by Ian Hamilton
“We can’t risk them coming back. Keep five of his men here. Put them somewhere out of the way and under guard. The rest of them can leave,” Chow said, and then leaned towards Min. “If you or anyone else from Tai Po comes back here, we’ll kill all five of them.”
Min glared at Chow. “I’m just realizing that I don’t know who you are.”
“His name is Uncle. He’s our White Paper Fan,” Wang said. “But he can do a lot more than push paper.”
“We also have ten of your men locked up at the Lucky Eight. The same thing will happen to them if you try anything,” Chow said. “We have a problem that needs to be resolved, and until it is, I’m not letting any of those men go.”
“None of that’s necessary — we won’t be back,” Min said. “But I get what you’re doing.”
“Good. Now, you said you have men at the Red Sun and in Shek Wu Hui?”
“Eight at the restaurant and a dozen at the shop.”
“We have a car nearby. I want you to go to both places and tell your men to go home. I’ll send Xu, one of our senior guys, with you. Then I want you to come back here with him. You okay with that?”
“That’s fine.”
“Then I have nothing more to discuss with you,” Chow said, and turned to Wang. “I’d appreciate it if you could introduce Min to Xu and let Xu know what we expect to happen. I have to make some phone calls.”
He waited until both men had left the restaurant before he got up from the table. The restaurant had filled quickly; there were long lines leading from the door to the rear, where Tian and his assistants sat behind two tables taking money and writing betting slips. Chow walked around the lines, having to repeat several times that he wasn’t trying to cut in to place a bet.
“I need to use a phone,” he said to Tian.
“There’s one on the wall just inside the kitchen,” Tian said, barely looking up.
Chow found the phone easily enough and was pleased to see that the kitchen was closed, so he wouldn’t have to worry about privacy or noise. He reached for the phone and dialled.
“Wei,” Pang said.
“This is Chow. Any word from Ren?”
“I spoke to him about five minutes ago. He’s been released. He should be in Fanling in about an hour.”
“We need to meet when he gets here.”
“He’s ahead of you on that score. He’s already told me to organize a meeting. Can you make it to the office for three?”
“I’ll be there. And I’ll let Wang know that Ren is back in Fanling and has called for a meeting.”
“Wang? I thought you said he was at the Lucky Eight.”
“He was, but the guys who were holding him had a change of heart and let him leave.”
“What happened?”
“You can ask him when you see him.”
“Whatever the reason, that’s great news.”
“And you’ll be happy to know that all our betting shops will be open for business shortly.”
“How?”
“Another change of heart, I guess.”
“This is all very strange.”
“Which part? The fact that they were closed down in the first place or that they’re now operating normally?”
“All of it,” Pang said, and paused. “Ren will be thrilled to hear this, but we still need to meet. The fact that things seem to have normalized doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem that could return and bite us on the ass.”
“My feelings exactly.”
“So we’ll see you and Wang at three?”
“You will indeed,” Chow said, hanging up. He quickly dialled another number.
“Zhang residence,” a woman answered.
“Can I speak to the Superintendent, please?” he said.
“Who is calling?”
“Chow Tung.”
“Just one moment.”
He heard voices in the background and imagined that the policeman wouldn’t be happy about his calling again.
“Uncle,” Zhang said. “What’s gone wrong?”
“Nothing. I swear to you, things couldn’t have gone more smoothly. I resolved our problem and life in Fanling is proceeding as it should on a Sunday afternoon.”
“Then why are you phoning me?”
“I need to confirm something.”
“Are you asking for another favour?”
“If you want to classify it as a favour, I won’t object.”
“Tell me what you want first.”
“It isn’t complicated. I was told that Ren was picked up by the police this morning and taken to Hong Kong for questioning about Ma’s death. Is that true?”
“Who told you that?”
“One of our people.”
“And you doubt him?”
“I simply want the truth, and I think you’re a more reliable source than him.”
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.”
“A badly worded compliment.”
“Well, the truth is I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t,” Zhang said. “Those killings yesterday caused considerable concern in Hong Kong. The OCTB might have wanted to talk to him.”
“The Organized Crime and Triad Bureau?”
“Yes.”
“Could they have pulled him in without talking to you?”
“It is possible.”
“Can you find out if they did?”
Zhang hesitated.
“I would really appreciate it,” Chow said.
Another hesitation, and then Zhang said, “Are things truly calm in town? I haven’t heard otherwise, but I assume you know better than anyone.”
“Completely calm.”
“Then I’ll make a call. How do I get in touch with you?”
Chow read him the number written on the phone, and then said, “How long do you think this will take? I’m using the phone in a restaurant kitchen, and I can’t stay here indefinitely.”
“I’ll get back to you in a few minutes.”
