The Code War

by Ciaran Nagle

  Nancy reached behind her with her right hand and pushed it down inside her jeans. She arched her back to open up the gap between the waistband and her spine. The effort caused her head to dip below the waves and she swallowed a mouthful of the Atlantic. She grasped the inflatable life ring she had found earlier in the hinged box under the lorry and pulled it out. Her only chance to live was if it was not punctured. She found the teat and started to blow into it, coughing and spluttering as she tried to breathe at the same time.

  The ring started to inflate. It was a large one, made for saving the lives of refugees at sea, not for playing at the poolside. After two minutes more of exhausting blowing the ring had hardened and was near its full expansion. She slipped it over her head and pulled her arms through. For several minutes she lay back and rested, breathing hard.

  Cheat, wailed the waves. Tricked us. Not fair.

  Sunrise, and the night turned to day speedily in the way that it does near the equator. Over the next two hours Nancy alternated periods of swimming with moments of rest. When she was about half a mile from the coast she turned and breaststroked north. She had no idea which way the nearest village was but she knew the airport was north and that was where she was going.

  The rain stopped, the clouds lightened and blue sky found its way through in patches. A fishing boat came into view, a mile away. The boat was motorised and was heading out to sea. Nancy waved her arms and shouted hoarsely but there was no change in its direction. The boat continued.

  On shore there was no sign of Lafi.

  Ten minutes later, another boat sortied out followed by another. The second of the two changed course slightly and came in Nancy's direction. She hollered and waved for all she was worth. A man standing on the prow was looking out for any shimmer that might mean fish. He walked back to the tillerman. The boat pointed itself directly at Nancy and slowed. A minute later, strong hands were pulling her out of the water. She collapsed at the bottom of the boat and sobbed.

  It was 9.00 a.m.

  'Water, have you any water?' After several minutes Nancy managed to pull herself up on one side. She had stopped sobbing but a blinding headache now afflicted her.

  The kindest, happiest face she had ever seen in her life swung itself into view and its owner shoved a plastic bottle into her hands. She drank deeply and handed the bottle back.

  'Thank you,' she gasped.

  'Lucky. You lucky lady,' said Happy Face. The fisherman was dressed in rough clothes and he squatted down in front of her with his thighs sticking out like girders either side of him. His huge bare feet were like tree roots under Nancy's nose. The second fisherman came up too, smiling with a mouth so wide that Nancy thought of the whale that swallowed Jonah.

  Both of them showed rows of perfect white teeth. Aren't there sweet shops around here?

  Nancy coughed and vomited up the water she'd just drunk. A thick strand of saliva dribbled from her lower lip to the mess in the bottom of the boat. Nausea took her and the boat span around the sky.

  'You fallen otter?'

  'Huh?'

  'You fall in water?'

  'Oh.' Damn headache. 'Yes.'

  The two fishermen talked in their own language. They seemed to be searching for English words.

  'Sleep,' Happy Face said. 'Safe now,' Jonah said.

  Nancy put her head down and closed her eyes. A few minutes later she felt heat on her face and knew the sun had come out. The engine had started again and Nancy hoped they were going home, wherever that was.

  Happy Face gave her the bottle again. 'Drink slow,' he laughed. How were these people so happy, who had nothing? Nancy sipped the water and eased herself up again. The headache had receded and she almost felt alive.

  She stared up at Happy Face and Jonah, who was now at the tiller again. Spray washed over the prow and refreshed Nancy's face. She was feeling less sick and sat up, looking around. A much-repaired net lay at her feet along with her UN life ring. Apart from those and some diesel fuel in cans and a few water bottles, there was nothing else in the boat.

  She looked over the side and saw the coast only a few hundred yards away. The tall trees beyond the beach, now lit up by the morning sunshine were waving their friendship to her. You weren't that cuddly last night, were you? She thought of her flight to the sea with the rain in her face and the gloomy forest behind her. Had that really happened? Was Lafi really going to kill her? Yes and yes.

