The Red Pole of Macau

by Ian Hamilton

  Women are running his life now, Ava thought, or as much of his life as there is left to run. But would Amanda stick with him if the business went under? The thought came to her out of nowhere, and she felt guilty for thinking it.

  She closed her eyes. Michael and Simon had dug a hole so deep that she couldn’t find the bottom. She began to mentally list the things that had to be done. Then she heard Amanda say, “Are you all right?”

  “Just thinking,” Ava said.

  Amanda sat at the kitchen table across from Ava. It was the first time they’d actually been alone together. Amanda toyed with the package of rice crackers. Ava asked, “How are you managing with this?”

  Amanda gave her an awkward little smile, and Ava figured she was looking at a hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars’ worth of dental work. “Not so well.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m scared. I’m scared for Michael, for Simon, for Jessie and their child.”

  “Me too.”

  “You don’t seem to have any fear at all.”

  “It’s an act.”

  “Michael told me what happened at the restaurant yesterday. That was no act.”

  “It was a reaction to a threat, that’s all. I didn’t have time to think about being scared.”

  “Well, I’m scared, and truthfully, Ava, I’m also a little angry.”

  “It isn’t a good situation.”

  “No, it isn’t, but more specifically I’m kind of angry with Michael.”

  “He and Simon made some mistakes. It happens,” Ava said.

  “Not the kind that result in a partner being held for ransom and death threats being thrown around like confetti,” she said, her anger edging into her voice.

  “I can’t argue with you.”

  “But it has to do with more than that, actually. I’m upset that he never told me what kind of trouble the business was in. He treated me as if I couldn’t understand and couldn’t help, and he didn’t turn to me until we were all blindsided and he didn’t have any choice.”

  This is a different Amanda, Ava thought as she sifted through several clichés about his not wanting to worry her, then discarded them. “Would you have been able to help him?”

  Amanda reacted as if she had been challenged. “I have a master’s degree in international business from Brandeis.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  She shrugged. “You act like you’re not scared, I act like a Hong Kong princess. And although I moan about my father’s business, I can hardly wait for him to retire so I can take over and really do something with it.”

  “I didn’t mean to be derogatory.”

  “I’m not blaming you — I know the impression I create. It’s just easier sometimes to get your own way when people don’t take you seriously.”

  “That could be me talking,” Ava said.

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “You’ll have to trust me.”

  Amanda returned to the rice crackers, opening and closing the plastic wrap.

  “Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Ava asked.

  Amanda glanced at her and then just as quickly turned away.

  “What is it?” Ava said.

  “I’m also upset about you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you — but not just you. I mean, I’ve been living with Michael for five months and we’ve been talking about marriage for two months, and I didn’t know he had a sister in Canada until two weeks ago.”

  “Two sisters in Canada, actually. The other one’s name is Marian and she has two girls of her own.”

  “Yes, I know. He told me about Marian as well.”

  “And then there are two much younger siblings, a boy and a girl, in Australia.”

  Amanda’s face fell. “I didn’t know about them.”

  “It’s a complicated family.”

  “I don’t care about that, or how your father chooses to live his life. All I care about is that Michael hasn’t been honest with me, first about you and Marian and now, evidently, about two children in Australia.”

  “I’m not going to make excuses for him. He had his reasons, and you should ask him what they were.”

  “And I’m going to. If we survive this drama.”

  “Is that it?”

  “What?”

  “No more worries?”

  “No, but I have a question. Tell me, is it really true you hadn’t met each other until two weeks ago?”

  “It is.”

  “And then it was like for five minutes in a restaurant?”

  “Yep.”

  “So tell me, because I don’t really understand, why would you fly all the way to Hong Kong to help a man you don’t really know? I asked Michael the same question when he told me you were coming, and he sort of mumbled something about your having some business expertise he needed, and that your father had suggested you to him.”

  “The truth is, I didn’t come here for Michael,” Ava said, deciding that at least one of the Lees should be straight with this woman. “At some time in the future I might have, because I think our father has decided it’s time to try to bring the families — or at least the children — together, and he was encouraging Michael and me to start the process. But that’s going to be a long, slow grind, and I wasn’t really ready to jump right in.

  “I actually came here to protect the rest of the family from Michael. I know that sounds harsh, and I don’t mean it that way, but the fact is that he has put us at risk. You know about the whole family now: three wives, his brothers here, my sister and me in Canada, and the two little kids in Australia. None of the children chose their father and none of us chose the circumstances in which we were raised. Now, what you need to understand is that Michael’s situation threatens them. If his business tanks, Amanda, Marcus will step in and sell everything he has to bail Michael out. Who knows what might be left? I’m here because I don’t want it to come to that.

  “Now, it is true that Marian, I, and the brothers can look after ourselves. But what about the two kids in Australia? What about my mother? What about the two aunties? The way I look at it, I came here to represent their interests — and, of course, my father’s.”

