The Dragon's Tale: A Jack Lauder Thriller (22 page)

     “Lawyer? Professional?”

      He thought a moment, “Nah. Gangster type."

     "Do you always take jobs like that from strange people in bars?"  Diana cut in, she was having difficulty hiding her contempt.

     "I do if it's swag up front, not to be sniffed at when you're using string to lace yer trainers so to speak!  Still, not much left now."  He grimaced and turned out his pockets.  "Couldn't buy us a stubby, could you?" He cackled hysterically at his own nerve. "Seriously though, mate, I haven't a clue why I was asked to do this job, I don't know this guy from Adam, this Gerry Montrose fella.  You've seen through it, my cover's blown, I might as well fack off back to Honkers."

     In the Jeepney back to town Jack thought hard. So someone wanted him out of the way that badly. At first he'd thought it odd that Gerry hadn't left any word.  Now he realised that's what they wanted him to think, and what they wanted others like Graham Witherspoon to think as well. And Amie Chow was dead. “I’m dealing with a pretty ruthless bunch of bastards,” he sighed, stating the obvious.

     "We," she replied, taking his arm with both hands, "we are dealing with them, and they'll have to be a really god-awful ruthless bunch of bastards to beat us."

     "We'll be on that first flight for Manila tomorrow," he mused, "and then we’re straight out of here, back to Hong Kong." He could have kicked himself. Three thousand miles chasing a shadow.  Someone had hung the bait in the water and he'd taken it.  But who was holding the rod? A few days back and he'd been fighting for his life in the ocean and he couldn't have given twopence about Gerry Montrose. Now, here on dry land, Gerry once again consumed his life. "I'm not sure you ought to get involved in this," he added, "I’ve got you embroiled in my complicated life by accident and I've a feeling it's going to get nasty."

     "That's why I’m coming along," she replied with a matter-of-fact look on her face, "life was getting a bit tame."

     “What? With the head of the 14K Triad for a partner?”

     There was laughter in those cool, blue eyes. Jack shook his head and gave a quizzical smile of his own. What chance did he have of living up to this woman’s expectations? Where was this going? Maybe he’d find out a few things, a good deal more than he’d expected, when they finally got back to Hong Kong.

PART 4

CHAPTER 1

     When they did get back they discovered that a letter had been delivered to Gerry’s apartment in Jack’s absence.  It was from Amie and he recalled the envelope he had found on her desk.  It was short and to the point:

"Dear Jack,

I spoke to my cousin Lam in Macao.  There is something strange here.  Gerry was in Macao recently with a young woman but my cousin says there is a problem.  I don't know what it is because he is afraid to speak.  It is known that you are causing trouble in Hong Kong.  My cousin says I should leave town for a while. I am taking this seriously.  I do not know if I will see you tonight as it may be too dangerous so I write this letter to warn you.  I tried to telephone and leave a message but you were not in.  Nobody wants you to find Gerry.  I don't know why but you may find that it is best left alone. If I see you later I will tell you all this. If not I hope this reaches you.

Love

Amie."

     Diana read the letter before handing it back to Jack, "Poor girl! It’s dreadful. It’s right that some people don't want Gerry found. He's in trouble, trying to escape from it and others have been diverting us down a false trail.”

     Jack came to a rapid conclusion, “One thing I am going to do is telephone K. K. Chow.  I'll find out why he sent me off to the Philippines.  That guy knows a lot more than he's saying.  If Gerry was in Macao, he'll have known it, but he sent me down there."

     He said it hopefully, hoping she’d offer to call for him but she made a face, "I don't think you'll find much out."

     She was right. He telephoned K.K. Chow to be informed he'd left Hong Kong on business.  No one would say when he was due back.  The business could take days or weeks.  He ran a massive business empire, didn’t Jack know that? Yes, the 14K Triad he thought cynically but he bit his tongue. There was nothing else for it then.

     So, the next day, it was with a sense of journey’s end that he found himself in the Bay of the Goddess of the Sea and saw Macao loom close on the horizon. It was one of the most intriguing settlements in the South China Sea, a city built on a narrow peninsula, shaped like a bunched fist reaching south from the barrier gate, which was its only official means of access to the Peoples’ Republic of China. The Hotel Lisboa stood like an orange polka dot marshmallow at the head of the bay. Macao's central boulevard, the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, stretched from the hotel right across to the inner harbour on the west side of the peninsula. Determined not to waste any time they went in search of Mr. Lam at the 24 hour casino.  It turned out he wasn't on until the evening shift but they were in luck. The hotel receptionist was his fiancée. She’d arranged to meet him that afternoon in the Camoes Gardens. She promised to tell him Jack was looking for him.

