The Trophy Taker

by Lee Week

  ‘My son has aged me prematurely.’ Mann patted Li’s cheek. ‘That’s children for you.’

  The fat proprietress tutted and giggled as she stood and went to fetch a bottle of rice wine, and returned with seven glasses. She poured them out and handed them round before disappearing again to return with an assortment of noodle dishes and rice bowls.

  ‘How long are you staying on Cheung Chau?’ she asked.

  ‘We really wanted to see about hiring a cottage by the beach. Do you know if any are free?’

  One of the old women spoke up. ‘There is one that’s always free. I clean it, but the man who owns it doesn’t usually let it out.’

  The proprietress stopped, midway through refilling Mann’s glass.

  ‘He’s here at the moment – your man. I saw him. He passed by here this morning.’

  ‘The man who owns the chalet? I wasn’t told to expect him.’ The cleaning woman looked bemused. ‘I am always informed when he’s coming. I open it up for him, get it ready. He’s only ever been here once before, mind you. He lets others use it sometimes – business friends – not very friendly types. Was it definitely him?’

  ‘Yes. He passed by this morning with a young woman – tall, beautiful. She looked so pale and tired, I felt sorry for her. I asked her if she wanted something to eat and drink but your man pulled her away – he was in such a hurry.’

  ‘Yes,’ her husband added. ‘And then more men arrived, dressed in suits. Must be his friends.’ The old people nodded knowingly to one another. ‘And one man arrived alone, just an hour ago. He passed by here – looked inside – did not stop.’

  ‘What did he look like – the man on his own?’ asked Mann, pushing his bowl aside having left a small amount inside to signify he was full.

  ‘He was tall – he had a small beard – bald headed, Chinese.’

  ‘Where is that chalet?’ asked Mann.

  ‘Down to the end, turn right, follow along to the first lot of chalets, it’s last on the left. But it’s no good if he’s there. You better look for somewhere else. Where will you stay tonight? You can sleep here. We have a room upstairs you can rent for a night.’

  ‘Thank you, that’s very kind, but we will sleep on the boat. In fact, I’d better get my son to bed. He looks tired out. Come on, sonny!’ Li finished eating hastily.

  ‘But who shall we say wants to rent his chalet – if he asks?’ The fat old proprietress followed them out and stood with her hands on her hips – a mischievous look on her face.

  ‘There’s no need to mention anything.’ Mann peeled off three hundred-dollar bills and pressed them discreetly into the proprietress’s fat hands.

  She smiled gratefully and inclined her head. ‘You know – your Eengleesh so bat, I can’t understand you. I think you never here.’

  111

  ‘Do you know the man they’re talking about? The one who arrived on his own?’

  ‘Stevie Ho – he’s an old acquaintance.’

  Mann and Li turned back towards the ferry terminal.

  ‘What’s his business here? Is it us?’

  ‘Yes. I would say so.’

  ‘Does he work for Chan?’

  ‘Yes, but his loyalties are split between CK and Chan.’

  They turned left and then headed inland. Mann wanted to approach the chalet from the busy side of the island. If Chan was expecting trouble at all, he would expect it to come from the ferry side.

  It was now two a.m. and as dark as the night could get. Except for a couple of die-hard bars where there were still a few girls and a bowl of rice to be bought, most of the restaurants were shut. The island had taken on a blanket of stillness. Just the gentle sound of the sea, the whisper of the breeze in the vegetation, and the vibrating-bellied cicadas whose noisy call disturbed the night air. Added to that, there was always the odd whoop of laughter and click-clack of mahjong pieces.

  Mann and Li crept silently along the narrow streets that ran as a grid across the centre of the island. In the daytime these roads were filled with street vendors and market stalls, but now the smell of freshly steamed seafood was rapidly being replaced by the stench of the day’s prawn shells left too long in the sun. Two bleary-eyed bar girls sat on stools at one of the bars, head in hands – they had not quite given up hope of making some money. There was a group of tourists asleep at their table, who would remain there until the sun came up.

