by Ian Hamilton
“What did you do to get the shops reopened?” Ren said.
“I had ten men, two submachine guns, a whole bunch of pistols, and the element of surprise.”
“Which led to what kind of confrontation?” Ren asked.
“Well, obviously it was an armed one, but it was controlled. There was minimal violence.”
“Minimal?”
“Wang punched one of Tso’s men on the nose and probably broke it. I shot another one, but he’ll live.”
“I’ll have to explain this to Tso.”
“Don’t apologize to him for anything we did,” Chow said.
“Of course not; you didn’t know any better. But you can understand that he won’t be pleased that you attacked the men he sent here to help us.”
“And we’re still holding about fifteen of them,” Wang said.
“What?” Ren said.
“We thought we should keep them for insurance, that it might strengthen your hand if we’re forced to negotiate with Tso.”
“Let them go,” Ren said angrily.
“If we do, will they be staying at the shops or going back to Tai Po?” asked Wang.
Ren looked at him across the table. “If Sha Tin does pose a threat to us today, are you certain you can handle it?”
“We can.”
“In that case, I’ll make sure anyone you release goes back to Tai Po.”
Wang glanced at Chow, who nodded his head. “I’ll tell my men to release them,” Wang said. “Do you want us to give them their weapons back?”
“Naturally,” Ren said, and then shifted his attention to Chow. “I do wish you’d done what Pang asked of you. I thought the instructions I passed to him through my lawyer were clear. It’s fortunate that things turned out as well as they have, because today could have been a disaster for us.”
“Except it wasn’t.”
“Don’t say that so quickly. I still have to talk to Tso. I’m not sure how he’s going to react. On top of everything else, you may have put our proposed alliance at risk.”
“From what I’m hearing, I could have killed ten men and not done that.”
“What do mean?”
“It sounds to me like the deal is already done.”
“It isn’t.”
“No?”
“Is the prospect of us doing a deal with Tai Po that terrible to you?”
“That depends on the details you haven’t worked out yet.”
Ren leaned towards Chow. “You’re the one who’s always saying we need to change, that we need to adapt. Now what, you’re singing a new tune?” he said. “Please understand that this is something Ma and I thought was worthy of consideration. I think you owe it to him and to me to wait till you understand what the deal could do for both parties before you decide to oppose it. That would be a fitting legacy for Ma.”
“Assuming he actually wanted to do a deal. But we’ll never know that, will we?”
( 27 )
Chow, Wang, and Yu left the offices together and walked to the small bar where Chow and Wang had drunk the night before. It was empty when they arrived, but Wang still led them to the farthest point from the door. After the barman had taken their order for three San Miguels, Wang told him, “We need privacy. If anyone else comes in, keep them down at the other end.”
“What do you think about all that shit Ren was throwing at us?” Yu said as soon as they were alone.
“As much as I don’t want to admit it, Ren is right about how hard it would be to take on Sha Tin by ourselves,” Wang said. “In terms of fighting men, they’d outnumber us three to one.”
“Okay, but what I don’t get is, if Sha Tin is the threat, why aren’t we talking to them? Why can’t we handle our own negotiations? Why do we need Tai Po in the middle?” Yu said.
“Talking to Sha Tin would make perfect sense if Sha Tin was actually a threat,” Chow said as their drinks arrived.
“What do you mean by that?” Yu asked.
Chow picked up his beer. “Ganbei,” he said, tapping bottles with his colleagues, and then took a long swig.
“What do you mean?” Yu repeated.
“Was there anyone in the gang closer to Ma than you?” Chow said.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did he ever mention to you the possibility of doing some kind of deal with Tai Po?”
“No. But I didn’t talk to him on Thursday, and only very briefly on Friday.”
Chow paused. “Wang, I remember you telling me that you have a decent relationship with the Red Pole in Sha Tin. Is my memory faulty?”
“No, we’re close enough.”
“Then do me a favour and call him. Use the phone at the end of the bar. Tell him you’ve heard that they’re going to make a grab for our territory. Ask him if it’s true.”
“If they are, why would he tell me?”
“He wouldn’t, but you’ve always been someone who can read people. If he lies, I suspect you’ll sense that.”
“Have you talked to the White Paper Fan in Sha Tin?”
“No. I don’t know him well enough to have that kind of conversation.”
“Go ahead and make the call,” Yu said to Wang. “I’m curious about what he’ll say.”
Wang looked at them, shrugged, and walked to the bar entrance. He picked up the phone and turned his back.
“I suspect you know something you’re not telling us,” Yu said quietly.
“Let’s wait for Wang.”
They watched Wang’s head bob up and down as his free hand swung in the air. This went on for several minutes. When he put down the phone and came back to face them, he looked grim.
“Well?” Chow said.
“He swears up and down — and I mean swears — that Sha Tin has zero interest in us. He said that if anyone claims something different, they’re lying.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I do.”