  The boat rounded a headland and Nancy could now see their destination. A village of wooden shacks with many colourful boats drawn up on the sand and large numbers of people working around dozens of long tables that were set up on the beach. Boats were setting out to sea and others were coming back and unloading their catch. Lines of women and children were filling baskets of fish at each boat and ferrying them in relays to the tables for gutting and drying. Happy Face and Jonah had given up their morning's fishing to bring Nancy home. How could she repay them?

  As they approached the beach, Happy Face stood up high on the prow and began calling out to the nearest bystanders. They could barely hear him above the noise of the engine but soon people could see Nancy's face and began shouting and pointing. A crowd gathered and moved down the beach. Nancy watched all this with growing confidence. She would be safe now, surely?

  A figure at the rear of the beach near the treeline caught her attention, running behind a shack. Lafi. Oh no, not again. What was he doing here? Silly question. He would come and mingle with the crowd, unseen, looking for a moment when she was vulnerable. Then he would strike and make his escape leaving her bleeding her life out on the pure white sand.

  Happy Face was still shouting to the crowd. Moments later people were excitedly helping her off the boat and walking her up the beach. Questions aimed at Happy Face and Jonah in dialect. Questions aimed at Nancy in English. What happened? Who was she? Did her boat sink? Was she from Scotland?

  Where was Lafi?

  She sat down, collapsed rather, and was joined by Happy Face and Jonah, proud of their mermaid catch. Who could she tell about Lafi?

  A local woman, dignified and commanding, came down the beach. The crowd made way for her. She was about fifty and carried herself like someone in authority, stepping like a president, speaking like a caesar. Schoolteacher? Tribal leader?

  'Well this is an unexpected surprise. Did you fall off a pleasure boat?' asked the woman. 'I'm Doreen by the way.'

  Doreen indeed. And I'm the Queen.

  'I'm Nancy, pleased to meet you.' They shook hands.

  But Doreen was waiting for an answer.

  'I, em, I had an accident. These two men saved me from drowning,' Nancy indicated Happy Face and Jonah who were sticking close to her and smiling like politicians on election day.

  'Good,' said Doreen and started talking to Nancy's saviours in their own language. There were lots of questions from Doreen and answers from Happy Face, who seemed to speak for the two of them.

  'Let's get you dried out.' Doreen summoned Nancy to follow her up the beach while some of the crowd started to melt away, show already over. Just a tourist who'd fallen off a yacht. No story there after all. Probably drunk. Westerners!

  Nancy was sure Lafi was biding his time, waiting for a moment when she'd be left alone. Doreen wouldn't be able to protect her, that was for sure.

  Nancy put her arm around Doreen and pulled her to a stop. 'A man tried to kill me,' she whispered urgently. 'A man with a gun. I swam into the sea to escape.'

  Doreen pulled away in alarm. What sort of people was the young white lady involved with?

  'I think he's hiding behind that shack. I mean that building. Waiting for me. If you don't believe me please take a look.'

  Doreen now took a long look at Nancy. She was quite a sight to be sure, bedraggled and shoeless. But she didn't look drunk and she didn't look drugged. Nancy looked back at Doreen, imploring her with her eyes. She knew she was being sized up.

  There was still a small crowd around, including Happy Face and
Jonah who wanted to know the outcome of their morning's work. Doreen turned to them and spoke rapidly without raising her voice. They looked at her in surprise but in a moment ran up the beach and peered behind the shack. Clearly there was someone there as Nancy could see Jonah speaking.

  'Be careful, he's got a gun,' she shouted.

  But a moment later the chase was on. Lafi broke from cover and started to run up the beach. Now, through the trees, Nancy could see the lorry. If he could reach that, he'd get away.

  Lafi brandished his gun and shouted at his pursuers. At the top of the beach two fishermen emerged from the trees carrying a long net between them and walking slowly towards the boats. They heard the commotion and saw Lafi with the gun in his hand, a crowd from their own village chasing him.

