Jim Lauffer’s desk was one of the first to notice the build up of troops on the Sino-Viet border. Weather satellites and communications and broadcast satellites were enlisted in the task of keeping an eye on the contentious border. It was early morning when Jim saw the photos which had arrived in a brief late the night before. He looked through the 17 slides and made himself coffee before calling the NSA’s office in search of his friend Carson whom he learnt was otherwise engaged. Yeah, engaged in a trade negotiation with the Chinese. Trade, business and commerce, that was all America ever cared for anymore. It was not an evil but it had come to eclipse all other considerations. At 8 the rest of the office crawled to life. DDI walked in wrapped in a coat all the way to his ears. Lauffer saw him come in through the common corridor. Did these photos merit his direct attention? He went through the photos again. It could have been a joint exercise. While enemies at many points in their history the Chinese and Vietnamese had engaged in joint exercises before especially naval ones.
Prime Minister Nguyen Van Dinh had just been briefed by his military. The Generals had one thing to say, there was no way they could hold off the Chinese army for any length of time. He had a tough decision, fight and wait for the nations of the west to take an interest, or negotiate a surrender. Nowhere could he remember a surrender before a single shot was fired. He would go down in history as a coward. Or as one who spared the nation death and destruction. The Chinese complaint was thus. All the arms supplied to the rebels on the fringe of China had been traced to a trail that ended in Vietnam. They had accused and Vietnam had denied to no avail. The evidence was against them. The fact was they were conspirators after the fact, never taking an active part in the illicit trade but certainly aware and happy for the additional revenue the traders collaterally brought with them. This was the payback. Van Dinh had a last resort, and it wasn’t a very convincing one, turn to the source of the arms, finger the main players. The result would of course be as disastrous in that China would most certainly demand rights to use Vietnam as a base for her war against the perpetrators. That was tantamount to invasion. The alternative was invasion. The potential upside was that by raising the stakes the international community might take an interest and that might lead to a diplomatic solution. The case against: America’s good relations with China, the only country besides Japan that had a healthy economy, the fact that a jungle war was farthest from American purposes and that there was little gain saving Vietnam. To involve the entire region now looked like a viable alternative. Van Dinh retired to his office where a pack of Marlboros awaited him. He was a heavy smoker and the circumstances around him threatened to make him smoke himself into the ground before any Chinese soldier could get to him. Perhaps he should at least consult ASEAN. That was a good idea. Consult ASEAN. Publicly. Visibly. He summoned his VP by phone.
“We need to meet the ASEAN leaders. All of them. ASAP. Make sure it appears in the newspapers and on the news. Say that we invite the Leaders of ASEAN to an economic forum in two days.”
The Malaysian PM summoned his most trusted lieutenant, Tan Sri Abdullah. The invitation to Hanoi had come too hastily to be taken lightly. That and the fact that Malaysian intel had revealed some problems on the Sino-Viet front.
“Abdullah. I need your advice on a rather tricky issue.”
“Of course.” Abdullah took his place across the Chinese style table which looked entirely out of character in the Malay gentleman’s house. Everything seemed out of place, the Italian tiles, European modern architecture mated with Asian furniture. Abdullah already had a good idea what it was about.
“Our ASEAN joint venture has hit a bit of a snag.
“We could have been more prudent in our sales policy Mr. Prime Minister.”
Familiarity allowed Abdullah some liberties.
“I think we should hear Mr., Van Dinh out. Let us advise The Singaporean PM to attend. And the Thai of course. We will also need the Philippines and Indonesia at the table. For completeness.”
The Prime Minister was a wise man and he knew his Deputy Prime Minister to be a shrewd strategist. It was good advice he was getting and he knew it.
“How do we get the others to attend?” Abdullah asked baiting his PM.
“Leave that to me. Abdullah, you know very well the Deputy Prime Minister in Singapore don’t you?”
“Which. There are three.”
“David Quah.”
“We consulted on the rail connection project.”
“He has much influence in Singapore?”
“He is Deputy Prime Minister. He does have much influence.”
The first sentence had rendered the second ambiguous and the second the first pertinent.
Lauffer received the second set of pix at 1900 hrs. The pattern was disturbing. Activity on both sides had picked up as were the support units buildup. Also, deeper inside each country the supply lines were being set up including artillery and air support. The twenty two photos taken by the recon bird were clear as day. Lauffer noticed one thing. For a joint exercise, no side had crossed over to the other’s territory. Everyone was keeping to the border lines exactly. The Viets had a couple of recon aircraft in the air but they were patrolling well within their borders. Lauffer immediately called the DDI who was fortunately still in the office. Ordinarily he would have called the NSA who was his boss but this was an emergency. The Director came over to Lauffer’s desk to see the photos.
“What have you got Jim?”
“Photos of the Sino Viet border. Some activity and it looks bad.”
“Anything on CNN about this?”
“Nope. I think we are the first. Apart from the ASEAN countries’ intel. Last we heard was a meeting of ASEAN in Hanoi.”
“Maybe you should call Pat.” The Director said referring to Lauffer’s boss.
Daniel was making notes in the cold little room as the snow fell lightly outside. It was the second year in a row that snow fell in London. The information he had been given by Colin provided him with a vital opportunity. The accusation that ASEAN was producing arms for sale would interest Chan Boon Yang immensely, perhaps enough to trust Daniel with more. Daniel finished wording the secure email and sent it.
Have heard following hypothesis:
ASEAN is manufacturing weapons on large scale for export. Weapons exported via Thailand northwards and westwards. The trade in these weapons is secret, unknown to the UN.
Daniel intentionally omitted details from the message such as source and time to entice Chan. He saved the outgoing message into a secure mailbox and reached for Michelle’s diary and turned to a bookmarked page. She spoke of him.
He took me to dinner again to a Greek Restaurant on Charlotte Street. It was quite a nice restaurant, small, cozy nice wood panels and beams and pillars even. Food was OK. Is he interested in me? We’ve known each other for more than a year now and still I cannot tell. And Kevin keeps visiting. Such a tangled web we weave…
Daniel was awakened from his reverie by a bleeping of his computer. It was a CNN news flash. Brian Fields was reporting from Hanoi. The video showed the portly reporter standing in the street in Hanoi with soldiers on the street and armour in the background.
“At 0800 local time Hanoi, the reports came in that Chines tanks and troops crossed the border into Vietnam. While no official announcement has been made, a curfew has been called and the military are mobilizing everything they possibly can. The country is in a state of chaos and flights out of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city are full.”
The scene cut to Stephen Wien at the CNN centre in Atlanta who looked grave.
“Satellite photographs taken early this morning confirm reports that China has in fact invaded Vietnam. The reasons are unclear at the moment but we can confirm that Chinese troops and tanks are inside the Viet border. We now go to Dr. Patrick Ryan for a quick analysis…..”
Daniel quickly went to the text pages and searched for the text report. It was a short piece with not much in way of details. Obviously the story was so new there hadn’t been enough time to do an analytical piece on the situation.
When Richard answered the door he half expected Colin or Daniel given that CNN had just broken news of war between China and Vietnam. Instead he was greeted by Clara who had come over apparently to alert him to the breaking news. He invited her in and then went back to check the monitors which were displaying Asian stockmarkets. Only Australia and Japan were open and both had declined more than 8% already.
“The markets are getting fucked silly by this.” Richard said emphatically. Clara stood by watching over his shoulder the screens flashing red numbers.
“I can’t believe Vietnam is at war again. It seems they get no peace.”
“I wouldn’t worry about Vietnam. I’d worry why no bloody warning was given, no reason, not a sound. There was no trouble, no hint at all. You’d expect this to spawn from a territorial dispute or something but no. Absolute nada.”
“Richard. I know this is a bad time but I need to talk to you.” Clara said earnestly. Richard turned away from the monitors and gave her his attention.
“Please. Go ahead.” He urged.
“Remember FreeSpeech.com?”
“Yes. you were telling me in Oxford.”
“They tried to recruit me as a member.” She paused to see if he understood the implications and saw that he did not. “Members as opposed to the people who register for a login are like agents for it. An agent would actively collect information and have personal contact with the group.”
“They want you to be a member? To do some info collecting for them? What kind of information? Anything specific?”
“They’re interested in our countries. They think that there is a conspiracy in the government to suppress political aspirations outside the party.”
“Do you think their suspicions are justified?” Richard probed.
“Yes, but they are asking me too do a risky thing.” Clara objected.
“Then decline. You don’t have to do this and this sort of thing can escalate. Who runs FreeSpeech anyway?”
“Guy called Steven Loke. He’s the webmaster. The thing about the Internet is that it isn’t very transparent. There’s been a feeling among Asians abroad about what’s happening at home. It’s not just the China thing. It’s an ASEAN thing as well, like the region is melting down not just economically.”
“I hear you Clara. Will you work for FreeSpeech?”
“I don’t know. I’m holding off for now. How about you Rick? Whose side are you on?”
“I’m neutral. I don’t live in that part of the world and I carry a British passport so to me, if things get rough, all I’m interested in is getting friends and family who want out, out.”
“I have family at home.” Clara declared solemnly. “My parents will be no problem but my brother is a Reservist. He won’t be allowed to leave.”
There was a grave silence when neither knew what to say. Implicitly they had envisaged China’s conquest would not stop at Vietnam, not an unreasonable assumption but without grounds nevertheless.
“You never really care for a sibling until times like these.” Clara said with a nervous laugh that she hoped would ease her own fears.
“I don’t know. I haven’t got brothers or sisters. My sister died some years ago.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Clara said in earnest regret.
“I can get your brother out.” Richard said staring out the window as he did so almost ignoring Clara who looked intently at him. On the monitors, the headlines were scrolling fast and furious with news of Asia.
“He won’t ever be able to return though.” Richard warned.
“If that’s a serious offer I’ll ask him. You are serious?” Clara was surprisingly unfazed by his rather incredible offer.
“You’d better ask him.” Richard said.
“You do care about what happens don’t you?” Clara asked almost rhetorically. She felt she knew him and his purposes, that he was not another indifferent soul who had left Asia behind and obliterated the plight of the oppressed still trapped at home.
“No I don’t. Some people do but not me. Anyone who cared would have tried to change things. You cannot export the entire population.”
“No you can’t. That’s how I know you are a true patriot.”
Richard immediately felt that he was talking to a highly unstable, weird and off centre personality. He didn’t mind except that she was probably one of those self destructive types prone to draw plenty of collateral damage. That was dangerous. Clara left shortly after and Richard was left alone to contemplate the consequences of the Sino-Viet conflict that had so far drawn no official announcements by the Chinese. Hanoi had issued pleas for help and mediation but ASEAN was only capable of rhetoric. It was a bad enough idea to threaten a big guy let alone punch one. Richard also thought about his offer to help Clara get her family out and wondered if perhaps he had overstepped himself.
[ Have heard following hypothesis:
ASEAN is manufacturing weapons on large scale for export. Weapons exported via Thailand northwards and westwards. The trade in these weapons is secret, unknown to the UN. ]
Chan stared at the message from Daniel. He noted the brevity of the message and inferred that it had been written in haste. Why had Daniel volunteered the information? Could he have discovered the purposes of the program? He picked up the phone and dialed Daniel’s Passfield number where after a couple of confusing transfers he managed to reach Daniel who was in bed with his Game Theory notes trying hard to figure out the Nash equilibrium conditions under a fixed point theorem set up.
“I got your email. What is your source?” Chan asked directly.
“Lee Soon Lee. I met him at Oxford over the weekend. It was an MSS invitation. IS there any truth in his allegations?”
“He is a fugitive from the law and a convicted criminal. He has an axe to grind with our country. He would fabricate anything to achieve his goals.”
That defence was a little too half hearted and Chan knew it. For one thing, he had called Daniel immediately on receipt of the mail which meant that he believed it to be true, even though he didn’t know it to be true. Daniel was thinking the very same thing, reasoning that Chan would not have had the clearance to a project as high level as that and that his attention to Daniel’s email meant that he half believed it. It amused Daniel that Chan should have such poor faith in his own masters. Daniel’s silence spoke volumes as Chan groped for the words.
“Do you know where Lee is?”
“No.”
“How was he contacted?”
“Low Ping Shen, Oxford MSS member was the host. I guess he invited him. Do you know him? Or have friends in Oxford?” The mocking was barely apparent but it was there. Daniel had grown to regard Chan and all he stood for, the ones who stood behind him, the entire group, with utter and total distaste.
“Can you find out how to contact Lee? I want to speak to him myself. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try but it won’t be easy. They guy is paranoid as hell. By the way, do you have any news of Michelle?”
“No news. We think William Kong has her.”
It was the same line they had taken just after Michelle’s disappearance. Fortunately Daniel left it at that. The moment both parties hung up Daniel went to work. He called Colin who was waiting at Richard’s place and gave him the go ahead.
“OK Rick. In we go.” Colin said when he had rung off. Richard instructed V2 to infiltrate Chan’s PC careful to enter via the modem line just as mail was being received. That allowed the virus to cover its tracks more effectively.
“Hell of a time to be looking.” Richard commented. “Security will be twice as tight only we won’t be looking where they expect. If he communicates anything to anyone from his PC or house phone we’ll know of it.”
Chan was well aware of the gravity and implications of the allegations and he decided against at once informing his masters.
ASEAN’s options were limited. They knew that to support Vietnam militarily would be suicide an that to do nothing would risk Vietnam surrendering and that was not an outcome ASEAN favoured. The leaders of ASEAN knew very well why China had attacked, they just could not allow the rest of the world to know. The solution was a very unimaginative one: hold a joint military exercise. It was decided that the armies, navies and air forces of Singapore, Malaysia Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia would hold a joint military exercise on Thai soil and in the surrounding South China Sea. A very hasty mobilization of some reserve units and mostly active units was executed and within two days the navies of the respective nations were heading at full steam into the South China Sea around the Thai coast, a singularly risky manouevre considering that pockets of the territory were disputed by the both the PRC and the ROC. At 1900 gmt China issued a statement declaring the ASEAN military exercise an act of interference and intrusion. The US immediately called an emergency meeting of UN and urged restraint on the part of all involved. In the meantime the exercise went on as planned with extra care that China airspace and waters were not violated.
“Tricky game we play David.” Abdullah said over the secure handphone line. He was in a car moving in and out of Kuala Lumpur’s many Telecom cells and changing frequencies every time he did so.
“The solution lies elsewhere Abdullah. How is your boss? Is he handling the situation well?”
“Well enough. Is your passport up to date?” Abdullah roared with laughter much to the consternation of David Quah.
“Where is your sense of humour David? By the way David, have you heard from the group?”
“I have. Interesting developments. Could be useful in defusing the current situation but timing is of the essence. There are many unknowns still but things are shaping up.”
“I’ve heard from the group too. It seems the British police have been giving more attention than is due this matter. Any damage control you can do?”
“They think it’s a triad matter.” David assured Abdullah.
“I think you underestimate Scotland Yard. They have been investigating the girl as well. Apparently her computer had been remotely accessed and duplicated. A search warrant was issued for her hall room shortly before that.”
“Standard procedure no doubt. I wouldn’t worry.”
“Oh I don’t but perhaps you should.”
The Director of Intelligence decided that rather than have a chain of briefings where there would be some loss of information he would have Lauffer, who had detected the situation in the first place, deliver the briefing to the Executive. Lauffer himself was understandably nervous but accepted the offer anyway. He prepared his notes and waited outside the ops centre where the President preferred to be briefed, being a former spook himself.
“….these divisions were sitting here just outside the border. The Viets had their own units on their side. At first it looked like an exercise until for 24 hours we realized that neither side had crossed into the other’s territory as would have been the case in an exercise.”
“How early did we know this?” The President asked.
“24 hours before the actual attack.” Lauffer replied tentatively. He was unsure if this was all going to make him look very silly. Did he wait too long to inform the director?
“We know what we have on our hands. What are we going to do about it?” The President asked the group. Each man, he knew, had his own ideas and vested interests and together they were more dangerous than any external enemy. The President knew he needed a disinterested advisor but none was at hand.
Another dawn in the South Pacific and the red golden sun peeked above the water, spreading fire across it while the dark receded reluctantly into the shadows. The quietness of the scene was set against the symphony of sea against the sand and wind against the forest. The first birds took to the sky and the clouds began to shy. A hut stood some 200m from the shore and a girl emerged from the front door. She was dressed in a tank top and khaki shorts and carried with her a pair of binoculars. The girl walked lazily up the pier shielding her eyes as she did so. The sand beneath her feet was still cool from the night before and she relished the feeling of sinking each sole into it with every step. There was a short flight of wooden steps up to the pier and which she skipped up. The rising tide raged on beneath the wooden boards and the smell of the sea wafted through the planks. Babi Besar was a small island off the east coast of Malaysia, as far as she’d ever been from civilisation, and she was relieved to be far from civilisation as well. The pier was fairly long, about 30 metres out to sea and she walked slowly towards the end. It was off wooden construction and not entirely immune to the crushing waves. The further out she went the wobblier was the pier till at the end it seemed to sway ever so gently with each passing wave. Dawn beckoned on her right on
the horizon but elsewhere the dark clung to her refuge. She raised her binoculars to her eyes and pointed them north scanning the gradually lightening horizon. Then she saw it, a few mere dots on the horizon, the silhouette of ships. It was either the Malaysian or the Singaporean Navy en route to the staging area for the ASEAN military exercise. She guessed they were Malaysian Navy from their relative position. The Singapore navy would have taken a more easterly position outside the islands. The girl turned her back to the sea and retreated up the pier back to the beach where she took off her shorts, placed the binoculars carefully on the shorts and headed for the water. She ran through the splashing waves and threw herself out into the water feeling the cool sea wash over her as she headed out to sea. She was careful not to venture too far from shore but swam in a line parallel to the shore, swimming at a good pace and pushing herself. A few minutes later she turned around and headed back to where she had abandoned her stuff. The warm wind blew across the beach and cooled her wet body as she strolled to her things which lay on the beach. It was a welcome change in climate for she had always loved the warmth of the tropic sun.
The cold wind cut through Daniel’s coat as he walked briskly towards the Passfield door. Inside the heating made him remove his coat as he headed for G2, removing his gloves as he did so. Already a hot flush was coming over him as his internal heating systems lagged in adjusting to the temperature change. Richard was busy with a time series model for the UK economy under the hypothesis of Euro failure.
“Rick, I’ve downloaded the cache from Chan’s PC. You want to transfer it now?” Daniel asked as he hung his coat next to the wardrobe.
“I had it on automatic. The cache is here now. Do you want to go through it?”
“Sure. Right now is good.”
“Right now I have to go to school. Why don’t you stay here and work on it? I should be done by 1430 gmt.”
Richard picked up his notes and coat and stuffed the notes into the coat pocket.
“Have to go now. The cache is in the HP. In Drive 6. Have fun. Don’t lock yourself out.”
Richard tossed Daniel a key on his way out.
The cheese and wine party of the university arm of FreeSpeech.com was held at Imperial College at the South Kensington campus in the engineering block. It had been an exciting affair in that most of the members were South East Asian and at home the threat of war loomed dangerously while Vietnam attempted vainly to impede the progress of the Chinese Army. Already the government had fled Hanoi for the more secure Ho Chi Minh City. The mood while sombre throbbed with a seething expectation of change. No more was the grip of power by the governments of ASEAN as absolute as when her economies were flourishing and her place in Pacific politics robust.
Richard had attended as a guest of Clara who was a member of the FreeSpeech U of L. The party ended at 2300 hours and Clara and Richard made their way in the cold winter night to the car park where Rick had parked the Range Rover. Richard’s mind was far away with the conflict in Asia, wondering if the dream had truly unraveled in war. He was a bit surprised when Clara took his arm and he supposed it was the cold.
“A penny for your thoughts.” She said.
“They’re worth only a cent.” He smiled. Framed in the pale lamp light he realized that she was really quite attractive, but he kept his head and reminded himself that he hardly knew her.
“Well?”
“I was thinking of home.” Richard said as he took her arm as they crossed the deserted street.
“You still call it home. I thought you had abandoned it.”
“You can abandon the present but not the past.”
They came to the Range Rover and he opened the passenger door and helped her into the car then went to the other side and climbed in. He fired up the car and the automatic heating systems, part of the car’s climate control turned themselves on to warm the cabin. Outside several other cars were leaving as well and Richard had to wait for a Mondeo to pass before he could emerge into the lane. The Range rode silently towards Knightsbridge, the road an orange glow of reflected lights. There was almost no traffic on the roads save a few taxis and the odd car.
“Do you ever think of going back to Singapore?” Clara asked. Rick did not turn to face her.
“I have. I go back sometimes but not to Singapore. KL sometimes, Hong Kong mostly, on business.”
“You don’t miss home?”
“My parents still have a flat there but they mostly live here in London. Or Melbourne. My friends are still there on the island.” He turned to give her a smile, a weak rueful one as if in mitigation.
“How about you? You’ve spent many years here.”
“I will go back when this is over.” It was an ambiguous answer. Richard chose not to ask if she meant the course or the conflict in Vietnam. “Don’t you miss your friends?”
“I do.”
“You must be lonely.”
He couldn’t help but feel attracted to her. Perhaps it was seduction and perhaps not, but such was seduction.
“I have many friends here.” He answered with a bit of a sigh.
“I miss my friends. The ones I left behind. I don’t know if I’ll know them when I go back.”
“Friends always will be friends.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
That was as direct as ever a question could be and he was flattered at the interest she showed. Still something was missing. Perhaps it was that he lacked not love. But that love could never be reciprocated.
“I don’t. I hardly have the time to date.” It was a lame excuse but he suddenly felt that his singlehood was the result of his own incompetent handling of his feelings and his dealings with girls.
“I’m single too. And lonely and I wouldn’t mind spending the night.”
There was no mistake in what he heard and she said it confidently without hesitation.
“You could send me home right now I won’t feel bad. I mean, we’re old enough to be this direct right?”
He felt a hot flush come over him and an instant arousal. He knew very well that he would soon be a little less than rational but she was right. He was lonely and she was attractive. He didn’t have to turn to look to see her large expressive eyes and her strong chin, the correctness of her features and the delicateness of her slender neck.
“Maybe I was too forward. I’m not a slut or anything.” She was embarrassed at herself for propositioning him.
“I like you.” He said. “I want you to stay.”
She reached over and kissed him gently on the cheek. Everything was so awkward and unreal. There was no chemistry between them, only warmth and the need for a human touch they had not had in far too long. He pulled the car over at Regent Street and they both embraced and kissed. What began as a gentle kiss became a fiercely passionate one with tongues intruding and hands caressing. He felt her strong back through her clothes and began to kiss her neck making her arch back to expose more naked flesh for his hungry mouth. She put an arm around him and pressed him to her breast and he responded by kissing her collar bone just above a full and heaving breast.
“We’ll get arrested.” She said. “Your place or mine. I need you quick.”
They disengaged and he looked passionately at her before putting the Range back on the road and heading for International Hall. The journey was a quiet one and Richard drove as quickly as was safe and reasonable. He parked the car at an off street parking lot a few minutes from Clara’s Hall.
Once inside the room he grabbed her from behind and spun her around and they embraced. He could feel her warmth and sense her horniness. In her eyes was desire, to be loved and to love, to be taken up in animal lust and to be controlled and tamed as much as she would exert her control. They kissed fiercely his hands groping for her coat, dropping it to the floor and her fingers through his hair pulling him to her neck and breast.
“Rick. Why don’t we get comfortable? I’ll make the bed.” Clara said seductively.
“I’ll help.”
She turned the bed down then took off her jacket and sweater and went to clean her face. Rick in the meantime took of his trench-coat and hung it behind her room door. Then he went to the sink where she was washing and pressed himself against her back cupping her breasts with his hands. She looked up at him in the mirror with a radiant smile.
“If I start to love you, you won’t run away?” She asked in all innocence.
“I won’t run away.” He bent down and kissed her shoulder, biting the flesh there and sucking the skin, tasting the girl. Clara responded by stroking his arms and pressing up against his crotch. Her hair thrown back but with a few strands across her face made her look incredibly sexy and Richard could hardly control himself.
“Undress and go to bed. I’ll join you in a moment, OK?”
Richard obeyed as Clara dried her face and went to the door.
“I’ll be back in a minute, OK?”
Rick was used to sleeping in his jeans and slipped beneath the sheets without undressing first. He wondered what the hell he was doing in the bed of a girl he had known for only a week. Well he had seen her around for over a year so he supposed it was alright. In a minute she was back again and this time commanded him to get under the sheets and not look until she said so. He could hear her moving about, opening and closing the wardrobe, the rustle of clothes as she changed.
“You can look now.” She said and he emerged rather comically from beneath the sea of sheets. She stood before him in a white silk baby doll dress that barely covered her. She did a twirl for his benefit and came to the bed.
“You look wonderful.” He said as he encircled her waist with his arm and coaxed her onto the bed. “Good enough to eat.”
“She put her arms around him and wrestled him to the bed. They kissed and writhed and wrestled slowly for a while learning about each other’s bodies and slipping off his jeans and t shirt and ridiculous y fronts.
“How many girlfriends have you had?” Clara asked sitting on his tummy with his erect penis dangerously close to her butt, in fact snugly pressed between her buttocks.
“Four.”
“Inclusive of those you didn’t fuck?”
“Four.”
“How many did you fuck who were not your girlfriends. I have to question you carefully.” She said playfully.
“None.”
“A nun. You fucking pervert.” And then she laughed. “How about you Clara? How many men?”
“Four. Including you. I’m not a slut you know, no matter how this looks. I don’t fuck around.”
“I don’t care.”
The reply hit like a sledgehammer to a mirror of dreams. He hadn’t meant it to hurt but he could see the shock in her face. He felt bad and touched her face in reconciliation.
“What I meant…”
“It doesn’t matter. Perhaps it’s better that you not care.”
“Clara, I do care. I meant to say that it didn’t matter how many lovers you’ve had or if you fucked around. That’s in the past. What matters is now.”
“Richard, we’ve only just met. To fuck so soon makes me a slut and you a typical male.”
He didn’t know which hurt more but he drew her down and kissed her, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Richard, what if I cannot walk away after tonight? What if I feel and love?”
“We are lying naked in your bed. Its too late to avert the hurt now. We can a little if we get into our clothes and have some coffee instead.”
“Or a fag.” She laughed a little.
“Have you any on you?”
“You must be joking. I hardly have a scrap on me.” More giggles and he kissed her gently yet again.
“There’s a pack in my jeans.”
She reached for the garment on the floor and fished out his cigarettes and lit two handing him one.
“You’re still erect you fucking bastard.” She said.
They dragged on their cigarettes.
“This is the best sex I’ve had in a long time.” Clara remarked. “Best foreplay really.”
“It’ll get better as the night goes on.” Richard assured her as with one hand he touched her breast and began to massage it gently much to Clara’s delight. Richard dragged hard on his cigarette and bent forward a little signaling her to bend forward to meet him in a kiss. Once locked mouth to mouth he exhaled smoke into her mouth and she breathed deeply the toxic smoke. The little silk sliver Clara had to cover her breasts only served to heighten the sensation of Richard’s exploratory gropes and she arched back exposing sternum and blowing smoke vertically up into the room. Then she came forward again and supported herself above him on her arms.
“Smoking kills.” She said her lips hovering dangerously close to his. Smoke filled the space between them and blurred the view. He stubbed out the cigarette on the ash tray on the side table and then held her by her shoulders.
“I love you Richard. You can fuck me and go if you like but you ought to know.” The words were breathless and her breath short. He kissed her lips again and pulled her close and whispered in her ear.
“I want you.”
“This is going to be a painful night isn’t it?” Clara said breathlessly with a pained expression.
“I want you Clara. I just want to hold you so tight I fall into you.”
It was 1100 by the time Richard was on the street out side International and on his way to the Range Rover. The rain pelted him from above and the warmth of the room became a distant memory. He had just left behind in Clara’s room a sticky, sweaty, sexually satiated and exhausted girl under the warm and fluffy duvet. He walked towards the children’s playground where he had parked the Range the night before. As he approached the Range a blue Renault pulled up quickly and a man got out. He looked Chinese and addressed Richard by name.
