The Code War (42 page)

But in the middle of the room was the
most unexpected item. This was an elaborate iron construction the
like of which Nancy had never seen before.

'Old Chinese warming stove and serving
table,' said Chu, seeing her surprise. 'Use for heat room and also
keep dishes hot.'

It was a bulbous iron furnace on legs
with a circular metal top on which could be placed dishes and
plates. In the centre, leading out of the boiler, was a cast iron
flue pipe that disappeared into the ceiling.

'Not hot now. J
ust for show,' reassured Chu who was once again helping
Suzy to her feet.

Chu launched into a blaze of Cantonese
against the two girls. Nancy could just make out that he was
telling them they would never work again if they didn't behave.

At last, they appeared to give in.
Both stood up and leant frontwards against the stove.

'Who you?' asked Suzy looking at
Nancy.

'I know who you are,' said Roxy, with a
sly smile.

The two continued
grinning at Nancy as Chu shouted at them to
straighten their skirts and fix their hair. Had they never seen a
western woman before? Stop staring, it's bad manners.

When Suzy had neatened herself to Chu's
satisfaction she offered up both her hands to him with a cheeky
grin on her face. Chu steered her hands towards the metal flue to
which Nancy could see three sets of handcuffs had been welded.

'Old woman,' shouted Chu, 'any sign of
the third girl yet?'

The two prostitutes giggled again and
looked at each other.

Chu clipped Suzy's wrists into the
handcuffs and made sure they were tight. He positioned himself
behind her and held her by the hips. Then he pulled her body back
half a step so that her rear projected with just the right degree
of pertness.

'Like that.
OK?'

'Uh-huh.' Chu noticed that Suzy
was chewing gum. She did not bother to close her lips. He reached
his hand into her mouth, removed the amoeboid blob with his fingers
and after a moment's thought stuck it on the side of his
heel.

'Man repellent,' he exclaimed in
disgust. 'What use is that here?'

He stepped to the side to survey
her in profile. Her feet were together, her legs were straight, her
skirt was tight and her upper body ascended with a pleasing incline
to where her elbows rested on the circular table. Her plum sized
breasts hung nicely into space within easy reach of a gentleman's
hands.

Chu nodded slightly. She had bad breath
but that wouldn't matter tonight.

'Ho
' -
good - he said. Suzy's shift had begun.

'Gwai poh,' said Suzy to Nancy.
Ghost woman. Nancy returned her look evenly but without judgement.
She knew that some women worked this way. Always had, always would.
It was their choice. They didn't have to do it.

Chu now took Roxy's proffered
hands and clipped them into the second pair of handcuffs on the
stove pipe. He smoothed down her skirt, straightened her blouse and
pulled a few loose strands of hair into position. Turning to Nancy
he patted Roxy on the buttock and smiled. 'Girls earn many money
tonight. All our men like this entertainment.'

Roxy smiled at Chu. Tonight her cute bum
was her fortune.

Chu turned towards the door and
shouted impatiently. 'Old woman, has the third girl, Ah Siu,
arrived yet?'

Nancy turned her head in the same
direction, trying to make sense of the flow of Chiu Chau dialect
that came torrenting into the room in reply. Chu took her arm and
lifted it. She felt a cold bracelet close on her right wrist. In
the same instant an arm enveloped her waist and lifted her up. With
his other hand Chu pulled Nancy's left arm forward towards the
flue. As Nancy fought back he pushed her physically forward with
his body, took her left forearm in his left hand and slipped the
handcuff in place over it with his right.

'How dare you? What do you think you're
doing? Undo me you bastard, I'm not here for that. I'm Nancy. I'm
Fatty Lo's girl.'

Nancy pulled with all her might trying
to wrench the handcuffs from the flue. They were unyielding. She
was held fast.

The two prostitutes stared at
Nancy open-eyed. Whatever they thought of her before, they weren't
expecting this.

'M Ho. Gwai poh m seung
jo
'- It's not good. The ghost girl
doesn't want to do it - said Roxy under her breath.

Nancy was a prisoner.

'So sorry,' said Chu. 'So sorry.'
But when Nancy looked at him in fury, she saw he wasn't smiling. He
wasn't gloating. He looked frightened.

