Mann clicked on the sign and a photo appeared of Maya, naked, lying on a bed wrapped in a bloody sheet.

Tick Tock…Tick Tock…time is slipping away

Becky finished her conversation with Jimmy Vance, thanked him and hung up as Mann came into the room.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked. He could see she wasn’t. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands tucked beneath her legs, hunched over as if in pain. She kept her eyes glued to her lap as she spoke.

‘Yesterday, in Puerto Galera, I checked a message left on my voicemail and found it was from a woman claiming to be having an affair with my husband, whom she called Lenny. She said her name was Suzanne. I thought it was just a mistake, nothing to do with me—wrong number. But when Jimmy Vance went round to check on things at my flat he found a woman there.’ She looked up from her lap and stared wide-eyed at Mann. ‘Jimmy’s just rung me now. He’s been at the flat. I asked him to look into it for me. He said Alex’s PC is riddled with references to the Colonel, to Reese Pearce and to Terry Saunders.’ She sighed heavily and shook her head as if she couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been. ‘Then I thought about it and I realised the names—Lenny is Leonard Cohen, his favourite singer, and ‘Suzanne’ is Cohen’s most famous song. Alex is Lenny, and Alex is right in the middle of all this. What if he has something to do with Amy Tang as well? I married a monster, Johnny. He’s been living a double life. He’s capable of anything. I suppose he’s not in Hong Kong?’

Mann shook his head. ‘That much I do know. He left there just after we did.’

She was shaking her head in disbelief.

‘You weren’t to know, Becky. When you get too close to a person you just can’t see it clearly.’

She stood and stepped away from the bed. Mann could see she was clearly reeling from it all. She looked at him, defiance and pain in her eyes.

‘I’m ready,’ she said. ‘We came here to find out the person who has Amy Tang and to free her. If Alex is here and if he knows anything about it then, God help him, I intend to find out. I will do my job Mann, no matter what it takes.’

‘Come on, Johnny…I mean it.’

Mann looked at her. The bruising and swelling in her face was livid now. She stood absolutely still, her shoulders tensed and her feet squarely planted—defiant as they faced each other beneath the fan that hung down from the apex of the high wooden-beamed ceiling.

‘You can’t come.’

She started to protest but he wouldn’t let her.

‘Listen to me…If you are right and Alex is involved in all this, then that’s why you were targeted back at Puerto Galera. It’s why you were attacked. It was retribution. Alex must be up to his neck in shit and he doesn’t know the calibre of men he’s dealing with—they will eat him alive. I don’t want them to do that to you. They intended to kill you

then…

that’s a certainty, they won’t hesitate to do it now. I can’t have that, Becky. I cannot go there knowing that you will be a target. We have to protect you and this mission. We can’t afford to jeopardise any of it. Plus, Eduardo needs protecting. If the DDS are government-funded you can bet your life he’s on their list, right at the top, joint first with Father Finn…I need you to stay here and protect them.’

Mann laid out his weapons on the bed. He stripped off his shirt and attached the shuriken knife belt around his waist and strapped the Death Star across his chest. He tied the throwing-spike sheath to his arm. The last time he had seen these weapons was when he had taken them out of the dead bodies of Becky’s attackers. In the dim light of the room he could see how intently she was watching him. She was scared, he knew that. He looked at her.

‘Someone down on Fields Avenue has the answer to why we came here. One of those men is directly or indirectly responsible for ordering the kidnap of Amy Tang. Our job is to try to stop the bloodbath that will follow a triad uprising if she dies. We have to do our part now. We have to see it through. We have no choice. If it turns out to be Alex then I will deal with it, not you, Becky.’

‘What you’re trying to say is that I might not be able to do my job, I might let him off, that I might not do the

right

thing.’

‘I’m just saying that it’s too much to ask anyone to do.’

She sat back on the bed, deflated.

Mann finished attaching his weapons. He put his shirt back on, then he tucked Delilah into his boot. He pulled out a semi-automatic from his bag, and handed it to her.

‘You okay with that?’

She nodded, it was one she was very used to. She had practised with it many times on the police targeting range. He fished out the ammunition and threw it down on the bed.

She looked at him, desperation in her eyes. He knew she didn’t want to be left behind.

He put his hand on her shoulder. ‘You won’t be any good to me down there. I need you to stay here and protect the refuge and Father Finn.’

Father Finn appeared at the door. ‘There’s no way I’m staying here. I have a duty to that little girl. I am all she has now and I won’t let her down. I’m coming with you. I will not rest until I have Maya in my hands. I owe Wednesday that much. I might have failed her in other ways, but I will die trying to get her daughter back.’

‘Then it’s down to you to look after things, Becky. Paulo Mercy and Ramon will stay here to help.’

Father Finn looked tensed and ready for the fight. His face bristled with sweat and his eyes burned. ‘Yes. Please keep Eduardo glued to your side, he trusts you.’

‘Never had a priest for a partner, Father.’ Mann smiled.

‘I won’t let you down, Johnny. I

will

fight with whatever God puts in my hands. I will get that little girl back.’

‘It might be one hell of a fight we find ourselves in the middle of, Father. There’s a whole army of Wo Shing Shing officers ready to engage war on the White Circle, although it might also provide the perfect opportunity for you to get Maya out.’

‘What, if World War Three breaks out, you mean? I’d rather stop that from happening.’

‘There’s always a catch with you, isn’t there, Father?’ Mann smiled.

After Father Finn had left them, Mann and Becky looked at one another. She smiled.

‘You look funny in that outfit.’ Mann had borrowed one of the Father’s blue gingham shirts.

‘This is my camouflage suit.’

She looked suddenly lost, thought Mann. She would look like a little girl wearing flowery shorts and a red rose T-shirt from the refuge shop, if it weren’t for the fact that she also had a semi-automatic in her hand. ‘It all makes a horrible sense, doesn’t it?’

‘Yep…’ Mann went over to her, took the rifle out of her hands and hugged her tight. ‘I am afraid it does, Becky.’ He kissed the top of her head. ‘I will see you when it’s over.’

Father Finn appeared in the doorway again.

‘Is it time to go, Johnny?’

‘Yes. It’s starting, Father.’

‘Okay Then it must also end, no?’

70

It was two thirty in the morning when they parked up on the side road leading to Fields Avenue. Father Finn and Mann walked back up the avenue. Mann paused in an alleyway. Amongst the rotting garbage that lived on top of other rotting garbage a man’s body lay in that awkward position that Mann knew was death. He was still warm, but already he had the smell of death and blood and faeces. His limbs were twisted. His throat had been cut. Mann bent down to look at him closely. His eyes were open wide. His head was almost severed from his body—a clean chop using a wide blade. Triad execution.