The Red Pole of Macau

by Ian Hamilton

  “And they all sleep in this wing?”

  “Yeah, unless there’s an overflow. Then they’ll put some of them upstairs, but I know they don’t like to do that. One time it happened when I was there and Wu didn’t stop bitching about it.”

  “There are five bedrooms on the second floor. Where do Lok and Wu sleep?”

  “Wu is here, the bedroom at the top of the stairs. Lok is at the other end.”

  “So, three empty bedrooms separating them?”

  “No, there are two servants, a husband and wife. They sleep in the middle bedroom.”

  “Servants?”

  “Yeah, they cook and clean. Nice old couple,” Fay said, turning towards Ava. A raw odour hit Ava like a hammer.

  “You didn’t even brush your teeth,” Ava said.

  “I did, but we ate salty fish last night, and that smell stays with you for days.”

  “Then breathe away from me,” Ava said. She pointed to the third floor. “What’s there?”

  “I don’t know. Never been there, and I’ve never seen anyone go there.”

  “There are stairs.”

  “Yeah, but at the top there’s a door, and I’ve never seen it open.”

  “When you’re in Wu’s room, have you ever heard any sounds coming from the floor above?”

  “Like what?”

  “Footsteps, furniture moving, a television or radio?”

  “Never.”

  “What are the evenings like there? How does everyone spend their time?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The other two girls were Russian, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Both for Lok?”

  “That’s what he likes. Big girls, big tits, and always two.”

  “So how did the five of you spend your evening?”

  “We didn’t get there until eleven. We sat in the kitchen and had something to eat and drink, and then we went upstairs to fuck. That’s it.”

  “Where were the other guys?”

  “In the den, playing cards or mah-jong or whatever and watching TV, like every other time I’ve been there.”

  “Do they go to bed early?”

  “Midnight is early for those guys.”

  “So what time do they go to sleep?”

  “One, two, three, something like that. Every time I get up to pee it seems like the TV is on.”

  “How about in the morning — any early risers?”

  “Yeah, the husband and wife, that’s it.”

  “How early?”

  “I don’t know, maybe seven o’clock. I do know that I’ve gone down earlier to get something to drink and the entire place was empty.”

  “This is good, Fay,” Ava said. “You’re being helpful.”

  “Then can I have a smoke now?”

  “No, but we’re almost done.”

  The woman sighed, her breath leaking sideways. Ava almost gagged. “You can sit down, though,” Ava said, motioning to the toilet. “Now I want to talk to you about security.”

  “Security? You’ve seen the place — how much more secure can it be?”

  “Has it always been like that?”

  “Since I’ve been going. The first time I was there I asked Wu about it, and he told me they had a place in Taipa that was attacked by another gang. They lost four men. That’s when they moved to Coloane. Better safe than sorry, he said.”

  “I saw the walls, the wire, the gate. What other security do they have? Is there an alarm system in the house?”

  “Yeah, the whole house is wired. There’s a keypad at the front door and Wu has one in his room, and you can figure Lok has one in his too.”

  “Do you know the code?”

  “As if.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Ava said.

  Fay gave her a get real stare.

  “I saw cameras outside the house. Are they working?”

  “Yeah, there’s a monitor screen in the den and Wu has one in his room.”

  “What do the cameras record?”

  “The courtyard, the front of the house.”

  “Fay, have the alarms ever gone off while you were in the house?”

  “Yeah, a couple of times.”

  “What was the sound like?”

  “A screech, a high-pitched screech.”

  “Loud enough to wake everyone in the house?”

  The woman began to answer and then caught herself. “It’s funny you should ask that, because one time when it woke me, I went to the top of the stairs with Wu. One of the girls who’d been with Lok had tried to go outside for some fresh air, so there wasn’t any threat or anything. He went downstairs to get her back in the house, close the door, and reset the alarm. It wasn’t until he was nearly done that the guys ran in from the wing, so I figure maybe the noise doesn’t carry so well there.”

  “That’s interesting.”

  “And when the alarm was reset, Wu phoned the police.”

  “He what?”

  “He called the cops to tell them everything was okay. He told me the alarm was hooked directly into the police station and that the cops would already be on their way to the house. He said it cost them a fortune to set up that deal, but it was worth every dollar.”

  Ava couldn’t hide the feeling of despair on her face.

  “Guess you didn’t want to hear that, right?” Fay said.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Sorry.”

  Ava took a deep breath, gathering herself. “But I needed to know, and thanks for remembering. So anything else about security you can think of?”

  “No, that’s about it.”

  “Then one last thing,” Ava said. “When you were there last night, did you see a short man with dyed blond hair?”

  “No.”

  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

  “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

  Ava paused, unsure about how much she should say. “I think they’ve kidnapped one of our friends and are holding him hostage,” she finally said. “And I think they’re holding him in the house. If they are, I’d like to know where in the house. Would you have any idea?”

