78Mercy called Mann over to the Jeepney. It was his turn to see the doctor. Mercy accepted a push-up into the back of the makeshift ambulance.
Father Finn got in as well, just as the doctor was sewing Mann up. ‘He needs to go to hospital, no?’
The doctor stopped his stitching, looked Mann over and shrugged as if he already knew it wasn’t worth suggesting. ‘He needs to rest and get his strength up. If he can do that somewhere here then he will be okay.’
‘Do you hear that, Johnny? We will have your company for a few days here. You should have brought two bottles of scotch instead of one, no?’
‘You’re so ungrateful.’ Mann grimaced and started to fidget. ‘We’ll see, Father. I have work to do. Anyway, the scotch would have gone up in the fire.’
‘I didn’t trust you with it. I hid it in the car. Now let the doctor finish stitching you up, for goodness’ sake, and stop moving about.’
‘It hurts.’
‘Huh!’ Mercy gave him an incredulous look and then
let her eyes slip to her swollen abdomen. ‘Hurts? Ha! Don’t talk to me about pain. You don’t have any…’ She was about to add something else when she stopped to listen. Someone was singing ‘My Way’ very loudly.‘Remy!’ Father Finn grinned.
‘Am I in time for lunch?’ Remy poked his head through the flap that acted as sunshield and window at the side of the Jeepney. ‘Looks like the BBQ got a bit out of hand, huh? Someone gunna be in big trouble for that, no?’ Mercy giggled.
‘Remy, you are just in time for lunch and an apéritif on the lawn.’ The father got out of the Jeepney and shook Remy’s hand as he passed him. ‘I will go and fetch a drop of the single malt and we’ll have a medicinal.’
‘You never offered me that when I was in pain…’ Mann called after him.
‘I thought about it…’ the Father shouted back over his shoulder as he marched off to his car to retrieve the scotch.
‘Hey, Inspector, this a normal day for you Hong Kong police, huh? You spend your whole life escaping dangerous criminals and jumpin’ from fires?’
‘Yes, but what I always do first is make sure I have a reliable sidekick. Thank you, Remy, much appreciated.’
Remy shrugged, as if it was all in a day’s work for him, but it was plain to see he was walking with a spring in his step and a definite swagger.
‘No problem. Just target practice for me, no?’
Mann finished getting bandaged and went to see Becky. En route he had a quiet word with Father Finn and
arrangements were made to get Alex Stamp’s body out of the heat and into an ice-cool morgue drawer. Becky was sitting beside Eduardo on the grass under the shade of a tree. She looked up and gave him a watery smile that barely tugged at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes said it all. She was scanning his face to see what answers she could find there. She wanted to know if Mann had found Alex. She had watched him go, even though he hadn’t seen her, and she knew how his brain worked.‘Hello stranger,’ she said as he got within range. Her voice sounded as if someone had filed away the inside of her throat.
Mann stood looking them over. They were sitting side by side, still covered in soot. Her blonde hair was now mainly black and her eyes were red-rimmed. Eduardo looked even worse than he had before. His thin little body was now soaked as well as soiled.
‘You look like the two extras from
Les Miserables’‘Don’t make me laugh…it hurts.’ She began coughing violently. ‘Anyway, you can talk—you are less than your usual immaculate self.’ She patted the grass next to her.
‘You all right?’ He sat down beside her.
She nodded.
‘Next time you rescue me, can you get here sooner…it was a very close call there.’
‘You know me, I hate being late for anything, but sometimes you just have to make an entrance.’
She turned and her eyes locked on to his. He knew there were a whole lot of things that she wanted to ask, but she just sighed and rolled her eyes.
‘Thank you, Mann,’ she mouthed. She looked like she was going to cry.
He peeked around her to look at Eduardo, who was still sitting as close to Becky as he could physically get.
‘If I give you a hug, will he attack me?’
‘You’re okay; he’s not the jealous type.’
He pulled her close. She rested heavily on him and he stroked her arm. They sat for a few moments and watched the children making a happy event out of a near catastrophe.
‘You’re okay, it’s all over now. Things will all work out. Do you want to hear some good news?’
She looked at him expectantly.
‘Amy Tang is back safe and sound.’
‘That’s really fantastic…but Mann…what about Alex?’ she said, almost in a whisper as if she were afraid of the answer.
‘He’s dead, Becky. I found his body.’ Mann felt her shoulders stiffen as he said it. ‘They are taking him to the morgue at the hospital.’
She gave a stifled cry as she buried her face in his chest. When she looked up at him, her eyes were full of tears.
She shook her head as the tears spilt over and rolled down her soot-smeared cheeks. ‘I had to make a choice.’