  The two fishermen advanced on Lafi holding their net between them. They unfurled the sides of the net threatening to make a catch of him. As they rushed down at each side of Lafi he fired off a shot. One of the men clutched his arm but didn't drop his side of the net. Lafi tried to jump the advancing mesh but his feet slipped in the sand and he ploughed straight into it. In a moment he was trapped and the two net-carriers together with Happy Face and Jonah grabbed him and pinned him.

  Jonah took Lafi's gun and held it high, its very existence evidence of Lafi's guilt. The wounded net-carrier was holding his arm which was bleeding lightly.

  Lafi was marched down the beach towards Doreen and Nancy. The crowd had gathered again but this time it was a very angry crowd indeed. There were jeers and shouts and jabbing of fingers in Lafi's direction. More people were running in from all directions.

  A man appeared behind Lafi bearing a fishing spear. Its sharp tip and barb made for landing sharks. He used it to prod Lafi and keep him moving forward.

  When they reached Doreen, the crowd quietened.

  'Tell me what this man did,' Doreen said to Nancy.

  Nancy breathed in deeply. She didn't know if this was an impromptu trial or if the police had been sent for and, whichever it was, what the outcome might be.

  'He tried to kill me. I ran into the sea and swam away.' Doreen rapidly translated this for the villagers who began shouting and chanting again.

  Nancy noticed some small children in the front of the crowd, holding onto their mothers' skirts.

  'Before that, he was carrying thirty-five children in a lorry across the border. South. That lorry.' Everyone followed her outstretched arm and could just see the outline of the truck through the trees. As those who understood English translated for the others, the crowd's anger turned to fury. Lafi was not of their village, probably not even of their tribe. He had shot one of them with a gun. Now he was accused of child-trafficking, something that all the parents present regarded with horror. If Nancy had been worried that Lafi might try to implicate her in his guilt, she had no need. His time was up.

  The spearsman jerked his arm and the sharp point of the fishing-spear that had been at Lafi's back now appeared in front of his chest. A drop of blood wobbled at the end of its hanging barb. Lafi sank to his knees. The mob closed in around him kicking and tearing.

  Exhausted, Nancy sank back and fell to the ground. She sobbed again and kept sobbing as Doreen came over and put her arm around her.

  'You poor dear, you poor dear,' Doreen repeated. 'You need to get some rest and tell me all about it.'

  That, Nancy thought, is the last thing I want to do. As Doreen led her away she turned and looked back. Lafi's body lay broken and torn on the beach, almost in pieces.

  'You underestimated me, Lafi,' she whispered to his departing soul. 'You weren't the first and you won't be the last.'

  Heaven's Shore

  'Luke, I think the other side have made a slip-up and given something away. This could be our breakthrough.' Jabez was on a one to one globe call with the Stetsoned black angel.

  'Go on.'

  Jabez recounted his discovery of the 'disappearing tattoo.'

  'That breaks all the legal understandings,' said Luke in shock. 'I'd say it was a sin but that's understating it. This needs to get to the top straightaway, to the kind of senior angels that Ruth hobnobs with. This is serious.'

  'No, we mustn't do that,' replied Jabez quickly. 'If we take this through proper channels and it gets to St Michael there'll be all hell to pay in Inferno, he'll make sure of that. But all of that diplomacy will take too long. It won't help us if their leadership gets thumped by ours. The demon team we're battling will know instantly that we're onto them and they'll take counter-measures. We'll lose our advantage. I say we use this discovery and act on it.'

  'What do you have in mind?'

  'We need the girls in on this too. But it's confirming our suspicions that the Chinese connection is highly significant. Not just that, the triad involvement also. That's why they've tried to hide it.'

  'And you've seen the latest from Nancy?'

