The Windup Girl Read online

  Jaidee grimaces. Richard Carlyle. Too clever by half, that one. Always in meetings with Akkarat, always at public benefits for cibiscosis victims, tossing money about, always talking about the positives of free trade. He is just one of dozens of farang who have returned to the shores like jellyfish after a bitter water epidemic, but Carlyle is the loudest. The one whose smiling face annoys Jaidee most.

  Jaidee pushes himself fully upright and brushes off the white hemp weave of his uniform. It doesn't matter; the dirigible will return. Like the ocean rushing onto the beach, it is impossible to keep the farang away. Land and sea must intersect. These men with profits in their beating hearts have no choice, they must rush in no matter the consequence, and he must always meet them.

  Kamma.

  Jaidee slowly returns to the cracked contents of the inspected shipping crates, wiping his face of sweat, breathing from the exertion of his run. He waves at his men to continue their labor. "There! Break those open over there! I don't want a single crate uninspected."

  The Customs men are waiting for him. He pokes through a new crate's wreckage with the point of his machete as the two men approach. They're like dogs. Impossible to be rid of unless you feed them. One of them tries to prevent Jaidee from swinging his machete into another crate.

  "We paid! We will be filing protests. There will be investigations. This is international soil!"

  Jaidee makes a face. "Why are you still here?"

  "We paid you a fair price for protection!"

  "More than fair." Jaidee shoulders past the men. "But I am not here to debate these things. It is your damma to protest. It is mine to protect our borders, and if that means I must invade your 'international soil' to save our country, so be it." He swings his machete and another crate crackles open. WeatherAll wood bursts wide.

  "You've overstepped yourself!"

  "Probably. But you will have to send someone from the Ministry of Trade to tell me himself. Someone more much powerful than you." He spins his machete thoughtfully. "Unless you wish to debate me now, with my men?"

  The two flinch. Jaidee thinks he catches a flicker of a smile on Kanya's lips. He glances over, surprised, but already his lieutenant is again the face of blank professionalism. It is pleasant to see her smile. Jaidee briefly wonders if there is something more he can do to encourage a second flash of teeth from his dour subordinate.

  Sadly, the Customs men seem to be reconsidering their position; they are backing away from his machete.

  "Do not think that you can insult us in this way, without consequence."

  "Of course not." Jaidee chops at the shipping crate again, shattering it fully. "But I appreciate your monetary donation, even so." He looks up at them. "When you complain, make sure you tell them it was me, Jaidee Rojjanasukchai who did this work." He grins again. "And make sure you tell them that you actually tried to bribe the Tiger of Bangkok."

  Around him, his men all laugh at the joke. The Customs men step back, surprised at this new revelation, the dawning comprehension of their opponent.

  Jaidee surveys the destruction around him. Splinters of the balsa crate material lie everywhere. The crates are engineered for strength and weightlessness and their lattice works well enough to hold goods—as long as no one applies a machete.

  The work goes quickly. Materials are pulled from crates and laid out in careful rows. The Customs men hover, taking the names of his white shirts until his men finally raise their machetes and give chase. The officers retreat, then stop and observe from a safer distance. The scene reminds Jaidee of animals fighting over a carcass. His men feeding on the offal of foreign lands while the scavengers probe and test, the ravens and cheshires and dogs all waiting their own chance to converge on the carrion. The thought depresses him a little.

  The Customs men hang back, watching.

  Jaidee inspects the line of sorted contents. Kanya follows close behind. Jaidee asks, "What do we have, Lieutenant?"

  "Agar solutions. Nutrient cultures. Some kind of breeding tanks. PurCal cinnamon. A papaya seedstock we don't recognize. A new iteration of U-Tex that probably sterilizes any rice varietal it meets." She shrugs. "About what we expected."

  Jaidee flips open a shipping container's lid and peers inside. Checks the address. A company in the farang manufacturing district. He tries sounding out the foreign letters, then gives up. He tries to remember if he's seen the logo before, but doesn't think so. He fingers through the materials inside, sacks of some sort of protein powder. "Nothing of wonderful interest, then. No new version of blister rust leaping out of a box from AgriGen or PurCal."

