The Code War (58 page)

The door burst open and Jenny Ling
came in, her face a squall, a worried frown banishing her
prettiness.

'Nancy, I'm so glad I caught you before
you left.'

'Jenny, what is it?
Y
ou look really worried.'

'Oh Nancy, I've just heard something
terrible. I have to tell you.'

'Come and sit down on the bed, tell
me.'

Jenny slumped on the bed, brushing her
hair back. Her cheong sam tightened around her waist and her chest
pumped in and out as she breathed deeply after her run up the
stairs.

'I just heard from Chopper's driver -
he's a very close friend of mine…' Nancy nodded. She had guessed
there was something more than friendliness between Jenny and Bobby
Cheung, Chopper's handsome foot-soldier.

'…He told me that Chopper has kidnapped
a policeman today. A detective, an inspector…I think a European.
They've taken him to the Blue Diamond.'

'What are they planning to do?'

'That's just the point. I don't think
they mean to let him go. Nancy, I'm so worried. Bobby told me that
Chopper has been training Wolf Smoke in the Blue Diamond cock pit
all day. He's been training him to kill on command. Nancy, why
would he do that?'

'Oh flip.'

'What?'

Nancy thought for a moment,
reviewing and dismissing several options. Call Fatty? Not enough
time. Call Frenchy? He won't be at home. Send Jenny to the Blue
Diamond? No. Chopper won't pay her any attention. Call the police?
Obviously not.

There was only one option.

'Jenny, you go back to work, to the
casino. No sense in you getting involved. There's nothing you can
do anyway. The Blue Diamond is only five minutes' walk away. I'll
go there and pretend I was just dropping by. I'm sure Chopper is
not being stupid. He couldn't be that stupid, could he? Anyway,
I'll see what he's doing and put a stop to anything bad.'

'Oh Nancy, I'm worried about you.
Chopper hates policemen. He always talks about them. But if you get
in the way, I don't know what he might do to you.'

'Me neither. But if we don't do anything
and Chopper kills a cop, every one of us could be arrested. It
would be damaging for all of Brother.'

Nancy patted Jenny's shoulders.

'Go on now, do what I say. It will be
all right. And we're wasting time sitting here talking.'

Nancy stood and held Jenny's hand up,
lifting her from the bed. Tears were pouring down Jenny's face
turning her mascara into wiggly lines.

'Go to the bathroom first, Jenny,
and get yourself settled. I have to go and meet Frenchy after I've
sorted out the Blue Diamond situation. But I will phone the Golden
Luck from the hotel and speak to you, OK?'

Jenny nodded, still tearful. Nancy
picked up her clutch bag.

'See you later,' she said and
headed for the stairs.

Halfway
Island

To each side, the rock pillars
held Jabez fast. The chains burned his wrists and their weight
sapped his strength. His broken wing ached and its feathers hung
down like parched white rose petals.

Behind him was
nothingness
. And behind that was Hell
with its heat, its hate and its one amazing singularity of
kindness.

In front of him, only feet away, was
Lucifer. Jabez could scarce look at Inferno's Leader, so intense
was the loathing that poured from those red eyes. But despite his
discomfort, he kept his feet together, his legs straight and his
back erect. He would look back on these moments for ever, no matter
what took place here, and he wanted to look back on them with pride
in his bearing. The enemy wanted him to look desperate in front of
all the eyes of Hades and he did not want to give his enemy their
wish.

Bezejel fixed her eyes on Jabez and
would fain have lit him like a torch with the intensity of her
will. For her anger was personal, unlike that of her master. She
would intervene between one instant and the next, if the moment
presented itself, to revenge herself on him for her imagined
hurts.

But Jabez ignored them all and
stared out straight in front of him. He saw the cushion, intended
for the Lamb's royal knees and though his heart slowed he kept his
gaze steady. Jabez asked, What can I do? And the answer came back
from the Spirit, You are doing it.

He heard Lucifer call out 'It's
time. If you want Jabez, come and get him.'

