Peking & The Tulip Affair Read Free Page A

thing, a monster, a menace. He wanted to kill Bormann. He had to. He only hoped he wouldn't enjoy it — really enjoy it. God, he hoped he would never come to feel a sense of joy in taking a man's life. Even that of a monster like Bormann. He would feel nothing, absolutely nothing, when ending Bormann's black life. That was the way he wanted it. To kill the devil cleanly, swiftly, without remorse.
    He had never looked forward to killing anyone. It was different now. It was an almost insane desire to rid the world of Bormann.
    When he killed it was because he had to. No other way out. He never thought twice about it. It was to save either himself or his mission. He knew that to hesitate, even for a second, could abort a mission. And he would be dead.
    Killmaster tried to push everything out of his mind but he couldn't. He was on edge, and that was no good.
    He felt naked without Wilhelmina and Hugo. He was used to having them around. All he had was the drug in the pen he carried in his breast pocket, the drug called Store. But he had to get close to the enemy to use it, too damn close.
    The plane was over the mainland.
    He saw the sloping hills and valleys. There were the rice paddies and the water oxen. There was farm machinery, tractors and such, but not enough to go around.
    Production in many of the provinces was at a standstill because of the clashes between the people of Red China. Fighting among themselves, Nick thought. Like little children. They'll never grow up.
    He knew that one hundred and sixty persons were killed recently in an armed battle between two Communist groups in Amoy. The feuding groups were the Promotional Alliance and the Revolutionary Alliance. The Promotional Alliance was primarily a worker's group backed by Communist artillery units, while the Revolutionary Alliance was made up mostly of peasants and had the support of Communist infantrymen. Chuanchow, a neighboring city, had rushed fifty truckloads of troops to maintain order.
    Nick also knew that anti-Maoist organizations had been very active in the provinces of Kiangsi and Kweichow.
    Though the time for revolution was ripe in Red China, Nick felt that Mao Tse-tung would keep the upper hand. He had control of the Red army, and that was the most important thing.
    Nick lowered his seat to a reclining position and took a nap. The plane flew on, above the creamy clouds.
* * *
    Nick bought a copy of the
People's Daily News,
tucked it under his arm, and took the bus to Freedom Square. He registered in the Cathay Hotel just off the square. He chose the Cathay because it was one of the more modern hotels that wasn't frequented by the western correspondents. He wasn't looking forward to bumping into employees of the Toronto Wire Service. If any suspicious Chinese officials decided to check him out with Toronto, he would get a clean bill of health; it had already been arranged with the Toronto people at the wire service. But the genuine wire-service boys from Toronto hadn't been notified, for obvious reasons. Might as well advertise as tell anyone of the wire-service boys. Nick wanted to stay clear of them.
    The furniture in his room was plain but comfortable. He put away his clothes and slid the suitcase under the bed. He hung up his jacket, kicked his shoes off, and stretched out on the bed to read the Peking newspaper. It seemed that anti-Communist and anti-Mao forces in the southern province of Kwangtung had been using antirevolutionary economism and infiltration into revolutionary committees to alienate relations between the revolutionary masses and members of the committees.
    It amazed Nick that the big shots let information like this get to the people. It would seem only natural that they would keep it quiet Did Mao Tse-tung want these different groups to fight among themselves? That's what it seemed like to Nick. It was an old political trick. The different factions were kept weak by fighting among themselves, and Mao Tse-tung stayed on top.
    He put