Chu stood to the side, now surveying
Nancy's profile. He looked her up and down, glanced at his watch
and left.

Nancy began to scream. 'Hey, somebody
help me. I'm trapped. Mr Fu. Monkey.'

Suzy and Roxy regarded her with
consternation. There was nothing they could do.

The Chiu Chau woman entered the
room bearing a tray. She showed no surprise to see Nancy chained to
the flue, trying to struggle free. From the tray she took three
lacquered Chinese bowls decorated with fish and flowers and placed
them on the circular serving table, one in front of each of the
three women. Nancy turned to her in desperation but in mute
response the woman nodded towards the beautiful bowl. It contained
a score of condoms. The woman left and Nancy stared down at the
plastic packets in their hand-painted vessels and could think of
nothing to say.

Chu returned ten minutes later
holding in his hand a plastic carrier bag. He went straight to
Nancy and reached in front of her, undoing her waist button and
drawing down her fly. Then he pulled her new linen trousers down to
her feet. Nancy shouted and kicked but he ignored her. After
removing her shoes, with some defiant resistance from Nancy, he
pulled off the trousers and threw them on a nearby chair. From the
bag he took a simple red tartan skirt with a top to bottom zip,
wrapped it around her and zipped it up. Then from the bag he took a
pair of red high-heeled shoes and stooped down.

Nancy was ready for this. With a
furious back kick she caught Chu full in the cheek with her heel
and sent him flying. She accompanied this with a lacerating burst
of English swear-words that she knew Chu didn't understand but made
her feel better anyway.

Chu picked himself up and stood warily
beside Nancy holding the red shoes. Suzy and Roxy watched
soundlessly, hardly breathing. The Chiu Chau woman came to the door
and looked in.

Chu looked at Nancy, imploring her with
his eyes. 'Please to wear,' he said. 'Please. Mr Fu angry man. I
not want you get hurt.'

Nancy stared at him for a long
moment. Chu was wearing the most serious expression that she had
ever seen on a man's face. She looked back in front of her.
Something was going on that was much bigger than she or Fatty had
expected. She considered fighting but had an odd feeling that might
make matters even worse. Suzy and Roxy backed this up. They kept
looking towards the door as if in fear that Monkey might come in
and take a dim view of her rebellion. Nancy's body
relaxed.

Chu stooped down while Nancy
slowly lifted her right foot. He slipped the foot into the elegant
pump and did up the strap. She put the foot on the floor and he
repeated the process with her left.

Chu stood up and stepped back to
view his handiwork. But Nancy was grim-faced and looking straight
in front of her. Suzy and Roxy stood motionless and looked from Chu
to Nancy and back again. The room was as quiet as a tai chi
class.

'You will understand,' he said in
English. 'So sorry. Later, you will understand.'

Paradise

Globes flashed red on the belts of Luke,
Ruth and Agatha simultaneously. It was Chan and Jo calling
together. The flashing was rapid which meant only one thing: an
emergency. Within a few seconds all had acknowledged and accepted
the call.

'Have any of you heard from Jabez
recently?' Jo asked, her dreadlocks trailing over her face.

'We're really worried about him,
something's not right,' added Chan.

'He dropped me off home only hours ago
and went down to Hong Kong,' volunteered Agatha. 'We'd been to the
Azurine to get him some boots. He was really excited about wearing
them. What's happened?'

'We're getting really strange signals
from the Fundial,' said Jo. 'It's suffered some sort of damage.
But..'

'But what?' put in Luke. 'What
else?'

'Well,' said Chan. 'It may be that
the damage has thrown off the auto-locators too, we just don't
know. But the auto-locators are giving a very strange fix for its
position.'

'Which is what?' Ruth.

'Well, basically they're showing that
it's in the Fifth Dimension, which is good. But the precise
location is, well, they're showing somewhere in Inferno.'

'What?' shouted all three at once.

'Do you know what his expected movements
are?' asked Jo, the worry in her voice evident. 'We can't raise
him, his globe is not responding.'

'I should be able to find the location
of his globe,' said Luke. 'He and I exchanged find-me codes weeks
ago. I can locate his globe even when it's off or he's not wearing
it. I'll try it now.'

