The Dragon's Tale: A Jack Lauder Thriller (31 page)

CHAPTER 4

     It was dark when Diana awoke. Only the steady whirr of the air-conditioning disturbed the silence. Memory returned almost immediately and she tried to struggle to her feet but she was bound by the hands and legs. She had no idea how long she’d been out but the memory was vivid of the syringe being jabbed forcefully into her arm and then of feeling as if she belonged to another plane of existence. In addition to the aircon there was the noise of a tap dripping. Nothing else suggested human presence. She didn’t have to think too hard about what these people wanted of her; she knew it must have something to do with the safe deposit box, and she somehow believed that the sooner she revealed its existence the sooner she’d be no more for any plane of existence. She had to hold out, somehow, but she was under no illusions that they would have ways of breaking her spirit. After a few minutes she lay back, exhausted by her thoughts. A different sound suddenly made her alert: footsteps echoed in a passage and the door opened. She feigned unconsciousness.

     Dimly, through partially closed eyes, she saw a figure flit into the room. He came over to the divan and stood there motionless looking down at her. As her half-closed eyes became accustomed to the darkness she realised it was Tall Man Hung. He was entirely still as he stood over her. His posture was vaguely threatening but she could hear his breathing; it sounded as if he was hyperventilating. He seemed to hover like that for an age. The tension was almost unbearable. She had no idea what he’d do next. She tried to stop herself trembling and then he reached down and touched her. She felt it suddenly, the feel of cold steel against her skin, and she realised he was stroking her thigh with a knife. What was he going to do to her? She couldn’t even resist. She was going to scream but discretion got the better of valour. Who was there to hear? This might as well be a mausoleum. But why was he holding back? Why didn’t he just get on with it? Was he prolonging the moment simply for his own pleasure? She held her own breath, expecting him to rape her any moment. She could feel how he trembled. It was an exercise in self-control for him to hold back this long.

     She guessed suddenly that he wasn't allowed to touch her, much as he wanted to, but he was interrupted suddenly by a shout from the doorway. It nearly made her start but she continued the pretence of unconsciousness. Light flooded in from the passage making the shadow of Tall Man Hung’s body dance uncontrollably. A man no older than her attacker came into vision. It was K.K. Chow, her former boss. He gazed down curiously at her body. Tall Man Hung stood, his head bowed, whilst the man castigated him for his trespass. The ferocious Red Guard nodded his head furiously as he was criticised, Communist fashion, by his boss. He said nothing but, "hai! hai!" in response to every verbal lashing. Finally he was peremptorily dismissed. He slunk out of the door, not daring to look back.

    "Crazy fool!" the man said to Diana in English. “Come on, my dear, you not fool me, nor need protect yourself against me.” He covered her over with a show of decorum.

     She stopped pretending then, "You just can't get the staff these days," she replied scathingly.

     K. K. Chow looked down at her prostrate form. He couldn‘t help but find it amusing, "You did well, my dear. Lauder Saang bound to give what we want."

     “This was not supposed to happen. Now let me out of here.”

     He ignored her entreaties, “It a pity, however, that you given such a shot. You been out too long. We lose valuable interview time and we need find out what you know of Montrose and what Mr. Lauder possess.”

     "I don‘t know what you are talking about! We are on the same side, remember?”

     “Are we? Are we indeed?”

     “Of course we are. I did what I said I would do, didn’t I?”

     “But did you change sides in process?”

     “Don’t be foolish! Of course not. I have always been loyal!”

     “In that case tell me answer.”

     “He may have nothing in his possession.”

     "Is that possible? I think not. Why else he come back here? He know something now he not know when last here. You went Russia with him. Maybe our friends there told him something. It impossible to trust anyone these days."

     "Maybe he doesn't know anything! Maybe it's all bluff. Maybe he went to Russia because Gerry had disappeared and that’s the last thing they discussed. He may know nothing more than last time he was here. Ma told you he had nothing, remember?”

     “Ma!” K.K. spat, “His day of reckoning will come. He offend dragon. Ma will say things help Lauder. He had better have answer for his sake. He need to know something to guarantee quick death. If not, death come slowly. He not take any secrets to grave. Anyway, it certain that Montrose got information to him. They were good friends. Why else would Lauder give him half a million Hong Kong? He know a lot. Too much for good of his health.

     “He knows nothing, take it from me,” the nervousness in her voice was clear to any observer.

