The Secret Chamber (43 page)

Kai slowly raised his hand, silencing him. Even in the dull light, his face looked sheet white, the natural colour drained completely from his cheeks. His stern gaze moved across to the Westerners before resting on Xie.

‘Obligation,’ he said, drawing the word out slowly. ‘Where do our obligations lie? To the money or to the millions of people who will use our products? To be sure, we have invested heavily in this project and it is of great significance, but if the Westerners are right, then I am not prepared to become a mass murderer just to save our share price.’ Kai nodded slowly to himself, the weight of the decision almost too much for him to bear. ‘Halt all shipments with immediate effect until such time as this new substance can be properly tested.’

Xie shut his eyes, the sheer magnitude of the decision making his head spin. He already knew the ramifications of this would ripple out across the Guild and, by extension, the whole of China. It would rupture an already fragmented alliance, causing a new wave of infighting and recriminations, which would inevitably tear the three hundred richest families in China apart.

‘I shall send the message out immediately,’ he said, bowing low.

Kai turned towards the Westerners. ‘If we discover that you have misled us in any way, make no mistake, we shall find you.’ He gave them a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘Now leave us.’

They departed for the helicopter without another word. Xie returned to stand next to Kai’s wheelchair. For several minutes they waited in silence, watching the helicopter slowly rise up and fly off into the night.

‘
And the General?
’ Xie asked, once the noise had died down.

Kai continued staring out towards the lake. ‘
He stays here. It would seem his fate has already been decided
.’

Jian stared out of the window in his bedroom. He had ripped off his shirt and sat with his elbows resting on the table in front of him, the swelling on his neck a deeper black in the dull light. Without even realising it, he scratched the skin again, prompting another trickle of blood to ooze out and run down as far as his armpit.

Jian’s gaze turned back to the table. His laptop lay just in front of the butterfly cage, its screen still displaying the share prices on the New York Stock Exchange. With a sweep of his arm, he sent it crashing down on to the bedroom floor before turning his gaze back to the butterflies. The nearest to him slowly peeled its wings apart, revealing a streak of iridescent pink.

Over the years, Jian had added hundreds upon hundreds
of
butterflies to his collection, but never before had he seen such beauty. These specimens were flawless, the markings on each wing perfectly symmetrical, and the colour was more beautiful than he could ever have imagined.

Two days ago, Jian had given his servants instruction to have everything made ready for his return. A special case had already been made, with ‘
Salamis parhassus
’ neatly embossed beneath the framing mount in gold leaf. Everything was ready.

Opening the cage door, Jian reached inside. As he expertly slid his hand closer to the nearest butterfly, his fingers parted to the exact width of the creature’s thorax. He held his breath, black eyes widening in concentration as he suddenly reached out, taking hold. The movement was precise, his fingers sliding beneath the fluttering wings. A single touch would be all it took …

Jian’s mouth opened as he felt the infinitesimal movement of the butterfly in his grasp, before slowly he drew it from the cage and relaxed his grip. The butterfly’s wings opened in a burst of colour as it flew upwards, battling against the night breeze flooding in through the open window before disappearing into the night.

Jian watched it go.

‘Beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘Just beautiful.’

LUCA QUIETLY SLID
out from between the clean linen sheets and padded over to the bathroom. He splashed some water over his face and quickly pulled on a fresh white T-shirt and his brown, lightweight jungle trousers. Laundry had done the best they could, but still hairline rips ran across the thighs and ankles, while the knees were permanently stained black from mud.

Sneaking out to the door, he paused and glanced over at the bed. Bear was still there, fast asleep with her head buried face down in the heavy folds of the pillows. The sheets were wrapped around her legs, leaving only the soles of her feet visible at the far end, while from the waist up she was naked. Luca stood still for a moment, marvelling at how beautiful she was, even while sleeping.

Shutting the door quietly behind him, he walked towards the main foyer. The hotel was a maze of pleasant, nondescript corridors, all finished in the same decor, while covers of popular music played on pan pipes repeated on an endless soundtrack.

The corridor opened up into a bustling lobby with people crowded into every part of it. Tourist season had just started in Rwanda and the Safari Lodge was the most popular hotel in town. It was brimming with locals and foreigners all going about their business. To one side, Luca could see a suited delegation being herded into the conference centre, while a group of Western tourists were crowded into the curio gift shop, waiting for their tour guide to arrive for the start of the gorilla trek. Each one of them had a long-lens camera and a nose glistening with sunblock.

Everywhere around him people were going about their normal lives. They were eating, working, arguing and laughing; and it made his sense of separation feel all the more acute. He felt utterly detached from these people, as if even their basic needs were somehow different from his own. This was
their
version of normality, not his, yet from all his climbing expeditions, Luca already knew that it was something he needed to come to terms with, and quickly, if he was ever going to fit back into ‘normal’ society.

This was now his life. And he was going to have to accept it.

‘Mr Matthews.’

It took the receptionist several more attempts to get his attention.

‘You have a message, sir.’ She smiled, somehow looking attractive despite the garish colours of her hotel uniform. ‘It arrived this morning.’

‘Thanks. And is breakfast still going? I’m starving.’

‘They’re packing away the last of the buffet, but I am sure you can still get something.’

Luca thanked her and moved out on to the balcony. A huge swimming pool stretched out below him. Tables and sunloungers were neatly arranged to either side, with tourists already busily tanning and ordering their drinks from the passing waiters. Opening the note, Luca read it then slowly folded the paper in two.

It was from Joshua at the hospital. The doctor had cleared him to travel and he had booked them on to the evening flight back to the UK. In only nine hours’ time, Luca would be boarding a plane.

