The Two Sisters of Borneo

by Ian Hamilton

  “By ‘enticement,’ do you mean pay them off?”

  “We should assume we’ll have to.”

  “Yes, we should. I have no issue with that.”

  “I’ll keep the outlay as small as possible.”

  “Just get the information,” Ava said. “Now, I already owe you fifteen thousand euros. Email me your bank information. I’ll send you a wire for thirty thousand. Deduct what you’ve spent and use the rest as you see fit.”

  “I have to tell you that I don’t have receipts for what I’ve spent already, and I can’t imagine getting them from anyone else I have to pay.”

  “I don’t think that’s a problem.”

  “You are trusting.”

  “You trusted me to repay the fifteen thousand you advanced.”

  Smits grunted. “And you’re taking my word that I actually paid someone fifteen thousand.”

  “Well, there we are. We’re either at the start of a solid relationship or one of us is a completely naive fool. Frankly, I’m prepared to take my chances with you. If that makes me a fool, I’ll live with it.”

  “Okay, I’ll email you my bank information. I’ll get on the job first thing in the morning. With any luck I’ll find us a dealer who’ll co-operate.”

  “Don’t rush,” Ava said. “I’m going to be out of touch for at least the next twenty-four hours. I’m dealing with another situation right now that may occupy my time and energy for well past that. So take the time to be thorough, and if you find something, email me. If I don’t respond right away, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean I’m not interested.”

  “Okay.”

  “So send me the bank information. Until we talk again, thanks,” Ava said, and closed her phone.

  She sighed. Suddenly she felt exhausted. Normally Smits’s call would have had her pumped. Instead she felt disengaged, and the situation in the Netherlands felt like a distraction. All she could think about was Amanda.

  At three thirty, Ava checked her email on her cellphone and saw that Smits had sent the bank information. She got up and headed downstairs to walk to her bank branch, which was only two blocks way. She was standing in line waiting to see a teller when her phone rang. She grabbed for it, certain it was May.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be free until at least eight or nine,” Maria said, talking in a whisper as she always did when discussing personal matters on the consulate line.

  “Shit.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I have to leave Toronto tonight for Hong Kong.”

  “Uncle?”

  “No. Something’s happened with Amanda and I need to get over there.”

  “Can you tell me about it?”

  “I’m standing in line at the bank. I’d rather not right now.”

  “But it’s bad?”

  “Yes. I’ll call you later to explain.”

  “I could try to get out of these meetings.”

  “I thought you said they were important.”

  “Not as important as you.”

  “Has your day gone badly?” Ava said.

  “Not at all. The deputy minister keeps smiling at me when I’m talking, and his two assistants have been nodding in agreement. I think I’ve made the impression I wanted.”

  “Good. That’s the best news I’ve had today.”

  “You do remember that I’ve applied for a two-year extension?”

  “Maria, why would you ask me that question? You know I do.”

  “I need the woman I love to tell me more often that she loves me and wants me to stick with her,” she said, laughing.

  “I love you, and I want you here and nowhere else,” Ava said.

  “Good. So do you want me to leave the office?”

  “This really can’t be about us right now. I have to get a limo to the airport. And besides, I don’t think I would be the best company.”

  “But you’ll call?”

  “Of course, and for goodness’ sake, stop worrying.” She closed the phone and turned back to the bank teller, who was waiting for her to sign the transfer. “Sorry.”

  “Do you want us to create a template for this?” the teller asked.

  “You might as well. I’m not sure I’ll be sending money to this account again, but you never know, so let’s save the information.”

  She phoned her mother as soon as she got back to the condo and got voicemail. The mah-jong game had begun, she figured. “I have to go back to Hong Kong tonight on a business matter. Nothing to do with Uncle. I’ll call you when I can,” she said in her message.

  She checked her emails. Nothing from Uncle or Sonny.

  She had spent four months in Hong Kong doing nothing much but waiting. She thought she had become good at it. She hadn’t.

  ( 17 )

  Ava arrived at the airport with a little more than an hour to spare. She checked in, cleared security, and walked to the business-class lounge that Cathay Pacific shared with British Airways. She poured herself a glass of Pinot Grigio and found a quiet corner to sit. There was no way, she decided, she was getting on the plane without talking to May Ling and without reaching out to Michael and Jack Yee. She couldn’t spend sixteen hours on a plane and risk having someone else contact her half-brother and Amanda’s father. She would never forgive herself if that happened, and she was sure they would not be forgiving either.

  She called the number at May Ling’s hotel and was told that Madam Wong had checked out. Ava groaned and phoned May’s cell. It rang four times before she picked up, a cauldron of noise in the background.

  “I’ve just walked into the Guangzhou airport,” she said.

  “Can you find a quiet place to talk?” Ava said, so loudly that the other lounge guests looked in her direction, disapproval etching their faces.

  “Give me ten minutes.”