     "That could be counter-productive," Diana mused over a beer.  "If this chap gets wind you're the Gwai Lo who's causing all the trouble, he’ll do a runner. We could go to the Camoes Gardens - just happen to be there at lunchtime. How nice to see you again, we could say to that receptionist."

     They started out, approaching the imposing façade of the Church of Sao Paulo from a little square up a wide sweep of steps. It stood high above the nest of streets to the north of the main avenue.  It was only on reaching the terrace that it became obvious that it was nothing more than a façade rising in four tiers, chipped and cracked with age and the damage of the elements. Just to the north stood the Square of Luis de Camoes, at the head of which, laid out in memory of the sixteenth century Portuguese poet who wrote an epic work commemorating the voyages of Vasco da Gama, were the Camoes Gardens.  They wandered among the panyans, ferns and flowers until Diana took Jack’s arm. "There she is!” The little Chinese girl, dressed in conspicuous pink, entered the garden at the south end and walked towards the museum.  She waved suddenly at a young man.  He wore a big smile on his full moon-shaped face.

     "Pity we've got to break up all this happiness," Jack said, and he strode purposefully towards them just as they embraced. He tapped Mr. Lam on the shoulder, "Hello Mr Lam."

     The young man turned and looked at Jack in surprise.  The girl from the hotel, on the other hand, seemed pleased to see them.  Chattering on in Macanese she told the young man who Jack was.  A shadow flitted through his eyes. Diana had guessed right. His girlfriend only knew the half of it. "I knew your cousin Amie," Jack added, "she was a very sweet girl. She must be a very great loss to you." The Macanese looked as if he didn’t know where to put himself and mopped his brow.  "I think you can help me.” Diana’s presence seemed to relax Lam a little. "You told Amie that I was something of a nuisance?" Lam looked embarrassed so Jack added quickly, "There's no need to apologise, I'm concerned only with why you thought that.  All I'm trying to do is find an old friend of mine. Amie was helping me and from the last letter she wrote, apparently you warned her that was dangerous." Lam took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow again. The humidity was high but this young man was affected by more than the elements. "Relax," Jack continued reassuringly, "I don't want anything from you other than information."  He held out his hands as if to show he was hiding nothing, a fairly futile gesture, but one which human beings tend to make when they seek to make their good intentions clear.  "If you can tell me all you know I'll go away and leave you alone."

     Lam looked at Jack curiously, obviously wondering if he was trustworthy. At length he said, "My cousin said you were good man, she usually good judge of people. Let's get away from here, it too public." He looked around fearfully as if he thought they might be under surveillance. "I know a nice café up near Barrier Gate.  Will you come with us?" A bus took them to a restaurant close to the gate. All the way Lam kept on looking back down the road, checking if there were any suspicious vehicles behind, ones which might be following them.

     "No, let me," Jack said, as they went to the counter, "I've interfered with your day.  Let me just try and get out of your life as quickly as possible.  Just tell me what you know."  He followed Lam’s instructions in ordering food for them all. They sat in silence for a few minutes while everyone ate and eventually Lam began his tale.

     "Mr Montro, he big gambler. He been Macao now many years, and if anything habit get worse. He always come to Hotel Lisboa.  He spend fortune there.  It matter not because he earn big money."  He made a gesture with his hands as if encircling the sun. "He win some, lose some, but always he go out to night clubs. He meet woman."

     "What, a local woman?"

      Lam looked at the table, staring into his cup full of orange liquid, "Dangerous woman!”

     "How do you mean, dangerous woman?"

     "I get it!" Diana interjected, “Russian girl, big business here since the break up of the Soviet Union?”

     “Yes,” Lam nodded, "very dangerous.  Not good."  He made a throat cutting gesture with his right hand.

     Jack sat back in his chair, "What's a Russian girl doing in Macao?"

     "There is a Russian employment agency here," Diana said.

     That rang a lot of bells now. “Isn’t that the trade KK Chow was in?” Jack asked.

     “Over here, yes. Among others of course. He was into everything.”

     “Everything illegal.”

