Singapore 52

by Bailey, Murray

  The driver got out and opened the twin doors to the warehouse. He drove the vehicle inside and closed the doors. Then the skylight told me interior lights had come on.

  After another five minutes, a smaller van and a car appeared. A passenger from the van jumped out, opened the doors and both vehicles followed the first. This time the doors weren’t closed until two men were standing guard outside. They leaned on the front wall and lit cigarettes.

  Another few minutes passed and another Bedford-type lorry arrived. Only this one was covered, and by the way it was driven I guessed it had cargo of some kind.

  Hugging the shadows, I crept to the warehouse wall. I could hear voices inside making no attempt to be hushed, unconcerned about being overheard.

  At the rear, I climbed onto the box and then the barrel and took hold of the top of the wall. I pulled myself up and over the edge and lay flat for a moment drenched in moonlight, exposed. If someone came around the back and looked up, they would see me for sure. No one did.

  The roof was corrugated, probably asbestos, and not easy to cross. I squirmed over to the skylight and looked down into the warehouse.

  On the ground, about fifteen below, I could see two rows of benches. Between them a long trestle table ran along the middle of the room. Around the outside were empty wooden crates. People sat on the benches and others either appeared to be ferrying items or clearing up.

  I counted twelve people, all men, all Chinese. I figured that the second lorry to arrive had transported the workers. The first truck was close to the far end of the tables. I could see things being unpacked from sacks and repacked into boxes. The boxes were being loaded into to the truck.

  The boxes had writing on the top.

  I strained to see as much as possible, by pressing my face to the edge of the window. A box lid was raised and I saw the writing clearly: US Army Medical Supplies.

  My surprise was met with a cracking sound.

  I had just enough time to register the noise when the roof gave way beneath me.

  A huge section of asbestos collapsed into the warehouse and I fell with it. Flat onto my stomach.

  Dust billowed and I quickly stood.

  Six men were already encircling me. They didn’t have weapons, but they looked like they meant business. Not one of them was over about five and a half feet and yet they all looked fearless.

  The other men started to close up behind. Six against one, twelve against one. The odds weren’t great.

  I tried to look relaxed and raised an apologetic hand. I was about to say sorry for dropping in, but before I opened my mouth, the first man stepped and kicked.

  I blocked it and punched him in the head. I swivelled, expecting the next attack to come from behind but it didn’t. These guys weren’t a one-at-a-time bunch, they were all-at-once. Every single one of them attacked.

  I ignored the blows and focused. Hit, move, hit. I floored three before my vision started to blur. The attacks were too intense, too rapid.

  It was like being on the ropes, your opponent in control. All you can do is take the blows and hope he wears himself out or the bell saves you.

  But this was no boxing ring and there was no bell.

  And then the attack just stopped.

  I heard a bark: “Stop!”

  Somewhere in the back of my mussed-up brain I recognized the voice.

  A woman. Strong. Commanding.

  I was on one knee and pushed myself up to stand. My vision cleared and there, before me, was Su Ling.

  She said, “You were lucky the armed men were outside.”

  Behind her I could now see the two smoking guards. They both had revolvers aimed at me.

  I looked back at her. This wasn’t the woman I’d spent lunch with. This was a different Su Ling. Her eyes were dark and cold like she didn’t know me. Or I was dirt on her shoes.

  I said, “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I thought…”

  “What? That you would find your missing guns here? Tonight?”

  I said nothing but she was right.

  She shook her head. “Why have you betrayed me?”

  I scrabbled around in my head for an explanation that would make sense. The German. The white-eyed rival. The information they had told me about Su Ling. She was more than Yipp’s translator. Niece was a euphemism for lover. She was using me and maybe she was Madam Butterfly.

  “Were you on Bugis Street tonight?”

  She looked at me quizzically and then almost spat her next words with disgust: “Questions with questions, Captain Carter.”

  “Did you not go to meet Corporal Whiteside because I warned you?”

  “You are talking nonsense.”

  “Did your father really watch you dance?”

  For a fraction of a second I saw her features freeze with the truth behind my question.

  She didn’t respond but after a few beats signalled to someone I guessed was out of sight behind the truck. Then she said, “What do you think is going on here?”

  “Something you don’t want the authorities to know about.”

  She laughed mirthlessly. “Is that the best you can do?”

  I stepped over to the nearest bench. The table was covered in dust. More than had been caused by the falling roof.

  “Drugs?”

  Su Ling pointed to a box and one of the labourers opened the lid. Inside were bandages.

  She nodded and the man lifted a section away to reveal something under the bandages: bags of almond-coloured powder.

  She seemed to wait for me to understand.

  I said, “Opium?”

  “No. This is ground poppy seeds.”

  From my limited knowledge of opium, I believed the drug was made from the lactose from the poppies. Not the seeds themselves. I looked at the sacks that were yet to be opened and wondered if I wasn’t being shown the whole thing here.

  I said, “Why the cloak and dagger routine for poppy seeds?”

