by Ian Hamilton
“Please tell him I called and that I won’t bother him until you give the green light.”
“Something else you should know — one of his men insisted on sleeping here last night, in the bed next to him,” Lui said.
“That would be Suen.”
“Yes, that’s his name. He makes me rather nervous. We mustn’t have any problems at the clinic.”
“There won’t be any trouble, Doctor. Suen is just naturally overprotective.”
“Then I won’t say anything.”
“That’s best,” she said.
Ava left the hotel at ten to eleven, took a right turn, and within five minutes was walking into the lobby of the Bond Building. As she waited for an elevator, her mind flitting between details of the business agreements and thoughts about Uncle Fong and his meeting, her cellphone rang.
“It’s Sonny. How soon can you get to Guangzhou?” he asked.
“Lam’s agreed to talk to me?”
“Yeah.”
The elevator doors opened but Ava stayed rooted in the lobby. “I’m just about to go into a meeting with some lawyers.”
“How long will that meeting take?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Ava, you can’t make Lam wait all day. When Uncle Fong talked to him on the phone, he stressed how urgent it was that they talk, and I know it was his plan to push for a quick meeting between you two. Now that he’s got an agreement, I think you’d better get here as fast as you can.”
She knew he was right, but that didn’t make her feel any better about cancelling on Richard Bowlby again. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure how well she could concentrate on legal matters with Lam dominating her head. “I can get a limo at the hotel,” she said.
“Yeah, they always have some available on short notice. The drive is about an hour and a half. How far are you from the hotel?”
“Ten minutes on foot.”
“You should be able to get back to the hotel, get a limo, and be on the road by eleven thirty. That’ll get you here by one o’clock. Just to be safe, I’ll tell Uncle Fong that you’ll be here before two p.m.”
“Where is ‘here’ specifically?”
“The Pearl Dreams Hotel in Huangpu. It’s half an hour southeast of Guangzhou, so it’s that much closer to Hong Kong. Tell your driver to take the Huangpu Bridge over the Pearl River to the National Road East exit. From there he should go south on Kaifa Avenue. The hotel is on the avenue just before you reach the river again.”
She hesitated.
“Ava, do you need me to repeat that?”
“No. I’m just thinking about the lawyers.”
“They’ll still be there tomorrow. You can’t count on Lam being so accommodating.”
“I get it.”
“So?”
“I’m heading back to the hotel right now. I’ll let you know when I have things organized.”
“Ava, I have to tell you, Lam’s guys are real thugs. Two of them went upstairs with Uncle Fong when he got here. There are at least two more outside and two sitting with me in the lobby.”
“Are you worried about them?”
“No, I just thought you should know. I don’t want you to get here and be spooked.”
“Thanks,” she said, and then glanced at her watch. “Look, I have to go. I’ll call in a while.”
She searched her contacts list and found the number for Richard Bowlby. She called him as she was walking out of the building. The receptionist said he was in a meeting.
“I’m the reason for the meeting and I’m not there, so there isn’t any meeting going on. Could you please connect me?”
A moment later she heard, “This is Bowlby.”
“Mr. Bowlby, this is Ava Lee. I’m terribly sorry about this, but I can’t make it to your office today,” she said quickly.
“Ms. Lee —”
“And I apologize for the short notice, but something urgent arose when I was literally about to step into one of your elevators.”
“I understand,” he said in a tone that implied he didn’t. “Do you have any idea when you’ll be available?”
“No, I don’t, so I think I’d better call May Ling. Perhaps you could work directly with her until I’m available.”
“I’ll be pleased to work with whomever the company designates.”
“Thank you,” Ava said, noting the stiffness in his voice. “And again, my apologies.” She ended the call less than satisfied with the conversation and walked towards the Mandarin, thinking about what she would tell May. She called her cell, not expecting her to pick up, and was mentally preparing a voicemail when May answered.
“Are you alone?” Ava asked.
“Yes. I stepped outside to call Wuhan. There are some issues there I have to deal with.”
“And I have one here, I’m sorry to say.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve just cancelled the meeting I had planned with Richard Bowlby.”
“Did something happen? Are you displeased with him?”
“No, he’s fine.”
“Are you having second thoughts about these deals?”
“It’s Xu,” Ava said.
“Has he become a problem?”
“No, he’s wounded. He’s in a clinic here in Hong Kong — in Mong Kok, actually.”
May gasped. “My god. Is he going to live?”
“Yes, and he’ll be mobile in a few days. But May, there’s no denying it’s a mess, and I’m in the middle of it.”
“How —”
“That doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that I have a plan to extricate both myself and him from the situation. It will take a day or two, though, and I can’t focus on anything else until it’s done.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Manage the Beijing closing with Bowlby,” Ava said, stopping at a red light.
“What about the Po investment?”