  They turned from the main market square and zigzagged down the middle section of the island. Joining the cats and rats and dodging the piles of dumped rubbish, they made their way through the tiny alleyways that ran between the buildings, parallel to the beach. Between them and the ocean was a two-storey accommodation block, a few guesthouses and a couple of bars. They turned a corner and came out a hundred feet away from the last line of chalets.

  Crouching in the darkness they heard the low voices of several men talking, and they could see lights emitting from the front of the single-storey chalet at the end of the line of holiday cottages. The only window they could see was the barred one that overlooked the lane.

  It was then that Mann saw her. He watched Georgina empty something through the bars of the window and lean her head there for a few moments. Then he saw the outline of a man emerge from between Chan’s chalet and the next. He was returning from toilet relief, zipping up his fly. As he stepped out into the lane, another man joined him. There followed some discussion about food. The second man was taking orders. He was going to one of the all-night bars to get them something to eat.

  Mann looked at Li and gestured towards the man taking the food order. Li nodded and crept backwards until he disappeared out of sight, to cut back along the way they had come and head the man off.

  Silently, Mann opened his jacket. From a leather pocket he extracted a four-pointed throwing star measuring six inches in diameter. Made from steel, each of its four blades was razor-sharp and reinforced with steel rivets to give added precision, balance and performance. It was also, quite simply, a thing of great beauty.

  Just as the two men finished their discussion, and one turned to go, Mann crossed the lane, keeping close to the chalet walls and sheltering beneath the vegetation around each building. He made his way to within twenty feet of where the man was standing and watched him reach inside his pocket for his cigarettes. Mann waited till the man tapped a cigarette from the packet, put it to his mouth and held up his lighter. He waited until the man brought the lighter in front of his face. Then he stood, drew his hand level with his chest, and, holding the star at the apex of one of the rivets, he balanced it between finger and thumb. Then, with one sharp, hard flick of the wrist he sent it spinning through the air. A second later the man’s lighter went out, there was a faint rattling sound, then a pause and a thud as his headless body dropped to the sand.

  112

  Mann’s eyes flicked towards the door. He heard voices – raised but not rowdy – four, probably five. They hadn’t heard him or they would have been out by now. Mann crouched across the lane from Georgina’s window and listened. It seemed like the conversation had sunk back down to conspiracy level.

  He picked up a small amount of sand and threw it between the bars of her window. He threw some more and some more, pausing between each throw to see if she had heard.

  She appeared at the window slowly, as if summoned there by some ghost on the wind. It took her a few seconds to make out the figure standing across the lane. He looked at her and smiled. She gripped the bars, gasped, and almost said his name. Mann held his finger to his lips and ducked down at her window. Reaching up, he squeezed her hand.

  ‘You okay?’ he mouthed.

  She nodded and smiled. But he could see that she was not. Her face was skeletal, and as pale as the full moon – so sick and sad. She had lost so much weight that only her long, curly hair and her smile reassured him that she was still in there somewhere. She held tightly on to his hand. She didn’t want to let go. She jumped as Li reappeared and crouched by Mann’s side.<
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  ‘It’s all right, Georgina, this is Shrimp – Detective Li. Did it go all right?’ he asked Li.

  Li nodded.

  ‘I saw your guy, Stevie Ho. The guy I was tailing stopped to talk with him. I heard him say there was no sign of us.’

  ‘He is walking a dangerous road.’ Mann’s eyes searched the darkness. He knew Stevie was bluffing. He wasn’t sure why yet. ‘Let’s hope he’s chosen the right path.’ He turned back to Georgina. ‘A man was sent for food; he’s not coming back – we are. As soon as you hear me knock, slide anything you have across the door, as quietly as you can – then, as fast as you can, get back over here by the window and get down.’

  Mann pulled out a small handgun from inside his jacket and handed it to Georgina through the bars. ‘If you have to – shoot.’

  ‘I don’t know how to…’

  ‘Just point the trigger and squeeze. It’s all ready for you. Okay?’