“We need to speak Richard Chang.” The man said. Richard was busy trying to identify the driver of the blue Renault which had by now pulled away leaving the two men standing by the pavement next to the massive green Range Rover. Richard could see that the man was unarmed which meant he was probably more dangerous than a legion armed to the teeth. He opened the door to the Range and gestured to the other door, a signal that the man took by walking briskly to the other side of the car. They got in and Richard fired the car up.
“I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.” Richard said with an apologetic smile.
“That’s good Richard, lets keep it that way. Would you like to drive?”
“We can go up to Camden and beyond perhaps?
“Let’s. I know a good pub in Hampstead.”
At the pub in Hampstead. Richard and his self invited guest took a seat by the window looking out onto Hampstead High Street. To the rear of the pub and beyond was the Heath, a favourite refuge of Richard’s.
“You still haven’t told me who you are, sir.” Richard was understandably annoyed but he thought it best to accommodate his unarmed guest.
“My name is Chan. You can call me Chan. I work for people you never knew existed doing things you never knew could be done. That must have been quite a night with Clara. She is a friend of the FreeSpeech cause. It’s not going to stand her in good stead. Tell me Mr. Chang, may I call you Richard? Tell me, how well do you know Daniel Tan?”
“Daniel is a friend. Lives in the same hall, studies in the same school. What can I say? He’s straight and so am I, I suppose I can’t tell you much more than that.”
“The name Michelle Wong ring any bells?” Chan said between sips of malt whisky.
“Daniel’s girlfriend I think.” Richard said casually.
“Richard, You know her better than that. You helped her mother get out of Singapore when she had been held by the ISD.”
“Was she held by the ISD? I thought it was a criminal case. Nobody told me it was an ISA.”
Chan was aware that he had to give up something to get something and he knew he had to be careful. While seeking answers he had to be careful to reveal only as much as he had planned and no more. The ISD issue was a slip.
“You are a man of means Richard. Your employers are powerful. You’ve used them before to further your own goals. Tell me Richard, how did you do it this time?”
“Chan, you should know that as well as I do unless of course you want me to believe that you work for another agency which might be against the status quo and all that sort of rubbish. Let’s not play any games Mr. Chan. What do you want from me?”
Chan smiled at Richard’s candour. He also considered that he never really wanted anything from Richard except perhaps to face the adversary. So this was Daniel’s other resource, his other pillar of strength.
“You are in an enviable position Richard. You have a job many people would like to have, cars by the dozen, houses in every country.”
“All property of Sheerluck. I am a mere grunt.”
“You are too modest. You have chosen to help Daniel Tan in one of his personal exploits and now place your peace of mind at risk. Do you know the boy’s agenda Richard? How much has he told you?”
“He has told me some things; about a scholarship from the Public Service Commission, a mentoring scheme where he puts his trust in an appointed guardian in his far away place of study. An appointed guardian whom he is to trust and who trusts him. Do you represent Daniel’s best interests Mr. Chan?”
“I do. His best interest lie in his patriotism.”
“His personal exploits as you call were at his own initiation. He came to me for help. Instead of you. Why do you suppose he did that?”
“The girl went missing just as she was recovering in hospital. Who do you think would want to abduct her?”
“I haven’t the faintest. Perhaps she was tired of being a pawn and decided to leave.”
Chan chuckled and lit himself a cigarette.
“You are a respected economist, you have published papers on many mathematical subjects I couldn’t even begin to understand. And you work for Sheerluck as a grunt.” More laughter. “Mr. Chang. Your tenure at Sheerluck is a little bit more significant than mere grunt. First you arranged the escape of Madam Wong and then you kidnap the girl. I’d say you are far from the innocent academic that you make yourself out to be.”
“Is Daniel a pawn as well?”
“Daniel is a patriot. He will be treated as one and be given the full protection due to a citizen of Singapore. I understand you have given up your passport for a British one.”
“It is more convenient.”
“Not when you have to travel to watch football.”
“So. Who do you represent, Mr. Chan? Which diabolical agency of our beloved government?”
“I am neither friend nor foe, Richard. My part is as mentor to Daniel. He is my responsibility and he has embarked on a rather dangerous and ill advised quest. It’s my job to see that he comes to no harm. That girl you were with last night, however, is a little less innocent than you think.”
“I think I can say that you are absolutely right.” Richard replied quickly.
“Has she spoken to you about FreeSpeech?”
“Yes.” It was unclear which side the man was on but he certainly knew a lot about the student community and their petty plots. It must have come from his position as an overseas student contact.
“FreeSpeech are an insidious organisation, not above using some innocent to do their dirty work. That Clara Chan you were with? She has been a member of the group for the last 3 years and is quite senior in the ranks.”
“So what does the group do? Apart from being a place for malcontents to air their grouses.”
“The group is very secretive about its operations. The website you see is just a front. The meetings and local area parties they hold are merely social events to place their agents. Much like Clara was placed with you. Their actual agenda, I cannot say for certain.”
“So they may actually work for the government?”
“They may. Notice that the site is international and represents ASEAN more than just Singapore. There is a bigger picture that you are missing.”
“As a mentor to Daniel he doesn’t seem very impressed with you.”
“The young are predispositioned to rebellion. The circumstances were conducive to suspicion.”
“They still are Mr. Chan. You send several encrypted email messages to an unlisted number in Singapore. Every Monday and Wednesday. The same number and the same file size. Roughly. Sometimes you send on Saturday to the same number. You operate several bank accounts but one of them stands out, a Swiss numbered account in Zurich. You transfer funds automatically monthly into your Barclays bank account which you opened with the St James International Branch. The Swiss account is not small. It doesn’t even look like you have sole access. Looks more like a working account.”
Chan was surprised to say the least that Richard had knowledge of the Swiss account. Chan himself had suspected that the account was for a working group for he could only pay in or withdraw from it. No other details were available. As for the email encryption, Chan was unsure if the content had been intercepted and decoded as well but he had to assume so.
“The structure of politics in Singapore, indeed in ASEAN is not a simple as you suppose. Take Malaysia for example. Who do you suppose holds the reigns of power? The Prime Minister. Osman has many supporters and he is strong but there are many forces against him.”
“You have to forgive me, I have very poor knowledge of Asian politics. It’s too complicated for me. I do know, however, that you have been busy. Your interest in Michelle Wong is puzzling. Tell me why you are interested in her.”
“She too was an agent of FreeSpeech. I advised Daniel against the relationship but he was in love.”
“What did you do with Michelle?”
“Nothing. We are not thugs, Richard. We are agents if you will. We look after the interests of the country through looking after our human capital.”
“And what of human liability? Are they managed as well?”
“We are not sure who took Michelle Wong but it wasn’t us.”
“Who do you think?”
“FreeSpeech. Probably to rescue her from our interrogation.”
“What do you know about Michelle?”
“Everything there is to know. She is perfect for the role. Attractive, child of a single parent, broken home. Betrayal becomes her.”
“Who are her parents?” Richard knew than Chan knew. He just wanted to hear the lie.
“One parent you know, the other, nobody knows, but you have some idea don’t you? I myself have no idea but I think you will suppose I lie.”
“The man’s name is William Kong. I leave the rest for you to figure out. I suggest you do some homework Mr. Chan. Before you come and see me again.”
Chan smiled apologetically to Richard.
“Tread lightly Mr. Chang. We will speak again.”
Chan got up and left some money on the table then strolled out of the pub into the dreary winter’s day. Richard was left to contemplate the conversation with Chan. He had seen a face of the enemy and it was a friendly and disarming one. Not that Richard expected a diabolical fiend. The meet had given him a couple of new leads as well. For one it had given him the impetus to investigate FreeSpeech further. He had a way in as well. Richard called Clara’s room and was surprised to find her still in the room.
“Clara. I thought I’d try your room phone. Sleeping in late?”
“Yes. It was a rough night.” She laughed. Hui Lin stirred from her sleep and looked up to see who was talking.
“Lin is still here sleeping. Actually she just got up.” Clara elaborated pulling the sheets over Lin’s naked back and then caressing her cheek with her free hand. “Would you like to speak to her?”
“I’ll speak to her later. Can you come over to my place tonight? Say after dinner? Come alone though.”
“I’ll be there.” Clara confirmed.
The Millenium Depression as it was dubbed had its roots in the Asian recession of the late nineties. The economies of the west which had spent the early half of the nineties in recession and then boomed into the latter half had slowed considerably much to the surprise of governments and market practitioners who had largely expected a new era of western domination over the east. And certainly, being there in the late nineties one would have been inclined to believe the consensus. How quickly fate turns on a point.
The picture was more grim than the reality of course. While traditional modes of commerce waned a new form of business was taking shape. The internet. Once the playground of the computer literate, the internet came to be used by all, just like a telephone. Massive volumes of business was slowly diverted by design or circumstance onto the internet and much of it was unaudited and slipped unnoticed by national income accounting. So while the numbers indicated a worldwide recession, the truth was that in certain countries the numbers overstated the problems. In countries where technology lagged the rest of the world, the numbers spoke painfully.
Malaysia, once a booming economy regarded as the strongest and most robust in ASEAN had become a shell of her former self. Into the booming years of the early nineties Malaysia embarked on a series of ambitious projects including several world firsts. These projects which drained much investment would later fall into under-use or worse disuse. The capital Kuala Lumpur, once a bustling city noted for traffic jams of several hours had changed little but for her vehicular demographics. No longer were the streets clogged with luxury cars from Japan or Germany, the roads were now mostly filled with trucks and commercial vehicles, the local car and most of all in swarming proportions, scooters and motorcycles. Kuala Lumpur had taken on the air of a Ho Chi Minh City.
The politics of the day was also intriguing. Throughout the Asian recession the Prime Minister Mahmud Mohammed had been adamant, claiming that the entire collapse of Asia was a western conspiracy, an effort at economic colonization. It was a view shared by many people but certainly not the majority who regarded the aging leader as a fool. Perhaps history would be kinder to the man on hindsight as perhaps he was not entirely mistaken. Certainly the west had played a part in the downfall of Asia, intentional or otherwise. Mahmud’s right hand at the time was Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Zain, an ardent supporter of his mentor the PM despite rumours of his own ambitions. The truth was that three men controlled the country. Neither was above the other but one was spokesman. The third man who was widely believed to be a prominent local Malay businessman would only emerge after the resignation in disgrace of Mahmud Mohammed. The PM it was deemed had become senile and unable to perform his duties after his efforts to rescue the economy within his promised 1 year failed to materialise. In the interim, a new PM was elevated above the DPM and the third man in a surprise move by the party old guard. The man they chose was one Mohammed Osman, a member of the extremist youth movement in his younger days. This man would move to repair the then deteriorating relations with their island neighbour Singapore.
In Singapore relations with Malaysia deteriorated as the recession progressed because of Singapore’s relative resilience in the face of adversity. The truth was that the situation was just as bad if not worse, but that the media and the disinformation was more efficient in creating the illusion of resilience. The country was in dire straits right with the rest of ASEAN. The political situation there was less intriguing but only for the lack of information to the people or indeed to foreign media. The aging Don, President Lee Kong Cheng, held the reigns of power through his old friend the Prime Minister Donald Lee. There were as many rumours there as in Malaysia regarding splits in the ruling party and hidden agendas, secret plots and the like. Singapore, however, weathered the rumours and gave little credence to them.
In Singapore the primary concern of the man on the street was property. In the late eighties the prices of property rose at an alarming rate creating opportunities for speculators and creating a huge ballooning of wealth. As a result the ownership of property became the preoccupation of the people. As the economy began to slip into recession, property prices began a peak and then painfully decline with many a false recovery. Most painful were the attempts to predict the bottom and capitalize on that for the end was not near but a long way off, and so certain they were in their own ability and in the ability of those who led them that hope prolonged the last stand instead of a more well advised retreat as had taken place in the neighboring countries. The old adage was true, the greater they are, the harder they fall, for Singapore had been great, albeit unsubstantiatedly so, great in her meteoric rise and in the magnitude of her successes, not in the robustness of that growth. Robustness was an oft unappreciated and mostly misunderstood concept in the well being of a country and her people. Often thought to be a number meaning high economic growth, which meant strong growth really and not robust growth, robustness was the property of resilience to deviations from the ideal, resilience to mistakes, to anomalies that required correcting. Asia was an area of strong growth but by no means was the growth ever robust. America would go the same way followed by the UK leaving Europe hanging by a thread and alone against the spectre of depression. The key to the problem lay in Japan and China.
As demand and employment tailed off even in Europe, even before some European countries like Germany or France had recovered, the hope of the global economy lay with Japan primarily and then with a closed and localised China. Japan had begun her recovery on the domestic side as early as a year before the Millenium. China, however, was slipping into a dangerous recession it had not anticipated. The Chinese economy, however, was very much closed and her currency allowed her to insulate herself from the recession without. So much for China. Japan, which in the late nineties had been criticized for policy inaction, stupid corporate policy and a generally inefficient economy, was just turning around, not so much because of changes in policy, which in all honesty had changed to be rather drastically expansionary and largely what had been prescribed albeit a little late and panicky, but because the bulk of corporate Japan had given up on the ethic that had made Japan great through the last 30 years. They had ‘gone American’ as the corporate leaders liked to say. It was indeed embarrassing for the government to have the nation succeed in spite of them and a major political upheaval took place at the Millenium.
Japan’s recovery was looked at with much hope and anticipation. Would they generate sufficient critical mass to pull America and Europe out of their slowdown which until the Millenium had been a mild one, as engineered by the respective Central Bankers who had recognised the inevitability of recession? Or would the weak global demand stall too soon the long awaited Japanese recovery? A non economic externality would destroy hopes for a global recovery. India and Pakistan decide to engage in a shooting war with both countries brandishing nuclear weapons. Within a year, Kazakhstan was testing her own nuclear capabilities and China began to object in an ominous way. So much for the great global recovery. While the India Pakistan war tailed of into a collection of minor skirmishes, tension in between China and her peripheral states began to mount. Unfortunately the tension grew into minor disputes and the almost overnight there was a sort of shooting war, only one couldn’t call it a war. From being mere bandits, the rebels in the peripheral states grew in military power and political resolve. A new war was in progress, a war unseen by he rest of the world, suspected by the Intelligence Agencies of the Western Powers but never officially acknowledged by the Chinese government.
Thus stood the world in 2001 as described by Professor Watkins in a speech to the students and staff at the LSE one cold winter’s Monday. He went on to speak about the new terrorists. Such was Harold Watkins’ rambling style that captured the attention of laymen and academics alike. He was public media friendly. Daniel and Richard sat in the back row of the Old Theatre listening to the old man ramble on. Daniel was listening intently.
‘The new terrorists are of the electronic variety. Their weapons are not guns and bombs but instead the threat to a nation’s computer system. It’s just as damaging if not more so, and it makes for an easy getaway. Look at Hong Kong 1998. The ransom was US$ 2 billion. Paid without question swiftly and in full trust of the terrorist. Whoever he or she was, the person had shut down the computer systems of the Hong Kong International Airport, or CLK as it is known locally. You couldn’t even buy a sandwich during the downtime. An ultimatum was delivered and the money was paid quickly and without hesitation into a numbered bank account in the BVI which was designed with a life span barely sufficient for the incoming funds to disappear once again. Never caught he was. It was the first ever instance of a computer terrorist. The post mortem discovered little about the chap but much about the method. Most systems in the world today are much more secure but then in 1998 it was as easy as a password away. No trace was ever found. Such are the risks we run when we entrust our entire property and identity to a machine….’
The memory was as clear and fresh as if it had been but days before but in truth it had been years. Many long ones of wondering where fate would bring him. Richard was not listening to the speech at all but deep in his own memories, wandering the corridors of his own history. There was a time he could hardly afford lunch in this town. He had come as a student, financed by uncles and aunts, able to afford little beyond school fees and hall fees. Then trouble struck at home and finance quickly dried up. He had sat here in this same Theatre and shared its fortunes. Once a dilapidated theatre with torn and frayed seat covers it was now a beautiful and opulent room. Just as torn and tattered he had sat with the chairs. That was when he was working on the Machine Learning Growth algorithm. It was not anything to do with his course at the time but was a project he had adopted when he attended lectures at Imperial College across town. The subject interested him and he went on with it unknown to anyone. In 1995 the breakthrough came just a year after he had embarked on the quest. For reasons of his own he would not publish until 1997.
His mind wandered to the summer of 1994 where a stock market crash had rendered the family penniless and unable to finance his studies abroad any longer. It was Colin Choo who came to the rescue with what little money his parents gave him. It was a lot for one but nothing much to be shared between two. Still he shared it generously. Richard vowed he would need the charity of others ever again. Several miles East of Heathrow, somewhere in Hounslow, he sat in a café sipping coffee and glancing through a copy of the Evening Standard that had traveled with him all the way from Holborn. The Mall was reasonably full for a Friday afternoon and Richard watched with interest the activity in the Swatch Shop just across the hall from the café. He glanced at his watch which read 1603 hrs and decided it was time to go. A friend was arriving on BA 6 from Kuala Lumpur and he was there to meet her. His only baggage was a notebook PC which he slung over his shoulder. Richard finished his drink and headed back to the tube station. Heathrow was only minutes away.
At exactly 1630 hrs Heathrow experienced the most catastrophic power loss in its operating history. Catastrophic because all systems went off line, air traffic control in particular. Back up power was similarly disabled. Five minutes in all during which time all aircraft continued to land and takeoff as usual. From the point of view of any of the 30 or so aircraft taking off or landing at the time, nothing was wrong. It came as a shock to many when the lights went off at Heathrow. Richard himself was on a conveyor belt when the damn thing just lost power and glided to a halt. All the lights went of as well leaving Richard to continue his journey under his own power and in darkness. Those around him only stood and stared or looked confused and became ineffective.
No, thought Richard as Professor Watkins droned on, Hong Kong International was not the first.
The conference ended with the usual pointless embellishment and the crowds bled from the Old Theatre, streaming out onto Houghton Street. The cold blast hit Daniel like a brick of ice and his face reddened in reaction. Richard pulled his coat up to his ears as he dragged on a much awaited cigarette. In the crowds he could see young minds envisaging a future even they could not see. Young minds, fertile with the fate of the future, young, rebellious, unkempt and disheveled visions of the future.
“Daniel, have you finished with Chan’s data?”
“All done. Show you tonight.” He could hardly speak steadily in the cold.
“Alright. I’ll see you in the bar? Colin will be there.”
Daniel made his way back up to Holborn passing by The Old Curiosity Shop. Once reduced to a tourist souvenir shop with dwindling business it had been saved from the brink of closure by some mad entrepreneur, some budding Branson or aspiring Al Fayed. Today it was as it was in the early nineties, a tourist souvenir shop with dwindling business. Daniel wondered about the psychology of the entrepreneur and reasoned that in this case the effort was a futile one. He had to admit to himself that he had never been inside in all the 3 years and change that he had been in London. The route he took brought him north bound from Lincoln’s Inn Fields to Holborn then by a Karaoke pub and a wool shop. Red Lion Square stood to his right as he made his way past a row of clothes shops. 50 quid for a raincoat. 99 quid for a suit. He had never seen prices like that. A fruit shop caught his eye. He had always taken the main road, Southampton Row and never the side streets and to him it was a novel experience. Strawberries at 99 p a punnet. He felt tempted to get some but realised that he had no one to share it with. Onward to Red Lion Square. As Daniel set foot on the asphalt a blue Mercedes S class screeched to a halt almost mowing him down. In shock he threw himself backwards and managed to maintain his balance. The car did manage to throw half a puddle onto his trouser legs and he cursed at the driver of the car. Much to Daniel’s surprise the front passenger opened his door and got out. It was a big oriental gent with a what at first sight looked like a gun.
“Get in.” The burly man ordered as the rear door of the blue Mercedes swung open. Daniel was not about to argue with a gun with a silencer and climbed quickly into the back of the car. There was someone inside, a middle aged gentleman with grey hair in a three piece suit. He looked elegant and rich. At least that was the first impression Daniel got. The gunman concealed the weapon in his jacket, slammed shut the door and the car was off in a hurry deeper into the West End.
“Who are you people?” Daniel asked calmly as he slipped his hand into his coat pocket and auto dialed his own PC’s answering service. Unanswered calls would trigger the recording feature which in his case used a mini disk and could store several hours worth of voice.
“Don’t ask what you know we cannot tell. We have been watching you, your progress. We were almost afraid you would not get this far.” The man turned his grandfatherly gaze on the young man. If ever there was a more harmless looking chap this was not he. There was a certain menace in his cool calm and quiet demeanor. “You have been looking in the right places boy, but you’ve missed the point. Mr. Chan is a good friend and mentor is he not?”
“He is my contact in London.”
“Yet you have taken an interest in his affairs that are not your business. The girl is still alive.”
The elderly gentleman could see that Daniel was practicing his tradecraft competently keeping his eyes on the road as well as on the goings on in the car. He smiled to himself. That was not part of the curriculum though perhaps it would be a good idea to include it.
“You mean Michelle. You have her.”
“We know where she is. You can save her.”
“Tell me how.” Daniel remained dead calm throughout. His thoughts were racing. Who was this man? Who was he working for? He knew Chan but was he similarly aligned? And Michelle?
“Your mentor can help you but he has his limitations. And enemies. The girl is safe and needs not your attention. Ask why anyone would want to harm her. Consider carefully why.”
Why would anyone want to hurt Michelle? William Kong of course.
“Her father is William Kong.” Daniel said awaiting a response. He got one but it wasn’t the one he expected.
“Yes. Unfortunate coincidence isn’t it? The answers to your questions lie with your mentor but he is but a nexus. Question his motives. Who gives the orders? There is much to learn young man, and you haven’t got much time. The Chinese march ever further south with every wrong turn you make, every hour you waste. Chan’s activities have to be paid for Daniel.”
The Mercedes circled around Sloane Square a couple of times and the slowed to a halt behind Sloane Square Station.
“You are a slippery one Daniel.” The gentleman said pulling out a gun with a silencer attached and leveling it at Daniel’s hip. “Your mobile phone. Please turn it off. It was a good idea though.”
Daniel extracted the offending telephone and terminated the call.
“Thank you. Now we can proceed with business.”
The Mercedes proceeded south towards Victoria and it became clear that there was no pattern or purpose to the route that they were taking.
“Nice car for a civil servant.” Daniel remarked but the gentleman ignored him altogether.
“Mr. Chan is looking for the girl. He has been for some time.”
“Mr. Chan has been looking for William Kong for the longest time. The girl was just a means to an end. A pawn.”
“Why does Mr. Chan want Mr. Kong? Have you thought of that?”
“William Kong is part of an Asian conspiracy. They seek to silence him to keep their activities secret. I believe that Kong knew of the information network that keeps tabs on students abroad, perhaps in more detail than we do.”
“Find out what exactly Kong knows and what Chan knows. I think you will find Mr. Chan an interesting subject. When you have done that we will come to you for the answers. I’ll be as honest as I can with you Daniel, we represent businessmen in Asia who work for the greater good. True the organization is secret and illegal in most of the Asian countries in which we have interests, but we seek to break the stranglehold of power that the Asian leaders have held for so long. We are dangerous people and we are serious people, not above arranging disappearances where necessary. Our interests are entirely mercenary and as long as the current imperfect systems are in place the future of Asia is bleak. Break the stranglehold and soon the market will exert its influence. The death of the aging Indonesian leader was no accident, neither the son of the head of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Our influence is extensive and you cannot hide from us. Work with us Daniel and we will disappear. Work against us and you will disappear. But remember this. We are here and we have always been. In Asia nothing happens by accident and nothing happens without our knowledge or sanction.”
“How very apt. A clandestine group for the improvement of transparency in Asia. I suppose you support democracy as well.”
“Only because it is the most profitable system to work under. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, young man. Asia has been riddled with the networks of the incumbents, placed there to ensure the perpetuity of their myopic little dynasties. Clandestine and insidious. We too are covert and we too work to our own advantage. All people do. But the consequences of our actions are democracy and transparency, a fair market and a fair political system. True, our methods are against the spirit of what we hope to achieve but would you rather the status quo? Not an easy choice is it, Daniel?”
“You are not the only alternative.”
“Quite, but we welcome any alternative. What could be more innocuous?”
The gentleman pulled out a cigarette case and extracted two cigarettes offering one to Daniel.
“Give us democracy, give us transparency and an end to favoritism and nepotism and we will go away. The world as we know it is not ideal Daniel, and because of that we are here. We want a perfect world because we thrive in it, not because we are some idealistic group of adolescents crying freedom. In a strange way it is in your interests to help us, just as it is in ours to help you. If you feel that this symbiosis contradicts your principles, by all means, walk away. You would have taken a step away from your own ideals.”
“To do a great right, do a little wrong?” Daniel wondered aloud.
“Young man, do not pretend to be sympathetic to our cause. Work with us and when the game is done you will find us gone. That is all I can offer you. Walk away and we will find others. Work against us and we will silence you. For now, investigate your masters.”
The Mercedes pulled up to Red Lion Square and stopped in front of the fruit shop. The gentleman motioned for Daniel to get out of the car and Daniel moved to open the door.
“How will I find you? Oh let me guess. You’ll find me. How trite.”
A traffic cop came up to the car and motioned the driver to move along. Daniel got out of the car and watched as the car turned right into the road that ran around the square all the way to where it disappeared around the trees. He was troubled. Here was a proposition that was not refusable not for the threat but for the logic of it. The wind rose and Daniel resumed his walk back to the hall that had been so rudely interrupted an hour ago.
The look Stavros gave Daniel when he walked through the door at Passfield was a grave one and Daniel gave him a puzzled look.
“Daniel, some shit happen today while you were out.”
“What shit?”
“Mrs. Singhe is dead.”
“Shit.”
“Died in your room.”
“What?” Daniel peeled of his coat and approached Stavros’ counter. “How the fuck did that happen?”
“Electrocuted cleaning your table.”
“Cleaning my table?”
“Your PC.”
“The cleaners never touch the PCs.”
“Police are still upstairs.” Stavros came out from behind the reception. “I’ll take you up.”
The two men made their way up to the third floor and to the end of the corridor where a bobby was guarding the door.
“This is the resident.” Stavros explained to the bobby who motioned them to wait outside while he got the investigating officer.
“Mr. Tan? I’m Detective Smith.” A tall greying gent with an arthritic gait waddled out of the room to greet them.
“How did this happen?” Daniel asked.
“Your PC was rigged. It was the table that did her in. See, a PC is mostly plastic.”
“Rigged?”
“Live wire taped to the computer table.”
Daniel suppressed his shock and tried to appear collected.
“Any idea how that may have happened Mr. Tan?”
“Absolutely not.”
“We have to ask you for a statement. No liability on your part you understand, just a formality and of course you have to acknowledge, you have enemies. Can you come down to the station? Just on Tottenham Court Road.”
“I think we all agree what Mr. Chan’s agenda is.” Colin spoke. “From his correspondence we know that he reports to a Singapore number. We have the text of his messages and they are incriminating. This man is an outright spy for the government.”
“He’s a spy alright. For whom is till unclear.” Richard challenged.
“Why do you say that?” Colin was under the impression that it was self evident who the man represented.
“Nothing. It’s just that the facts do not immediately implicate the government.”
Daniel sat by silently listening to the two men, not really paying attention but simply sucking on his cigarette.
Colin called up the report on the PC.
“He draws money regularly from a Swiss bank account, an HSBC one. We know the money came from a Singapore branch of a German bank. In 1987 a total of 12 million USD was credited to the account. The balance stands now at 11 million and change. We have withdrawals from other parties situated in the US, in Australia, in the UK. First glance I count 8 different identities. The payments come from different sources as well. All from Asia.”
“Where did the money originally come from? Taking the thread all the way back to source I mean.” Richard asked.
“We couldn’t trace all of them so we worked with the most frequent payee. Trace goes all the way back to a private limited company. Song Ching Haw Plumbing Sdn Bhd. Paid up 100,000 MYR. A joke really.”
“Malaysian. Directors?”
