The water rat of Wanchai al-1

by Ian Hamilton

“There isn’t much point in that either, because I don’t think he can talk.”

  A longer pause. “You’re a nasty little thing, aren’t you?”

  Ava said, “There is a French saying that applies to my situation: ‘Be careful of that animal — it is very vicious. When you attack it, it defends itself.’”

  “We could have a debate about who attacked whom, but I don’t think that would help this situation,” Robbins said. Then he added, “Is he alive?” as casually as if he were asking whether she had eaten breakfast.

  “I think so. I haven’t checked in the past ten minutes.”

  She could hear him breathing through the phone but he didn’t sound particularly stressed, and again she had to give him credit. “Ms. Lee, I hope you don’t think this mistreatment of my brother changes your position in any material way,” he said.

  “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead when he was swinging a belt at me and threatening to break my bones with a baton.”

  “Maybe that was ill-advised on his part.”

  “He was simply doing what he was told.”

  The Captain drew a deeper breath. “You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

  There goes any concern for his brother, Ava thought. “I accept that as a fair criticism, and I apologize for it. I also, if you remember, offered to fix the problem,” she said, offering her first peace token.

  “It was perhaps silly of me not to accept, but I do have my pride and you did breach my trust.”

  “And it was silly of me to have done that.”

  “Is this the start of renewed negotiations?” he asked carefully.

  “That’s up to you.”

  “Well, I think it could be. Forgive and forget, Ms. Lee. Let’s both of us forgive and forget.”

  “I think that’s best.”

  He paused and then said slowly, “Excellent. Now, of course, I still want my money.”

  “That’s a given, and I’m prepared to make that happen. I just need time to get hold of my people in Hong Kong and set things in motion… in proper motion.”

  “The full amount we agreed?”

  “Of course.”

  “Plus I’m going to have to look after my brother — ”

  “Nothing extra,” she said curtly, knowing she had to maintain some pretence of control on her end.

  He didn’t argue, but Ava knew she might not have heard the last about that. “By my reckoning, it is sometime in the evening in Hong Kong. When exactly do you think you can execute the transfer?”

  “You aren’t the only one with a bank that provides out-of-hours service. The straight answer to your question is that I don’t know until I talk to my people there. I have to reach them and they have to get to the bank.”

  “Give me some rough idea of a time frame.”

  “It may be a couple of hours before I know.”

  “I’ll give you an hour to reach them and get back to me with a schedule. When we have that, then we reassess our position.”

  “I’m not sure what I can accomplish in an hour, but I’ll go along with you as long as the door doesn’t slam shut when the time is up.”

  “I said we could reassess.”

  Ava knew she wasn’t going to do any better. “That will do, thank you.”

  “It’s a good start anyway. Puts us back on the rails, so to speak,” Robbins said. “But now, Ms. Lee, I do have to say that we can’t have a repeat of last night’s document farce.”

  “I understand that only too well.”

  “I also don’t mean to be overbearing or repetitive or unnecessarily threatening, but you have no passport and you aren’t leaving the BVI without one. In fact, you aren’t leaving until Morris Thomas says you can leave, and you can be certain that direction will come from me. You also have two men in your apartment, one who has been kidnapped and the other one — a local policeman at that — in what I presume is a deprived physical condition brought on by you. On top of those abuses, you have engaged in a fraudulent scheme with one of the leading banks on the island. Road Town is a small place. One phone call and you’re minutes away from quite a pile of unpleasantness.”

  “I do understand my situation,” Ava said.

  “Still, there’s no harm in my making it clear. I trust there’s no offence taken on your part?”

  “None.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “With me calling Hong Kong to urge them to get that wire out to you as fast as they can.”

  “Exactly. And of course you’ll call me the moment you have the details, and by the end of an hour even if you don’t.”

  “You’ll hear from me either way.”

  “Ms. Lee, I await your call.”

  Not a word of concern about his brother after the topic changed to money, Ava thought as she hung up. Blood ties must run pretty thin in Barbados.

  She sat quietly for a minute. It had gone about as well as could be expected. He still had dollar signs dancing in his eyes, and he wasn’t going to ease up on her until he had his money. He thought he had serious leverage, and in some respects he did, but only if she let time work for him. And when he got the money, was he capable of reneging on her? She had no doubt that it was, at the minimum, in the back of his mind. The thing was, she had no intention of hanging around to find out if she was right or not.

  She went into her bedroom to fetch her toilet kit. She needed to get clean, take a quick shower, brush her teeth and hair. Dealing with the Robbins brothers made her feel dirty.

  When she stripped, she saw that the red welt on her shoulder and neck was longer and wider than she’d thought. It would turn black and blue eventually. The side of her lower leg was throbbing and already dis-coloured. Thank God, she thought, he didn’t catch bone, or she would be trying to deal with a break. She stepped into the shower, turned her face into the stream of water, and tried to think more pleasant thoughts.

  Ten minutes later she was in the bedroom. She put her toilet kit into her bag, checked her cash stash, grabbed two more sachets of VIA, and headed for the kitchen. She made a coffee and then sat at the computer and began to search the British Virgin Islands and its Caribbean neighbours. She didn’t have to look far.

