The Princeling of Nanjing (21 page)

She dreamt that she was with May Ling, Amanda, and Chi-Tze. They were by the sea, walking along a boardwalk near dusk. Ava realized they were back in Borneo, in Kota Kinabalu.

The boardwalk was nearly deserted but for a few women who were leaning over the guardrail and looking out at the beach. The sun was setting on their right and Ava held up a hand to shield her eyes from its glare. They were chatting and laughing when Ava saw a group of men walking towards them. They edged towards the railing to give them room to pass. The men moved in the same direction. Ava began to feel nervous but stayed on course, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

The men barged into May, knocking her into Amanda. They stopped and moved so they circled the women.

“Watch where you’re going, you fucking bitches,” one said.

There were six of them, all with thick arms and broad chests.

Amanda reached out to steady May. As she did, one of the men pushed her so hard she fell. Amanda began to cry, and then Chi-Tze took several steps back until she was pressed against the railing.

“I think you should leave these ladies alone,” a man’s calm voice said.

The men turned and Ava saw Uncle standing behind them. He was wearing his black suit and white shirt buttoned to the collar. He had a lit cigarette burning between his fingers.

“Fuck off, old man,” one of them said.

“I’ve chewed up more men like you than I can count,” Uncle said.

Two men moved towards him. Ava watched in horror as the larger of the two threw Uncle to the ground. She took a tentative step forward, then she saw both men standing over him with their feet poised to kick. She leapt at them.

Her attack was mindless frenzy. She had no sense of where she was, of who they were, of how many there were. She just wanted to destroy them. Her phoenix-eye fist drilled into eardrums, noses, throats. Her long, sharp nails gouged eyeballs. And when the men hit the ground, the pointed toe of her crocodile-leather high heels cut into their groins. There was blood everywhere, and the men were crying and moaning and begging her to stop. She was poised to finish them off when Uncle stepped in front of her.

“No more, my girl,” he said. “You’ve done enough.”

She looked down at the carpet of bodies. “I want to kill them.”

“I know, but we’re better than that.”

Ava woke with a start. Her mouth was dry but there was sweat on her upper lip and brow. She heard water running and thought of the sea she’d just left. She was in a small room, big enough for a double bed, a chair, and a dresser. Through the lead-paned window she could see the first signs of morning. She looked at the bedside clock and saw that it was just past seven thirty.

I’m in Xu’s house in the French Concession. It was only a dream,
she thought.
But what kind of dream was that?
She couldn’t ever remember bak mei entering her nighttime wanderings in such a violent way. The ancient martial art — which she’d learned as a teenager on a one-to-one basis with Master Tang — wasn’t particularly acrobatic and was never pretty. It was designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain and damage by concentrating the entire body’s power into a small focused point such as the knuckle of the middle finger. She had used the art often, but always in self-defence, with the intention of incapacitating the enemy. This dream had been different.

Ava slid from the bed and kneeled by its side. She placed her hands in front of her face and began to pray. She prayed to Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. He was her last attachment to the Catholic Church, a church she had turned her back on when, in her mind, it had turned its back on her with its position on homosexuality. Still, she found comfort in prayer, and Saint Jude had been a constant and faithful companion over the years.

She stood and realized she was in her underwear and a T-shirt. She reached into her bag, took out her Adidas training pants, slipped them on, and left the room.

Auntie Grace was already up, standing over the stove. “Good morning, Ava. I’m making congee. Do you want some?”

“I’m still full from last night.”

“Tea or coffee?”

“Coffee, please.”

“I only have instant.”

“Perfect,” Ava said. She turned her head towards the bathroom as she heard the taps being turned off. “Is that Xu?”

Auntie Grace filled a cup with water from the Thermos and put it on the table. “He’s been up for a couple of hours.”

“Is that normal?”

“He’s a morning person, but this was unusually early. He’s been on the phone with Feng.”

“I’m pleased to hear that,” Ava said, and sipped her coffee.

“I thought you might be. I heard the two of you talking last night.”

“And is Feng in the meeting we wanted him to have?”

“I think so.”

“What a nice way to start my day.”

“Ava, you are a very different kind of young woman.”