Colin called up a list of names on the PC which meant little to either of them.
“Run a check. Anything. Other directorships, residences, what they drive, family, wives particulars, kid’s schools, anything.”
“What if Chan really doesn’t work for the government?” Daniel said breaking his long silence. “What if he is part of something else? Are we entertaining the idea that there are other parties at work?”
The question was directed primarily at Richard.
“That is a possibility.” Richard replied directly to Daniel. The death of the cleaning lady may have shaken Daniel up but Richard felt that there was something else troubling their young friend.
“So even if Chan does work for the government it is still possible that a third interested party exists.”
“What’s all this about Chan not working for the government.” Colin asked missing the point that Richard and Daniel had been carefully toying with.
“It’s a possibility that’s all.” Richard brushed the issue aside hoping to take it up with Daniel later privately.
It was later in the evening in the basement bar that Daniel and Richard were alone and able to speak more casually and candidly. As the night drew on and the smoke got thicker and the alcohol concentrations higher, the Passfield bar took on that intoxicating atmosphere of unreality. Richard himself had decided not to drink, not that he usually did. In the gaming room adjacent to the bar the strains of Hotel California wafted into the room. Some chap was obviously taking it easy and Daniel who was slumped comfortably in the sofa fired up another Marlboro. These were hard times for all of the world and students felt it just as much. For Daniel who had all his life lived comfortably but without much money he saw opportunity and a time for change. The one thing that weighed heavy in his mind was his scholarship the demands of which were slowly being revealed to him. They may not have been in the contract but they were binding all the same. He wondered what it was like to be rich like Richard and he wondered why Richard lived the way he did. A rich man would have moved the hell out of a students hostel and settled in Chelsea or Belgravia.
“Have you always been rich Rick?” Daniel spoke from behind a cloud of smoke. The breaking of the long silence woke Richard from his dreaming. Coincidentally his thoughts had been about his own humble beginnings.
“No. I used to be flat broke and hungry. It was really awful.”
It was mostly the fear and the desperation. Waking in the mornings unable to see more than the day ahead.
“I thought you were always rich.”
“I’m not rich now.”
“Richer than most. How did you do it?”
“Hard work and luck.” It was the truth he told.
“Can you be more specific? When did you make your money.”
“It was a few years ago. I was working on adaptive algorithms, learning algorithms.”
“The Oxford paper. I’ve read it.”
Daniel felt a sense of belonging in his ability to comprehend the complexities of the paper and strangely Richard felt flattered that anyone would ask. He pulled out a pen and some paper from his coat which had been lying draped across the seat back.
“It was an incredibly simple and powerful idea.” Richard scribbled some equations on the paper, not anything explanatory but a setting up of the problem with definitions. He wrote down the general function without details.
“That’s not the learning function is it?”
“It is. Its complicated in detail but simple in concept. You’ve read the paper?” Richard sought confirmation and Daniel nodded.
“This function is the ultimate result but the learning is done here.” Further scribblings.
“How did you make money out of this?” Daniel asked intrigued.
“I created an adaptive anti-virus. No need for a library like all the anti-viruses of the day. It’s a top seller and the license with Tokyo Software Solutions made me a bit. Been living off that for the longest time. I still get royalties. Then this Sheerluck job came along. Doesn’t pay much but it’s a great position. And the perks are great. We get to use the Rolls Royce and some of the residences.”
“Do you know who the backers of Sheerluck are?”
“No. Nobody does. Sheerluck was set up by a group of wealthy individuals who believed that the market would not invest sufficiently in long term research. They sought to use Sheerluck as a vehicle for channeling investment into economically unviable projects while financing them out of economically viable projects. It also operates that big charity trust.”
“Aren’t you curious about who the directors are?” Daniel asked. In his mind his suspicions were aroused. What exactly was Sheerluck and what were it’s true motives?
William Kong was safe in his Holland Park safe house and talking to a couple of his old buddies he used to work with in Hong Kong. It seemed everyone had moved out of HK after the hand-over. Only legitimate business stayed in HK. The China based gangs had overrun the once colony and the violence level had gone up substantially. Those gangs knew nothing about doing real business but rather spent their time politicking and infighting. Shootings were a dime a dozen and the police were either powerless or party to the crimes. Legitimate business stayed but they were beginning to reconsider their decision. Though Cantonese the men spoke in Hakka. William Kong spoke about the safety of his family and his plans to have them move down from Manchester to join him. He needed a few trusted men as bodyguards and also a source of income. The bosses in Manchester had put in a polite request to the London bosses to allow Kong to buy a casino from them, a small one which would not interfere with the broader plans of the community. It was agreed upon and the men in the room would help him move smoothly into the business. In Singapore Kong was William Kong, here in London while respected and feared he was just an outsider recently come in. It didn’t matter really as he was set for retirement. All he cared about was the welfare of his family whom he had provided well for and in all probability would never need to work a single day in their lives. Kong lamented the fact that he had been feared rather than respected all his life. To be loved was everything, he thought. When he had spoken to the men they left quickly to carry out his instructions and then he was alone again but for the four men guarding the house and he remembered a woman from the past when he was younger and knew what it was to love. He wondered where she was and realised that in all probability he would never see her again as he had lost track of her years ago and had not the means to find her. Awakening from his daydreaming Kong had work to do. He went to his desk, opened the briefcase that was sitting on it and retrieved a checque book. He made out a check of US$ 200,000 to Michelle Wong, put it in an envelope and addressed it to a Malaysian address.
The Sino Viet conflict had raged for months with the Chinese winning a war of attrition. While the Chinese army was a vastly greater force they learnt much as the Americans had in the sixties and seventies that the Vietnamese turned out to be a tougher adversary than expected. The surrounding countries of ASEAN though refraining from supplying men or arms did supply food and medical supplies, fuel and other supplies to sustain the Vietnamese effort. All through the conflict, CNN was there as it was in any global conflict, reporting the news and keeping the CIA well informed. One news clip featured prominently in a report on the Vietnamese defiance to the larger aggressor. The location was unknown to anyone except the CNN reporter and his crew and anyone that CNN decided to confide in. It was the destruction of several Chinese Army tanks.
In the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, an emergency meeting was called for representatives from the governments of Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. They assembled at a Mediterranean style Villa in the heart of Bangsar, a mansion that was hidden from all eyes by walls of trees and foliage. The only way to see it was from the air. At 1200 hrs on a hot muggy Tuesday afternoon, just six hours after the first Asian airing of the news clip, 4 black Aerospatiales descended onto the lawn of the villa.
The representatives were all but mouthpieces for their governments for they were nameless and featured nowhere in the media. These were the grey suited negotiators and spokesmen of the ASEAN governments who represented them when anonymity was necessary. Inside the villa the men filed into a large boardroom and took their seats not at the centre table but at a smaller side table overlooking a pool. A woman and two children were swimming in the hot afternoon sun. Inside, the table had been set with drinks and there were no maids or waiters to interrupt the meeting.
It was Singapore who spoke first.
“No doubt, you are all wondering why Fieldstone called this meeting.”
So it was Fieldstone that called the meeting. It must have been something technical or commercial. Their assumptions were wrong.
“I take it you have all seen the CNN news clip in which several Chinese tanks were destroyed by Viet forces.”
Nods all round. They had to have. It was part of their pre-meeting instructions.
“The weapon appears to be a multiple warhead short range missile with fire and forget and evasion. The Vietnamese do not have this technology. I fear the weapon in the clip is in fact an MSSS 20.”
“That is impossible.” Thailand stated.
“There is a possibility.” Singapore went on. “We are fairly confident that none of us would willfully supply Vietnam with weapons of this nature. St. Petersburg, however, is a free market and quite beyond our range of control.”
“Can we find out where the merchandise is going. All the way to the end user.” Malaysia suggested.
“We could, except that one of the reasons our merchandise is so saleable is that nobody knows where they come from and nobody asks where they go.” Singapore answered.
“Is this a time to place commercial concerns above security?” Malaysia questioned.
“The network was designed for anonymous distribution. We would have to initiate coverage of our own operations to discover final destinations. I fear we have not the means to effect this discreetly or indeed at all. Suggestions?”
There was silence in the room.
S L Lee to speak on the state of the Asian economy and the implications for global recovery. Daniel saw the poster tacked to the notice board on the 3rd floor economics department notice board. 2.45 p.m. Wednesday at the New Theatre in the East building. The talk was entitled cryptically ‘The Asian Conspiracy.’ Daniel hurried took note of the time and venue and rushed off down the stairs. He was too impatient to wait for the lifts. Through the glass doors on the ground floor the cold wind hit Daniel square in the face and chilled him to the bone almost immediately. He made his way up to Southampton Row via Lincoln’s Inn Fields past the dismal looking asphalt tennis courts. His eyes scanned the parking lots for a green Rover 4 and he saw one parked across from the square. Daniel walked up to it and recognised the driver inside. He got up to the passenger door, opened it and climbed in.
“Daniel. How have you been?”
Chan Boon Yang had been waiting for the last half hour for Daniel. He shut down his notebook PC and folded it up for stowage.
“OK. I have news for you. Your SL Lee is giving a speech at the school this Wednesday at 2.45 p.m. Interested?”
“Yes. Can I just walk in?”
Daniel lit himself a cigarette much to the disapproval of Chan.
“Meet me here, I’ll get you in.”
“We have some news. Apparently Michelle Wong is alive and well.”
“Where is she?” Daniel lit up at once.
“Somewhere in Malaysia. There is a group out to overthrow the governments in South East Asia. They have been working to bring about the replacement of the governments with leaders of their own choice. These people have her.”
“How do you know this?”
“We have our sources in Asia. She’s somewhere in ASEAN. Probably back in Singapore or Malaysia.”
“Can’t you help free her?”
Chan paused and took a breath. He could foresee that Daniel would not believe his story but this was one of those rare occasions where the truth served him better.
“I do not believe she is being held against her will.”
“Are you saying that she was a willing part of this conspiracy?”
“She may have been mislead.” That was as gentle as Chan could put it.
“Can we help her out?”
“We cannot help someone who doesn’t want help, in any case it is safer for her to remain where she is, out of the picture. You have other concerns my friend. There are elements who would like to see the current governments in Asia replaced by ones more friendly to their cause.”
“Foreign interests.”
“In some cases yes, in others mere greed. These people are businessmen, not politicians. Their aim is profit, not power. If these people install their own puppet governments there will be a slow and painful social degradation of the region as they loot it into the ground.”
“We cannot fight an enemy we cannot see Mr. Chan.” Daniel reasoned.
“You have a friend who is being used by the enemy.”
“Who.”
“Richard Chang. The enemy are using a girl, a Clara Chan, to seduce him and influence him.”
You have no clue, Daniel thought to himself. Richard Chang was probably being used by his employers at Sheerluck. Clara was just a girlfriend, maybe even less than that.
“Richard Chang is powerful in that he has influence with the Sheerluck group. The group is a charity yes, but more than that, it is a group with plenty of financial clout.”
“Political clout?”
“None yet but it can be bought. Richard Chang was powerful enough to free a political prisoner of Singapore, a task not easily done by any standards.”
“What is the government’s interest in Michelle anyway? What’d she do?”
“Her father was the real target. Why, we do not know. We know he is still a target.”
“Why is her father a target? What did he do?” Daniel was almost interrogating his mentor.
“I am only aware that William Kong was being sought by ourselves and the enemy, I was not given an explanation. I have the official file on the man, I can give it to you.”
“Please do. Email it as a mail attachment.”
“We have to find this man and return him to our government. He is under investigation for illegal bookmaking and Interpol have been enlisted.”
“Why does our government want him? If the government’s stability is hostage to the fate of one man then it cannot be a good government. Or an honest one.”
“You have a duty to your government, Daniel. It is not for you to question the integrity of our government. You will work under the assumption that the government is above board and above suspicion.”
It was not a request but an order and Daniel decided not to challenge it. He had his own agenda. Chan was missing the point and was probably kept in the dark by his own people.
“You have worked with Richard Chang before, what is his interest in all this?” Chan continued.
“He has no interest save mercenary ones. I approached him for help and he obliged.” Daniel replied defiantly which was probably unwise.
“He has no other interest in this? He has been vocal on several occasions against the government and he has made some pretty serious allegations about the practices of the government.”
“I think he said that we were all being spied upon. Was it Ping Shen who reported this or Frank Lau?”
“We have our sources.”
“People like me?”
Chan was silent. He was at a loss as to how to reply. The boy was right.
“Spies.”
“You can call yourself that if you like. You are a patriot.”
“Richard Chang couldn’t give a damn what happens in Asia. He disagrees with me, says it’s not his home anymore and so he doesn’t care. But he told me something I’ll never forget. He said that Asia is killing itself. If I could I’d help them understand. I’d write a paper about the Asian condition and how to circumvent it. But who would listen? Richard Chang is a very smart man and he is also a very perceptive man. He knows that Asia will not learn and Asia will only learn through pain. Can you blame him for not giving a damn.”
“Chang is a slippery character. He was a dead broke student some years ago. No debt but no money either. Within a year our friend suddenly becomes a rich kid. We can explain some of the wealth, he sold an anti-virus software package and was well paid for it.”
“Still gets royalties.” Daniel offered.
“What we can’t figure out is Sheerluck. Seems innocuous enough until you realise their influence. I want you to start a file on Richard Chang.”
“He’s my friend for God’ sake. I can’t do that.”
“Because you are his friend you will be able to get closer than anyone of us. We suspect he’s just a pawn. If so, help us and we’ll help him. The conspiracy against ASEAN governments will be stopped. ASEAN is not going spare any effort. Just keep tabs on him for a while. We may ask him to join us if the conditions are right. It might be the best thing for him really. Think it over Daniel. You’ll be helping your friend.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Daniel replied and looked at his watch. It was almost four in the afternoon and already the light was failing and the rain had gained in intensity. “Give me a lift to the Hall?”
Chan started the car engine but did not move of. The warm air from the air conditioner was very much appreciated.
“There are many interested parties Mr. Chan. Why London? Why us?”
“William Kong chose to flee to the UK setting off our network here. Bad luck for you and me my friend.”
Daniel lowered his window and chucked the cigarette butt out onto the street as Chan pulled out of the lot and went around the park.
“I need you to be strong for me, Daniel. There are forces at play you don’t know about and you need not know. I need your tryst for now. When things take shape I’ll let you know. Can you do this for me?”
“I’ll do what I have to, Chan. No more. Not unless you want to talk to me.”
“I’ll let you know as I find out. I have my limitations, overstep your own and I may not be able to help you.”
The trip from school to hall was one Daniel usually made on foot as he avoided even the buses. It was even less familiar in the green Rover. Chan drove slowly and carefully as the rain fell heavily. Such heavy rain was uncharacteristic of winter and did not help the insane temperatures. Daniel looked out the window as shops and streets flew by. With his growing suspicions of his own mentor and now his friend the situation had become too complicated for him to easily comprehend. Richard had helped Michelle out. So he should be trusted shouldn’t he? What if he had helped Michelle as a part of a bigger agenda? What about Chan? He was totally dedicated to the government. That made him dangerous and yet he had showed sympathy for the cause of the underdog. He needed time, to think, to check their stories and to investigate men he ought to have trusted.
Colin emerged from his room in the late afternoon and by doing so had completely missed daylight. He stumbled his way to G2 to get some fags from Richard as he had run out.
“Run out of fags?” Richard asked looking up from behind his PC. Colin replied with a grunt.
“Got a moment?” Richard asked getting up on his feet. Colin turned around to give his full attention.
“I got this girl in bed.” Colin objected.
“Is she asleep?”
Colin closed the door behind him and went to sit by Richard. They lit up their fags and breathed.
“What’s up Rick?”
“I think our boy Daniel doesn’t trust us. Actually I think he doesn’t trust me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s been asking all the wrong questions about Sheerluck. I think he suspects that Sheerluck may be pulling our strings.”
“Why don’t you just tell him then?” Colin replied casually. “You’ll never guess who’s in my room.”
“Who?”
“Clara Chan.”
“Cool. I think you should know, I slept with her just a week ago.” Richard reported.
“Cool. That is so cool. You don’t mind do you?” Colin asked. He was obviously still dazed and not thinking straight.
“I think we should be careful here.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve been friends a long time Colin. I don’t want a girl to come between us.”
“Hey, I’m fine by al this. We could do a threesome.”
“Colin. No.”
“What’s your problem Rick?”
“You can have her Colin. I won’t come between you and her. OK?”
“Rick. I don’t usually date a girl for longer than two weeks.”
“Oh. Excellent then. About Daniel.”
“My God. Is he sleeping with her too?”
“No Colin. Will you listen for a moment? Daniel is investigating his own contact and for some reason he doesn’t trust Sheerluck. Or me, I don’t know. It means he’s found something.”
“We could talk to him.”
“I’d rather you did it. He trusts you.”
“Why not just tell him about Sheerluck?”
“Can’t have the whole world privy. No. You go have a chat with him when you get the chance and see what you can find.”
The two men were interrupted by the doorbell. Richard saw that it was Daniel and buzzed him in.
“Daniel. Come in. Richard and I were just talking about you.”
Richard’s heart sank. He knew that Colin was in a confrontational mood and that he was about to question Daniel about his suspicions.
“What’s up?” Daniel approached the PC tables and took the cigarette that Colin had lit for him.
“You’ve been a busy chap my friend. Did you find anything?”
“I’ve been in touch with Chan.” Daniel said as he sank himself into the sofa. “The plot thickens. As you suspect, he works for our governments, ASEAN as a whole.”
“Did you ask him why London?” asked Colin.
“Yes. William Kong. Any further questions?”
“Why William Kong. What did he do that is so important that it threatens ASEAN?” Richard observed aloud.
“Threatens ASEAN? What do you mean Rick?” Colin was confused. He had assumed that the William Kong connection had been a commercial one. Daniel was similarly confused but kept quiet.
“Chan and his network are here to protect the future of ASEAN’s leaders. To preserve the status quo. If they are concerned with Kong it must mean that he threatens the status quo. Right?” Rick reasoned.
“What if it was just a side show. A purely commercial affair. Maybe Chan’s network simply became convenient.” Colin argued.
“Unlikely. This line of action risks exposure. You don’t risk exposure unless it is your primary objective you pursue. What did Chan say?”
“He said pretty much that my next job was to flush out SL Lee. I asked him about Kong and he just about confirmed what you suspect. Not in so many words of course.”
“When did you speak with him Daniel?” Richard asked coming round to take a seat next to him.
“Only just.”
“Was he the only one you spoke to?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You suspect Sheerluck don’t you?” Richard confronted the boy who returned a fearful look. “Don’t worry. We’re friends. What are you afraid of? Men in black?”
“I think it’s time you told him about Sheerluck Richard.” Colin urged.
“What about Sheerluck?” Daniel asked hesitantly.
Richard walked around the sofa to the window and peered out at the darkened evening scene. The rain had begun to fall more heavily and the wind was whipping it around. It was not a typical rain but more the kind found in the tropics. Richard smiled to himself as if in regret at what he had to tell.
“Listen carefully Daniel. I have a story to tell you that if you repeat to anyone, I will deny, you will be unable to prove and you will be discredited and prosecuted as far as the law will go. These terms acceptable?” Richard turned on his heel and smiled at the boy who was by now utterly bewildered and perhaps a little scared.
“Yes. Of course. You can trust me.”
“You’ve done your homework on Sheerluck haven’t you? I know. Nothing gets by our V1 and V2 sentinels. Here’s a little secret: They’re intelligent. Almost. Sheerluck as you know is primarily a charity. It funds its operations by investing. Its basically two parts. Sheerluck Investments and Sheerluck Charity Trust. One feeds the other. But Sheerluck wasn’t born as you think it was, from the money of various individuals wanting to fund non-economically viable projects which may have long term benefits blah blah blah…..Sheerluck is entirely mine. My invention. Funded by me.”
“Where did you get the funds?” Daniel asked naively.
“I cannot say. But I can assure you that Sheerluck is indeed all it seems. It’s an investment company plus a charity trust. That’s it. No more, no hidden agenda, no men in black. I do fund many research units and one of them is a mathematical virus study centre. Incidentally we also fund research in biological viruses too. I have no political ambitions, I don’t intend to be a world leader or anything like that.”
“How on earth did you set up this mammoth company and keep your source of funds secret?” Daniel asked.
“The wonder of Swiss banks.” Colin remarked with a laugh.
“You two are nuts. You think all this is funny.” Daniel said in bewilderment.
“Sheerluck is 100% legal my friend. We have nothing to hide. One thing troubles me Daniel, something made you suspicious of Sheerluck. What was it?”
The well mannered gentleman came to Daniel’s mind but he remembered the old man’s warning. If indeed Richard was above board then telling him about the old man would be endangering him. He knew he had hesitated with his reply too long and that the game was up. Richard could see the resignation in Daniel’s face.
“You still doubt? Daniel?” Richard was disappointed. He had expected this superior intellect to realize that his story was indeed verifiable if certain other information was made available. Daniel had not asked.
“Daniel. I’ll offer you a means to verify Richard’s story. After that we’ll need your help with a couple of things.”
“No need guys. I believe you. I just cannot make sense of what’s happening.”
“I know. We don’t have enough information to understand anything right now. We have to collect that information and we have to pool what we know.” Richard offered.
“Back to William Kong. Why do they want him?” said Colin by way of reminder.
“Haven’t the faintest. What did he do in his life? Who would know?” Richard wondered aloud.
“Let’s ask him. Don’t ask him why they would want him. That would be assuming he knew why. Ask instead his life story.” Daniel suggested.
“Good point Daniel. Colin, can you get us a meet? Through Detective Sergeant Jerry Mills of course.”
Chan Boon Yong sat at his desk staring blankly into the glow from the PC monitor. Outside it was already dark and drizzling delicately. He questioned his own wisdom in revealing so much to the boy. He was a smart boy and would be able to find his way. Chan’s own problems were bigger. The message box on screen told Chan that the file on William Kong had been successfully sent to Daniel’s internet mail account. A disturbing message followed after, an error sending an information packet to a remote server. Chan was immediately alerted by the message and quickly wrote it down before canceling it. Was the email properly sent to Daniel? Had it been intercepted? What exactly did the message mean? Chan checked it against the help file which listed all the possible error messages and found no matches. That was strange. His mind raced through the possibilities. He had asked too many questions and some of them were directed to external sources. He had too good a picture of what was actually happening, more than was appropriate for a manager of his level of responsibility. He knew too much and now he had disseminated that knowledge to a charge.
At once Chan knew that he had been made. What he couldn’t tell was how far his superiors would go in damage control. Too much time had been spent sitting around and Chan knew that if they wanted to they could reach him within an hour. He had to act on the assumption that action would be taken against him. The first thing he did was to go and put on his coat which was hanging behind the office door. Next he went back to his desk and opened a secret compartment below the last drawer and extract a plastic gun that was of the older variety that took standard 9mm rounds. He put that into his coat pocket together with two plastic magazines each of seventeen rounds. That plus the magazine in the gun was more than sufficient he thought. Next he called the restaurant manager Mrs. Nguyen that he would be going out of town for a few days and that he would leave the office unlocked.
“Mr. Chan. There is someone to see you. Mr. John Tan.” Mrs. Nguyen reported.
“I see. Tell him I will be down in a moment.” Chan replied calmly. With his free hand on the mouse he quickly raised the file management system on his PC and instructed the PC to clear all memory. It was a process that would last about five minutes or so. That done he took his wallet, car keys, cellular phone and made his way out of the office. The only way out required him to go down and John Tan was there. Chan had as usual parked the Rover in the mews behind the shop. He could use the fire escape. It was a long way down but Chan covered the distance quickly reaching the ground red faced and out of breath. There was no one in the mews.
John Tan was waiting for Chan to come down when he decided that Chan had taken just a little too much time. He excused himself and went for the exit calling as he did the driver who was waiting up front on the street in a Ford Cosworth. The driver fired up the car and put it in gear. John walked briskly up to the car and climbed in.
“Back way.” John ordered and the driver sped off to check out the mews. In the back seat the two men loaded and cocked their assault rifles. It was a quick ride around the corner into the mews revealed an empty lane. The Cosworth slowed as it entered the mews and John noticed the Green Rover still parked by the side.
“Go check it out.” John ordered and the two men got out of the Cosworth as it still crept along. They ran up to the Rover with their weapons held discreetly by their side which was a really bad idea.
The two men hardly had a chance, as they peered around the Rover, Chan sprang up inside it and fired through the windows twice through the front right hitting one and then turning to the rear and firing through the rear window. . One was hit in the head and written off instantly while the other was hit twice in the chest. Chan erected the seat which he had folded down. He had been lying in wait with the rear view mirror tilted so he could see out of the window while remaining reclined. Now he locked the seat in place and started the engine. The second gunman collapsed in a heap behind the Rover as Chan got the car in gear. John was stunned by the sudden explosion of sound and the sight of his men being cut down.
“Reverse. Stop him.” He ordered. The driver reversed the car in an effort to catch up and stop the Rover which spun its wheels on the way out slamming into a wall as it did so. Had Chan been a bit less heavy footed he would have managed a clean exit but now the reversing Cosworth slammed into his tail sending both cars spinning to a stop. John Tan kicked the slightly mangle door of his Cosworth open while his driver did the same. They took aim in the direction of the Rover only to see Chan disappear around the corner to the main road. Both men gave chase and John Tan called for back up, yelling into his phone as he sprinted after his man.
Chan ran in the direction of South Kensington tube station knowing that the Underground was his only chance. In a matter of minutes John Tan’s back up would be upon him and he would be outnumbered. He ran along the pavement and then across the road drawing John and his henchman in his wake. Chan was a bit out of shape but he was powered by his survival instinct. He came to the entrance of the South Kensington station and ran into the usual crowd of tourists pushing them roughly aside as he made for the turnstiles. He could not see his pursuers but he was sure they were not far behind. John could see his quarry headed for the turnstiles and was surprised at the speed of the slightly built man. Chan vaulted over the turnstiles drawing the attention of an attendant who yelled after him and gave chase. Down another flight and then through a long passage as fast as he could Chan ran, his gun in hand and in plain sight. Passerby’s gave him a wide berth when they saw him and he was able to proceed unhindered to the Picadilly line’s Eastbound platform. As he ran onto the platform he saw the overhead signal telling him that the next train was due in 2 minutes. He looked back and was relieved when he saw that his pursuers were not behind him. Already the sounds of the approaching train could be heard and Chan thought that he’d better put some distance between himself and the entrance so he resumed his run to the far end of the platform. Two thirds way down the platform as the train slowed to a halt Chan turned to see John and his man in hot pursuit, hindered by the people who were forming up in anticipation of the opening doors. It was an eternity before the doors slid open and Chan was able to board the train. At the other end of the platform John instructed his man to board the train while he himself stayed on the platform. There was no escape for Chan Boon yang this time and to make sure John called up his back up and instructed them to go ahead to Knightsbridge and Hyde Park Corner. Chan had not boarded the train but instead waited until the crowd provided cover before he slipped into a passage way that was really an entrance from the Circle line platforms. He took a breather in the passageway and pulled out his cellular. The signal was not very strong but he managed to connect and he placed the call to Daniel’s cellular.
“Daniel. Listen. They are trying to kill me.”
“Who is?” Daniel asked confused. He was in G2 with Colin and Richard and the expression on his face told them that the game was afoot. “Where are you Chan?”
“His number.” Richard demanded quietly so Daniel would could still hear Chan. Daniel grabbed a pen and wrote it on a stray piece of paper. Richard called up V2 and instructed it find Chan’s handphone location. Somewhere a GPS satellite cooperated with the British Telecom network via Vodaphone’s leased net and located the signal source and superimposed on it the Encarta Atlas detailed map of London V40322004. On this map V1 called up all potential resources that the AI believed might be useful to Richard. Richard selected a level 3 utility status which was a pretty comprehensive one.
In South Kensington Station Chan plugged the wireless hands free speaker in his ear and resumed his flight in a brisk walk. Something told John Tan that Chan was a slippery customer and had not boarded the train . it was more a gut feel than any actual sign. He began his chase again in the direction where Chan was last seen heading while calling for further backup to be on standby nearby.
