The Dongfeng lurched again and a truck coming past us the other way had to swerve but it wasn't enough and we clipped his fender and the driver leaned on the horn, the Doppler effect bringing it down to a moan in the night as I dragged at the wheel and went for the flat land and kicked the headlights full on and watched out for the boulders and then things began happening behind us, lights sweeping in an arc across the terrain and then another shot but it was wild, and I suppose one of the army trucks had made a U-turn to come back and overhaul the jeep and ask them what they were popping off a gun for, either that or it was the truck I'd hit, coming back to talk about the damage, you don't, you do not hit an official vehicle of the People's Liberation Army without being asked some questions, it was no go, it was no bloody go in this thing and I chose a boulder and got to the other side of it and used the brakes and slewed the Dongfeng at an angle and hit Xingyu's seat-belt buckle, 'Out, we're getting out.'

I hooked the radio into my coat and got his flight bag and the provisions from the back and found him wandering in the moonlight, a cold wind cutting across the scree, 'Come on,' threw an arm around his shoulders, 'Come on, quicker than that,' huddled against the wind, the two of us, leaning on it, tripping on stones, the lights on the road very active and men shouting but no more shots, I suppose it was all he'd been able to do, keep on firing even though he knew they'd ask questions, keep on firing in the hope of a killing shot, and he'd come close, hit that bloody mirror a foot from Xingyu's spine.

'I must go to Beijing.'

His voice thin against the wind.

'What?' Out of his mind. 'Of course, yes, Beijing.'

Sweat running on me because we'd left the Dongfeng less than a hundred yards from the road and if they started sweeping their lights across the scree they'd see it and we hadn't got far enough yet, not far enough along the road to Beijing, dear God, what was he talking about, what had they done to him in that temple, lurching along together like a couple of drunks and not fast enough, not nearly fast enough, I could see the dark rim of the foothills against the stars but it looked like five miles, could be more, and I didn't know if he could make it on his feet or if I'd have to carry him, get him far enough before the need for sleep knocked me over, the rim of the hills dipping as I watched it, rising and dipping, the air coming into the lungs like knives and stone loose underfoot.

Shots down there, some shots, back along the road, no particular theory coming to mind, they were trying to take him I suppose or both of them if there'd been two, and they wanted to keep on our track, shouting again, a lot of shouting as the line of trucks shunted to a halt, the officers wanting to know what was going on, another shot and that was the last I heard, Xingyu heavy against me, 'We've got to walk quicker than this,' I told him.

'Yes. I must go to Beijing.'

Merciful God. 'Listen, Dr Xingyu, they are soldiers back there, and we've got to get away from them.' I didn't know how much he understood about things. 'We've got to keep going.'

'Yes. Keep going.'

Snow on the wind, flurries of it like last night.

'Listen to me,' I said. 'If anyone follows us on foot, I want you to go that way, toward Sirius — you see Sirius?'

'Yes.'

'That's your direction, if we have to separate. Go that way, to the east, and find shelter and lie low. I'll go in the other direction, you understand? I'll lead them away. Now do you understand?'

'Yes.'

But I couldn't tell if he did, or if he just saying it, this bloody wind freezing against the skin, the eyes streaming. 'I'll give you your bag, and the insulin's there, all right? All you do is lie low and wait, and I'll send for help. Understand?'

'Yes.'

All he could say, like an automaton, lurching over the stones. 'I'll radio your position, as close as I can get, if I have to send for help.' If the situation changes — Pepperidge — I can send in a whole cadre. 'All you do is lie low, and use the insulin when you need to. Are you listening to me?'

'Yes.'

He tripped and started to go down and I pulled him upright, poor little bastard, doing his best, facing straight ahead of him against the wind with tears freezing on his cheeks, one foot in front of the other, soldiering on, I must not let them get this man, he was the messiah, potentially a name to go down in history if I could get him to walk faster, for Christ's sake, faster than this, we could still hear them shouting down there and all it wanted was for one of them to turn his truck and pick up our Dongfeng in his lights and we'd have to separate because they'd take a look at it and find the engine warm and then they'd start looking for the driver, finis.

Snow on the wind, flakes sticking to our faces and freezing the skin, he tripped again and I caught him, held him closer, an arm around his shoulders, the rim of the foothills rising and dipping and the stars swinging, I would like to sleep, swinging across the night sky and swinging back, the stone loose underfoot, treacherous, the night treacherous with stones and soldiery, Lord, I will lay me down to sleep in another mile, another mile of this, lay me down to sleep.

'I must get to Beijing,' he said, Xingyu, and tripped and dropped like a dead weight and I wasn't quick enough and he stayed there on his knees, a dark shapeless bundle against the stones, the messiah, head hanging like a dog's, the wind howling among the boulders and his voice crying in it, 'I must get to Beijing,' his gloved hands hitting the ground in frustration, and I dragged him onto his feet and he started walking, my arm around him again, walking into the wind and the whirling snow, and I said to him, 'Yes, you must get to Beijing.'

Chapter 24: Fugue

It was very quiet.

There was a hole in the sky and I watched it.

Feet ached, my feet ached, those bloody boots. Feet were cold, too, frozen, looked down at them, felt them, no boots on, that was the trouble, I'd pulled them off when we got here.

'I must go to Beijing.'

'What?' Then everything came back and I said, 'Yes,' and looked at the luminous digits of my watch, slept for three hours, I'd slept for three hours and six minutes because I'd checked the time when we'd got here and reported to my DIF.

Not a hole in the sky, this was the cave and the hole was the entrance down there, full of moonlight.

Missing something.

'Dr Xingyu, are you all right?'

'Yes.'

'Need insulin?'

'No.'

I was missing something and it worried me; I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was something important. Xingyu was sitting upright against the wall of the cave, looking straight in front of him, and I felt gooseflesh along my arms; this man had changed; he was different now, giving me answers like an automaton, yes and no, sitting bolt upright like that and staring in front of him, saying he'd got to go to Beijing, hadn't said it before, at the monastery, so what was in his mind, I didn't like this, there were things I wanted to know.

Oh Jesus yes, got up and staggered as far as the mouth of the cave and switched to send-'DIF, DIF DIF.'

'Hear you.'

'Have you been trying to raise me?'

'No.'

So relax, but I wasn't terribly pleased with myself; there was a bloody mountain on top of this cave and he couldn't have raised me if he'd wanted to. The last time I'd signalled him we'd been still outside in the open.

'Three hours' sleep.'

'Excellent.'

Sounded happy about that. Part of the job of your DIF is to look after your welfare, hour by hour, and Pepperidge had known when I'd last got any sleep because I'd reported on it.