by Tom Clancy
It’s dried blood.
Looking back at the room I can picture the place entirely covered in plastic at one time. Something bad happened in here and they haven’t quite cleaned it all up.
Very quickly, I tear off the section of plastic. I stuff the strip into my pocket and then move on down the corridor to try the next door. This is a messy office. Papers are strewn over the desk, filing cabinet drawers are half open, and someone’s leftover takeout carton of Mu Shu Crap is smelling up the room. I glance at the papers and can barely make out the Chinese script. They’re bills, orders, and employee records for the Purple Queen.
I step into the next room, expecting to bump into a couple of Triads at any moment. But it’s just another office, not quite as messy as the first, containing nothing of interest.
The next room is the kitchen, where they wash the dishes and glasses. There are two guys wearing aprons, backs to me, busy at the sinks. They both have headphones on and are listening to Walkmans attached to their belts. I can see a swinging door on the other side of the kitchen that most likely leads to the club.
The door at the end of the corridor suddenly opens. I step inside the kitchen and stand on the other side of the threshold. Two men wearing suits and sunglasses walk past, ignoring the kitchen, and head down the hall. They go out the back door, slamming it shut behind them. I pause for a moment, thankful that the dishwashers are too preoccupied by their jobs to turn and notice me standing behind them.
When I feel it’s safe to move, I smoothly slip out of the kitchen, swiftly dart to the back door, and crack it open. The two men are getting inside a car. I wait until they pull out of the lot and disappear before I exit the building. I figure it’s time to become Joe Tourist and enter the nightclub for real.
As I find a dark corner in the alleyway to put my civilian clothes on over my uniform, I ponder what the blood on the plastic sheet might mean. Seeing that Triads run the club, I suppose it could be anyone’s blood. I’ll have Hendricks run it to check the blood type. If it’s the same as Gregory Jeinsen’s then I might be on to something.
Now appearing like an average gweilo looking to spend some money, I approach the front door. One of the door-men opens it and a blast of soft American rock music hits me in the face. The cover charge is five hundred Hong Kong dollars, which includes the first two drinks. Sheesh, what a bargain. After I fork out the money, four gorgeous Chinese women wearing cheongsams sing out in unison, “Welcome!” and pull back velvet curtains so that I may enter the main floor.
It’s a dimly lit room bathed in red and there are dozens of planters holding small palm trees. An aquarium stretches along one wall. I estimate there are about fifty tables in the place, with a dance floor dominating the area. There are also several divan-coffee table combinations scattered around the perimeter. Middle-aged Chinese gentlemen accompanied by anywhere from one to four “hostesses” paying rapt attention to them occupy many of these seats. In fact, the place is surprisingly crowded. I didn’t expect to find so many big spenders in post-handover Hong Kong.
Apparently the patrons of the Purple Queen can purchase “time” with a hostess. She’ll sit and have a drink with you, dance with you, talk with you… whatever you happen to arrange. There are even private rooms you can escape to. Whatever happens in there must be arranged beforehand and probably costs you more than you can afford. I understand that naïve visitors can be taken for a ride financially; simply having a drink with a hostess can be very expensive.
I take a seat at one of the tables near the door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, which is written in both English and Chinese. I can read Chinese fairly well and can make out some of the other signage around the place that isn’t translated into English. There’s an emergency exit behind the band’s setup and the restrooms are near the bar.
I’m not at the seat twenty seconds before a lovely young Chinese girl wearing a cheongsam approaches me. “Would you like some company?” she asks in heavily accented English.
“No, thank you,” I say. “Just bring me a drink, please. Fruit juice, if you have it.”
