The Code War (57 page)

'Hail the true Lord of Light,' she
called, bowing low to the Leader. The roar surged even higher.

Heaven quailed.
H
undreds of millions of beautiful,
piercing eyes could scarce pierce the hands held in front of
them.

'Why are you here?' shouted Bezejel to
Hades, putting her hand playfully to her ear. Indiscriminate roars
assailed the heavens, fingers jabbed towards the curtained
construction.

Bezejel grasped the tassels where the
curtains met. 'Shall we?' she called to the Hadean mob while the
Leader nodded and suavely grinned his triumph.

'Yes' screamed millions of red
throats as heads pumped up and down like pistons, bodies prostrated
in Baal-mania and scores of demons lost their footing and fell into
lava lakes only minutes from seeing Hell's greatest
victory.

The curtains came away and were cast
aside as Bezejel swept her arm back. There between two pillars of
red Mars rock stood the pale figure of Jabez, one wing sickeningly
askew, every bit the lost but surprisingly defiant sheep. Steel
rings circled his wrists and led out in chains to the pillars.
Chants and raucous cries now ascended from Inferno as demons joined
together in venting their hate. If the Leader had ever thought to
take a popularity poll, now was the time. Though their wretched
post-life existences were more hopeless than that of a palsied
child born in a typhoid slum, here was a real live angel to blame
for their misery. Praise the Leader for that.

Jabez would go home this day to his
crooning friends, a beautiful house and a soft pillow. They to
their hard vulcan beds with barely a teaspoon of tar to send them
to their nightmares. What more reason to hate him?

Magog swept in, suppressed urgency in
his pocked features. Bezejel threw him a glance like a dart but
inclined her head.

Jabez looked behind him at the
blistering ranks of rancour that filled Inferno's acres and ached
to tear him apart. Then forward again and calmly into Bezejel's
diabolically beautiful face. For the taking of a breath it seemed
to many that it was Bezejel, not Jabez, whose calm was cracked.
Smug turned to anger in a particle of a second and she spurred
towards him in her high black boots, composure undone. Jabez's head
was knocked sideways as her smack landed on his cheek, her famous
strength behind it. She leaned into him, the way she liked to
frighten men, spikes on the knuckles of her drawn-back hand
threatening the sight of his eyes.

'Where are Zhivkin and Kodrob,' she
hissed.

Jabez was still holding it
together. 'They can't bear to watch you. They don't want to see a
woman cry.'

Bezejel waggled the spikes. 'Don't waste
my time or I'll make sure you never see Paradise again.'

'Well, OK then. They said they were
going off to hold hands and jump in the lava lake together. It was
either that or carry on working for you.'

Bezejel launched her blow with all
of her strength. But the spikes stopped suddenly just short of
Jabez's unflinching gaze. Bezejel's eyes winced in pain as she
looked behind her. The Leader was holding her arm and his strength
was far greater than hers. He nodded towards the assembled host of
Hades, every one watching the bewitching scene.

Bezejel spat in Jabez's face but herself
howled in agony as the Leader's vice grip tightened on her.

'Patience, my dear,' he murmured
softly. But his own eyes spoke of anger and patient revenge.
Bezejel relaxed as she realised she had gone too far and was now in
danger of losing a life. She stepped back respectfully.

Master that he was, the Leader now
stepped into the hiatus caused by Bezejel's loss of temper.

'Well,' he beamed at both kingdoms. 'We
are, I believe, waiting for one more player.' He paused and allowed
Infernals, thrown by the unruly scene they had just witnessed, to
recover their bile. They knew who the missing 'player' was.

'Yes,' he nodded in turn towards
both Hell and Paradise. 'Who could it be? Who is coming from Heaven
to ask for the return of young Jabez here. Jabez the impetuous.
Jabez the loner. Jabez the unprepared. Jabez the bumbling friend
who's always there when he needs you. Who needs a friend like
Jabez?'

The throng of Inferno cheered
again. They were back on track.

'For he can go home as soon as someone
claims him. That's all I ask. That's fair isn't it?'