  “I’m at the Toronto airport and we have to board soon. Don’t take too long. Please.”

  “Ten minutes.”

  Ava finished her wine and poured another glass. She sat down again, her eyes on her watch. At the nine-minute mark her phone rang.

  “May, how is Amanda?” she said.

  “I was speaking to the lawyer just as I arrived at the airport. I didn’t have a chance to call you.”

  “What did he say?”

  “The orbital bone around her eye is broken, but beyond that they’re not exactly sure how she is. She goes in and out of consciousness and is not really aware.”

  “Any other damage?”

  “Like Chi-Tze, some broken bones.”

  “What can they do for her head?”

  “They’re running tests to figure out if she was concussed. Other than that, it’s a matter of waiting.”

  “Shit.”

  “They’re trying to keep her awake for now, just to be safe. They’re really worried she’ll lapse into a coma.”

  “Has she said anything?”

  “No.”

  “How about Chi-Tze?”

  “She spoke to our lawyer and then to the police. He was with her when she did.”

  “What did she tell them?”

  “She said two men were waiting in a car when she and Amanda left the restaurant. The men climbed out as soon as they saw them and ran at them with bats. All she can remember is that they were large and wore masks.”

  “You told me earlier that the men yelled at them. What did they say?”

  “They just cursed at them, called them ‘fucking bitches’ over and over again.”

  “It makes me want to vomit.”

  “Me too.”

  “What did the lawyer say about the hospital and the kind of medical treatment they’re receiving?”

  “He has a lot of confidence in them.”

  “Can we move Amanda?”
/>   “What are you thinking?”

  “Can we fly her to Hong Kong? There must be some kind of air ambulance service we can use.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Have the lawyer talk to the doctors. If they think it’s okay, then let’s do it. She’ll be somewhere familiar, somewhere where her family and friends can look after her. Can you reach him now?”

  “I think so.”

  “I’m boarding in about fifteen minutes. Leave me a voicemail once you know what’s possible.”

  “I will.”

  “I have to call Michael and Jack.”

  “What will you tell them?”

  “I’d like to be able to say that she’s well enough to be flown to Hong Kong.”

  “You can’t.”

  “May, I have to call Michael and tell him what’s happened, and then I’m getting on a plane for sixteen hours. If the doctors there say Amanda can be moved, I need you to call Michael directly and let him know.”

  “Yes, that I can do.”

  “Good. I’ll tell him what we’re trying to do, without making any promises, and ask him to stay put in Hong Kong until we know what the story is.”

  “That works.”

  Almost absently, Ava sipped at her wine. It had no taste. “And how is Chi-Tze? I keep forgetting about her, and I know I shouldn’t.”

  “They have tended to the breaks. They’ll keep her in hospital until they can send her home. No one knows how long that will be.”

  “And then how long will she have to be at home?”

  “I have no idea, and in the meantime I’m worried about the business. I know it isn’t our priority this minute, but we can’t ignore it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “With Amanda and Chi-Tze incapacitated, that leaves only Ah-Pei to represent our interests. She seems composed enough, but who knows what kind of emotional upheaval she’s experiencing. She didn’t want me to hire the lawyer to go after her brothers, and now I keep waiting for her to say, ‘See what damage you’ve caused.’”

  “But she hasn’t?”

  “Not yet.”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “We need to provide more support for the business. I have a couple of bright young people in Wuhan I could fly over. They aren’t terribly experienced, but they speak English and they have solid academic backgrounds in management and accounting, and they’re loyal to me. We can trust them.”

  “Send them.”

  “I will.”

  “Though I don’t know how I really feel about hanging on to this business. There’s some kind of bad luck attached to it,” Ava said.

  “That’s a longer-term decision, and this isn’t the time to discuss it,” May said. “I’m not arguing with you, Ava. But we need to look after the here-and-now. When things settle, let’s talk about whether or not to keep it.”

  “I know, I know. And the crazy thing is, right after you called me about the girls, the guy I hired in Amsterdam came up with some very interesting material. Under normal circumstances I would have yipped with glee. He must have found my reaction a bit muted.”

  “What did he find?”

  “As we thought, we were set up. We’re being cheated. He found out how it was done — at least, how it was done so it would satisfy the bankruptcy trustee. The importer and a company that was supposedly lending him money set up phony financing deals and then created two sets of books. The investigator got into their bank accounts, though, and found that no money ever changed hands.”

  “That’s a ray of sunshine on this miserable day. What are we doing about it?”

  “So far we aren’t doing anything.”

  “Couldn’t we go to the trustee?”

  “No, that would be premature,” Ava said, not wanting to get into the details of Smits’s report. “The furniture is being sold; most of it is probably gone already and converted to cash. The proceeds aren’t going into any regular bank accounts. We want to find out where the money is before we alert anyone — and that includes those fucking thieves — that we’re on to them. The investigator is trying to track where the proceeds are going, and I have to tell you that, from my experience with him so far, he’ll probably find out.”