  She nodded – small, sharp, brave nods – and Mann’s heart went out to her. ‘Remember now, be ready – put anything across that doorway you can, and then get down quick.’

  Mann signalled to Li to follow him.

  ‘You ready for this, Shrimp? There are five men in there, and one of them is Chan. You’ve seen the photos. You know what he looks like – leave him alive. I’m going to be the guy who went for food. You’re going to be the nasty surprise that came free with the order, okay?’

  ‘Got it, boss. Ready to rock and roll…’

  Mann took off his jacket and revealed five throwing spikes that were strapped into a harness on his arm. Each one was a six-inch, hardened steel, needle-sharp, red-feathered dart – perfectly weighted for throwing accurately and penetrating deeply. He pulled out all five.

  Li stood to one side while Mann knocked at the chalet door. There was a sudden hush from inside the chalet, then a man put his hand to the lever and opened the door a fraction. ‘Hello?’

  Mann kicked the door wide open. The four men darted in different directions. The man who had opened the door was already dead. He had a throwing spike embedded into his left eye, the red feathers sticking out from the socket, shivering. He remained standing for a few seconds, eerily still, as if he hadn’t realised he was dead, before dropping to the floor.

  The two men who had been sitting on the sofa lunged in either direction as they tried to reach their weapons in time, but they couldn’t. One had a throwing spike embedded in his heart and the other had one in his temple.

  Li was over the sofa in one leap, and a kick to the fourth man’s throat sent him unconscious, slumped against the wall.

  Mann looked around. Chan had gone.

  113

  As Mann entered the bedroom he saw the shadowy figures of Georgina and Chan facing each other a few feet apart. They were side-on to the window, both standing absolutely rigid and still. The only things moving were Georgina’s hands; they were trembling as she clenched the gun and pointed it at Chan’s face.

  ‘It’s all right, Georgina. I have him covered. Give me the gun now.’

  Mann took a few steps forward and signalled to Li to find something to tie Chan’s hands with. Georgina still didn’t move, and she didn’t take her eyes from Chan. Mann inched closer – he was within a few feet now.

  ‘He can’t hurt you any more, Georgina. Give me the gun.’

  She wasn’t listening. Her shoulders rose and fell with her rapid breathing.

  ‘I want to kill him.’

  Her hands shook. Not for one second did she take her eyes off Chan, and not for one second did Mann doubt that she was capable of shooting him.

  ‘No, Georgina – you have suffered enough. If you kill him it will only make it worse. It’s not your job, believe me – it’s not yours.’

  Keeping his eyes on Chan, Mann walked the last few paces and gently prised the gun out of her hands. He held her to him for a few seconds before steering her over towards the door and out of harm’s way.

  Li had returned with a length of fisherman’s cord he had found outside. ‘Tie his hands tightly, Shrimp.’

  Chan began to laugh at Georgina as she retreated. ‘I can’t believe you would do such a thing, Georgina, after all we’ve meant to each other!’

  ‘Leave her out of this, Chan.’

  ‘Why should I? She belongs to me. I own her. Besides that, she likes me really. She needs me. Don’t you, Georgina? We are quite a couple, even though we have our ups and downs, as you can see.’ He laughed at her again. She turned her head away. He turned back to Mann. ‘I don’t know what you think you are doing here. I know for a fact you don’t have enough evidence to touch me. The brothers have confessed to most of it, and the rest, unfortunately, has gone up in smoke.’

  ‘The staff didn’t feel like burning to death. Sorry, but the place is still standing. We have a team of SOCOs out there right now, going through it with a sieve. They will find enough to have you shot.’

  Chan laughed. ‘I don’t think so, somehow. I do believe I’m cleverer than that, Mann. For a start, it’s on the mainland – can’t see the Chinese government being awfully helpful, can you? As you probably realise, many of them know about it already. Never mind what you find out there, none of it will be enough to get me to court, let alone convict me – and you know why, Mann? Because I am untouchable. I have the world’s richest perverts looking after my back, and they know that one day I will be Dragon Head of the Wo Shing Shing. Everyone knows it – even CK can’t stop it.’