The cheering grew. Arms were waved and
fists appeared. The Leader walked to the centre of Halfway where
the crowds now saw a soft red cushion had been placed on a low
plinth. He stood still and crossed his arms imperiously, then
raised his head towards Paradise.

'It's time. If you want Jabez,
come and claim him.'

All eyes turned and looked up into the
great vault above. At the gate of Heaven the faint outline of a
door appeared as if lit from behind. As the outline grew brighter
and the door opened a ray of light shone out illuminating the
darkness around.

A figure in white appeared, male,
long-haired and barefoot. The figure was the source of the light.
Below the door a stairway now etched itself out of the nothingness
and curved its way down to the Paradise End of Halfway. But Lo!
When that foot stepped out and reached for the first step, a gasp
came from everyone in Inferno and Paradise alike. For as the hem of
the cloth pulled back and the heavenly ankle was revealed, all
could see the scars of two wounds on either side. Then they
remembered that it was not two wounds, but o
ne, drilled from side to side. A soldier's workaday duty
from long ago.

The Blue Diamond
Warehouse and Godown

Only a single external light was shining
above the door outside the Blue Diamond. Chopper Kwok knew that the
warehouse had hosted a lot of Brother parties of various kinds
recently and he didn't want to draw the wrong kind of
attention.

Anyway, this was a small affair,
compared to the others. This time it was only his own crew and that
was no more than twenty five men and women, all counted.

'Special treat tonight, a night
you'll never forget,' said Chopper to one of Wonton Chiang's
toadies. A smooth thug who worked on the sham charity soup kitchen
in Tsim Sha Tsui.

A gentle rain was falling and
Nescafé Mao held an umbrella over his boss's head. Without
Chopper's support he would now be in prison, unable to afford the
bail for his stupidity in getting caught in possession of dangerous
drugs. More gangsters arrived including two women, prostitutes who
also worked as 'Mama Sans' keeping the new girls in line and
keeping tally of their clients and their financial contribution to
Brother. These women were vital to the success of running girlie
bars, they knew better than a man just how hard a girl could work,
how many men she could service.

Beside Chopper, Wolf Smoke panted and
scrutinised every gangster, checking their sweat glands for fear or
nervousness. Such things were clues to treachery and the German
Shepherd instinctively knew how to protect his master.

Wolf Smoke's training to kill on command
had been intensified over the last 48 hours. Chopper had shaken up
his network of contacts and sent out pimply youths on scooters to
buy and bring back captured rats and small stray dogs from all over
the colony. Then, in the cock-pit of the Blue Diamond he had worked
Wolf Smoke hard, slapping him down if he killed on the wrong
command and rewarding him when he got it right. The youths were
also kept busy disposing of the dead creatures in shanty town
refuse dumps, sewers and building sites.

Wolf Smoke had a special mission this
night and Chopper was sure that the dog was up to the task.

Only yards away Dan Kelly listened
intently and tried to make out any names that were used during the
meeting and greeting. If he ever got out of this alive - and he was
naively sure nobody would be so foolish as to kill him - he would
need all the facts he could remember as evidence.

The last expected visitors walked
up the alleyway to the Blue Diamond and were admitted, after a
thorough nose job from Wolf Smoke. Chopper and Nescafé checked the
area one last time for unwelcome intruders. They threw their
cigarettes into a pile of rusting boat engines and joined their
guests.

Ling Yee, a
Mars Ma stalwart who knew everyone in Brother - and was
universally disliked - took Nescafé's umbrella and stood himself
outside the door. A user himself, he had clumsily packed a hundred
heroin fix bags with twice the regular amount of the drug. This had
cost Chopper thousands of dollars in lost sales and Ling was now
dogsbody for the night, literally under a cloud and missing the
show as combined doorman cum lookout.

Inside the Blue Diamond warehouse,
Chopper took his place a few steps back from the side of the pit.
It was still uncovered since his training sessions earlier with
Wolf Smoke. He allowed his gang members to drink beer, smoke and
socialise for some time while he revelled in their praise of his
leadership. You're so good to us, Mr Kwok, sir. You should be the
Brother of Brothers. Thank you for leading us. On and on went the
stream of obligatory adulation.