  The woman shook her head. “No, I don’t have a clue.”

  Ava gave her another few seconds, then said, “I’ll get your money. You can go now.”

  “I need to pee first.”

  “Take your time,” Ava said.

  Amanda was awake, sitting at the coffee table and sipping another bottle of mango juice. Carlo and Andy had left the window and now sat side by side on the bed facing her, the three of them talking. Ava couldn’t begin to imagine what they would have in common to discuss, until she heard the words Happy Valley and remembered that Jack Yee owned racehorses.

  “We’re finished here. I just have to pay the girl and we can leave,” Ava said.

  She took five U.S. hundred-dollar bills from her jacket pocket. Fay came out of the bathroom and stood at the hotel room door. Ava went to her and counted the money into her hand. “Thanks,” Ava said.

  “I won’t say anything to anyone,” Fay said.

  Ava nodded and then went back into the room. “Okay, let’s collect our stuff and get back to Hong Kong.”

  The elevator ride to the lobby was animated. Amanda was as much a horse-racing addict as the boys, and she seemed to know her stuff, because they kept asking insider questions and then looking appreciative as she answered them. Ava was pleased to see them distracted, since she was in no mood to chat.

  When they got to the lobby, she excused herself and ducked into the business centre. It took her five minutes to find the Citadel Security Company. It was in Zhuhai, and she noted the email address and phone number.

  The jetfoils back to Hong Kong
ran every fifteen minutes, and at that time of day there were lots of open seats. “I have to make some phone calls, so I’m going to sit alone up at the front,” she told them. “I’ll come back when I’m done.”

  The call to Citadel was more difficult than it should have been. She had to argue her way past a receptionist who insisted on taking her number so someone could call her back, then finally got passed along to a man who seemed to have some idea of customer service.

  “We’re building a pharmaceutical factory in Zhuhai, and security is of pressing concern. We’ve seen pictures of your anti-ram gate and we think it could work for us. Could you give me some more information on it?”

  Ava let him ramble, and when he was finished, she said, “Could you send me that information electronically, and whatever specifications you think I should be aware of?”

  “What size gate are you thinking of? That does have a bearing,” he said.

  She checked her notes. “About six metres across, three metres high.”

  “That’s big.”

  “We have large trucks coming and going all the time.”

  “I understand. We’ve built them that size before, so I’ll dig up what I can for you.”

  “Thanks, I really appreciate it. And tell me, when you say ‘anti-ram,’ what does that really mean?”

  “You could run any car, at any speed, into it and not make a dent.”

  “I assumed that, but how about a van or a Range Rover, say?”

  “You couldn’t generate enough impact.”

  “How about a truck?”

  “What kind of truck?”

  “Say a semi, fully loaded.”

  “The gate isn’t built to withstand everything; it has its limits. It could repel a large truck, I think, but it would depend a lot on the velocity of the vehicle.”

  “So a truck could get through?”

  “Possibly. Depending on what type, how heavy it was, and what speed it was going when it hit the gate.”

  “Thanks for this, and here’s my email address. Please send me the specs,” Ava said.

  “Okay, I’ll send something through in the next hour.”

  A lot of good it may do me, Ava thought as she made her second call.

  “Wei.”

  “Uncle, it’s Ava.”

  “How are you?”

  “Not terrific.”

  “Where are you?”

  “On the jetfoil coming back to Hong Kong from Macau.”

  “So, not a good day in Macau?”

  “No. Can you meet me for dinner?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Let’s go to the Dynasty hotpot restaurant in Central. I will meet you in your hotel lobby at seven.”

  ( 16 )

  It was past six o’clock when she got back to the hotel, just enough time to shower and check her emails. The guy at Citadel had already sent the specifications. She downloaded them onto a USB drive to print later at the business centre.

  She got to the lobby early but Uncle was already sitting on one of the plush couches, his feet dangling above the ground.

  “You look grim,” he said, standing.

  “It’s bad.”

  He put his arm through hers. “We will talk at the restaurant.”

  Uncle had called ahead and booked his normal table. There was no host at the front of the restaurant. Uncle walked past the stand and led her directly to the table. Two pots — one spicy, the other milder — were already bubbling away, and a cart laden with trays of food sat alongside.

  “I don’t have much appetite,” she said.

  “Eat what you can,” he said. “Now I am going to have a beer. Do you want some white wine?”

  “Sure.”

  He waved at the owner, who ran over. “San Miguel and the house white wine. Make sure they are both cold.” As they waited for their drinks he began to fill the pots with fish balls, oysters, thin slices of beef, mushrooms, strips of bean curd. He poured soy sauce into her bowl and added mixed green and red chilis.

  Their drinks arrived, cold and glistening.

  “Before you say anything, you need to know that I made some more phone calls today. I talked to Lok’s old Mountain Master twice, asking him to intervene. He finally called me back about an hour ago.”

