Three Times The Trouble (Corin Hayes Book 3)

by G R Matthews

  “Maybe,” was the only response I was prepared to give. “A shame. The girls really wanted to talk to their father.”

  “It is only couple of days,” Chrissy said.

  “True.” And somehow in that time, before we reached the docks, I had to do something about the man a few rows back who seemed far too interested in us. At least I knew he couldn’t be in contact with anyone either. It was me against him. Man to man. Brain against brain. One on one. Skill against skill. Strength verses strength.

  I was well and truly fucked.

  “Corin.” Chunhua’s insistent voice brought me out of my daydream. Chrissy had turned away and was talking to the passenger next to her. Smooth, Corin. Real smooth. I was always a hit with the ladies. Well, they usually hit me, but it amounted to a similar thing.

  “What?”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Sit tight, watch some clips, and eat and drink. I think we deserve a bit of a rest and some good living.” I started to scroll through the menus on my Panel.

  “But what about him?” She nodded her head in the general direction of the probable member of the Sio Sam Ong.

  “He isn’t going anywhere and he can’t call for help,” I said, choosing an old clips show I hadn’t watched in ages.

  “I do not like it,” Chunhua said.

  “There’s nothing we can do about it right now.” Start at the beginning of the series or pick an episode from the middle?

  “But he is there and he knows we are here.”

  “And that’s all he can do. There might be another one on-board or they may have just grabbed a seat on all the subs leaving the city today. He got lucky. We don’t know anything, Chunhua. Not even if he really is from Yunru’s group. For all we know he is just a man who notices pretty girls.” There is the episode when the golden headband around the hero’s head gets really tight and gives him a massive headache. That used to make me smile.

  “You think I am pretty?” she said.

  “I think you are going to give some poor man a lot of grief when you get older and he’ll probably put up with it,” I answered, flicking back to the first episode. On a trip this long, I reckon I could watch a few of them.

  “That is not fair,” she said, an indignant edge to her voice.

  “Chunhua, you’re independent, self-reliant and intelligent enough to run rings round most boys your own age I’d guess. My daughter was like you in some ways.” I read the episode blurb and looked at the little thumbnail image. Some old memories swept back to the front of my mind.

  “I didn’t know you had a daughter. What is her name? What is she like?” Chunhua’s face wore the immortal smile of a teenager.

  “Her name was Tyler, and she’s dead.” I closed the discussion down, noting and ignoring the injured look on Chunhua’s face. Dragging earphones from the little recess on my chair arm I jabbed them into my ears and pushed play on the clips. Familiar words swept away my guilt.

  In the Worlds before monkey, Primal chaos reigned…

  Chapter 32

  Breakfast was delicious. Give the submarine company their due credit. They hadn’t just stuck with Asian food, but ranged across the world’s cuisines with offerings from all of the oceans and corporations.

  I settled for thick pancakes and dark syrup with a side of bacon flavoured reconstituted algae. It wasn’t called that. If it was few would buy it, but everyone knew. We valued our illusions. They made life bearable.

  Lijuan, who’d twitched and murmured all through the night when the crew had turned the lights down low, and Chunhua had ordered something called Congee which came with golden sticks of fried dough. Half of me was intrigued, the other half was thankful for the pancakes.

  “You sleep all right?” I asked Chunhua as she dipped a dough stick into her Congee, a runny white fluid that looked as though someone had crossed porridge with rice pudding in some bizarre experiment and had no idea what to do with it afterward. Though how they came up with the idea of serving it up as breakfast was a step too far even for the maddest of scientists.

  “All right, I suppose,” she pouted. Not a morning person, clearly. “Lijuan muttering in one ear and you tossing and turning on the other side. I’m lucky I got any sleep at all.”

  “Sorry,” I said. I usually slept like the dead. Well, like a drunk who often woke with a hangover that made me wish I was dead.

  “What were you dreaming about?”

