The Dragon's Tale: A Jack Lauder Thriller

by Clive Hindle

  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?”

  “The lack of concern. The Governor is obviously more worried about those papers you discovered than anything else we had to tell him. Why should that be I wonder?”

  “The political fallout of discovering the Red Chinese are planning a massive cull of everyone who doesn’t conform?”

  “No! That would have been grounds for great celebration. Think of the political edge it should have given him to have discovered their intentions were so dishonourable and to be able to expose them before the whole world. I expected him to react much more forcefully. He seems content to sweep it under the carpet. He is worried only that we might not react the same way.”

  “Perhaps he’s sceptical? Maybe he’s just dipped his toe in the water with us. He needs to check it out?”

  Again he shook his head, “I don’t think he was shocked, which assumes he must have known already.”

  Jack gazed at Philip, trying to take in the enormity of what he had said. It was true. Apart from some expressions of horror which, in retrospect, had not really done justice to the occasion, Britton had seemed totally unfazed by the idea of a conspiracy between the successors to the Heavenly Throne and the leader of the largest of the Societies of Heaven and Earth.

  “The other thing is,” Philip said, “he knew there was software.”

  Jack nodded. “People now tend to keep things in different ways,” he replied, repeating the Governor’s words. “Please feel free to hack into those disks, Philip.”

  “I’ll get my team on to it straight away.”

  Jack had little time to consider Philip’s speculation before he was dropped off at the hotel. No sooner had he got back to his room than the telephone rang. He half-hoped to hear Diana’s voice but as soon as he picked up the receiver he knew something was wrong. There was a measured silence for a few moments and then a Chinese voice said in English, "Lauder Sin sin saang, we have woman. No harm will come her if you do as we say."

  His first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief that he had news at last then he recovered his composure, "Who are you?"

  The voice ignored him, "Do not speak to Police, or your woman is dead."

  Jack closed his eyes in silent prayer. At least they didn't appear to know he'd spoken to Philip. What he'd done already could have been fatal.

  "This is what you do. You have something ours, we have something yours. Fair exchange no robbery, eh? Tomorrow you leave hotel in morning. You get taxi from rank outside hotel. You tell him head for underpass to Robinson Do. You go through underpass and start walk to mid-levels. You got that?"

  Jack was scribbling the instructions down as he talked. "I've got it," he said. "Where will you be?"

  "We watch you all way. If we suspect cops near, we blow woman away, not quickly, nasty. You do what we say. We do rest. You bring stuff with you, yes?"

  "What stuff?"

  "You not joke now. You bring Monro material. You not double-cross us now or woman dead. You do as we say."

  "Why wait till tomorrow? Let's do it now."

  The phone went dead. He clenched and unclenched his fists at the thought of Diana in the clutches of the Triads.

  The telephone rang again. He rushed to it and was disappointed to hear Philip. He must have noticed Jack’s change of demeanour because he said, "What's going on Jack?"

  He wanted to tell Philip but after that last message he didn't dare. Instead he said, "It's okay Philip, I just got a call from her, she's okay."

  Momentarily, Philip sounded relieved, but then he said he'd come around anyway and see Jack, who could introduce him to the lady who'd almost had the whole of Hong Kong's finest on red alert. Jack made an excuse, which sounded rude after all the trouble he’d put Philip to but he was beyond caring. All he wanted now was to get Diana back, whatever it cost. The whole world could go hang itself as long as he achieved that.

&n
bsp; CHAPTER 6

  The next morning at ten o'clock, Jack left the Mandarin by the front entrance. The weather had turned around and the sky was in turmoil. The clouds writhed in angry, serpentine shapes. Despite the threat of torrential rain Jack wore light clothes in which he couldn't conceal a weapon. He greeted the Indian duty porter, who flagged a taxi. It was all exactly as he'd been told. He climbed into the cab and told the driver to go to the Mid-Levels underpass in Victoria. He figured the taxi had been prearranged. Walking through the underpass he followed the signs for Mid-Levels. A series of moving walkways and escalators ran up the hill half a mile or so from the western part of Queen's Road to Conduit Road, the link between the residential Mid-Levels and the workplace of Central. He walked up Cochrane Street, Hollywood Road and Robinson Road, awaiting the next instruction.