“He is being chased, right? They may be on the phone too.” Colin suggested and Richard requested any cellular phones active in the South Kensington station MGR area. There were signals aplenty. He screened them by velocity reasoning that whoever gave chase would not merely be walking. 5 tracks. All numbers stored and monitored. Only one was underground and the number and connections were duly noted.
“Found it. He’s conference linked to his team.” Richard reported. “About 20 m behind. Get Mr. Chan going.”
“Chan. He’s 20 m behind. Better get going.” Daniel advised.
“I’m going for Circle. Where shall I go?”
“Via Bayswater.” Colin suggested.
“Anywhere. Just get on a train out of there.” Daniel shouted into the phone.
“Notebook, Richard?” Colin asked. “Can we go out there and help him?”
“We don’t have to.” Richard reasoned. “We can get him out of there. There’ll be hell to pay covering our tracks but we can figure that out later. Imagine what’s happening at BT right now. They can’t stop it but they’ll be alerted to the existence of V1.”
“We need to get Chan out of there, Richard.” Daniel said.
“OK. We’ll go. You can control from here. Can I take the Volvo?” Colin suggested.
Richard got him the keys and tossed it to him.
“Bring him here. T 12 is vacant. I’ll get him a temporary lease under your name.”
Colin and Daniel raced out the door and headed for the car park at the west wing of Passfield where Richard’s turbocharged estate car was parked.
“Chan. Where are you?” Daniel inquired as Colin gunned up the car and pulled away with wheelspin and burning tyre rubber.
“I’m headed for the Circle platforms. Do I go East or West?”
“Whatever just let us know.” Daniel yelled unnecessarily into the phone.
Colin drove at breakneck speed swinging through the corners wildly.
“I’ll get us up to Marylebone as far as Baker Street. From there I need directions.” Colin said as he fought the wheel through another corner.
Chan’s legs were tired and he could feel the fatigue like weights upon his feet. He slowed to a jog as he came to a bridge and a flight of stairs going down. Ahead he saw the sign that indicated clockwise on the Circle. He decided to take it. John Tan instructed his team to meet at the Circle platforms. The team had arrived within minutes of his call and consisted of six commandos in plain clothes. They proceeded directly down to the platform and took positions at the entrances and exits. By that time, however, Chan was already on the platform sitting on a bench reading a newspaper he picked up from the floor and trying hard to blend with the crowd. It would be a full 8 minutes before the train arrived. The six men began to move in systematically. It was a big place and the chances of his being found were slim given the crowd, but if they had enough time, he would be caught.
“I’m on the Circle westbound platform. Via Bayswater.” Chan reported under his breath as he cowered behind yesterday’s copy of The Sun.
“When is the next train?”
“Eight minutes.” Chan replied impatiently.
“We’ll get it to you in less.”
Daniel called Richard in G2 and suddenly a train from Charing Cross decided that it was time to shut the doors, ignore the stations in between and head straight for South Kensington. The driver was naturally shocked that control of the train had been wrested from him by some unknown and unseen force.
“Train coming your way Chan. Which part of the platform are you at?”
“Midway. Why?” Chan asked. He could already feel the rumble of a coming train but the digital display still said 4 minutes.
Inside G2 Richard had comandeered the CCTV system of the station and had found Chan on the Circle platform.
“Sixth set from the front.” Richard said as he keyed the information into the PC. There came a knocking at the door and Richard froze. Could the authorities be so fast? He hit return to send the order then went for the door. It was Nick who was surprised to find that Richard had answered the door himself.
“Thought the door was automatic Rick. What’s up?”
“Nothing. Come in. Sit. I’ll tell you about this.”
Nick sat down in front of a display interface she had never seen before. Richard quickly explained to her what he was up to screwing around with the public networking systems.
Somewhere on the South Kensington Circle northbound platform a set of doors opened on the standing train while all the other doors remained firmly shut. Chan got up and tossed the newspaper away. He knew he had to get on the train if he was to escape. Gritting his teeth and steeling his nerves he walked confidently to the door, praying that he would not be spotted by any of John Tan’s men. As luck would have it he collided into one of them. The man did not recognize him at first but sort of stepped back. Chan apologised hastily and went ahead to the open train door which was filling with people who were puzzled as to why the other doors had not opened. The two men’s eyes met a bit too long and Chan knew that he had been made. He pushed his way through the crowd and squeezed his way in to the car as the man behind him drew a small blade and plunged into the crowd after him. Five men on the platform turned in the direction of the knot of people fighting to get on the train and took off to back up their colleague. He had called for back up. John himself was on the opposite platform and already giving orders for his overground teams to head for the Circle stations north of South Kensington. The doors closed in on the crowd and finally closed upon the commando’s knife wielding hand. Chan saw the man struggling to get his hand clear of the doors as the train began to pull off and went to the door to try to pry it open. Already the commando was being dragged along the platform as he lost his footing and fell. Chan kicked the knife out of his hand then pried the doors open with all his might. The doors creaked open that little bit and the hand broke free leaving the commando tumbling on the platform just a few feet from where the wall would have crushed him against the train. Chan himself fell backwards against a human wall of passengers.
“I’m in the train.” Chan reported to Daniel. “They didn’t get on. Now where do I go.”
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and told Colin to go up to Maida Vale.
“Chan. The train will go directly to Paddington. No stops. Get off there and get on what’s that line o Maida Vale. Metro is it?”
“Jubilee. I’ll go.” Chan replied.
At that very moment Richard activated a bomb threat warning at Paddington, patching into the security computers at the station, meaning that all staff and commuters would have to leave the station and that no trains would stop there. A Jubilee line train was commandeered and sent westbound to Paddington to intercept Chan who would have a few minutes only to get from the Circle platforms to the Jubilee platform.
“Rick. I got BT-Voda on line.” Nick said. She waited for Richard to route the trains and block the stops.
“Find the account numbers for that number?” Richard turned his attention to her monitor.
“Registered to a Malaysian company with an office here. Directors include an embassy official.”
“Mark their bills as 3 months unpaid and alert the accounts computer. Issue a shut down until reactivated command.”
It took all of 3 minutes for the telecommunications service provider to shut down John Tan’s and his associates cellular phones leaving them high and dry without any means of communication.
When the train finally came to a halt at Paddington and the doors slid apart, Chan hopped out and sprinted for the exit.
“Your train is waiting Chan.” Daniel’s voiced sounded in Chan’s earpiece. You want the westbound.”
The Volvo sped along the Warwick Avenue area, winding through the streets all the way up to Edgeware Road.
“Be there in three minutes Daniel. How is Chan progressing?” Colin said as he idled in behind the intersection.
“Be there in five.” Daniel replied.
There was little traffic on Edgeware Road which was a good thing. The silver Volvo slid silently out onto the main road and took off north for a few hundred metres before turning left into a side street. They pulled up to Maida Vale station a few blocks west and waited in the car. Daniel called to Chan but got no answer. He saw that the whole episode of continuous use had drained his cellular’s power.
“Let’s give Mr. Chan a few minutes.” Daniel said to Colin who was lighting up a Marlboro. They waited for a while in the cold afternoon air.
“Chan’s arrived boys and girls.” Richard said on the conference line.
“I’ll go look.” Daniel said and got out of the car. He headed down the stairs to the ticket counter and then through the turnstiles gaining entry with his tube card. Colin meanwhile dialed in to the conference centre. Daniel ran down the down escalator and bounded up to the doorway to the platform. The train sat motionless on the platform and not a soul was in sight. The escalators were the most logical way out but perhaps Chan had been extra careful and taken the stairs. Daniel cursed under his breath as he went up to the only open door of the train. There was no one inside it.
“Richard. Where is Chan? Can you track him?”
“I can track his cellular. He’s still in the train car.”
“No he’s not. Can you hold this train? There’s no one here.”
Daniel ventured into the train car and it was plainly apparent that there was no one in it.
“You sure you got the right car?” Daniel asked Richard.
“He’s about two metres away from you towards the back of the train.”
Daniel turned around on Richard’s advice and walked down the aisle. On the seat to his left he saw a cellular phone with the hands free system still attached to it. Chan Boon Yang was nowhere to be found.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s not there? He must be. This station has only one exit.” Colin was furious. Daniel simply sat in the passenger seat chewing on his thumb.
“Did they get to him or did he take off?” Daniel mused.
“He must still be down there then. No other exits. The train didn’t stop in between.” Colin postulated.
“Not necessarily. I think our friend never got on the train at Paddington. He probably got up to the train and chucked the cellular in when it stopped. The other possibility is that they grabbed him in Paddington which is unlikely in light of the fact that they lost all communications in South Kensington.”
“He ran.” Colin said with wry look. “Back to the fucking drawing board.”
“Rick. We think he ran. Any other way of tracking him?” Daniel asked Richard over the cellular.
“Not until he uses his credit card and even then. Took off did he?”
“At Paddington.”
“Ah well. Come on back. We have to contain our rampant V1. It’s left quite a trail of electronic signature which needs patching if anyone is to get to work on time tomorrow.”
“Or back this evening. Thanks Rick.”
Colin shifted into drive and took the car around and back east.
Richard had just cleaned up the V1 trail so that no one could find it. Already he could see all the network administrators and anti hackers of the public networks going on line to try to trace the security breaches. It was the first time V1 had been used for anything other than a test run or information gathering and it had performed beyond his own expectations. He now needed only to automate the cleanup process, or teach V1 to be a little bit more discreet.
“Nick. I think you should go before the guys get back. This is something you don’t want to know about.” Richard warned.
“I know a bit already. I want to help if I can.” Nick replied. She sounded a bit hurt that she was being excluded from his adventure.
“This thing is a bit more troublesome than I expected and I want you completely detached from it Nick. For your safety.”
“What about your safety?” Nick retorted.
“I can remain anonymous. I just don’t want you involved in all this. You came here to study and bring back an education. And a formal document that employers will recognize. Do that.”
“I might not have a country to return to Rick. Does this have anything to do with that?”
She was a perceptive one and it wouldn’t have been long before she discovered part of the truth. Still Richard felt he had an obligation as her friend to insulate her from the truth. He felt it his duty to be her protector.
“I can’t tell you. Go home Nick. I’ll call you when things blow over.”
She resigned herself to the fact that Richard wasn’t going to tell her anything so she got up to leave. He saw her frustration and wished he could say something but he could not. She gathered her bag and went to the door exiting without a word.
“Nick.” He said but knew he had not the words to go further than that.
She stopped but said nothing.
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. You are too precious to me.”
She felt his words but she did not want to respond to them so she went on, not turning back, into the corridor as she let the door close behind her. As she reached the swing doors she felt a tiredness come over her borne of anger and frustration. Just then she was rudely brushed aside by a man coming through the swing doors as she tried to get past. She saw that he headed directly for Richard’s room and stood waiting while the electronic security system checked him out. The man took out a gun and held it in front of the camera. He unloaded it and cocked it before the familiar click of the door unlocking was heard. Nick turned and headed for the door and got her foot in before it swung shut behind the man. He was saying something to Richard but turned in surprise that he had been followed. His reaction was to raise his weapon which he did but the weapon was empty to the breech.
“Its alright. She’s with me.” Richard reassured Chan Boon Yang.
He eased off and holstered his gun.
“I couldn’t take the chance. Are they on their way back?” Chan inquired of Colin and Daniel.
“They are not very amused. In fact I think you really annoyed them. They will be here shortly and then you can explain to us all how you come to be running through underground tunnels with a loaded gun.”
Chan took a seat by the window then hesitated, examining the glass.
“Armoured glass. Relax. Enjoy the view.” Richard offered Chan a cigarette which he gratefully accepted.
“This is my good friend Nicole. She knows nothing of this matter.” Richard explained.
“Good. Nicole. When Daniel and Colin return we’ll be talking about matters you’d rather not know.” Chan warned.
“I want to know. Rick and I work together.”
“He has kept this from you so far. And with good reason.”
“We do work together. She’s been busy off late. You have our confidence Mr. Chan.”
“I used to run a restaurant you know?” Chan spoke casually all of a sudden.
“Several I hear.” Nick said to display her knowledge of the man.
“I started out in Golders Green. Small shop. Never thought I’d get here. You kids are young. You have no business getting involved in this kind of business. Make a cynic out of you if you knew the truth.”
“Every generation is expected to mature a little faster Mr. Chan. The guys should be back soon.”
Colin parked the Volvo as he had found it then he and Daniel walked back to Richard’s, a route which by reason of Passfield’s idiosyncratic architecture required them to walk from the rear of the building to the front to use the main door. They were surprised to find Chan inside G2 chatting with Nicole and Richard.
“I’m sorry about losing you.” Chan said contritely to Daniel. “It was the safest thing to do really.”
“No offense taken. Who were those guys?” Daniel asked.
“Just for the record, I’m not a restaurateur like I say I am. I work for a plumbing company incorporated in Malaysia. It’s a front. This company has a worldwide network of people like myself. Each one of us runs a group of students or people working abroad. We coordinate the activities of this so called club.” Chan stopped for a puff.
“In the late eighties it was discovered that many of the students who were leaving Singapore to study abroad were harbouring some pretty anti government views. Mostly they kept it quiet but they did speak their mind to friends. It was the aim of our group to collect and collate information regarding this sentiment and report it back to the government. It was the government’s intention to change the way things were done so as to be more acceptable to the people.”
It came as a shock to all those in the room that such a policy had been in place since the eighties. They had always believed it to be a recent development.
“Is that still the purpose of the government? Has it changed in the last couple of years?” Colin asked.
“Everything changes.” Chan replied then dragged on his cigarette. “Recently things have been changing. New bosses, new blood, new pay scheme. New procedure. The man who was chasing me?”
“I thought there was a whole bunch of them.” Colin asked skeptically.
“The man who ran them. He was there on the platform. His name is John Tan. At least that’s what I know him to be called. Works for our company too.”
“Why was he after you?” Colin had taken the position of de facto interrogator.
“I was in communication with Daniel. John Tan became aware that I was telling more than I was supposed to. One of the ways I used that was monitored was via the computer. I can only guess at the level of surveillance dedicated to us. You and I are not important, however. There is someone we have to save.”
Time has run out for the Vietnamese. Chinese forces are said to have progressed as far as Ho Chi Minh City leaving the Vietnamese Army without a headquarters. The past three months of fighting have seen the Vietnamese steadily retreating south as the much larger Chinese forces advanced into Vietnamese territory. So far the Chinese have been unstoppable pushing the defenders south and west. In Ho Chi Minh City today Chinese tank battalions rolled into city hall. The Chinese battalion commander has taken up command at the Hilton Hotel and ordered a general curfew. There were reports of pockets of resistance in the city but by morning things were mostly quiet. It seems that most of the defence forces have retreated out of Ho Chi Minh City.
Reports are rife that Vietnamese forces fleeing the Chinese are crossing the Cambodian and Thai borders in search of refuge. Thai and Cambodian authorities are now sealing their borders for fear that Chinese forces may cross over in their efforts to track down the fleeing Viet elements.
ASEAN countries have been in a state of emergency ever since China invaded Vietnam on claims that the Vietnamese were aiding and harbouring Chinese rebel elements. Vietnam has refuted these allegations but to no avail and has appealed to the World Community and UN for help. It is widely believed that China may not end its conquest with Vietnam but may be tempted to intrude further. Tensions have run high as ASEAN began a series of military exercises in Thailand and in the South China Sea prompting warnings from China not to interfere in what it called an ‘internal matter’. China was clearly alluding to old claims to Vietnamese territory.
US Sec State stated that the presence of the 7th fleet off the coast of Japan was in no way related to the conflict in Indochina. Cohen said that the 7th fleet was en route to the Philippines to pick up the remainder of her fleet which had been deployed in Subic for repairs and maintenance.
The Thai government has set up numerous shelters along her common border with Vietnam to cater to the throngs of Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Chinese invasion. The Thai Prime Minister was quoted as saying that refugees would be welcome as long as they remain in the shelter areas and do not attempt to stray further afield. He said that military elements would not be granted access to cross the border and that the shelters were not to be seen as military hospitals. So far it is estimated that there are one million Vietnamese refugees inside Thailand since the Chinese invasion last summer.
Malaysia. In an unexpected move late Friday afternoon the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Zain was removed from his post. He remains a Member of Parliament. Datuk Abdullah has had his differences with the Prime Minister Datuk Mohammed though both men have strenuously denied this in the past. Sources close to the Prime Minister said that the DPM may be under investigation for treason and also personal financial indiscretions. Neither Datuk Abdullah nor the government have made any statement regarding the removal.
DPM Abdullah Zain was earlier accused in a publication, now banned by command of the Prime Minister Datuk Mohammed Osman, of being part of a conspiracy to wrest control of ASEAN from incumbent leaders. Also named in the book were prominent politicians in the other ASEAN countries. The book which has since been taken out of circulation is hot property on the black market and New Straits Times is informed that they are still available on the street. Our reporters were able to purchase several copies quite easily in the central business district.
The Economist: Singapore. The controversial book regarding the great ASEAN conspiracy, banned in Malaysia, which was added to the controlled circulation list in Singapore as well meaning it has been totally banned and will only be available through the black market, is becoming a political dilemma for Singapore. Singapore has had a long history of banning publications deemed unsuitable for the political stability of the country or unsuitable for immature minds. The banning of The ASEAN Conspiracy was a delicate matter and has become even more delicate of late. The book surfaced some 6 months ago where it named several ASEAN politicians who were purported to be hatching some diabolical plot to wrest control of ASEAN from the incumbent leaders. One of the alleged conspirators was the recently removed Datuk Abdullah Zain, former and we mean very recently former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and heir apparent to the current Prime Minister. The book was banned immediately the Malaysian ban came into force as a courtesy to Malaysia and an olive branch in time of strained relations. Until recently the ban was academic and not very much enforced. In the last week, however, enforcement of the ban in Singapore has been stepped up to unprecedented levels with several arrests and confiscation’s. This level of control was not seen even for that slanderous libelous malicious work on the current Prime Minister of Singapore Donald Lee, endearingly entitled, The Last Don, after a Mario Puzo fiction regarding La Cosa Nostra. This rigorous enforcement of the ban on The ASEAN conspiracy is strangely and unfortunately coincident with Datuk Abdullah’s removal as DPM. Rumours in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur suggest that there might indeed be some truth to the allegations against the former Malaysian DPM and the book is now being studied as evidence. The sacking of Abdullah will no doubt send shivers down the spines ( if any ) of the other alleged conspirators named in the book. That’s a good many deputies aiming to shoot the Sheriff.
Another dark and cold, wet day in the city of London. A black cab pulled into the cul de sac at Houghton Street, its lights reflecting off the wet ground. The rain was a little bit too heavy for a winter sprinkling and the temperature a bit too cold for a rainy day. A solitary figure emerged from the cab and pulled his coat around his ears. He bumped the cab door shut with his rump and walked briskly, hunched, for shelter along the Natwest on the right. He walked along the side of the building until he got to the big glass doors that opened into the Old Building of the London School of Economics and Political bloody Science. The warm air was a welcome relief and he began to take off his gloves as he made his way to the elevator on his right. It was 0815 quite early by school standards and the school was still quite empty. Lee was alone in the elevator as it took him to four. He had been here before some time ago when he first met Richard Chang. He was speaking that day as well. The elevator doors opened and he stepped out to find that the Brunch Bowl was the only cafeteria open at the time. Lee wound his way past the tables to get himself a coffee. The Brunch Bowl was populated by only a handful of students and Lee found himself a seat by the window. The view was not terrific and he wondered why he chose a view as bleak as a wet British winter’s morning reflected from a dirty roof two storeys lower. The coffee was watered down and bland but it was warm.
On hindsight it was a good idea to leave Singapore even as a fugitive. The countries of ASEAN had already begun to take emergency measures in response to the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. Thailand and the rest of Indochine was in a state of military emergency. Although no connection had been shown and despite being further south, Malaysia and Singapore had also gone on alert. Military forces were mobilized and placed on stand by for the worst contingency. All able bodied males in these countries were restricted from travel. While this was in force a massive exodus was underway as families in South East Asia tried to relocate to countries like Australia and Canada. Just the day before Lee had read about how people were pawning their jewelry and other valuables in an attempt to raise cash for their flight to safety.
Lee glanced at his watch. It was almost 0900, half an hour to the press conference. He finished up his coffee and collected his things. He made his way to the toilet just right of the exit to the lift lobby. The toilet was not heated and was freezing. Lee went up to a cubicle and got in. His first act was to pull out a pack of cigarettes, extract one and light it up. Next he went for his zipper. When he was done he emerged from the cubicle and went to the basin to wash. Form the adjacent cubicle a man emerged who looked straight at Lee in the mirror. It spoke of a deadly recognition that made Lee turn around. There was an unspoken acknowledgement between the two and instantly each knew who was predator and who was prey. They were interrupted by someone coming in, a young student in the ubiquitous blue and white LSE track suit with a bag slung over his shoulder. The boy was whistling tunelessly and had his hands in his pockets to shield them from the cold. Lee took the opportunity to back off towards the door as the student walked between them and seemed to give them a strange look. John Tan put his hand under his jacket on his gun which was holstered under his left arm. The boy between them stopped and pulled out a gun extending it with both hands in the direction of John Tan. The agent was fast but not fast enough to avoid the surprise attack. He threw himself back and to the floor but not before the boy squeezed off two silenced rounds which hit him in the chest and neck. When his body hit the floor he lay still and lifeless. John Tan was still alive but there were no signs to indicate this. Life was oozing from the prostrate form. Lee stood by transfixed in shock. The boy turned to him and waved the gun at him indicating that he should leave immediately. This Lee did hastily not looking back. He was surprised to hear the student come out after him. Lee glanced behind to see the gunman walking casually at about three paces behind him. Lee waited for the lift and got in when it arrived. The gunman joined him and several other students. At the ground level Lee exited and headed for the Old Theatre. He was shaking from the shock and was unsure if he could go through with the conference. Behind him, his rather sinister guardian angel followed after.
Half an hour earlier a student walking along the staircase noticed a pool of blood that had apparently spilled from the second floor entrance to the Old Theatre. She traced the stain to a room overlooking the Old Theatre. Inside was the body of an Asian man who was himself armed. In the next half hour seven Asian gents all armed were found dead in various locations in the school buildings. The weapon was in each case a silenced 10mm. The school security immediately alerted the police who were on site in minutes.
0920. In the Director’s office in the Old Building, Professor Roberts poured Richard a cup of coffee.
“Rick, the politics of ASEAN have much to do with the school, as long its academic. We have six or seven dead Asians this morning on the grounds and a press conference called by the Malaysia Singapore Society. I’ve called you because you understand their politics better than our expert lecturers and you’ve been away from there for a long time.”
“Kenneth, these are troubling times for Asia. I’m afraid they’ve exported their quarrels. The MSS is a student society but students are perhaps the most dangerous agents of all.”
“Oxford is a case in point.” Roberts remarked evenly. “Still, we are a school. I hope this press conference will proceed with the minimum of turbulence.”
“I’m afraid there might be some turbulence Kenneth.”
“We know a little bit more than we publish. We just don’t approve of the body count. Do you think we should disallow these conferences?”
“The MSS can apply to use the Old Theatre for its internal meetings and it can invite guests.”
“Yes.” Roberts replied with knitted brow. “Do you think we ought to sit in on this one.”
“I think it might be a good idea but perhaps discretion is in order. We can watch it on your PC, Director.”
“I didn’t know there’d be press coverage?”
“There isn’t I’m just going to borrow one of the security cameras and tap some sound of the AV control room.”
Director Roberts stepped aside to allow Richard access to his PC. In minutes they were looking at a real time video and audio of the interior of the Old Theatre which was already filling with people. Many of the attendees were business people from the City, fund managers, strategists, analysts, and economists covering ASEAN.
“That’s a lot of interest for an Asia specific conference.”
“Invited guests. This has all been very well thought out.” Richard moved back to his seat after tilting the monitor so it was visible to both of them. “you can control the camera with the mouse, Director.”
The conference was being watched from many locations in ASEAN. The MSS had provided on its website a live transmission of audio and video feed. In the wood and leather study, Ng Keng Chye and David Quah watched solemnly the proceedings in the Old Theatre on a wall projection screen.
“Nobody to stop him?” David asked but was faced with silence. Ng had many concerns going through his mind.
“There is a team in place. He will not be allowed to speak.” Ng said at last breaking the icy silence.
In KL, the Prime Minister’s office. The Prime Minister and the newly appointed DPM Karim Aziz were watching the same broadcast.
“Datuk Mohammed. I have been assured that Lee will not be permitted to speak.”
“Good. I hope our Thai friends are as good as their reputations. There is one person we must consult and I have invited him.”
“Tan Sri Abdullah Azmi? I have worked with him before. He is a wise man.”
“Abdullah Zain was a friend. I fear there are other conspirators who would take over Malaysia from us and drive her into the ground.”
“Or to foreign hands. Tan Sri can help us.”
“He will know Abdullah Zain’s accomplices. But this is bigger than Zain. He does not have the power to engineer a mutiny. He has either miscalculated the cost or he is but a pawn.”
“Our foreign network has not shown up any threat from abroad Prime Minister.” Aziz reported. “The Singaporeans maintain the largest part of that network and they have found nothing.”
“If they are so powerful then why is Lee Soon Lee about to speak?” The Prime Minister wondered aloud.
Donald Lee moved uneasily in his chair while selected members of his cabinet watched on at the big screen on the wall. It was the MSS broadcast.
“Where is you team Ali Kilrathi? Where the fuck are they?” Donald Lee shouted at his NSA.
“They should be in place sir.” Ali replied quietly. Donald Lee did not get where he was by being a nice guy.
“Well Lee Soon Lee was not supposed to make it as far as the stage of the Old Theatre Ali.” Donald shouted again.
The gentleman carried a cherry cane and wore a pin striped bankers suit and must have been in his early fifties. He handed his invitation to the usher outside the entrance to the Old Theatre who upon recognizing the VIP ticket personally escorted the man inside to the third row from the stage. The old man sat down and looked around him and at the stage where he counted S L Lee, the presidents of both the Malaysia Singapore Society and the South East Asia Club and several of their deputies. He recognised a young man on the stage helping prepare the video conferencing equipment and he raised his cane to get his attention. Daniel had just put the system on line and stepped back when he noticed the man signaling to him. He recognised him at once and returned his warm friendly smile. Daniel remembered the old man from that time he was accosted on his way back from school and taken for a long ride. He was not a man to be trifled with. Daniel had told no one about the man and his words to him. He hastily retreated back stage and headed off to look for Colin who was in the Brunch Bowl puffing away on a cigarette, peering into a notebook PC displaying the live feed from the Old Theatre.
Daniel took his place next to Colin who pushed the pack of Marlboros to him as he sat down.
“Has it begun?” Daniel asked fishing a lighter out from his own pocket.
“It’s about to. Did you hear about the dead bodies?” Colin asked casually his attention still upon the screen.
“What dead bodies?”
“Seven dead bodies were found around the school. All Asians, all armed and all with diplomatic passes. Its going to be most embarrassing. Where’s Nick?”
“In the Old Theatre with the rest of them. Is there going to be trouble? Boon Yang did warn us that we might find opposition."
“We didn’t have these men killed Daniel, have a little faith in your friends.”
In the Old Theatre below, Mahmud Zain and Paula Chan prepared to open the conference. It was Paula who took the stage and spoke.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Asia stands at a turning point. After some five years of economic turmoil and more recently social and political turbulence matters have come to a head with the invasion of Vietnam by China. While many of us are exiled by default our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends we have left at home. Asia is still our home, and our hopes are with it. This morning we have the privilege of the company of Mr. Lee Soon Lee, former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore. Mr. Lee was once DPM of Singapore and about a year ago was removed from office on unspecified charges. He remains today an exile. We are not here to debate his alleged crimes but rather to gain an insight to the situation in Asia and Mr. Lee having once been a DPM and part of one of the strongest economies in ASEAN is in a position to enlighten us. Please welcome him ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Lee Soon Lee.”