  “Men flying on clouds,” I answered, spearing a hunk of pancake and raising the dripping morsel to my mouth. The rush of sugar was immediate. I could feel my brain come alive and energy return to my muscles. Syrup coated my tongue and palate, scouring away the taste of beer. “I need a pee. I’ll be right back.”

  “Too much information,” Chunhua said. She turned away and started speaking to Lijuan, no doubt encouraging the recalcitrant child to eat instead of watching that little girl on the clips show talking to her flying map.

  It felt good to be back on my feet, even in the contained environs of the sub. I nodded to Chrissy as she tucked into her breakfast of small, pale parcels of steaming vegetables and meat. She’d told me what they were called but I’d only half-listened. I stretched my arms out to the side and arched my back. There was a series of cracks and pops from my joints and back. I grunted and caught a whiff of body odour. My nose wrinkled in self-defence and when it occurred to me that the smell was coming from me, my cheeks warmed.

  Without another word or look, I hurried down the aisle. The man from Sio Sam Ong looked up as I passed and it was tempting to punch him. I didn’t. I still wasn’t sure he was after us and I thought about it three steps too late. There was always the walk back.

  The toilet was empty and I locked the door behind me. You didn’t get this much space with a cheaper ticket. I actually had to take a step from the toilet to reach the sink. No shower or bath, but that was fine. While the water gurgled down the toilet, carrying the evidence of last night’s meal with it, I stripped off my top. There was a mirror, but I’d passed the stage of being fascinated by my own appearance. The sight of a stomach lacking definition, of numerous little scars and the bruises I added daily to the tally was not appealing. I did need a shave. It had been a few days and my facial hair was never short of confidence. I had nothing with me and there was nothing in the toilet. I could probably get a kit from the crew. Making a good impression with Lijuan’s father was likely a good idea, but that’s another sub that sailed a long time ago.

  I settled for a quick wash of my face and arm pits. There was a soap dispenser and I was liberal with it. On a whim, and with barely a thought, I washed my hair too. Splashed water on it, combed some liquid soap through with my fingertips and spent an age trying to get all the suds out. The air dryer had a nozzle that twisted and I used it, to dry all those parts of me it could blast. At last, I clambered back into my top. Now I was clean my skin crawled to be next to the dirty cloth, but there was nothing for it.

  A glance at the mirror, vanity dies hard, and I gave myself a smile. I didn’t look good, but I looked mean and that was enough for now.

  Running my tongue over my teeth, feeling the fur coating them, reminded me of something else I’d need to talk to the crew about. We still had most of a day to go and I hadn’t had a coffee yet. I’d get toothbrushes for the girls too. Tough decisions made, I flicked the lock on the door. It swung inward and I was confronted by the face of my friend from a few rows back. He lunged.

  I didn’t have time to raise my hands in defence. Instead of punching, he grabbed me by my top and pushed me back into the toilet, kicking the door shut behind him. He was of a similar height to me and strong enough to lift me up onto my tiptoes.

  “I’m not that kind of boy,” I said. My back was against the wall and the back of my knees were bent by the edge of the toilet.

  “I’m watching you,” he said.

  “And I told you, I’m not that kind of boy.” I wrapped my hands around his wrists, ready to yank and
pull them off if I could.

  “Yunru and the Sio Sam Ong are not happy,” he growled at me, pushing me back into the wall a little harder.

  “I don’t suppose they are,” I replied. Already my palms were starting to sweat and I could feel my heart thumping a rapid rhythm in my chest. Fight or flight adrenalin flooded my muscles. I knew the feeling by now and it was strangely comforting. It numbed the pain for a while and dulled your thinking processes. Of course, at the moment, I had nowhere to run to.

  “You cost the society a great deal of money and prestige.” He pulled me forward and slammed me back against the toilet wall. An ooof of air escaped my lungs.

