The Emperor's Tomb Read Free Page A

his eyes down on the bed. "Perhaps not, but the words must be spoken." He turned and faced her. "It is the law, and he is entitled to proper process."
    "You tried him without him even being there," she blurted out. "You never heard a word he had to say."
    "His representative was afforded the opportunity to present evidence."
    The doctor shook her head in disgust, her face pale with hate. "Do you hear yourself? The representative never had the opportunity to even speak with Zhao. What evidence could possibly have been presented?"
    He couldn't decide if the informant's eyes and ears belonged to one of his staff or one of the army captains. Hard to know anything for sure anymore. All he knew was that his report to the Central Committee would not be the only retelling, so he decided to make clear, "Are you sure? Not once has Zhao communicated anything?"
    "He was beaten senseless. His brain is destroyed. He will never awaken from the coma. We keep him alive simply because you--no, excuse me, the Central Committee--ordered it."
    He caught the disgust in the woman's eyes, something else he'd seen more and more of lately. Especially from women. Nearly the entire hospital staff--doctors and nurses--were women. They'd made great strides since Mao's Revolution, yet Tang still adhered to the adage his father had taught him. A man does not talk about affairs inside the home, and a woman does not talk about affairs outside.
    This insignificant doctor, employed at a minor state-run hospital, was incapable of understanding the enormity of his challenge. Beijing ruled a land that stretched five thousand kilometers east to west and more than three thousand north to south. Much was uninhabitable mountains and desert, some of the most desolate regions in the world, only 10% of the country arable. Nearly one and a half billion people--more than America, Russia, and Europe combined. But only 60,000,000 were members of the Chinese Communist Party--less than 3% of the total. The doctor was a Party member, and had been for more than a decade. He'd checked. No way she could have risen to such a high managerial position otherwise. Only Party-membered, Han Chinese achieved such status. Hans were a huge majority of the population, the remaining small percentage spread across fifty-six minorities. The doctor's father was a prominent official in the local provincial government, a loyal Party member who'd participated in the 1949 Revolution and personally known both Mao and Deng Xiaoping.
    Still, Tang needed to make clear, "Jin Zhao owed his loyalty to the People's government. He decided to aid our enemies--"
    "What could a sixty-three-year-old geochemist have done to harm the People's government? Tell me, Minister. I want to know. What could he possibly do to us now?"
    He checked his watch. A helicopter was waiting to fly him north.
    "He was no spy," she said. "No traitor. What did he really do, Minister? What justifies beating a man until his brain bleeds?"
    He had not the time to debate what had already been decided. The informant would seal this woman's fate. In a month she'd receive a transfer--despite her father's privileges--most likely sent thousands of kilometers west to the outer reaches, where problems were hidden away.
    He turned toward the other uniform and motioned.
    The captain removed his holstered sidearm, approached the bed, and fired one shot through Jin Zhao's forehead.
    The body lurched, then went still.
    The respirator continued to force air into dead lungs.
    "Sentence has been carried out," Tang declared. "Duly witnessed by representatives of the People's government, the military ... and this facility's chief administrator."
    He indicated that it was time to leave. The mess would be the doctor's to clean up.
    He walked toward the doors.
    "You just shot a helpless man," the doctor screamed. "Is this what our government has become?"
    "You should be grateful," he said.
    "For what?"
    "That the government does not debit this facility's