The Red Pole of Macau

by Ian Hamilton

  When she was finished, she told them to go outside for a smoke break. “I’m sure you must have questions. When you come back, we’ll try to answer them,” she said.

  Sonny stayed behind. “What do you think?” Ava asked.

  “A good plan.”

  “You have any worries?”

  “The mezzanine.”

  “I know, I actually had dreams about that last night.”

  “If Wu and Lok are up there when we come through the door, it isn’t going to be any fun.”

  Ava sat across from him. “I know. The thing is, I think Wu is right-handed, and that’s the arm I broke. If he wants to shoot, he’ll have to use his left hand, and that’s not an easy adjustment. As for Lok, he doesn’t seem the type to even carry a gun, although that doesn’t mean he won’t have one. In any event, I know we can’t just waltz in there. I think when we go through the door, we should head right up the stairs. Lok’s room is on the far right, and I’m going to cut hard in that direction. You need to focus on Wu’s room.”

  “How about you?” Sonny said. “What else worries you?”

  Ava was about to say “everything” and then caught herself. Sonny deserved more than a glib answer. “The more I think about it, the more I analyze it, the more concerned I get about the left wing. On the surface it seems like the easiest part of it. I mean, if the men who are housed there react as slowly as I’ve been told they have in the past, then we should be able to neutralize them without any bloodshed.

  “But it’s all a matter of timing. If we’re fast enough getting through the gate and through the door, and if we’re lucky enough that they don’t hear anything until we’re actually at the door, then we should be able to seal off the wing without too much trouble. What scares me is that they might hear the gate crash, or the gate is hooked up to the alarm system and we’re slow getting to the house and through the door. Then they have time to figure out what’s going on, get armed, and be waiting for us. There could be as many as seven of them. And then what? Twelve men firing at each other in close quarters? It would be a mess.”

  Sonny walked over to the table and poured himself a cup of tea. May leaned against the wall, watching him. He looked up and smiled at Ava. “It would remind me of the old days.”

  Carlo and Andy came back into the suite with the other men and all of them took their seats again.

  “Okay, questions,” Ava said.

  There was silence.

  “Nothing?” Ava said.

  “When do we go over?” Andy asked.

  “I want you all on standby until we get confirmation that the boat has docked and is secure and we know the truck has arrived. We should know both those things early this afternoon. So plan on going over starting late this afternoon and into the early evening, but don’t leave until you’re given the green light. And when you do go, don’t do it as one big group.

  “Now, when you get there, head for the Kingsway Hotel. I’ve booked three rooms under the names of Carlo, Andy, and Sonny. Figure out among yourselves who stays with whom.

  “I’ve rented two SUVs. I’ll be driving one, Sonny the other. Sonny, you’ll have to collect yours when you get to the Macau ferry terminal. We’ll have the cars at the front of the hotel at five a.m. Meet us there, and bring your bags — we’re not going back to the hotel after the job. We’ll drive to the wharf, pick up the hardware, connect with the truck, and then convoy to Coloane. We should be there comfortably by six.

  “Carlo, you need to call me, Andy, and Sonny as soon as you hear from your cousin. May will let me know about the truck, and I’ll pass it along.”

  “The truck is on schedule to be in Macau by one,” May said.

  Ava heard a noise from the adjacent room. Amanda peeked in from around the corner. “Come in,” Ava said.

  She carried a megaphone in her hand, and Ava had to smile because it was almost half her size. “This is Amanda, everyone. She’s been helping me.”

  “What is that for?” Carlo asked.

  “That’s for you,” Ava said. “We don’t know how loud the alarm is going to be, and I want to make sure you can communicate with the guys in the wing. This should help if the noise is too loud. Try it out — but wait until you leave here.”

  Amanda put the megaphone on the table in front of Carlo and then moved back against the wall next to May. They exchanged nods.

  “Two more things before you go. There are balaclavas in the box over there; each of you take one.”

  “I hate wearing those things,” Andy’s brother-in-law muttered.

  Ava stared at Andy, who nudged him. “We’ll be wearing them,” Andy said.

  “You can get rid of them when you’re in the house and it’s secure. Until then, keep them on,” Ava said.

  “Last, I want to talk about money. I’m paying all of you for four days,” she said, reaching for her bag. She extracted the envelopes and gave them to Carlo. “Pass those out for me, will you?”

  She saw Sonny hesitate and said, “Sonny, it isn’t fair for me to treat you any differently.”

  When the envelopes had been distributed, she said, “That’s your full four-day advance. If the job is as successful as I think it’s going to be, there will be a bonus for everyone as well. So that’s it. We should be in touch with you in the next few hours.”

  The men shuffled towards the door. Ava trailed after them and touched Carlo lightly on the elbow. “Just a minute,” she said to him.

  “What is it, boss?”

  “What were the men saying when you went out for a smoke?”