  “Then?”

  “We’ll get our money back.”

  “How?”

  “Let me worry about that.”

  May Ling was quiet, and for a second Ava thought she was going to press her about the money. Instead she said, “Ava, you said we were set up. Does it look as if the brothers were involved?”

  “I don’t know for certain, but it does seem logical.”

  “And this attack on Amanda and Chi-Tze?”

  “Who else had a reason?”

  “What are we going to do about that?”

  It was Ava’s turn to be silent.

  “Ava, what are we going to do?” May pressed.

  “Look, I have to call Michael and Jack Yee. I’m going to be boarding soon here and I can’t put off telling them what happened. We’ll talk about Mamat and Tambi when we meet in Kota Kinabalu.”

  “All right. I’ll meet you at the airport or arrange for you to be met. We’re staying at the Méridien Hotel, right in the city centre. It’s closest to Queen Elizabeth General Hospital.”

  “Another Queen Elizabeth?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s the name of the hospital in Hong Kong where Uncle goes.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “No matter. A name is just a name.”

  While Ava was on the phone, the lounge had slowly filled to capacity. There was still about ten minutes to go before boarding but now there was no chance of her making a call and keeping it private. She picked up her bags and left. It was a long walk to the gate; about halfway there she found a stretch between the restrooms and the shops that was quiet. She put down her bags, leaned against the wall, and called her brother’s cellphone.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  “Michael, it’s Ava.”

  “Ava, I’m in a meeting. Can I call you back in a few hours?”

  “No, we need to talk right now. It’s about Amanda.”

  She heard a chair creaking and imagined it being pushed back from a table. Michael’s voice sounded as if it was coming from the bottom of a barrel as he told whoever he was with that he had to leave the meeting to take an urgent call. She took deep breaths.

  “I haven’t been able to reach her since last night,” he said in a nervous voice.

  Ava breathed deeply one more time and then began to speak. He didn’t interrupt until she had repeated for the third time, “I’m told that she’s in good hands and in stable condition.”

  “Oh, my God,” he said. “I had this horrible feeling that something was wrong, but I couldn’t imagine anything like this. It’s crazy. Who would have reason to hurt her?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “My God,” he repeated.

  Ava could sense that he was on the verge of tears. “Michael, she’s going to be all right.”

  “I need to get to Borneo.”

  “Don’t do that right away. May is trying to arrange an air ambulance to fly her to Hong Kong. She’ll be calling you in the next few hours to tell you if that’s possible.”

  “Ava, I’m going to Borneo, as soon as I can get there.”

  “Okay, I understand.”

  “Where are you?” he asked.

  “I’m at Pearson Airport in Toronto. I’m leaving in about five minutes for Hong Kong, and from there I’m heading to Borneo myself. May Ling is already en route.”

  He went quiet. All Ava could hear was laboured breathing. “Michael?” she said.

  “I should have insisted that she not leave our honeymoon.”

>   “Michael, this is not the time for hindsight. We need to rally together so that she has all the support she needs.”

  “What did her father say?”

  The question caught Ava off-guard. “Nothing — I haven’t spoken to him yet. You’re the first person I called. But I need to talk to him before I leave here.”

  “No, I’ll do it.”

  “Michael, are you sure?”

  “Do you know it’s been only four days since we were married?”

  “I know,” Ava said.

  ( 18 )

  Ava couldn’t remember sleeping so badly on a late-night long-haul flight. Even three glasses of wine, a fully reclined seat, earplugs, an eyeshade, and the repetitive slow-motion bak mei moves she played over in her head couldn’t overcome her mental images of Amanda and Chi-Tze being beaten by bats in the parking lot of a restaurant. She knew the damage that bats could inflict. She knew the sound they made when they struck bone. She could see the girls’ faces contorted in fear and pain. It roiled her stomach, first with pity, but that swiftly moved on to anger, and then to rage.

  She pulled herself out of her seat several times to pace up and down the aisle. That didn’t help calm her. She turned the entertainment system on and off, looking for anything that could distract her. But whatever she watched was soon crowded out by thoughts of Amanda and Chi-Tze. She finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion when the plane began to cross Japan, about six hours out from Hong Kong. They woke her four hours later for a breakfast she didn’t want.

  The flight landed on schedule, and she opened her phone the instant she walked into the terminal. There were single messages from Uncle and Maria, and three from May. Uncle and Maria said to call back when she could. May’s were a progression, detailing her arrival in Kota Kinabalu and at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, her unsuccessful negotiations with the doctors to allow Amanda to fly to Hong Kong, and finally — only an hour before Ava had landed — her news that Amanda was being ambulanced to the airport for the trip to Hong Kong, with Michael and Jack Yee by her side. They had arrived in KK late the day before, and over the objections of the local doctors they had insisted on moving Amanda, signing a release to do so. Ava called May. Her phone went directly to voicemail.