The Colonel groaned. He had fallen quiet. His sweat and blood glistened in the lights from the Bordello. Kenny Rogers was singing about Lucille. The few people in the bar had the sense to huddle over their drinks and pretend that they did not hear the sound of a man being tortured to death.

Stevie reached over and tipped the Colonel’s chair backwards. He tutted. He let the chair drop back. The Colonel shuddered. His body shook uncontrollably. Maya walked backwards away from the table. Father Finn beckoned her to him.

‘This could be a long night.’

The Colonel began weeping.

‘Please. Please. Please don’t kill me. I had nothing to do with kidnapping CK’s daughter. The Teacher is the one, not me. It was all his idea, him and Blanco’s.’

‘Who is Blanco?’

‘I do not know. I only receive my orders by email and through the Teacher. He knows who Blanco is. I don’t.’

‘Is the Teacher here?’

The Colonel looked up at the windows and back at Stevie and nodded.

‘Go through the rooms and find him,’ Stevie ordered two of his men to go inside and search.

Mann waited—the pain had really kicked and he was losing his ability to concentrate. He mustn’t pass out. He had to stay alert.

Ten minutes later they re-emerged.

‘All gone, boss. The rooms up there?’ One of the men pointed to the windows above them. ‘Nobody in them.’

‘Let the Father and me go, Stevie. I know what he looks like and I think I know where he’ll be. We have a chance of finding him.’

Stevie stared hard at Mann. There were few people’s word he could trust in this world but he knew Mann’s was one of them. If Stevie wanted to break away from CK and the Wo Shing Shing he could not afford to have Amy Tang’s blood on his hands. If it looked like they had acted too hastily and not waited for the agreed hour, if it came down to a matter of honour, CK would save his own face and Stevie would be sacrificed. He must be seen to do all he could to find her. He must let Mann fail rather than himself.

‘You double-cross me, Mann, and this will look like a practice run for what I will do to you.’

‘Save your threats for someone else. I came here to get Amy Tang released. Let me do my job. I will find him. I will keep him alive if I can.’

Stevie thought about it for a few seconds. He nodded to his deputies.

‘Let him go. I am going to let you see this thing through, Mann. One of us will achieve his goals and CK will know I did all that I could. Besides, I haven’t finished with the Colonel here yet. There are a lot more questions I want answered. I will have everything I need by the end. Fetch some Shabu for him. Stick it up his nose; make sure he gets a good load of it. I want him to stay awake now, right until the last minute, until he begs for the end.’

Father Finn picked up Maya and walked quickly over to where Mann was trying his best to stand. He helped him up.

‘You find him, Mann, I want him alive. I want to parcel him up and give him as a present to CK—my goodbye gift,’ Stevie called as Mann walked away, holding on to Father Finn for support.

They walked back along Fields Avenue. When they were out of sight, the Father stopped.

‘Where will we go, Johnny?’

‘I saw Alex Stamp earlier—he was with some heavily armed friends, they were dressed in black. They were DDS and their leader was a man I know—Fredrico. He used to be mayor of Davao. He’s gone up the government ranks,’ He’ll want the boy. They’ll be heading for the refuge.’

‘Wait here, Johnny. Maya, you stay too. I’ll fetch the car.’

Mann propped himself against the wall and waited the eight minutes it took Father Finn to sprint down the road and drive back up. Maya stood silent, unmoving. Mann winked at her.

‘It’ll be okay now.’

Her big eyes stared back, unblinking. Father Finn pulled up and put Maya in the front whilst he helped Mann to lie down in the back. As he started driving, Father Finn began rooting around in the medical kit one-handed.

‘There are some dressings and bandages in here, Johnny. We’ll stop when we are on the edge of town and get you strapped up.’

There was a sharp intake of breath from the back seat as Mann bit the top of the dressing pack and gingerly peeled away the soaked fabric of his shirt as he pressed the new dressing on top of the cloth inside the wound. He pulled open another two dressings and covered the exposed rib, drawing in sharp breaths of pain as he did so.

‘No, don’t stop, Father.’ He took the bandages handed back to him. ‘Drive like hell.’

The Father was driving like he had never done before. He spun in and out of the night-time traffic, all hooting their horns and shouting out of their windows at the mad priest who was weaving around the road.

‘Jaysus! I’m going to kill us all if I don’t watch it.’

‘Don’t slow down, Father, you’re doing a good job. Keep that foot flat to the accelerator pedal. We need to get there first and we need to finish it now, Father. It ends here.’

73

‘Ma’am…?’

Becky stood on the balcony and watched a dust trail make its way up the dirt road towards the refuge. Mercy stood behind her. It was dawn.

Two black cars were approaching, they appeared through the gaps in the greenery like images in a kid’s flip book and in front of them were two motorcyclists. Their dust trails plumed above the green undergrowth.

Mercy let out a scream. She clutched one hand across her mouth, the other over her stomach as if to protect her unborn child.

‘It is the Death Squad.’

‘Get the children out, Mercy; take them to the workers’ houses. As fast as you can.’

Becky ran down ahead of Mercy, who was met by Ramon halfway down the stairs. Becky ran past into the dorms and shouted to Paulo. Within minutes they had the sleepy ranks of children filing out of the back door and scampering through the undergrowth towards the other side of the hill and the workers’ houses. She met Mercy, who was the last to leave.

‘I cannot find Eduardo, Miss.’

‘You go, Mercy. I will find him and follow. Go…Go…’

Becky hurried Mercy out. She called out to Eduardo. She ran from room to room. In a panic she raced back up to her bedroom and found him there. He was hiding under her bed. She eased him out. She looked out of her window. The black car had turned into the drive and was nearly at the front door.

‘Stay here.’

It was too late to leave now. She ran back downstairs and bolted the front and back doors. Then she tiptoed back up into the bedroom, picked up the gun and ammunition, held on to Eduardo, and they dropped to the floor to hide behind the chest of drawers. She heard car doors slam. There were voices coming from directly beneath the balcony outside the bedroom window. She heard the sound of men’s voices and footsteps disappearing around to the back of the building. They would not be able to get in, thought Becky. This place was very secure. Father Finn had pointed that out to her on her tour. It had to be, he said. They were remote, at risk from bandits and government troops alike.

Someone was trying to break in at the front. Then she heard a voice she knew. Alex’s voice came loud through the door.

‘Becky, I need your help. They are going to kill me. Open the door. Let me in. I need your help. These men will kill me, Becky. I am sorry for everything. Please believe me, I never meant it to get out of control. I was just trying to make it, make money for us. I thought it would be okay.’

Becky closed her eyes. She didn’t want to hear it. She could tell by every intonation, every inflection, every pause for breath, that the only thing he wasn’t lying about was the fact that he was petrified.

‘All they want is the child. I said I would deliver him. I made a deal, Becky. If I go back on that deal I’m dead. They are armed, they mean business.’