The Code War (37 page)

It had all been so easy.
He'd come back the next day and continue his
work without fear.
Demons were
dim.

Golden Luck Casino,
Yaumati, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Nancy stood beside her new friend
Jenny Ling inside the door of the Golden Luck Casino. Westerner and
oriental, both
were an oasis to male eyes
in their stunning and identical blue cheung sams.

Nancy had survived her first week at the
Golden Luck Casino. She had learned several Cantonese words and
phrases and was beginning to understand how the place worked.

'So, Nancy, let me test your knowledge
of Golden Luck,' said Jenny during a break in the flow of
customers. 'How many storeys in the casino?'

'Four,' said Nancy. 'And the higher they
are, the more luxurious they are. And more expensive. And we're in
the best of all, the Jade Room.'

'Correct. And what kind of gambling do
we do here?'

'We don't do any gambling, because
it's illegal in Hong Kong. At least 'officially' we
don't.'

'Correct.'

'Instead, guests 'pretend' to
gamble and their pretend bets are recorded and logged in a
register. The real money is paid out later and collected by Brother
agents.'

'Correct.'

'But Jenny, what happens if someone
loses money and then the next day they refuse to pay up?'

Jenny didn't answer. She simply
looked at Nancy and rolled her eyes. Nancy understood. Anyone who
refused to pay up would suffer the consequences.

In fact, a
ny gambler arguing the amount of his loss and reluctant to
pay would soon find himself in the back of a car with three heavies
testing the flexibility of his finger joints. In extreme cases he
might enjoy an unexpected and protracted deep diving lesson in
nearby Yaumati Typhoon Harbour. These extreme cases had become more
common within the last year.

Nancy had been taught to stand
with her hands folded demurely across her waist welcoming customers
at the door. Initially Nancy greeted customers in English while
Jenny did the same in Cantonese. Customers, normally male, then
indicated which of the apparitions in blue should guide them to a
table. To her surprise many of them chose Nancy, probably a novelty
factor, she thought.

But there was also a subtler process
going on inside Jade Room. Customers who arrived as couples were
led to tables on the right of the room. Single customers, normally
men, were led to the left. There, while they gambled and drank,
they were joined by pretty hostesses who would engage them in
conversation in exchange for highly priced drinks. A hostess was
expected to prise at least twelve drinks a night out of her
clients. These drinks were called whiskies and were served from a
bottle with a Cutty Sark label but Nancy knew it was really cold
tea. Clients drank real alcohol while hostesses were served from
the Cutty Sark bottle. The hostesses aimed to match their clients
drink for drink so while the client got more and more drunk and
reckless with his gambling, the hostess remained sober and ready to
move on to any other client who looked like a better prospect for
wallet-lightening.

If clients became amorous, which
many did, they were smilingly advised that they should buy the
hostess more drinks to give her 'more face' before they would be
allowed to take her to a private comfort lounge for
intimacy.

Inevitably, these lustful visits to
comfortable but dimly-lit one-bed passion parlours were not only
expensive but brief. A hostess was expected to satisfy her client's
needs quickly and then return to the tables as soon as possible to
work her charms on the next one.

Nancy was not expected to perform
hostess duties, a fact she was extremely relieved about. But she
soon developed a knack for matching up new clients with an
appropriate hostess and then ensuring that the client bought enough
drinks to merit the girl's continued company throughout the long
evening.

She also became an expert
negotiator and seemed to know intuitively the maximum amount a man
would pay for a girl and how to up the amount he would splash out
for her services. She had rapidly learnt some specialised
vocabulary for this price discussion including phrases like 'I can
see that Mei Xing really likes you, she is very special' and 'Siu
Mei does not normally go with men, she is nearly a virgin'. These
were weak arguments but worked surprisingly well with a man whose
brains were below his belt and who had drunk several brandies too
many.

Nancy was not unduly concerned with the
unusual nature of her job. The Golden Luck casino and others like
it had been in business since long before she came to Hong Kong,
she reasoned. Her job was not to question what they were doing but
to ensure clients got what they wanted - at an appropriate price
naturally - and no-one got hurt.