Lee stood up and shuffled his notes. He smiled into the bright lights and the strange faces. Mahmud, the SEAC President smiled to himself. There were many in the crowd who hated the autocratic governments in ASEAN and to them Lee was an icon. A symbol of a true patriot. Ten years ago the crowd would have been against him. They would hate the governments that hunted the likes of S L Lee but they would hide it in fear of retribution and they would mask their feelings with outright support for the status quo. How a little economic recession changed things. How the mighty had been humbled by the forces of the market. Some of the students out there were still hedging their bets. Perhaps it was wise but it did not win Mahmud’s respect.
Lee began to speak and across the time zones there were those who listened and knew if he lied or not. And those who knew were worried.
“Putting personal matters aside, I have a deep respect for my country and the flag. I have great respect for the nations and peoples of South East Asia. They are a hardworking and capable people, but they have been led astray. It was at the beginning of the economic turmoil that a pan ASEAN project was begun. It was designed to do several things, to generate hard US Dollar currency cash flow, to use this cash flow to reflate the economies and to retain power by any means necessary. This project was kept secret because of its sensitive nature. I know of this project because I was a part of it. For the past five years, ASEAN has been producing arms and supplying them through international black markets indiscriminately without any knowledge or control over the final buyer or user. Of this I have proof in the form of a corroborating witness. Someone who ran the business operations of the project while we managed the covert distribution. He is here today.”
The Director and Richard listened intently in the Director’s office.
“He was never intended to get this far.” Richard commented.
“We’ll get an opinion from Professor Lane in a while. He’s in the Old Theatre listening to the speech. Hope this doesn’t drag on too long.”
“It might. Doubtless the ASEAN parties are all watching this. Not many will be happy.”
“Do you think he’s telling the truth Rick?”
“I am certain he is. They have hunted him since his flight from ASEAN, but he was never quite sure why. There was the more apparent reason, that he had defected to the opposition and it was widely believed by many that that was indeed the real reason. Truth is there was another fugitive who was similarly mistaken about the reason he was being pursued with such determination. He was the other half of the equation, the man Lee is about to name.”
Donald Lee was slumped in his chair as he viewed the proceedings on the MSS site. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Ng Keng Chye.
“Are you looking at the MSS broadcast Mr. Ng?”
“I am. He should not have been allowed to get this far.”
“What about William Kong?”
“This has gone beyond small men Mr. Prime Minister. I don’t think we should worry too much.”
“The allegations are that the Vietnamese are harbouring Chinese rebels.”
“Yes.”
“Chinese rebels armed with our weapons.”
“And financed with US money. The world goes on, Mr. Prime Minister. Get a grip. Contact the Mohammed Osman and invite him over.”
“The Thais?”
“Not for now. They are not stable enough for this exercise.”
Donald Lee had more problems than his little ASEAN coalition. His Navy was at sea on joint manouevres with the Thais and Malaysians, all superior in strength but lacking in technical ability. He was their hope in the sea and it was a precarious position he found himself in.
“Get me Army. Navy. We pull our Navy south of the exercise area ASAP. Where us BG Tan?”
Ali got up and went to execute his Commander-in Chief’s orders.
Question and Answer time would be interesting to say the least. Lee remained on stage awaiting the Q and A which was probably what the attendees were more interested in. At this point Mahmud took the floor and decided to control the questioning. He called for calm and quiet and invited the questions. The first was from Daniel who wanted to know how much revenue had been generated by the project thus far on a per annum basis. The figures were astounding and should have easily supported efforts to shore up the economies in the region.
“By your estimate sir, we should have been able to support the currency at pre-crisis levels. Where did the money go?” Daniel continued.
“The money resides in the state coffers. The currency is kept weak and the people impoverished, inflation is kept high and interest rates low. It is the great ASEAN macro plan. Keep the wealth within the borders, beggar thy neighbour, keep the West in the dark. I believe some of these misdemeanours have come to light albeit unintentionally.”
The questions were fast and furious. The gentleman in the third row stood up to speak and was given a wide berth for he commanded that respect due to those of quiet power.
“Mr. Lee. How do we know what you say is true? How can we verify these allegations? And if they are true, what do you think will be the consequences?”
“As I have stated earlier, Mr. William Kong has proof in the form of company records, purchase orders, invoices, orders. These will prove beyond reasonable doubt that the conspiracy is real. As for the consequences of this I cannot tell. I would think an investigation should be conducted by the UN security council to see if any there was any wrongdoing. I believe any such investigation will turn up more than an arms business but the use of illegal force in keeping it secret.”
Donald Lee got up and left the room. He walked out into the garden and unfolded his cellular to call Ng again. In the room, Ali and the Prime Minister’s aides waited solemnly. Each one was privy to the project and each one knew what damage SL Lee had inflicted. Damage control would be necessarily ruthless despite the reluctance of anyone to be ruthless. No one spoke for fear that any words at this point misconstrued spelt certain political death. Ali himself was but a foot-soldier, not management. He understood that the weight of the problem rested on greater men than he and he was thankful for it.
“We need to find a scapegoat.” Donald said to Ng as he walked around the patio furniture finally finding a seat on a rather uncomfortable elephant chair.
Ng was in his chilly office as usual looking out at the children at play. The afternoon sun cast long shadows and his mind worked its usual diabolical way.
“What do you propose Mr. Prime Minister? Do you have a candidate in mind?”
“Someone believable, with enough power to get this by me without my knowledge.”
“Not many men have that power and if they do you would be ill advised to attempt such a plan, Donald.”
“My DPM?”
“Your trusted friend Chin? That’s a bit ruthless wouldn’t you say?”
“He is involved after all and I don’t think now is the time to be charitable do you? We have a crisis here. Your people failed to assassinate Lee and now we have this problem. Would you like to advise me how we should proceed?”
“The speech is still in progress. Let’s not do anything rash. Come over here and we will talk further.”
When the PM hung up Ng stopped the recording and extracted the digital tape which he then put in his desk drawer. Next he called the UMNO Chairman Abdullah Azmi.
“Chye, our Prime Minister has presented us with a rather serendipitous opportunity. We have an ex DPM to lay it on. How about Singapore?”
“I think the measures in Singapore may have to be a little more turbulent. We have a bigger problem.”
“The broadcast is only on the MSS channel?”
“It is but as we speak sites everywhere are referring to it as well as buying the rights. The solution will have to be suitably convincing.”
“And we will have to suspend operations indefinitely. Our Thai friend has been blissfully unaware. I think we need to call a meeting.”
“We haven’t called a meeting for five years. Maybe you are right Abdullah. I think we can begin the groundwork however. We still have a way out though I wonder if it will work well enough.”
“I think William Kong’s corroborative testimony is academic. The details Lee gave are quite damaging.”
“Unless of course we can use Kong to refute Lee’s allegations.” Ng said ominously.
“The others don’t know yet what we have in hand. Let us meet at the lodge in 24 hours.”
“That doesn’t give some of us much time.”
“He is in London?”
“In the school itself.”
“24 hours should be sufficient. I will call them.” Abdullah Azmi rang off and Ng sat back in his big leather chair raising his arms to clasp his hands behind his head. All of a sudden the future was unclear and he felt as if something had changed fundamentally.
The gentleman left before the conference was over in the hope that he would avoid the mad crush that would ensue once everyone attempted to leave. He filed past the packed aisles and made his way to the exit and then through the foyer to the glass doors. He had instructed the driver top wait at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and so made his way left and north towards the square. A familiar voice called out to him thankfully not by name for no one knew his name. It was the boy. The gentleman turned and saw that it was indeed the boy.
“Good morning.” He said by way of greeting.
“You said you knew where Michelle was.” Daniel wasn’t going to waste any time. “You said she’d be safe but now things have changed. Tell me where she is.”
“I can’t tell you because I don’t know. There are more important things at hand Daniel. And you have work to do.”
“You said she was back in the Far East. The Far East is going to get fucked. I need to know where she is.”
“I am not in a position to help you Daniel. Perhaps you can rely on your friends in school.”
“I love her. I don’t know if you’ve ever loved anyone or anything but I love Michelle and I need to find her. Look, if all I wanted was to possess her I would not have stopped looking when you told me she was safe. I took your word and the fact that she was safe was good enough. Now under the new circumstances I sincerely doubt that she is safe and I need to go to her. Please. If you’ve loved before, show me you still know what it is.”
The gent was silent for a moment then smiled a resigned smile.
“Your eloquence moves me sir. I do not know where your lover is but I do know she was a member of FreeSpeech. I suggest you question the webmaster, a Mr., Steven Loke. I daresay he may not be too enthusiastic about sharing this information and so you may have to be a bit more persuasive. Now I must be on my way and so must you. Remember your duties young man. Save your love if you must but do not lose sight of the future. The future is yours after all.”
And with that the gentleman left Daniel standing in the cold British winter’s morning with little but a hope. He needed a way in to FreeSpeech and perhaps his swinging single friend Colin might have a way in.
In the New Straits Times. The investigations into former Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Zain turn up further circumstantial evidence of illegal or treasonous activities. It was discovered by investigators that Mr. Abdullah Zain has several Swiss bank accounts and that there were numerous payments into those accounts over the period that Mr. Zain was Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Zain has been placed under house arrest.
Travels
Colin cursed at his luck. He was seated on a British Airways flight back to the hot and humid climes of the far east and it was a no smoking flight. He fidgeted in his chair while Daniel slept noisily. It had been a good two years since he had last been back to the east. His home was on the island of Penang where his family still kept a mansion of sorts on the side of the hill overlooking the sea. He had not been back in over five years his trips to the east being to Singapore instead. This time he was headed for Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. They were headed east to the east coast of Malaysia on a lead that Daniel had extracted by some rather extraordinary means.
It was one of those rare occasions Richard wore a suit and he chose a comfortable one. He glanced at the Royal Oak chronograph on his wrist and saw that he had plenty of time to make it to the conference. The reflection in the mirror looked pretty grave and he softened it with a smile adjusting his tie as he did so. The Asiabanc Asia Investors Conference was a semi annual affair and attracted a pretty good showing of academics, analysts, fund managers, M&A and venture cap people. As head of Sheerluck, Richard had a speaking part that didn’t pay, but when he spoke people listened. Too many that did not had paid dearly. The statements and accusations made by Lee Soon Lee at the Old Theatre just two days before were sending shockwaves through the financial markets. More than that they alerted forces otherwise unaware to a state of readiness that was perhaps potentially destabilizing. Richard was aware that what he said at the conference would be heard by more than just people with mercenary interests and he had to choose his words carefully. The Silver Cloud III waited at the Passfield door and it whisked him off to the Square Mile to the Asiabanc Building.
Richard began his address to the shareholders of Asiabanc and to the invited guests.
Last Tuesday a couple of our questions were answered. About ASEAN at least but first the rest of the world. The Millennium Depression that began with what was thought to be a local recession in Asia in the late 90’s is still with us today. This time we have had a rather tame one with deflation rather than inflation, making the job of reflating the global economy a bit different from the more recent recessions. E-Commerce is now an everyday thing much like telephone or TV. Microsoft continues to ensure that we are able to conduct our business in an orderly and efficient way. Mr. Gates gets richer by the day and the rest of the IT industry begins to look like a big charity. Where else does a new product scuttle a company, or where else is the aim to consistently reduce prices to the consumer. The new paradigm that was spoken about in the late 90’s regarding the mature economies was indeed truly new but it was certainly not what people expected. Cost savings became the way to grow profits, not increased revenue or margins. By the new millennium this strategy had run out of steam as had profits. Here we stand today in the quagmire of recession. I cannot see a way out. Not for the next five years taking us close to the end of the first decade of the new millennium. As early as 1998 I had warned that E-Commerce was a destabilizing force and I think the evidence has upheld that. That was at a time when E-Commerce was thought to be the new growth engine to the global economy. It was but not for long. The fault dear friends lies in ourselves. In 1996 a paper by UN economists warned that the world was running out of scientists. In that paper, it was estimated that by the year 2002 the world would be hopelessly short of R&D human resources while being oversupplied in the applied sciences. It is 2004 now. It is here that we have to examine our faults. In the last two decades education has been tailored to fit the economy. By governments. This was a disastrous affair. The curriculum and the allocation of students to areas of study must be left to the free market. In Asia for the longest time, university places are offered depending on what the economy needs. Curricula are structured to the needs of the corporate. Learning for learning’s sake was definitely not the most fashionable ideal. The blind lead the blind. The production process for a graduate is about three to four years if all goes well; more, if things go horribly right or wrong. Occasionally candidates are lost to academia forever. This production process taking so long introduces a lag between demand and supply and unless the student is already trained in the inexact arts of economics he or she will realize this rather troubling fact two to three years into his or her undergraduate course or recession whichever is the more painful. The silliest idea to date in the British and American education systems is to look at the Asians, marvel at the literacy rates, success rates, number of brilliant imports and assume that it would be a good thing to emulate the Asian education system. That meant that there was no avenue of escape for the creative east to the west.
Creativity increases the technological set. Shapes it for better efficiency. Everything else is constrained optimization. I do apologize for not giving my usual investment opinions or advice but I figured that you don’t want to lose any more money.
Now for ASEAN. The revelations, or allegations at this time, of the erstwhile Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, and it appears that there are today an increasing number of erstwhile ASEAN DPMs, has serious implications for ASEAN that go beyond financial markets and currencies and foreign direct investment. ASEAN’s credibility as a bloc was destroyed by the strenuous efforts of her own members early on. Despite the lack of foreign investment, isolation and recession, ASEAN has been able to stabilize its economies and stem the bleeding. This at a time when the world was moving into a compete at all costs mode is quite an achievement. Looking at the numbers, they are downright incredible. The weakness of ASEAN currencies may be credited for some of the hard cash inflows via exports but note how European currencies fell in tandem. In fact ASEAN had several members declaring and operating currency boards with some pretty un-competitive pegged rates. The weakness in global currencies points toward only one conclusion, a strong US dollar. There are good reasons for this but the fact remains. It is not clear how ASEAN managed its reflationary efforts with such relative success. Last Wednesday we were given a plausible explanation.
The implications if the ex DPM is right will be grave. The backlash from the international community regarding the illicit sale of arms will probably take the form of the usual ineffectual formal denunciations followed by equally impotent trade sanctions. The toll will be taken in the financial markets reacting to news rather than material impact on the economy. What troubles me is the Sino Viet conflict. Why do you think they went to war? China’s reason was that Vietnam was harboring Chinese rebels. We know that China has been having troubles with her provinces and that a shooting conflict has been in progress for the longest time. What we do not know is how these rebels are being supported logistically. For one they have no arms and no money to buy arms. If the allegations are indeed true and arms are being shipped and sold on the black markets then going by the numbers, Europe and the Middle East have not been buying enough. On aggregate there is a shortfall of supply from the traditional sources and it is plausible that this shortfall has been picked up by the ASEAN production. But looking at ASEAN reserves and reflationary efforts, the arms trade must have been a bit more rampant than this. The only thing I can think of is that at least 25% of the arms production has gone to the Chinese provinces. I wonder if the Chinese already suspect this. One thing is certain. They will have the opportunity to test this hypothesis as they pursue the rebels into Vietnam and should they prove the hypothesis true, may be tempted not to stop at Vietnam. ASEAN may have shot itself in the foot. I hope they know enough to control the damage.
The next question is as troubling. The Chinese rebels have no money. Certainly not enough to even buy food which is one of the primary reasons for their rebellion. They starve while the east coast gets fat, unacceptable by any socialist standards and China has had a long enough history of socialism for the hangover to last. Where is the money coming from? Not any in Asia. India may have cause but not the budget. ASEAN would have to be stark staring mad. Japan has no reason to engage in such for she gains nothing and cannot even afford to keep a provincial bank from sinking. Europe? Is new to recession and would hardly spare the change. Who has fallen least for all have fallen? Who would limit the power of a nation that is only meek because it has chosen to be isolated? Note that the Chinese economy is actually the strongest in the world at the moment even though it is not as large as predicted by so many of our colleagues. True they have for five years missed their target GDP growth, true unemployment stands at double digits. But the RMB has resisted devaluation and the external sector shrunk further and yet unemployment has not escalated since 2000. Economic growth is at 4.5% and has not fallen below 3% in all this time. This is hardly a weak economy. With 200 billion USD in foreign reserves her currency is stable, economic growth robust if not strong, unemployment stable and falling just like a mid nineties Germany. What would happen if China opened her doors to trade once more. Or opened them a little wider I should say for they are already open.
The far east, Japan and ASEAN and India have always been little more than cheap productive capacity for the West. Under the circumstances the West is in poor position to take advantage of these countries as they too are in recession. Yet this is time where Asia is cheapest and most competitive. Can the West afford to have a resurgent China orchestrating the economies of Asia?
Thus ended Richard’s address and he stood down to take his seat at the second table as lunch was served. Also at the table was TC Koo.
“That was some speech Richard, I hope you haven’t started a shooting war in Asia.” Koo remarked from behind his glass of claret.
“Asia is full of wars and is in the middle of a shooting one in case you hadn’t noticed.” Richard remarked.
“Plans for the future TC?”
“None except of course to stay as far as possible away from Asia. And you?”
“Just the usual. Sitting around slagging off the efforts of decent and earnest men.” Richard smiled.
It was after lunch at the lobby of Asiabanc Building as Richard waited for the Silver Cloud that he was approached. The man was tall and distinguished looking, bald, slant eyed and spoke with a crisp English accent and a booming voice which he tried hard to suppress.
“Mr. Chang. That was an interesting speech.”
“Thank you sir. You have me at a disadvantage.” Richard replied peering past him for the Rolls.
“I am John Lane with Anchor Trade, import export with much interest in Asia. I wonder if we may speak in private.” He handed his card to Richard which Richard immediately assumed was fake.
“Of course. I am headed back to Passfield Hall. Perhaps we could speak in the car?”
“I have a lesser auto if you don’t mind?”
“Let me inform my driver.” Richard called Fred on the cellular and told him to go ahead to Sheerluck Hall.
Richard followed as Patrick led the way. They made their way outside and into a side street where Patrick headed for a green Audi A4.
“A German car.” Richard remarked as he climbed into the leather bound interior. “Management is getting extravagant.”
“Anchor Trade is quite generous. Mr. Chang.”
“Richard. Please. Anchor Trade is a front. I know. I worked once with a Patrick Mason.”
John Lane was mildly surprised.
“Then you know we are sanctioned by Her Majesty.”
“The trade commission. Yes. Tell me your interest in my speech this morning John.”
“We had considered the possibilities and arrived at the same conclusions. More or less. Our expertise in Asia has always been the academics from your school but I think they are a little out of touch here. And we need someone to advise us who is intimately familiar with the ground.”
“I have lived here the past 10 years.”
“True. But you keep in touch and you haven’t been coloured by the local media.”
“I’ll tell you what I can John, but that’s about all I can do.”
“Good. Have you read the book about the Asian Conspiracy?”
“Yes.” Richard offered no further comment.
“Who holds the power in ASEAN? In Singapore say. Is it the Prime Minister? Is it the Senior Minister?”
“The Senior Minister has been silent through all of this. And he is getting on a bit. I would hazard a guess, a Deputy PM, I can’t say which one, we have three.”
“Malaysia?”
“The power resides in the Party not the government. The PM is the head of the Party, but the party has its elders. I couldn’t begin to understand their politics. Party members have risen in total confusion before.”
“What do you make of Lee’s claims about the arms trade in ASEAN?”
“I believe him. For the reasons I gave this morning. You are worried about the Chinese?”
“We have much investment in Asia.”
“And a strong China? Wouldn’t that help?”
“As you say. China could get a bit out of hand.”
“You can take the next left John.” Richard indicated as they neared Tavistock Square.
John Lane took out a card from his pocket and gave it to Richard.
“You can reach me at these numbers. For now the matter is one of information. Seven dead Asians at the LSE is no small matter. Jerry Mills is working with us on that. Since the name William Kong crept up.”
“Have you tried test buying on the black-market?”
“Bought some M16s AKs Steyrs. There’s no way to trace them. No markings whatsoever. No serial numbers, no part numbers, not even indications on the sight adjustments or safeties.”
“By the way, nice timing on that air craft carrier fleet.”
John Lane dropped Richard off at the Passfield door and sped off.
It took less than an hour for John Patrick Mason to meet Richard at the coffee shop on Marchmont Street. Marchmont street was a small but busy street in the heart of university hostel land. It featured a post office, a couple of laundry shops and a couple of snack bars and coffee shops. In good weather the food shops would place tables and chairs outside and often these would be filled with students from the nearby hostels.
Richard had called him to check out the legitimacy of John Lane. Mason entered the shop and scanned the seats to find Richard sitting at a table in the back by the bar counter. He went over and sat down.
“Greetings. You want to know if John Lane is who he says he is?” Mason asked with a look of amusement.
He and Richard were good friends having worked together on several occasions.
“And is he?”
“He’s one of ours. Actually I would have come myself but I’ve been working another angle of same thing. You’ve been active I hear.”
A waitress came over and sort of threw her head in way of taking an order. Mason ordered a coffee then suggested that they move outside so that he could have a smoke. It was quite chilly outside and Richard had to put his coat back on.
“Tell me about the arms traffic.” Richard asked.
“Apparently it’s been going on for years. We were alerted to it by the IRA’s use of such weapons. Basically they are cheap but high quality reproductions of the real thing. M16’s to Steyr AUG’s and MP5’s. That’s just infantry.”
“You mean they do artillery as well?”
“In bulk. Stingers, Wire guided missiles, Anti armour, you name it. All generic OEM like bloody soundcards and RAM. We were always buy side until we found some inside help. CNN had someone under. Truck driver for the route. He helped us get inside the operation.”
“So these arms came from the Far East.” Richard guessed.
“From ASEAN. They have been using that to fund the new welfare system they created to handle the unemployment. You know the economics better than I. The thing is, we can’t account for all the production. We know that Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia have been producing the infantry material, guns, ammo, explosives, we know that laser sights and electronics for Stingers and anti armour come from Singapore and Malaysia. They even have a medium range anti aircraft system.”
“So what can’t you account for?”
“Warsaw Pact weapons. AK’ s Red Eyes etcetera. And the volume. My guess is that the CIS states seeing the volume of weapons passing through their borders are making some of their own. Quality is not as good as the ASEAN models but volumes have been heavy. Kazakhstan I think would have the resources to produce in volume.”
“Some of those arms made their way to the Chinese rebels and that’s what’s been eating them. If its true what you say then it’s a matter of time before they get really pissed of with Kazakhstan as well. And that would be a real worry wouldn’t it?”
“The Kazakhs have nuclear capability. You can’t imagine how hard we are working on this one. We can only hope at this point that China sees only ASEAN.”
“Is India involved?”
“Not as far as we know but that question keeps coming up. I was in Delhi just last month and we found that some of those cheap guns had made their way back down there. At worst the Indians might complain a bit. They might blow the whistle on this whole thing though I think the blame will almost certainly fall on the Pakistanis. They do make guns as well, just not in these volumes.”
“So what we have here is a war sparked off by cavalier arms trading? Incredible.”
“The Chinese would love an excuse. They have legitimate concern as well. These arms are quite advanced and can give quite an advantage to an otherwise good as dead resistance. I don’t think the Chinese would take kindly to a rebellion of that strength.”
“They must have also considered the financing factor. I hardly think a bunch of rebels could afford these arms. Even if they are dirt cheap. What do you think Patrick? Americans?”
“If it was the Americans I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know for sure but I think that that’s the most logical conclusion.”
“So you’re not working with the Americans.”
“No.”
“Would you pull the plug though, knowing that the money’s American?”
“We are monitoring. We’re not there to stop anything. Once we have a clear picture of the operations then this will go to MI5 and then to the Minister. Then, it will be out of our hands.”
“You are such a bureaucrat you know?”
Mason raised an indignant eyebrow.
“You have other plans of course.”
“Would you rather not know them?”
“Tell me.”
“I think war is a wasteful exercise and any effort to stop it should not be spared. Get your people out of Central Asia my friend. The Chinese will be on the prowl for evidence, the others will be desperately on the run. Not a good place for good people.”
“We have people in Asia but all safe. The Americans will have some units that will end up left high and dry when the Chinese conduct Spring cleaning. Have you provisioned for that?”
“I cannot. Not from where I am. Can you reach them?”
“Unfortunately not. Give me 24 hours to get word to Washington and we’ll talk again.”
The official letter of protest from Beijing was delivered to the Thai Prime Minister’s office at about noon. Sopikul’s heart lurched as he read the document.
The People’s Republic of China has reason to believe that the arms and logistical support that the unlawful rebel forces are receiving are coming through Thailand. We have reason to believe also that Thailand is involved directly in the distribution of such arms and support……
Sopikul very quickly called his Singaporean counterpart only to discover that similar letters had been sent to Each of the ASEAN nations. A formal complaint was also lodged with the United Nations. Immediately a state of emergency was declared in Thailand while the alert status of the other ASEAN nations was stepped up.
“I’m sorry about Clara.” Daniel startled Colin who was busy reading a magazine. He turned to find Daniel while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“Don’t worry about it.” Colin assured. “I need a fucking fag.” He complained.
“How far are we?”
“Two hours more. Hang in there Daniel. Who told you about FreeSpeech and Clara?” Colin asked thoughtfully.
“There was someone at the Lee speech on Monday. We’d met before. He told me to check on FreeSpeech and I did. Apparently Mickey was as deeply involved as Clara.”
“How did you know this man?”
“He stopped his car just short of chopping off my toes one day, pointed a gun at me and took m for a ride.”
“And you didn’t tell us?” Colin was incredulous.
“I thought at the time he might have been part of Sheerluck.”
“That’s why the questions about Sheerluck.”
Daniel nodded sheepishly.
“So his intel was good after all.”
“There are many interested parties in all of this and each of them have their own interests at heart. Hell, someone could be friend today and foe tomorrow.”
An announcement came over the PA. It was the Captain making an announcement.
“……..a state of emergency has been declared in Malaysia. There is no need for alarm. When we land passengers will be advised by our ground crew. Onward travel may be rescheduled or redirected but at this time we cannot tell if passengers will be allowed out of the airport to the capital city or indeed anywhere else. As far as we have been told passengers will have to wait in the airport complex until further notice.”
Daniel was already busy connecting his notebook PC to a air traffic communications safe Globalphone band and logging onto the Internet. He needed a window on the world. First destination was the CNN site which gave vague details on how a state of emergency had been declared in most ASEAN nations. He went to Asia specifics and found more detailed reports. Apparently all ASEAN nationals had been effectively barred from leaving their countries, capital controls had been announced, the cabinets were in conference and the Navies were forming up to a defensive lineup in the South China Sea. Colin watched on in grave silence as the murmurs in the cabin grew.
“Local site. Star.com.my.” Daniel announced. On the Malaysian site were instructions and advice for Malaysians on how to go about their business under the curfew and the state of emergency. On a Singaporean site information about a military mobilization was being disseminated. In Thailand troops were being mobilized to fortify the border with Vietnam and the Thai Navy small as it was, was already at sea.
“I think we have a problem Colin.” It was a stupid understatement.
“We’ll be screened exiting the airport, that’s all. The problem is that your destination is in the middle of a bunch of belligerent navies. I suggest we turn tail and head back.” Colin said.
“Can’t even do that. All male citizens are barred from leaving the country.” Daniel cursed.
“What if we never go through immigration. We could buy the connecting flight to Singapore and leave from there.”
“We could. You just keep hoping they haven’t closed that. I’m not Malaysian so I can go ahead”
“You want to go alone?”
“I’m emailing Rick. What do we need?”
“Diplomatic passports. Preferably EU.”
“Nice.”
“I mean it. He can. We need a way out. We need three, one for you, one for me and one for Michelle. Have it ready at the Sheerluck or Asiabanc office.”
“Our mugshots?”
“We have scans on the LSE server.”
It had been a good three hour wait and Colin was getting impatient. It was good that they were free to shop at the Duty Free shop. Colin had already run through a whole pack of cigarettes and chucked the empty pack into the dustbin.
“You sure Rick got your email?” He asked Daniel who was lying stretched out on the bench.
