‘Well, all right but where are you staying and I’ll repay you.’
‘Forget it. Just put it down to an example of the friendly international relationship that exists between the British and the US.’
‘All right, but my name is Adam Harrison and I’m staying at the Peninsula. If you’re anywhere near it over the next week or so, please call in and I’ll not only repay you this money but I’ll also treat you to a meal.’
‘You never know,’ the man said, ‘we might just take you up on that.’
‘Are you sure you’ll be all right?’ the young woman asked, ‘We could always get you a taxi.’
‘No, it’s all right. Thanks. The friend I called will be here shortly.’
‘If you’re sure, but are you injured in any way?’
‘Just my pride.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘I’m sure and thank you both. You’ve restored my faith in human nature. And I look forward to repaying your understanding over a decent wine and a good meal. Don’t forget the name is Adam. Adam Harrison and I’m staying at the Peninsula.’
‘Okay. If you’re quite sure.’
‘Please. You have both done more than enough.’
With a cautious smile from the young woman, the couple moved on but not before she glanced over her shoulder, almost as though to make sure Adam had been real.
* * *
It was less than five minutes before a yellow taxi pulled up and Adam saw Leila climb out and start looking around for him.
‘I’m here,’ he said coming out from the shadows of the alley.
Leila’s hand shot up to her mouth. ‘Adam, what happened?’
‘Don’t ask.’
‘You look -’
‘And I probably smell twice as bad. Can you take me some place where I can have a shower?’
‘Your hotel?’
‘Preferably not. Not yet.’
‘My apartment?’
‘Yes, if you have a shower, and I might just offer you an apology or two at the same time.’
‘Are you injured?’
Adam was surprised to see her shudder and was puzzled by the sudden look of disquiet on her face.
‘My pride is seriously hurt,’ he said, ‘but physically I don’t think my assailants had much to do other than take what they wanted.’ He looked towards the waiting taxi. ‘Do you think he’ll let me in?’
Leila took his arm in much the same way as the girl in the bar had taken his arm. ‘He will have seen much worse than you.’ She opened the back door of the taxi and issued some rapid instructions in Cantonese before getting in after Adam.
Adam rested his head against the back of the seat. The taxi smelt like a fresh English Spring day compared with the alley. ‘Thank you,’ he said, closing his eyes. ‘Thank you for leaving your number and thank you for coming to get me.’
‘I could be clever and say I knew it would only be a matter of hours before we saw each other again, but I would be lying. Let’s just say this is what I hoped for, although not under these circumstances.’
‘But I -’
‘No, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. You’re safe now and yes, I do have a shower, a very good one as you’ll find out, and I hope afterwards you’ll give me just a little of your time before you reject me again.’
Adam smiled. ‘I didn’t reject you -’
‘Then what did you do?’
‘I didn’t reject you. I was fighting against what you were doing to me.’
She glanced sideways as the taxi slowed for a set of traffic lights. ‘And what was I doing to you?’
There were a few seconds of silence. ‘Making me realise that even under the most testing of circumstances, life must go on.’
‘I think we’ve been here once before,’ she said, pushing her knee against Adam’s.
‘Yes, we have, but this time it’s different.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Gabrielle would have given anything to get to sleep.
She had tried to watch more films than she had ever watched before and half of them she either didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand. As with TV back in the UK, she never ceased to marvel at what entertained some people. She also often wondered whether she needed to revisit her sermons and bring them into the twenty-first century, but since most of her audience was from the earlier part of the twentieth century there seemed little point.
She felt dehydrated.
She felt agitated.
But most of all, and understandably, she felt extremely apprehensive.
Had she done the right thing? There was no real way of knowing. She was venturing into the unknown. Her father always said she was impulsive. Even when she decided she wanted to become a minister he told her she was acting on an impulse and then five years later when she was ordained it was still on an impulse. She often thought all her father ever wanted for her was to find a man; a man who would look after her, produce numerous grandchildren and at the same time keep her happy. Her father was from the generation that believed women were put on this earth to have babies, be mothers and look after their husbands.
He would not only be apprehensive, Gabrielle thought, smiling nervously to herself; he would be having the proverbial kittens. He would be lying awake at night and worrying. Her mother would be lying awake next to him and worrying because he was worrying. As soon as she landed she would have to let her father and mother know where she was. She had spoken to them or texted them each day after she left Loch Lomond, and from Heathrow when she’d told them she was going abroad for a few days, though not what her destination was.
Gabrielle watched as the cabin crew for the umpteenth time walked up and down the aisles checking on their charges. How could they do it? With the advent of giant airliners and hundreds of passengers, surely the glamour of being an air stewardess had worn off by now, or were there other attractions?
‘Are you all right, Miss?’
Gabrielle decided her inquisitor was even younger than she was. ‘Yes, fine thanks, just having trouble getting to sleep.’
The stewardess smiled. ‘I’m afraid it happens all the time. Would you like another blanket?’
‘No, no thanks.’
