffee, an air of menace trailing him. "You would perhaps want something to eat," said Ahmet. He grinned at me. It was not a pleasant sight. His false teeth gave him a mouth much too full for the rest of his face. No matter, he didn't smile often; the scowl that regularly rode his features seemed better to keep his teeth in check.

The cigar had disappeared but was still much in evidence in the air. My mind wandered. Perhaps I could be out of the house whenever Ahmet came to visit us. I would no doubt need to go somewhere restful after a long night with Dilara, night after long night with Dilara… I completely forgot about breathing. Who needed to breathe? The eternal question.

"Inspector O would like something to nibble on. What do you have, Ahmet?"

Ahmet took a big knife from his belt and cut a piece of bread from a loaf he was carrying under his arm. "This is good with honey," he said and frowned at me. I had the feeling he read my mind.