Fortune

by Ian Hamilton

  “I’m so pleased to see you all,” Uncle said as he got out of the car.

  “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything,” Ng said, and turned to Chow. “It was good of you to welcome us.”

  “Looking at all these men, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that my Red Pole had to persuade me to accept help,” Chow said. “But once I got past my pride, I realized how important this could be — not just for my gang, but also for this notion that Uncle has been promoting.”

  Wang had been standing off to one side with Sonny while Uncle and the Mountain Masters greeted each other. Now he moved closer to Uncle. “Boss, I should be meeting with the other Red Poles.”

  “Of course. Go,” said Uncle.

  “Wang, could you wait just one minute?” Chow said, and then he addressed the other Mountain Masters. “Song, my Red Pole, believes this small army we’ve assembled should have a clear leader. Uncle suggested putting the men under Song’s command, but he would rather defer to Wang. Song says the other Red Poles feel the same.”

  “If the Red Poles want Wang to be in charge, I have no objection,” Ng said.

  “Me neither,” added Tan.

  “It would be an honour,” Wang said.

  “Then go and brief your men,” Chow said.

  Uncle watched as Wang went to join the other Red Poles. “We have more than a hundred men gathered. Has Man added to his corps or do they still number around sixty?” he asked Chow.

  “When we pulled our men out of the town centre about an hour ago to come here, there were still about sixty. Given that they probably think we’ve run off, I can’t imagine they’ve called for reinforcements.”

  “How were they behaving?”

  “They were very aggressive and insulting. They acted like they owned the place.”

  “Is Man with them?”

  “No, his Red Pole, Fok, is in charge. His men have occupied the town square and may be fanning out by now to let the local businesses know there’s a new gang in charge,” said Chow.

  “Where are the police?”

  “Nowhere to be found. They either don’t know what’s going on or are prepared to let things play out,” Chow said. “We certainly wouldn’t go to them for help.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t,” Uncle said. “How far is the square from here?”

  “About a ten-minute walk.”

  Uncle looked over to where Wang was huddled with the other Red Poles. Around them, some men stood patiently, while others seemed jumpy or anxious to get started. After a few minutes more of discussion he saw Wang nod, and then the four Red Poles joined hands. They were obviously in agreement about how to proceed.

  Wang turned to face the men, flanked on either side by the other Red Poles. “We are going to walk as a single group to the town square,” he said loudly to the men. “Our main objective is to get Man’s gang to leave as quickly and quietly as possible. Our hope is that they will be unwilling to fight and will leave voluntarily. We’re going to start by talking to them. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll use force.”

  “Remember, using force is Plan B,” Song added.

  “Exactly. No one is to take it upon themselves to initiate an action of any kind. We need to function like a cohesive unit. You have to follow orders, and only the Red Poles are allowed to issue them,” Wang said. “Does anyone have questions?”

  “If we have to use force, how much are you talking about?” a forty-niner asked.

  “We don’t want gunfire in the town square; there’s too great a risk that a civilian could get hit. We don’t want a repeat of Macau,” Wang said. “Let’s try to limit it to fists and, if it really comes down to it, knives.”

  “What if they fire at us?” another man asked.

  “Don’t return fire unless your Red Pole gives you permission,” Wang said.

  Uncle could see that some of the men were unhappy with that answer. He only hoped they would be disciplined enough to follow orders.

  Wang held up his hand. “That’s it. We leave in a few minutes. The Red Poles will form a line at the front. The men from each gang should fall in behind their own Red Pole,” he said, then turned and walked over to the Mountain Masters.

  “How will you gentlemen be playing this?” he asked.

  “I don’t know about the others, but I’m going with you,” said Uncle.

  “Will you fall in behind with the men?”

  “No, I want to be at the front, next to you. I know Fok, and I want him to see that I’m here. I want him to understand that we’re committed.”

  “I’ll do the same,” Chow said.

  “Me too,” chimed in Ng and Tan.

  “But if it turns violent, it would be irresponsible to let any of you get caught up in it,” Wang said.

  “If it turns violent I’ll find a way to fade into the background, and I’m sure my older colleagues will do the same,” said Uncle. “I have no interest in taking on one of Fok’s young forty-niners.”

  Wang looked at Sonny. “I’ll be right next to Uncle,” Sonny said.

  Wang nodded. “Okay, then let’s head to town.”

  “I’ll lead the way,” Chow said.

  Chow and Song started walking in the direction of the setting sun. Uncle, the other Mountain Masters, and the Red Poles fell in alongside, while behind them the four gangs of triads followed, the air around them buzzing with excitement.

  Uncle knew there would be a confrontation. His hope was that it wouldn’t be violent, but he also sensed that wasn’t the wish of many of the men behind him. Being a member of a small triad sometimes meant giving way when you didn’t want to and accepting things you knew were wrong because you had no choice. The mood of this group was different. They were finally feeling the power of superior numbers, and he worried that they were too eager to use it.

  “We’re almost there,” Song said as they passed a train station.