  It wasn’t quite seven thirty when she sat on the balcony to call Derek, her notebook open to a clean page.

  “Hi, Ava,” he said, his voice sleepy.

  “I got your voicemail, thanks.”

  “You’re using your own phone again. Everything okay?”

  “Looking up, anyway.”

  “I was worried. Uncle too. He called to find out what happened to me. He said he had some guys in New York on standby but was waiting to hear from you before doing anything.”

  “I’ll call him after we’re finished.”

  “I located the girls.”

  “I figured as much. Tell me what you found out.”

  Derek had been thorough. As Ava reviewed her notes after they were finished, she began to feel that an element of control was finally back in her hands.

  The cay below her window was beginning to come to life. Small offices were strung around the piers, most of them advertising charters and cruises. They were just starting to open up. Hong Kong first, Ava thought.

  “ Wei, Ava,” Uncle said breathlessly. “Where are you?”

  “Still in the BVI.”

  “You are using your own phone.”

  “Our situation has improved.”

  “I was worried,” he sighed.

  “I know you were. Sorry for that, Uncle. Now, did you get the two million I sent?”

  “Yes, it came in yesterday morning, and Tam got his money too. My friend is grateful, although not as grateful as Tam… But what about you? Did the phony wire work?”

  “No.”

  “Ava, I told you it was risky… So now what, your Plan B?

  “There’s a Plan C now.”

  “Do we still send money to the Caymans?”

  “No. Money isn’t going anywhere.”

/>   “Do you need my help in any other way?”

  “No, I think I can manage.”

  “Be careful.”

  “As always.”

  “I have men in New York, no more than eight hours away.”

  She could imagine them. Two or three small Chinese men, tattoos peeking out from under their shirt collars, broken English, and U.S. passports that might or might not pass rigorous examination. “I don’t need them, but thank you anyway.”

  “Need them or not, you have to keep in touch with me, because if you go missing again for more than twenty-four hours I’m sending them in.”

  “No worries, Uncle. I’ll stay in touch.”

  “When do you expect to leave that place?”

  “Today, soon. I’ll call you once I’m organized.”

  “Any time. I’ll leave my mobile on.”

  (41)

  The charter offices all looked about the same, and all of them seemed to offer identical services. So Ava chose the largest one, figuring that had to increase her chances of getting a boat.

  “I’m spending the next week of my holiday on St. Thomas, and I thought I’d like to get there by sea,” she said to the weather-beaten little man behind the counter.

  “There are cruises you can join,” he said.

  “I’d rather go alone.”

  “More expensive.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “You want a bareboat?”

  “A what?”

  “You going to sail it? Skipper it yourself?”

  “Of course not.”

  “So you need a crew?”

  “I need someone to sail the boat.”

  “One way?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’d have to charge a two-way fee.”

  “That’s okay.”

  “You care what kind of boat?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You want a sailboat, a motorized boat?”

  “I want to get there quickly.”

  “A motorboat then.”

  “If you say so,” Ava said.

  “When do you want to leave?”

  “Well, how long is the trip?”

  “We’re only going about fifty kilometres, so around two hours.”

  “Then I’d like to leave this morning.”

  “You need to be more specific.”

  “Ten o’clock?”

  He opened a ledger that was on the counter. “Sure, but the only thing I’ve got available then is a Bavaria 35. It’s expensive.”

  “How much?”

  “Round trip, figure six hundred dollars plus a tip for the skipper.”

  “Cash okay?”

  “Cash works.”

  “Perfect. I’ll be back here at ten.”

  “I need a name.”

  “Lee.”

  “And contact information.”

  She gave him her cellphone number.

  “You’ll need your passport to land on the U.S. side.”

  “Not a problem,” she said, reaching into her Chanel bag. “Here’s two hundred dollars as a deposit.”

  The hour she had bargained with Robbins was almost up and she didn’t want to call him from outside the apartment. She hustled back, taking a minute near the front door to see if there were any occupied cars lingering nearby, any people idling about. The area seemed clear.

  The hour wasn’t quite over when she settled into the kitchen. She used Robbins’s phone to make the call. The Captain answered on the second ring. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you are prompt,” he said.

  “I’ve been back and forth with Hong Kong, and the money is being organized as we speak. They tell me they’re expediting it on an urgent basis.”

  “What does ‘urgent’ mean?”

  “They’re saying it should be in your account by five o’clock this evening. Not in transit, mind you, but physically in your Cayman Islands account. But Captain, you can’t hold me to that; I’m just repeating what I was told. I can tell you, though, that I stressed and re-stressed the importance of its actually happening.”

  “All very businesslike.”

  “I insisted on having a timeline. I didn’t want to have to give you generalities.”

  “I think, Ms. Lee, we are back on common ground.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  She waited for him to ask for a copy of the new wire, her reply ready. Instead he moved on. “How is my brother?”

  Ava looked at the large, still body lying prone on the floor. He hadn’t moved since she’d cuffed him. “Resting.”