“Yes.” Was his monosyllabic reply.
Indeed Richard had got Daniel’s email and had gone into action. He called Anchor Trade’s John Lane and asked him if he could arrange a couple of diplomatic passports in the name of Daniel Tan and Colin Choo to be issued out of the embassy in Kuala Lumpur. These passports had to be sent into the transit lounge at KL International Airport and passed by hand to Colin and Daniel. They would then await the arrival of the next British Airways, and the nearest one was from Sydney ETA in 5 hours, then make their way to immigration and use the passports to exit the KLIA. Lane’s people had taken the scans provided by Richard and sent them to the embassy in KL where the passports would be issued. Already the passports were being printed and the scans pressed and glossed. An hour from the fist call to the embassy Carl Hanson a junior secretary left with the two documents and headed for the KLIA in the company Jaguar with the diplomatic plates. In two hours he arrived at Arrivals and left the car parked conspicuously in front. He made his way quickly to the transit area using his diplomatic credentials under the cover that he was retrieving a locked bag from Sydney.
Daniel’s cellular rang and he answered it in a big hurry. It was Richard.
“Our ticket out of here is on the way.” Daniel reported to Colin who was pacing up and down with a fag hanging from his lips. He stopped and gave Daniel a quizzical look.
“We’re getting out of here. British diplomatic passports. The mission is still on.”
“Rick came through?”
“Brit embassy staff coming through with our passports. We wait another half hour and exit with the Sydney inbound BA flight.”
The two guys made their way to the edge of the immigration hall and waited there. It wasn’t long before they saw a black guy in a blue suit stride up and introduce himself.
“Carl. You must be Mr. Tan and Mr. Choo.” Hs shook their hands. “I’ll need to see your ID.”
Colin and Daniel showed him their passports which he took and checked to satisfy himself of their identity. That done he handed them each a manila envelope.
“Passport and travel documents saying that you were flying on BA 312 from Sydney. Remember to sign the passports.”
Carl left them at in the hall making his way back out. Colin and Daniel went back to the Duty Free lounge with their new travel papers and found a seat at the bar. Each ordered a drink and began to examine their new papers. They had to sign the passports before they could use them.
“Half an hour and we go.” Colin said between drags on his fag.
“I’m headed East to the coast. Where are you headed?” Daniel asked. Colin had said that he would be on his own.
“I’ll be in KL for a bit. Maybe two days then I’m off to Singapore.”
“It’s been too easy.” Daniel remarked, his mind suddenly taking a new direction. “Someone wants to ensure that William Kong has his chance to do his damage.”
“You saying FreeSpeech is run by the incumbents?” Colin asked incredulously. “They went to a lot of trouble to stage this then.”
“The timing was just too good. The old man at the Old Theatre just when Lee made his announcement. They knew I would try to save Michelle.”
“You’re a touch too paranoid Daniel. I just think that’s a bit too contrived. Besides, why would they want you to save Michelle?”
“I think they believe FreeSpeech may hand her over to ASEAN.”
The two men strode up to the immigration kiosks and presented their papers as a queue formed between them consisting of the Sydney flight passengers. The immigration officer examined the passport and called his superior who strolled lazily to the booth. They spoke briefly and the supervisor took the document from his man and scrutinized it. He had seen diplomatic passports from the UK before but not for two Chinese men.
“What is your business in Malaysia?” The more senior man asked Colin.
“We work with the embassy.” Colin answered. “Trade representatives.”
The officers were not totally convinced but neither had they the intelligence to proceed further with the questioning and the senior officer instructed his man to process the passports which he did.
“Welcome to Malaysia.” He intoned blandly to Colin and Daniel who nodded their thanks and filed past. Outside the gates at baggage claim, the two were greeted by an appalling sight. Baggage was piled randomly all over and around the belts. Baggage was still coming out the belts and colliding into the stuff that was sitting there and spilling off and on to the ground.
“Fuck.” Colin exclaimed.
It took them a good half-hour before they found their baggage and got out to Arrivals. They went directly to the car park where they found the Toyota as they had been told they would find. Colin threw his bag in the boot and slammed it down shut. As usual he would drive and he got into the driver’s seat.
“Where can I take you?” He asked Daniel with a silly grin.
“Mersing. It’s a town on the East Coast.”
“I’m Malaysian Daniel. I know it’s a town on the East Coast. Two hours tops.”
Colin threw the car in reverse, spun it around and took off like a jackrabbit.
Charles Goldsmith met Richard Chang at the Rendezvous Club on Mayfair at on the 3rd floor of the Hilton overlooking Hyde Park. Goldsmith was one of the less conspicuous hedge fund managers who worked the same market moving style of the likes of George Soros. He was also a victim like Soros of the witch hunt that ensued in the Millennium against such hedge funds. The Goldsmith-Goldman Fund was one of the largest funds around with close to 50 billion USD under management in an umbrella structure. The meat was in the high-risk high stakes hedge funds under the G-G umbrella. In 1999, a global concerted effort to rid the world of or at least punish the hedge funds that were blamed for the high degree of mispricing and instability in capital markets. In fact as early as a year before that, Soros himself together with a group of hedge fund managers had warned the authorities in several lectures in academic institutions across the globe that the global capital markets were in grave danger.
The concerted effort to not only punish speculators from ‘freeloading’ but also to stabilize markets occurred throughout 1999 and failed horribly the in the following Millennium year. In the process, the hedge funds which had profited from the Asian crisis and the Latin American crisis, and were later punished through 1999, were again hugely profitable as the Millennium Depression began. Goldsmith himself was one of the founder engineers of concerted hedge fund activity and his execution of the Millennium play was the subject of legend.
“Seems like the Asians are going to war doesn’t it?” Goldsmith intoned as he folded the Financial Times and set it on the empty seat next to him. Across the table Richard was sipping a Coke, he was never one for the Bordeaux or Champagne that was usual at the Rendezvous.
“It seems like it. Do you remember the days of the Asian crisis, before you knew me.”
“I believe I do. That was an exciting time for us. And profitable too. It was Soros who was credited with the fall of Asia but really the hedge funds were pretty late on the scene. More like vultures who had seen a kill.”
“Who made the kill?”
“You wrote about that in 2001 and you weren’t far off the mark either. It wasn’t so much the speculators. Speculators trigger things but they don’t drive them. The fundamentals were creaking at the seams and a lot of fund managers, Asian ones at that had already initiated the shorts. They made some serious money.”
“But you provided the momentum and the volume.” Richard reasoned.
“And it made us good money.” Goldsmith added. “You know the opportunities have completely dried up ever since this recovery.”
“What recovery?”
“Well things have stopped deteriorating haven’t they? Rick you have to be more optimistic. Its not healthy in a young man to be cynical. Makes you age too quickly.”
“Charles, I need your help.” Richard said earnestly leaning forward to catch the older gentleman’s attention. “Asia is going to war. We have to do what we can to help. As you know Sheerluck is a charity. A lot of the money made goes to aid. If Asia goes to war the strain it will place on international aid finances Sheerluck included will be pretty hard.”
“You want us to avert war. Richard. You are not serious.”
“I am. There may be a way we can do this but I need some help, a little finance.”
That kind of request scared Goldsmith. A little finance usually meant big numbers.
“Tell me.” He said.
“I will tell you later. There is much information I still have to collect. How about a hand of blackjack?”
“Good idea.” Goldsmith said as he finished his Champagne.
They went downstairs down to the gambling rooms and found a fairly busy table.
“George. Join you?” Charles asked a big man at the table.
“Charles, don’t you work at all?” George De Broglie . “Richard. How are you? How is Sheerluck?”
The three men left the table and instead went to the bar for some Champagne and cigars.
“I heard Sheerluck has been putting money back into the market. Is this true?” De Broglie asked.
“I don’t manage Sheerluck investments, I only advise them and I have advised them to overweight Japan. Relatively. Nothing big. How is Wentworth-Crown’s ( a mutual fund)?”
“Still pretty light. We’ve been overweight debt for the longest time. The Morgan people have been saying that till their faces were blue but it seems to have been the best thing for the last 5 years.” De Broglie replied.
“We may have another run available in Asia George.” Richard said between puffs of Punch Havana. It got George’s attention.
“The last time we were there they shut the door. Welcome to the third world. You still want to play that game?” George said with unnecessary vigor.
“It’s a different game. They’ve shut the door but they are about to open it again. This one is for a bit longer.”
“You are not talking about investment are you Rick?” Goldsmith was incredulous.
“I am. They have cleaned up and patched up their economies for the investor. They are going to welcome us with open arms and with favourable terms. This is what you worked for in the beginning. That was the plan wasn’t it? Only it didn’t go all that smoothly. Consider the past 5 years a hiccup.”
“I don’t think we planned everything as well as you think pal.” George said with a wry smile.
“We did hope that the investment opportunity would come.” Goldsmith added slyly.
“Your plans included helping in the cleanup well look here the idiots have done it for you. And now they want you back.”
Richard made a lot of sense, they thought and they drank to that. There was an unspoken pact, an agreement and each would play his part.
“Gentlemen, I shall be in Hong Kong in about a week to meet with TC. I’ll let you know what happens from there.”
“What plot are you hatching in China?” Goldsmith asked amused. Koo always amused the investment community with his sometimes hair brained conspiracy theories.
“TC has much influence in Hong Kong with the Chinese authorities. There’s something underlying the China Vietnam war that I have to check out.”
Jim Lauffer got out of the cab at Passfield and went in quickly to avoid the cold. Lauffer was LSE alumni and resident in the hall in his day and he knew it well. He made his way through the East corridor and directly to G2 where he knocked at the door.
“Herr Lauffer I presume? Welcome to London. Call me Rick.” Richard greeted him.
“American actually. Though you’re absolutely right about the lineage. Mr. Chang. Please call me Jim.”
They sat down and looked at one another. It had been a long journey for both men to arrive at this meeting.
“When did you discover it?” Lauffer asked Richard who had got up to pour him a drink and light a cigarette. Lauffer accepted the proffered drink of scotch and the cigarette.
“Almost too late I’m afraid. And your people?”
“Some time ago. Just a glimpse really, nothing conclusive. Not till now.”
“The Chinese will retaliate. It’s a good excuse to take South East Asia.”
“We are doing what we can to help. Richard, we don’t usually talk to unofficial sources unless we know there’s a real problem. I just want you to know that we take this seriously.”
“And well you should Jim. You need from me several things?”
“Yes. The proof.”
“I cannot release that at this point Jim. William Kong will be assassinated the instant he comes out in the open.”
“We can protect him.”
“He doesn’t feel safe. I myself had wanted him to make a public statement followed by corroborating documents.” Richard lamented. “Said no.”
“Can’t blame him can you?”
“I’m not asking for a lot. Just the posturing. I’m asking for an empty gun.”
“That’s been given Rick, we were wondering if you needed a bit more?”
“Not for now. You were sent to check the story out weren’t you? To see if the evidence was good. I’m sorry I have to disappoint you Jim but there is one last alternative available that might be rather less troublesome. I will be in Singapore or KL sometime next week but for now I leave for Hong Kong.”
“I’ll be in Singapore tomorrow. Here is my card with my mobile number. Unicom of course. If you need us.”
“Thanks, I might.”
After Lauffer left Richard called Boon Yang who was sitting it out in a safe house in Kilburn. Boon Yang was bored to death but he had been given a PC with secure, blind access to the Internet. He had been doing a little fact finding and hacking into the FreeSpeech server.
“Richard, I thought you’d forgotten about me. I’ve been through the FreeSpeech server with your browser.” By browser he meant V1, Richard’s little creation.
“I shall be leaving for Hong Kong this evening. What have you found?”
“They are looking for William Kong everywhere. Best bet is Manchester. They think. If they get to him there will be no story. There is his daughter as well.”
Boon Yang waited for an answer but got none. Richard was considering the facts. If Michelle was in the safe custody of FreeSpeech then couldn’t they easily reach her? Unless they were certain she would not turn. Just how good was the intel Daniel was relying on?
The Play
Keiko Sato was troubled. The Chinese invasion of Vietnam had escalated to include now Thailand. There was no official war but the daily spilling over from the Vietnamese side was substantial. At the behest of the US President John Book, Sato was on a mission of peace in South East Asia. His first stop was Singapore. The JAL 747 landed at Changi International Airport, Singapore at noon. The Official Car that would take him to the Raffles Hotel was waiting at the aircraft bay so that they would not need to go through the usual tedious route of clearing customs and immigration. Sato’s mission was a delicate one with the Chinese advancing south at an alarming rate. There was no fanfare and no ambassador to meet him, just his entourage who got off the plane and went directly to the three Lexus limousines and climbed in quickly. The eight motor cycle cops were supplied by the Singapore government and two of them sped off ahead of the convoy. Usually the Prime Minister would reside at the embassy but on this occasion he decided to stay at the Raffles at the suggestion of the Singapore PM. Sato’s purpose for being in the island state was clear and simple and he wanted to get to business as quickly as possible and leave as discreetly as he could. He had arranged to have dinner with Donald Lee later in the evening to discuss business before proceeding on to Hong Kong the following day.
The Singapore PM had much on his mind and he considered Keiko Sato’s visit an inconvenience. After a string of 24 hour workdays Lee had wanted to spend some time with his wife and children but the Japanese PM’s dinner date had come up unexpectedly from a rather insistent Japanese ambassador.
4 April 2004
It was Spring time in the Northern Hemisphere and all was well or seemed to be. Keiko Sato’s trip to Singapore was designed to deliver a message, a contract. The aim was to avert a Chinese invasion of South East Asia. His dinner at the Istana had been unplanned as he had originally intended to meet with the Singapore Prime Minister at the Raffles Hotel where he was staying. It was at the insistence of the Singapore Prime Minister that Sato gave in and made the ten minute trip via armed escort to the Istana. After the usual pleasantries it became apparent to the hosts and to the also present Malaysian ambassador to Singapore that Sato’s visit was not a routine one. After dinner was done Sato requested that they, the Singaporean PM, the Malaysian ambassador and himself should be left to speak alone without the deputies and civil servants. It was quite a slight to the ranks and hardly a move a Japanese Prime Minister would have made unless the circumstances were extraordinary. They were.
“Gentlemen.” Keiko Sato began. “This visit has been a difficult one for me. I come with news from the Americans regarding the tension in the South China Sea. As you know three American carrier groups now patrol that area and stand between the Chinese Navy and the assembled Navies of ASEAN. China threatens South East Asia with invasion and the Americans are a major concern to both sides.”
The Singapore PM and the Malaysian ambassador sat silently listening. They expected a bombshell but what they got was totally unexpected.
“Investigations have been carried out by the Americans into the nature and motivation for the invasion of Vietnam and now Thailand. It appears that the Chinese have discovered that arms, weaponry, manufactured in several ASEAN countries are being sold in illegal arms bazaars across Asia.”
Sato did not bother to provide his hosts the privilege of denial but went on to explain the American position.
The arms from ASEAN had been traced throughout their tortuous route through the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and the via Central Europe to Europe and the middle east. Some of the product wound its way up from India into the former Soviet states and from there found their way to the periphery of China, into the hands of rebels fighting for independence or food or money. Mostly money. That was vast oversight on the part of the financiers. In any case, ASEAN had been caught with its hand in the cookie jar and there was going to be hell to pay. Sato offered a solution that had originated in US soil. Under a series of terms and conditions, the Chinese Army would retreat to China’s borders as defined before the invasion of Vietnam. It would be a total unwinding of the Chinese military position but it would not be without cost. In return there would be demands made on ASEAN and her leaders the details of which would require China’s approval. Very briefly they involved opening ASEAN economies and markets to free competition from products from the world including China, liberalizing the capital accounts and the currencies, the resignation and probable prosecution of the incumbent leaders under each country’s constitution, and the institution of a joint military exercise to be held annually from the year 2005. The full terms and conditions would be spelt out in a document that would be made available to the cabinets of all the countries involved at a meeting that would be arranged to take place in a matter of days.
Following the meeting with Keiko Sato, the Singapore PM and the Malaysian ambassador alerted the rest of the region’s leaders and an extraordinary meeting of the ASEAN Heads of State and their deputies was called. The discussions were at first confused and still a little hopeful that murder could be got away with but the reality of the situation soon set in. It was apparent that whatever decisions they took would involve the blessing of the PRC.
The Mercedes 600 V12 floated into the entrance to Asiabanc and came to a gentle stop. A valet was already waiting to open the door for the slight man who emerged. At the understanding of all parties his arrival was arranged with the minimum of fuss considering that he was a 5 star general of the PLA as well as right hand of the Minister for National Security, Sung Chi Tong. General Qin Li Tang was in his 50’s and considered very junior for his position. His meteoric rise was attributed to his ruthlessness and cunning. On that cool Thursday morning Qin strode confidently through the automatic doors that led to the plush if rather understated and private lobby of the HQ branch. He was met by a valet and led to the private lift that led to the top floor observatory that was the office of the CEO of Asiabanc, Sir Reginald Prescott. There were no stops in between and General Qin was quickly transported to the 70th floor where the lift opened into a glass dome partially blacked out by liquid crystal. The dome really encapsulated a garden with plants and trees and walkways. It was a greenhouse at the top of the world. Sir Reginald was waiting and greeted the General warmly.
“You must excuse the heat and humidity up here but we have to keep the ecosystem in balance.” Sir Reginald explained. General Qin smiled in reply.
“This way. He’s waiting up at the observatory.” Sir Reginald referred to Richard Chang. He saw the General not as the slightly built oriental sub-despot but as an officer of the PLA and a man worthy of respect and caution. Sir Reginald himself had distinguished himself in war first in the Falklands and then again in the so called peacekeeping missions of NATO into the Yugoslavia. Both wars had been as futile as all the others that had come before them. Sir Reginald knew the man well despite never having previously met him. Such was General Qin’s reputation. The two men walked to a clearing up near what the General supposed was the geometric centre of the dome. There was a table and some chairs and a path leading further up which they would probably not have to take as Richard was seated at the table. He got up to greet the General and did so quite formally referring to the man by his rank and appending a ‘sir’. He invited the men to sit which they did and were quickly served refreshments. Richard was well aware of the General’s intense need to smoke and so did not offer him any opportunity to do so. Save the trees, he thought.
“General Qin. I think we both know what the ASEAN countries have been up to the past few years, yes?”
The General showed no acknowledgement but maintained his expressionless countenance.
“We both know.” He said surprising Richard with his candour.
“I think there is an opportunity here to further the purpose of the state. Don’t you?” Richard poured himself some orange juice from a jug on the table. Above them and above the glass dome was a clear blue sky bereft of the worries in the South China Sea. China. Richard understood, felt that it was in a position of power. He was in fact bargaining from a position of relative weakness, appealing to the rationality of this General who probably thought that conquest at all cost was glory.
“I have interests in ASEAN that would be greatly damaged by your campaign, General. Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”
The General was always irritatingly slow to answer.
“There is not much I could do to change the mind of the government in Beijing. ASEAN has supplied our enemies with weapons and some of them very technologically advanced weapons I might add. China has every right and intention to retaliate. Unless you have a better solution.”
“I might.” Richard said. First he had a question of his own.
“General, forgive but, why did not Beijing lodge a complaint with the United Nations regarding this matter? And also, why did Beijing not alert the United Nations to the situation when the UN condemned the South East Asian Campaign?”
There was another long pause. This time the General was not given a chance to answer as Richard went on.
“You don’t have to answer that General Qin. We are understanding.”
Richard’s original bargain involved hinting that the Americans might have had something to do with the funding of the rebel operations but he now had a feel from the General’s demeanour that suggested that the Chinese themselves were not entirely blameless in the matter. He had to come up with a new bargain that would grant the Chinese a lot less latitude.
“Our solution is unique in that allows all parties a graceful exit from the conflict. The South East Asian arms dealers will have to be punished of course. They will deliver up the incumbent heads of state and their coconspirators in this arms fiasco. New elections will be called that will be scrutinized by the United Nations. A fair and honest government will be elected in each of the errant countries. The economies in the region will be open to competition from East and West. There will no longer be protectionist practices nor favouritism. We will demand UN scrutiny of the military development of the errant countries, perhaps restrict the movements of the Navies and Air Forces. We would like to institute an annual military exercise involving the South East Asian countries and China and Japan. As a show of goodwill and cooperation. In return the Chinese Armed Forces, Navy, Army and Air Force will retreat to pre invasion borders. That means out of Vietnam as well. UN will guarantee fair elections in Vietnam.”
The General listened intently and appeared to be deep in thought.
“I am in no position to answer on behalf of Beijing but I will bring your message to them. Exact terms may take some time to formulate.”
“General. I am sending a US representative to broker this peace deal. He will bring the formal terms but I hope you will recommend our solution favourably to Beijing. In the meantime we will be furthering our investigations into some of the less clear matters arising from this situation. I think we need to investigate fully and rigorously the extent of this illegal arms trade in Asia and trace all the weapons to their original source. As many of the weapons have leaked into your country our investigation may have to go there.”
“The arms that have found their way into China are our concern. UN need not worry about that.”
“Perhaps General. Perhaps. But until our solution is approved and accepted by Beijing, I do not think UN will feel comfortable until all the facts are made clear. I trust China will assist UN in her investigations?”
“China will do all possible but I assure you Mr. Chang that further investigation is unnecessary. I’m quite sure that the terms presented will be fair and I will recommend it well to Beijing.”
“I’m glad General. It is time to end the bloodshed and to build the region again.”
The General actually smiled as he sipped his drink.
“You are a wise man Mr. Chang. There are other matters that have to be addressed of course but your eloquence has rendered them mere details.”
The General had suddenly seemed to relax and his posture eased as he sat back into his chair.
“Regarding the South East Asian leaders, we are not concerned with them. We do, however, wish to open up the protected markets. The Islamic countries. They are not as open as Thailand or Philippines. We need al their import tariffs removed, absolutely no barriers to entry, no subsidies to local products, no advantage whatsoever. I’m sure the Americans want just the same. One other thing Mr. Chang. I’m not sure if the Americans are as perceptive as yourself in fact I sincerely doubt that and in light of that and the fact that the funding of these illegal arms sales is still in question might you not negotiate in China’s favour in a few matters of trade?”
“The Americans are not to be underestimated but I will do my best. A list of your wishes would be helpful. Of course I cannot guarantee anything.”
From the fact that the General was negotiating terms Richard knew that this was no ordinary General and that perhaps the original intelligence that he worked for Sung Chi Tong may have been confused. The man was clearly in a position to make a decision. Likewise he must be thinking the same of me, Richard thought. Still, the China leg was but part of a larger peace deal and there were others to be consulted.
The General left shortly after and got on a direct military flight to Beijing. His thoughts were entirely occupied with the deal that he had been offered and the opportunities that had suddenly presented themselves. So the Americans were financing the rebels after all. He had suspected it but could not be sure as there were the old foes, the Russians, still to consider. How could the Americans bankroll Kazakhstan? That would have been a mammoth effort and an incredible risk lest another Iran should arise. Could the Kazakhs have been a mere mercenary presence? They were too organised and too well equipped. A concerted American Russian effort? It was too improbable and too uncomfortable an alliance for an effort of this size. That man Chang was good. He was also Chinese by race.
The instant General Qin had left the Asiabanc dome Richard and Sir Reginald went up to the operational office where a large screen video conferencing unit was being readied. Sir Reginald signaled that the assistants should leave before Richard made his transmission and they did so quickly. Sir Reginald then made a discreet exit to allow Richard full privacy. Seated at Sir Reginald’s desk and at his keyboard, Richard patched into Jim Lauffer’s office. Lauffer was looking tired and disheveled and he needed a shave badly.
“Richard. It’s been a 48 hour day. How was your meet with the General?”
“Just spoke to the General. I think he’s on to your people in Kazakhstan. I would suggest we resolve this as discreetly as possible.”
“What is the bastard asking for?”
“He wants some trade barriers taken down. Its down to economics.”
It wasn’t entirely a fabrication. Richard only hoped that Lauffer had the clout to get the message all the way to the Oval Office.
“I’ve asked him for his terms for a withdrawal and made it clear that the bulk of the concessions would have to come from ASEAN.”
“Did he mention Americans?” Lauffer asked rather nervously. His boss was already getting his knickers in a twist over the affair.
“Look Jim. I think he knows although he didn’t say so. We can loot the ASEAN gun running states for the good of all. Do you think you can get your side to give away a couple of token concessions? Free up some trade barriers. Maybe take down some of those import tariffs on China products that you enacted in 98? Or all of them if you can. The rest of the payback can rest on ASEAN.”
Richard was pushing it. He knew Lauffer could at best get a hearing for the General but that was it. Lauffer was a friend and a nice guy but he was a lightweight and had no pull on policy. Richard knew now he had to get the General an audience in Washington or at least somewhere neutral.
“Jim, I thing the General wants a meet.”
To the best of his knowledge the computer systems at Changi International Airport were stand alone, insulated from access from any external sources. They spoke to a communications ring at various highly secure points and the ring itself was heavily fire-walled. It was dawn when Colin Choo turned on his notebook PC in the Grand Cherokee and tuned in to CNN and some other news sites. All was well in the world and the conflict in the South China Sea seemed to be in stalemate. Colin lit up his first cigarette of the day and dragged deeply on it. He was stationed in a clearing off a road that led to an army installation just north east of the main runway at Changi International. In fact from where he was he could see the entire airport and her three complexes. The spot was a popular spot among young lovers who either had no place of privacy or were having illicit affairs and it suited him fine that most people left the place well alone. At 1000hrs the Deputy Prime Minister would be at Terminal 2 meeting his Malaysian counterpart who had been sent on short notice to discuss the consequences of Keiko Sato’s visit. Colin went to the periphery of the fence where the previous night he had cut a hole. He rolled back the breached fence and ventured a few meters to a grey box sitting up from the ground just by the side of a service road. Colin pried the box open with his Swiss Army knife and exposed a bunch of electronic circuitry. He selected a few wires and disconnected them carelessly at their socket points. From his back pocket he pulled out a little box with matching connectors and he hastily connected the wires to the box. That done, he extended the antenna on the little box and placed the box atop the bigger grey box before closing the panel as far as he could close it without severing the new connections he had made. As he went back through the hole in the fence he flicked the burning cigarette butt back into the Airport side of the fence in a pointless defiance.
Richard Chang was on the beach. It was a deserted stretch that lovers used to frequent in their cars to avoid detection. The stretch of beach was parallel to the Changi International Airport’s main runway and the stretch of road leading up to the area was a favourite among the local racers either of motorcycles or cars. Richard had taken a risk with the paint-work and taken the black Maranello Spyder off road through some pretty sandy stretches. He parked the car on the verge of the softer sand and got out to survey the area. It was 1005 hrs. From the PC note he had with him he could see the schedules of the incoming aircraft. He was interested in one particular flight. MH 603 from KL to Singapore carrying the Deputy PM of Malaysia. It was 15 minutes from landing.
David Quah was surprised by his cellular phone going off just as the official car, a Lexus, and entourage pulled up to the hangar where MH 603 would be berthed. He was more perplexed that the number shown was his home number. There was nobody home at this time of day.
“Deputy Prime Minister David Quah. Listen carefully. In a moment the entire airport power will be turned off. That includes air traffic control. The power down will last 5 minutes and auxiliary power will be unavailable.”
“Who is this?” David asked.
“Someone who thinks you should consider Keiko Sato’s message very seriously. Power will be restored in 5 minutes. We have the power to do whatever we wish until you cooperate. The solution is simple. Comply with the US peace deal and all is forgiven.”
The line went dead and just like clockwork the entire area powered down and there was a blackout throughout the airport complex. Air traffic control panicked when all the screens went dead and communications were cut off but there was nothing they could do to restore the auxiliary power.
From the air it seemed nothing had changed except that the runway lights had gone off. On board Qantas flight QA 96 Captain William Marconi looked quizzically at his copilot who shrugged.
“Tower, this is QA96 is something wrong with the lights?” Andy Prowse the copilot inquired.
The reply had unexpectedly an Aussie accent.
“Tower here. No problems. Lights will be back in a couple of seconds.”