The girl blinks as if I’ve said something completely gauche. I hand her one hundred Hong Kong dollars and this seems to appease her. She rushes off using those dainty small steps so typical of Asian women and I concentrate on the “entertainment.” A Chinese — or maybe a Japanese — businessman is onstage trying to sing “We’ve Only Just Begun” karaoke-style. It’s horrific. When he’s done, the three hostesses he had been sitting with applaud enthusiastically. The man leaves the stage and a four-piece band returns to their instruments. The guitarist announces that they’re ready to play another set and invites everyone to “get up and dance.” The band then launches into a passable cover of “Funkytown” and maybe ten or twelve people migrate to the dance floor.
The girl brings me my juice and again offers to sit and chat. Once more I refuse and act disinterested. She glares at me unpleasantly and walks away. The girl whispers to another hostess, who decides to try her luck. Perhaps the gweilo prefers someone a little taller? Someone with larger breasts? Maybe the one with the blonde wig?
No, no, thank you. Just let me drink in peace so I can observe what’s going on around me.
When I think they’ve finally got the message, I take note of the various thugs posted around the place. I count three Chinese men — all gangster types — who are obviously keeping an eye out for trouble. Chances are I’ve been noticed and they’re pondering why I’m not spending money on a girl. Screw ’em. I wonder if they miss their pal who’s in the garbage bin out back.
The first hostess brings me the obligatory second drink before I’ve finished the first. Apparently since I’m not spending any more money they want to get rid of me. I thank her but she barely acknowledges me.
Before long a group of men enter the place and parade through the room as if they own it. Sure enough, one of them does. I recognize the older guy in front — it’s Jon Ming. The other six must be his bodyguards or lieutenants. They’re all wearing expensive suits and look as if they just waltzed out of a John Woo movie.
The group walks right by my table but none of them glance my way. They head straight for the Employees Only door and step through into the corridor where I was earlier. The door shuts before I manage a better look.
Now’s my chance to slip outside and plant a homing device on Ming’s car. If his bozos aren’t watching it too closely I just might be able to get away with it. I quickly down my second drink and leave another hundred dollars on the table and catch the hostess’s eye. I point to it and mouth the words, “Thank you.” She smiles but doesn’t give me much encouragement to return. I stand and begin to walk toward the front when none other than Mason Hendricks enters the joint. He looks very dapper decked out in a fancy white suit.
What the hell? I thought he didn’t want to be seen anywhere near me. Something’s up.
Instead of moving toward the door, I make a detour for the men’s room. I take my time doing it, watching Hendricks out of the corner of my eye. He ignores me. Several of the hostesses greet him as a regular; he smiles, puts his arms around a couple of them, and whispers in their ears. They laugh and lead him toward a divan. I find the men’s room, go inside, enter a stall, and wait.
After a minute or two, the door opens and I see the bottom cuffs of his white trousers. I open the stall and Hendricks is standing at one of the two sinks, washing his hands. I step beside him in front of the other sink and turn on the water.
“What the hell, Mason?” I whisper.
“I have some information for you. Thought you could use it immediately.” He quickly lays a business card on the counter and begins to dry his hands. “One of my sources tells me the Lucky Dragons are receiving a shipment of arms tonight. I wrote the address on the back of the card. It’s supposed to go down at half past midnight.”
I dry my hands and slip the card into my pocket. “Thanks,” I mutter. Maybe this is what I need to establish a link between the Triad
and the Shop. In exchange, I give him the piece of plastic with the dried blood on it.
“Get this analyzed,” I say. “It might be Jeinsen’s.”
Hendricks sticks the evidence in his pocket and nods. “Will do.”
At that moment one of the Triad thugs enters the washroom, barely glances at us, then steps up to a urinal.
Hendricks then addresses me at normal volume with the persona of a good ol’ boy who just happened to bump into a fellow countryman. “Well, friend, did you get a load of those dames out there?” he asks.
“Um, yeah, I did,” I say, playing along.
He winks at me. “I think I’m going to get lucky tonight. Happy hunting!” Hendricks leaves the washroom and I linger for a moment to finish drying my hands. When I’m done, I go out into the nightclub and head for the front door. I notice that Hendricks is back on the divan with three of the women, having a grand old time.