     “Really? Can we take risk? It too close now to the Legco closing when that thing happen. There will be political rally. Big crowds hide an assassin. It bad enough that Montrose got into our computers. It mean we must act now, tomorrow. It is no longer a question of political assassination but of survival.” He sighed, “This most displeasing. It very bad organisation.” He spoke as if he was planning a company conference. He prodded Diana firmly in the midriff, “I can see what Hung saw in you! Lauder saang must be very convincing. But you right, we no time lose. My theory Lauder saang tell his friend not true. We bluff him if we can.  We make many mistakes. Perhaps I not be say that to you, eh?”

     “Let me go. I have done nothing wrong. I did what you asked. I followed him and I found out nothing. A woman can serve only one master.” She was trying to convince him now but it didn’t come out right.

     “Ah, but which master? The Chinese dragon or the English lion? Maybe there time for you redeem yourself. Eh?” His snigger betrayed his self-confidence. He found nothing equivocal in that remark. There was silence for a few moments then she almost jumped in shock as he touched her skin, "Oh yes, beautiful rose of the west, eh? Or more like an orchid. Very sweet, very lovely, very dangerous. It such a shame, if I must give you to men. But they entitled to share of good things. They tear you apart." He laughed. “Maybe I give you Tall Man Hung, first. He lose face if I not. And he want you, eh? I surprised he not try anything while you in UK together!”

     “You wouldn’t!” Diana shuddered in her bonds.

     “What? Let Tall Man Hung take his bitch! I watch every moment of that.” His lip curled, “I want Lauder alive witness that. I want him on knees in front, watching every moment!” Chow laughed again in his sinister way and bent over Diana. It was almost as if he was inhaling her scent. "Oh yes," he said, "very beautiful. There must be proper hierarchy in this as in heaven. Once Hung finished I reward loyal fokis.  I give you to snakeheads. Those crazy fishermen torture you. They keep you alive for months. They use you every night. We see what Lauder Saang think when he know that.” He seemed to be thinking about it. “Of course, you tell me where files are Montrose stole from me and…..” he left the sentence unfinished.

     He didn’t wait for an answer. Diana heard him leave the room and close the door. She heaved a sigh of relief, quickly followed by foreboding. She lay there in the dark for a period of time impossible to assess. She dozed fitfully from time to time, the drug coming at her in waves, then she was suddenly fully awake as she heard the door go again. Oh my God, not Tall Man Hung again she thought.

CHAPTER 5

     Half an hour after entering the Mandarin vault Philip and Jack walked out in a state of shock. The secrets of Montrose's box left no room for doubt that their adversaries had kidnapped Diana and the contents of the box were earth-shattering in their personal implications for Philip. After some manipulation the fragment now read that at the end of the 2nd Session of the Legislative Council Philip Chan was to be assassinated. It was expected that the Democrats would not recover in time from the blow but it was also essential that no blame should be seen to attach to China. It was to be made to look like the work of Wo Shing Wo. “
All will know the Dragon rises. You are the one who must do this younger brother and you will be rewarded with untold wealth. This act will not be forgotten. The grass sandal is yours.
”

     Philip explained that the grass sandal is a symbol of promotion in the Triad hierarchy. The context suggested the younger brother, itself a term of Triad usage to depict a member of the organisation, was K.K. Chow. He had been entrusted with the murderous task and the combination of terms suggested that if he succeeded he would achieve promotion to one of the official positions of the 14K Triad. Jack wasn‘t surprised to hear the name. He had been well aware of the 14K from his time in Hong Kong but he knew also that it had spread its tentacles into Britain just as it had to all places where Chinese nationals had settled, such as Vancouver and Los Angeles. It was a relatively new organisation, formed as an anti-communist league by a Kuomintang general in Guangzhou province, but Hong Kong was its headquarters. It was responsible for most of the drug trafficking that went on in the world but had expanded its operations into illegal gambling and prostitution, including the abduction by force or chicanery of young women from Eastern Europe who were in search of a better life but who ended up working in brothels the world over.

     Despite the shock of seeing there the evidence of his own peril, which of course he had lived with now for many years, Philip put his hand on Jack’s arm, “It’s all right, Jack,” he said, “your Diana is still alive and well.”

     “How can you be so sure?”