  She knew from his demeanour that it hadn’t gone well. “Thanks for trying.”

  “Uncle Tong said you cannot reason with Lok. In his own crazy way he has convinced himself that your brother and his partner really do owe him money. He also told Uncle Tong that the partner started the violence in the restaurant, and that while Wu was trying to calm things, you attacked him from behind.”

  “That’s bull.”

  “I know, but it shows his state of mind.”

  “Does Uncle Tong think he’ll kill Simon?”

  “Yes — pay or don’t pay, the result will be the same. He said Lok is really amused that your brother is actually trying to negotiate and seems willing to pay.”

  Ava plucked a fish ball from the pot. “I have to get him out of there.”

  Uncle grimaced. “I knew you would say that.”

  “What choice do I have?”

  “I spoke to Andy when he got back. He told me about the house.”

  Ava gazed into the spicy pot just as a large, plump oyster bobbed to the surface. She offered it to Uncle. “Thank you,” he said as she put it on his plate.

  “The house is difficult,” she said.

  “Andy thought it was nearly impossible.”

  “You can’t get over the walls unless you parachute in. They’re too high, and the way they’ve strung the electric wire makes it almost suicidal to try.”

  “He was as impressed with the gate.”

  “Well, again, we can’t go over it, but maybe we can go through it.”

  “This is getting overcooked,” he said, dipping into the pots with a strainer and putting the food on a separate plate.

  “It’s stainless steel and it’s what the manufacturer calls ‘anti-ram,’” Ava said. “But when I talked to them, they weren’t so sure that a truck — a big one, obviously, and loaded with something heavy — couldn’t force its way through.”

  “Not so sure? That is not exactly an endorsement.”

  “I have the gate’s specifications. I need time to look at them and to talk to someone who can calculate the probability.”

  “Ava, I have to tell you that I hate to hear you talking like this. It is not like you to be so . . . uncertain.”

  She drained her wine. “I’ll have another, please,” she said.

  Uncle finished his beer and held his bottle in the air. Within a minute, a fresh glass of wine and another bottle of beer were on the table.

  “Actually, I’m even more concerned about something other than the gate.”

  “What is that?”

  “The police.”

  “How so?”

  “The alarm system is hooked directly to the police station. Lok evidently has had them on his payroll for years. The alarm goes off, the police show up. And fast. And believe me, the alarm will go off. So even if we can ram our way through the gate, I figure we’ve only got about ten minutes to neutralize Lok and Wu and somewhere between five and eight other men, find Simon, and get the hell out of there.”

  “Ava, that is not enough time.”

  She put a sliver of beef onto the bean curd, rolled them together and dipped them in her sauce. “The food here is always so good. My appetite is starting to return.”

  “I wish your common sense would.”

  “Is there any way, you think, that I could take the police out of the equation?”

  “Can you find a way to bypass the alarm system?”

  “No. The moment we enter the house, or maybe even the property, the alarm is going to sound
and the cops will know we’re there.”

  He looked at the food left on the cart. “I think I want some shrimp. Will you share?”

  “Sure.”

  As he ordered, she could see he was distracted. She knew she was upsetting him, and she began to wonder again if his age was starting to erode his confidence. “You obviously have something in mind when it comes to the police,” he said.

  “I could buy them off.”

  “And just who would you talk to?” he said sharply.

  She shrugged.

  “Exactly — you do not know who his connection is. And let me tell you, it is more complex there than it used to be. They created the Macau Security Force in the late 1990s, combining different departments. There is still a Public Security Police Directorate, but you do not know who might make the decision. Even if you have a million Hong Kong dollars to spend, or two million, or three million, you need to find and speak to the right person. One miscommunication and Lok knows everything.

  “Then let us suppose you find the right man and you make the offer. What is to stop him from going to Lok anyway? Actually, what is to stop him from cutting a deal with you, taking your money, or part of it, and then betraying you? You could walk into the house, find Lok waiting for you with his small army, and have the police waiting around the corner to finish you off.”

  “I know it isn’t a perfect idea.”

  “Not perfect? Ava, I have not heard you say anything so silly to me in years.”

  The owner arrived with a plate of head-on shrimp. Uncle tipped all of them into the spicy pot. “Bring two more drinks,” he said.

  “I need a way to get to the police,” she said.

  “You are so stubborn.”

  “If I can isolate Lok, I’ll find a way to get through the gate.”

  “Ava, listen to me,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Lok is a man who, given what he does for a living, has limited guanxi. But what guanxi he has is tied to the police force. He is Macanese, and so are all of them. They share blood, they share years of mutual trust, and God knows how complicated and intertwined their financial arrangements are. So trying to separate the police from Lok is, in my mind, a plan with disaster written all over it.”

  She sat back, her attention on the spicy pot, waiting for the first shrimp to pop to the surface. “I have three more days,” she said.