  “Will he need medical care?”

  “Perhaps, but not until the money is in your account and you’ve given me the green light to leave Road Town.”

  “You have things in proper order, I’m glad to hear.”

  So much for Jack Robbins, Ava thought again. “I still need to make some plans,” she said. “The flights out of here seem quite busy. There’s one leaving for San Juan tonight at nine o’clock with some seats available. If you don’t mind, on a contingency basis I’d like to reserve a seat on it.”

  “I don’t see any harm in that. What’s the flight number?”

  “American Airlines 4866, departing at eight fifty-five.”

  “Fine.”

  “And I’d appreciate it if you could let Mr. Thomas know that those are my plans and arrange for him to have my passport dropped off later today at the apartment.”

  “Once the money is in my account, I’ll talk to Thomas.”

  “I understand.”

  “And you should probably assume you’ll have to pick up your passport at the airport. He isn’t a courier service, you know.”

  “No problem.”

  “Well, this has been a much better conversation, I must say.”

  “For me too.”

  “So now you have the rest of the day to kill. Do you have any plans?”

  “I have to get out of this apartment for a while. I find that looking at your brother and Seto for hours on end is more than I can handle. I’ll go for a walk, get some lunch. I’ll keep your brother’s phone with me in case you want to contact me.”

  “Don’t stray too far.”

  “Have no worries,” Ava said.

  When she hung up, she went online and booked the American Airlines flight to San Juan. Then, using a different credit card and a different address, she bought a seat on American Airlines flight 672, leaving St. Thomas at two thirty and arriving in Miami at five twenty, connecting with American Airlines flight 646 from Miami to Toronto at five past eight. She figured she’d be home just after midnight.

  (42)

  Ava decided to travel comfortably, in her running shoes, track pants, and the black T-shirt she’d slept in. She packed carefully, putting her jewellery and cash in the Chanel bag and then the bag into the bottom of the Louis Vuitton suitcase, surrounded by dirty clothes she’d neatly bundled up. The only expensive accessory she wore was the ivory chignon pin.

  When she packed the Shanghai Tang bag, she remembered that she still had some chloral hydrate and the switchblade. She emptied the shampoo bottles into the sink. The chances were slim that anyone would have examined them, but it was foolish to take chances. She slipped the blade under the mattress of her bed.

  Her Hong Kong passport and other loose ID went into the back pocket of her Adidas pants, which she sealed with the Velcro tab. The cash she needed for the boat, taxis, and meals en route was stuffed into her front pants pocket.

  By nine thirty she was ready to go and saw no point in hanging around the apartment any longer. She left her bags by the door and paid a visit to Seto.

  He was awake, his eyes opening and closing sporadically from the lingering effects of the drug. She sat him up. He motioned for her to remove the tape from his mouth. “No, it has to stay on,” she said. He looked panicky again.

  “Now listen to me carefully,” Ava said. “I have to go out for a little while. The big guy you saw — Mr. Clean �
� he’s in the next room, so if I were you I wouldn’t make too much noise. Nod if you understand me.”

  He nodded.

  “This is going to be over by tomorrow. I’m leaving then, and so is Mr. Clean. We’ll call the staff after we’re gone and tell them where to find you. So until then, you behave yourself.”

  He nodded.

  “The last thing, and maybe the most important, is that you have to forget about me, about Andrew Tam, and about this entire affair. It never happened. You say one word and we’ll find you and we’ll hurt you. Do you believe me?”

  He nodded.

  Ava patted him on the cheek. “And if I were you, I’d find another business. There are enough creeps peddling fish without you and that fat pervert of a friend of yours in the mix.”

  As she left the apartment Ava took one last look back at Robbins. He still wasn’t moving. Ava thought about dragging him into his bedroom but wasn’t sure she was strong enough, and besides, what difference did it make where they found him? From the doorway she couldn’t tell if he was actually breathing. Was he alive? She tiptoed close and reached down to feel the pulse in his wrist. It was racing along, maybe too fast. Well, it wasn’t her problem anymore.

  Downstairs, Doreen was in the lobby behind the desk. “I’m leaving today, heading for San Juan,” Ava said. “My friends are still in the apartment but they don’t need any maid service until tomorrow. Could you make a note of that, please?”

  “That will be three days.”

  “Just doing what they can for the environment,” Ava said.

  She walked to the charter office and paid the man in cash, showed him her passport, and at five minutes to ten was aboard a Bavaria 35 heading out to sea. Ava looked back at the Guildford Apartments as the boat powered its way out of the harbour. She felt bad for the room maid who would stumble across Robbins and Seto next morning. Hopefully it wouldn’t alarm her too much.

  Road Town began to shrink into the distance. It was a pretty city, the white stucco buildings nestled against the greenery of the mountains encircling the deep blue harbour. She doubted she’d see it again. Revisiting old job locations was never a good idea.

  She went below into the cabin when Road Town had become just a dot. About an hour and a half later the boat engines eased and Ava climbed back on deck to watch as they pulled into St. Thomas.