“Good, because then everything fits,” Chow said.
“Explain that, please,” said Yu.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be vague. The truth is that Ren lied to us today. He wasn’t being held in police custody in Hong Kong. He might have been in Hong Kong, but it had nothing to do with the police or with Ma.”
“How can you know that?” Wang asked.
“I asked my source — my senior source — inside the department. He made some calls for me. No one at any level in the Hong Kong Police Force met with Ren this morning, let alone took him into custody.”
“Who is this source?” Yu said.
“You know better than to ask me that.”
“But you trust him?”
“I’d trust him with my life, if it came to that.”
Yu shook his head. “Shit. What does this say about Ren?”
“What it says is that there are a lot of questions that need answers,” Chow said. “For starters, if Ren wasn’t with the cops, where was he? And more important, if he wasn’t with the cops, why does he want us to believe he was?”
“That son of a bitch.”
“I believe that he and Tso are playing us,” Chow said. “Ren said Tso sent his men into Fanling because Tso couldn’t reach him. That’s nonsense. They were just looking for an excuse to do it.”
“But they really didn’t do anything except block entry to our betting shops,” Wang said. “What was the purpose of that?”
“They wanted to create the impression that we’re vulnerable, so they came up with that bullshit Sha Tin attack scenario,” Chow said. “Then they wanted us to believe that Tai Po came to our aid by sending in their men. Now the story Ren is spinning is that we aren’t capable of surviving on our own and need to form an alliance. And who better to ally with than our friends in Tai Po, who have already demonstrated their commitment to us?”
“It wouldn’t be an alliance. This is all about Tai Po taking over Fanling,” Yu said.
“I think that would be the reality eventually, though they might do it incrementally,” Chow said. “I do have to admit that the way they’ve tried to structure it is clever. Tai Po wouldn’t really be taking anything — we’d be handing it over to them.”
“Why would Ren do that?”
“That’s where it gets murky.”
“Do you think he had a hand in Ma’s death?”
“I don’t want to.”
“But?”
Chow sipped his beer and then looked at Yu and Wang. “Ren met with Tso in Kowloon on Thursday night. They had dinner, just the two of them. There’s nothing sinister about two old friends having dinner, except for the fact that it was in Kowloon and therefore meant to be private. On Friday morning I spoke to Ren. He didn’t mention the dinner — I didn’t actually learn about it until Friday night, so it wasn’t discussed. What we did talk about was the election. As you both know, I was promoting him, with his agreement, to become our next Mountain Master. When I told him my people were getting a less than enthusiastic response, he didn’t seem surprised. And truthfully he didn’t seem to care. I think he was already prepared to pull out.”
“During the brief conversation I had with Ma on Friday, he told me Ren was going to support him,” said Yu.
“That’s what he told me too, but I’m beginning to think Ren knew all along that he couldn’t win and was concocting another plan.”
“With Tso?” Yu asked.
“Sadly, that makes sense.”
“Are you suggesting that Tso arranged to have Ma killed so Ren would have a clear run at becoming Mountain Master?”
“Why not? They’re friends and they would both benefit. Ren becomes Mountain Master and Tso gets to put his hand in our pockets — and could end up controlling us down the road.”
“That’s a lot of conjecture,” Wang said.
“I know.”
“Do you have any proof that they conspired? Do you have any way of proving they were responsible for Ma’s death?”
“No, but can either of you come up with another explanation?”
“No. I just don’t want to think that it’s possible,” Yu said.
“I feel the same, but I’m not about to start accusing a Mountain Master and a potential Mountain Master of murder. Both of you should be cautious about what you say to whom about this. There could be serious repercussions if a man like Tso hears we’re blaming him for Ma’s death,” Wang said.
“I’m having a drink with two friends in a bar. I wouldn’t have said anything at all if I thought it would leave this room,” Chow said.
“Sorry. I just wanted to be clear,” Wang said. “I’ve known people who got whacked for saying less.”
Yu slammed his bottle onto the bar. “Even if we’re not going to talk about them killing Ma, they can’t prevent us from trying to stop Ren from cutting a deal with Tai Po.”
“I agree. That’s where our focus should be,” Chow said.
“More beer for everyone,” Yu shouted to the bartender, and then stared at Chow. “Uncle, I have a couple of questions for you.”
“I’ve told you everything I know.”
“My questions have nothing to do with Ren and Tso.”
“Then ask away.”
“What would you have done this morning if the men from Tai Po had resisted?”
“One did. I shot him.”
“No, I mean what if all of them had resisted?”
“There wasn’t much chance of that. We surprised them and we had them outgunned.”
Yu shook his head. “Let me come at this from another direction. Are you in favour of doing a deal with Tai Po or Sha Tin, or anyone else, for that matter?”
“Not if it means giving up the tiniest piece of our territory or independence, because once we do that, there’ll be no end to it. If we give an inch, they’ll want a foot. We’ll get taken over bit by bit until we’re completely absorbed into someone else’s gang.”
