by James Dudley
“Halt!” a guard exclaimed, his rifle at the ready. “Identify yourself and state your business.”
“I am Walter Wong. You should know who I am, and my business does not concern you.”
The guard looked over to his partner, who gave him a nod as if to say, “Yes, you really should know who he is.” Some calls were made over the radio, and a few minutes later, Peng Zhou arrived with an entourage of his own.
“Mr. Wong, it is a pleasure to see you as always. Although I am not sure why you have broken protocol and come here,” Peng said.
“Hong Kong is my territory, and I set the protocol,” Walter said. He then turned to Tommy, whose presence was clearly making Peng uncomfortable. “Peng and I are going to speak Cantonese now if that’s ok.”
Tommy nodded, knowing that he could always ask Han later to find out what they were talking about. Walter stepped forward, and he and Peng faced each other directly.
“I am here to renegotiate certain aspects of our arrangement,” said Walter.
“I was under the impression that our arrangement was permanent. That doesn’t leave much room for renegotiation,” Peng said.
Walter was undeterred. “If one wants to stay afloat in my business, one must always keep abreast of new opportunities. Well, new opportunities have arisen. I am here to offer you the chance to cash in on said opportunities in a manner that is mutually beneficial. I could easily take advantage of these opportunities on my own, and you would be none the wiser. It is only courtesy that brings me here.”
“Is that so? I must ask you, why have you brought Tommy Malloy here? You know full well your people were supposed to kill him,” said Peng.
“Tommy Malloy is under the protection of Ricardo Wang, my counterpart from Macao who is currently standing behind me. Ricardo has come to Hong Kong as my guest, which means that Malloy is under my protection as well. Some of the new business opportunities I am here to discuss are a result of their involvement, and their presence is necessary to make assurances on these offers.”
“Very well then, we shall negotiate.”
“Good, take me to General Sheng.”
“I am authorized to negotiate on General Sheng’s behalf. We can begin the negotiations here.”
“I will make my make my opening offer here, and then you will bring me to General Sheng to discuss things further.”
“You may make you opening offer, and if is satisfactory, then I will take you to General Sheng.”
Han spoke softly in Tommy’s ear, providing a running translation of the proceedings. So far at least, everything was proceeding according to plan. Han continued to translate as Walter gave Peng a summary of the gambling and smuggling arrangements he had made with Ricardo, and how they could arrange for Sheng and his men to get a cut of it. After a few rounds of back-and-forth, Walter and Peng shook hands and turned back to face their respective groups.
“It appears they are willing to ‘play ball’ as our American friends say. They are ready to take us to General Sheng,” Walter explained.
“I’ll send for a truck,” Peng shouted out.
“Don’t bother, we can walk,” Walter responded.
Peng’s heavily armed men formed a ring around Walter’s group that was equal parts protective and restrictive, and Peng led the way as they walked up the meandering dirt path that was the only clearing between the rocks and vegetation. The incline of the trail grew steeper the higher they climbed, and Peng seemed to be increasing the pace of the march the more difficult it became, a not-so-subtle act of gamesmanship. It reminded Tommy of the training marches and runs he had to do during Airborne training, and how the grueling physical fitness regimen almost made jumping out of planes feel like a relief. It was not something he felt eager to relive.
Finally, the formation reached the top of the hill, pausing momentarily to catch their breaths. The vantage point offered a commanding view of most of the island, as well the harbor and many of the surrounding Outlying Islands. The high rising skyline of Hong Kong proper was also visible in the background. While Tommy couldn’t see them, he assumed that the first of the men from the fishing boats were coming ashore and taking up their positions. Much closer to where he was standing, Tommy noticed a sight he hadn’t seen since the war; several dug-in machine gun emplacements and even a couple mortar batteries. Whoever had planned the compound’s defenses had clearly taken his duties very seriously.