( 26 )
Chow and Wang left Dong’s together to go to the meeting at the office. They hadn’t spoken much since taking back Dong’s. Wang was worried about the other betting shops, and even after Xu and Min had returned from the Red Sun Restaurant and Shek Wu Hui, he kept calling them to make sure they were open and running. When he finally accepted that they were, he pulled Min aside and grilled him again. Min’s story didn’t change.
Chow had other concerns. Zhang had called back as promised, and after their conversation, Chow struggled to understand what it meant. He sat by himself in a far corner of the restaurant and replayed various conversations from the previous three days. He still hadn’t decided what he believed when Wang approached. “We should get going.”
As Wang’s car wound its way to the centre of Fanling, Chow said, “This meeting could become a bit awkward.”
“Why?”
“I’m not prepared to accept everything I’ve been told.”
“So you aren’t buying the Tai-Po-coming-to-our-defence story?”
“Are you?”
“No. And I would like to understand why it was told in the first place.”
“I expect we’ll hear some kind of explanation from Ren.”
“It sounds like you’re expecting the worst.”
“I have my doubts, but I’m prepared to listen to what Ren has to say. I think you should do the same.”
“I have no problem doing that, but do you think Yu will be able to restrain himself?”
“I don’t think Ren cares about Yu. He’ll be more concerned about us. You control our men on the ground and I manage the money.”
“We’ll see about that,” Wang said, and then said to the driver, “Pull over for a minute.”
�
�Why did you do that?” Chow asked as the car stopped.
“There are a couple of things I’d like to understand,” Wang said.
“Like what?”
“I know you told Pang that I’m active again and that our shops are open, but does he know what we did — what you did?”
“No.”
“Does he know we’re still holding fifteen men from Tai Po?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I thought it would be interesting to learn what he and Ren know.”
“What makes you think they’ll just tell us?”
“I don’t know if they will, but I’m all ears.”
Wang shook his head. “Let’s leave it at that,” he said, and then tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Okay, head for the office.”
Five minutes later, the car stopped out front. Yu was already there, leaning against a wall. When he saw them, he rushed to the car. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you both all day. Do you know what’s been going on?”
“We’ve been in the middle of it,” Wang said. “You can relax. It’s been resolved.”
“I know that fucker Ren was somehow involved.”
“Do us a favour, will you,” Chow said, touching the older man lightly on the forearm. “Let Ren explain what he thinks happened before you start making accusations.”
“That fucker —”
“Listen to me,” Chow said, his voice sharpening. “Losing control will help nothing, and it could even be hurtful.”
“What do you want me to do? Keep quiet while he throws bullshit at us?”
“That’s exactly what I want you to do.”
“And Yu, Uncle is speaking for me as well. Please control yourself.”
Yu looked at them. “Okay,” he said grudgingly, “I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you,” Chow said. “Now let’s go upstairs and find out what we’re expected to believe.”
The three men climbed the stairs to the office. Ren, Pang, and Hu were already there, sitting in the boardroom.
“There’s beer in the fridge and water for tea,” Pang said.
“I’d rather get down to business,” Chow said, taking a seat.
“I think we all would,” Ren agreed.
Wang and Yu sat on either side of Chow. The men looked warily at each other across the table. Chow waited for Ren to start, but Ren was sipping his beer as if waiting for them to do so.
“Can someone explain what took place in Fanling this morning?” Chow finally said.
“Before we talk about that, perhaps you could bring us up to date on what happened to you this morning,” Pang said to Ren.
Ren looked questioningly at Chow.
“Go ahead,” Chow said.
“As I believe Pang has told you, the police paid a visit to my house this morning and asked me to accompany them to Hong Kong for a chat about Ma. I saw no reason not to co-operate, so I went. I ended up spending a good part of my day there. It was the usual nonsense. They don’t have any leads about Ma, so they went fishing. ‘Are there any ongoing feuds among gangs? Was anyone pissed off that Ma was going to become Mountain Master? Did Ma have any enemies inside or outside Fanling who could have done it?’ Like I said, they were fishing.”
“Are they going to release the body?” Pang asked.
“Not any time soon, so any funeral arrangements will have to be delayed,” Ren said.
“That’s just as well,” Pang said. “I don’t think any of us is ready for another one.”
“I’m surprised that you were taken to Hong Kong,” Chow said. “I would have thought you’d be interviewed by the regional cops first.”
“I was a guest of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau.”
“Ah. And it led to nothing?” Chow said.
“It was an absolute waste of their time and mine. I should have been here,” Ren said.
“But you weren’t. And while you were in Hong Kong, Tai Po made a move on us,” Chow said.
“No, no, no,” Ren said, waving a hand. “You’ve got that all wrong.”
“They shut down four of our betting shops this morning.”
“They only closed them temporarily.”
“What the hell is the difference?” Wang asked, irritation showing in his voice.