‘Breakfast will be served in about three hours.’
‘How long after that before we land?’
‘We’re on schedule, so about four and a half hours.’
‘Thanks.’
Gabrielle closed her eyes.
It was frustrating not knowing what avenue she would pursue on her arrival. It was just as frustrating not even knowing what she was going to. She tried to remember the pictures she had glanced at over the years, but none would materialise into an image. She remembered the fuss and bother generated when the British pulled out of Hong Kong seven years earlier, but also remembered wondering why the British had been there in the first place. She was sure that if she read up on the history of the colony a lot of her questions would be answered. She tried to imagine a similar situation existing somewhere in Great Britain. The answer was quite simple: it would not have existed. The in-flight magazine she’d read from cover to cover hadn’t really helped.
With her eyes still closed she tried to conjure up a clear picture of Adam Harrison’s face because, after all, he was the reason why she was now in a British Airways Boeing 747 thousands of feet above the Indian Ocean.
She could remember his smile.
She could remember his laugh, his voice, his eyes, but putting all the pieces together was not proving easy. She had known him for such a short time. So why was she a matter of hours from arriving in Hong Kong?
Okay, yes, she had made a promise to Christina Yong.
And she fully intended keeping that promise.
But …
* * *
‘We seem to spend a lot of time watching each other come out of the shower,’ Adam said as he crossed the room.
Leila was sitting in the chair by the window.
It was a small apartment, comprising a double bedroom and a small box room which could be a single bedroom if the occupant was no bigger than a baby, a through living room with a dining area and a very reasonably sized kitchen. From the living room a door opened onto a small balcony overlooking the hustle and bustle of the street below. Adam had tried to follow the various twists and turns the taxi had taken, and unless he was mistaken, Leila’s apartment was not far from where they had eaten the previous evening at the Colombo Dragon in Granville Circuit. He reckoned they were at the end of Granville Road and high enough up to be able to see some of the activity in the harbour.
‘Would you like one?’ Leila asked lifting her glass of red wine.
‘That or something stronger, if you have it,’ Adam said. After his very recent experience he wondered why he wanted something stronger.
Leila uncurled her legs from beneath her and looked at him. He had a white towel wrapped round his waist and was aware she could see the array of purple bruises on his rib cage and stomach.
‘Are you sure you’re feeling all right,’ she said. ‘Those bruises …’
He looked down. ‘Superficial. As I told you when you found me the only thing that’s really hurting is my pride.’
‘What actually happened?’ she asked, crossing to the cupboard where she kept a few bottles of spirits.
‘I went for a walk during which I felt the need to get very drunk. Some tart decided to take advantage of my lack of self control.’ He went over to the window and stood looking through the darkness towards the harbour.
‘It looks as though she succeeded,’ Leila commented as she poured whisky into a glass. ‘Do you want anything with the whisky?’
‘No thanks, but can I assume I’m safe with you if I get drunk again?’ He smiled as he watched Leila’s reflection in the window.
There was a sudden silence as Leila weighed up her reply. ‘Depends what you mean by safe,’ she said, without adding he was now in more danger than he had ever been before. ‘After the way you treated me this morning I can perhaps empathise with the tart, as you called her, who mugged you.’ She had taken control of her emotions so she believed she was now the professional again.
‘I wasn’t mugged by a tart. She must have had an accomplice.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘No, but it was probably the barman.’
She gave Adam the whisky and he took a sip. ‘I have no right to be here,’ he said, ‘and you have every right to be bitter. I’m sorry about this morning, but I do have a few stages to go through before I can say I’ve got my act together. You came into my life a little too quickly.’
She sat down. ‘But not so quickly for you not to think of me when you needed help.’
‘Touché! As I said, I’m very sorry and very appreciative of you being there for me this evening.’
‘So what happens now?’
‘What? Right now or -?’
‘Don’t evade the question. You rejected me for whatever reason this morning and now within twelve hours I’m back in your life. Am I simply a convenient number to call to bail you out of an embarrassing situation or in those short twelve hours have you decided to give me a little more consideration?’
‘As you said, it’s just a short twelve hours.’ He put his hand on his forehead and screwed up his eyes. ‘Twelve hours,’ he murmured softly. ‘Where did I hear that before? Sorry, I was just remembering something-’
‘But long enough for you to come running at the first sign of trouble,’ she said, ignoring his sudden distant look which she assumed must be the aftermath of being hit on the head.
‘I don’t know anybody -’
‘If you were going to say what I think you were going to say, don’t. I didn’t take you for a bastard and I still don’t.’
Leila had to be careful. She could feel her heart thumping as she looked at the man who might have been able to change her life, so part of her could not believe what she was saying and how she was behaving. The man standing over by the window with one of her towels wrapped round his waist was no longer her future: he was her next victim. Within the next few days he was going to have to die. It was as simple as that. She had no idea why, but as had been pointed out to her, it was the sort of question she should not be asking. Her immediate obedience must never be doubted; the slightest suspicion would lead to only one thing -
Her own death.