  Two hundred metres later they entered a square. Directly in front of them were knots of men drinking beer and surrounded by goods that had obviously been looted.

  “They didn’t waste any time,” Chow said.

  The men didn’t seem to notice them at first, but as the four gangs approached they leapt to their feet and formed a line. Uncle could hear them talking among themselves, and then a man he recognized as Fok stepped forward.

  “What the hell is this?” Fok asked.

  “We are from the brotherhoods in Fanling, Tsuen Wan, Sai Kung, and Mai Po. We have come to ask you to leave this place,” Wang said.

  “We are here peaceably. What’s your problem?” Fok said as his men bunched closer together.

  Uncle saw that most of them were armed, although knives and machetes seemed to be more prevalent than guns.

  “Our problem is that you’re trying to exert control over Tsuen Wan. We’re not going to let that happen.”

  Uncle kept his attention focused on Fok, who in turn was eyeing the men facing him. He’s trying to count how many we are, Uncle thought. If he has any sense he’ll realize he’s badly outnumbered.

  “We are here peaceably,” Fok repeated. “There’s no reason to threaten us.”

  “We are here to defend Tsuen Wan’s right to operate in their own territory without outside interference,” Wang said. “You are most definitely trying to interfere. There’s nothing peaceable about that.”

  Fok turned to speak to a couple of men standing next to him, and then faced Wang again. “I need to speak to my Mountain Master about this. I’m not going anywhere unless he directs me to.”

  “Then go and speak to him. We’ll wait. We’re not going anywhere,” said Wang.

  Fok nodded and walked away from his men towards a bank of payphones. His men stayed where they were.

  “Man will tell them to leave,” Song said.

  “We’ll see,” said Wang
.

  Uncle watched Fok make the call. His back was turned to them, so he couldn’t see if Man’s Red Pole was doing most of the talking or if he was listening. Regardless, the conversation didn’t last long, and Fok quickly made his way back to his men. He said something to them before turning to face the four gangs.

  “My boss told me he doesn’t want our presence to be the cause of any problems between gangs, so we’re going to leave, but he says you should enjoy this meaningless exercise while you can,” Fok said. He pointed a finger directly at Uncle. “He also wants me to tell you that no one is interfering in other people’s business more than you. He says if you keep it up, there will be a price to pay.”

  Sonny twitched. “Stay calm,” Uncle said to him. “Wang, don’t acknowledge that last remark.”

  Wang nodded. “Leave the square in an orderly manner,” he said. “Leave the things you’ve stolen, and don’t loot or damage property on your way out of here.”

  Fok muttered something to the men standing next to him, and the group began to turn away. They started to walk from the square, but they hadn’t gone more than fifty metres when a group of ten men peeled off to one side. Uncle saw they had knives and machetes clenched against their legs.

  “What are they doing?” Song asked Wang.

  Before he could answer, the group screamed and charged forward, brandishing their weapons.

  “Hold your ground!” Wang shouted. “Don’t go to meet them.”

  They can’t be that crazy, Uncle thought. He felt a sense of relief, even if it was somewhat puzzled, when the men stopped ten metres short and began shouting and laughing as if it was all a game.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Wang said.

  “We’re going,” one said with a smile.

  He and his colleagues turned away, and then suddenly they pivoted and ran directly at Uncle.

  Uncle’s view was instantly blocked as Sonny stepped in front of him. The Fanling men closed ranks on either side and moved forward. Man’s men were on them in seconds, but whatever element of surprise they’d thought they had was immediately gone. Uncle saw Sonny’s right elbow crash into the head of one of the attackers, and almost before he’d reached the ground, Sonny’s foot bore into his groin and then rocketed into the side of his head. Out of the corner of his eye, Uncle saw Wang stick a knife into the side of another man.

  “Move back!” one of Fok’s men shouted. They did, but only five were still standing. On the ground in front of Uncle, the rest lay in pools of blood or writhing in pain from less visible damage.

  Wang reached down, grabbed the man he had stabbed, and rolled him towards his gangmates. Sonny did the same with the man he’d taken out. “If you drop your weapons, you can retrieve your friends,” Wang said to Fok’s men. “If you don’t, we’ll leave them here to rot.”

  Machetes and knives fell to the bricks. The men tentatively moved forward to help their wounded away from the front line.

  “Are any of our men hurt?” Uncle asked.

  “Chan took a knife to the groin. We’ll get him to a hospital,” Wang said.

  Uncle looked across the square to where Fok had been watching the action from a safe distance. He shook his head at the Red Pole. Some of Fok’s men ran across the square to help remove the injured. Two of them could walk, two others had to be supported, and the fifth, who was being carried by his feet and arms, wasn’t showing any signs of life. Fok waited for them to reach the main force. When they did, he turned and led his men from the square.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  By ten o’clock, dinner at Dong’s was over. Uncle, Fong, and Wang were working on their third beers and Tian was drinking his second pot of tea.

