Dunross spat the sweet sick taste of not winning out of his mouth. That's better, he thought. I could have taken Noble Star today, but I'd've done it in the turn, not in the stretch.
Other horses were exercising on the sand track, more joining the circuit or leaving it. Knots of owners and trainers and jockeys were conferring, ma-foos—stable hands—walking horses in their blankets. He saw Butterscotch Lass, Richard Kwang's great mare, canter past, a white star on her forehead, neat fetlocks, her jockey riding her tightly, looking very good. Over on the far side Pilot Fish, Gornt's prize stallion, broke into a controlled gallop, chasing another of the Struan string, Impatience, a new, young, untried filly, recently acquired in the first balloting of this season. Dunross watched her critically and thought she lacked stamina. Give her a season or two and then we'll see, he thought. Then Pilot Fish ripped past her and she skittered in momentary fright, then charged in pursuit until her jockey pulled her in, teaching her to gallop at his whim and not at hers.
"So, tai-pan!" his trainer said. He was a leather-faced, iron-hard Russian emigre in his late sixties with greying hair and this was his third season with Struan's. "So, Alexi?"
"So the devil got into you and you gave him your heel and did you see Noble Star surge ahead?"
"She's a trier. Noble Star's a trier, everyone knows that," Dunross replied calmly.
"Yes, but I'd've preferred only you and I to be reminded of it today and not"—the small man jerked a calloused thumb at the onlookers and grinned—"... and not every viblyadok in Asia."
Dunross grinned back. "You notice too much."
"I'm paid to notice too much."
Alexi Travkin could outride, outdrink, outwork and outstay a man half his age. He was a loner among the other trainers. Over the years he had told various stories about his past—like most of those who had been caught in the great turmoils of Russia and her revolutions, China and her revolutions, and now drifted the byways of Asia seeking a peace they could never find.
Alexi Ivanovitch Travkin had come out of Russia to Harbin in Manchuria in 1919, then worked his way south to the International Settlement of Shanghai. There he began to ride winners. Because he was very good and knew more about horses than most men know about themselves, he soon became a trainer. When the exodus happened again in '49 he fled south, this time to Hong Kong where he stayed a few years then drifted south again to Australia and the circuits there. But Asia beckoned him so he returned. Dunross was trainerless at that time and offered him the stable of the Noble House.
"I'll take it, tai-pan," he had said at once.
"We haven't discussed money," Dunross had said.
"You're a gentleman, so am I. You'll pay me the best for face—and because I'm the best."
"Are you?"
"Why else do you offer me the post? You don't like to lose either."
Last season had been good for both of them. The first not so good. Both knew this coming season would be the real test.
Noble Star was walking past, settling down nicely.
"What about Saturday?" Dunross asked.
"She'll be trying."
"And Butterscotch Lass?"
"She'll be trying. So will Pilot Fish. So will all the others—in all eight races. This's a very special meeting. We'll have to watch our entries very carefully."
Dunross nodded. He caught sight of Gornt talking with Sir Dunstan Barre by the winner's circle. "I'll be very peed off if I lose to Pilot Fish."
Alexi laughed. Then added wryly, "In that case perhaps you'd better ride Noble Star yourself, tai-pan. Then you can shove Pilot Fish into the rails in the turn if he looks like a threat, or put the whip across his jockey's eyes. Eh?" The old man looked up at him. "Isn't that what you'd've done with Noble Star today if it'd been a race?"
Dunross smiled back. "As it wasn't a race you'll never know—will you?"
A ma-foo came up and saluted Travkin, handing him a note. "Message, sir. Mr. Choi'd like you to look at Chardistan's bindings when you've a moment."
"I'll be there shortly. Tell him to put extra bran in Buccaneer's feed today and tomorrow." Travkin glanced back at Dunross, who was watching Noble Star closely. He frowned. "You're not considering riding Saturday?"
"Not at the moment."
"I wouldn't advise it."
Dunross laughed. "I know. See you tomorrow, Alexi. Tomorrow I'll work Impatience." He clapped him in friendly style and left.