“The difference is that they came to Fanling to provide us with some extra protection. They weren’t here to harm us or our businesses.”
“I don’t understand,” Chow said.
“And if I’d been here, even that wouldn’t have been necessary.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“I met with Tso, the Tai Po Mountain Master, last week — you all know that he and I are old friends. He told me, as a friend, that the Sha Tin gang has their eyes on us. He said they’re eager to expand and think we’re an easy target. When I told him I don’t think we have enough men to fight off a gang of that size, he said Tai Po is prepared to stand with us in exchange for our ongoing co-operation,” Ren said. “I immediately went to see Ma and we talked it through. He thought working closer with Tai Po made sense. He said that after he officially became Mountain Master, he was prepared to meet with Tso and begin formulating an agreement. But of course he never had the chance.”
“What was supposed to be in this agreement?” Chow asked.
“I’ll come back to that in a minute,” Ren said. “Before I do, I want to explain what happened this morning.”
“We were ambushed,” Yu said.
Chow looked at him. “I’d rather hear from Ren,” he said.
Yu glared back but fell silent.
“We were not ambushed,” Ren said. “Early this morning, Tso got a call from a source inside Sha Tin. He was told that the gang is preparing to come at us sometime in the next few days, perhaps as soon as today. Going after our gambling operations is their first priority. Tso tried to call me, but by then I was on my way to Hong Kong with my police escorts. When he couldn’t reach me, he decided the safest course of action was to send his men to protect our interests.”
“Why didn’t he call me?” Wang said. “Given the threat, I would have been the next logical choice.”
“Other than Ma, Tso had no idea who else knew anything about our arrangement. He didn’t want to make assumptions and he didn’t want to interfere in our chain of command,” Ren said. “He figured he’d reach me soon enough and that sending in his men would be strictly a stopgap measure until he did. And, as my housekeeper can tell you, he tried multiple times to contact me.”
“We should be thanking Tso,” Pang said.
“Did you know anything about this arrangement?” Chow asked Pang.
“Of course not. If I had, I would have told you.”
“So let me get this straight,” Chow said. “Because you were in police custody in Hong Kong and Tso couldn’t get hold of you, he sent forty men to Fanling to protect our assets, out of the goodness of his heart.”
“I detect a touch of sarcasm in that remark,” Ren said.
“I just find it odd.”
“It isn’t that odd if you understand that helping us protect our assets also benefits Tai Po.”
“How so?”
“The working relationship we’ve been discussing, and that Ma was warm to, involved giving Tai Po a financial interest in some of our operations in exchange for access to some of their supply chains and — whenever we need it — their firepower.”
“Our gambling operations?” Chow asked in disbelief.
“That is their main interest.”
“What level of financial interest?”
“We’ve only had preliminary talks. We haven’t gone into the details. That was to be the main purpose of the next meeting between Ma and Tso.”
Chow saw Yu began to bristle ag
ain and said quickly, “What supply-chain access were we supposed to get in return?”
“Drugs and liquor.”
“I’m not sure why we need to expand our liquor trade, and drugs only create problems with the cops,” Chow said. “And I don’t know why you’d think we need their firepower.”
“Sha Tin is more than twice our size. Do you really think we could fend them off if they decided to come at us in force?”
“We sure as fuck could,” Wang said.
“Okay, maybe we could, but then what?” Ren said. “We’d have cops all over us. We’d lose business. We’d lose men. We’d be weakened and become an even easier target for some other gang. Nothing good could possibly come from going to war with Sha Tin. Ma understood that, and that’s why he was willing to make a deal with Tso. He knew that aligning with Tai Po would provide a strong deterrent.”
“You said things would have been handled differently if you had been here. How would they have been different?” Chow asked.
“The instant I heard from Tso, I would have contacted all of you and we would have had our own internal conversation. We could have made a collective decision whether or not to involve Tai Po. Instead it was sprung on you, and it seems that some wrong conclusions were drawn.”
“How could they not be?” Chow said.
“They wouldn’t let anyone in or out of our betting shops,” added Wang. “Our men, including myself, were held as fucking prisoners. What other conclusion can you draw from that?”
“No one was hurt, were they?”
“No.”
“And Pang tells me the betting shops are now open.”
“They are, but not because Tai Po voluntarily withdrew,” Wang said. “Uncle put a team together and made them step down.”
“How did you do that?” Ren said.
“Tso hasn’t told you?”
“I haven’t spoken to him.”
“Given the circumstances, I thought he would have been your first phone call.”
“He was, but we haven’t connected yet.”
“Uncle, I told you to wait for Ren to get back from Hong Kong,” Pang interrupted. “I told you not to do anything. I was very specific.”
“I’m responsible for our cash flow. I didn’t want to lose Sunday’s Happy Valley money.”