‘Maybe, Mann, but it’s a changing world. A man must adjust. I have to make my own way in it now. I have plans. I have backers.’

‘CK won’t let you leave the Wo Shing Shing.’

‘My allegiance was never with him, it was with Chan. I would never leave my master.’

‘Your master died in the waters off Cheung Chau.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Are you telling me Chan survived? I watched him go under.’

‘I am telling you that, in one form or another, his legacy lives on.’

‘You were a good man once, Stevie. Now you have become as rotten as the man you served. I will hunt you down, just as I did him, if you pursue his aims.’

‘So be it.’

80

In the morning, Mann got ready to go. They were due to leave in ten minutes. Father Finn was giving them a lift to Manila airport on his way down to see the charity commission about the refuge.

He looked up to see Becky standing there.

‘You ready?’

‘I think I might stay on here a bit longer, Mann.’

‘Sure?’

‘Yes…’ She sighed and ran her fingers through her newly washed hair. ‘…and no. I can see to things at this end. I can write my report up, email it over. I will have to go back and give evidence soon enough, but I am due some leave. I think I will spend it here, help rebuild the centre. Maybe I will stay on afterwards, if the Father agrees.’

He appeared behind her. ‘We need all the hands we can get, and you have a very capable pair. I will wait for you at the Jeepney, Johnny.’

She walked with him outside. They stood together at the back of the Jeepney whilst the Father finished off his preparations. Mann had already said goodbye to the rest of the staff. The breeze was fresh but the smell of the fire was still bitter in the air. They stared awkwardly at one another.

‘Will you come back this way soon?’

‘Yes. I have some things I have to do first—loose ends that need tidying. I’m owed a lot of holiday. I will come back and take you on a tour of the islands and you will see the real magic of this place.’

‘I am going to miss you, Johnny Mann.’ She stepped forward and hugged him.

‘Ouch!’

‘Oh, sorry.’ She stepped back.

‘I don’t mean it. What’s a bit of pain between us? Come here. I want to remember this hug, it might have to last me a long time.’

She pressed herself close to him and rested her head against his chest. Then she pulled back and looked up at him with a mischievous smile on her face. Mann looked down into the dark golden eyes, rimmed with eyelashes like coal.

‘See! Jack the lad! I knew it.’

He grinned. ‘Come here. It’s nice to hear you laugh again. I am going to miss you, tough nut. You are one of the sexiest, brightest, sassiest women I know, and you have a great arse…’ He slipped his hands around her waist, drew her to him and kissed her hard on the lips. ‘When you are ready, call me.’

81

In five hours Mann was back in Hong Kong, changed and out of his apartment. He sat opposite CK in Grissini, the Italian restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, with its tall ceiling and beautifully patterned parquet flooring. It had panoramic views over a sunny blue Hong Kong.

‘And the rest of the deal? Your little girl is safe, back at school, unharmed…I asked you for two more things.’

He waited whilst the waiter poured him a glass of perfectly chilled Muffio wine and they were presented with a platter of Italian cheeses and fresh honeyed figs to finish their meal.

‘Do I have your promise that you will dismantle the networks you have set up and immediately cease all trafficking of human beings?’

CK put down his knife and wiped his hands with his napkin. He nodded towards the waiter who came to refill his water. He looked at Mann, studied him. Mann could see that his reputation as a poker player was well-earned. His expressions hardly changed. It was as though if he sat still for too long he would appear one-dimensional—a cardboard cut out: immaculately groomed, not a hair out of place, just the right amount of silvering at the temples. He was elegance and power personified. In answer to Mann’s question he didn’t so much as nod.

‘Will Stevie Ho comply?’

For a second CK’s eyelashes fluttered, but he kept eye contact with Mann.

‘Stevie is ambitious.’

‘Does that mean that you have lost control of him?’

CK pushed his plate to one side and waited whilst the waiter cleared it for him.

‘Stevie’s loyalty to me was always shared.’

It looked like Mann had hit a nerve. Although CK’s manner hadn’t changed dramatically there was a definite prickliness to the atmosphere.

‘With Chan?’

‘Yes, with my son-in-law, who, as we both know, has disappeared. But I will honour my side of the agreement. All operations that Stevie was engaged in, with or without my permission, are now ceased. I will restore the hotel ownership back to its rightful owners and compensate persons, as you have demanded. But Stevie himself has decided he will not be returning to Hong Kong. So, you have my word and that is good enough. And the last of your wishes, I cannot grant. The five men who took part in the killing have been retired, in different ways. It will serve you no purpose to pursue men who were only following orders. The man who ordered the killing…that is a delicate matter.’

‘I have waited too long to find justice for my father. Can you tell me whether the man who ordered my father’s death is still with us?’

‘I will tell you one thing…you already know your enemy, but you do not recognise him.’

82

‘Where is the child?’

‘She doesn’t speak, Father. She hasn’t cried. She hasn’t smiled. She doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her. I am afraid for her. She has so much locked up in her young head.’

‘I know, I know, Mercy. Don’t you worry. I will give her to someone else to look after. You have enough on your plate, with this baby of yours about to pop and a toddler to look after.’

‘No, Father.

Please.

I can manage. I want her to stay here. She needs us so badly. I just wish she would open up.’

Father Finn thought how tired Mercy looked. The exertion of the day before was still on her face. She had run around a lot more than was right for a woman in her final trimester.

‘Where is she?’ he asked, glancing around.

‘Round the back, sitting on the steps. I asked her if she wanted to help in the garden but she hasn’t moved from that step in three hours.’

* * *

‘Maya?’ Father Finn sat down beside her.

She did not answer.

‘Come and walk with me.’

Father Finn offered her his hand. She took it and he led her past Mercy’s house and up the hill. It was the other side to the refuge. It looked out over the sea. He walked slowly. The heat and the lush vegetation were not a climate to walk fast in.

‘Maya, I knew your mother when she was a girl. A little bit older than you.’

Maya looked at him hard. Her little face was trying to make sense of everything he was saying.

‘I did. And do you know what I remember?’

She shook her head.

‘She had the brightest smile I had ever seen. When she smiled, you just had to smile too. That’s a great gift, Maya, no? But she didn’t always smile. When I found your mother she had had a terrible time, just like you have had. She was sad and angry and unhappy about what had happened to her and why it had happened. She didn’t understand. But, after a while she made friends here and she became happy, and do you know what I remember most about your mother?’