Jabez saw the light start around the
door, the stairway to Heaven stencil out from the void and the
white-robed figure appear on the landing. Like a thousand million
faces from across the dimensions he gaped in awe.

The Blue Diamond
Warehouse and Godown, Yaumati

Heaven wept and its tears poured down on
Hong Kong, filling the gutters with detritus from the roads,
turning cigarette vendors into umbrella sellers and filling the
cinemas and bars with solitary strollers and coat-sharing couples
refuging from the rain.

On one side of the Blue Diamond, Yaumati
Harbour lay sullen in the downpour, its village of boat people
cooking, eating, laughing and loving as if water was all the same
to them, whether above their fragile craft or beneath it.

On the other side of the Blue Diamond,
Ling Yee spat at a cockroach, aiming for at least one direct hit
before he give himself up to his usual dark thoughts. He continued
to curse his seeming perma-misfortune. Late-autumn mosquitoes rose
in search of a delicious blood supper, sniffed the airs for scent
of a healthy victim and, not finding one, settled for Ling instead.
The out of favour door-warden slapped his ear and peered down at
his bloodless hand. Another miss.

Irregular steps on the gravel from the
direction of Nathan road. Someone avoiding puddles. Ling turned to
see Nancy carefully picking her way through the sudden mire of the
lane from the side street. Her elegant shoes, made for romancing
and dancing surely, were already mud-spattered. The heels, shapely
stilettos that they were, sliced into the murk beneath forcing
Nancy to tip toe. She held her pilot jacket over her head, the bars
on the shoulders spelling out her superior rank.

'Miss, I wasn't expecting you, I'll tell
Mr Kwok.'

'No, Ah Ling. Don't do that.' That
sounded panicky. Calm down. 'Chopper invited me but I told him I
couldn't come. Now I want to surprise him.'

Ling was unsure. He didn't know
Chopper's detailed plans for the evening. But whatever his boss was
doing, he was sure that Miss Smarty Shoulder Stripes wouldn't like
it, no matter how much Fatty Lo thought of her.

'Take my hand, would you and help me
over this puddle?' She had to keep him from going inside.

'There. That's wonderful, Ah Ling.
Thank you. Chopper will be so pleased to see me.' Nancy had used
her purchase on Ling's arm to hold him in place and sling-shot
herself around him, edging her body between him and the door. She
pulled the handle open. 'You're doing a great job.' She beamed up
at him like a lover while her perfume and red lips assaulted his
senses. 'There was a police patrol just around the corner. Make
sure you come in instantly if they approach.' With that she was
through the door and pulled it closed behind her. Ling knew he'd
been charmed but he didn't mind. She had praised him and smiled at
him - no-one else had done that for a long time.

Once inside, Nancy paused and listened.
A brieze block wall partially separated the entrance area from the
rest of the warehouse. She could hear everything without being
seen. Chopper was holding court. Admirers were praising him like
pilgrims at a shrine. Bottles were being clinked, stories were
being told and jokes were being laughed at. A regular party.

To Nancy's left a corridor led all the
way around the inside of the warehouse to the back, the side near
the harbour. This was where the raw cotton was landed and brought
inside.

She followed it in near-darkness all the
way to its end. A three-flight metal staircase that led up to the
gantry and its moving platform faced her. She removed her shoes and
hid them behind the first step. Slowly, in case of creaking, she
made her way up the first flight of steps, turned up the second
flight and turned again up the third flight. The platform was in
position against the landing. Another brieze block wall separated
the platform from the view of those in the warehouse. There was a
human shape on it, lying still. Nancy approached carefully and
stooped low.

'Hello,' she whispered.
'A
re you awake?' Stupid
question.

The figure moved sharply and sat up.
Nancy already had her finger to her lips. 'Shhhhh.'

The face looked at her. It was the man
from the restaurant. Dan. The one with the 1.11 necklace. He was a
police inspector?

