The Code War (44 page)

Chopper was only waiting till the gods
he believed in, the Lord of Time and the Lady of Fortune had agreed
that it was the right moment for him to strike. If Fatty wasn't
going to hand him the throne of Brother, he reasoned, he would have
to seize it for himself.

'Why's Fatty doing this, bringing
in this western babe-in-arms, a woman, can't even speak Cantonese?'
asked Chopper of his Brother mates Mars Ma, Wonton Chiang and
Nescafé Mao.

'He's lost it. He's gone soft,'
said Mars Ma sycophantically.

Mars Ma's path to Brother had
involved armed robbery of cab drivers by simple application of gun
to back of head. He liked to portray himself as a talented criminal
artist rather than a simple thug. But really he was a one-trick
pony: he knew how to apply fear very suddenly to an isolated man in
a cramped space, then extract the cash and get away quick. Ma had
suffered for his art. On one occasion he got into the back of a
taxi, leaned forward till he was right up against the cabbie's head
and pulled his usual stunt. The enraged cabbie had refused to pay
up and instead floored the accelerator and driven off at top speed
sending Ma suddenly rocking into the back seat. The cab then
smashed into a streetlight sending the two of them through the
windscreen. Ma's severely lacerated face thereafter bore a red
pallor with striations from his nose right back across both cheeks
to his ears that made his face look like the fourth planet. Triad
members relished a good nickname and so Ma's new moniker was
born.

Chopper agreed. 'Right at this moment
she's over at the Golden Horse sipping sherry with Monkey,' he
roared. 'The scheming godfather of working-class junkies is
probably eating out of her hand. I should be there, that should
have been my job. I'm the negotiator. I'm the number two. Now
she'll come back to Fatty with Monkey all over her like hoisin
sauce on a spring roll and tell him she deserves to run his
operation.'

String Vest came in. 'Boss they can hear
you in Deep Throat.'

'You'll have something of mine deep down
your throat if you don't shift yer arse. Put a shirt on and make
yourself respectable. What sort of a brother are you?'

String Vest departed.

'Things have gone too far. It's time for
new leadership at the top of Brother, that's my opinion Chopper,'
said Wonton Chiang.

Wonton supplied many of the girls who
worked in Brother's brothels, casinos and film clubs. Wonton once
had a close brush with religion. He had volunteered as a night
worker in one of the soup kitchens run by charities to cater for
the homeless, especially new arrivals smuggled across the border
from mainland China. Wonton noticed how charity workers were
automatically given a huge degree of trust by needy strangers, even
women.

When his do-gooding enthusiasm
started to wane, he began to cosy up to any pretty females who came
along to the charity soup stall and offer them free accommodation
at his apartment. Once off the streets and reluctant to be homeless
again, Wonton found it easy to control them and feed them into the
prostitution system. When the charities eventually tumbled his game
and threw him out of their organisations he simply set up his own
street kitchen specialising in his favourite soup
variety, wonton. He turned away all the homeless
men and any women over 30 and only gave soup to those he could use
profitably. Wonton was widely admired in Brother for his lateral
thinking and innovative methods.

'It's a matter of choosing the right
time,' said Chopper, abstractedly.

'Nescafé, you ain't said nothing
all evening, what do you think?'

'Sorry boss, I've just sent a load
of red chicken heroin off to Kwun Tong packed in coffee jars. I'm
waiting to hear if it's arrived. I'm not really concentrating on
the discussion.' Nescafé could tell from Chopper's look of
dissatisfaction that his excuse for lack of comment was not
accepted.

'Except to say,' he added quickly,
'that little Nancy knows nothing about drug-running like me, she's
too nice to get involved with people-trafficking like the talented
Mr Wonton here, she'd faint if anyone pointed a gun at her like my
esteemed companion Mars and worse than all that she has no respect
from anyone in the entire ancient, revered and estimable
organisation that we all know and love as Brother. In short she has
no face.'

