Shadow Pavilion Read Free Page B

her his undivided attention. He swiveled around in his chair and she could see concern in his face. “Hasn’t he? What about Zhu Irzh? Has he called? He was supposed to be picking badger up after a couple of hours.”
    â€œI’ve heard nothing,” Inari said. “Anyway, I think he’d have rung your cellphone.”
    â€œWell, just in case,” Chen remarked. He fished amongst the papers and checked the phone. “No, nothing.” He dialed a number, presumably the demon’s.
    â€œZhu Irzh?” There was silence for a moment, then Chen said, “It’s me, Chen. When you get this, can you call me back? I’m at home.”
    Then he rung off. “Odd,” he said, frowning. “The answering service is on.”
    â€œMaybe something’s happened,” Inari said.
    â€œI don’t want to run around after either of them like a nursemaid,” Chen said. “They’re both reasonably competent. Well, mostly. But I also don’t think we can afford to be complacent.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?”
    Chen stood and picked up his jacket. “I’m going to talk to the precinct and then go down there. I’ll tell them to standby for back-up if I think I need it, but I don’t want to start a panic. What’s that Western expression? Cry wolf?”
    â€œChen Wei,” Inari said, impulsively, “take me with you.”
    Chen opened his mouth and shut it again. She knew that his immediate reaction had been to refuse, and she appreciated the fact that he had, at least, considered it.
    â€œI know it might be dangerous,” she said. “But I have a responsibility to badger. He’s my family familiar, after all. If it wasn’t for me, he would not have gone to look for the bug.”
    â€œThis is damn frustrating,” Chen said. “I wanted to treat him as part of the team, not send him into trouble. And I don’t want this to turn into one of those farces where Zhu Irzh goes to look for badger, and we go to look for Zhu Irzh, and everyone ends up missing.” He paused.
    â€œWhat exactly is this bug?” Inari asked.
    â€œI’ll tell you on the way,” Chen replied.
    â€œSweatshops,” Chen said, once they were in the car and turning left into the maze of streets behind Shaopeng. He had already put through a number of calls to the precinct and this had reassured Inari, somewhat. But Zhu Irzh’s phone remained unanswered. “There are plenty of them in Singapore Three, as I’m sure you’re aware—some of them are legal and some of them aren’t. Over the years, we’ve seen waves of immigrants come into the city looking for work—from the mainland of China, from Laos, from other places in Asia. But never before from Hell.”
    Inari stared at him. “Hellkind have come here?”
    â€œQuite a number of them. Zhu Irzh and I busted a sweatshop ring last year which was run on similar principles, but the other way round—impoverished humans seeking work in the sweatshops of Hell. Actually, they were effectively being held prisoner, and that’s what seems to be happening now, but in reverse.”
    â€œWhy are demons coming here?”
    â€œIt’s the same old story, Inari. Work. Since the war, a lot of Hell’s industries just can’t afford to support a workforce—even though Hell technically won, the conflict with Heaven drained their resources to such an extent that a lot of demons lost their jobs. Also the industries in the lower levels were badly affected—Hell lost its main nuclear plant, for instance. I haven’t been back since, but Zhu Irzh has and he says things aren’t good—there are power cuts in the main cities every day now, and it’s seriously affecting Hell’s infrastructure.”
    Inari shivered. “I don’t know that that’s a bad thing.”
    â€œPerhaps not, from your point of