The Dragon Head of Hong Kong (5 page)

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)

SHE EXITED THE
train at Fo Tan, crossed the platform, and five minutes later was on her way back to Shenzhen. When she reached Lo Wu station, this time she noticed how easy it was to leave the train, and any last doubts about the use of the pens vanished.

“I’m only going to the Good Luck Hotel,” she told the cab driver when she got outside. “But I’ll pay you a hundred Hong Kong.”

He nodded. She climbed into the back seat, her mind full of thoughts about Johnny Kung.
So I’ve found him
, she thought.
Now what do I do?

Pang waved at her as she walked through the front door of the hotel. Beside him, an older, shorter, rounder man stared at her. She went over to them.

“This is Chew,” Pang said.

“Hi,” Ava said, trying to ignore Chew’s eyes, which were locked on to her chest. Ava did have larger breasts than was usual for a Chinese woman, and in China they seemed to generate keen interest.

“I showed him the photo and he recognized your guy,” Pang said.

“He’s been here for at least three days,” Chew said.

“Is he here now?”

“No.”

“You mentioned that there were other people asking questions. Who were they?”

“I have no idea, but they’re in the lobby now.”

“Where?”

“Don’t turn around right away, but when you can, look towards the sofas. There’s a little bald guy sitting by himself to the left; he’s got tattoos on both arms. Then look further left and you’ll see another guy by the door, with a ponytail and a wispy beard. He’s also got tattoos. They’re a team, I think.”

“Why do you suppose that?”

“They take turns sitting and standing.”

“Triad probably,” Pang said.

“What makes you think that?” Ava asked.

“The tattoos. They’re almost like a uniform.”

“The guys with the man you’re looking for have them too,” Chew said.

“Triad?”

“Could be — just different gangs.”

“You need to be careful,” Pang said.

“Thanks for the advice,” Ava said, and turned to Chew. “What kind of questions were those men asking?”

“They had a picture, like you, and they wanted to know if I’d seen the guy. That was a few days ago, so by now they’ve seen him for themselves. They’ve been in and around the hotel ever since, but I haven’t seen them approach your guy. That’s a bit strange, don’t you think?”

“I have no idea,” Ava said. She went into her bag and took out Hong Kong dollars. “Here’s your thousand, Pang, and I’ll give Mr. Chew here five hundred for his help. Does that work?”

“Sure,” Pang said.

When Chew said nothing, Ava pressed the bill into his hand. “Thanks again,” she said.

Ava crossed the lobby towards the man on the sofa. He was slumped to one side, his elbow sunk into the sofa’s arm, his chin resting on his palm.
He looks bored
, she thought. She stopped directly in front of him. He didn’t notice her at first, but when he glanced up, she saw a look of surprise on his face. He turned away. She didn’t move, her eyes firmly fixed on him. He was in his thirties, she guessed, but in his black jeans, white T-shirt, and white running shoes he looked like a teenager.

“I’m told you’re looking for Johnny Kung,” she said.

His head swivelled towards her and she saw that she had flustered him. His eyes flickered briefly in her direction and then looked to the right, where the man Chew had identified as his partner was watching them.

“Are you looking for Kung?” she said.

“What’s going on here?” the man’s partner said.

He was short, only a few inches taller than Ava, but he was lean and wiry and looked as if he could take care of himself in a fight.

“I was asking if you two are looking for Johnny Kung,” Ava said.

“What business is that of yours?” he said, moving closer, his eyes roaming over her body.

“Because I am as well.”

“Is that a joke?”

“No, I’m completely serious.”

“What is he, your father or something?”

“Of course not.”

“You look young enough.”

“My age is irrelevant,” Ava said, looking at each of them in turn. “I just want to say that if you are looking for Kung, then we shouldn’t get in each other’s way.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Ava Lee.”

“You use an English name?” the man on the sofa said.

“I’m Canadian.”

“My English name is Andy, and he’s Carlo. Now what the hell do you want with Kung?” he said.

“She has to be his girlfriend,” Carlo said, switching from Mandarin to Cantonese.

“He owes money to one of my clients. I’m here to try to collect it,” Ava said in Cantonese.

“Now you really are joking,” Carlo said.

“I’m quite serious, and unless I’m mistaken I think you’re trying to collect money from him as well. When I went to his office today, they mentioned that other people were after him. I assume it’s you two.”

“What outfit do you work for?” Andy said.

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re in the business, you’ve got to be working for someone.”

“I’m working alone. What outfit are you with?”

“Chow Tung’s.”

Ava’s face registered no reaction.

“You’ve never heard of him?” Andy said.

“No.”

“God, you are a rookie. There aren’t many people in Hong Kong who haven’t heard of him.”

“Why is that?”

“There’s no reason to get into all that,” Carlo interrupted. “We work for him. That’s all you need to know.”

“And you’re right that we’ve been hired to get money from Kung,” Andy said.

“How much are you trying to collect?” Ava asked.

The two men stared at her.

“I’m after a million dollars,” Ava said.

“Hong Kong?” Andy asked.

“U.S.,” she said.

“Shit, that’s twice what we’re chasing him for,” Andy said to Carlo.

“And like I said, I’m not working for anyone but myself and my client.”

Carlo smiled at Ava. It was a complicated smile, she thought, part condescending, part protective, and certainly flirtatious.