And they were much to the relief of Captain Marconi and crew. They were about to make their descent when the lights went out but now were given new instructions to circle again. Similar adjustments were made to all aircraft waiting to land while approaching aircraft were directed into a holding pattern around the Eastern tip of the island. Everything went smoothly and there was never any danger. The only strange thing might have been that the tower had lost all its local Singaporean English. Instead Aussie and American accents were heard throughout the next 5 minutes, a time frame too short for any of the flight crew to remember or even take notice of.
The African Queen was a bar of notoriety. Long established as the place for picking up local girls of a higher class, the African Queen was situated along the infamous Boat Quay in the Central Business District. Boat Quay was not infamous for sleaze but rather for its volatile fortunes with boom s and busts buffeting the numerous bars and restaurants on the strip which was located on the banks of the rather dismal Singapore River. The proprietor of The African Queen was one Lim Ah Hock. He didn’t look like a Lim Ah Hock but had a complexion and features that suggested some European or Indian blood somewhere along the way. In any case he insisted that everyone call him Henry. Henry wasn’t always a saloon keeper. There was a time when he was the hottest stockbroker in Singapore broking the big deals among the local and Malaysian syndicates. The Millennium saw an end to that and had it not been for a bunch of friends helping out he might still be unemployed. Instead he was the Boss. And he liked the perks even if they were sometimes under-aged. That night he was enjoying a drink with an his old friend from schooldays.
“I can get you girls.” He breathed lustily into Richard Chang’s face. Richard smiled his dismissal.
“I’m expecting a friend. I want you to take good care of him. Full membership and all. My tab.”
It was a good thing they were in Henry’s private bar and office as it was too noisy outside with the Filipino band belting out some eighties rock.
“I can get him girls.” Henry said with a wicked grin.
“I’m sure you can. I need a favour.” Richard looked Henry in the eye and Henry knew that this one was going to cost.
“For you sir, anything.” Henry breathed smoke into the room.
“I need a car and I need your boat.”
It was going to cost indeed.
“You want the Scarab?”
“Yes.”
“Yours.”
It was midnight when Colin fought his way past the crowd at the door of the African Queen into the darkened interior. It was his first time in the place and all he had were the instructions of the slightly inebriated proprietor. The dark interior that was packed did not help Colin find his way to the office in the back. He found his way to the stairs to the 2nd floor which was half a level and offered a great view of the ground floor. Colin stopped to look back and found the scene before him strangely reminiscent of a bad eighties movie. He moved on to the back and found the door to the office. The door was answered by a big guy whom he at first mistook for muscle but then was later surprised when he welcomed him in in a manner that immediately suggested that he was the boss. Richard was already inside and motioned for Colin to join him in front of Henry’s computer which he used for accounts and surfing pornography.
“What’s up?” Colin asked as he sat himself down. Henry was quick to offer him a beer.
“Have a look.” Richard said.
On screen was a bird’s eye view of the globe from an orbiting US communications satellite. Richard instructed the bird to turn its eye on the tiny island they were on.
“The Americans know you’re borrowing their hardware?” Colin inquired.
“No. This is a comms bird. They cannot object. I’ll have a military bird overhead in a quarter of an hour that should give us infra red. That means we look right through the walls for a heat signature.”
“What are we looking at?”
“I’ll zoom in. That’s the Istana, not the PM’s office. You’ll see a couple of green dots moving around on some of the men. Those are cell phones. The numbers accompanying the dots are ID’s assigned by the home mobile service providers. We have representatives from each ASEAN country. What I’m interested in are the ID’s of the cell phones that we haven’t identified.”
“Compile a list and I’ll get on it.”
“V1 is already on it. We should have a result in about half an hour.” Richard informed.
“Busy bunch aren’t they?” Colin quipped.
“Over the next few days or weeks there’ll be turbulence to say the least but all we are doing here is rattling the cages. Let’s see who they send up. The other info we gather is even more important and will be useful later. Those are the puppet masters. By the way have you taken care of the hardware?”
“Don’t worry Rick. All the hardware’s fried.” Colin assured. “All they’ll find is some molten circuitry and plastic.”
“Are you coming with me?” Rick asked looking up with furrowed brow.
“I’m staying on.”
“Your passport?”
“Still using the Brit one. More convenient.”
“More risky. Their embassy is unaware. Should you even get a speeding ticket….”
“I won’t. Don’t worry. I have some business to attend to. I’ll be back in London in a couple of months. Three at the most. You’re leaving tonight?”
“Yes. I don’t know how long it will be before they track down the digital signature of my cell phone. Better take off soon. You’ll contact me with contact instructions?”
“Of course. Why didn’t you ditch the phone?”
“Can’t. I need it for access to the Net. Anyway I’m logging out soon. I just got to capture these cell phone signatures for our records.”
Before he logged out Richard instructed V1 to search for any inquiries made about the number he was calling out from. He found a three inquiries from a local Singapore source, the most recent made just 30 minutes ago. The next thing he did was to transfer his cell phone’s digital ID to one of the VIP’s at the Istana then he logged off and turned off the phone. Although he didn’t know it, Richard had inadvertently transferred his ID to the cell phone belonging to the Philippine Prime Minister Fernando Galang who was attending the ASEAN emergency meeting.
Chinese artillery inside Vietnam today fired on Thai positions inside Thai borders. This is the first aggression between China and an ASEAN member country. While naval posturing in the South China Sea has been generating tension in the region no shots were fired until 0600 Thursday morning when Chinese troops targeting fleeing Vietnamese forces fired upon a Thai military base in the north western provinces. There were no reports of casualties nor retaliation on the part of the Thais but it is understood that Thailand will be stepping up her defenses in the area. Prior to the attack there were reports from local villagers that Chinese aircraft had been intruding into Thai airspace. The Thais capability to track unauthorized intrusions into their airspace is limited due to the age and technology of their air defence systems.
In the South China Sea today a Chinese Navy frigate fired over the bow of a Thai patrol boat warning it that it was intruding in Chinese waters. Apparently the area in question was Vietnamese waters which China now claims as her own. The Thai boat retreated unharmed. China has issued a statement warning that any foreign aircraft or ships intruding into Chinese airspace or waters will receive a warning and be dealt with with military force should they not comply. China also added that Vietnamese territories were now a part of China.
It was only reasonable that the ASEAN countries and China alike imposed a news blackout on the events of the previous week. In the meantime news agencies the world over sought to break through the veil of secrecy and gain some insight into the developments of the past week that would change the political shape of South East Asia and possibly Asia.
Jim Lauffer leafed through the report with some satisfaction. The aerial photos taken by the communications satellites left little to doubt. Without announcement or prior warning the ASEAN navies had turned tail and sailed south clear of the disputed waters. The Chinese navy could be seen taking up a holding pattern off her own coast as well.
“Land forces?” the NSA asked Lauffer who looked up from the report.
“Their land forces are still in Vietnam but it looks like inactivity to me. They are not advancing.” Lauffer replied.
“How old are those shots?”
“Taken of a bird that passed over just 4 hours ago. Looks like the whole invasion just round to a halt. If all goes well they should begin their pullback and be out by the end of the week.”
“If all goes well. Any mine laying activity?”
“UN have their team supervising the pull out. But there’ll be some attempt we expect. The Brits have a covert team in place but they are unwilling to activate. Still they are good as observers.”
“By the way Jim, you can pull out our team now. No hurry but get them replaced.”
“All of them?”
“All. No sense risking a breach. And leave the hardware in place. We may still need it.”
“I’ll get Jones on it. We’ll get the families out first then the lone gunmen. This could take some time to replace. You have considered that we will be stepping on CIA turf.”
“They don’t want to look after their own fine, but we are not going to risk American citizens. Plus political risk is unacceptable.” The NSA reasoned. The network was CIA property and Lauffer could expect a lot of resistance. Even if they agreed before the fact. Turf was like that.
In an official announcement by Thailand The King of Thailand announced by Royal Decree that the Prime Minister of Thailand and several other cabinet ministers would be removed from their posts and that the King would assume the role of Head of State until fresh elections could be held. The elections would only be held after an extensive investigation into possible illegal activities of the incumbent coalition government was conducted. The investigations were already underway.
The only newspaper Daniel was able to buy was the New Straits Times at a coffee shop fifteen minutes from the beach. He sat down at the marble table and sipped a treacly sweet coffee as he scanned through the headlines. The weather had been bad, 35 degree Celsius heat all day everyday cooling to 30 at sundown. Daniel was disappointed at the quality of reporting of the local newspaper. Too many subjective comments caused interference while fact reporting was sparse and confused. Perhaps it was the nature of the news that caused the lapse. The New Straits Times was a competent newspaper at least as he had remembered. It had been 4 days since he had been able to log on to the Internet and he was already feeling inadequately informed. Moreover he had lost his cellular charger and was unable to recharge his batteries and so was pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. The news about the replacement of the Thai Prime Minister did not come as a shock to him. He had been expecting some sort of upheaval in the countries of South East Asia and he was scanning through the paper for more. Second page column 4.
Singapore Prime Minister Donald Lee removed in shock move.
In a shock announcement on the late news in Singapore, Prime Minister Donald Lee was removed from his position as the nations Prime Minister along with eleven other members of his cabinet. Deputy Prime Minister David Quah would assume the role of Prime Minister until further notice. Lee was placed under arrest for alleged involvement in an extensive plot to defraud millions in public funds. His two sons Lee Beng Seng and Lee Beng San have not been arrested but have had their passports confiscated. This is the first time in the nation’s history that a public servant of this order has been arrested on charges of fraud.
Finance Minister Richard Chow was quoted as saying that he was shocked that such an extensive case of cheating had been able to pass unnoticed all this time. Chow offered his resignation
Philippine President Fernando Galang found dead.
The Philippine President, Fernando Galang was found dead in his private chambers early this morning. At this time there are no details but unnamed sources suggested that the President died from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Following rumours of escalating military tension in South East Asia, world markets took a dive Friday with the Dow Industrials losing some 8%. The broader market cap weighted S&P 500 fell a hefty 9.5%. Earlier in the day European markets saw similar falls notably the FTSE which fell 10.2% the largest single day fall since the Millennium. The US Dollar was strong gaining 5% against the Yen and most major currencies.
South East Asian Bourses Closed.
The stock exchanges of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines will be closed today. No date has been set for resumption of trading on these exchanges.
There was really little Daniel could do but laze at the coffee shop in the enervating tropical heat. The ceiling fan provided little relief and he longed to return to London. I was strange how he now regarded London and not the tropics as home. He missed the cold as much as the company. Somehow he had lost his love for the safe monotony of his old life. Outside the heat rose from the tarmac and people went about their daily lives. Daniel wondered if they understood the turmoil that surrounded them. Probably not he thought. What was it like to live that ordinary life? There was a sudden flash of memory, the vision of the hut in the trees. It was a disturbing memory and he tried to suppress it but without success. The heat was unbearable there as well and the trees only began around the hut. The beach was a picture of tropical paradise but the hut was like a tomb. And it was. The door in the front, the sitting room, sparse and neat, the television, could they receive a signal that far out to sea? The dreadful room where he found her. She had been dead for days and the foul stench had hit him as far as the sitting room. The body was decomposed but he could tell somehow that it was Michelle. A splattering of blood on the wall behind the body indicated that she had probably been shot. He was back with the living again and he felt the nausea rising again in his throat. His last report to London had been succinct and Richard’s words of comfort hollow. It was a lonely time being a stranger in a small Malaysian town. For one he had no Malay save a few rudimentary words so he could order food and drink without much trouble but it gained him no company.
Colin pulled the rented Benz into the driveway of the Mersing rest house just half an hour from the fishing village. He had been on the road a good 3 hours from the capital Kuala Lumpur and his back was aching. He tried Daniel’s cellular but got no answer. It was almost noon by his watch and the heat was really getting out of hand. Colin was reluctant to leave the cool sanctity of the auto. Grudgingly he killed the engine and traipsed up to the dingy lobby, if you could call it that, which was manned by a sleepy looking old man. The heat made everyone drowsy and even in the shade the glare from the open door was blinding. Colin inquired about Daniel whom he knew was staying at the rest house by pre arrangement and was told that Daniel was indeed staying there and had in fact left for town a couple of hours earlier. Just where in town he had gone Colin could not tell. Hell, it was a small town and Colin decided to drive in and check out the two streets that constituted the town centre. The car was cooler than the ambient temperature anyway.
“How did you find me?” Daniel asked looking up at the wide grin on Colin’s face.
“Mersing? Which other main street were you planning to be on?” Colin sat down beside his friend and ordered a drink. “Fucking hot weather.”
“How did it go?” Daniel asked referring to Colin’s job in Singapore.
“Brilliantly. There was no need to activate. I just got in for a nice holiday.”
Colin was unsure how to broach the subject of Michelle’s death. He fiddled with his drink and looked out into the blinding light. Fortunately for him Daniel spoke first about Michelle.
“Do her parents know? Michelle. She’s dead.”
“Richard hasn’t told them yet. We can’t tell them until we know the exact circumstances of her death. Daniel I’m sorry. I know you liked her.”
He could see nothing in Daniel’s eyes but he could guess what he felt.
“Why would they kill her? It must have been our informant.”
“Why would he? He wouldn’t have told you where she was if he meant to kill her.”
“So how did your part go?” Daniel quickly changed the subject.
“Got to know Singapore real well. Spent a whole afternoon up a power pylon off the East Coast highway leading to the airport setting up the connection. Never even got a chance to use it.”
“Where else did you hit?”
“A couple of other far out and wonderful locations. Broadcast facility in the central area, it was a bloody tropical rain forest.”
“Just like my army days. You never had to go through that.” Daniel said with a trace of bitterness. He had a loathing of Army service. “We spent many nights sitting in the damp darkness feeding bloodsuckers and sometimes mosquitoes too.”
“All the equipment is still in place. You’ll love the set up. Even now if we decide to shut down the mobile net or the land lines we can. We can shut down air traffic control at the airport even. And safely. It’s beautiful.”
“What if someone finds the hardware? Could they trace it?”
“There is a self destruct. Very neat, no flames, no noise and no smoke. Just melts down. Not a trace.”
In Singapore the crackdown was swift and ruthless. Within a few days the internal security forces led by Ali Kilrathi came down hard on the accused. The Fieldstone operations via subsidiaries Lock Industrial Pte Ltd. and Hock Industrial Pte Ltd. were shut down and all directors arrested. Being a part of Fieldstone meant that several of the directors were members of Parliament.
Kilrathi had had a busy morning with the investigating teams and it was lunch time by the time he got a chance to speak to the Acting Prime Minister David Quah at the Istana, the official residence of the President. The President was unaware or claimed to be unaware of the entire operation, a claim that David Quah gave some credence to in view of the fact that the President had been kept in the dark regarding state affairs for the past few years. It was entirely improbable that he had discovered Fieldstone. Kilrathi was shown to the President’s office, the largest office in the Istana. The Acting PM had commandeered it for his use as the existing PM’s office was under investigation.
“Ali, come. How is the progress?” David was sitting at the sofa instead of behind the desk. He motioned for the maid to leave them which she did very quickly.
“We have arrested all those on our list. All the directors. Their families are under house arrest. Passports withheld.”
“Did you see about that other matter Ali?” David asked furrowing his brow.
“We went to the house but it he was not there. Actually the house is empty.” Ali reported.
“You went this morning?”
“Yes sir. The cars, the maid, the furnishings are all there but the whole family and Mr. Ng are gone. I suspect Malaysia.”
“Why do you suspect that Ali?” David asked. He was feeling a bit annoyed that he had been unable to land the big fish.
All their possessions were intact including international passports. They could only have left on their restricted passports.”
“Maybe.” David knew Ng a little better than that. He could well have had new passports of any nationality made up and was probably well away. “OK. Here’s what else I need.” David handed Ali a disk. “Open the file and read it. Then burn it.”
“Sir. About the security breaches. We found how they were doing it.”
David looked up expectantly.
“Someone had to physically tap into the power and communications lines.”
“Physically? Can you find them?”
“We are doing our best but the devices have self-destructed. Very cleverly done. No big explosions. Just a complete meltdown that leaves a mass of molten metal and plastic. We found some seven such devices. It appears that the airplanes did not experience any interruption to air traffic control. They never knew that the tower was down.”
“Find them.”
“We have some idea who is capable. There are not many people with the ability and psychological profile.”
It had been a tiring and busy day at the Central Bank headquarters on Shenton Way in Singapore. Valerie Choo was part of the research for policy team and she had had her hands full for the past 3 years since graduation from the London School of Economics. It was 1920 hrs when she got a call from her boss Mrs. Tay.
“Valerie, could you report to 19th floor director office?” Mrs. Tay requested.
“Sure thing Mrs. Tay. Which director?” There were at least twenty.
“Tan Quee Lam. Hurry. Don’t let him wait.”
She didn’t. Tan Quee Lam was director of policy. Second only to the chairman himself in setting policy. She decided to pack her things later and hurried up to the 19th floor and all the way in to the sea facing office. The secretary showed her in.
“Lin, you can go now. I’ll close up here.” Lam said to the secretary who smiled and left.
“Valerie Choo right? This is our manager in charge of continuing education Mr. Low Kah Leong.”
She shook hands with both gentlemen and then took a seat.
“Valerie, you were at the LSE weren’t you?” Low asked.
“Yes I was.”
“Good school.” He continued. “How did you find it?”
She was quite puzzled by the purpose of the meeting and Low’s line of questioning.
“Yes. School days are always enjoyable.”
“How would you like to go back there for a Masters?” Lam interrupted. His manner was easy and charming and he had a friendly face. Actually he was quite attractive, she thought.
“I’d love to but I have no money and I’m still working off the last scholarship. I’m an MAS scholar.”
“We know.” Low went on. “You still owe us 5 years but for special cases we do send people abroad before their bond is up. People with potential. Like yourself.”
Even with potential this was an extraordinary circumstance and Valerie could see that. Such offers were almost never unsolicited and almost always handled with the utmost tardiness by some panel of meatheads. Here were two directors offering her a scholarship. It was extraordinary to say the least.
“I don’t know what to say.” She said at last.
“Just don’t break your bond and go running to JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley when you’re done.” Lam quipped. He smiled winningly.
“When do I go then?”
Low spoke this time.
“Term begins in September which means you’ll be a couple of months early. No problem. It’s a graduate course and it’s a policy and finance course so you’ll probably want to get a head start. The summer diploma begins in a month and the course in 3. You are scheduled to leave in a week. The high commission will arrange your accommodation and fees. All you have to do is be there.”
Valerie contemplated the events of the meeting on her way home on the train. She took no notice of the other commuters. There was one thing she hadn’t considered. Her boyfriend Chong. ( Chang Chong Seng ). His parents were Singaporean resident in the UK but he held a British passport being born in Manchester and it had taken him some effort to find a job and gain a permanent residency in Singapore. She knew he wouldn’t be too happy about the new development. It would mean at least a year, perhaps two apart. He had relocated because of her and she felt bad about deserting him. What if he asked her to turn the offer down? He wouldn’t she knew but sometimes people didn’t have to specify their requests explicitly. Her thought wandered to the London she used to know for she had been away some years. It was there she found love in the arms of Chong. They were city folk living cheaply in the university area and living on a shoe string. She remembered the walk she had to take to get to Aldwych everyday, the cold wet days and gloomy skies and yet they were beautiful memories. The one thing that was ironic was that Chong featured little in those memories as they had only become involved late in her course, in her final year in London. For the earlier part, there was another equally down and out student of economics in her very same school who was her confidante and who held her heart. Time and circumstance had separated them. The memories were of Autumn and Winter, the darker colder months. Spring was always time for study for the impending annual examinations. One winter it snowed no end in London, a fairly rare occurrence in those days. She could feel the bitter cold rise through her shoes, boots then, and freeze her to the bone. That was when she walked with the other, and she was happy.
That evening at dinner Valerie broke the news to her parents. They were surprised to say the least and overjoyed. Valerie’s father was an Army Colonel and knew very well how the civil service worked. He knew that his daughter must have performed outstandingly in order to deserve the posting. He himself was one of the early SAF scholars, Imperial College no less, and he felt the pride well in him that his daughter was embarking on a similarly illustrious career.
“Have you told Chong about this?” Mrs. Choo asked bringing the atmosphere down a notch.
“No I haven’t. Its only for three years at most.” But she knew that there would be strain if they were apart and if they were together then it would be Chong’s sacrifice that facilitated her career advancement. Mr. Choo was less concerned about Chong and the rest of dinner was a discussion about how Valerie would go about getting accommodation and settling in in London.
London no longer held the same allure as when he had first arrived here on the eve of the millennium. As Daniel got into the black cab at Heathrow his most recent memory was of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and its sprawling glass halls. Colin had decided to stay a while and visit family on the isle of Penang and could not accompany . The glass structure was as empty as a tomb and as cold as a crystal palace. He waited alone in the lounge wondering why he had not even planned to return to Singapore and visit his family. Singapore after all was home though it began to feel less and less like home with the accumulated years away. The tangle of traffic on the A40 brought Daniel back to the present. It was a beautiful Spring day and the temperatures were saner than usual. He wound the window down an inch and lit himself a cigarette. It was not something he did in the tropics but here it came as naturally as breathing. Daniel missed the look of consternation the driver gave him in the rear view mirror.
It wasn’t until the cab got to Marylebone Road that London began to look like the London that Daniel loved. The outlying areas sometimes scared Daniel with their drab uniformity. The cab wound its way through the labyrinth of streets around the UCL area before emerging at Tavistock square. The dreary Passfield building loomed to the left as the cab pulled up to a halt. Daniel paid the cabby and got out with his bag. He searched his pockets for the keys and as he stood at the gate watching the shadows and the light fall on the dry pavement, he felt that perhaps nowhere was home. In the field across the road a bunch of students was playing cricket with a tennis ball. Daniel found his keys and lugged his bag through the double set of doors. He noticed that Stavros was absent and that a blond haired girl was manning the lodge. She looked up and smiled at him as if she expected him to report to the lodge. It must have been the bag he thought. He smiled and held up his key for her benefit as he turned towards G2. Passfield was still the same, the carpet was just as evil and unnaturally new, the corridors as cold and the doors as creaky as he had left it.
There was no answer at G2 and so it was a long walk up the stairs to his room. Daniel was out of breath by the time he got to his room. He thumped the bag down and took a seat at his desk overlooking Endsleigh Street and the corner of Tavistock Square. Somehow London seemed less like London on a sunny Spring day.
He suddenly remembered something and went to his wardrobe looking in the lower shelves. He took out a cardboard box containing some small diaries and set it on the desk. The first one on top was green and marbled and he picked it out to read. He leafed through to the passages he remembered that he did not understand. Perhaps now he might he thought.
…..they told me I might one day find him or that he might try to find me. I cannot say if I would like to find him or be found. What do I have for him who was never around? ……
….how do they know? Who is Stephen anyway? Was the scholarship mine? Too far fetched. The scholarship was mine…..
..fucking Daniel was.. well, fucking. I don’t know if I would see him again…
Daniel checked the date of the entry and saw the year. It was definitely another Daniel and she had been only 18. He leafed through a few more pages. The sexual entries had previously turned him on in some perverted way but now they did nothing. It was as though death had cleansed her. All was forgiven, all the retrospective infidelities that Daniel conjured in his mind. He wondered what it would have been like to be her lover.
“Mickey.” He said to the silence of the room. His own voice sounded strange and distant and he half expected an answer.
“We killed you.” He said. It was to convince himself of something he didn’t half believe in. Something clicked, something didn’t fit. If the scholarship she received was indeed a cover then they must have known about William Kong long before he ran. Unless of course the scholarship was genuine and her part in it fortuitous and after the fact. It was too far fetched.
Jerry Mills sat with his partner at the chip shop. He was reading the commentary in The Independent and sipping coffee.
“Jerry.” Dempsey woke his partner from his private musings. “Still mulling over that Asian affair?”
“Eleven bodies in all and the case gets filed and archived. Mr. Kong got away with holding out on us and we are still in the dark. Something happened here. Right here. It was important to the developments in Vietnam and China and we were a part of it. Somebody took us for a long ride.”
“Don’t know Jerry. Kong is still alive and the attempts on his life have stopped.”
“Who wanted him dead in the first place?”
“Who cares. Let him die. He’s a triad boss. Sooner or later someone will put a bullet in him. Just as long as it’s not on our shift.” Dempsey was cynical.
“You used to work gangs did you?”
“New York.”
He wanted to ask if Dempsey had ever let a criminal die but decided against it after all. There were things he needn’t know. Especially in a partner.
“We never found out about the girl.”
“Which reminds me. The kid still has some of our evidence.”
“The case is closed. Do you think they killed her?” Mills asked rhetorically. What, after all, was the chance that she was allowed to survive.
“Her boyfriend left for Malaysia some weeks ago. He just returned yesterday. Alone.”
“Poor bastard. He went the distance didn’t he?” Mills put down his paper and looked at Dempsey. “Perhaps we should have a chat with him.”
“After we talk to Myers. Didn’t he do time for assault and battery?”
“Yes he did. We can drop in on Daniel after lunch then.”
“What the hell happened out there?” Nick asked Richard. They were walking by the pond in Kensington Gardens. Richard looked up and squinted into the distance.
“A whole lot of trouble.”
He knew what he was talking about too. Richard had just returned from a trip to Hong Kong. He had been to the Asiabanc HQ to visit among other things. For the three weeks that he was there, the Chinese Army had pulled out after a winning campaign in South East Asia leaving a depleted ASEAN armed forces reeling in its wake, the world’s four largest hedge funds had plundered the South East Asian markets on an unprecedented scale, several countries had had their foreign reserves decimated and their banking systems bled dry. Four ASEAN heads of state had been replaced and put more or less under arrest, one had probably taken his own life. It had indeed been a whole lot of trouble. Just how much of a part he had played in the Asian drama few would know. Even then as he walked the cool and clear Spring afternoon along the paths in Kensington Gardens he knew that the game was not over. If anything the rules had become less transparent, the players more anonymous, more desperate and ruthless. The old players still remained, only the proxies had changed.
“We got wind of a big plan among several hedge funds to make a move on the Asian bourses. Apparently they were privy to some sort of breakthrough in the military conflict in the South China Sea. Paid of too. The source was good.” Richard explained. However he trusted Nick he could only tell her so much.
“You went to Hong Kong for mercenary reasons?” She knew him well enough to know that while he was entirely capable this time the reasons were less conspicuous. “We’ve known each other some time Rick. You wan to tell me the whole story.”
“I can’t. The story is still being written.” He would not insult her with a fabrication.
“Did you have anything to do with the conflict?” Her estimation of his influence was perhaps rather too optimistic but she was not far off the mark.
“With the ending of the conflict. Do you remember Mickey?”
Nick nodded. She remembered all right. They had had a torrid affair in Paris. When they returned to London, Michelle was abducted and was never seen again. She missed Michelle, or Mickey as she was affectionately known to her friends.
“Her father was a very important man.”
“Did it have anything to do with Mr. Chan?”
“In a way. Chan was given orders to track down Mickey’s father. Mr. Kong.”
“I’ve read about William Kong. He’s a triad boss. But he has a daughter and from her age, she couldn’t be Mickey. Product of an affair?” Nick was dangerously perceptive. “Where is Mickey?”
“She’s dead Nick. Daniel was sent to retrieve her. It’s a complicated tale Nick. William Kong was dangerous to the status quo in ASEAN because of what he knew. It also meant that Mickey was useful leverage. Pawns live to die Nick. It’s a sad fact.”
As he spoke a little of the weight he carried was lifted but the more Nick heard the more the weight ended up on her, and all of a sudden the Spring day was less bright and more cold. She lit herself a cigarette and offered it to Richard who took it and stuck it between his lips. Nick lit herself another. In the distance were people playing, people walking their dogs, a couple of roller-bladers. Somewhere on the grass a swan lead her brood of chicks waddling behind her in search of a safe shelter.
“You helped stop a war?”
“We.” Richard sighed.
“Then you should be proud.”
“No one can ever know. And the puppetmasters remain. The old puppets are dumped for the new. Nothing changes.”