Once I’m outside I circle the building to look for a limousine or something that might be Jon Ming’s car. There’s a Rolls-Royce parked in the special Reserved spot but two men are busy washing and polishing it. I’ll have to forget planting a homer this time around. The best thing for me to do is go back to my fleabag hotel, change into my uniform, and wait until twelve-thirty to check out the arms delivery.
I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.
15
At midnight I take a taxi to a district known as Kowloon City, located near the former Kai Tak International Airport. This infamous area was once the site of the legendary Kowloon Walled City, the center of everything illegal in Hong Kong. Technically the enclave remained part of China throughout British rule and therefore became the primary stomping grounds for Triads. You name it, it was there — vice, prostitution, gambling, drugs, poverty, illegal dentists and doctors, and even black market organ trading. Even sensible Chinese were afraid to go into the Walled City, which consisted of dark, dirty, narrow streets and filthy tenement buildings. If a Westerner was foolish enough to venture inside, he took his life with him.
In 1984, though, the Hong Kong government acquired the area, rehoused the residents, and tore down the walls. Now, ironically, a beautiful park occupies the grounds. In my opinion the change certainly did away with an eyesore but it also meant the Triads had to integrate themselves throughout the rest of the territory. At least in the past they congregated in a single spot.
Today, Kowloon City is still a low-rent neighborhood and probably a place that Westerners should avoid at night. The “warehouse” I’m looking for is located very near the old airport. The building is condemned, the windows boarded over, and I’m beginning to wonder if Hendricks was given a bum steer. Nevertheless, I’m nearly a half hour early and it could be that these Triads are anally punctual.
I circle the place and consider using my lock picks to get inside the back door, a steel job that appears to have been broken into before. But there’s a window with only one board tentatively fastened to it, probably a weeks-old access created by a homeless person looking for a warm shelter for the night. I’m able to leap to the bottom sill, pull my body up, and peer inside the dirty glass. With my night vision goggles I can see that the floor inside is bare save for dirty pieces of junk metal lying along the sides of the space. The slat covering the window is about to come off anyway, so with one hand I pull it out and let it fall to the ground. Sure enough, the window isn’t locked — it moves inward via a rusty, squeaky hinge at the top of the pane. I wriggle inside, hold on to the sill, and then somersault into the room.
The place smells moldy. From what I can tell, it hasn’t been used in ages. Even the cobwebs have cobwebs. I’m about to label the so-called tip as bullshit when I hear the sound of vehicles outside. Headlights flash across the front windows, creating eerie slats of light streaming between the boards. I quickly look around for a decent place to hide and run to a large piece of scrap metal that’s leaning against the wall in a corner. I crawl behind it, crouch, and wait as another pair of headlights cross the windows.
After a minute I hear the sound of keys in the front door, which is approximately thirty feet away from where I’m hiding. The steel door opens and three Chinese dressed in cheap suits waltz in. One of them is carrying what looks like some kind of radio transmitter the size of a boom box. Three more guys come in and shut the door. I relax a little, now that I know the odds. That’s six to one, which is, of course, in my favor.
One of them hits a switch on the wall and bulbs in the ceiling flood the space with illumination. So, the building has electricity. It’s not condemned at all. Perhaps the Triad always uses the place for illicit purposes and they just want to keep people out.
I switch off the night vision and watch the men through a slit in the scrap metal. The guy with the radio thingy goes over to the wall, finds an electrical outlet, and plugs in the device. He unfastens something on top of it and removes a small satellite dish. Leading thin wire out of the machine, he places the dish on the floor about five feet from the box. I find it interesting that the other men aren’t watching him. Instead, they’ve drawn handguns and stand in a semicircle, facing out, as if they’re expecting someone. I begin to worry that my cover isn’t good enough and they’ll be able to see me back here.
The radio guy goes back to the box and fiddles with some knobs on the side. I see a red light glow and a low hum fills the room.