  “Can you give her my apologies?” I stammered out while I tried to drag in some oxygen. Another shot of fight juice swam through my mind. Kick. Punch. Gouge. Bite. My brain fired every instruction, all at once, and I held them back. It wasn’t easy, but this was stupid. We were on a passenger sub, in First Class, in the toilet. What did he really expect to do? Kill me and have my body discovered before we reached dock? A quick trawl through the on-board cameras would reveal his guilt before the airlock opened.

  “You will see her in person soon enough and you won’t be so happy when you do.”

  “You know,” I looked down my nose at him, not because I wanted to but just because he had me lifted up, “your English is pretty good.”

  It was. None of the Sio Sam Ong in Yunru’s city had spoken it so well and clearly.

  “The Sio Sam Ong has a long reach and many arms,” he said. “You shouldn’t have betrayed us. You will pay a high price and so will the girls you took from us. They will not be allowed back to their families. If you had left them, they would have been returned unharmed once our business was completed. You have caused their deaths. It is on your head.”

  “You’re not going to harm them,” I snarled and felt the cocktail of enzymes start to break through my self-erected wall of calm.

  “You can do nothing, outsider.” He dropped me and my hands flew from his wrists as I tried to scrabble for balance. “It is all decided. I give you this warning so that you might suffer the knowing of their end before it comes.”

  I opened my mouth to retort and nothing came out. A first for me. He smirked and with a flash of his hands pushed me backward. I sat down heavily on the toilet. I wanted to smash him in the mouth, to break his nose, snap his neck. Anger swelled in my chest, but I stayed put. My hands curled around the porcelain bowel and fingertips found cold purchase on its slippery surface.

  He barked with laughter, turned and left.

  I stared at the closed door for a moment, taking a shaky breath. He was right, the threat was worse than its delivery. Two breaths, three and the adrenalin subsided. Still my eyelids flickered and my hands clawed. I took another long breath, letting the anger crawl back into its cell. I didn’t have a key to lock it away, it remained there of its own volition, but swarmed forth whenever it wanted to. Usually it let me handle situations, but like everyone I had buttons you could push. You just had to jam your finger on the big red button quite hard to get my attention.

  I leaned forward and locked the door. My top was damp with sweat and I needed another wash. A quick one too, the girls would start to get worried soon.

  Chapter 33

  For the second time I struggled back into my top. My hair was still damp and I attempted to give it some style, it fought back and I surrendered.

  Flicking the lock, and with a last wipe of my hands down my trouser legs, I stepped back into the aisle. There wasn’t a queue for the toilet and everyone else seemed to be sat in their seats going merrily about their day. As merrily as they could in a double hulled tin can which could, at any moment, give way and crush their bodies to a bloody pulp in less time than it took to say it. A few hours, a midday meal, and we’d be at Lijuan’s city, disembarking and giving her safely to her father. Or, if the Sio Sam Ong was right, handing over her corpse and become embroiled in a war between two criminal societies. Either way it was likely to end in war and I wanted no part of it. It was hard to ignore the fact that Chunhua and Lijuan would be part of it. Non-combatants hopefully, but collateral damage was a cold phrase for the death of children.

  I could see my empty seat ahead. He sat a few rows back, on the right hand side. He didn’t turn as the restroom door clicked shut. There was no acknowledgement as I started to walk back up the aisle towards the girls and my seat. I was the only one moving and he still didn’t turn as I got closer.

  “Ouch.”

  “Oh, I am sorry, sir,” I stopped and looked down at him. “My absolute apologies.”

  He stared back up at me while he rubbed the spot on the top of his head where my elbow had accidentally hit him.

  “Is everything all right?” One of the crew padded up on soft soled shoes, a look of concern and appeasement on her face.

  “Totally my fault,” I said. “I really wasn’t paying much attention. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “It is,” the man from Sio Sam Ong muttered from between gritted teeth, “quite all right. An accident.”

  “No, you must allow me to make amends.” I turned my injured-innocence look on the crew member. “Please, bring him a drink, and some of that expensive after-shave. Charge it all to my account.”

