Kiss & Die (20 page)

Mahmud sat in his cell. He’d come back from the hospital. He was shaking from the shock of having his left arm broken in two places. Not even the Mansions could prepare him for the remand centre. He was inside with so many young Triads who were used to the streets. The gang warfare continued inside the prison walls. He’d been beaten in a race attack, because he was an Indian who had killed a Chinese.

He sat on his bed, clutching the edge, and stared at the door, listening to the clanging of closing doors and the taunts of the prisoners. He listened to the horrible screams of the abused. He felt terrified to close his eyes in case he was attacked again. He was too distressed to eat. He hadn’t eaten since he’d arrived.

The prison guard appeared at his door and ordered him to stand. ‘Someone wants to see you.’

Mahmud cowered. He shrunk back into the corner of the bed. He feared the worst, a trap, a set-up. He feared this time they would kill him. The guard ordered him to march out. Mahmud kept his eyes on the ground as he walked past the people who had beaten him. They
taunted him as he went. They told him he would die next time.

Mahmud sat opposite Shrimp. A guard stood in the room.

‘How long will I have to stay here?’ Mahmud was dressed in the prison-issue tracksuit that had seen many inmates before him – one size fits all and it swamped Mahmud. He looked like he’d lost weight. He hadn’t brushed his hair or his teeth. His eyes had taken on the hollow look of one who has lost hope. But he leaned towards Shrimp, eager for any news of help, from any quarter, no matter how unlikely.

‘A long time; unless you tell us what happened.’ Shrimp felt sorry for him. He could see how terrified he was. His face was swollen. ‘You took a beating?’ Mahmud nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’

Mahmud looked through his tears. The last thing he wanted to do was cry. He was terrified. He wanted to open the window and jump out. ‘They broke my wrist. They stamped on my arm. I can’t write now.’ Mahmud talked as if in a dream. He talked as if it didn’t matter. He shook his head. His shoulders slumped over.

‘Yeah, the sooner we get you out of here the better, Mahmud. But you have to work with me. As long as you’re not telling us what happened then we can’t help you. You’re not telling us anything new. You were caught at the scene. I caught you myself, you didn’t even run. What were you doing there? Did you give time for someone else to get away? You were with the Outcasts that night, and yet you say you are not one of them. Your dad says you said you were going to study. What took you across town that night?’

‘I don’t belong here. I am not a Triad. I hate the Outcasts for what they’ve done to our family. I hate the way they’ve ruined everything in the Mansions. It was always tough but we all looked after each other. We were all a family. It didn’t matter what colour you were. Now it’s like living in hell. Now they are turning on each other.’ He paused. ‘Have you seen my family?’

‘I’ve seen your sister. She asked me to come.’

Mahmud’s eyes glued onto Shrimp’s. The mention of home, of his family was enough to make him well up. ‘How is she? And Hafiz, how is he? My father and Ali? What about Grandmother? How are they all?’

‘They are all right. They are worried about you. They want you to come home. They don’t understand why you’re here. Your father wants you to co-operate. Nina wants you back.’

Mahmud nodded, blinked away a tear. ‘Is she still to be married?’

‘I don’t know. I hope not.’

Mahmud searched Shrimp’s face. ‘Do you know my sister well? Shrimp nodded. ‘Then you have to stop her. You have to help her. Her life will be ruined. Tell her it is not too late. Tell her to run away. I will be okay here, tell her not to worry.’

‘Mahmud, listen to me, it is an honourable thing to cover for your younger brother but we will uncover the truth in the end. Hafiz was involved in the fighting that night, wasn’t he? He had a wound on his arm. He ran from the scene, didn’t he? You saved him.’ Mahmud stared down at his hands. ‘Or was it Lilly?’

Mahmud looked at Shrimp and shook his head. ‘Lilly
and I were good friends once, but not so much now. She has changed. She is getting into more trouble every day.’

‘You’ve known Lilly a long time?’

