The Sword Dancer. Jeannie Lin

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СКАЧАТЬ Apparently, the outfit had been hired out of Nanping. He joined up with a merchant who was headed there and arrived at the headquarters three days later.

      The signboard over the doorway read ‘Zhao Yen Security’ and the walls in the main room were conspicuously decorated with an array of swords, crossbows and other weapons.

      ‘Thief-catcher Han,’ the head man acknowledged after introductions.

      ‘Sharpshooter Zhao.’

      Zhao laughed. They fell into the easy camaraderie of weaponkind, but Zhao’s expression darkened when the jade heist was mentioned.

      ‘We were en route. The shipment was secured in one of our storehouses—we use them for very important cargo. The thieves bypassed the outer guard patrol and broke in.’

      ‘They took the shipment without a fight?’

      Zhao took some offence at that. ‘We had two guards stationed inside. Wu and Lin are strong fellows. Both trained fighters. They claimed the thieves materialised like ghosts, black as night as they dropped from the rafters. Now my fellows wouldn’t admit this easily, but they were disarmed and overpowered before they could sound any alert.’

      The thieves would have had the element of surprise as well as the advantage of launching an attack from higher ground.

      ‘This was why acrobats were suspected,’ Han remarked.

      ‘There was a troupe passing through town. The authorities figured with their skills, they might have been able to scale the walls and enter through the roof.’ Zhao rubbed at his neck, embarrassed. ‘I told the constable he was mistaken. No bunch of performers could defeat my men. These thieves were highly skilled and quite deadly.’

      Han excused the man’s flair for the dramatic. Of course Zhao would have to insist that the band of thieves that overpowered his security force possessed extraordinary powers. He was at risk of losing face.

      ‘Do you have a record of everything in the shipment?’ Han asked.

      ‘It’s in the manifest.’ Zhao went behind the counter and rifled through a drawer, finally producing a scroll which he handed over.

      Han scanned the list of valuables. Jade and gold, assessed at a value equalling a hundred bolts of silk. Among the items was a set of three carved pendants. Three was an odd number for such a set. The classic grouping was usually four. Han read through the descriptions: dragon, tiger, tortoise.

      Also notable was the lack of any jade bracelets.

      ‘Your record keeper does good work,’ Han commented.

      Zhao nodded with a grunt. ‘This is a serious business. We’re more than just another band of rabble carrying clubs.’

      With the rise of bandits and outlaws, the armed-escort business was flourishing along with the thief-catching business. Too many undisciplined warriors about with no wars to fight.

      The scroll contained additional information. The names of the sender and the recipient. Both go-betweens.

      ‘I suspect the final recipient was likely Wang Shizhen,’ Zhao said.

      Han concurred. The general certainly had a great interest in recovering the stolen goods. The person who had enlisted Zhao’s services was a man by the name of Cai Yun. Why would an individual from another prefecture send so much wealth to General Wang?

      There was definitely something more than a simple theft at work here and somehow Li Feng was entangled in it. He sincerely wished that she wasn’t. Han had come across some of the worst outlaws and Li Feng didn’t belong among them. Despite her talk of rebellion, she was motivated by honour and self-sacrifice. Why else would she give up her own silver to assist others? Or reach out to rescue a thief-catcher who would turn around and make life difficult for her?

      ‘Do you know anything more about this Cai Yun?’ Han asked.

      ‘He paid in advance and appeared well off. He’s petitioning for us to forfeit our fee as well as incur an additional dishonour penalty for failure to deliver.’

      Zhao cursed a little. Han gave his sympathies.

      ‘It’s unusual to see a thief-catcher so dedicated,’ Zhao said. ‘They say you’ve never let a criminal get away.’

      That was a new addition to his ever-growing story. ‘I do what I can,’ he replied humbly.

      ‘Hmmph. Find these thieves and I’ll add to your capture money. The penalty on such a shipment would bleed us dry.’

      Han left the headquarters with the name of the man who had hired the security escort, but few answers otherwise. Li Feng was more than capable of the feat Zhao had described. He’d seen her leaping on to rooftops and if she could deftly slip out of locked buildings, she could just as easily sneak into them. That information by itself wasn’t enough to condemn her.

      There was only one piece of evidence that connected her to the crime—though it appeared she had been telling the truth about it. The four celestial animals were a popular motif in artwork: the Green Dragon, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise. The final animal in the quartet was the Vermilion Bird. It looked very much like a phoenix.

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