As each supplicant came to him in
turn to inflate his ego with another puff of sycophancy, Chopper
levelled his penetrating stare at them, forcing them to open up the
windows of their dark souls to him. He believed in the essential
badness inside every person. He reminded his underlings with his
condemning looks that he knew every detail of every evil they were
up to and it was no use trying to hide them from him. Wolf Smoke
soaked up the malignant atmosphere and waited for the chance to
kill, which deep in his canine brain he knew was coming.

Eventually Chopper signalled that he was
ready to address the group and a hush went around the cavernous
space.

'Now, you all know that I am a
fair man.' Chopper continued in a long tradition for bullies and
tyrants of opening his speech with a serving spoonful of
self-promotion. 'But I am not a man with infinite patience. Nor
will I allow the authorities to interfere with my legitimate
business. We don't force our customers to buy from us. We are not
evil. They buy our white powder and our girls and they gamble with
us because it's what they want. It's natural. And then along comes
the police who try to stop us from earning our living.'

Everyone nodded at Chopper,
encouraging him. They could hardly do otherwise. He went on in this
vein for a while, building himself as the people's champion against
the merciless imperial forces of policing and taxation. The
audience murmured and occasionally shouted their approval which
Chopper soaked up with barely suppressed delight. 'It's not right,
brothers, it's not fair, and I won't just roll over like others in
our profession and let it happen.'

One of the women was especially
vocal. 'We must stand up to them, Chopper. The police must learn to
protect us and serve us. Not arrest us when we do
business.'

Chopper warmed to this theme. 'You are
right, Ah Min, they must learn. And I am going to teach them. I
will teach and they will learn. We must stand up for our rights and
hurt them as they hurt us. Tonight I am going to hurt one of them.
A lot. His fate will be a lesson to them all. If they want to fight
us, we will fight back until they leave us alone.' He looked at all
of his gang and shouted. 'Who among you wants to hurt the police
tonight?'

The response was universal and
loud.
'Yes. We do. Hurt the
police.'

Chopper had intended to run a few
cock-fights before the confrontation between Dan and Wolf Smoke in
the pit. He had planned to build up to it slowly, escalating the
tempo of the night. But now he began to get carried away in the
moment and impulsively decided to bring forward his plans.

'Right then, let's get started.
Wolf Smoke, into the pit.' The German Shepherd looked up at Chopper
adoringly, checking he had understood the command correctly. When
Chopper motioned his hand he leapt down the seven foot drop into
the cock pit. 'Everybody, stand around the edge of the pit. You're
going to see a police inspector die.'

Golden Luck Casino
7.30 pm

Nancy swirled her head in front of
the mirror, checking her jade earrings, her make-up and lipstick. A
puff of Chanel on her neck made her feel thoroughly feminine. She
had had quite a lot of dressing up recently so for this tête-a-tête
with Frenchy, she decided to look a little more relaxed.

A white V-necked woollen top over blue
jeans on top of classic red high heels was just the ticket. Her
six-point star necklace neatly filled the cleft of the V. Quite
fetching if I say so myself, she said to the mirror.

Not that Frenchy was on her mind
in that respect. The dinner with the dapper, elderly triad leader
was purely business. It was about building relationships,
discussing strategies and forging plans. Nancy already had lots of
ideas for which sh
e wanted Frenchy's
support. It was important that she felt good as well as looked
good.

Last to go on was a handsome black
pilot-style jacket with a winged breast insignia and firm
gold-striped shoulder boards to lend the whole outfit some
authority. As she picked up her Dior clutch bag and carefully
checked its contents, Dan's face swam into her mind. He seemed at
home in this part of Kowloon. Maybe he wasn't a tourist. Maybe he
lived here. She had liked his cheerfulness and his obvious
vulnerability. Why was she thinking of him now? She realised that
despite the awful events in San Po Kong and her desire to stay away
from men for a while, she secretly wished that she was going out to
meet Dan, not Frenchy.