Alexi Travkin stared after him; his eyes strayed to the horses that were in his charge, and their opposition that he could see. He knew this Saturday would be vicious and that Noble Star would have to be guarded. He smiled to himself, pleased to be in a game where the stakes were very high.
He opened the note that was in his hand. It was short and in Russian: "Greetings from Kurgan, Highness. I have news of Nestorova..." Alexi gasped. The colour drained from his face. By the blood of Christ, he wanted to shout. No one in Asia knows my home was in Kurgan, in the flatlands on the banks of the River Tobol, nor that my father was Prince of Kurgan and Tobol, nor that my darling Nestorova, my child-wife of a thousand lifetimes ago, swallowed up in the revolution while I was with my regiment... I swear to God I've never mentioned her name to anyone, not even to myself....
In shock he reread the note. Is this more of their devilment, the Soviets—the enemy of all the Russians? Or is it a friend? Oh Christ Jesus let it be a friend.
After "Nestorova" the note had ended, "Please meet me at the Green Dragon Restaurant, in the alley just off 189 Nathan Road, the back room at three this afternoon." There was no signature.
Across the paddock, near the winning post, Richard Kwang was walking toward his trainer when he saw his sixth cousin, Smiler Ching, chairman of the huge Ching Prosperity Bank, in the stands, his binoculars trained on Pilot Fish.
"Hello, Sixth Cousin," he said affably in Cantonese, "have you eaten rice today?"
The sly old man was instantly on guard. "You won't get any money out of me," he said coarsely, his lips sliding back from protruding teeth that gave him a perpetual smiling grimace.
"Why not?" Richard Kwang said equally rudely. "I've got 17 fornicating millions on loan to you an—"
"Yes but that's on ninety-day call and well invested. We've always paid the 40 percent interest," the old man snarled.
"You miserable old dog bone, I helped you when you needed money! Now it's time to repay!"
"Repay what? What?" Smiler Ching spat. "I've repaid you a fortune over the years. I've taken the risks and you've reaped the profit. This whole disaster couldn't happen at a worse time! I've every copper cash out—every one! I'm not like some bankers. My money's always put to good use."
The good use was narcotics, so legend went. Of course Richard Kwang had never asked, and no one knew for certain, but everyone believed that Smiler Ching's bank was secretly one of the main clearinghouses for the trade, the vast majority of which emanated from Bangkok. "Listen, Cousin, think of the family," Richard Kwang began. "It's only a temporary problem. The fornicating foreign devils are attacking us. When that happens civilised people have to stick together!"
"I agree. But you're the cause of the run on the Ho-Pak. You are. It's on you—not on my bank. You've offended the fornicators somehow! They're after you—don't you read the papers? Yes, and you've got all your cash out on some very bad deals so I hear. You, Cousin, you've put your own head into the cangue. Get money out of that evil son of a Malayan whore half-caste partner of yours. He's got billions—or out of Tightfist...." The old man suddenly cackled. "I'll give you 10 for every 1 that old fornicator loans you!"
"If I go down the toilet the Ching Prosperity Bank won't be far behind."
"Don't threaten me!" the old man said angrily. His lips had a flick of saliva permanently in the corners and then they worked over his teeth once and fell apart again in his grimace. "If you go down it won't be my fault—why wish your rotten joss on family? I've done nothing to hurt you—why try and pass your bad joss on to me? If today... ayeeyah, if today your bad joss spills over and those dog bone depositors start a run on me I won't last the day!"
Richard Kwang momentarily felt better that the Ching empire was equally threatened. Good, very good. I could use all his business—particularly the Bangkok connection. Then he saw the big clock over the totalizator and groaned. It was just past six now and at ten, banks would open and the stock market would open and though arrangements had been made with Blacs, the Victoria and the Bombay and Eastern Bank of Kowloon to pledge securities that should cover everything and to spare, he was still nervous. And enraged. He had had to make some very tough deals that he had no wish to honour. "Come on, Cousin, just 50 million for ten days—I'll extend the 17 million for two years and add another 20 in thirty days."
"50 million for three days at 10 percent interest a day, your present loan to be collateral and I'll also take deed to your property in Central as further collateral!"
"Go fornicate in your mother's ear! That property's worth four times that."
