Li hurried her away along the sidewalk, turning south into the dark, still backwater of Beichang Street, where he had parked the Jeep under the trees. They stopped on the kerb by the car, and without conscious decision by either of them were kissing almost immediately, all the passion and lust of the park returning in a rush. They broke breathlessly and she held his face and gazed anxiously into his eyes. “What are we going to do, Li Yan?”

It was a big question, a question that was many questions in one. A question he could not answer. His only thought was to make her safe while he tried to decide what he should do next. “I should get you back to the Friendship Hotel,” he said.

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“Just for a few hours.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” she insisted, and kissed him, then shook her head and laughed at herself. “Listen to me. Like some teenage girl.” She took a moment to gather herself. “I want to love you. I want to make love to you. We don’t even have anywhere to go. Not your place or mine.”

Li grinned. “Not even the back seat of the car?”

Margaret laughed. “I wouldn’t dare. Lily Peng’s probably hiding in the trunk.” And then both their smiles faded as they realised that all the jokes in the world could not put off the moment when they would have to face up to reality. They had no future. And she was scared that if they separated now, she might never see him again. Like the bird broken free from the cage, he would slip through her fingers and disappear into the night. He opened the passenger door for her. “What will you do?” she asked.

“I need some time on my own to think. Then I will ask my uncle’s advice. He is due home tonight.”

II

Li watched Margaret run across the forecourt of the Friendship Hotel and up the steps to the main door. He still had the taste of her on his lips. There was a constriction in his throat and his eyes were burning. He knew he would not see her again, and his sense of loss was far greater than he could ever have imagined. But it was important that she remain here, away from him, until her plane took her to safety in the morning. The forces arrayed against him would be happy just to see her go. And they could focus on him, alone—as he intended to focus on them. He had no idea how far or how deep the rot had gone, or from what it had grown, but he knew he could no longer trust anyone, and that a difficult course lay ahead of him. He gunned the engine and pulled away with a squeal of tyres.