“Thank you, I think.”

“I wasn’t being critical. If anything, I’m jealous. I always wanted to be in control of my own life.”

“Auntie Grace,” Ava said with a laugh, “do you know how silly that sounds? Who has more control than you?”

“Only within these walls.”

“What else do you care about?”

“Truthfully, not much else,” the housekeeper said, pursing her lips. “If I were younger, it might be different.”

“Auntie, we can’t pick our time and place. We can only do the best we can with what we’ve been given.”

“Aren’t you philosophical this morning,” Xu said from the doorway.

Ava turned. Xu was dressed in a white shirt and black slacks, his wet hair glistening in the overhead lights.

“I had a bad dream,” Ava said. “I have them more often than I’d like, but they do make me think.”

Xu walked to the kitchen table with his phone in his hand, stopped, leaned over, and kissed Ava on the forehead. “Good morning,
mei mei
.”

“Good morning. Auntie Grace just told me that you’ve been up for hours.”

“Feng is with Ling. We’ve been going back and forth.”

Xu sat down. Almost instantly the housekeeper had a cup of tea and a bowl of congee in front of him. He took a sip of tea, then delicately put the tip of the spoon into the rice porridge and raised it to his lips. “This is wonderful,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Auntie Grace said.

He nodded, and smiled at Ava. “Ling is being co-operative.”

“Was it difficult?”

“Ask Feng yourself. He’s on my phone,” Xu said, handing it to her.

“I heard your question,” Feng said. “Ling leapt at the chance to stick it to the family. It cost us some money, but not as much as I expected.”

“That’s great.”

“We’ve been talking since six thirty. Ling has gone over our summaries of payments and cash movement and says they’re accurate. He confirmed that the fix was in on that Kitchen Giant purchase, and said that the Jiangsu Insurance deal was totally dependent on the province sending their business to the new company.”

“So the American insurance company knew what was going on?”

“They insisted on what went on.”

“Can he get us anything that would prove it?”

“He says he was copied on some emails that are pretty damning.”

“Did you ask to see them?”

“We’ll have them as soon as he gets to his office.”

“Do the emails implicate the Governor?”

“We won’t know until we see them, but I have to say that Ling has made no mention of him, and even when I press, he makes it clear that his dealings were strictly with Men and the rest of the family. Tsai Lian seems to have stayed well above the clouds.”

“That is still terrific work, Feng,” Ava said. “Now, how about Mega Metals?”

“He says he can’t help very much. He had no involvement.”

“Feng, that’s in some ways the most important deal to understand.”

“Sorry.”

“He knows absolutely nothing?”

“He can confirm the amount of money they’re making because he’s the one who goes in with Lau Ai to check the books, but he claims he knows nothing about the way the business actually operates. He says an English-Chinese guy, Vincent Yin, runs things.”

“He’s the one that Lau mentioned to me,” Ava said. “How about the way the deal was originally put together?”

“He says he was involved only in the early stages.”

“So who finalized things?”

“He thinks it was the Governor himself, with the Englishman.”

“He thinks?”

“That’s what he’s heard. He can’t confirm it.”

“And what Englishman is he referring to? Yin?”

“No, Calhoun.”

“He knows this or he thinks this as well?”

“Well, he said that one night he was with Men and his wife and they started to talk about the money that Mega Metals was making. They were happy about it, of course, but Men couldn’t help mentioning that the Englishman, Calhoun, had been so difficult during the negotiations that it was a wonder the deal had ever gotten done.”

“Did Men pass along any other details?”

“No.”

“Shit.”

“Ling is still here. I can ask him again.”

“No, don’t bother.”

“Is there anything else you want besides the insurance emails?”

“No. Just tell him to keep his eyes and ears open and to report to you if he hears anything unusual concerning me.”

“He already told me that they’re all bent out of shape about you.”

“We know.”

“And that they sent two off-duty military men to pick you up.”

“I was there.”

“Lau Ai was impressed with the way you handled them.”

“A lot of good that does me.”

Feng hesitated. “Ava, I’m sorry about Mega Metals.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Ava said. “But listen, what you can do is ask Ling where I can find this Vincent Yin. And ask him what kind of man he is.”