‘All my life. Her mum has been so kind to us all since my mum died. Nothing was the same after that. Nina had to look after things. Grandma became an invalid. We all had to help in the restaurant. Michelle and Lilly have been like family, until now.’

‘Michelle is a hardworking woman. Do you ever help her out?’

‘Sometimes, when she needs things doing and Rizal is busy. I don’t mind helping.’

‘She’s an attractive woman. Does she ever ask you to join her in the hotel sometimes? Sometimes she entertains guests, alone. They need a bit of something extra? It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’

Mahmud shook his head and blinked at Shrimp. He didn’t understand.

‘What about Rizal? Do you get on well with him?’ Shrimp continued.

Mahmud flushed with anger. ‘Rizal is a scumbag. He has something going on in every part of the Mansions. He thinks he owns the Mansions the way he struts around, and he abuses Lilly. She’s told me. She hates him. She would kill him if she could.’ Mahmud stopped, controlled his anger and remembered he wasn’t talking to a friend.

‘The head of the Outcasts is Victoria Chan, right? What contact have you had with her? Does she come to the Mansions?’

Mahmud stared down at his hands whilst he considered
what to say. He looked at the guard. He was shaking again.

‘Sometimes she comes. She came to our restaurant first a year ago. She sat down with all of us. She told us that the time would come when the Mansions would be knocked down. We didn’t believe her. It has been the same for so long. She said we could sign a document that would mean we would definitely have a place in the new Mansions, better, bigger. She made it seem like we were special. She said as we had been there so many years we could expect extra-special treatment. And what she wanted was to help us have a place in the new Mansions. We only had to let things happen: let the Outcasts do what they wanted, let people be murdered every day, let decent people live in fear. She said our family would be okay. But they’re not.’

‘What happened that night? If you tell us who organized the fight then we can help you. Was it Rizal? Why should you be banged up in here while he is free to do what he wants on the outside? Mahmud, listen to me…you want me to get you out, I will do my best. Tammy was a friend as well as a police officer. She was young, sweet, so sure she could make it. She had a boyfriend, she had parents. Their lives are ruined now. She was their only child. I want to get the person who did this.’

Mahmud shook his head. ‘She says different things to different people. She hooked in the Outcasts to do her dirty work. I don’t know if there were orders to kill the officer. I was just in the wrong place and was passed the knife, nothing more. I can tell you nothing else.’

‘I need something more to work with if I’m going to
get you out of here. I need a name. Was it your brother? Was he ordered to target the officer?’

Mahmud lifted his eyes slowly and looked at Shrimp incredulously as he shook his head and then stood to leave. ‘You do not understand anything. Soon it will all be too late to help any of us. I have nothing more to say. If you love Nina then save her.’

‘It’s not your fault, Genghis.’ The office was subdued. The news of Tammy’s death sat heavily on the whole of Headquarters. Questions were on everyone’s lips as to why she was put at such risk. Mann was staring into space and seeing nothing but his thoughts when Ng came back into the office and found him.

Mann shook his head angrily. ‘I should never have put her into a mission like that. I pitched her against the skills of Victoria Chan. Why didn’t Tammy get out when I told her?’

‘It was always just going to be a matter of time before we put a female agent in there and before it went wrong. It just means she was unlucky – it happens. There’s nothing you could have done; it wasn’t just your decision. We’re a team, remember?’

Mann shook his head. ‘No, Ng. I was her operator. The buck stops with me. No matter what you say, it doesn’t help. Maybe others have lost agents, maybe it happens, but it hasn’t happened to me before and it was my duty to protect her.’