  'Yes, she's an amazingly resourceful young woman. She risked being shot and being drowned and survived them both. The tragedy is that the other side are in charge of her development. All her survival instincts and natural brilliance are coming awake. They can do an awful lot of damage with her, not to mention capture her soul. Luke, we need to get ahead of the game and this error of theirs gives us the pointer we've been looking for.'

  'I know what you're going to say. If we put together the Chinese connection, the triads and what we know about Brother, there is only one place that we need to look next.'

  'Exactly,' agreed Jabez. 'Who have we got in Hong Kong?'

  Shanghai Mansions, Yaumati District, Kowloon, Hong Kong

  'Business is good, Monkey. The new heroin batch is selling like moon cakes at New Year and the girls are working hard. In fact they're working so hard they never get off their backs.' Fei Jai Lo, Fatty Lo to his friends, laughed heartily at his own joke while turning up the volume on his state-of-the-art push button phone.

  Fatty Lo was head of the Hing Dai, or Brother, triad society. He had joined twenty years before as a '49', a warrior, and literally fought his way up the ranks. Now in his late 30s he had more money than he'd ever thought possible and surrounded himself with all the flashy accoutrements that a criminal grandee needed to show off his wealth. Fatty's name testified to his love of food and his habit of eating five times a day 'to keep my luck healthy'.

  'Prostitution is where the fucking money is,' laughed Monkey crudely in his office above a girlie bar in San Po Kong, several miles away. Monkey was the nickname of Fu Yip who was head of the rival Gam Ma, or Golden Horse triad society. Golden Horse was currently in a territory treaty with Brother which meant that turf wars between the two were suspended for the time being. 'Making plastic toys is for fools,' he added.

  'We should get together soon for dim sum,' Fatty continued. 'You bring two girls and I'll bring two and we'll have double happiness while we eat.'

  'You have the best ideas, Fatty, always thinking ahead.'

  The Golden Horse society was a lot smaller than Brother so Monkey was careful to ply his partner with compliments. It was all part of giving 'face' to your seniors and betters. In an honour society such as a criminal triad organisation, giving 'face' was showing respect. Fatty Lo liked respect. A lot of it.

  'Talking of good ideas,' continued Fatty, 'when we meet and eat I want to discuss the eventual merging of Golden Horse into Brother. I like your operation or I wouldn't bother to ask you. You've built a profitable business and earned respect on the streets. But there's no room any more for small societies, they're just too…local. We have to think big.'

  Monkey closed his eyes. It was the moment he had been dreading. He'd built up Golden Horse in a relatively quiet area of Kowloon, far away from the tourist traps and the easy dollars. Almost all of his business came from local Chinese factory workers who wanted good value for money, whether they were spending it on drink, drugs, gambling or women. But the truth was, he loved running Golden Horse. It wasn't about making money or having lots of pretty girls to pick from any more,
it was about having hands-on control. If he merged with Brother he would have money and girls aplenty. But he would never again be able to make a decision without having to ask someone else.

  'I know, Fatty, I know,' he replied, thinking fast. 'I'm not putting it off. I just want to negotiate good terms.'

  'That's fine. We'll find you a good position in Brother, don't worry,' reassured Fatty. 'I don't want to squash you, Monkey, you know? That was the old way of doing things. Caused a lot of trouble. When business people like you and me used to fall out there was lots of death-by-ten-thousand-cuts in the streets. Very bloody indeed and it brought the law along. It used to be that Hong Kong's finest were the best police force money could buy. We could pay them to look the other way. But things have changed. They're not as corrupt as they used to be. They're frightened of going on the take in case this new anti-corruption force from England collars them. So I don't use violence any more unless it's absolutely necessary, understand? Everything by negotiation. Unless negotiation doesn't work. Get me?'

  The threat was very clear.

  'Sure, Fatty. Listen, I'm going into hospital next month for surgery. Small operation to straighten my toe. I can't concentrate on this merger before then. Can we talk when I come out? I'll have a clearer head. Can it wait till then Fatty, huh?' Monkey had found a delaying tactic.