  “They have a good feeling about this, and having Sonny along is a big plus.”

  “They know Sonny?”

  “If they don’t know him, they’ve heard of him. He’s a legend.”

  ( 23 )

  Amanda had taken the map and floor plans from the wall and was rolling them up. May was still leaning against the wall, now with a phone to her ear. Ava grabbed a bottle of water and sat at the table. She’d never had a woman involved in her business before, even marginally, and now she had brought two of them into it. She had no way of telling them how the day would transpire. Derek had described it best, she thought, when he said that working with her was twenty-three hours and fifty minutes of waiting and boredom followed by ten minutes of action and terror.

  “The driver is two hours from Macau,” May said, ending her call.

  “Great. If he gets in early enough we’ll have a chance to drive over to the house. It would be useful for him to see the road,” Ava said. “Now, have you two introduced yourselves?”

  “Not yet.”

  “May Ling Wong, this is Amanda Yee. Amanda is my brother’s fiancée.”

  “You hardly look old enough to have a boyfriend, let alone be engaged,” May said.

  “Thank you,” Amanda said.

  Ava said, “She has a master’s degree in international business from Brandeis, and she’s biding her time before taking over her father’s modest company and turning it into a massive conglomerate. I think you two could do some good business together.”

  “She’s exaggerating about my ambitions,” Amanda said.

  “Everyone has to start somewhere,” May said. “Anyway, pleased to meet you.”

  “And you. I’ve heard of you, of course. All the Chinese girls at business school have heard of you.”

  “That’s kind.”

  Amanda looked awkward and Ava wondered if she felt intimidated. “May has been instrumental in arranging the things that will help me get Simon back,” she said.

  Amanda took a seat. “This so weird,” she said.

  “I owed Ava some favours. This is my way of paying her back.”

  “That’s not what I mean — No, it is partly what I mean, because how could I expect to have May Ling Wong helping me and Michael? I mean, the closest
I ever thought I’d come to meeting you was looking at your photos in the Hong Kong Tatler. And now here you are.”

  “Here I am.”

  “And here you are with those men and that map and God knows what else Ava has been working on . . .” Amanda said, and then turned to Ava, her face taut. “Are all those men going with you?”

  “They are.”

  “That’s good . . . At least, I think that’s good.”

  “Amanda, I’m going to need you to be really supportive over the next twenty-four hours,” Ava said.

  “Whatever you want — you know that.”

  “The most important thing is, you have to help me manage Michael and look after Jessie. In the next hour or so he should be getting his photo of Simon from Lok, and after he does he has to call Lok and finalize the arrangements for the exchange.

  “I’m going to call him from here when we’re finished and tell him that I have all the money he promised to deliver to Lok. He’s to tell Lok that and to finalize the form of payment. I will tell Michael that whatever Lok wants, I will arrange to get it to him — to Michael — by noon tomorrow.”

  “And what does that have to do with me?” Amanda asked.

  “I want you to be there when he makes the call to Lok. Don’t let him waver. He has to sound confident and eager. Hammer that home.”

  “He’s almost as worried about repaying the money as he is about Simon.”

  “I know. I’m going to tell him I’ve arranged a long-term, low-cost loan with interest postponed for the first year. If he says anything, just repeat that. Tell him I’ve called in some favours. Actually, tell him whatever you think will keep him calm. I can’t have Lok having doubts about the money. He has to believe that Michael has it, and that Michael is going to bring it to Macau in one form or another on Friday afternoon.”

  “Okay, I understand.”

  “And then there’s Jessie. We don’t want her doing anything to upset our plans, and frankly, after talking to you last night, she worries me. So, if you don’t mind, after Michael makes his call I think it would be a good idea for you to go to Sha Tin. Is there any way you can arrange to spend the night there?”

  “Sure. I’m certain she’d like it.”

  “And you would be there tomorrow morning, wouldn’t you.”

  “You’ll call, right?”

  “The first call is to Sha Tin.”

  Amanda nodded. “It would be nice to give her the good news in person.” Then she sighed so deeply she shuddered.

  “Everything is going to work out,” Ava said.

  “Four days ago I was worrying about what to wear to Sunday brunch before the horse races. Now look at me,” Amanda said.

  “I’ll call Michael now,” Ava said.

  He sounded defensive and nervous when he answered the phone, and Ava couldn’t blame him. The clock was ticking on Simon, and all Michael had to go on was Ava’s assurances that she’d get the money. So she leapt right at him. “Michael, I’ve secured the money.”

  “Ava, that’s great, how —”

  “I called in some favours,” she said. “You’ve heard of the Wong Group in Hubei?”

  “Of course.”

  “They’re advancing it. You’ll have it for the first year interest-free. After that they’re prepared to turn it into some small equity position in your company or convert it into a loan at no more than the standard bank rate. So that should buy you boys some time to build up the business — and give you the option of having a partner with some serious muscle.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “Well, it at least gets us past tomorrow, doesn’t it.”

