‘She’s not strange. She’s CK’s daughter. She’s

resilient’

‘Another thing, boss. Information at the flat led us to another location. We found a group of six Filipinas, all of them under eighteen; all of them illegally trafficked in via Amsterdam in two lorries. They were in a bad state. It took them a month to reach the UK. It was a very slick outfit. They are being looked after for a few days and then they’ll be flown home.’

‘Do we know who is the head of the White Circle yet, boss?’

‘He’s about to show his hand, Shrimp.’

Mann made another call.

‘You managed it then, Micky?’

‘After I got the tip-off it was easy. Common goals, common aims, the Flying Dragons were keen for me to infiltrate the White Circle. I had to change allegiance for a while. But it worked and I managed to get myself hired as her bodyguard. I still don’t know where the tip-off came from. That little girl—Amy Tang—she’s smart. She said to me “Drop me off here at the end of the school driveway. I will tell them that I caught a taxi here. Don’t go back to the flat.” She was already changed into a school uniform; she had it all planned. She just got out of the car and walked up the driveway, her bag over her shoulder. She looked like nothing had happened.’

‘Well done, Micky—thanks for your help, now get the fuck out from undercover.’

‘You know what else she said? “One day I will be the Dragon Head of the Wo Shing Shing, Pat, and I will remember you.”’

78

Mercy called Mann over to the Jeepney. It was his turn to see the doctor. Mercy accepted a push-up into the back of the makeshift ambulance.

Father Finn got in as well, just as the doctor was sewing Mann up. ‘He needs to go to hospital, no?’

The doctor stopped his stitching, looked Mann over and shrugged as if he already knew it wasn’t worth suggesting. ‘He needs to rest and get his strength up. If he can do that somewhere here then he will be okay.’

‘Do you hear that, Johnny? We will have your company for a few days here. You should have brought two bottles of scotch instead of one, no?’

‘You’re so ungrateful.’ Mann grimaced and started to fidget. ‘We’ll see, Father. I have work to do. Anyway, the scotch would have gone up in the fire.’

‘I didn’t trust you with it. I hid it in the car. Now let the doctor finish stitching you up, for goodness’ sake, and stop moving about.’

‘It hurts.’

‘Huh!’ Mercy gave him an incredulous look and then let her eyes slip to her swollen abdomen. ‘Hurts? Ha! Don’t talk to me about pain. You don’t have any…’ She was about to add something else when she stopped to listen. Someone was singing ‘My Way’ very loudly.

‘Remy!’ Father Finn grinned.

‘Am I in time for lunch?’ Remy poked his head through the flap that acted as sunshield and window at the side of the Jeepney. ‘Looks like the BBQ got a bit out of hand, huh? Someone gunna be in big trouble for that, no?’ Mercy giggled.

‘Remy, you are just in time for lunch and an apéritif on the lawn.’ The father got out of the Jeepney and shook Remy’s hand as he passed him. ‘I will go and fetch a drop of the single malt and we’ll have a medicinal.’

‘You never offered me that when I was in pain…’ Mann called after him.

‘I thought about it…’ the Father shouted back over his shoulder as he marched off to his car to retrieve the scotch.

‘Hey, Inspector, this a normal day for you Hong Kong police, huh? You spend your whole life escaping dangerous criminals and jumpin’ from fires?’

‘Yes, but what I always do first is make sure I have a reliable sidekick. Thank you, Remy, much appreciated.’

Remy shrugged, as if it was all in a day’s work for him, but it was plain to see he was walking with a spring in his step and a definite swagger.

‘No problem. Just target practice for me, no?’

Mann finished getting bandaged and went to see Becky. En route he had a quiet word with Father Finn and arrangements were made to get Alex Stamp’s body out of the heat and into an ice-cool morgue drawer. Becky was sitting beside Eduardo on the grass under the shade of a tree. She looked up and gave him a watery smile that barely tugged at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes said it all. She was scanning his face to see what answers she could find there. She wanted to know if Mann had found Alex. She had watched him go, even though he hadn’t seen her, and she knew how his brain worked.

‘Hello stranger,’ she said as he got within range. Her voice sounded as if someone had filed away the inside of her throat.

Mann stood looking them over. They were sitting side by side, still covered in soot. Her blonde hair was now mainly black and her eyes were red-rimmed. Eduardo looked even worse than he had before. His thin little body was now soaked as well as soiled.

‘You look like the two extras from

Les Miserables’

‘Don’t make me laugh…it hurts.’ She began coughing violently. ‘Anyway, you can talk—you are less than your usual immaculate self.’ She patted the grass next to her.

‘You all right?’ He sat down beside her.

She nodded.

‘Next time you rescue me, can you get here sooner…it was a very close call there.’

‘You know me, I hate being late for anything, but sometimes you just have to make an entrance.’

She turned and her eyes locked on to his. He knew there were a whole lot of things that she wanted to ask, but she just sighed and rolled her eyes.

‘Thank you, Mann,’ she mouthed. She looked like she was going to cry.

He peeked around her to look at Eduardo, who was still sitting as close to Becky as he could physically get.

‘If I give you a hug, will he attack me?’

‘You’re okay; he’s not the jealous type.’

He pulled her close. She rested heavily on him and he stroked her arm. They sat for a few moments and watched the children making a happy event out of a near catastrophe.

‘You’re okay, it’s all over now. Things will all work out. Do you want to hear some good news?’

She looked at him expectantly.

‘Amy Tang is back safe and sound.’

‘That’s really fantastic…but Mann…what about Alex?’ she said, almost in a whisper as if she were afraid of the answer.

‘He’s dead, Becky. I found his body.’ Mann felt her shoulders stiffen as he said it. ‘They are taking him to the morgue at the hospital.’

She gave a stifled cry as she buried her face in his chest. When she looked up at him, her eyes were full of tears.

She shook her head as the tears spilt over and rolled down her soot-smeared cheeks. ‘I had to make a choice.’

He kissed her head. ‘I know.’

79

Mann called Stevie Ho.

‘I found him.’

‘Alive?’

‘No. The DDS got to him first.’

‘Pity.’

‘Better for him, I think. He wouldn’t find a safe place on the planet; he double-crossed just about everyone. What about the Colonel?’

‘He’s keeping a flock of vultures in food for a week as we speak.’

‘Did he tell you who Blanco was?’

‘No. I don’t think he knew. I have what I wanted from him, though.’

‘It’s not going to get you anywhere. CK’s daughter is back in school, inside the allotted deadline. CK will know by now. Your dreams of having the monopoly on sex trafficking in Asia are over, Stevie. You’d better run back to Hong Kong. There will be questions to answer. I don’t think CK is going to be best pleased with you.’

‘I won’t be going back to Hong Kong. I might be left licking my wounds, but they will heal. I am not going back.’

‘The world is too small to hide in, Stevie.’