From time to time customers made a play
for Nancy herself and even offered quite high amounts of money for
time alone with her in a comfort room. But Nancy had ambitions for
greater things and knew that her status would be diminished by such
a move. She made a joke to her immediate boss, a smooth former
protection racketeer called Ah Kwok, that she would not sell
herself for less than a million Hong Kong dollars. As this was
exactly the price of two new top of the range sports cars Nancy
immediately won for herself the nickname Two Ferrari Nancy, a
moniker that didn't hurt her at all.

Fatty Lo was delighted to hear the
reports of Nancy's progress. He had taken a big risk in employing
the non-Cantonese speaking ghost female and now had the pleasure of
hearing his staff praise her dedication along with his judgement in
hiring her. He was eager to make more of Nancy's talent and to
parade her as evidence of his ability to think differently from
other gangsters.

'Nancy, I want you to be a liaison
and work with a new partner that is soon going to join Brother,' he
said to her on the Monday of her second week as he visited the
Golden Luck early in the evening. 'It is another business that is
merging with us. But their managers are a bit afraid of us. I don't
know why, maybe our reputation on the street. Sometimes too kind. I
want you to smooth the way and show them that we nice people, treat
them well. It will be good part of your training.'

'OK great, when will that happen?' asked
Nancy.

'Soon enough, maybe a couple
weeks, maybe less, I am working on it. But before that, tomorrow
night I want you to accompany me to a little party that I'm having
with some friends.' He was grinning wickedly as he spoke. Nancy was
just starting to get slightly worried when Jenny Ling leant in
close and whispered 'cock fight.'

'That's right, cock fight'
Fatty
said with a warning glance to
Jenny. 'It's just a bit of fun. You will see some feathers flying
and much people shouting. But nobody get hurt and you meet some of
my friends.'

Two customers came in who recognised
Nancy and walked towards her. Jenny came over to intercept them.
She welcomed them and showed them to a table, then she
returned.

'You ever see cock fight?' Fatty asked
Nancy when the customers had gone. 'You put two male hens close
together in arena with no escape and watch them parade around like
little generals. They hold out their chest and show off their
macho. Then they tear living daylight out of each other while
people around shout and drink beer.'

'Er no,' replied Nancy, 'it's not a big
thing in England. But we have rugby which sounds very similar.
Except it's thirty males tearing living daylight out of each other,
not two.'

Fatty was delighted. 'Play rugby here
too. Hong Kong sevens. Very famous. Maybe I take you some day.'

Nancy nodded politely.

'Do not tell anyone about tomorrow,'
Fatty Lo warned, 'cock fighting illegal in Hong Kong. Wherever
there is something illegal there is Brother also. Illegal make
money.'

Fatty left to continue his inspection
tour of the casino and left Nancy and Jenny to their duties.

'You ever go to a cock-fight?' Nancy
asked her.

'Oh yes, I remember it always. The macho
show go on for hours. And that was just the men.' replied
Jenny.

Nancy giggled.

Yaumati Police
Station, Kowloon

'Sir, I think we've got another one.
Very horrible.'

'Another what, Ah Tung.
I can't read your mind.'

'Murder sir. B
y Brother. It feels like another Brother killing. All the
hallmark.'

Dan sighed and turned away from his
typewriter. 'Talk to me.'

'We need to go there now sir, see for
yourself.'

Fifteen minutes later Dan arrived at the
West Kowloon Mortuary with Detective Sergeant Ah Tung and Junior
Investigator Liu Jai. They walked in through the swing doors and
presented themselves at the reception desk.

'D.I. Kelly about the body fished out of
the Harbour this morning. May we see it?' All three flashed their
warrant cards at the white-fatigued orderly.

'Ah, Mr Kelly. Nice to see you again.
You always get the good ones. Lot of violence and blood' said the
orderly.