The others watched while Luke
brought up Jabez's face. The globe picked up Luke's nod at his
friend's image and a moment later gave him the answer. Luke sighed.
'It's showing Hong Kong which should be a good thing. But he's not
with it which is a bad thing. Apart from Jabez's safety there's a
serious risk the globe could fall into enemy hands. Or be found by
humans. That would be a disaster. We need to retrieve
it.'

'OK, here's what we're going to do,' cut
in Ruth suddenly. There was a note of authority in her voice that
had lain hidden before. They all remembered that Ruth had walked
the corridors of power and was held in high esteem there.

'Firstly, I'm going to raise an alert
that will get cut straight through to Gabriel. Yes, that Gabriel.
The archangel. We have the possibility of an angel abduction by the
enemy, coupled with the potential loss of an advanced lightship
with the added complication of a misplaced globe. By any standards
that's serious. Secondly, Luke, I'm going to order a detachment of
angelic cavalry armed with ice lances to escort you to Hong Kong
and search for the missing globe. You'll depart momentarily. Hold
one.'

The four angels waited while Ruth's
thoughts and hands flickered over her globe.

'Done,' she said. 'A
troop is on its way and will meet you over
Kowloon. Ice lances are made of water, obviously. Water is an
important part of life and demons hate it. If an ice lance is used
in the heat of battle and touches a demon's skin, some of it melts
and burns them so bad they husk instantly.'

'Husk?' asked Agatha. All the
angels were dazzled by Ruth's sudden decisiveness and the authority
she commanded.

'No time to explain now. Take my
word for it. If there are demons lying in ambush for Luke they'll
think twice when they see a dozen of our cavalrymen in full
spiritual armour. Especially when those horsemen know an angel may
have been captured. Luke, I bless you in the name of the Most High.
Now go.'

Luke's image disappeared from the
others' globes. He was on his way.

'Jo and Chan, I've had an answer back
from Gabriel.'

Jo and Chan looked at each other.
Gabriel? The Gabriel. Gabriel the archangel? Ruth had communicated
with him and he had answered her that quickly?

'Get the lightcraft back right now,'
Ruth continued. The Fundial didn't seem so much fun any more. 'I
know you can control it from where you are. There's a chance Jabez
may be still in it. But Gabriel thinks it's a real abduction. This
one's gone stratospheric already. The Lamb is involved too.'

'Him
,'
said Agatha.

'Yes, him.' replied Ruth. 'We're now on
a war footing with Inferno, as if we weren't already. You will go
nowhere outside of Paradise without armed escorts. It seems little
old Nancy is so important to them that they're risking all-out
conflagration.'

She paused.

'Anyway, let's hope I'm wrong and Jabez
comes back safely in the lightcraft.'

'We've summoned the lightcraft,' said
Chan. 'It's on its way, be here soon. But we're pretty sure Jabez
isn't in it. Oh, I wish we hadn't lent it to him. It seemed such a
good idea at the time.'

'Don’t be sorry,' said Ruth in a
suddenly gentle voice. 'You acted out of love and consideration.
No-one will blame you for that, least of all me. Now, let's work
the problem. The enemy would love us to play the blame game, that's
where they've scored lots of victories in the past. But it's not
going to happen on my watch. You're all in Heaven because you were
chosen to be here. It's where you belong. Now let's all use our
talents to the utmost and get Jabez back.'

Pearl River Dancing
Parlour, San Po Kong, Kowloon

'Sir, the preparations are nearly
complete for the party,' said Chu to his boss. 'All of your men
will have a memorable time tonight. But I beg you to reconsider.
Please don’t go. We need you to lead us when Brother takes
over.'

'My dear Chu,' said Monkey to his
subordinate. 'Golden Horse is my creation. All of the working
girls, dealers and den managers who work for me are like my own
children. I have built a great business, a traditional business,
outside of the laws of these ghostly foreigners. And now Fatty five
lunches Lo sends one of these same round-eyes to me and tells me
she is there to watch me hand over my business to him? Without a
fight? Where is the honour in that? I lose face in that. Fatty four
chopsticks Lo, a man who is so greedy he eats with both hands at
once can take my business. But he will not take me. I will retain
my honour. I will not be here when he takes over. For the sake of
my beloved staff, I will let them keep their jobs. I will not
dismantle the organisation. But I will be gone. I aim to depart
this very night.'