“Amanda hasn’t heard from Gillian, so there’s nothing to be done yet. Frankly, it’s becoming a concern, but I think we should leave it to Amanda to sort out.”
“I agree, and of course I can handle Beijing, but what I meant was do you need help with the Xu problem?”
“No. It’s something I have to do.”
“Are you going to tell me about it?”
“Yes, I will, just not right now.”
“Why not?”
Ava closed her eyes and felt her shoulders tense. It was a fair question, and Ava realized there was no answer that wouldn’t sound like I don’t trust you enough to tell you. “Xu was attacked two days ago in Shenzhen by Sammy Wing’s gang from Wanchai and another from Guangzhou,” she said.
“When did you find out?”
“I was with him when it happened.”
May became quiet. Ava could only imagine the kinds of questions that were now in her friend’s mind.
“The gangs used me as bait to draw him there,” Ava said in a rush. “When I met with Sammy Wing in Hong Kong, he said he knew about our financial relationship with Xu and he made some threats about disrupting our business. I went to Xu and told him to fix the problem. He went to Shenzhen to do that.”
“Threats?”
“All they wanted was to get to Xu, and we were a convenient route.”
“And they did get to him.”
“To their regret. Wing’s gang has already been decimated and is now controlled by Xu’s men. We’re just starting negotiations with Guangzhou to restore stability.”
“You said, ‘We are starting.’”
“Yes. I’m handling some of the talks for Xu. I’m leaving in a few minutes for the first session,” Ava said, the hotel coming into view.
“Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
“It isn’t quite that bad. I have a plan that I think is workable. This could be all over by tomorrow, or the day after.”
“You never cease to amaze me. You say that as if it’s the most common thing imaginable.”
“It isn’t much different from other situations I’ve had to deal with.”
“I thought those days were behind you.”
“Me too.”
“Oh, Ava, now I’ll be spending the next few days worrying.”
“I’d rather you spent them getting the deal done.”
“That won’t be a problem. It’s what I’ve been doing for more than twenty years.”
“And sorting out the problem of Xu and Guangzhou is something I know how to do.”
“Yes, I guess you do,” May said, and then paused. “Ava, who else knows about this?”
“No one.”
“Then I’ll keep it close.”
“Thanks, and if you don’t hear from me for a day or two, don’t get paranoid.”
“I remember very well how you like to operate.”
“Look, I just got back to the hotel. I have to speak to the concierge about getting a car to take me to Guangzhou.”
“Be careful. Don’t take any risks when you get there.”
“I always am.”
“Remember, you have friends who love you and worry about you.”
“And I love you too,” Ava said.
“Thanks for sharing this with me.”
“Sure,” Ava said. When she ended the call, she realized that May hadn’t asked her a single detailed question about the threats or Xu’s money. She smiled.
( 35 )
The limo was a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the same as Sonny’s and Xu’s, and the driver also wore a black suit with a white shirt and black tie. But unlike Sonny, he kept up a steady stream of chatter, and Ava finally had to ask him to stop so she could take time to think. She had to plan the pitch she wanted to make to Lam. She opened her notebook, turned to the back, and began to list options. She was still adding and subtracting ideas when the driver said, “There’s the Huangpu Bridge.”
The Mercedes passed over the Pearl River, continued to speed along a four-lane highway, and then exited sharply onto another. Ava lifted her head from time to time to note that development in Huangpu was as rapid as in the rest of China. The car slowed and began to make its way down Kaifa Avenue, which had a mix of low-rise shops, restaurants, and office buildings. The only tall building in sight loomed on the left, and that was where the driver took them.
The Pearl Dreams Hotel was twenty storeys of grey concrete, glass, and aluminum sheathing. The driveway was packed with late-model German and Japanese luxury cars, and the Mercedes was forced to stop well short of the entrance. Ava thought about getting out and walking the rest of the way, and then decided to wait. She didn’t want to appear too eager or look too rushed. So wait she did until the Mercedes was directly in front of the entrance.
“This has been charged to my room?” she said to the driver.
“Yes, miss.”
“Thanks, and this is for you,” she said, passing him an HK thousand-dollar note.
She walked through the revolving doors into the lobby. The concierge was on the right and a carpeted strip ran directly down the middle of the tiled floor towards the elevators. On the left was a sitting area with leather chairs and sofas and glass coffee tables. Towards the rear of this lounge, next to the elevators, Ava saw Sonny. He was sitting in a chair facing in her direction. Across from him she saw the backs of the ponytailed heads of two men.
Ava started to walk across the lobby towards Sonny, but she hadn’t gone more than ten steps before he saw her and leapt from the chair. He moved quickly towards her, his right arm extended. “Hey, we should go right upstairs. They gave me the room number when I said you were on your way,” he said.
As they walked past the sitting area, the two men on the sofa stood and moved in behind them. They made Ava uncomfortable, and she threw a questioning glance at Sonny.
“They’re my shadows, not yours. Don’t worry about them,” he said.