  What had started as a celebration of their success in Tsuen Wan soon found the four comrades sharing stories about their years as triads. Old friends, enemies, and business acquaintances were remembered. Fong was a particularly good storyteller and, given his many interactions with people, he had a lot of stories to tell. At one point, after Tian asked him why he was so drawn to Macau, Fong spoke uninterrupted for twenty minutes. Stories about mama-sans, the grimy casinos, wild-animal restaurants, and his various gambling systems — all of which had ended in failure — tumbled out of him.

  Uncle listened as best he could, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Tsuen Wan. He left the table several times to call the hospital, enquiring about Chan, the wounded forty-niner, and didn’t relax until he was told the man would be released that night.

  “You seem distracted,” Tian said to Uncle as he returned from making his last call. Fong was still talking about Macau. He was predicting that Las Vegas casino operators would be allowed to set up in Macau when Stanley Ho’s decades-long gaming licence — which gave him a monopoly — came up for renewal.

  “I’m thinking about Tsuen Wan,” said Uncle, then looked at Wang. “Do you believe the men we left there will be enough if Man’s people return?”

  “I don’t think there’s much chance they will, but if they do, Song should be able to handle things.”

  “Okay . . . I just can’t stop worrying. I would hate to see a reversal of the success we had today.”

  “Speaking of which,” Tian said as he pushed himself to his feet, “I have something to say to you.”

  “I hope you’re not going to spoil my night by telling us you’re going to retire,” said Uncle.

  “There’s no chance of that,” Tian said. “Today four gangs came together as one and drove off a bully, and three of those gangs had nothing to gain and a lot to lose. I can’t remember that ever happening before. It’s a remarkable thing, and it happened because of you. So congratulations, Uncle. You make me proud to be a member of this triad.”

  “I feel the same,” Fong said.

  “You two must really want a ride home,” Uncle said, with a smile that he hoped hid how touched he was. “We should leave now. I have calls to make.”

  “I’m going to stay a bit longer,” Wang said. “You can reach me here if you need me.”

  Sonny was waiting by the car when the three men left the restaurant. Uncle had invited him to join them for dinner, but he had declined, saying it provided better security if he was outside.

  “Drop Fong off first, then Tian,” Uncle said.

  Uncle and Tian sat in the back seat. Fong slid into the front next to Sonny and said, “Uncle told us you did well in Tsuen Wan today.”

  Sonny shrugged. “I did my job. Nothing more.”

  Fong’s apartment was near Dong’s Kitchen, and even driving slowly it took less than five minutes to get there. Before getting out, Fong turned to Uncle. “What time do you want to leave for our meeting in Shenzhen tomorrow?”

  “I thought about three.”

  “Could it be a little earlier? Ming would like to pick us up at the train station and take us to his office for a short meeting.”

  Ming Gen was their partner in the garment trade and had been their first connection in Shenzhen. He manufactured an ever-expanding variety of quality knock-off clothing in his two factories. “Would this meeting have anything to do with him wanting to build Ming Garment Factory Number Three?”

  “Yes. He tells me that both of the plants are running at full capacity now and can hardly keep up with demand. To be fair to him, we do keep asking him to add more brand lines. Something has to give. We either have to cut some brands or help him increase production.”

  “Have you seen a plan?” Uncle asked.

  Fong managed day-to-day business with Ming. “Every time I see Ming, he pulls out the plan.”

  “Okay, we’ll leave at one, and you can tell Ming he can present his proposal,” Uncle said. “Now, can you do something for me tonight?”

  “Sure.”

  “Call the rest of the executive committee and let them know we were successful in Tsuen Wan.”

  “I’ll
do it right away,” Fong said. “See you in the morning.”

  “Those garment factories have been a fantastic investment,” Tian said as the car pulled away.

  “They saved us financially,” said Uncle. “We were dipping into the reserve fund to maintain our cash flow, and that was only a short-term fix leading nowhere.”

  “We were fortunate you had the foresight to realize what would be happening in Shenzhen.”

  “We were even luckier to connect with the Liu family,” Uncle said, and then lowered his voice slightly. “By the way, I told our mutual friend that I’m meeting with Leji tomorrow, and that I hoped he would have information that could help calm things down among the gangs. I think it might have bought us a little time with the police.”

  “I’m sure he’s heard about what happened in Tsuen Wan today. I hope that doesn’t cause him to become impatient.”

  “I’ll find out soon enough. He’s the first person I’m going to call when I get home.”

  They reached Tian’s apartment and Uncle got out of the car to help his old friend. “Thank you for your kind words at the restaurant,” he said.

  “You know I meant them. I’m so very proud of you. I have no sons, and there is a very special place in my heart for you and Delun,” Tian said, his voice catching.

  “And we both feel the same way about you,” Uncle said, slightly uncomfortable with the display of emotion.

  The nighttime bodyguard was standing outside Uncle’s apartment building when he and Sonny arrived. Uncle nodded at him, headed upstairs, and went directly to the phone to check his messages. A number of Mountain Masters had called to congratulate him on Tsuen Wan. There was no rush to call them back, he decided. The priority was Zhang.

  Uncle took a San Miguel from the fridge, settled into his chair, and phoned the police superintendent.