Fortune is a Woman (58 page)

And Lysandra had slipped her hand into his and said confidently, "Oh, she loves you all right. I can tell."

Now they were the best of friends and Francie watched them walking along the rows of vines. Buck was bending toward Lysandra, who was showing him something, probably explaining how they were pruned for the winter. Lysandra always knew about everything.

Buck looked up and caught her eye. "She's teaching me all about growing vines," he called. "Didn't I always tell you I wanted to run a winery?"

Francie remembered he had, all those years ago, and she laughed as she went to join them. She just wished though that the Mandarin, who had changed her fortunes, could have been there to share their happiness.

PART VI:  Lysandra, 1963

CHAPTER 43

1963

Hong Kong

Lysandra Lai Tsin had more than fulfilled the destiny the Mandarin had bequeathed her. She was president of Lai Tsin International and a beautiful woman in a man's world, though she was careful never to exploit that fact. She wore formal, almost severe suits of dark cashmere in winter and creaseless silk in summer. She kept her shoe heels sensibly low, even though she had long, shapely legs to show off, and wore her rippling pre-Raphaelite corn blond hair swept up at the sides with a pair of antique jade combs from her fabulous collection. Her skin was creamy and flawless, she had her mother's startling sapphire-blue eyes and her full mouth was painted a bright fuschia—her only makeup and her only concession to femininity. But even her enemies—as well as those who respected her— admitted Lysandra did not need makeup: not with
those
looks. And
that
money. And
that
power. And no one who ever got close to her ever forgot those cool, enigmatic blue eyes nor the faint, almost invisible scent of her, like the clean early morning scent of a summer garden with the very faintest hint of lilies.

She was alone in her office atop the spectacular new thirty-story Lai Tsin Building between Connaught and Des Voeux roads, though the company's official business ad- dress was still the old godown on the seedy waterfront where the Mandarin had first started. When the new skyscraper had replaced the Mandarin's first headquarters Lysandra had insisted that all the great things he had shown her so proudly as a little girl, the malachite columns, the mosaics and the carvings, were preserved and incorporated into the startlingly modern new reception hall. And the great bronze lions still presided over the front steps, keeping out the bad
ch'i.

It was seven-thirty p.m. The sun was just setting over Victoria Bay, painting the sky orange and gold, and the gray water and bustling little ferries a gay carnival pink. Lysandra had been in her office as usual since seven-thirty that morning, and now it was silent but for the ticking of a tiny jeweled clock and the muffled noise of traffic in the street far below. She rarely left her office during the day— people always came to see
her,
and if there was a lunch meeting it was always in her private dining room on the thirtieth floor, which had the reputation of being the gastronomic equal of the best restaurants in Hong Kong. And Lysandra had the reputation of being one of the city's toughest businesswomen.

"The old man knew what he was doing when he chose her to run the company," the Hong Kong taipans acknowledged with grudging admiration. "You can't put anything over on Lysandra Lai Tsin. Nothing gets past her eagle blue eyes and she has an instinct for a deal that can only be called supernatural. Or good
fung shui."

They said that Lysandra had started her career when she was still just a child of ten years.

In November of 1941, Lysandra had been on her annual visit to Uncle Philip Chen and his family—and forever afterward Buck was to blame himself for his lack of foresight. Although there was a war in Europe it was business

as usual in Hong Kong: the harbor was crowded with cargo vessels and Pan Am flying boats came and went regularly from the U.S. Buck was still well-liked in Washington, though he had resigned from the Senate. He'd wanted to spend his time with Francie and devote himself to expanding the ranch and the winery, but Washington still lured him and occasionally he found himself called upon in an advisory capacity.

He had been asked to go to Hong Kong on a three-week mission by the War Department under the guise of being an observer for a proposed trade delegation. There was no reason to believe America or Americans were under any threat and the Japanese were not acting belligerently across the borders in China. And Lysandra had cajoled and pleaded, her blue eyes filled with longing. "After all," she'd said wistfully to Francie, "Hong Kong is my home, too, or it will be one day." A look of sadness had filled her eyes as she added, "Besides, it's what Grandfather Lai Tsin wanted me to do."