The last point was the worst insult that
a Chinese gangster could use against anyone.

Speech over, Nescafé sat back and
picked up his own brandy glass. Chopper looked from one to the
other. 'So boys, are we all agreed?' he asked. 'Are you going to
back me for the leadership?'

Chopper's accomplices had only been
playing up to him for the sake of an easy life, because they were
afraid of him. They weren't expecting to get involved in a mutiny.
But now their feelings hardened and, each one encouraged by the
others, they agreed to support Chopper in his bid for power.

The four swore an oath of secrecy to
each other. They began to plot the downfall of Fatty Lo as soon as
it could be arranged and the humiliation and expulsion of Nancy
from the organisation.

Meanwhile, only five miles away in
San Po Kong, Nancy was feeling quite humiliated already. She too
was considering her immediate future in Brother. But she was doing
it while chained to a stove alongside two professional sex workers
and staring at a dish full of prophylactics that were soon to be
used on her.

She didn't
feel much like Two Ferrari Nancy now.

Pearl River Dancing
Parlour, San Po Kong, Kowloon

All night long they came at Nancy.
Roxy and Susy tried to protect her by luring the men in their
direction. 'Me, me, me,' they both shouted when any male came
close.

But mainly the men wanted their
turn with Nancy. Novelty factor.

Everything in the same place, they
all joked.

Half way through the evening and
just when the bustle was waning, a stripper arrived. Unfortunately
she was very good at her job and got all the men excited again.
There was an intense burst of activity after that.

Mostly the men played mah-jong,
drank, smoked, joked, laughed, played table tennis and when they
felt the need they came to the pleasure centre around the stove,
selected their human toy and took their fun.

Nancy's natural horror at the
violations being inflicted on her every few minutes was only
slightly alleviated by the chatter of the two prostitutes. Roxy and
Susy knew many of the men already. For them they were not rapists,
but customers. They joked with them, asked about their families,
talked about food and movies.

Were they on piece rate,
bei
ng paid by the trick? Did they really
enjoy their work? But Nancy drew heart from the sisterhood that had
formed around the stove. Her two manacled partners could not
shorten her ordeal. But they continued to give her looks of
concern.

Down and down went the level of packets
in the bowl.

Nancy wondered at the men and how they
were able to perform this intimate act in front of each other. If
anything the public nature of their performance seemed to add to
their enjoyment. They laughed and hooted and joined in mockingly as
each one reached his destination with groans and cries.

Mates.

They'd go back to their wives and
girl-friends and make love to them and dandle their children on
their knees and visit their parents for dinner on Sunday nights.
None of tonight would be shared with the families. But this blokey
celebration of basest instincts, this matey conspiracy would be
their little club secret. They'd be talking about this night for
weeks.

- Remember when Fatty Lo sent Monkey
that English slapper for us to play with? Great night wasn't
it?

- Yeah, but she was as miserable
as a Shanghai mother-in-law.

- Ah Deng said she gave him crabs.

- Ah Deng probably gave her crabs.

- I heard she wasn't a pro at all.
She just can't get enough of our prime mutton.

- She was mutton you mean. She must have
been twenty-five at least.

So on.

Nancy didn't think about hate or revenge
or going to the police or telling Fatty or going home to England.
She just endured, waiting for the awful night to end.

As more and more of the little
packets disappeared Nancy decided the lacquered bowl was really
quite delightful. What an incongruous moment to discover such
artistry.

One condom remained.

The men were getting tired. And drunk.
And drugged. Many had smoked heroin, taking out their little
rectangles of tinfoil, folding them in a V and sprinkling white or
red granules that looked like coffee into the fold. A lighted
candle below the V and a piece of rolled up paper in the mouth to
chase the smoking dragon up and down the line was all that was
necessary.

A bump against her hip. Hands on her
outer thighs slowly moving up under her skirt, pushing the tartan
up her back. Her pants had long since disappeared, probably in some
drug pusher's pocket as a memento. She felt the man grazing himself
against her, brushing left and right and up and down against her
buttocks.