  ‘You will have to be alive to enjoy it.’ Mann turned to Li. ‘Stay here. Look after Georgina. Watch out for anyone else.’

  ‘You don’t want me to come?’

  ‘No, Shrimp – stay here. I will be back shortly. Chan and I are going to talk about old times – we have some catching up to do.’

  Mann pushed Chan through the adjoining room and out before him onto the sandy lane, down towards the boat. He looked behind him as he did so and saw Stevie in the shadows. He saw the way he carried himself; saw the way his right shoulder was raised, his arm steady – ready to fire his gun. But he didn’t.

  Chan kept looking for him too. He had expected Stevie to rescue him by now. What was he doing? Waiting till the last fucking moment?

  It was when they reached the water that the first real signs of panic crossed Chan’s face. Since the incident back when he and Mann were boys, he had hated the water. A big ferry was bad enough, but a small boat was something he’d never been able to get into. He turned, ready to run, but Mann anticipated it, held on to him tightly, as he climbed into the boat. Mann cast off, sat Chan in the seat beside him and started the engine.

  Mann throttled the boat, reversed it, eased it round and headed out to sea, leaving a gentle ripple in their wake. He looked behind him. Stevie was edging away from the shoreline, his way forward now clear. He had chosen his path.

  Chan sat back and smiled at Mann, pretending to enjoy the ride.

  ‘This is all very pleasant, but we both know you can’t do anything to me.’

  Mann steered the boat out into open water. Nothing but the blackness of the still ocean lay ahead.

  114

  ‘You won’t kill me. You’d be the most wanted man in Hong Kong. The whole of the Wo Shing Shing would be out to get you.’ Where the hell was Stevie Ho? Chan thought. Surely Stevie wouldn’t let him down? ‘You can loathe me all you want, Mann. I am what I am.’

  ‘You had choices just like everyone.’

  ‘Did I? Even when we were kids you never understood what it was like for me. At school in England we lived as brothers. We were inseparable. But there was one big difference – when we came home in the holidays you went back to your parents’ nice home in the Mid-levels. I went back to government housing – ten to a room. I suffocated in the heat and dirt. One hundred and fifty people shared four open toilets. I saw the violence and the depravity of living without dignity, without money. Going to England showed me I could be anyone as long as I had money. Being sent to the UK for my educa
tion was the one piece of luck I had –’

  ‘It wasn’t luck, it was paid for by your hard-working relatives and you repaid your benefactors by joining the Wo Shing Shing?’

  ‘I had no choice. In my neighbourhood you did as you were told. I was recruited the summer I was fifteen. I hated it, but it brought its rewards. I accept I could have led a more honourable existence. But you never understood how it was for me. I had to take every opportunity I could in my life. I had to make it at any cost. You didn’t have that terrible weight of poverty and desperation hanging over you. All you had to deal with was being mixed race. It didn’t hold you back. You had the best of both worlds. You could choose to step effortlessly into either world, whereas I belonged to only one – a world that will get you if you don’t get it first. I had to climb my way out of the gutter.’

  ‘Yes, you had it tough, but you didn’t have to turn your back on everything decent. Life is full of choices, Chan, of roads to walk. You chose the lowest path you could find.’

  ‘The night of my father’s death. You were ordered to keep me away from the house until a certain time.’

  ‘Yes, I was ordered to.’

  ‘My father was a good man. He treated you like a son.’

  ‘Huh! He treated me like a poor relative. He kept me at arm’s length, made it quite clear he didn’t want his son mixing with me.’

  ‘You checked your watch so many times that night. I remember saying, “What is it? You late for a date?” You laughed and all the time you knew that my father was being tortured.’

  ‘I could do nothing to prevent it.’

  ‘Then, at the allotted time, you left me at my gate and you knew they were waiting for me.’

  ‘I told you – I had no choice. Triad orders.’

  ‘I was made to watch his execution. Do you know what that did to me? It didn’t make me fear the triads. It made me determined to wipe every one of you out.’