Dan was as surprised as Nancy. 'What are
you doing here? Are you one of…?' The light dawned as he remembered
the rumour of a western woman in Brother.

'You're in danger,' said the ever
practical Nancy. 'We have to get you out of here.'

'I'm tied up. A rope around my
wrists.'

'OK. K
eep quiet and don't move.'

Nancy moved forward on her knees and
edged onto the platform. It swung outward a little with her weight
and she knew it would clang when it swung back against the landing.
She placed her left foot into the gap to hold the two apart. That
could be dangerous if the platform swung back hard. Leaning over
Dan she looked behind him at the ropes that bonded him to the
central column. The chain that lowered and raised the platform went
through this tall aluminium cylinder. Luckily the knots were
clumsily tied. They couldn't be undone by Dan but she was confident
she could pull their loops apart.

'Now, you all know
that I am a fair man.'
Chopper.

Nancy rested her weight on Dan and
started working on the knots.

'Things are building up down there. Dan,
was it?'

'Yes, Dan. Kelly. At your service.'

'I'm glad you're here to save me,
Dan.'

The last knot came free and she pulled
the loose ends of the rope away. She clambered off Dan who sat up
rubbing his wrists. The change in weight distribution caused the
platform to swing back towards the landing. It closed on her foot.
Nancy found herself squealing, 'Jesus…Mary and Joseph.'

'I told you, they're the Holy Family,
not the Holy Trinity.'

As she looked down at him, Nancy
suddenly realised without any shadow of a doubt that this ordinary,
working man with his weak jokes and his fascination for her hemline
was the one.

In that moment her heart went out to
him. She would save him no matter what.

They inched off the platform, she
on her knees and he on his seat until they sat together on the
landing. They were both breathing deepl
y
as if they'd just made love. Which, in a sense, they
had.

'It's not right,
brothers, it's not fair, and I won't just roll over, like others in
our profession and let it happen.'
Chopper's voice was echoey, but the malice was
undimmed.

'I have to get rid of the door guard.
Wait here.' Nancy pulled herself to her feet and tip toed to the
stairs. As quietly and as speedily as possible she made her way
down the three flights of steps. Grasping her shoes from behind the
first step and slipping them on she made her way in the dark around
the three walls of the corridor's edge and stealthily approached
the door.

Ling heard the handle turn and was
waiting attentively as the door swung out.

'Yes, miss?'

Nancy noticed the hunted look in Ling's
face, the look of a dog that expects to be beaten. She took pity.
Her smile at him was unhurried and unforced. Even in her desperate
plight she recognised his need for a kind word. But the tempo
behind her was building. She had to move him quickly.

'Ling.
I've left a present for Chopper at the Golden Luck. You'll
find it at the fourth floor casino. Would you be a dear and get it
for me? I'll be so grateful.' Nancy was stretching her Cantonese to
the limit but there was no puzzlement in Ling's face. He understood
what she was asking.

He also
wasn't stupid. He knew that he could get into serious
trouble with Chopper for leaving his post. But Miss Nancy was the
future of Brother. Everyone was saying it. And anyway, how do you
refuse a pretty woman who smiles at you like she means it? Like
that?

He drew in a deep breath. 'Yes Miss.
I'll be right back.'

As Ling's back disappeared into the
rain, Nancy figured she needed one minute to get herself and Dan
safely away.

Halfway
Island

The scarred feet continued their
journey down the stairway from Heaven. Slowly, patiently,
certainly.

Above them the white-robed figure
of the Lamb took shape and even those who had not beheld his
likeness before knew it was he. But if any watching from the
smoking plains of Hades below were hoping for a sign of panic or
fear in those messianic brows, they hoped in vain.

Closer now he came and those who
were vigilant could make out the scar tissue on both wrists. Some
pointed them out to their friends amid swallowed breaths and much
wiping of eyes.

Though almost all the audience were,
even in the dimensions of the majestic vault, great distances away,
yet were they able to view the events on Halfway across the chasms
in between as if they were seated in a close ring around its
edge.