  "No."

  "It's a pity we couldn't catch that last dirigible. They ran quite quickly. I would have liked to search the cargo of Khun Carlyle."

  Kanya shrugs. "They will return."

  "They always do."

  "Like dogs to a carcass," she says.

  Jaidee follows Kanya's gaze to the Customs men, watching from their safe distance. He is saddened that they see the world so similarly. Does he influence Kanya? Or does she influence him? He used to have much more fun at this work. But then, work used to be so much more clear-cut. He's not accustomed to stalking the gray landscapes that Kanya walks. But at least he has more fun.

  His reverie is broken by the arrival of one of his men. Somchai, sauntering over, his machete swinging casually. He's a fast one, as old as Jaidee but hard-edged from losses when blister rust swept the North for the third time in a single growing season. A good man, and loyal. And clever.

  "There's a man watching us," Somchai mumbles as he draws close to the two of them.

  "Where?"

  Somchai jerks his head subtly. Jaidee lets his eyes roam the bustle of the landing fields. Beside him, Kanya stiffens.

  Somchai nods. "You see him, then?"

  "Kha." She nods affirmative.

  Jaidee finally catches sight of the man, standing a good distance away, watching both the white shirts and the Customs men. He has on a simple orange sarong and purple linen shirt, as if he might be a laborer, and yet he carries nothing. He does nothing. And he seems well-fed. Not showing ribs and hollow cheeks the way most laborers do. He watches, casually leaning against an anchor hook. "Trade?" Jaidee asks.

  "Army?" Kanya guesses. "He's a confident one."

  As though he senses Jaidee's eyes, the man turns. His eyes lock with Jaidee for moment.

  "Shit." Somchai frowns. "He's seen us." He and Kanya join Jaidee in an open study of the man. The man is unperturbed. He spits a stream of red betel and turns and saunters away, disappearing into the bustle of freight movements.

  Somchai asks, "Should I go after him? Question him?"

  Jaidee cranes his neck, trying to catch another glimpse of the man where he has been swallowed by the bustle. "What do you think, Kanya?"

  She hesitates. "Haven't we prodded enough cobras for one night?"

  Jaidee smiles slightly. "The voice of wisdom and restraint speaks."

  Somchai nods agreement. "Trade will be furious as it is."

  "One hopes so." Jaidee motions to Somchai to return to his inspections. As they watch him go, Kanya says, "We may have overstepped this time."

  "You mean I may have overstepped." Jaidee grins. "You're losing your nerve?"

  "Not my nerve." Her gaze travels back to where their observer disappeared. "There are bigger fish than us, Khun Jaidee. The anchor pads. . ." Kanya trails off. Finally, after visibly working to choose her words, she says, "It's an aggressive move."

  "You're sure you're not afraid?" he teases her.

  "No!" She stops short, swallows her outburst, masters her composure.

  Privately, Jaidee admires her ability to speak with a cool heart. He was never so careful with his words, or his actions. He was always the sort to charge in like a megodont and try to right the trampled rice shoots after. Jai rawn, rather than jai yen. A hot heart, rather than a cool one. Kanya, though. . .

  Finally she says, "This may not have been the best place to strike
."

  "Don't be a pessimist. The anchor pads are the best of all possible places. Those two weevils over there coughed up 200,000 baht, no trouble at all. Too much money to be involved in anything honest." Jaidee grins. "I should have come here a long time ago and taught these heeya a lesson. Better than wandering the river with a kink-spring skiff, arresting children for generip smuggling. At least this is honest work."

  "But it will get Trade involved for certain. By law, it's their turf. "

  "By any sane law, none of this should be imported at all." Jaidee waves a hand, dismissive. "Laws are confusing documents. They get in the way of justice."

  "Justice is always lost where Trade is concerned."

  "We're both more than aware of that. In any case, it's my head. You won't be touched a bit. You couldn't have stopped me, even if you had known where we were going tonight."

  "I wouldn't—" Kanya starts.