He had tried to remind himself that this time with Bear would have to end, but for three days now they had been closeted in their bedroom, only venturing out when hungry. Time had become irrelevant for them, as if reality had been carefully placed to one side and all the days and nights had merged into one. Sometimes they made love in the early hours of the afternoon; other times they talked long into the night. It didn’t matter. Nothing that the rest of the world did mattered any more. Their existence centred around each other, and both of them had become lost in it all.

From the moment they had checked into the hotel, Luca had realised that Bear was the kind of person who, when she gave herself to someone, gave herself completely. It was just her nature to be that way; no reticence or prevarication, just her, laid open. As they switched off the light on that first night, she whispered ‘
Je t’aime
’ into his ear. Love. Luca had
repeated
the words over and over in his head. It somehow seemed so simple, more like a statement of fact than any complicated emotion. And by the next morning, he had found himself saying the same thing back to her.

With this note from Joshua, all that had suddenly changed. The world that Bear and he had created for themselves would soon come crashing down and there were only a few hours left for them.

Luca turned to see the breakfast hall slowly emptying of diners. Moving across it and grabbing a large plate, he piled what remained of the buffet on to it, quickly reclaiming some of the dried-up scrambled eggs and layers of streaky bacon before the waiters took the large metal trays out from under the heat lamps. There was a pot of coffee to one side and, scooping it all up, he quickly hurried back.

Bear woke as Luca placed the plate down on the bedside table and climbed on to the other side of the bed. He watched her slowly stretch and yawn, unhurriedly drawing her body towards his until she was lying on top of him, with her elbows folded across his chest. She stared into his eyes for a moment, before leaning forward and kissing him.

‘You’re always hungry,’ she whispered. Luca smiled, but she sensed his hesitation.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘I just got a message from Josh. The doctors say he’s well enough to travel.’

‘But what about the chemo and radiotherapy?’

‘He still has all that to come, but he wants to get back to England and do it there. The tumour’s right at the early
stages
and he said they have a really good chance of beating it if they start straight away.’

Bear slowly shut her eyes. ‘But this means you’re leaving.’

‘Tonight. The eight o’clock flight.’

Luca leaned forward and kissed her, feeling the words hanging between them. He felt Bear respond to his kiss, but as they parted he could see the sadness in her eyes. There was resignation there too, as if this was something she had been expecting at any moment.

‘I was thinking,’ he said. ‘I could just change my ticket and stay a bit longer. You know, we don’t have to do this now.’

‘That’s not the point,’ she whispered. ‘It’s about where we go from here.’

She placed both her hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. ‘I meant what I said, Luca.
Je t’aime
.’

‘I know. But how do we know this is real?’ he asked. ‘How do we know this feeling will last? That it isn’t just right here and now?’

Bear frowned. ‘Because I grew up in Africa, and I can feel it in my heart when I love someone.’ She raised his hand, pressing it against her chest. ‘I can
feel
it here when I love someone. Even if they can’t.’

Luca embraced her, pushing her head back slightly with the force of his kiss. ‘I do,’ he whispered. ‘I do love you.’

After a moment she blinked, staring blankly ahead as Luca curled his fingers into her hair. Already, she was shaking her head.

‘I have a son,’ she said, her voice so soft it was barely
audible
. ‘Nathan’s back in Cape Town, waiting for me. I have a whole family back there, Luca. A life.’

She looked into his eyes. ‘I can’t just ignore that.’

He stared at her, realising what had to be done, but the very idea of it ran counter to everything he felt right then. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and stay where they were, put everything on hold and be together. But already he knew that this wasn’t the basis for any lasting relationship. They were too wrapped up in the horror of the last week, too blinded by the strength of shared experience, to know what was real and what was not.

For several seconds he stared at her. Finally, he spoke.

‘We have to leave each other for a while,’ he said. ‘You have to go back to your family and try to make it work. Properly try. And forget about me.’

Bear’s frown deepened. ‘
Mais comment je peux faire cela?
’ But how am I supposed to do that? she pleaded. ‘After everything we’ve been through, you’re asking me to leave? Like I can just ignore my own heart!’ A tear ran down the side of her nose. ‘I can’t live like that, Luca! I can’t go on pretending that I don’t feel a certain way. That you don’t exist.’

He reached out, gently pulling her closer to him. ‘You will go on, and you will pretend, because you owe it to your son. If you still feel the same way about me a year from now, then come and find me. I’ll be waiting.’

There was a pause. ‘Why is it that I can’t be with the people that I love?’ she whispered. ‘First my father, and now you.’

Luca didn’t answer, knowing that there was nothing he
could
say that would suffice. For the longest time they lay in each other’s arms, listening to the low hum of the air conditioning and feeling the soft draft of air wash across them. There was the faint rumble of cars going past on the main road beyond the hotel’s carefully manicured gardens, and they listened to each sound from the outside world, feeling it draw closer with each minute that passed.

Eventually, Bear looked up and glanced down at her watch. She kissed him once again, but this time, as she pulled back, Luca saw a faint smile on her lips.

‘If we only have a few hours left,’ she said, ‘we’d better make the most of it.’

THE SUN ROSE
above the sprawling city of Kinshasa. It filtered past the high-rise buildings of downtown and the Boulevard de 30 Juin, before beaming down across the mass of tin-shack slums crowding the river. Hundreds of small boats and pirogues were anchored along the water’s edge, with rubbish littered high on each bank. Here, the Congo River was wide, as if gathering itself before spilling out into the Atlantic Ocean as its thousand-mile journey finally came to an end.