“But what if Ren is right? What if Sha Tin does decide to come at us?”
“Sha Tin has no interest in us.”
“I mean theoretically.”
“Then we’ll fight Sha Tin.”
“Even though they’re more than twice our size? One of the few things Ren said in that meeting that I agree with is his description of the fallout that would result from that kind of gang war.”
“If you’re afraid to go to war, war will find you,” Chow said. “You can’t show fear. You can’t leave any doubt that you’ll defend yourself, that you’ll do absolutely everything to win, and that you’ll never quit. You have to make the other side stop and think, ‘Do I really want to take those guys on? I may beat them, but they’re going to do me a lot of damage. Is it worth it?’”
“Do you agree with him?” Yu asked Wang.
“I do,” Wang said.
“But it should never come to a war,” Chow said.
“How would you prevent it?”
“You have to be proactive. You can’t sit back and wait for things to come at you. You need to send a very clear message, not just to Tai Po but to every gang in Hong Kong and the New Territories.”
“What kind of message?”
“Don’t try to fuck with us. We won’t take it.”
“I agree with that message,” Wang said. “But why would you talk to every gang when our problem is with Tai Po?”
“The Hong Kong and Kowloon gangs don’t want trouble out here. The cops don’t care about gang boundaries; if there’s trouble, they’ll starting hammering everyone. It’s in everyone’s best interest to keep things calm. Since that’s the case, we should be pressuring the other gangs to lean on Tai Po, and anyone else we think could be a threat. But they’ll only apply pressure if they take us seriously and really believe we’re ready to fight to the bloody end.”
“You’ve been thinking about this,” Yu said.
“Nothing I’ve said is terribly original. Gao was a good strategist, and so is my old mentor Tian. I simply took the time to listen to them.”
Yu sipped from his fresh beer and looked at Wang. “I don’t listen so badly myself, and I like what I’ve been hearing. Now, what can we do about it?”
“Do about what?” Wang asked.
“We have twenty-four hours to make Uncle our new Mountain Master,” Yu said. “I can bring my men along with me. Can you bring yours?”
( 28 )
The voting started at ten in the morning and Pang had scheduled it to end at eight in the evening. Chow arrived at the gang offices at nine-thirty, after breakfast with Xu and Fong. Pang was there with his assistant, but there was no sign of Ren or any of the other executive committee members.
The desks in the outer office had been pushed to the right, leaving a single desk on the left. Two cardboard boxes sat on top. Behind the desk was a screen with a partially drawn curtain that revealed a small table.
“How is this going to work?” Chow asked.
“There are 161 numbered slips in that box,” Pang said, pointing to one. “We have a list of all our initiated members. When someone comes in to vote, we check their ID, mark their name off the list, and allow them to take a slip from the box. They mark their slip behind the curtain and then put it in the other box. At eight o’clock we’ll tally the votes. If all the slips taken from the first box are in the second and no number is duplicated, we’ll have a clean vote.”
“That sounds simple enough.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve done this, but it will work.”
“Can I leave Fong or Xu here to keep an eye on things?”
“You can leave them both, for all I care.”
Chow turned to them. “Sort it out between the two of you. J
ust make sure someone is here at all times.”
“We’ll take turns. When we’re not here, we’ll be out rounding up votes,” Xu said.
“You seem particularly interested in how we’re conducting this election,” Pang said. “Does it have anything to do with the rumour I heard this morning?”
“I haven’t heard any rumours.”
“I was told that Yu is trying to get his men to oppose Ren.”
“I wouldn’t know what Yu is doing.”
“It isn’t smart, you know. Especially for someone who should be thinking long-term.”
“The last thing I’d say about Yu is that he isn’t smart.”
“I wasn’t referring to Yu when I mentioned thinking long-term.”
“I know, but I don’t have anything more to say.”
Pang shrugged. “You’re too young, Uncle. Our men know they need experience at the top. They know the other Mountain Masters would run all over you.”
Chow turned away. “I’m going to Dong’s Kitchen,” he said to Xu. “If you need me, you know where to find me.”
He left the office and took a taxi to Dong’s. He had thought of calling Tian the night before but knew that he and his wife went to bed early; he saw no reason to disturb them. When Chow had called earlier that morning, his wife told him that Tian had already left the house. Chow assumed that he’d gone to the restaurant, but when he arrived, it seemed to be closed. He tried the door. It opened, and he saw a couple of servers setting tables and Tian sitting at his usual spot in the back.
“Where is everyone?” Chow asked.
“It’s early. There won’t be many customers until around eleven.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I need to get organized.”
“I would have thought you could do that in your sleep.”
“Do what?”
“Run the business.”
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“I don’t understand,” Chow said.
“Wang called me last night.”
“I was going to, but I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“There are some things important enough to warrant a late-night call.”