  “I haven’t heard from Lok since yesterday, when we talked about the exchange.”

  “That’s okay, you call him. Call him after you get the photo. Tell him you’ll meet him tomorrow afternoon at two in the lobby of the Venetian, and that you’ll be bringing him cash. That will make him happy.”

  “How will this actually happen, I mean — ?”

  “The exchange?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s leave that for the morning.”

  “But if he asks, I have to tell him something.”

  That was a very good point, Ava conceded, realizing she hadn’t given it a thought, and that Lok might find it strange if Michael didn’t have something in mind, since it was he who had asked for the exchange in the first place. “Tell him that you’ll be coming with me and a man by the name of Sonny Kwok. He can bring any two men he chooses. We’ll meet directly in front of the check-in desk. They must have Simon with them. Simon walks to us, we slide the suitcase over to them, and then we turn and leave the hotel. Simple.”

  Michael didn’t reply, and Ava thought, Yeah, simple. Real simple. Too simple.

  “Look, Michael, I really have to go now. Let me know how it goes with Lok this afternoon. I’ll keep my phone on.”

  “How was he?” asked Amanda after Ava hung up.

  “I think you should get over there as quickly as you can.”

  “That was a hell of a story you spun. Where can I get some of that interest-free money?” May asked, smiling.

  “Sorry, it just came to me. I thought throwing the Wong Group’s name into the mix added credibility.”

  “Sounded great to me,” Amanda said.

  “Well, if the day ever comes when we do do business together, you’ll learn quickly enough that the word free doesn’t exist in the Wong Group’s vocabulary.”

  Amanda turned to Ava. “So now what?”

  “You go home to Michael. He’ll tell you about our chat and you’ll pump him full of confidence. Please listen in on his conversation with Lok, and make sure he calls me when it’s over. If it goes okay, then you grab the mtr and head for Sha Tin.”

  “How about me?” May asked.

  “Keep in touch with your driver and call me the moment he reaches Macau. I’m going to go to my room. I still have things I need to finish.”

  ( 24 )

  In her ten years with Uncle, Ava had primarily worked solo. She was accustomed to and comfortable with the rhythm of her own thought processes, of adjusting to strange countries, of encountering countless strangers and finding a way to bend them to her will. She lived mainly in her own head, driven by a pattern that came as naturally to her as breathing: link A to B and then B to C, and keep going until you get to the end. It wasn’t complicated. People were what made things complicated. Clients who wanted to know about every inch of progress. Thieves who thought they could talk their way out of anything.

  When she needed help — not Uncle-type help but hands-on, by-her-side help — she normally went to Derek. Dependable, loyal, ask-no-questions Derek. And even then he was in and out in a day or two, arriving at the tail end of a job when she needed to persuade the target more forcefully. The same was true with Carlo and Andy the few times she’d used them. She had a specific need for them to fill: get in, get the job done, get out.

  At the end of the morning meeting, when Amanda joined the group, Ava had found herself looking at the assembly and thinking, How the hell did I get myself into this? It wasn’t enough to have Michael to worry about; she had Amanda, May, Carlo, Andy, three other guys, and Sonny all depending on her, and their collective weight was stifling. And the two women were the largest burden. At least with the guys she could give them an order without worrying about hurting their feelings. With May, and especially with Amanda, she found herself having to choose her words carefully, and that was no way to get work done.

  After she graduated from Babson College, Ava had worked for three months for a large accounting firm and quickly discovered it wasn’t for her. She was a crummy employee, she admitted, not good at taking direction, particularly when she thought it was misguided, and she usually thought it was. And she knew she wouldn’t have been any better as a manager,
because she wouldn’t have been able to trust her employees to perform tasks capably. Her mother complained that she was a perfectionist. “I’m harder on myself than anyone,” Ava would reply. “And you think that’s a good thing?” her mother would answer.

  Maybe not, Ava thought, but she was who she was, and she’d found the job that let her express that.

  Less than twenty-four hours to go, she thought as she opened her hotel room door, and then things will be back to normal. In the meantime, all she could do was tolerate the distractions, keep moving ahead, and execute the plan.

  She put her phone on the nightstand and then fell on top of the bed. She closed her eyes and thought about the house. It was now so familiar that she almost felt she’d been inside. In her mind’s eye she could see the truck crashing the gate, the SUVs tucked in behind and careering into the courtyard, the men jumping out and running to the door, Carlo with his ram leading the way.

  There’s no reason it won’t happen that way, she thought. Sometimes things do go smoothly.

  Her phone rang, and she looked to see if it was May or Carlo. It was Uncle. “Hi,” she said.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in my room.”

  “I thought you would be busy getting organized.”

  “I am organized. I’m waiting now.”

  “I just called to wish you good luck.”