“Do you want to wait a minute? He’s next door.”

“Sure.”

Xu was looking at her from across the table. “It doesn’t sound like we’re making as much headway as you wanted with Mega Metals.”

“We’re not done yet.”

“Ling can’t help?”

“Not much, but there’s an English-Chinese guy named Vincent Yin who might be able to.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“No, but he’s all we’ve got right now.”

“Ava,” Feng said.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Mega Metals’ office is in the southern outskirts of Nanjing. I’ll text you the address and phone number.”

“Thanks.”

“And Ling says that Yin is in his mid to late thirties and is sort of a nonentity. He’s listed as the legal representative of Mega Metals, but he acts more like a bookkeeper.”

“But he does run the business?”

“He does in name, but he doesn’t make any real decisions. The company was set up to operate in a very structured way. He works strictly within a system.”

“There’s nothing I like more than a man who does what he is told,” Ava said.

Ava sat quietly at the kitchen table mulling over everything she’d just learned. Xu took back his phone, checked his messages, and took a sip of tea.

“I have to make a few calls,” he said. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“No problem.”

When he left, Ava picked up her own cell and punched in May Ling’s number.

“How is it going?” May said.

“Have you heard something?” Ava replied, sensing concern in her friend’s voice.

“Nothing specific, but I was talking to Brenda about an hour ago and when I asked how your project was coming along, she was evasive. That’s not like her, so I figured something had happened.”

“Well, things are heating up,” Ava said. “The Tsai family is onto me. Last night they tried to have me picked up by some paramilitary men.”

“They obviously didn’t succeed.”

“The fact that they tried was alarming enough.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go after them.”

“How?”

“I’m still working on it but I’m making some progress.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, there are a few things,” Ava said. “First, I don’t have the time or the will to worry about Lane Crawford and PÖ. Could you please take control with Amanda? You have my complete trust. Do whatever you think is right.”

“Okay, that’s easy enough.”

“Next, could you start thinking about friends and contacts you have in China who might have some influence in Beijing?”

“Why?”

“We might need to create a firestorm around the Tsai family, and we may have some information we want you to feed to your people. The information will be accurate, but it could be controversial.”

“The more controversial the better,” May said with a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Most of them like to gossip.”

“That’s good to hear.”

May drew a deep breath. “Seriously, though, you need to be careful. I know I keep saying it, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“I should have listened more closely to you before,” Ava said.

“Hey, you’ll find a way out of this. You always do. And this time, you’re not so alone. You’ve got quite a few of us standing behind you.”

“Thanks.”

“Stay in touch.”

“Count on it,” Ava said.

She checked the time and figured that the Mega Metals head office had to be open by now.

“Mega Metals,” a receptionist answered.

“Good morning. My name is Jennie Kwong and I’m calling to speak to Vincent Yin.”

“He’s not in the office at present.”

“Are you expecting him shortly?”

“No, he’s out of the office on business matters.”

“Will he be checking in for messages?”

“Yes.”

“Then could you tell him that Jennie Kwong called? I represent a Hong Kong–based construction consortium that will be starting some projects in Jiangsu, and I’m told he’s the man to speak to.”

“I could connect you with our vice-president of sales. He’s in the office today.”

“Actually, I was told to speak directly to Mr. Yin. The senior partner in our firm is an old colleague of Mr. Dennis Calhoun. Mr. Calhoun was quite insistent that Mr. Yin be our point of contact.”

“I see. Well, I will pass that message along to Mr. Yin.”

“Please tell him I’m in the vicinity of Nanjing and that I’m hoping we can set up a meeting.”

“I’ll pass that information along as well.”

Xu returned to the kitchen and sat at the table. “I have to head out in a while. I have some meetings scheduled that I shouldn’t postpone, although God knows I’d like to,” he said.

“Before you go, could you do something for me?”

“What?”

“I’m trying to get together with Vincent Yin from Mega Metals today. I’ve put in a call to him, and if I’m lucky he’ll agree to see me. What I need is a meeting space that is businesslike but secure at the same time.”

“You could use the boardroom at the Xin Fang Fa Co-operative.”

“That’s the business you used to funnel money to the Three Sisters.”