Smiler Ching shrugged and turned his binoculars back on Pilot Fish. "Is the big black going to beat Butterscotch Lass too?"
Richard Kwang looked at Gornt's horse sourly. "Not unless my weevil-mouthed trainer and jockey join together to pull her or dope her!"
"Filthy thieves! You can't trust one of them! My horse's never come in the money once. Never. Not even third. Disgusting!"
"50 million for one week—2 percent a day?"
"5. Plus the Central pro—"
"Never!"
"I'll take a 50 percent share of the property."
"6 percent," Richard Kwang said.
Smiler Ching estimated his risk. And his potential profit. The profit was huge if. If the Ho-Pak didn't fail. But even if it did, the loan would be well covered by the property. Yes, the profit would be huge, provided there wasn't a real run on himself. Perhaps I could gamble and pledge some future shipments and raise the 50 million.
"15 percent and that's final," he said knowing that he would withdraw or change by noon once he saw how the market was, and the run was—and he would continue to sell Ho-Pak short to great profit. "And also you can throw in Butterscotch Lass."
Richard Kwang swore obscenely and they bargained back and forth then agreed that the 50 million was on call at two o'clock. In cash. He would also pledge Smiler Ching 39 percent of the Central property as added collateral, and a quarter share in his mare. Butterscotch Lass was the clincher.
"What about Saturday?"
"Eh?" Richard Kwang said, loathing the grimace and buck teeth.
"Our horse's in the fifth race, heya? Listen, Sixth Cousin, perhaps we'd better make an accommodation with Pilot Fish's jockey. We pull our horse—she'll be favourite—and back Pilot Fish and Noble Star for safety!"
"Good idea. We'll decide Saturday morning."
"Better to eliminate Golden Lady too, eh?"
"John Chen's trainer suggested that."
"Eeeee, that fool, to get himself kidnapped. I'll expect you to give me the real information on who's going to win. I want the winner too!" Smiler hawked and spat.
"All gods defecate, don't we all! Those filthy trainers and jockeys! Disgusting the way they puppet us owners. Who pays their salaries, heya?"
"The Turf Club, the owners, but most the punters who aren't in the know. I hear you were at the Old Vic last night for foreign devil food."
Richard Kwang beamed. His dinner with Venus Poon had been an enormous success. She had worn the new knee-length Christian Dior he had bought for her, black clinging silk and gossamer underneath. When he had seen her get out of his Rolls and come up the steps of the Old Vic his heart had turned over and his Secret Sack had jiggled.
She had been all smiles at the effect her entrance had on the entire foyer, her chunky gold bracelets glittering, and had insisted on walking up the grand staircase instead of using the elevator. His chest had been tight with suppressed glee and terror. They had walked through the formal, well-groomed diners, European and Chinese, many in evening dress—husbands and wives, tourists and locals, men at business dinners, lovers and would-be lovers of all ages and nationalities. He was wearing a new, Savile Row dark suit of the most expensive lightweight cashmere wool. As they moved toward the choice table that had cost him a red—100 dollars—he had waved to many friends, and groaned inwardly four times as he saw four of his Chinese intimates with their wives, bouffant and overjeweled. The wives had stared at him glassily.
Richard Kwang shuddered. Wives really are dragons and all the same, he thought. Oh oh oh! And your lies sound false to them even before you've spoken them. He had not gone home yet to face Mai-ling who would have already been told by at least three very good friends about Venus Poon. He would let her rant and scream and weep and tear her hair for a while to release her devil wind and would say that enemies had filled her head with bile—how can she listen to such evil women?—and then he would meekly tell her about the full-length mink that he had ordered three weeks ago, that he was to collect today in time for her to wear to the races Saturday. Then there would be peace in the house—until the next time.
He chortled at his acumen in ordering the mink. That he had ordered it for Venus Poon and had, this morning, just an hour ago in the warmth of her embrace, promised it to her tonight so she would wear it to the races on Saturday did not bother him at all. It's much too good for the strumpet anyway, he was thinking. That coat cost 40,000 HK. I'll get her another one. Ah, perhaps I could find a secondhand one....