'Thank you Mr Fong, no need to
remind me that I've got rubbish fung shui,' replied Dan,' rubbing
the back of his neck in tiredness.

Fong led them through several
corridors to an open room where there were two naked male bodies
lying side by side on gurneys. One was a European, fat with neat
pearly teeth, obviously prosperous. The other was Chinese, thin,
unshaven and with the hands of a manual worker. In life they would
never have met, thought Dan, probably didn't speak each other's
language either. Yet here they were in death, splayed out
ingloriously for all to see like equals, all pretence at vanity
gone.

Fong went to the Chinese cadaver and
turned it half over. 'As you can see,' he said pointing to the
back, 'subject has been pierced several times with sharp
instrument. Body put in harbour probably last night. Dead only 8 or
9 hours.'

'Where are his clothes, was there any
I.D.?'

'
Only a
note in his shirt pocket, like those we've seen before. It says
'would not pay debts'.'

'OK,' said Dan, 'someone will
probably report him missing sooner or later. Then we'll get the
name. Guys, let's get back and write the report. Thanks Mr Fong.
Hope I never see you again.'

'Thanks Mr Kelly, me too.'

'OK, probably see you next week.'

'Yeah, maybe sooner.'

The three detectives returned to
Yaumati centre and headed for the Double Happiness restaurant. It
was 11a.m. and time for the first lunch of the day. Dim sum. There
they were joined by the other four members of the squad. At first
the conversation was jovial with lots of talk about girls, football
and gambling. After a while Dan leaned forward and signalled that
he wanted to speak to them all.

'Brother are getting more violent
and more arrogant by the week.' Dan was speaking softly because he
knew that Brother had eyes and ears everywhere. 'They used to do
their gambling and prostitution with barely a ripple of aggro. But
something has changed and it's all based around just a few Brother
establishments. The Golden Luck here in Yaumati is one and the Ho
Tin Girl Friend Bar is another.'

The ha gau and siu mai arrived in bowls
together with two pots of bo lei tea. Liu Jai poured.

Ah Tung butted in. 'Daai Lo, I
have heard something similar from a DS in Mongkok. There the
Brother drug dealers used to be the best disciplined. But recently
a new boss in one housing estate has started attacking other
triads. There have been several death-by-ten-thousand-cuts attacks
in recent weeks. Some say that Fatty Lo, the founder of Brother, is
getting soft and new bosses are coming in who don't respect the old
ways. They are more violent. There may be a power struggle in the
future.'

'If that's the case, we need to know
more about Brother', declared Dan in an urgent whisper. We need to
get a picture of all their operations whether it's by activity like
gambling and drugs or by territory. We need to know all the names
of all the bosses, from the bottom of the organisation right to the
top.'

There was silence around the table. The
plainclothes officers tucked into the dim sum and passed around the
bowls of chilli and soy. Theirs was the only table not making
noise.

'Well?' said Dan.

Eventually Ah Tung spoke. 'Daai
Lo, you live in a nice flat in Ho Man Tin. Far away from Yaumati.
But we all live here. Many people know us. It's one thing to arrest
ordinary criminals, dealers and murderers. But if you go after
Brother, word will leak out. They will know within hours if we
start to target them as an organisation. Then maybe they come after
us. We all have families, they can hurt us easily. We cannot fight
Brother. Maybe a headquarters unit can fight them, but not us. We
are just an ordinary CID team.'

No-one moved to contradict Ah Tung and
all eyes were lowered, intent on the provender in front of them.
The sound of munching, swallowing and slurping dominated the
table.

'There is no headquarters unit,' said
Dan. 'We're it. If we don't fight Brother, no one will. Then they
just get bigger and bigger and they sell drugs to our children,
your children, with no fear of arrest. Are you going to let that
happen?'

Ah Tung put down his chopsticks.
'Thank you Daai Lo, that was a lovely dim sum. I buy the next one.
Now, I have to get back to the station to interview a witness. See
you later.' He drew back his chair, stood up and left.