The entrance to the compound had a covered verandah and was flanked by two statues of lions. Tommy and company were ushered through the grand foyer and then down a staircase until they arrived in a hallway just outside the conference room.
“Wait here,” Peng told them when he stepped inside to consult with Sheng. As they waited, Tommy looked up and down the dimly lit hallway, which was lined with replicas of the famous terracotta warrior statues, and smiled to himself. A Hollywood studio could not have designed a better villain’s lair.
Moments later, Peng reappeared. “General Sheng will see you now.”
The group was ushered into the room, where General Sheng sat at the edge of the long table, the master of his domain. Tommy looked around at the large aquarium tanks and their collection of nautical predators and had to stifle a laugh. From an actor’s perspective, it was all getting to be a bit much.
“Walter Wong, it is an honor to finally meet you face-to-face,” Sheng said, his voice amplified by the echoes of the long room.
“The honor is mine, General Sheng,” Walter said.
Sheng stood up from his seat. “Now, let us dispense with the pleasantries. I am not a foolish man. I am well aware that you have come here to betray me, and I have taken the necessary precautions to prevent it. Nevertheless, I am a practical man, and to the extent that you actually do have new business opportunities, I would still like to discuss how we could mutually benefit from such opportunities. Unless, of course, you find that idea unsatisfactory.”
Walter looked around to gauge reactions, the wind having been taken completely out of their sails. “Yes, let us discuss these opportunities.”
“Good, but for our mutual protection, we must not allow Western intelligence assets to be present in the room,” Sheng announced.
Sheng’s men moved quickly, jumping Tommy and Han from behind, restraining their arms, and placing black hoods over their heads. As the guards shuffled them out of the room, Tommy could sense without seeing that his most of his triad friends, but Ricardo in particular, were looking on forlornly, wondering what the next move would be.
Chapter 24
Tommy felt a thud as he was tossed to the ground unceremoniously. He heard a clang of metal bars closing and then a scuffle of feet as his captors stormed out of the room. When everything was quiet, he felt safe enough to take off the hood and gather his bearings. He was in a lower level of the compound, locked in a standard prison cell. There was a very small window at the top of the wall providing the only light, the rest of the level being underground. The floor was made of dirt, and the cell was very low on amenities, a far cry from his recent stay at the Repulse Bay Hotel.
“Are you alright?” Tommy asked Han, who was laying still as if he had been frozen in carbonite.
“I’m alright, just a little disappointed with the customer service,” Han said, sitting up to stretch.
“It’s a bit drab, but with a little sprucing up, we can make a home of it yet,” a female British voice exclaimed from across the aisle.
Tommy turned his head to notice that Millie and Richard were occupying the cell across the aisle. “You two ended up here? Oh this is just great. How did that happen?”
“We should ask you the same thing,” said Richard. “We went through great lengths to get you to Macau. What happened?”
With a little help from Han, Tommy recounted everything that happened since his arrival in Macau and explained how first Ricardo Wang and later Walter Wong had been brought onboard with his plan.
“I’ll give both of you credit, that was
a rather creative plan that was worth a go. Shame it ended up like this though,” said Millie.
“Alright, now it your turn to spill the beans,” said Tommy. “How did Her Majesty’s finest end up in the same dungeon as us amateurs?”
Richard recounted the tale of their boating adventures, betraying his embarrassment at the situation he had been caught in.
“Maybe it’s MI6 that needs to hire some smugglers,” said Han. “I know it’s too late now, but I could have gotten you in real close and right back out again. They never would have known we were there.
“I’ll take that under advisement,” Richard said.
“But really though, why did you go through with that plan? Was it just a spur of the moment thing?” asked Tommy.
“I don’t know, it wasn’t my idea,” said Richard.
“Oh, don’t start this again. We made a mutual decision to go through with the idea, and if we hadn’t done it, we wouldn’t know about the uranium,” said Millie.
“And how many people have we been able to warn about it? Bloody good that knowledge has done us, Millicent.”