He saw Smiler Ching leering at him. "What?"
"Venus Poon, heya?"
"I'm thinking of going into film production and making her a star," he said grandly, proud of the cover story he had invented as part of his excuse to his wife.
Smiler Ching was impressed. "Eeee, but that's a risky business, heya?"
"Yes, but there are ways to... to insure your risk." He winked knowingly.
"Ayeeyah, you mean a nudie film? Oh! Let me know when you set the production, I might take a point or two. Venus Poon naked! Ayeeyah, all Asia'd pay to see that! What's she like at the pillow?"
"Perfect! Now that I've educated her. She was a virgin when I fir—"
"What joss!" Smiler Ching said, then added, "How many times did you scale the Ramparts?"
"Last night? Three times—each time stronger than before!" Richard Kwang leaned forward. "Her Flower Heart's the best I've ever seen. Yes. And her triangle! Lovely silken hair and her inner lips pink and delicate. Eeeee, and her Jade Gate... her Jade Gate's really heart-shaped and her 'one square inch' is a perfect oval, pink, fragrant, and the Pearl on the Step also pink...." Richard Kwang felt himself beginning to sweat as he remembered how she had spread herself on the sofa and handed him a big magnifying glass. "Here," she had said proudly. "Examine the goddess your bald-headed monk's about to worship." And he had. Meticulously.
"The best pillow partner I've ever had," Richard Kwang continued expansively, stretching the truth. "I was thinking about buying her a large diamond ring. Poor Little Mealy Mouth wept this morning when I left the apartment I've given her. She was swearing suicide because she's so in love with me." He used the English word.
"Eeeee, you're a lucky man!" Smiler Ching spoke no English except the words of love. He felt eyes on his back and he glanced around. In the next section of the stands, fifty yards away, slightly above him, was the foreign devil policeman Big Mountain of Dung, the hated chief of the CID Kowloon. The cold fish-eyes were staring at him, binoculars hanging from the man's neck. Ayeeyah, Ching muttered to himself, his mind darting over the various checks and traps and balances that guarded his main source of revenue.
"Eh? What? What's the matter with you, Smiler Ching?"
"Nothing. I want to piss, that's all. Send the papers over at two o'clock if you want my money." Sourly he turned away to go to the toilet, wondering if the police were aware of the imminent arrival of the foreign devil from the Golden Mountain, a High Tiger of the White Powders with the outlandish name of Vincenzo Banastasio.
He hawked and spat loudly. Joss if they do, joss if they don't. They can't touch me, I'm only a banker.
Robert Armstrong had noted that Smiler Ching was talking to Banker Kwang and knew surely that the pair of them were up to no good. The police were well aware of the whispers about Ching and his Prosperity Bank and the narcotics trade but so far had no real evidence implicating him or his bank, not even enough circumstantial evidence to merit SB detention, interrogation and summary deportation.
Well, he'll slip sometime, Robert Armstrong thought calmly, and turned his binoculars back on to Pilot Fish, then to Noble Star, then to Butterscotch Lass, and then to Golden Lady, John Chen's mare. Which one's got the form?
He yawned and stretched wearily. It had been another long night and he had not yet been to bed. Just as he was leaving Kowloon Police HQ last night there had been a flurry of excitement as another anonymous caller phoned to say that John Chen had been seen out in the New Territories, in the tiny fishing village of Sha Tau Kwok which bisected the eastern tip of the border.
He had rushed out there with a team and searched the village, hovel by hovel. His search had had to be done very cautiously for the whole border area was extremely sensitive, particularly at the village where there was one of the three border checkpoints. The villagers were a hardy, tough, uncompromising bellicose lot that wanted to be left alone. Particularly by foreign devil police. The search had proved to be just another false alarm though they had uncovered two illegal stills, a small heroin factory that converted raw opium into morphine and thence into heroin, and had broken up six illegal gambling dens.
When Armstrong had got back to Kowloon HQ there was another call about John Chen, this time Hong Kong side in Wanchai, down near Glessing's Point in the dock area. Apparently John Chen had been seen being bundled into a tenement house, a dirty bandage over his right ear. This time the caller had given his name and driver's licence number so that he could claim the reward of 50,000 HK, offered by Struan's and Noble House Chen. Again Armstrong had brought units to surround the area and had led the meticulous search. It was already five o'clock in the morning by the time he called off the operation and dismissed his men.