She walked across the room and put her hand on Adam’s shoulder, then let her fingers drift slowly down and over the muscles on his back. She felt him shiver in response to her touch.
‘I think you need your faith restoring in the female of the species,’ she said. Hooking her fingers into the towel she pulled it away.
* * *
Gabrielle woke with a start.
‘… so please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts.’
It seemed only a matter of minutes since her eyes had finally closed but on checking her watch she realised she’d been asleep for nearly four hours.
It was just after twelve-thirty.
She wished she had a window seat. She loved watching the ground getting closer and closer until finally the wheels screeched on the tarmac. She remembered thinking when she was a child that while they were above the clouds she was with God and then He would gently lower her back down to earth. She smiled, wondering if God was watching over her now.
She hoped he was.
‘Would you fasten your seatbelt, Miss,’ the stewardess said.
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I was daydreaming. What’s the weather like in Hong Kong?’
‘Warm and settled,’ the stewardess told her before moving on.
What does warm and settled mean, she wondered?
She closed her eyes, clasped her hands together and mouthed a silent prayer.
* * *
‘Welcome back to the land of the living,’ Leila said, putting a mug of steaming coffee on the bedside table. ‘You’ve been asleep for hours.’
‘What time is it?’ Adam asked, trying to focus on his surroundings and wondering where he was.
‘Nearly one o’clock. You were fast asleep when I left this morning and you’d hardly moved when I came back ten minutes ago.’
‘Left this morning?’ He reached for the mug of coffee.
She sat down on the side of the bed. ‘To go to work, silly, but I’ve taken the afternoon off. My boss owes me a few favours.’
‘Oh, right.’ It struck Adam that quite a few men seemed to owe Leila favours.
She put her hand on his chest. ‘Thank you for last night. You were something else.’
He looked at her. ‘Was I?’
‘You made up for a few things, let’s put it that way, but I won’t say any more because I don’t really want to know that you don’t remember much about it.’
‘Remember? Of course I remember.’
‘Of course you do. Now,’ Leila carried on, ‘I promised to show you the Hong Kong of now, so I suggest you have a shower while I fix some lunch and then we can go on a sight-seeing tour.’
‘There’s a small matter to do with what I wear. I need some clothes before I go anywhere.’
‘That’s taken care of,’ she told him, indicating the wardrobe across the room. ‘I bought you a couple of shirts, a pair of shoes - I hope I got the size right - a pair of trousers, a new wallet and a couple of other odds and ends.’
Adam surveyed Leila’s purchases. ‘You really are an absolute star,’ he said. ‘Most men would die to find someone like you.’
‘Don’t say that, Adam. Please don’t say that.’
* * *
Gabrielle pushed her trolley, following the exit signs and some of the other passengers she recognised from her flight. It had all been too easy so far. Inwardly she had hoped there would be some sort of complication with her entry into Hong Kong so that she would have to delay her next decision. She needed more time to think before being thrown into the unknown.
Perhaps she was a
lready in the unknown.
Everything had gone smoothly. The checks were surprisingly superficial. Pushing the trolley out of the main building, she realised Hong Kong International Airport was not really different from any other airport she’d ever been in - multicultural, multilingual and very, very busy.
She joined what she believed was the queue for taxis. She was not willing to risk public transport - to save money she’d tried that in Paris on a number of occasions and rarely did she finish up where she wanted to go.
In front of her in the queue was an elderly couple who looked confident so Gabrielle plucked up the courage to speak to them. ‘Excuse me,’ she asked hesitantly, ‘but do you live in Hong Kong or are you visitors, like me?’
The couple turned round and looked at her. There was a twinkle in the man’s eye as a smile crossed his lips. ‘We live here, young lady,’ he replied. ‘We’re just returning from visiting our daughter in England -’
‘She doesn’t want to know that, Eric,’ the woman said, butting in. ‘What can we do to help, Miss …?’
‘Gabrielle, Gabrielle Brooks,’ she told them, holding out her hand.
‘Miss Brooks,’ the woman repeated. ‘Mr and Mrs Elliott, Elizabeth and Eric Elliott.’
Gabrielle shook their hands. ‘It’s nice to meet you and I’m sorry to interrupt but this is my first time in Hong Kong and I’m afraid I’ve done nothing about a hotel. Can you recommend one?’
The woman, who looked in her late sixties, eyed her quizzically. ‘You’ve come all the way to Hong Kong and you have nowhere to stay?’
‘No,’ Gabrielle said, smiling. ‘That’s not what I meant. I travelled in a bit of a rush and hadn’t time to book anywhere. I thought it would be easy enough once I got here. But now I realise I haven’t a clue where to ask the taxi driver to take me.’
Eric Elliott, who was probably five or six years older than his wife, was still smiling. ‘You have a choice of many hundreds of hotels, my dear. It depends on what you’re looking for and what you can afford.’
In Denial Page 27