  Amanda had listened quietly, her face blank, and Ava wondered if her criticism of Michael had gone too far. Then Amanda said, “And now we have to throw Simon, Jessie, and another child into that mix, don’t we.”

  “I guess we do.”

  “Let me make you a coffee,” Amanda said suddenly, getting up from the table.

  Amanda’s lips moved as she poured coffee into a cup. The younger woman put the two cups on the table and leaned forward. “I want to help.”

  “I’m not sure there is anything to help with.”

  “I know you need to confirm that Simon is okay, but from the conversation between Lok and Michael, it sounds like he is. And if he is, then I want to help, and I don’t mean help in the sense of babysitting Michael.”

  Ava didn’t know quite what to say other than “We’ll see,” and she was struggling with how to put that differently when her cellphone rang. For once she was happy to answer. It was Uncle.

  “I have some, maybe most of the information you asked for,” he said. “Can you come to Andy’s?”

  “I’m at my brother’s apartment in the Mid-levels. It’ll take me half an hour.”

  “See you then.”

  She closed her phone and looked up at Amanda. “I have to go.”

  Amanda leaned forward again. “I know you’re not going to abandon Simon, and I want to help you get him back.”

  “I have no plans to do anything, but if you want to help, I’ll tell you where you can start. Get into Michael’s email and watch for the photo from Lok. The moment it comes through, call me on my cell. You might also call Jes
sie and make sure she’s going to be home tonight. And keep it casual. One way or another we’re going to have to talk to her.”

  “Thank you.”

  As Ava walked to the door, Amanda called after her, “Do you remember Jack Yee?”

  Ava spun back. “Of course I do.”

  “He’s my father,” Amanda said.

  Ava was too surprised to say anything. I am so thick sometimes, she thought. Jack Yee, Amanda Yee — why hadn’t she made the connection? Why at least hadn’t she asked Amanda if they were related?

  Ava and Uncle had done two jobs for Jack, both of them successful, and one of which had turned ugly and exceptionally violent. Jack had been caught in the middle of the violence and Ava and Derek had saved him, none too gently. She wondered what he had told his daughter about that day in Yantai. There had been five men, and two had died.

  “I called him last night and told him what happened at the lunch in Macau yesterday,” Amanda said. “Of course, your name entered the conversation.”

  “Have you spoken to him since?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t,” Ava said as she walked out the door.

  ( 11 )

  There was no Sonny in front of the Kowloon Tong mtr, and Ava wondered if something had happened to delay Uncle. But when she went inside the restaurant, Andy saw her and waved her back to the kitchen.

  The table was empty except for a pot of tea and two cups. Ava kissed Uncle on the forehead and said, “Thank you.”

  He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a sheet of lined paper. “Lok owns three plots of vacant land, the ones he keeps selling over and over again. He has an interest in several massage parlours that specialize in hand jobs and a nightclub that is mainly a whorehouse. I do not think he would take your brother’s partner to either of those places. So there are two candidates.

  “The first is a warehouse he has near the old town. According to my contact it is a busy place. He uses it as a distribution centre for wine he brings in from China and Portugal. It is also quite central, quite public, so though it is worth taking a look at, I think your best bet is his house. The house is on Coloane, in the most southwestern part of Macau, near Seac Pai Van Park. It was custom-built and is more of a compound than a residence. Some of his men, including Wu, stay there. It is quite isolated, I am told.”

  He slid the paper over to her. “There are the addresses, such as they are.”

  “Thank you.”

  “This does not make me happy, you understand.”

  “I know.”

  “Have you heard about the partner yet?”

  “We’re working on it. I’ll know shortly, but I’m betting he’s still alive.”

  “Lok is an animal. Wu makes all the noise and acts like the tough guy, but never forget that Lok is capable of just about anything.”

  She picked up the teapot and poured. Neither of them touched their cups. “Uncle, I was thinking of asking Carlo and Andy to do some work for me, but I wanted to clear it with you first.”

  “They are their own men.”

  “Still.”

  “If you have to ask them, I do not object.”

  “And money — I’ve never paid them directly. What is their rate?”

  “That depends on what you want them to do. When I sent them to Las Vegas to help you, I paid them five thousand Hong Kong a day. If it is not dangerous work, you could pay three thousand.”

  “It isn’t dangerous, but I’ll pay five thousand anyway.”

  “They will be as loyal for three thousand.”

  “Now who’s being practical?” she said.

  Her phone rang. The caller ID read amanda yee. “This is Ava.”

  She listened, nodded, and said, “I’ll be about half an hour. We should head to Sha Tin as soon as I get there.”

  “Sha Tin?” Uncle said after she closed her phone.

  “They sent us the photo we wanted. The partner is alive. He lives in Sha Tin, and the wife is there, evidently now going out of her mind with worry. We need to see her.”

  “Who is ‘we’?”