He kissed her head. ‘I know.’
79Mann called Stevie Ho.
‘I found him.’
‘Alive?’
‘No. The DDS got to him first.’
‘Pity.’
‘Better for him, I think. He wouldn’t find a safe place on the planet; he double-crossed just about everyone. What about the Colonel?’
‘He’s keeping a flock of vultures in food for a week as we speak.’
‘Did he tell you who Blanco was?’
‘No. I don’t think he knew. I have what I wanted from him, though.’
‘It’s not going to get you anywhere. CK’s daughter is back in school, inside the allotted deadline. CK will know by now. Your dreams of having the monopoly on sex trafficking in Asia are over, Stevie. You’d better run back to Hong Kong. There will be questions to answer. I don’t think CK is going to be best pleased with you.’
‘I won’t be going back to Hong Kong. I might be
left licking my wounds, but they will heal. I am not going back.’‘The world is too small to hide in, Stevie.’
‘Maybe, Mann, but it’s a changing world. A man must adjust. I have to make my own way in it now. I have plans. I have backers.’
‘CK won’t let you leave the Wo Shing Shing.’
‘My allegiance was never with him, it was with Chan. I would never leave my master.’
‘Your master died in the waters off Cheung Chau.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Are you telling me Chan survived? I watched him go under.’
‘I am telling you that, in one form or another, his legacy lives on.’
‘You were a good man once, Stevie. Now you have become as rotten as the man you served. I will hunt you down, just as I did him, if you pursue his aims.’
‘So be it.’
80In the morning, Mann got ready to go. They were due to leave in ten minutes. Father Finn was giving them a lift to Manila airport on his way down to see the charity commission about the refuge.
He looked up to see Becky standing there.
‘You ready?’
‘I think I might stay on here a bit longer, Mann.’
‘Sure?’
‘Yes…’ She sighed and ran her fingers through her newly washed hair. ‘…and no. I can see to things at this end. I can write my report up, email it over. I will have to go back and give evidence soon enough, but I am due some leave. I think I will spend it here, help rebuild the centre. Maybe I will stay on afterwards, if the Father agrees.’
He appeared behind her. ‘We need all the hands we can get, and you have a very capable pair. I will wait for you at the Jeepney, Johnny.’
She walked with him outside. They stood together at the back of the Jeepney whilst the Father finished off his preparations. Mann had already said goodbye
to the rest of the staff. The breeze was fresh but the smell of the fire was still bitter in the air. They stared awkwardly at one another.‘Will you come back this way soon?’
‘Yes. I have some things I have to do first—loose ends that need tidying. I’m owed a lot of holiday. I will come back and take you on a tour of the islands and you will see the real magic of this place.’
‘I am going to miss you, Johnny Mann.’ She stepped forward and hugged him.
‘Ouch!’
‘Oh, sorry.’ She stepped back.
‘I don’t mean it. What’s a bit of pain between us? Come here. I want to remember this hug, it might have to last me a long time.’
She pressed herself close to him and rested her head against his chest. Then she pulled back and looked up at him with a mischievous smile on her face. Mann looked down into the dark golden eyes, rimmed with eyelashes like coal.
‘See! Jack the lad! I knew it.’
He grinned. ‘Come here. It’s nice to hear you laugh again. I am going to miss you, tough nut. You are one of the sexiest, brightest, sassiest women I know, and you have a great arse…’ He slipped his hands around her waist, drew her to him and kissed her hard on the lips. ‘When you are ready, call me.’
81In five hours Mann was back in Hong Kong, changed and out of his apartment. He sat opposite CK in Grissini, the Italian restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, with its tall ceiling and beautifully patterned parquet flooring. It had panoramic views over a sunny blue Hong Kong.
‘And the rest of the deal? Your little girl is safe, back at school, unharmed…I asked you for two more things.’
He waited whilst the waiter poured him a glass of perfectly chilled Muffio wine and they were presented with a platter of Italian cheeses and fresh honeyed figs to finish their meal.
‘Do I have your promise that you will dismantle the networks you have set up and immediately cease all trafficking of human beings?’
CK put down his knife and wiped his hands with his napkin. He nodded towards the waiter who came to refill his water. He looked at Mann, studied him. Mann could see that his reputation as a poker player was well-earned. His expressions hardly changed. It was
as though if he sat still for too long he would appear one-dimensional—a cardboard cut out: immaculately groomed, not a hair out of place, just the right amount of silvering at the temples. He was elegance and power personified. In answer to Mann’s question he didn’t so much as nod.‘Will Stevie Ho comply?’
For a second CK’s eyelashes fluttered, but he kept eye contact with Mann.