“Yes. The office is about half an hour from here towards Nanjing. It isn’t fancy, but it is a real business environment.”

“Could you make an arrangement with the co-op for me to have the boardroom for at least a few hours, assuming I get Yin to agree to meet?”

“Sure, I’ll call them before I leave.”

“And could you lend Suen to me? I don’t want Yin to feel threatened in any way, but in case he reacts badly or decides to bolt, I want to have some backup.”

“I can do that,” Xu said. “Anything else?”

“I may need a videographer.”

“I’ll talk to the people at the co-operative about that,” he said, a slight smile crossing his face. “I’ll tell them to have one on standby.”

“Great. Now I need to get ready just in case he calls back and is willing to meet.”

“I’m here for another half-hour or so. I’ll contact Suen and the co-operative before I leave.”

Ava went to the bathroom to shower, carrying her phone with her. She turned up the volume and placed the cell on top of the toilet, next to the shower stall. She washed quickly, fearful the phone would ring. When it did, she was already leaving the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.

“Hello,” she said.

“Jennie Kwong?”

“Yes.”

“This is Vincent Yin from Mega Metals. I understand you want to talk to me.”

She walked into her bedroom and sat on the bed. “I’d like to meet. Today actually, if that’s possible.”

“This is very short notice.”

“I apologize for that. I didn’t expect to be in Shanghai today, but my plans changed at the last minute and here I am,” Ava said. “I realize my timing could be inconvenient, but I thought I’d take the chance that you might be available. My boss was quite insistent that I should speak to you. He was talking to Mr. Calhoun — who is an old friend of his — about our projects, and Mr. Calhoun said your company could be of real assistance to us. He also said you were the man we had to deal with. He seems to really admire everything you’ve done with the business.”

“You’re with a construction company?”

“A consortium of companies that, among other things, do construction,” Ava said. “We are considering some large projects in this region and we would be grateful for the opportunity to go over them with you. My boss said you might be able to give us some strategic advice, as well as, of course, be one of our major suppliers.”

“You’re in Shanghai?”

“Yes, but we have offices in Qinjin, on Harvest Street, number 338. Would meeting there work for you?”

“It would, actually — I’m only twenty minutes from Qinjin.”

Ava checked the time. “I can’t get there until about noon.”

“One is better for me.”

“Then one it is. Just ask for me when you get there. We can use our boardroom.”

“Do you need me to bring any information about our company?”

“No, just bring yourself.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Ava opened the bedroom door and stuck her head out. “Xu, I’m meeting Vincent Yin at one,” she called.

“Okay, I’ll have Suen ready with the car at twelve. That should get you there in lots of time. I’ve already spoken to the co-op and they’re expecting you.”

“Fantastic.”

“Now I have to get going. I won’t be back until late today and I may be hard to reach.”

“Hopefully I won’t need to talk to you.”

Ava closed the door and stepped back into the room, filled with a sense of anticipation. She had her man. She would have his undivided attention. It was an opportunity she had to exploit. Standing in the shower, she had already begun to create a question-and-answer scenario, one that would lead Vincent Yin to the inescapable conclusion that doing what Ava wanted was the only sensible option he had.

From her travel bag she took out clean underwear, a white shirt with a modified Italian collar and French cuffs, and a clean pair of black linen slacks. She slipped on the underwear and shirt, and to secure the cuffs she fastened the blue enamel links she had bought at Shanghai Tang in Hong Kong. She pulled back her hair and clasped it with her ivory chignon pin. She hung her crucifix around her neck and then slipped on her Cartier Tank Française watch. She hoped it wouldn’t be too much. Makeup was out. She wanted to look as plain and sincere as possible.

Xu was still sitting in the living room when Ava left her room. He had put on a black jacket and black tie. He sat in a chair, leaning forward, his eyes focused on the front door. An unlit cigarette dangled in his right hand. Ava blinked. For a moment she thought she was looking at Uncle. The profiles were almost identical, and the way Xu was positioned was as familiar to her as Uncle’s voice.

He heard her and turned and smiled. “I thought I’d wait for a few extra minutes. Suen just phoned. He said the co-op has a videographer on standby.”