  “No,” he snapped. “Thank you.”

  “But you must allow me to make it up to you somehow.” Small revenge if he took a gift that was charged to Lijuan’s father, the opposition.

  “No,” he said again, this time calmer. “Accidents happen.”

  “If you are sure?” Judging by the look on his face he seemed quite adamant. “Well, let me know if there is anything I can do to… for you before we dock. I’d hate to see you walk off this sub,” I paused, “with a small injury.”

  “I’ll be fine,” he snapped, his eyes flashing with anger and the skin around them tightening.

  “Sir,” the crew member said, “let me show you back to your seat. This way. Perhaps you’d like a cup of coffee?”

  “That would be great.” I nodded to the man from Sio Sam Ong and followed the crew member. Baiting a bear was an age-old sport. One I played well, at least my instructors had told me so many years ago right before they meted out the punishment. Cleaning the toilets was a favourite. Occasionally they let me use a toothbrush.

  I flopped down into my chair with a smile stretched across my face. Chrissy stared at me from my right and her expression was mirrored on Chunhua’s to my left. “What?”

  “You’ve been gone ages. What were you doing?” Chunhua poked me in the arm as she spoke.

  “I went to the toilet,” I answered, the smile not leaving my lips.

  “They read,” Chrissy said from the other side.

  “What?” It was Chunhua’s turn to ask the question.

  “Men,” she said. “They go to the toilet to read. My father used to do it all the time. I can only think they are embarrassed.”

  “By what?” the teenager leaned around me to talk to the Chrissy.

  “By being able to read.”

  “Really?” Chunhua said.

  “No,” I answered but was ignored.

  “It is the only reason I can think of. They can take ages in the toilet and the only thing they can really be doing for that long is reading. If you think about it, they stand to pee. My father used to head off to the toilet with a Pad in his hand. We knew he was going to sit for an absolute age and just read. We never saw him reading anything outside of the toilet,” Chrissy explained.

  “Peace and quiet,” I said when Chrissy took a breath. “We go there for peace and quiet. The one room you won’t disturb us in unless it is to shout through the door about something we haven’t done that we should of.”

  I caught the offended look on both of their faces, though why Chunhua’s face wore the expression was beyond me. She had a lot to learn about life. Fifteen years was a mere drop in the ocean of experience. Heartbreak, loss, and grief alongside occasional happin
ess would cause the waters to rise until she was drowning in all life had to throw at you. I’d no desire for her to rush the experience. Enjoy youth while you’ve got it. Once it is gone it is just a fading memory of mistakes and lost chances.

  Chrissy turned away, back to her Panel, and Chunhua shuffled in her seat until she was facing Lijuan. The older girl started to speak softly to the younger and pointed at the screen where the girl seemed to be a little upset with a large, and strangely dressed, rodent.

  Peace, quiet and time to think. My little confrontation in the toilet had confirmed our worries. I didn’t share them with the girls. No point having them concerned. Lunch was few hours away and after that we’d be docking in Nanxun.

  At that moment everything was up for grabs. Getting through customs, avoiding security and finding Lijuan’s father and friends would not be an easy feat. All the while the Sio Sam Ong would be there. Not just the man a few rows back, but others. I had to assume that. It was stupid to reveal himself, to make threats that he couldn’t carry out. There had to be people at the other end.

  If I hadn’t been sat down I would have kicked myself. Really hard and in a painful place so I wouldn’t be so stupid ever again. Of fucking course they knew where we going. Where else would we have gone? Two girls and a man from a different part of the world making a hastily cobbled together escape attempt from a prison had nowhere else to go. We had to head for the girl’s parents. They were the only allies we had and children need their parents.

  The man had likely, must have, been on the sub that chased us. There was no time for anyone else to come. When we’d been in the Daoist cell, he’d made some calls, got some orders and taken the first, the only, sub to Nanxun. Lijuan’s home. Which led too neatly to the next thought.