The four of them rode the elevator to the seventeenth floor and walked down the hallway to a corner suite. Sonny knocked. Ava heard voices from inside and the shuffling of furniture. When the door opened, its frame was filled by a man who was as broad as Sammy Wing and several inches taller. When he stepped aside, Ava saw Uncle Fong sitting at a round table set against the window. Across from him stood another man. She paused, expecting Fong to greet her, but he didn’t move. Ava took two steps inside the room and stopped. The negotiations had already begun.
She watched as Uncle Fong struggled to his feet, his hands pressing down on the table for support. At one time he had been close to six feet tall, but he was in his eighties now and the years had shrunk him. He looked so frail that Ava wondered how he walked without a cane. She clasped his hands with both of hers and then kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you for all of this,” she whispered.
“For you, anything,” he said.
Fong was a contemporary of Uncle not only in age but also in the lives they’d led. Like Uncle, he had fled China as a young man and joined a Triad society to secure some kind of future. He didn’t start out working with or for Uncle, but by the time he was in his forties he had joined the Fanling society, which Uncle headed. Ava wasn’t certain when he had retired — he had been retired for as long as she had known him — but she did know that he was dependent on Uncle financially, a dependency that had been passed on to her. When she had asked Uncle how Fong came to be in that situation, he’d shrugged and said, “He was convinced there was a system that could beat the roulette tables in Macau. He spent most of his adult life proving himself wrong.”
“Will you introduce me to Mr. Lam?” she asked.
Fong turned and signalled with a flick of his finger for Lam to come over. Ava was startled by the apparently rude gesture, but Lam simply nodded and came towards them.
He was tall, thin, and wiry and had long hair. He was in his mid-forties to early fifties, she guessed, but when he moved she saw that he was supple, lithe even, and there was strength in that slender body. His long, narrow face was just starting to show age, in lines at the corners of his eyes and a slight sag along his jawline. His hair was white, combed back and tied in a ponytail. Some strands hung loose on the right side of his face, giving him an almost boyish look, a look that was accentuated by a pair of round blue-tinted wire-framed glasses. He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, black jeans, and a pair of Ferragamo loafers. In his own way he was as unlikely a Triad as Xu, she thought.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Ava said before he had reached her.
“Do you remember me?” he asked, extending his hand.
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“I was at Uncle’s funeral, so this is our second encounter.”
“I don’t remember much about that day.”
“Uncle was a great man, and Fong here was as good a Straw Sandal as ever I’ve met — something he’s just proved again today.”
“I owe him my gratitude.”
“Maybe we both will by the time the day is over,” Lam said, his face solemn. “Why don’t we sit by the window.”
“Yes, I’d like that,” Ava said.
“And I’d like everyone else to leave,” Lam said to the other men, who were still standing near the door. As they started to back out of the room, Uncle Fong hesitated. Lam touched him lightly on the arm. “That means you too, I’m afraid. You’ve done your job. Now Ms. Lee and I need to talk alone.”
“I’ll wait for you downstairs with Sonny,” Fong said to Ava.
“Please. And don’t leave without me.”
Lam motioned to Ava, and she took the seat that Uncle Fong had vacated.
“Tea or water?” Lam sai
d. “Or I can order whatever you want from room service.”
“Water is fine.”
He poured her a glass and then one for himself. “I have to say that I was surprised when Fong called and asked to meet with me.”
“I understand.”
“He was quite vague about the reasons, although he did drop some interesting hints. I didn’t put much stock in those hints, I must say.”
“So why did you agree to meet with him?”
“Out of respect mainly. When Uncle was still running Fanling, we did some joint ventures together and Fong was the go-between. He is an honourable man, and I couldn’t imagine he would want a meeting for frivolous reasons. I just didn’t think it really had anything to do with the war between Wing and Xu, which is what he was implying.”
“And why did you think that?”
“Because what could that possibly have to do with us?”
Ava ran her finger down the side of the glass, her eyes moving between the water and Lam’s face. She looked for telltale signs of tension, for any clue that he was lying. He didn’t know that she knew about Ko. “If that’s the case, why did you agree to meet with me?”
“I could say that I was simply curious, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I mean, I can’t deny there are issues between Guangzhou and Shanghai, and Fong made it clear that’s what you want to discuss.”
“Issues like Xu controlling the supply of software and various devices?”
“Yes.”
“And the fact that Li and Xu are both contesting the chairmanship?”
“Yes.”
“Then of course you know that Xu was wounded in an attack that was designed to kill him. You must have some interest in his condition, in his ability to defend his turf.”
Lam’s right hand reached for the strand of hair that hung loose. He stroked it, and for a second he reminded Ava of Clark Po. “From what I’ve heard, Sammy Wing has paid dearly for his rashness,” he said. “I can also assure you that there was no doubt about Xu’s strength either before or after the attack. He has a formidable force.”