  She smiled without any warmth. “This isn’t a question and answer session, Captain. I am merely showing you that this has nothing to do with guns. This has nothing to do with any security threat real or imagined.” She paused for effect and then said, “This is none of your business.”

  With the slightest movement of her head, she instructed the men to move.

  The two guns came close to my face and strong hands ripped my arms. They quickly lashed my hands behind my back and then bound my arms at the elbows, squeezing my shoulder blades together until I bit my tongue against the discomfort. Finally they jerked me to the ground and bound my ankles.

  I looked up at her. “What are you going to do with me?”

  “I could throw you into the sea, Captain. I doubt you would ever be found and no one would ever know.”

  “Is that what you did with Sergeant Cooke?”

  “Really, your fantasies are beginning to become tiresome.” She sighed and for the first time I sensed real disappointment with me. “I did not arrange for Cooke to be killed. I had nothing to do with him. None of Mr Yipp’s men had anything to do with him.”

  I was picked up by four men and carried beyond the truck. There were offices set against the wall and I was dropped onto the floor inside one.

  Su Ling waited for the men to leave us before she said, “I will come back in a short while.” And then she closed the door.

  I was trussed up, and after a little squirming decided that there was nothing I could use to cut the bindings. So I got myself as comfortable as possible and watched the door, waiting for her to return. I heard the sound of boxes being opened and closed and loaded. Later I heard the warehouse doors open and two vehicles start up and leave.

  Then the door opened and Su Ling was framed by the warehouse lights. She dropped something on the floor close by.

  Her voice remained cold as she said, “It’s a pen knife. I’m also going to leave the key in the door. I am sure you can get out but we’ll be long gone
by the time you do. Do not try to find out where we went. And I would like my diary back.”

  I nodded.

  “And one last thing. If it had been Wang here tonight, you would have been feeding the fishes by now.”

  I nodded again and said, “I’m sorry.” I meant it but I could no longer see her face. And she closed the door and locked it.

  I wriggled over to the knife, lay on my back over it and slowly tried to saw through the bindings on my wrists. I heard the last vehicle leave. The lights went out and the doors clunked shut.

  I was alone.

  FIFTY-TWO

  The man who called himself Jin walked into Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

  There was just a smattering of night staff and no one gave him a second glance as he walked past the reception and along the corridor. Anyone he saw either had their head down, half asleep or were busy with some emergency.

  Jin climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked towards the ward where he knew Tai Tai was being treated. A secure room had been arranged and there would be a policeman standing guard—even though no one knew why. He stopped at the corner and took a quick look around.

  The policeman was sitting in a chair, head on his chin. So much for standing guard.

  Jin’s plan had been to send the man a drink and then wait for him to need the toilet. There was just one policeman so when he needed a break, the room was no longer guarded. But if he was asleep… well it could all be so much quicker and easier.

  Jin was considering the risk when an orderly came out of the girl’s room. The man opened and closed the door and walked away. There was no attempt to keep quiet but the policeman didn’t stir. Perfect.

  When he was sure the corridor was clear, Jin rounded the corner and walked straight to the room. Without a pause, he took hold of the door knob and was inside. He’d planned an excuse in case there was someone waiting inside but there was no one. Just the girl.

  She looked peaceful and if hadn’t been for the drip running into her veins, Jin would have guessed she was sleeping rather than in a coma.

  She was pretty, for a Japanese girl, he decided. She had an unusually delicate bone structure, almost Indian but with alabaster skin. And she looked much younger than nineteen. She could probably pass as a school girl, which he figured was part of the attraction.

  He took a long breath. He had to do this and quickly. He couldn’t risk her coming out of the coma before the New Year’s parade. If the MP Captain realized her involvement he might connect the dots… might see the truth of it all. It was too great a risk.

  There was a chair beside the bed with a spare pillow on it. Jin picked it up and stood over the bed.

  Her little chest moved almost imperceptibly under the sheet.

  He swallowed hard. This wasn’t him. OK he’d killed the Japanese security man from Dongzing de fangzi but he was scum. He deserved to die. But this little girl… All right she was involved but she was no drug dealer.

  He placed the pillow over her delicate face. She didn’t stir.

  Tai Tai just got mixed up with the wrong man. That was all.

  He leaned on the pillow and tried to block out the mental image of a pretty girl beneath it. She began to move and he pressed down harder. And then it was over. She had hardly reacted. Maybe she never knew.

  Jin lifted the pillow and looked at her face. She still looked like she was sleeping. Yes, he told himself, she’s just asleep.

  He returned the pillow to the same spot on the chair and stepped towards the door. Through the narrow window he could see no one outside except the sleeping guard. He turned and took one last look at Tai Tai.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  He slipped out of the room and down the corridor. Again no one confronted him or even paid notice. Perhaps they thought he belonged there.

  Once outside he walked two hundred yards to where he’d parked his car, well beyond the hospital. He sat in the darkness and breathed deeply. This had to be done. When he got home he would look at the photograph and remind himself. There was no room for sentiment.

  It was an eye for an eye.