She slammed her hat on the ground. “Don’t you Millicent me, Dick.”
“Will you two just snog already?” Tommy interjected before the argument spiraled any further.
Richard looked at him with mouth wide open. “You’re a Yank. How do you even know what that means?”
“I speak British. It’s a vital skill for any actor,” said Tommy.
“And what Tommy meant to tell us all earlier is that he has a contingency plan to get us out of here. Isn’t that right, Tommy?” Han asked, bringing the proceedings back to order.
“Yes it is,” Tommy said as he reached inside his suit coat to pull out a small radio that the guards had somehow overlooked. He turned it on and was about to make a call when the door to the hallway swung open, leaving him to frantically try to hide it once more.
The new visitor cast a long shadow when he strode into the aisle between cells, his boots kicking up dust from the dirt floor as he marched in with the precision of a drill instructor inspecting his troops. His grey Nehru jacket and matching pants gave the appearance of a military uniform that was only missing insignias. Even before his face emerged from the shadows, Richard knew at once who it was.
“General Kharlamov, we should have known that a plan like this could never happen without your involvement.”
“Major Boothwyn, you had a good run- tracking the weapons all the way from Singapore, finding the island, figuring out what we were hiding here…I would expect nothing less from Sir Alastair’s protégé. Of course, Sir Alastair in his prime would not have gotten caught,” Kharlamov said. His English was near-perfect, with just the slightest Eastern European accent.
He took a few more steps down the aisle and addressed Millie. “Miss Covington, I do not believe we’ve met, but please accept my compliments on the hospitality of your colony.”
“If only our guests could have shown some more courtesy,” said Millie, who knew enough to not be surprised that a KGB General would have known exactly who she was long before meeting.
Kharlamov then turned around to face the other side. “Han Tong, I have been impressed with your smuggling abilities. General Sheng was most unwise to overlook you.” He paused before addressing the final prisoner, looking him up and down. “And last but least, the famous Tommy Malloy: America’s favorite funnyman. It’s strange to think that we haven’t actually met before; our fates being so intertwined as they are. If you hadn’t interfered in my plans in Paris, I wouldn’t have been exiled from Moscow, and then I wouldn’t have ended up here. Once again, we have been drawn together.”
“Poetic, isn’t it?” said Tommy. “So is this the part where you give the monologue explaining your plans and you’re going to kill us, but then you walk out, leaving us just long enough to escape?”
Kharlamov laughed. “Spoken like a true entertainer. Actually, you are about to find out that not everything here is what it appears.” He paused to take off his eye patch, revealing that he actually had two functioning eyes. “You all seem to have figured out the first phase of General Sheng’s plan: to corner the black market on weapons and opium, thereby forcing the underworld onto his side. But that was only the beginning. Yes, I know you found the uranium, so here’s the part you didn’t know; Sheng is planning to set off a dirty bomb.”
All four of the prisoners gasped at the revelation. A “dirty bomb” was a deadly combination of radioactive material with conventional explosives that, while not as powerful as an atomic bomb, could do serious damage wherever it was set off.
“It was planned to coincide with the arrival of your new nuclear submarine, the USS Starfish. Sheng’s plan is set the bomb off in the harbor so that it would naturally be blamed on a nuclear meltdown by the submarine. In one stroke, it would take out America’s newest weapon, drive a wedge between the two allies, and contaminate Hong Kong’s port so that could no longer be used. When this happens, Hong Kong’s population will become reliant on the black market, which Sheng has now gained control of. Therefore, in effect, Sheng will control Hong Kong.”
“That is a cunningly devious plan, I’ll grant him that much,” said Richard.
Kharlamov continued, “But of course, you should all know that nothing I’m involved with is ever that straightforward. I am here for my own purposes and agenda. Those purposes do not concern any of you and are quite different than General Sheng’s. Which brings us to the rub; you see, my plan is actually somewhat dependent on Sheng’s plan failing, which means that it is actually in my best interests that you all succeed in stopping him.”