‘Stevie is ambitious.’
‘Does that mean that you have lost control of him?’
CK pushed his plate to one side and waited whilst the waiter cleared it for him.
‘Stevie’s loyalty to me was always shared.’
It looked like Mann had hit a nerve. Although CK’s manner hadn’t changed dramatically there was a definite prickliness to the atmosphere.
‘With Chan?’
‘Yes, with my son-in-law, who, as we both know, has disappeared. But I will honour my side of the agreement. All operations that Stevie was engaged in, with or without my permission, are now ceased. I will restore the hotel ownership back to its rightful owners and compensate persons, as you have demanded. But Stevie himself has decided he will not be returning to Hong Kong. So, you have my word and that is good enough. And the last of your wishes, I cannot grant. The five men who took part in the killing have been retired, in different ways. It will serve you no purpose to pursue men who were only following orders. The man who ordered the killing…that is a delicate matter.’
‘I have waited too long to find justice for my father. Can you tell me whether the man who ordered my father’s death is still with us?’
‘I will tell you one thing…you already know your enemy, but you do not recognise him.’
82‘Where is the child?’
‘She doesn’t speak, Father. She hasn’t cried. She hasn’t smiled. She doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her. I am afraid for her. She has so much locked up in her young head.’
‘I know, I know, Mercy. Don’t you worry. I will give her to someone else to look after. You have enough on your plate, with this baby of yours about to pop and a toddler to look after.’
‘No, Father.
Please.
I can manage. I want her to stay here. She needs us so badly. I just wish she would open up.’Father Finn thought how tired Mercy looked. The exertion of the day before was still on her face. She had run around a lot more than was right for a woman in her final trimester.
‘Where is she?’ he asked, glancing around.
‘Round the back, sitting on the steps. I asked her if she wanted to help in the garden but she hasn’t moved from that step in three hours.’
* * *
‘Maya?’ Father Finn sat down beside her.
She did not answer.
‘Come and walk with me.’
Father Finn offered her his hand. She took it and he led her past Mercy’s house and up the hill. It was the other side to the refuge. It looked out over the sea. He walked slowly. The heat and the lush vegetation were not a climate to walk fast in.
‘Maya, I knew your mother when she was a girl. A little bit older than you.’
Maya looked at him hard. Her little face was trying to make sense of everything he was saying.
‘I did. And do you know what I remember?’
She shook her head.
‘She had the brightest smile I had ever seen. When she smiled, you just had to smile too. That’s a great gift, Maya, no? But she didn’t always smile. When I found your mother she had had a terrible time, just like you have had. She was sad and angry and unhappy about what had happened to her and why it had happened. She didn’t understand. But, after a while she made friends here and she became happy, and do you know what I remember most about your mother?’
Maya shook her head. Her large brown eyes never wandered from his face.
‘Your mother was only here a short while but she was happy here. You know what she loved to do?’
Maya shook her head. Father Finn stopped to allow the child to rest a little.
‘She liked to walk to the top of this hill with me and talk. “One day”, she’d say, “I am going to graduate from
high school and I will be a lawyer or a teacher.” She was very smart, your mother. She didn’t achieve that dream because something much more important came along that made her happier than she had ever been, happier than she could ever have thought. Do you know what that was, Maya?’Maya gave a small puzzled shake of the head.
‘It was you! Your mother loved you more than anything in the world. She didn’t want to die, Maya. She wanted to live to see you do well in school, see you graduate, see you have children of your own, but sometimes life doesn’t let us have the things we want.
‘But the one thing that you can always hold inside is to know that your mother loved you more than the world. She loved you so much she gave her life for you. I know that you have seen awful things, Maya. In time you will remember your mummy smiling again, just like I do when I think of her. I am looking forward to seeing you smile, Maya.’
Maya wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.
‘You can stay here, Maya, live with Mercy and Ramon. They will be your family. Mercy will have the baby soon and you will have a new brother or sister who will need you. You belong here, Maya. Come. Let me show you something.’
They reached the top of the hill. There was a small cemetery, lawned and tended. Amongst the half a dozen graves there was a new plaque.
‘Come, Maya. I know you can read and write because your mummy told me how clever you were. Come read this for me.’
They stopped at a new grave, covered in flowers. Maya read the words on the makeshift cross, written in black pen.
Wednesday, devoted mother to Maya.
Died 11 April 2004 at the age of 21.
‘You can come here whenever you like, Maya.’
Maya looked back at the grave and let go of Father Finn’s hands as she went to touch the cross. She pulled out some of the flowers from the bouquet that was left there and she knotted two stems together and draped the flowers over the cross.
Then she took the Father’s hand and they started their descent back down the mountain.