  FIFTY-THREE

  Yesterday I had spent the evening and night with the most alluring, beautiful woman I had ever known. Now, the darkness brought with it dark thoughts. What had I been thinking? I had believed the white-eyed gangster, the rival of Andrew Yipp, and betrayed the trust of the girl I was head-over-heels about. And the reason I did it was because I somehow thought she could be Madam Butterfly. But she hadn’t been playing me in the same way as that woman had conned the other men. Otherwise we would have just had one date and I’d have ended up with a lump on my head and a hole in my wallet.

  And from my misapprehension I’d projected the other issue: the possible attack in two days’ time and the guns.

  I cut through the final bonds and tried the door. But of course it was locked.

  My eyes had become accustomed to the milky-grey darkness caused by the moonlight through the roof. Outside the room was lighter than inside and through the keyhole I could see the key still there.

  I found a piece of paper and pushed it under the door. Using the penknife, I jiggled the key in the hole and within seconds had it out—on the other side of the door. It fell onto the paper and I pulled it through to my side.

  The warehouse was empty. All the tables had gone and the asbestos had been cleared away but there was still a hole where I’d fallen through the roof.

  I walked out of the building and down the road. I kept on walking the two miles back to the city centre. My dark thoughts still swirling in my head, the river stink thick on my clothes.

  I took my mind off my failure tonight by thinking about what I knew and what I didn’t know. Secretary Coates had information from the police about a security issue—a potential attack that looked like it would be on the day of the parade. In fact Su Ling herself had realized the meaning of the date. Forty was nineteen-fifty-two.

  The police had found Aiko dead but found the guy he was dealing with—Kim aka Six Bamboo. The police had found the flyers and a lion or dragon dancer’s costume at Kim’s home and he was now being interrogated.

  We had no sign of guns although we had discovered obsolete M1s had been shipped to Keppel eight months ago. I had compared Pantelis’s ledger with the one found on Cooke and identified a trade that look remarkably like they may be the guns we were looking for. But Pantelis denied it and Cooke was dead.

  Aiko and Tai Tai. What was her role, if any, in all this? Her friend had lied or been confused. There had been no one else involved. Tai Tai’s coma had been caused by Aiko. And then there was the boyfriend. Su Ling translated heitai as soldier but it could refer to a sailor.

  If only Cooke wasn’t dead or Tai Tai able to talk. They were the important pieces in this that would make sense of it. Maybe.

  I had crossed Fullerton Bridge without noticing it and was now standing in the square. It was after three in the morning and the lights inside The Singapore Club blazed. I wondered if Pope was up there drinking his watered-down whisky. I should thank him for the boat trip and dinner. Of course that looped my thoughts back to Su Ling and my betrayal. She couldn’t be Madam Butterfly. White-eye had been lying. Su Ling hadn’t been brought up by Andrew Yipp. Her father had watched her dance when she’d been twelve.

  At dinner on the junk I’d learned she was twenty-four which meant she was probably twelve in nineteen thirty-nine or maybe nineteen forty if she’d just had a birthday. She said her father was Captain Keith. I didn’t think Keith was a common surname and he must have overlapped with Atkinson’s tour of duty. I decided to ask the colonel in the morning.

  It was probably irrelevant but the positive action lifted my spirits enough to say yes, when a trishaw driver asked if I wanted a lift.

  As I sat back in the seat I realized how much my body hurt. I’d fallen fifteen feet, flat on my chest and taken a beating from a gang of crazed Chinese men. I was lucky nothing was broken, though at that mom
ent I didn’t feel the slightest bit lucky. I was tired and I had a headache. Had I taken a blow to the head? Probably. A quick examination said I had. There were a couple of lumps on the back of my head, my right eye socket felt sore and my jaw was tender.

  I asked my driver to drop me a mile from Gillman so that I could walk for a while.

  Before I paid the man I said, “Tell the German I will be at Goodwood Park tomorrow. Tell him I want the Japanese letter back. Tell him I can trade.”

  The man looked at me blankly for a second and I thought I’d misjudged. These men have a thousand spies and I just happened to pick someone who wasn’t.

  But as I turned away he said, “You trade what?”

  I swung back around and the man still looked at me with his unreadable expression.

  “I have information about Andrew Yipp,” I said. “Tell him to be there at lunchtime.”

  FIFTY-FOUR

  On my back, eyes on the ceiling, I stared at the lizard. There was no point in trying to sleep. Daybreak was more than three hours away but I couldn’t rest so I showered and dressed. I put on my suit and looked at myself in the mirror. It felt peculiar to be setting out for the day wearing anything other than the usual shorts and short-sleeved shirt but I no longer felt like an MP. Dressed like this was somehow liberating.

  I packed everything into my suitcases and said farewell to the room and lizard.

  At the bottom of the steps, I went into the office.

  The night-duty clerk was Corporal Franks. He gave me a double take. Maybe it was the suit or suitcase or maybe it was the marks on my face.

  “Quiet?” I asked, dropping my cases by the door.

  “Quiet,” he said.

  “I need a favour.”

  “Sir?”

  I took his tone to mean yes. I said, “Take a smoke break.”

  “But…”