It was the look of sadness that did it. Francie's eyes had met Buck's and she'd sighed. "It's true, the Mandarin did want you to visit Hong Kong each year."

Lysandra had flung her arms around her mother's neck. "Please, Mommy," she murmured, "please let me go. I'll be safe with Buck, you know I will."

Buck had grinned and said, "I can't argue with that."

So Lysandra had gone with him and after only three days in Hong Kong, Buck came down with typhoid, spent two weeks in the hospital and was shipped home on a stretcher. It was decided that Lysandra should stay on with Philip Chen and that his wife Irene would personally escort her home in a couple of weeks' time. Weak and debilitated, Buck had agreed it was better than accompanying a sick man on a stretcher. And then things happened too suddenly for anyone to act.

On December 7th the Japanese simultaneously attacked Pearl Harbor and crossed the Shenzen-Hong Kong border. Kai Tak Airport was heavily bombed and the runways put out of action and less than three weeks later, on Christmas Day, 1941, Hong Kong surrendered. Philip Chen quickly removed the secret and important documents from the Lai Tsin headquarters, including those from the Mandarin's personal safe, to which only he and Francie held a key, and hid them under his kitchen floorboards. It wasn't the best hiding place in the world, but it was all he could do.

Francie was crazy with fear for Lysandra and the Chen family. Pale and thin and still weak from his illness, Buck held her close while she wept bitter tears at her foolishness in letting Lysandra go.

"It's my fault," he said, tight-lipped with the effort of controlling his fear for his beloved daughter. "I took her there and it's my responsibility to get her back. I'll get her out of there if it's the last thing I do." He'd left for Washington the next day.

For the first time in her life Francie couldn't bear to be at the ranch, it was full of Lysandra, the walls and tables were filled with her photographs, her clothes brimmed from the closet and her books from the shelves, and her dogs followed at Francie's feet. All her young life was here, this was where it had begun... and for all she knew it might already have ended. Terrified, Francie fled to Washington and Buck. His name still counted in the nation's capital, he knew everybody who was anybody. If strings could be pulled to find Lysandra, Buck would find the right ones.

***

Philip Chen watched the British soldiers being marched off to prisoner of war camps in Kowloon. Like many other Chinese he ran beside them, giving them what food and money he could hastily lay his hands on, helping carry a weary young soldier's heavy pack until a brutal Japanese guard began to harangue him, beating him and the soldier to the ground with the butt of his rifle. As he pulled himself to his feet and walked away, he glanced back at the young soldier still lying in the road; he had not been so lucky. After that Philip knew what to expect from the Japanese captors.

Notices appeared informing all foreign civilians to report to the Japanese officials, ready to be sent to internment camps near the sea at Stanley; only Chinese were free to remain. Philip spoke urgently with his wife, Irene. They were responsible for the safety of the Mandarin's appointed heir, Lysandra, whom they loved like their own child, and they decided immediately they must hide her, whatever the risk, until the war ended. Ah Sing, Lysandra's amah, watched them worriedly. She adored her young charge and now she sensed danger. Her love was as fierce as any mother's for her Number One daughter.

That afternoon Philip Chen was summoned to Japanese headquarters. The man who interrogated him through an interpreter was arrogant and to the point. He ordered one of the guards to deliver a fierce blow to Philip's head for failing to bow to the Imperial Japanese invader. His small eyes gleamed in triumph at his own power over the influential comprador of one of Hong Kong's most important merchant houses.

"Tomorrow," he said, "at eleven hundred hours, the Imperial Japanese Army will take over the headquarters and assets of the Lai Tsin Corporation. We request that your taipan accompany you to this meeting so that his signature may be obtained for the documents relinquishing all his rights to the Imperial Japanese Government."

Anger flared in Philip's eyes, but he controlled it; he guessed their spies knew little about the Lai Tsin Corporation except that it was rich, and they coveted its assets and its ships, many of which thanks to the Japanese bombardment now lay beneath the waters of Hong Kong harbor. And he also guessed they did not know about Lysandra. "The taipan was in San Francisco at the time of your invasion," he said contemptuously. "He will not be available to sign such documents."