     Lam sniggered, "It’s called the Society of Support to the Enterprises of Macao." He looked over his shoulder in an exaggerated fashion.  His girlfriend was clinging on to his arm as he spoke. "It‘s a front," he continued, "the Russians bring in dancing girls for the local clientele."

     "Dancing girls?"

     “Hookers! What else!” Diana acted as if she was astonished by Jack’s naivety.

     Lam nodded, "Beautiful girl, the most beautiful girl anyone ever seen."  He looked at Diana, "like you miss. She fair haired girl too.  She very beautiful.  He broke rule."

     "What rule?" Jack replied.

     "He stop treat her like business. He fall in love.”

     "What's wrong with that?"

     “Jack!”  Diana looked at him even more astonished. Lam was also looking at him out of large saucer-like brown eyes as if he couldn‘t believe he’d asked that question.

     The penny dropped eventually. "Oh, I see, you mean that didn't appeal to the local Triads?"

     Lam shook his head,  "Not just them, Big Russian bosses too. He took girl to Coloane.” This was an island, accessible by road bridge, just off the coast of Macao.  "They went to Westin resort, golf club place," and he pointed vaguely with his right hand in the direction of the island.

     "Why did you say it was dangerous for Amie to be asking questions?"

     "Because she asked me to make questions, I did, and I get threatened."

     "Who by?"

     "Bad men," he replied vaguely.

     "They must have been serious threats."

     "Yes,"  he turned over his hand and showed where three cigar butts had been stubbed out on the back.  "I told I have no hands left,” Diana looked horrified. Lam’s girlfriend kept her eyes modestly fixed on the ground, as if this kind of talk was not for her ears.

     Jack looked at the burns and shuddered inside, “Did you tell Amie about that?”

     “Yes, I did. I was scared.”

     “I guess it scared her too.”

     “Oh no, not Amie, she never scared.”

     Jack noted that. He remembered that picture in her wardrobe. What was her secret? But it was off the point and he let it pass for now. “Is Gerry still here?”

     Silently Lam shook his head, “I have never seen him since. He had to go back to Hong Kong because of work. Then the girl’s job finished and I think she go home. When he came back she gone. That was last time.”

     “I was told he was last seen on the Macao ferry,” Jack replied.

      Lam shook his head. He didn’t know that. In fact he knew nothing more. They’d got out of him everything he had, or was willing, to tell them.

     Jack got up to go but then he remembered the unanswered question. “Why is it that Amie was never scared? What was she really?”

     “Amie?” He squirmed uncomfortably and then obviously decided it didn’t really matter now, “Amie was undercover cop.”

     They left the two lovers to enjoy the remainder of their time together. After walking for a while in the sunshine, both of them silent, mulling over what Lam had said, they hailed a taxi and headed for the Lisboa. "I don't know what to make of it," Jack said, "it gets more sinister each step we take. It looks obvious now that the same people murdered Amie, probably because Lam told them he was asking questions on her behalf and probably because she was making the same enquiries and she got too close. You know, I never told you that I think I met her before. I think she was over in England and she may have been present at one attempt on my life.”

     “Wow! Why would she be there unless she thought Gerry had left something with you? You had a lucky escape. I think you were getting friendly with her.” She gave him a nudge but he didn‘t respond. “So she must have got a job at Gerry’s place as part of her cover?”

     “Sounds like it.”

     “And Lam was the cause of her death?”

     “Perhaps. Inadvertently of course. He wouldn’t know they’d react like that.”

     But he was thinking hard. None of this explained why she attacked him in England. But maybe she didn’t. He saw two people that day. The first one attacked him then someone intervened. The second person was the one he drove at. That might have been Amie. Maybe she wasn’t attacking him at all. Maybe she was helping him. He shared none of this with Diana.

     They headed over to Coloane island to take a look at the Westin resort where Gerry had apparently stayed and they sipped gin and tonics on the veranda looking out over the bay. The sea was a slate grey colour, the legacy of the silt from the Pearl estuary. Coloane was famous for its black sand resorts. "So Gerry broke some unspoken rule by falling in love with a night club hostess," Diana summed up, "and Mr Lam has been told not to talk about it, and his cousin may well have been killed because of it." She shook her head.      “No, that doesn't sound too good. It looks as if we've blundered into a lethal situation and we‘re not safe in it. We really ought to think about this, Jack. This isn’t England."