  "Don't worry about it. It's time that Trade and its pet farang felt a sting here. They were complacent, and needed a reminder that they still must perform the occasional khrab to the idea of our laws." Jaidee pauses, surveying the wreckage again. "There's truly nothing else on the black lists?"

  Kanya shrugs. "Just the rice. Everything else is innocuous enough, on paper. No breeding specimens. No genetics in suspension."

  "But?"

  "Much of it will be misused. Nutrient cultures can't have any good purpose." Kanya is back to her blank and depressed expression. "Should we pack it all back up?"

  Jaidee grimaces, finally shakes his head. "No. Burn it."

  "I'm sorry?"

  "Burn it. We both know what is happening here. Give the farang something to claim against their insurance companies. Let them know that their activity is not free." Jaidee grins. "Burn it all. Every last crate."

  And for the second time that night, as shipping crates crackle with fire and WeatherAll oils rush and ignite and kick sparks into the air like prayers going up to heaven, Jaidee has the satisfaction of seeing Kanya smile again.

  * * *

  It is nearly morning by the time Jaidee returns home. The ji ji ji of jingjok lizards punctuates the creak of cicadas and the high whine of mosquitoes. He slips off his shoes and climbs the steps, teak creaking under his feet as he steals into his stilt-house, feeling the smooth wood under his soles, soft and polished against his skin.

  He opens the screened door and slips inside, closing the door quickly behind him. They're close to the khlong, only meters away, and the water is brackish and thick. The mosquitoes swarm close.

  Inside, a single candle burns, illuminating Chaya where she lies on a floor couch, asleep, waiting. He smiles tenderly and slips into the bathroom to quickly disrobe and pour water over his shoulders. He tries to be quick and quiet about his bath, but water spatters flatly on the wood. He dips water again and spills it over his back. Even in the dead of night the air is warm enough that he doesn't mind the water's slight chill. In the hot season, everything is a relief.

  When he comes out of his bath with a sarong wrapped around his waist, Chaya is awake, looking up at him with thoughtful brown eyes. "You're very late," she says. "I was worried."

  Jaidee grins. "You should know better than to worry. I'm a tiger." He nuzzles close to her. Kisses her gently.

  Chaya grimaces and pushes him away. "Don't believe everything the newspapers say. A tiger." She makes a face. "You smell like smoke."

  "I just bathed."

  "It's in your hair."

  He rocks back on his heels. "It was a very good night."

  She smiles in the darkness, her white teeth flashing, mahogany skin a dull sheen in the black. "Did you strike a blow for our Queen?"

  "I struck a blow against Trade."

  She flinches. "Ah."

  He touches her arm. "You used to be happy when I made important people angry."

  She pushes away from him and stands, starts straightening the cushions. Her movements are abrupt, irritated. "That was before. Now I worry about you."

  "You shouldn't." Jaidee moves out of her way as she finishes with the couch. "I'm surprised you bother to wait up. If I were you, I would go to sleep and dream beautiful dreams. Everyone has given up on controlling me. I'm just a line-item expense for them, now. I'm too popular with the people to do anything about. They put spies on me to watch me, but they do nothing to stop me anymore."

  "A hero to the people, and a thorn for the Ministry of Trade. I would rather have Trade Minister Akkarat as a friend and the people as your enemy. We'd all be safer."

  "You didn't think so when you married me. You liked that I was a fighter. That I had so many victories in Lumphini Stadium. You remember?"

  She doesn't answer. Instead begins rearranging the cushions again, refusing to turn around. Jaidee sighs and puts a hand on her shoulder, pulls her up to face him, so that he can see her eyes. "Anyway, why is it that you bring this up, now? Am I not here? And perfectly fine?"

  "When they shot you, you weren't so fine."

  "That's in the past."

  "Only because they put you behind a desk, and General Pracha paid reparations." She holds up her hand, showing her own missing fingers. "Don't tell me you're safe. I was there. I know what they can do."

  Jaidee makes a face. "We aren't safe in any case. If it's not Trade, it's blister rust or cibiscosis or something else, something worse. We aren't living in a perfect world anymore. This isn't the Expansion."