"Brian, it's me for bed," he said. "Waste of another fang-pi night."
Brian Kwok yawned too. "Yes. But while we're this side, how about breakfast at the Para and then, then let's go and look at the morning workouts?"
At once most of Robert Armstrong's tiredness fell away. "Great idea!"
The Para Restaurant in Wanchai Road near Happy Valley Racecourse was always open. The food was excellent, cheap and it was a well-known meeting place for triads and their girls. When the two policemen strode into the large, noisy, bustling, plate-clattering room a sudden silence fell. The proprietor, One Foot Ko, limped over to them and beamed them to the best table in the place.
"Dew neh loh moh on you too, Old Friend," Armstrong said grimly and added some choice obscenities in gutter Cantonese, staring back pointedly at the nearest group of gaping young thugs who nervously turned away.
One Foot Ko laughed and showed his bad teeth. "Ah, Lords, you honour my poor establishment. Dim sum?"
"Why not?" Dim sum—small chow or small foods—were bite-sized dough envelopes packed with minced shrimps or vegetables or various meats then steamed or deep-fried and eaten with a touch of soya, or saucers of chicken and other meats in various sauces or pastries of all kinds.
"Your Worships are going to the track?"
Brian Kwok nodded, sipping his jasmine tea, his eyes roving the diners, making many of them very nervous. "Who's going to win the fifth?" he asked.
The restaurateur hesitated, knowing he'd better tell the truth. He said carefully in Cantonese, "They say that neither Golden Lady, Noble Star, Pilot Fish or Butterscotch Lass has... has yet been touted as having an edge." He saw the cold black-brown eyes come to rest on him and he tried not to shudder. "By all the gods, that's what they say."
"Good. I'll come here Saturday morning. Or I'll send my sergeant. Then you can whisper in his ear if some foul play's contemplated. Yes. And if it turns out one of those are doped or cut and I don't know about it on Saturday morning... perhaps your soups will addle for fifty years."
One Foot smiled nervously. "Yes, Lord. Let me see to your food no—"
"Before you go, what's the latest gossip on John Chen?"
"None. Oh very none, Honoured Lord," the man said, a little perspiration on his upper lip. "Fragrant Harbor's as clean of information on him as a virgin's treasure. Nothing, Lord. Not a dog's fart of a real rumour though everyone's looking. I hear there's an extra great reward."
"What? How much?"
"100,000 extra dollars if within three days."
Both policemen whistled. "Offered by whom?" Armstrong asked, One Foot shrugged, his eyes hard. "No one knows, Sire. They say by one of the Dragons—or all the Dragons.100,000 and promotion if within three days—if he's recovered alive. Please, now let me see about your food."
They watched him go. "Why did you lean on One Foot?" Armstrong asked.
"I'm tired of his mealy-mouthed hypocrisy—and all these rotten little thugs. The cat-o'-nine-tails'd solve our triad problems."
Armstrong called for a beer. "When I leaned on Sergeant Tang-po I didn't think I'd get such action so fast.100,000's a lot of money! This can't be just a simple kidnapping. Jesus Christ that's a lot of reward! There's got to be something special about John."
"Yes. If it's true."
But they had arrived at no conclusions and when they came to the track, Brian Kwok had gone to check in with HQ and now Armstrong had his binoculars trained on the mare. Butterscotch Lass was leaving the track to walk back up the hill to the stables. She looks in great fettle, he thought. They all do. Shit, which one?
"Robert?"
"Oh hello, Peter."
Peter Marlowe smiled at him. "Are you up early or going to bed late?"
"Late."
"Did you notice the way Noble Star charged without her jockey doing a thing?"
"You've sharp eyes."
Peter Marlowe smiled and shook his head. He pointed at a group of men around one of the horses. "Donald McBride told me."
"Ah!" McBride was an immensely popular racing steward, a Eurasian property developer who had come to Hong Kong from Shanghai in '49. "Has he given you the winner? He'll know if anyone does."