What the hell is going on?
Then it’s almost as if a bolt of lightning answers my question. My ears are suddenly bombarded by a high-pitched electronic shriek that is excruciatingly painful.
Oh, my God! Shit, turn it off!
I’m squinting in torment but can see that the six Triad gentlemen are still out there, standing calmly, looking for signs of movement in the room. They’re not affected by the noise at all.
Damn! Stop it! For the love of Christ!
I realize I’m bending over, embracing the floor. My hands are clutching the sides of my head and I can’t shake away the torture. This is the fucking worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life!
The implants. That’s what the device is targeting! It’s sending some kind of electronic signal to the implants in my inner ears. This has turned me into a dog, susceptible to pitches beyond the scope of human hearing. And, like a dog, I’m now crawling on the floor, unable to control myself. I must be drawing attention to myself, for the Triads look in my direction and walk toward me, guns pointed. One of them rips away the sheet of scrap metal, exposing me. I’m helpless at their feet, writhing in agony, pleading with gods that don’t exist to somehow stop the punishment.
Two of the men grab me under the arms, take my weapon, and drag me to the center of the room.
Do something! I command myself. I can’t be this vulnerable! I’ve been trained to withstand the worst torture imaginable and do everything I can to fight back. I can’t let them win!
I’m lying on my right side in a fetal position, my legs curled to my chest. I sense that the five gunmen have surrounded me and are aiming their handguns at my quivering shape. They’re going to execute me here on this cold, dirty wooden floor.
I swear I’m about to black out as my right hand instinctively moves to one of the pockets on my right calf, the side I’m lying on. I grasp one of the frag grenades I keep outside of my backpack in case I need one for an emergency. If ever there was an emergency, this is surely it.
Activating it is easy. Tossing it toward the transmitter is another thing altogether. Instead, I elect to simply roll the damned thing right between one of the goon’s legs. The grenade wobbles across the floor and the five gunmen follow it with their eyes. The look of surprise on their faces is priceless, for they realize there is absolutely no time for them to do anything about the inevitable—
KA-BOOM!
The pain in my head abruptly ceases. I’m able to think clearly and summon all the strength I have left to leap out of the pitiful position I was in. I ram one of the men, knocking the weapon from his hand
, and throw him into the fellow to his right. They collide and fall to the floor. Before they hit it I’m already swinging my right boot up and into the next closest Triad, kicking him onto his ass.
As the smoke clears, I can see that the frag grenade destroyed their little toy and killed the operator and the one goon that had been standing closest to the blast. Another man was severely wounded by it — he’s crawling around in his own blood, looking for his arms. That leaves the three men I just attacked, and they’re quickly rebounding from the surprise. One of them manages to retrieve his dropped weapon but I move in with a solid kick to his chin. The thug’s head jerks backward so hard that everyone hears the snap of his neck. He goes down and won’t be getting up again. Ever.
Two happy campers left. Their weapons are out of reach but they don’t hesitate to go on the offensive. Both men rush me and use some expert kung fu moves to try to disable me. A side kick delivered to my stomach succeeds in doubling me over, allowing the second guy a clear spear-chop to the back of my neck. It’s a standard maneuver and I’m trained to deflect it by propelling myself forward just a few inches so that the blow hits my back instead of the neck. It still hurts and could easily break one’s spine, but the bones there are tougher than neck vertebrae.
I fall forward, roll, and lock my right boot behind one man’s leg. I flex my knee and he falls to the floor. The other guy tries to kick me but I grab his foot with both hands and twist it as hard as I can. He yelps and is forced to flip in the direction of the turn to avoid having his ankle broken. He, too, is now on the floor, giving me the time I need to get to my feet. I perform a forward roll from the prone position, thrusting my upper body up and over my legs, a nice move that took a complete day of practicing to master. It’s especially tough on the abdomen and thigh muscles. I quickly gain my balance and I’m standing between the two Triads.