“Okay, I believe you. But tell me how, exactly, you think you’re going to get Kung to give back a million dollars,” he said.

“Why don’t you tell me about your plan first?” Ava asked.

“Listen, I’m really trying to be polite with you, and that’s mainly because I think you’re in way over your head and probably need someone to look after you, but we’re on a job and we don’t have time for this,” Carlo said.

“On a job? All you’re doing is sitting in the lobby, and from what I’ve heard, you’ve been here for days.”

Andy rose from the couch, and she saw he was about the same height as his partner and even skinnier. “Ava, could you excuse Carlo and me for a minute? There’s something I want to talk to him about in private.”

“Sure, I’ll stand over by the door,” she said.

As she moved towards the hotel entrance, the two men slid ten metres in the other direction. She watched as they spoke. Andy was quite animated, his hands moving up and down like an orchestra conductor’s. Carlo occasionally nodded, and once he turned and looked in Ava’s direction. Finally she saw Carlo shrug, and then both men walked towards her.

“We have an idea we’d like to talk to you about,” Andy said.

“I’m listening.”

“You wanna sit?” he said, motioning towards the couch.

“No thanks,” Ava said, not wanting to be physically so close to either of them.

“Okay, here’s the thing. Kung is staying in the hotel, but he’s not alone.”

“He has two goons with him.”

“How’d you know that?”

“The bellboys told me.”

“Yeah, he has two thugs with him, and they’re the problem. He doesn’t go anywhere without them.”

“And they’re probably armed,” Carlo said. “It’s too risky to make a play for him when they’re around.”

“We need to isolate him, to get him on his own,” Andy said.

“And if you can do that?”

“We’ll grab him. We’ve got an apartment about five blocks from here. We’ll keep him there until he agrees to pay.”

“Grab him?”

“The only way he’ll ever pay is if he feels he has to. We’ll hold him until he realizes he has no choice.”

“How long will that take?”

“We have methods that tend to shorten the time frame.”

“I bet you do,” Ava said. “And that isn’t meant to be critical.”

“So what do you think?” Carlo said. “Do you want to work with us on this?”

“And how would I do that?”

The two men exchanged glances. “We’ve heard that Kung is a cunt-hound,” Carlo said.

“What he means is that he has a reputation as a ladies’ man,” Andy said.

“Thanks for explaining that,” Ava said.

“This is his fourth night at the hotel and so far it’s just been him and the goons. He’s got to be getting horny,” Andy said. “We thought maybe you could help him get over that.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I don’t mean sleep with him.”

“I hope not.”

“We just need you to get his attention so he invites you out for dinner or a drink.”

“Without the goons?”

“You’re quick — good. Yeah, without them. You’d have to insist that they not go,” Andy said.

“You know, if you unbuttoned that shirt a bit, you could be a really hot-looking woman,” Carlo said. “Hot enough that he’d tell those guys to take a hike if he thought he had a chance to get into your pants.”

“I guess I should take that as a compliment,” Ava said drily.

“You see where we’re heading with this?” Andy asked.

“It’s obvious enough, but tell me, what happens if he wants his guys to go along?”

“Then no dinner or drinks for you and we go back to our Plan A.”

“Waiting in the lobby?”

“More or less.”

“Okay, so what happens if there are no thugs?”

“Like I said, we grab him and take him to our apartment.”

“I would want to go with you.”

“You don’t trust us?”

“Not especially,” Ava said. “So what’s the apartment address?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because if I agree to do this, I want to know where I can find you in case I need to.”

“We have a place upstairs from the Jupiter Boutique on Winter Street,” Andy said.

“Does this mean you’re game?” Carlo asked.

“Not yet. I also need to know what happens about the money I’m owed. I’m not going to do any of this without your commitment that I’ll get my fair share of what you can collect.”

“What’s a fair share, in your head?” Carlo said.

“Well, since my client is owed double what yours is, I should get a larger share. Not twice what you get, but something larger, like sixty percent.”

“No way,” Carlo said. “Fifty-fifty is the best we could do, and I’m going to have to phone our boss to get him to agree to even that.”

“Go ahead, I’ll wait.”

Andy hesitated. “You know, I don’t think we really have to call him.”

“No, I insist,” Ava said. “Let’s have everything clear right at the beginning. I don’t want to play my part and then have a problem with the split.”

“Okay, you wait here,” he said.

The two men huddled near the hotel entrance. Andy held his phone at a distance from his mouth and Ava assumed they had it on speaker mode. When they came back, she saw that Carlo had a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I think we have a deal,” she said.

“We do.”

“Good. Now I think I should get myself back to Kowloon.”

“What?” Andy said.

“If I’m going to play the role, I’d like to put on some clothes that are more appropriate.”

Carlo looked at his watch. “Try to be back here at six. Kung usually leaves the hotel in the early afternoon. He has an office that’s about two blocks from here. Then he comes back around six and leaves again for dinner or whatever at seven. So our best bet is for you to bump into him on the way in, at six, or on the way out, at seven.”

“What kind of office?”

“Just a hole in the wall.”

“Does anyone else work there?”

“Not that we saw, and we did bang on the door when we knew he wasn’t there. He probably uses it to make phone calls, check faxes, and the like.”

“And store files?”

“I have no idea.”

“Forget about the office. Let’s concentrate on tonight,” Andy said. “You’ll need a story, you know. You can’t just throw yourself at him. He’s too smart for that.”