‘She knew the risks. Every undercover cop knows them.
It’s a dangerous world to go into but, even with the rewards and promotion, it isn’t always worth it. I was eighteen months undercover in the end. I got so used to it, I hardly knew where I belonged any more. Every undercover cop crosses the line. Otherwise it wouldn’t work. When you come out it’s really hard to go back to your ordinary life. I was used to leading the life of a highly paid Triad. I drove fast cars, snorted cocaine, slept with beautiful hookers. I had so much money. You’re told to use it, to exploit your talents, to gain trust. You are told it will be worth it for your career. But you are never the same again. I had looked deep inside myself and seen something that could be harnessed and used for evil. I have spent the rest of my life telling myself I did a good job but knowing that it came easy. It takes a stronger man than me to come out untarnished with your soul intact.’

‘You never took the promotion,’ Mann reminded him.

‘No.’

‘Tom Sheng did.’

‘Tom Sheng liked what he saw when he walked on the dark side. I turned into someone I didn’t like; he respected the man he saw in the mirror, I hated him. Sometimes our paths crossed, Tom and me. We were both undercover at the same time. Both as members of the Wo Shing Shing. We were in different branches, responsible for different things. I was part of the team in charge of getting the drugs into Hong Kong. He was part of the one responsible for getting it distributed. We liaised as Triads, never as policemen.’ Ng paused. ‘I didn’t take the promotion because I wasn’t sure what I did was right. I wasn’t sure it made me a better cop. I want to save lives not help
distribute the drugs that end them, even if the overall goal was a good one. I have been a Buddhist ever since. Your father was a Buddhist; he tried to do good in the end. He just ran out of time.’

‘My father still has a hold on this world. His legacy lives on and now I have to wonder whether even Tammy has paid the price for it. Was I too distracted with my father’s business that I wasn’t thinking straight? Did I fuck up?’

Mann read Ng’s eyes. There was a sadness in them that he understood. The sky above was faultless, the sun bounced off the rooftops. Mann looked for the eagles. He saw one watching him as it hovered by the window. Mann turned back to Ng.

‘I wish I had the one answer to it all, Ng.’

‘You do have, in your heart. Your eyes are on the horizon again, Genghis. Remember the way is in your heart, not in the sky.’

There were no stars that evening, just cloud. Mann had been to see Tammy’s mother. Ng had offered but Mann wanted to. He wanted to feel the full weight of it. She thanked Mann, comforted by his concern. It was all Tammy had ever wanted – to be a police officer. She died doing something she loved. She died making a difference.

It was bullshit. Mann had to look away when she said it. He felt like he had personally sent Tammy to her death. He felt like his was the hand that held the knife. His mood was beyond just getting drunk. It was still steeped in anger. Five hours later Mann had bypassed any comfort he might have hoped to get from the alcohol he consumed that evening. It didn’t seem to matter how much he drank; he just got more sober. He headed for a side of town he hadn’t
been to in a while – old Wanchai; a small remnant from the Suzie Wong era. In his pocket he had the piece of bondage tape used to tie Max Kosmos’s legs.

Halfway through the evening he headed down the steps to one of his old haunts, the Bond bar in Wanchai. He hadn’t been in the Bond bar for a while. It used to have a Bond Girl theme, not anymore. He’d heard it had been revamped. A big muscled doorman stood at the entrance. He was dressed like a gladiator. He looked Mann over as if trying to find a reason not to let him in. He grunted something and stood back to allow Mann to pass. As Mann walked through to the bar he could see that the place still specialized in sleaze; the bar was darker than ever. Each girl was sat in the middle of a raised podium bar, her body very close, and at eye level with her customers who sat around.

Mann went to sit at one of the far podiums. Four other men were sat around on black leather stools. The Bond bar had changed into the Bondage bar. The main attraction hadn’t changed: it was still half-naked girls, mainly foreign.

The blond girl in front of him was wearing a collar around her neck, a tight black PVC bodice around her middle that ended just below her large bare breasts, and a strap with a big buckle that went between her legs.

‘Hello, Johnny.’ She spun around on her revolving podium and picked up a glass to mix him a drink.

‘Hello, Lola. How’s business?’