     “Because they need this information, they won’t do away with their hostage until they have it back. Not only this, but I suspect those computer disks are important too. We must get into those. Then...” he ended the sentence there. It must have been contagious because they both shivered together. “But,” he went on, “we have some say in that endgame, eh? Where there’s life there’s hope, as they say.”

     Jack shook his head. He couldn’t believe he’d managed to get himself mixed up in this. "How the hell did Gerry get hold of this?"

     "I think that our good friend did not know what he had. Despite the length of time he had been here he knew none of the language. He had never bothered to integrate himself. It is obvious he trusted no one at this end. He had spent enough time with K.K. Chow to know the importance of everything in that box even if he didn't know the exact content."

     "What do we do from here?" Jack asked. “Assume that Diana has already had to tell them it’s here. We’ve got to get to her fast Philip! Time’s running on."

     “Jack, calm down, we don’t know where she is. We won’t succeed by running round like headless chickens!”

     “We’ve got to do something though.”

     “Well, actually I'm going to arrange for us to see the Pig Fairy.”

     Jack did a double-take. Who on earth was he talking about? But he chuckled and wouldn’t let on.

     The Governor of Hong Kong, Privy Councillor the Right Honourable Sir Clifford Britton, had proved himself already to be an urbane and consummate politician. It wasn't this however which moved Jack to thought as, in dressing gown and looking slightly bleary-eyed, he listened gravely to what Philip had to say, interrupting only when there was some point he'd not quite grasped. Nor was it the fact that he had opened his mansion to them at this ungodly hour - Philip obviously carried that kind of clout. It was the fact that it seemed rather fitting somehow that his physical characteristics should allow him to be compared with the celestial official who, before his fall from grace, had been in charge of the navigation of the River Han, which for the uninitiated few is a metaphor for the Milky Way.

     They were in the spacious office in Government House and Britton had insisted on the Attorney-General’s grey presence at the meeting. Jack nervously fingered Philip’s mobile phone, the number of which the Mandarin Hotel had promised to pass on to any caller.

     By the time they'd spent a few minutes with the two officials, Britton acknowledged surprisingly quickly that the selected papers demonstrated a potential link between the 14K Triad and the Beijing Government. “As you will know only too well,” he said to Philip in a slightly bored tone, “the Triad Societies started over the border and then infested this colony,” he stressed that word as if rubbing it in because it would be guaranteed to make Philip wince, “and now they’ve got them back again. Ha, ha!” He smiled brightly but it was quickly clear that wasn’t his true reaction. “Seriously, though, the thought makes one shudder for the rest of the world! One mammoth Triad Society, having a monopoly over all the illicit businesses of the others with the backing of the Beijing Mandarins, would be a force equal to a major government! It would make even something like Noriega’s outfit look like small potatoes, and the way its roots have insinuated themselves into every country in the world would make it just about indestructible!"

     “The 14K is probably already the biggest in the world,” Philip said gloomily.

     “It has certainly had a rapid rise to power. But it has come under pressure recently. Mainly from the Shui Fong and the Wo Shing Wo. Many of its members have been murdered in revenge killings.”

     But Philip hadn’t finished. Britton reacted with even more horror when the Legco politician showed him a letter from a senior Beijing Minister to Chow. It read:

"
There will come a day when the Dragon King rises. All his enemies will be crushed. Those who are already a thorn in his flesh will be dealt with when the next moon rises. They must all be out of the way before the annexation takes place. Let them speak no more of the death of the Dragon. It is time for them to join their ancestors...
."

     The letter went on to name a number of prominent citizens who were scheduled for assassination before the handover to China. The Chinese didn't want to be saddled by the world community with the responsibility for their deaths and were going to have them dealt with by the Triads now on one pretext or another. Philip was at the top of the list. 

     The document also provided evidence of an assassination coup aimed at taking out all the leaders of the Triad Societies in Hong Kong. Only the 14k was to be spared and its leader, K.K. Chow, was to inherit the wealth of his rivals.  The Chinese planned this to be seen as a massive popular insurrection. They'd be able to say the fabric of the Basic Law had broken down and the Provisional Government couldn't control the situation. Regretfully they'd have to send in troops to restore law and order.  