Which one was this? Had he been
before?

Just get it over with.

Hands cupped her breasts and
massaged clumsily. Heavy breathing. Pig.

The last condom went back. She
heard the plastic rip and felt the fumble. She began to rock
forward and back. Steady girl, hold it together. This night will
end. It will never happen again, promise you that.

And as he came to the end of his
journey and his body shook and his mates roared their approval,
Nancy looked into the bottom of the beautiful lacquered bowl and
saw the small s. It was an eel but to her shock it moved, writhed,
twisted and swam. But it always stayed an s.

The man
zipped up. The eel froze still.

Red Sis

The door opened and Chu appeared. Where
had he been? Nancy was sure he hadn't coupled with her. Earlier he
had been in the room chatting with the men, joking, socialising,
playing mahjong. Then he had disappeared for a long while.

Chu approached her with his hand
in his pocket. Tinkle of metal on metal. Keys.

'Nancy, you may leave very soon,'
he said. But his voice was empty of hope.

Chu released Suzy and Roxy who
were half asleep against the stove. Both looked around dizzily then
found themselves comfortable chairs, settled into them and
immediately closed their eyes. They knew there was no more work for
them that night.

Chu came last to Nancy and turned
the key in her handcuffs. The steel clasps sprung open and she
reclaimed her hands, quickly smoothing down her skirt as though she
had any dignity left. Chu took Nancy by the arm and led her back
into the luxurious room through which she had come earlier. Her
legs were s
tiff and she was sore, barely
able to walk.

'I very sorry for your hurt,' he
said, noticing her frozen expression. 'But now my boss, Monkey,
want to give you answer for Mr Lo.'

He led her towards a closed door.

'No, I'm not going in there,' exclaimed
Nancy, fearing something even worse than the ordeal she had just
suffered.

'No danger to you. Promise,' said
Chu.

'You lied to me before about the third
girl, then you handcuffed me. Why should I trust you now?'

Chu nodded.

'Please to see,' he said. He walked
towards the door, opened it wide and stood back so that she could
see in.

Nancy's face was white and her
body was both rigid and shaking. She was inclined to run for the
exit but for a moment she stood defiantly and looked inside the
room. It was small and sparsely furnished. In the middle was a
dining table. A man was laying on it on his back, very still, his
hands folded across his chest. It was Monkey.

'My boss very angry with Fatty Lo,' said
Chu. 'My boss lose face when lose Golden Horse. Want to hurt Mr Lo.
That is why he order this to you. When he hurt you, he hurt Mr Lo.
Now Mr Fatty Lo can have Golden Horse. But Monkey die with honour.
He fight back against Mr Lo in only way he can.'

Nancy stood and stared. Now she
understood Chu's despair.

'Have taxi waiting for you downstairs,'
continued Chu. 'Already paid. Take you back to Yaumati. Go
now.'

'You know Brother will come after
you and kill you, don't you, all of you?' Nancy was shaking with
anger.

'All other colleagues not know what
Monkey do,' said Chu. 'He has written letter to all. In morning
they read it. They find out tomorrow they now part of Brother. They
think you are just prostitute. Only I and Monkey know.'

'Fatty Lo will have you killed.'

'No,' said Chu. 'Fatty not do
that.' As Nancy looked on, rigid, cold, white, Chu walked into the
room, took off his polished shoes and placed them neatly beside
each other on the floor. Then he sat on the table beside the
prostrate corpse of his boss and looked back through the door to
Nancy. 'Monkey treat me like father all my life. Look after me. I
never leave him. Where he go I go too.'

Chu took a small box out of his top
pocket, opened it and showed Nancy a white tablet.

'I so sorry for your hurt Nancy.' Chu
placed the tablet in his mouth and swallowed. 'So sorry.
Goodbye.'

Nancy didn't want to see any more. She
turned and left the building.