Above them, the sounds of machine gun and mortar fire were beginning to echo down. “That was an inventive plan, having the Triad men land on the island dressed as fishermen. But as you can hear, they seem to have been discovered. This will prompt Sheng to move the plan up, so he’s probably leaving in his boat right now. He had to move the bomb after the two of you stumbled upon it, so it’s safe to assume that he already planted it somewhere in the harbor. He will ultimately need Walter Wong and his friends onboard, so they’re probably just locked in the conference room for now.”
Kharlamov reached into his pocket and revealed a ring of keys. He unlocked the cells and pushed the creaking metal bars until they slid open. “I would say that the odds are stacked against you, but then again, I figured out what the contingency plan that Tommy was about to reveal before I walked in was, and I have to say it’s a good one.”
He dropped a canvas bag on the floor that was packed with rifles, pistols, ammunition clips, and even a few grenades. “But even so, you will need all the advantages you can get if you’re going to stop Sheng, so you might need these.”
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Kharlamov added on his way out the door. “Tommy, how is my old friend Boris doing? What do you call him now, ‘Lars Svensson?’ You can tell him I send my regards. And don’t forget to say hello to your fiancée for me.”
Tommy stood mouth agape, not knowing what to make of any of this.
“I’m sure our paths will cross again as adversaries soon enough. But until then, I wish you luck,” Kharlamov concluded before he disappeared through the same doorway he had entered through.
“Well that was an unexpected twist,” said Millie.
“Most unexpected indeed,” Richard concurred.
“So Tommy, are you going to tell us what your contingency plan is now?” Han asked.
“I was just getting to that,” Tommy said as he turned on his radio and tuned into the proper channel. “Cannoli Five, this is Shamrock One. How do you read me?”
“Shamrock One, this is Cannoli Five, read you loud and clear, over,” Frank Maldini’s voice responded over the radio, confirming their communication links while using their prearranged ethnically appropriate call signs.
Tommy turned to his friends and smiled. “I’m about to call in some sea power.”
Chapter 25
Frank Maldini stood on the deck of the patrol boat, looking at the nearby shore through his binoculars. Along with the crews of the USS Starfish and HMS Apollo, he had arrived in Hong Kong on the previous day for a scheduled port visit. However, he only got to enjoy a few short hours of liberty ashore before he received a message that roped him into his current task.
Along with several dozen off-duty members of both submarine crews, Maldini had volunteered to crew the small flotilla of unmarked Maritime Police patrol boats and various pleasure craft that were descending on the island of Tung Lung Chau. They were carrying small arms and wearing civilian clothes to emphasize that this was not an official military action. As far as anybody was concerned, they were private citizens who happened to want to explore a new island on their day off.
Maldini looked on as the Triad men dressed as fisherman stormed the beach, only to be greeted by machine gun and mortar fire that sent them scurrying for cover under the rocks. His men had grim expressions, looking at the task that lay before them, and feeling really confused about why exactly they were there. Behind him, further out in the harbor, the Daring- class destroyer HMS Doncaster was patrolling the waters and preparing to train its guns.
“Tommy, old buddy, where the hell are you?” he asked into his radio.
“I’m still in the house. Give me ten minutes to get clear,” Tommy responded.
“What about those mortars and machine guns?”
“You can hit them right now!”
Maldini turned to the man standing next to him, a gunfire observer from the Royal Marines. “Do you have those coordinates?”
The Marine took a bearing, and then jotted some notes down on a pad of paper. “Yes sir.”
Maldini handed him the radio. “Send it over to the Doncaster; tell them to fire when ready.”
“Aye aye, Sir.”
Maldini looked back and noticed Sir Alastair standing behind him. “Colonel Thorncliffe, I still can’t believe you pulled this off. Shore fire from a destroyer? Talk about bringing a gun to a knife fight.”