  She opens her mouth to respond, then closes it and turns away. Jaidee waits, letting her master herself. When she turns back, her emotions are under control again. "No. You're right. None of us are safe. I wish, though."

  "You might as well run to Ta Prachan market and get an amulet, for all the good wishing does."

  "I did. The one with Phra Seub. But you don't wear it."

  "Because it's just superstition. Whatever happens to me is my kamma. A magic amulet isn't going to change that."

  "Still, it doesn't hurt." She pauses. "I would feel better if you wore it."

  Jaidee smiles and starts to make a joke of it, but something in her expression makes him change his mind. "Fine. If it makes you happy. I'll wear your Phra Seub."

  From the sleeping rooms, a noise echoes, a wet coughing. Jaidee stiffens. Chaya shifts and looks over her shoulder to the noise. "It's Surat."

  "Did you take him to Ratana?"

  "It's not her job to examine sick children. She has real work to do. Real genehacks to worry over."

  "Did you take him or not?"

  Chaya sighs. "She said it's not an upgrade. Nothing to worry about."

  Jaidee tries not to let his relief show. "Good." The coughing comes again. It reminds him of Num, dead and gone. He fights off sadness.

  Chaya touches his chin, pulls his attention back to her. Smiles up at him. "So what is it that left you smelling of smoke, noble warrior, defender of Krung Thep? Why so pleased with yourself?"

  Jaidee smiles slightly. "You can read it in the whisper sheets tomorrow."

  She purses her lips. "I'm worried about you. Really."

  "That's because you have a good heart. But you shouldn't worry. They're done with heavy-handed measures against me. It went badly the last time. The papers and whisper sheets liked the story too much. And our most revered Queen has registered her own support for what I do. They'll keep their distance. Her Majesty the Queen, at least, they still respect."

  "You were lucky that she was allowed to hear of you at all."

  "Even that heeya the Crown Protector can't blind her."

  Chaya stiffens at his words. "Jaidee, please. Not so loud. The Somdet Chaopraya has too many ears."

  Jaidee makes a face. "You see? This is what we've come to. A Crown Protector who spends his time meditating on how to take the inner apartments of the Grand Palace. A Trade Minister who conspires with farang to destroy our trade and quarantine laws. And meanwhile, we all try not to speak too loudly."

  "I'm glad I went to the anchor pads tonight. You should have see
n how much money those Customs officers were raking in, just standing aside and letting anything at all pass through. The next mutation of cibiscosis could have been sitting in vials right in front of them, and they would have held out a hand for a bribe. Sometimes, I think we're living the last days of old Ayutthaya all over again."

  "Don't be melodramatic."

  "History repeats itself. No one fought to protect Ayutthaya, either."

  "And so what does that make you? Some villager of Bang Rajan, reincarnated? Holding back the farang tide? Fighting to the last man? That sort of thing?"

  "At least they fought! Which would you rather be? The farmers who held off the Burmese army for a month, or the ministers of the Kingdom who ran away and let their capital be sacked?" He grimaces. "If I were smart, I'd go to the anchor pads every night and teach Akkarat and the farang a real lesson. Show them that someone's still willing to fight for Krung Thep."

  He expects Chaya to try to shut him up again, to cool his hot-hearted talk, but instead, she is silent. Finally she asks, "Do you think our lives are always reborn here, in this place? Do we have to come back and face all of this again, no matter what?"

  "I don't know," Jaidee says. "That's the sort of question Kanya would ask."

  "She's a dour one. I should get her an amulet, too. Something that would make her smile for once."

  "She is a bit strange."

  "I thought Ratana was going to propose to her."

  Jaidee pauses, considering Kanya and pretty Ratana, with her breathing mask and her underground life in the Ministry's biological containment labs. "I don't pry into her private life."

  "She'd smile more if she had a man."

  "If someone as good as Ratana couldn't make her happy, then no man has a hope." Jaidee grins. "Anyway, if she had a man, he'd spend all his time being jealous of the men she commands in my unit. All the handsome men. . ." He leans forward and tries to kiss Chaya but she pulls away too quickly.

  "Ugh. You smell like whiskey, too."

  "Whiskey and smoke. I smell like a real man."