"No, but he invited me to his box on Saturday. Are you racing?"
"Do you mind! I'll see you in the members' box—*I* don't cavort with the nobs!" They both watched the horses for a while. "Golden Lady looks good."
"They all do."
"Nothing on John Chen yet?"
"Nothing." Armstrong caught sight of Dunross in his binoculars, talking to some stewards. Not far away was the SI guard that Crosse had assigned to him. Roll on Friday, the policeman thought. The sooner we see those AMG files the better. He felt slightly sick and he could not decide if it was apprehension about the papers, or Sevrin, or if it was just fatigue. He began to reach for a cigarette—stopped. You don't need a smoke, he ordered himself. "You should give up smoking, Peter. It's very bad for you."
"Yes. Yes I should. How's it going with you?"
"No trouble. Which reminds me, Peter, the Old Man approved your trip around the border road. Day after tomorrow, Friday, 6:00 A.M. on the dot at Kowloon HQ. That all right?"
Peter Marlowe's heart leaped. At long last he could look into Mainland China, into the unknown. In all the borderland of the New Territories there was only one accessible lookout that tourists could use to see into China, but the hill was so far away you could not see much at all. Even with binoculars. "How terrific!" he said, elated. At Armstrong's suggestion he had written to the commissioner and applied for this permission. The border road meandered from shore to shore. It was forbidden to all traffic and all persons—except locals in certain areas. It ran in a wide stretch of no-man's-land between the Colony and China. Once a day it was patrolled under very controlled circumstances. The Hong Kong Government had no wish to rock any PRC boats.
"One condition, Peter: You don't mention it or talk about it for a year or so."
"My word on it."
Armstrong suppressed another yawn. "You'll be the only Yank who's ever gone along it, perhaps ever will."
"Terrific! Thanks."
"Why did you become a citizen?"
After a pause Peter Marlowe said, "I'm a writer. All my income comes from there, almost all of it. Now people are beginning to read what I write. Perhaps I'd like the right to criticise."
"Have you ever been to any Iron Curtain countries?"
"Oh yes. I went to Moscow in July for the film festival. One of the films I wrote was the American entry. Why?"
"Nothing," Armstrong said, remembering Bartlett's and Casey's Moscow franks. He smiled. "No reason."
"One good turn deserves another. I heard a buzz about Bartlett's guns."
"Oh?" Armstrong was instantly attentive. Peter Marlowe was very rare in Hong Kong inasmuch as he crossed social strata and was accepted as a friend by many normally hostile groups. "It's just talk probably but some friends have a theory—"Chinese friends?"
"Yes. They think the guns were a sample shipment, bound for one of our piratical Chinese citizens—at least, one with a history of smuggling—for shipment to one of the guerrilla bands operating in South Vietnam, called Viet Cong."
Armstrong grunted. "That's farfetched, Peter, Hong Kong's not the place to transit guns."
"Yes. But this shipment was special, the first, and it was asked for in a hurry and was to be delivered in a hurry. You've heard of Delta Force?"
"No," Armstrong said, staggered that Peter Marlowe had already heard of what Rosemont, CIA, had assured them in great secrecy was a very classified operation.
"I understand it's a group of specially trained U. S. combat soldiers, Robert, a special force who're operating in Vietnam in small units under the control of the American Technical Group, which's a cover name for the CIA. It seems they're succeeding so well that the Viet Cong need modern weapons fast and in great quantity and are prepared to pay handsomely. So these were rushed here on Bartlett's plane."
"Is he involved?"
"My friends doubt it," he said after a pause. "Anyway, the guns're U. S. Army issue, Robert, right? Well, once this shipment was approved, delivery in quantity was going to be easy."
"Oh, how?"
"The U. S. is going to supply the arms."
"What?"
"Sure. " Peter Marlowe's face settled. "It's really very simple: Say these Viet Cong guerrillas were provided in advance with all exact U. S. shipment dates, exact destinations, quantities and types of arms—small arms to rockets—when they arrived in Vietnam?"
"Christ!"
"Yes. You know Asia. A little h'eung yau here and there and constant hijacking'd be simple."
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