Lola was a British woman in her early forties but looked younger with the help of a bit of Botox.

‘Ouch – this fucking thing pinches.’ Lola adjusted the
strap that went beneath her crotch. She handed Mann his drink. ‘Business is booming, thanks, Johnny.’

Around the podium were four businessmen. Lola leaned forward in a pretend whisper, hoping that the other punters around her station would feel obliged to eavesdrop. ‘I pick up some really good clients in here. I’ve invested in some new equipment.’ She winked at Mann. ‘Medical, ethereal, you insert a wire down the man’s urethra and this machine gives off sound waves – boy does it produce some great results. You should try it. You might even like it.’ Her eyes settled on his face. ‘Actually, forget it; you look like you need bed rest for a month. You’re looking dead beat, Johnny.’ She turned away briefly as one of the men opposite needed a refill. She turned back and adjusted her strap again.

Mann shook his head. ‘I’m all right, Lola. I’m not getting much sleep, that’s all. There’s a lot on at work.’ Mann looked around at the other seven girls, who were wearing various dominatrix outfits. ‘All these girls work as mistresses in their spare time like you?’

‘Some. But none of them compare with me, hon.’

She passed Mann a card. It was a photo of Lola dressed in a PVC cat-suit-type outfit, a mask on her face, a whip in her hand.

‘Thanks.’ He took it from her and studied it. ‘Nice card. I’ll let you know; meanwhile…do you know anyone who might specialize in a double act in a hotel room? Two girls, boy-girl even, bondage, rough stuff?’

‘Plenty, why?’

Mann produced the piece of bondage tape from his pocket. ‘Is this stuff standard issue, Lola?’ He handed it to her.

She took it from him and rubbed it between her fingers. ‘Yes and no. It’s definitely bondage tape but it’s thicker than usual.’

‘Where would I be able to buy this?’

Lola shrugged. ‘Web sites.’

‘What about from you? I heard that you had supplied this place with all the outfits. You must have a good source for anything you need.’

Lola looked taken aback for a second and then she turned to top up the other customers’ drinks. She made small talk. She turned back after a few minutes.

‘I have some, it’s true. I bought up some old stock but it’s just for emergencies. It’s difficult to tear with your teeth. It needs a knife to cut it.’

‘Did you sell any on?’ She shook her head. ‘Where did you buy the stock from?’

‘It was a stall in the Mansions. It was only there for a few weeks. A woman was selling off her stuff.’

‘What kind of woman?’

‘Might have been Indian. I can’t remember. She wasn’t Chinese, anyway.’ She looked at the piece in her hand again. ‘Where did you get this piece from?’

‘It was wrapped around a dead man’s foot. Whoever did it tied him up with this before they tortured him. Have any of your businessmen clients been talking about an experience that wasn’t pleasant?’

It was hard to know what she was thinking. Lola only had one expression left that wasn’t Botoxed out or filled in. ‘You got to remember, Johnny, some men really like it mean. Some of them really
want
to be hurt. All the other women I know who make a living from being
mistresses are as sweet natured as they come, just like me.’

She batted her eyelashes at Mann.

‘Yeah, right,’ he smiled.

‘We do it because it’s an easy way to make money without fucking. But, I will ask around for you.’

‘This wasn’t just hurt; his flesh was stripped. His balls virtually cut off.’

She looked momentarily shocked which was registered on her face by her eyes opening up wide. ‘Shit, that’s seriously nasty.’ She shook her head. ‘That doesn’t sound like an S & M game to me.’

‘Yeah, I agree.’ Mann finished his drink. ‘She went to a lot of trouble to make sure he felt the pain. He took a long time to die. You give me a ring if you remember anything else, Lola.’

Mann left Lola. He walked back out onto the street. He got a call from CK.

‘I wanted to express my sympathy at the death of your officer and to ask you to join me this evening.’

‘Tonight’s not the night.’

‘Tonight is exactly the night, Inspector.’