     Sir Clifford was studying the documents, his brow creased. He noted the proposed division in specie of the assets of the usurped Societies of Heaven and Earth and chuckled momentarily at the names of some of those in the current Beijing administration who would be enriched by this expropriation. The proceeds weren’t intended to go to the people. "Oh China, dear China," he said at length, "the colour of the government matters not there, does it? This is yet another continuation of its politics of centuries, certainly since the Ching dynasty assumed power. There are many who opine of course that the current crop, despite their distinctive red hue, are merely the successors of those Manchus who usurped the Ming."

     Having established his credentials Philip then went on to reveal the greater cause of Jack’s personal anxiety. Sir Clifford listened wide-eyed as he recounted the tale of Diana’s disappearance. “I find it difficult to believe this could be connected,” the Governor said, “perhaps she has.....” he looked at Jack sympathetically.

     “Believe me, Governor,” Jack cut in immediately, “if that was all there was to it I would accept it unhesitatingly rather than imagine the worst, but I am certain that she wouldn’t walk out with no word.”

     He nodded, “Well, what do you want me to do? Put the whole Colony on red alert? It’s just not feasible, dear boy, without something more in the way of evidence.”

    He had a point. The other problem with raising a hue and cry was Diana’s captors might act in haste. She might be returned but, equally likely, she could disappear - forever! It was a calculated gamble, and not one Jack was prepared to take. The Governor seemed in his benign way to want to help but his next words brought Jack rudely back to the realisation that a politician is only really interested in one thing. The fate of one individual matters nothing when the security of the realm may be endangered.

    "Now, gentlemen," he went on, "what you’ve had to say is of the utmost importance and sensitivity; I need scarcely tell you that." He nodded gravely in Jack’s direction. There was something almost conspiratorial in the glance, as if to say, come on old boy, we're from the same college of knowledge, ain't we, now let's close ranks here, what? That attitude was exclusionary of Philip. He went on, "These sensitive and confidential documents, obtained by a public servant in the execution of his duty, should be handed over in their original form to their rightful owners."

     "Who are?" Jack was curt, realising where this was leading.

     "The Hong Kong Government, of course," Sir Clifford replied, as if there could be no conflicting claim to documents illegally stolen from a civilian. "Incidentally, is this all there is?" He looked at Jack as did Philip too, wondering how he would answer. They'd not even touched on one very sensitive issue.

     Jack adroitly turned the question round, "Why? Should there be more?"

     "Oh no, no," Sir Clifford said disarmingly, "I just wondered, that's all. People now tend to keep things in different ways, you follow dear boy?" He paused a moment, studying Jack’s impassive face. "No matter," he continued, "anyway, what's the answer eh, old boy? Do we get the originals?"

    "I don't know," Jack said, "I'll have to ask myself what Gerry would have wanted."

    "Good Lord, man," the Governor said, "you don't owe Mr. Montrose anything. He went off on a frolic of his own, didn't he? The phone call was made some time before..." He stopped in mid sentence. The three of them were looking at him in astonishment. The Attorney-General suddenly began to stare out of the window as if he found the pitch blackness of the Peak interesting.

     "What phone call?" Jack asked.

     Sir Clifford licked his lips. The Attorney kept his face hidden, pretending to look out of the window. The Governor had made a gaffe and everyone knew it.

     Philip was the first to grasp the enormity of it, "Do you mean that Mr. Montrose had a role on behalf of the Government?” he asked. “He was a fifth columnist? And someone leaked that information, someone in Government?”

     "Well...well..." Britton was trying to recover his composure but it was too late, he'd already lost too much ground. He knew that and realised there was only one way out, to roll with it. "The phone call came from a Hong Kong Government employee, a senior employee," he said, appearing almost candid, and then as if to emphasise the point, "a very senior employee, one who is now very much under surveillance for known connections with K.K. Chow. I cannot give you his identity as it may prejudice an ongoing investigation."

     Shortly afterwards, the Attorney-General politely showed them the door. Jack had promised to give the Governor a decision within the next 24 hours about the Montrose box and, in return, he had received a personal assurance that Britton would make enquiries about Diana’s disappearance. Jack was under no illusions. He knew that, if it had not been for the power play of Philip’s presence, he would have been clapped in irons by now and he would be kept there until he handed over those papers, screw what might happen to his fiancée. As they made their way back to Philip's waiting chauffeur, he could see the exchange had also left its mark on his friend.

     “I’m sorry, Jack,” the preoccupied Philip said, “this is not helping you find your sweetheart, but a couple of things trouble me here.”

     “Like what?”