The Japanese officer's cold eyes met his. "We have information to the contrary." His voice rose to an angry shout. "Our informant is very reliable. A Chinese. We know the Lai Tsin taipan is here in Hong Kong and we shall expect him to be present tomorrow at eleven. Failure to do so will invoke serious reprisals, Mr. Chen—for you and your family."

Philip felt his eyes boring into his back as he was marched back out by the guard, and he hurried home a very worried man. Even in such a short time, the Japanese Kempeitei, the military police, had achieved a reputation for brutality that matched the German Gestapo's, and he knew he could expect the worst. He was a rich and important man in Hong Kong and he lived in a beautiful house in the mid-levels. He was a target and he knew it.

"We'll smuggle her into China to some remote village where she can hide," he told his anxious wife, but she said it was impossible.

"She's so blond and with those blue eyes there is no disguising her as Chinese. Even if we sent her with Robert," she added, her normally sweet face frowning with worry as she glanced at ten-year-old Lysandra and fourteen-year-old Robert, listening to what was being said.

"I'm not going without Lysandra," Robert said stubbornly. He was a tall, bespectacled, studious boy and Lysandra had always suspected he did not like her, so she glanced at him surprised when he added, "I'm staying to look after her."

Philip shook his head. "We have to get her out of here immediately, before they come looking for her."

Lysandra looked quickly from Irene to Philip and realized that because of her they were in terrible danger. "What do the Japanese want from me?" she asked, puzzled.

"They have requested the taipan be brought to our offices tomorrow to meet the general and personally sign the order relinquishing all claims to the company and its assets."

"And if I do not?"

He shrugged, "There will be 'reprisals.' "

The Japanese occupying forces had been around long enough for Lysandra to know what that meant, and she thought quickly of what her mother would have done.

"Okay, then it's simple. I shall go into our offices tomorrow and as taipan of the Lai Tsin Corporation I'll sign the order. And then when we win the war we'll take it all back again."

Philip smiled at her cockiness, she was just a little schoolgirl and she thought she could take on the Japanese warlords. "You may be taipan, but until you're eighteen your mother is 'acting head' of the company. A document signed by you, as a minor, would be worthless."

"Then that's even better, isn't it? They'll think they've got what they want and they'll leave you alone."

"I can't let you do it, it's dangerous. You don't know what they're like, Lysandra, they are without conscience or mercy."

She weighed his words carefully: all she knew was the Japanese would show no mercy to Uncle Philip and Aunt Irene and Robert if they hid her and she did not appear at the offices the next day. "As taipan of Lai Tsin," she said, sticking her chin in the air and looking Philip Chen straight in the eyes, "I'm giving you my first order. Tomorrow at eleven hundred hours you will escort me to our headquarters, where I shall sign the document for the Japanese."

Philip Chen had loved his "Honorable Father," Lai Tsin, well. He had transferred that love and loyalty to his Honorable Granddaughter, Lysandra; he thought of Francie and Buck and knew he could not expose her to such danger. "They are expecting a man," he said, casting his mind around quickly for a substitute. "We'll find someone to go in your place."

"No!" Lysandra's voice was imperious. "My grandfather gave the responsibility to me. I shall be the one to sign the document." Her face crumbled and she suddenly lost all her bravado. She ran to her uncle and from the comfort of his arms cried, "Don't you see, it's the only way. You are my family, I love you, I can't let them hurt you."

"When they see she's just a child," Irene said reassuringly, "they'll leave her alone." But Ah Sing shook her head as she turned away and that night she lit incense to all the gods she could think of, praying Irene was right.

Lysandra was awake early the next morning and she ran from her room to Robert's, next door. He lifted his head from the pillow and looked sleepily at her, searching for his glasses. "What is it?" he asked, alarmed. "Have the Japanese come for us?"

"No, no." She shook her head and her blond hair flew. "I just want to ask you something." She leaned forward conspiratorially, "I just realized that by the time I'm old enough to run Lai Tsin, your father will have retired. Robert, please will you be my comprador when you are older?"