  “Amanda Yee, my brother’s girlfriend, and me.”

  “Yee . . . any connection to Jack?” Uncle asked.

  I should be so quick, Ava thought. “His daughter.”

  “Have they discussed you?”

  “Evidently.”

  “Jack thinks you walk on water.”

  “That’s the problem,” she said.

  As they left the kitchen he said, “Keep in touch. I do not want to hear things second-hand.”

  “I will.”

  Andy was standing by the cash register with his wife. They both gave a deep bow as Uncle passed. Ava saw him to the door and walked back. “Andy, can we have a word?”

  “Sure,” he said, not budging.

  Ava looked at his wife.

  “She knows everything,” he said.

  “Okay, I have a situation I need some help with. Could you get hold of Carlo and tell him I have a few days’ work for the two of you, starting, say, tomorrow morning?”

  “No problem.”

  “I’ll need you both to go to Macau, so bring your ID cards or passports.”

  “No problem.”

  “Five thousand a day okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Do you have binoculars?”

  “No, but I know where to get a good pair.”

  “How about a camera with a long-range lens?”

  “I have my own.”

  “Bring them with you. I’ll meet at the Macau Ferry terminal at ten o’clock.”

  “Okay, boss. Good to be working with you again.”

  “Same here, Andy.”

  ( 12 )

  On the ride from Kowloon back to Hong Kong on the Star Ferry, she began to think about Derek. Three or four months earlier she wouldn’t have hesitated to tell him to get his ass on a plane to Hong Kong. He was her personal security blanket. They had met at bak mai, the only two students of their Toronto instructor. He was the son of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, and as far as she knew he hadn’t worked a day in his life. His only source of income besides Daddy was the money she paid him for the support he had provided once or twice a year for the past few years.

  The thing about Derek was that he never questioned, never hesitated. What had to get done got done. And if he had any fear, she’d never seen it. When they’d saved Jack Yee from what was going to be a horrendous beating, or worse, Derek had personally taken out three men, leaving Ava with just two, which he teased her about constantly. She loved Derek. The problem was that her best friend, Mimi, did too. And Mimi was pregnant.

  Shit, why did I let them get together? she thought. It had been perfect the way it was before. They hadn’t deliberately hooked up; in fact, she had done what she could to warn Mimi off Derek. Looking back, that was probably the wrong thing to do with someone who was always willing to burn her fingers when it came to men.

  I can’t do it, she decided as the ferry began to manoeuvre into the Hong Kong terminal. If anything ever happened to him I’d be doubly devastated — no, with a baby involved, triply devastated. She’d make do with Carlo and Andy for now. They showed very little initiative, which was a good thing, and they followed orders, which was also good. When she was working, Ava liked to be surrounded by low-maintenance men. These two qualified.

  She took a cab to the apartment.

  Michael opened the door, dressed, shaved, and with his hair slicked back. “Come to the computer,” he said.

  Amanda sat at the keyboard. “Hey, I was just getting caught up on my own emails. Let me close this window.”

  She hit a tab at the bottom and Simon To’s photo appeared. He held the paper at chest level, the headline and the date clearly visible. His chin touched the top of the sheet.
His face dog-sad but untouched, except for a bruise under his eye from the punch at lunch. They didn’t have to scare him, Ava thought.

  “Okay, great. Now, Michael, you need to make another phone call to Lok.”

  “What about this time?”

  “You’re going to thank him for the photo and you’re going to tell him that you’ll need a week to get the money collected.”

  A look of disbelief crossed his face. “He told us forty-eight hours.”

  “And now we negotiate.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “You thank him for the photo and then you tell him you need a week. Tell him you’ve got ten contacts you’ve got to go to, that you can’t just pull the money out of thin air. It has to be done bit by bit.”

  “He’ll never agree to a week.”

  “Then you ask for six days.”

  Amanda turned away from the computer. “Michael, Ava is right. Lok has to be smart enough to know that forty-eight hours is impossible. He might not buy a week, but you can get more time.”

  “And when you do, tell him we need a photo of Simon sent to your email address every day at noon,” Ava added.

  “Do you want to listen in again?”

  “No, you know the drill. Stick to the point. Keep insisting.”

  “Okay,” he said, breathing deeply.

  Ava turned to Amanda. “Did you call Jessie?”

  “Yes, she’s expecting us.”

  “The two of you are going to Sha Tin?” Michael asked.

  “We are.”

  “Shall I come as well?”

  “Not a chance,” Ava said. “One look at your face and Jessie will freak out, and I’m not about to show her that photo of Simon either.”

  Amanda stood. “Jessie sounded concerned enough already.”

  “Call either of us on our cellphones after you’ve talked to Lok,” Ava said, motioning to Amanda that it was time for them to go.

  “I’m glad you left him alone to do it,” Amanda said as they left the apartment. “He was complaining that he felt like a child the way you handled it earlier.”