“Something changed.” Nick pointed out. “A war was averted.”
“The war just dived underground. It never stops. The protagonists are change but the war goes on. We held the Americans to ransom, we held the Chinese at bay and we forced the South East Asians to play ball. They were selling arms secretly. Illegally. We threatened exposure. In return for our silence they were forced to make a few changes. The Chinese were asked to turn tail in return for the safety of their financial markets. We got the Americans to finance everything since they financed everything before anyway.”
“The hedge funds?” Nick asked. Richard hadn’t explained.
“That was a side show. Under the circumstances the opportunity presented itself. We could not have stood by and done nothing. It was a chance to humble the lot too.” Richard answered with a hint of guilt. The damage they did was horrendous, they had virtually set back the South East Asian economies back a good two decades.
“It wasn’t part of the deal was it?” Nick guessed. They stopped under the bridge along the path that lead to Hyde Park.
“No. It wasn’t. We planned it beforehand, then we took the deal to the East. They had too much to worry about to see it coming.”
“You are not apolitical. You always hated them. All this time.” Nick realized something she hadn’t seen before in Richard. “We thought you were just a mercenary bastard. You did it for more than money didn’t you? Those bastards got to you too.” She seemed almost triumphant.
“I am apolitical. I’m neutral, it was a business opportunity.”
“But it felt good to stick it to them didn’t it?” Nick prodded him. “Admit it.”
All she managed to get from Richard was a smile that could have said any number of things. They continued on their way.
“Was that Lancaster Gate?” Richard asked stopping to look back.
“I think we passed it.”
The walk took them through to the Serpentine. Everywhere around the beginnings of Spring were evident, from the budding colour from the flower beds long dormant.
“How did Mickey die?” Nick wanted to know.
“Daniel was supposed to go pick her up. We got a tip off from one of the players that she was being kept on an island off the east coast of Malaysia. By the time Daniel made it their she had been dead for weeks. Gunshot we think.”
“Who did it? If the government got her they would want to keep her alive right?”
“Absolutely. Someone wanted a change in government. Other than us. Someone wanted Lee Soon Lee and William Kong to have their day, or at least someone knew what we were on about. That someone made it such that we had to play the hand out.”
“Who?”
“If I knew I would nuke them.” Richard said calmly as if he meant it. From what Nick had seen she half believed him. A shadow came over Richard as he contemplated the circumstances of Mickey’s death. The man who had given them the lead hadn’t given them much time. It was useless going through the scenarios over and over, it was over now. Only the future lay ahead.
It was half a day and a world away. Valerie dozed off in her seat on the Singapore Airlines Boeing 747. It had been a mere couple of hours in the air and already she was drowsy. The sleep that she fell into was not a restful one and yet it was a quiet one. Images of years past crept into her consciousness and tempted her with returning. Had she been awake her good sense would have told her that there was no returning. To the place perhaps but never to the time nor circumstance. The souls in a dream are but ghosts haunting the living with hopes of the past. One face would not leave her and it was not Chong’s. She tried to recall Chong but London of the past was stronger.
When she awoke they were a mere hour from landing at London Heathrow. The pressure changes in her inner ear had woken her earlier than she had planned. Normally sleep shortened the trip but the dreams had seemed to last a lifetime. Her head began to fill with the confusion of details and she pulled out a little notebook from her bag. It was a little pastel purple notebook with an attached pen colour-matched for good measure. In the notebook was a list of things she was supposed to do. It was hardly time but she leafed through it all the same.
The London House was a beautiful period building built on Mecklenburgh Square. She had been there before, years ago, and had visited a couple of times but this would be the first time she would stay there. The trees threw strange shadows on the pavement where she stood alone with her bags staring at the rather dramatic entrance that reminded her of the entrances to any one of Europe’s tourist cathedrals. Behind her was a communal garden for The London House group of hostels. Spring was in full bloom.
The process of checking in was fairly smooth and soon Valerie was looking at Mecklenburgh Square from her third floor window. It was quite warm on the inside and the brightness of the day seemed almost unnatural for she was used to a dark London. She explored her own room which was fairly large for a hostel room but such were the luxuries accorded post graduates. In her unpacking one of the first things she took out was a picture of her boyfriend Chong which she set by the PC by the window on the park. She missed him dearly and wondered why they hadn’t been closer when they were in Singapore. He had as usual been supportive of her posting to London and they agreed that they would meet often and that he would try to get a job back in the City from whence he had originally come. By their estimation it would have taken about two to three months at the most. The availability of a PC was a welcome convenience. When she was last in school, the PC was a luxury, situated only in the computer rooms of the LSE. Now a PC was supplied to every room in hall and any student with a password could access the school servers.
The day passed uneventfully. Valerie spent it setting up the PC to her own custom settings. That done she sent an email message back to her parents and one to Chong. She was unexpectedly short of words when writing to him. Perhaps she had nothing to say because she had only just arrived. A little before 5 she went down to the lobby and checked out the familiar geography. It had been a good 5 years but she remembered it well. She decided to take a walk outside and found that the temperate had dropped a bit but cold was still a welcome change for her rather than a nuisance. She went anti-clockwise around the communal garden and found a locked door. The lock did not appear compatible with the keys she had been given by the porter and so she carried on to William Goodenough Hall, another familiar haunt in her earlier stint in the city. The little passageway between the children’s playground and a building she could never remember the name off led her to the School of Pharmacy and a park which she had known as dog shit park. She saw International Hall through the trees to the left of her and she wondered if much had changed. The tennis court of asphalt stood in her path and she walked around it, remembering how friends had played there, how snow had once blanketed the park in a shroud of white. It was cold when the wind blew because she wore no coat, just a woolen jumper over her shirt. She came to the pavement across the street from the entrance to her home of three years, three long and beautiful years. Her room had been in the West wing and she could not see it from where she stood. She half expected to be able to walk in and find her friends still there. A young lady walked up to the familiar wooden framed glass doors and pulled them open before disappearing inside and Valerie could almost smell the interior. She wondered what the hell she was doing standing in front of a place from her past with not a coherent thought in her head. She turned towards Brunswick Centre thinking to get herself some groceries before Safeway’s closed at six.
The first night was lonely. It seemed not like the first night but the continuation of many. She remembered a friend who had not left London with her when he was done with his course. She had read about him when she had gone home to a career as a central bank spook. Somehow she had a feeling he would make good after all those times of austerity. They were as close as lovers and she had to remember that he was never a lover, merely a friend. They had worked together on one paper, a trivial one to him she thought but he felt differently. It was his first excursion into welfare economics and the economics of poverty. It was a paper that would set the tone for his further research and influence his other work. If anything it was the catalyst for Sheerluck the charity. Valerie lay in bed face up wondering if indeed Sheerluck had been inspired by that first paper. Not many people knew the truth behind the charity, not even Valerie with certainty but she had a strong suspicion, a belief. Or perhaps she had read far too much into the inaugural statements Richard had made at the LSE when the charity trust had been incorporated. They were good friends. She remembered their numerous conversations, his love for the search as he called it, his paranoiac distrust of authority, particularly those at home. They had once argued about it. It attacked a faith she had held deeply but the years had chipped away at that faith. Without Richard’s instigation. Too many betrayals, too many coincidences and still she had clung to her faith and to her allegiances. She was always the faithful one and Richard the infidel, the doubter. He always questioned everything to death, drove all faith to the grave. They had debated heatedly about many issues. Even God. That was not negotiable to her, but to Richard to sow doubt in that belief represented a challenge, a mission. She believed he meant well, that his plan was not the scuttling of her salvation but that he was genuinely convinced that doubt gave faith its value. She saw his point at times.
He loved her. She never doubted that, but he never said a word. He was her strength and strength demanded stoicism, denial. She had never allowed herself the luxury of contemplating the possibility that she might feel for him as well. The friendship went on for two years without explicit expression of affection. At times the concealment made the love more conspicuous to all around but the two. She wondered if Richard was in London as well that night and wondered if he would know her if they met. Should she seek him out? How had his character evolved these years away? She slipped into semi-consciousness and in her confusion thought to visit Richard the next morning at International Hall where he no longer resided. Sleep came like a drug and dreams of gentle music and far away places filled her head.
The Passfield bar was empty being vacation time. Daniel had sought a quiet evening alone with the pool table and a couple of stiff drinks. He was about to cue when Mills breezed in with his coat on his hand and a cigarette hanging from his lips. Daniel stood up from the table without cueing and leant on the cue.
“Detective Mills. You cam e for the diaries.” Daniel said as Mills took a seat at the bar and ordered a gin.
Mills collected his drink and walked over to the sofa slumping in it and sipping his gin.
“You can keep them. Haven’t seen you around in a while.”
“I was back home.” Daniel said casually lining up for another shot.
“You’re Malaysian?” Mills asked. To the best of his knowledge Daniel had gone to Malaysia. His file said he was a Singapore citizen.
“No. When I said home I meant the region. What did I go for? Relaxation. It is the school holidays still. I missed my friends and family.”
“The case is closed Daniel. I’m not here to question you or to investigate anything.” Mills explained. “I just wanted to know how you were doing. And if you found Michelle.”
“I did.” Daniel said having sunk the black in the corner pocket. He lay the cue on the table and took a seat with Mills.
“Good.” Mills replied. He felt awkward. There was not much he could say.
“I found her on an island on the East Coast of Malaysia. She had been dead for weeks.” There was little emotion in his voice and even less in his heart. “Shot. Someone sent me half way across the world to find a dead girl.” There was a wry smile and then a disinterested look as he sucked on his cigarette.
“I’m sorry.” Mills was at a loss. He could only see a professional way out. “Did you find out who did it?”
“No.”
“Any idea?”
“Not really. Is the Yard going international these days?” Daniel asked. There was no bitterness in his tone.
“We can help. Not directly. Are they even investigating this?”
“Some weeks ago I was accosted by a man who claimed to know where Michelle was. He gave me a computer access password to break into a server in the far east. The computer belonged to a free speech group operating in the far east. In it was a database where I was able to find the Michelle’s location on a map grid basis. I was led to the island. Only I was a at least a week or two too late. Last week in South East Asia, a game was afoot that was bigger than any of us but in which we played a part. Don’t even try to understand what happened Mills.”
“What happened? The case is closed. Its not my job anymore, but I want to know.” Mills said almost passionately.
“I have only a best guess. William Kong knew something pretty damaging about ASEAN, about Singapore and Malaysia. He was a business man and he had a company called Glory which was listed some years ago. Glory folded up a couple of years back after some really poor results. There was an investigation that absolved Kong but he ran all the same. About the same time or actually a while earlier S L Lee, a former government MP in Singapore defected to the opposition. They pursued Lee to the ends of the earth and to here in London where they lost track of him. Somehow these two men together held information damaging to the ASEAN alliance. That’s just my guess. The last two weeks of activity in ASEAN was someone using that information to ransom ASEAN. I have no clue who or which group is on who’s side, I don’t know why things happened the way they did, I don’t know who I can trust or who I can’t. All I know is what I read in the newspaper.”
“I’ve been reading the newspaper myself and it’s been a fascinating read. You know a bit more than you’re saying but that’s alright. How did you know? Were you a part of the plan?” Mills felt he was getting somewhere with this.
“I was. I was part of the plan to stop William Kong from speaking out.”
“Yet he never did speak out and his secret is still intact. Is he still in danger?” If he was then Mills’ job was not over yet. He didn’t care to mention that.
“I don’t know.”
Smart chap, Mills noted. At the back of his head were the killings at the school and the absolute lack of leads.
“William Kong walks freely on the streets of London. He appears to be out of danger. Only S L Lee remains underground. I’d say the case is closed Detective.”
“The Kong case is closed but the killings at the LSE remain unsolved. Those are unimportant. What happened in South East Asia over the last few weeks. There was no explanation in the newspapers and it seemed no one was seeking one.”
“Not everyone saw what we saw. There’s nothing for it Mills. Next time you read the paper, read the home news.” Daniel said by way of dismissal. Mills could see that though Daniel knew more, he did not know much more. The conversation did strengthen his suspicions, however, and he thought that perhaps there was an angle to the seven dead men of Aldwych. He put out his cigarette underfoot and got up to leave.
“Detective.” Daniel said to the departing figure. “I wish I had the answers. Keep in touch.”
Mills nodded at the open invitation to keep talking.
Nick was stretched out on Richard’s bed looking at the ceiling. The smell of fresh coffee wafted through the room and she sat up in time to receive the cup Richard proffered. She held it in both hands through the cuffs of her sleeves and sipped the hot fluid. Richard was pouring himself an ice cold glass of milk.
“I could never understand coffee.”
“It’s just roasted beans and water. There’s nothing to understand, just smell it.” Nick explained.
“How were the exams?” Richard inquired sitting in his usual chair which he had turned away from the PC to face Nick.
“Alright. Hey. How about Daniel and Colin? They didn’t take their exams.”
“Colin never takes exams. He’s a graduate student. Graduate students can take ages to complete.”
“And Daniel? He’s on a scholarship.” Nick pointed out.
“Daniel? He’ll take his exams next year, complete in four and screw the scholarship. He’ll probably be awarded one by anyone he cares to ask. One of the big accounting firms or brokers or banks. If Sheerluck doesn’t get him first.”
Nick thought she saw a shadow of a smile for the first time that day.
“Are you going home for the holidays this year?” Richard asked as he picked up his smokes and handed one to Nick.
“Nope. I got a job pushing paper in the City. Probably I’ll stop in September and take a holiday in Africa before starting school again. And you? Any plans to travel? Home?”
“This is home. No. I’ll be here. So its Oxford after that is it?”
“No. Its LSE again. I don’t think I could live in Oxfordshire.” Nick laughed. She did something that surprised them both. She got up and put her arms around Richard and kissed him briefly on the mouth.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for some time.” She confessed and there was an awkward silence for a while.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since we met.” Richard smiled.
“Just never done that with a guy so…” Nick explained. She dragged on her cigarette and sipped her coffee.
“Quite different you know. Girls are more pliant. In some cases.”
“Do you miss Michelle?”
Richard was the only one who knew about her affair with Michelle. Nick felt herself slip back into the cold shadow that had clouded the day. She had not allowed herself to even think of Michelle.
“I suppose. She has been gone so long. Now we know for sure I don’t know how to feel. You know I just wish I knew why she died.”
Richard seemed to hesitate. He began to say something than stopped himself.
“Her death played a part to avert a war.” He answered but it sounded hollow even to himself.
“There was nothing I could do really. But to be honest she didn’t have to die. Ruthless men with other plans decided that she should die. Men I know of. Men I collaborated with after the fact. I feel so bad about Daniel.”
“Tell me how she died.”
“We were told where to look for her by one of the interested parties, a group that wanted the change in ASEAN. We found her and Daniel went to get her. She was found dead by the time Daniel got there. Shot dead. She had been dead for some time. Strange thing is that the only one to profit from her death would be the informant.”
“So who killed her.”
“To kill her would be to destroy the only leverage the enemy could use against William Kong in blocking his testimony about the arms trade in ASEAN. Someone who wanted change in ASEAN. To remove the incumbents. I wanted to see the change too. But not like this.”
The night gave way to early morning and the sleepiness to an insomniac dream. The room got a little colder and so Richard turned up the heating a bit. It was already 2 and Nick decided against the cold and lonely walk back to Cartwright Gardens but would stay the night instead. As usual Richard gave her the bed and prepared to sleep on the couch.
“Rick.” She said in the darkness while he lay on the couch in a tangle of sheets. “I know you didn’t kill her.”
“But the thought had crossed your mind.” He replied sadly. A long silence. “It was a dirty affair from which none escaped unblemished. No, I killed no one but it felt bad.”
“Will you come here?” Nick asked.
Richard hesitated a bit and then carried his duvet with him. He threw it over the bed then crawled in under it. He felt her guiding hands helping him into bed.
“Comfy?” She asked fluffing a pillow for him.
“Yes.” He replied unsure where he should put his arms. He understood Nick very well and this was not an invitation to anything more than a common bed.
“You remember old songs and old smells?” She asked and it puzzled him.
“Well yes. Smells remind me of places and times.”
They lay together in the rather largish bed. She surprised him by putting an arm around him. Their faces were inches apart and he could feel her breath on his cheek. She was so close now her nose touched his cheek and he felt his heart would overflow. She kissed him gently touching his cheek with her soft lips and pressing her nose against his face. She could smell his male scent mingled with the faint smell of the soap he used.
“I want to remember you forever Rick.”
He turned to face her and their noses met. It was a slightly cold nose that communicated a warm affection of years of familiarity and friendship and of years of unspoken love.
He took her in his arms and hugged her. The room that had been cold before had now acquired a warmth that filled their senses.
“I know more than you think I know Rick. You are not a monster though I know you could have been. I’ve seen so much that you never cared to conceal from me.”
“I have profited from the misfortune of others. More, I’ve punished the collective for the sins of the few.”
“They suffer for their leaders Rick. You did the right thing.”
“I did all I could. Somewhere there are players I cannot see pulling the strings. They decide the fate of the little people like us. All we are are the pawns in their game. Do you think anything has changed in Asia?”
“There has been change. The despots are gone. They are being punished for their crimes.”
“They are mere proxies. Sacrificed. The puppetmasters simply have new masks.”
“There will be other days to wage this war.”
“Yes, but I’m just a little person and I’m tired Nick. I just want to see someone stop them for good. Return to open and fair democratic government so rare in our part of the world.”
“I like it that you think that it’s still our part of the world. We do what we can Rick. Right now you’ve pushed them back a step and the new order is coming under considerable scrutiny from the West. It’s set them back quite a great deal. You’ve won.” Nick tried to encourage Richard stroking his hair as she spoke and examining the features of his face. She had never loved a man before but she felt for Richard what she supposed was love and it filled her.
“Have I? I suppose I have.”
This time he kissed her lips and found them soft and warm, wet and tender. He tasted her mouth and held her tight. She responded in kind kissing him passionately and feeling his body all over through his clothes. She slipped her hands under his shirt to feel his skin and knead the muscles in his shoulders and she found it all so wonderful and new. However taut the women in her life, a man was different.
It was snowing again and Christmas was just days away. It was interesting that it was the 5th white Christmas in London in a row. Historically, White Christmases were a rarity in London but it appeared that the world was experiencing more extremes in climate. The Serpentine was frozen and the warning signs against thin ice had been taken off by the park wardens. Under the blood red sky were clutches of skaters, skating on the Serpentine. Once there had been little hope of such an opportunity but with the colder Winters it had become something of an annual event. In the cold afternoon it began to snow lightly and Valerie pulled her coat around her face as the little snowflakes settled about her. Her destination was uncertain but she walked fairly briskly to generate a little heat as she headed South towards Knightsbridge. On her mind was an email she had received the night before from her employers at home. They had requested that she discreetly get to know a Daniel Tan who was also studying in her school with a view to tracking down someone he knew whom they were looking for. Apparently that someone was a scholar who had absconded without serving her bond with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The cold was cutting right through Valerie’s boots which she had bought just a fortnight before from Russell and Bromley. She decided to purchase boots in an attempt to cut out the cold but it appeared that they were not working. In fact her feet felt painfully cold and wet even though they were dry. She her way to the bus stop at the South end of Hyde Park where Knightsbridge parted ways with Brompton Road as Richard had told her to meet him and she found him waiting. He was wrapped snugly in a long charcoal cashmere coat and extended a thickly gloved hand to welcome her.
“Val. Unexpected weather but are you OK?”
“These boots are not working.” She replied as she came under the cover of the bus shelter. The snow was falling a bit harder now.
“Really. We’ll have to get you some new ones then. I suggest Harvey Nichols. Its not too far and we can go underground.”
Richard led her to an underground entrance where they were able to cross over to Sloane Street without having to brave the traffic or the snow. Unfortunately the cold penetrated to the underground as well though without the wind chill factor.
“I saw some people skating on that pond in Hyde Park.” Valerie said.
“Happens every year. Didn’t use to before though but then the Serpentine never used to freeze up like that. There was one year when it did, during your second year. Remember?”
“Yes. The sign said thin ice and we still took our picture on the pond.”
“Not the wisest thing to do. This way.” Richard directed them to the Sloane Street exit. When they emerged from the underground Harvey Nichols stood in front of them and Richard went ahead to open the door for Valerie. Inside the heated air seemed unnaturally warm and they had to take their coats off.
“This place is expensive. Is it still owned by the Hong Kong company?”
“I think so. They are still quite profitable despite it all.” Richard seemed to know the place well and headed for the escalators to the second floor.
“Do you know a Daniel Tan, LSE economics?” Valerie asked as they arrived on the second floor.
“Yes. Brilliant chap. You know him?”
“No but I’ve heard of him. Apparently he topped every class he’s ever been in. I’d like to meet him one day.”
“I can arrange that. He’s at Passfield. We could meet for dinner tonight if you like.” Richard offered.
They came to the Calvin Klein section. It was filled with clothes of the most luxurious fabrics in muted earth tones and the entire collection reeked of understated style. A sales lady greeted them and offered her assistance.
“We’d like to see some cashmere coats, something for the cold and in darker colours please. Size 40.” Richard requested. At his request the lady began to pull several coats of the racks and throw them across a glass table while extolling the virtues of Calvin Klein and cashmere in the customary rapid fire fashionspeak.
“Richard, I can’t possibly afford these on what our central bank pays me.” Valerie objected quietly.
“Just try them on. Its free isn’t it?” Richard smiled selecting an olive drab long coat which buttoned to the neck and had an attached hood. The sales lady held the coat up and open for Valerie who draped her own coat on a convenient chair before slipping the Klein on. It was exquisite and it was evident that she looked absolutely fabulous in it.
“Very nice.” The sales lady volunteered.
“It is isn’t it?” Richard concurred. “Not the most practical thing but beautiful. We’ll take it.”
Richard handed the sales lady his credit card. Valerie began to protest but Richard explained that it was Christmas in three days and he hadn’t got her anything. They left Harvey Nichols into the cold and went down Sloane Street towards the Gucci shop.
“I’ve never had a cashmere coat. Come to think of it I haven’t had a cashmere anything. You really shouldn’t have Rick.” Valerie protested.
This time Richard led them into Gucci and upon entering the shop asked to see women’s boots and gloves.
“Those Chelsea boots you bought from, where? Russell and Bromley? They won’t survive this winter.” Richard pointed out.
“They are from Russell and Bromley. How did you know?”
“It’s not the brand, it’s the type, a slight heal, a leather sole, that’s not a winter boot.”
The salesperson brought two pairs of military style lace up boots with thick rubber soles and a couple of thick cashmere lined nappa gloves. Valerie left the shop with her new boots and her second ever cashmere item.
“Are you bribing me?” She joked.
“I wouldn’t dream of bribing an official of the de facto central bank of Singapore.” Richard assured.
“Where are we going now?”
“How about back up to Harrod’s? We can get a bite to eat there.”
“I know a better place.”
Valerie led them to a lane just behind Knightsbridge on the way to Harrod’s. Half way to Harrod’s she turned in to a Stockpot restaurant. Stockpot were a chain of low cost restaurants that served traditional English food. The food was nothing to rave about but on a cold snowy day the smell of stew and fries seemed very appetizing and they found a table inside.
Valerie ordered some Shepherd’s pie while Richard had beans on toast.
“Where did you hear about Daniel?” Richard asked when he’d finished his meal.
“A colleague of mine told me.” Valerie answered between mouthfuls. She smiled her embarrassment.
“I have to report in regularly you know. Show that I’m not skiving or sleeping on the job. Its not easy being bonded.”
“You were on an MAS scholarship before weren’t you? Surely you must be used to the slavery there by now.”
“After a few years the responsibility piles on and it doesn’t leave you even on sabbatical. I have to submit reports on courses I’ve finished not to mention progress reports and updates on my thesis. I guess they’ve has some bad experiences with people running off after receiving a scholarship. Just the other day I heard about this girl who ran off without serving bond.”
“Smart girl.”
“How would you like it if people ran out of their Sheerluck bonds?” Valerie retorted.
“We don’t bond any of our scholars. They are free to come and go.” Richard said with some pride.
“Do you know how many runaways we get?”
“Tons.”
“In the last three years and out of 50 over scholars? Not one. We had to place the ones we couldn’t take out to Asiabanc branches. There’s nothing like a free market is there? If they don’t want to stay we don’t want them to stay. We do want them to excel and succeed. Maybe we ain’t the place for it that’s all.”
“Like you said, Sheerluck is a charity. The MAS isn’t.”
“Actually, coincidentally, Daniel is on a Sheerluck scholarship. He used to be on a Singapore government one but it was unexpectedly revoked for reasons unknown.”
“Really? Did he do something wrong? I hope they don’t just pull scholarships on a whim.” Valerie looked absolutely appalled.
“He acted in a way prejudicial to the good name of the Republic of Singapore. He refused to spy for them.” Richard said with a straight face that indicated that he was not joking. Still Valerie was a bit unsure.
“What?”
“He was asked to spy on his fellow colleagues from Singapore. He went along for a bit but when the requests got out of hand he refused and they pulled his scholarship.” Richard explained.
There was an uneasy silence for a while as Richard realised that he was speaking to someone on a scholarship of sorts from a Singapore institution. Valerie herself was searching for something innocent to say.
“That’s a bit far fetched isn’t it?” Valerie said at last.
Richard could only laugh in reply.
The following day Richard brought Valerie to see Daniel at the Passfield bar. The bar was as it always was, dark and smoky and cool with a sense of dread. It wasn’t the same without Colin who was still in Sydney. They found Daniel reading in a corner of the bar deeply absorbed in a book about the calculus of variations.
“Daniel, I want you to meet Valerie. She works for our Central Bank at home and she’s here for her Masters. She’s also alumni. Read Monetary Economics and got a first five years ago. Currently working on Financial markets and their impact on the real economy.”
Daniel got up to shake her hand.
“Those are impressive credentials Valerie.” Daniel said politely. “I hope I can get a job at the MAS too. If you can put in a good word for me.”
“You’d prefer to work for the MAS over Sheerluck?” Valerie asked half in jest.
“At least at the MAS there are no hidden agendas.”
Richard wondered who that was directed at. He preferred to think it was the central bank but he couldn’t be sure.
“ At Sheerluck you have the luxury of independent thought.” Richard quipped.
“I’ve heard a lot about you Daniel.” Valerie went on. “Top of the country in your year, right?”
“It happens in small countries. And it was a long time ago. All this decadence has made me stupid.”
“Don’t blame it on Passfield, Daniel.” Richard interjected. “Daniel co-wrote a paper on transactions modeled on Brownian motion while he was in the army. These days he just observes it in the smoke he blows.”
They all laughed and it became apparent to Valerie that these were very good friends from the liberties they took with each others’ sensitivities.
“Actually, Daniel can help you Val, if you run into any mathematical entanglements.” Richard offered.
“So can Richard. And he has more time on his hands. You should tie up some of that before he sets about more mischief.”
“He used to help me with my work.” Valerie explained. “That was the easy stuff from the B.Sc. This is the really difficult stuff so Rick won’t be able to get away with just teaching me some linear algebra.”
“Got paid for it too.” Richard remarked.
It drew a puzzled look from both Valerie and Daniel.
“Just a joke.” He explained lighting himself a Marlboro.
The next time Valerie saw Daniel was at dinner in Chinatown with a bunch of friends. Someone had decided that it would be a good idea to celebrate the New Year with a night on the town. It didn’t help that it was snowing and had been snowing for the past two days. It was at the last moment that Richard had to cancel and so Daniel offered to meet Valerie at The London House and walk her to the restaurant in Leicester Square. It was a very cold night and Valerie emerged from the building dressed up like a mummy in her thermal coat over an angora wool sweater. She looked quite comical and Daniel had to stifle a laugh.
“Good thing you’re all wrapped up. It’s freezing out here.”
“Richard had to cancel.”
“I know. Probably got a hot date.” Daniel suggested. He wondered why because he thought that Valerie was quite gorgeous. They walked west towards the West End. The snow was piled high along the side walks and walking was difficult as it was slippery and slushy. Worse still the slush was a dirty black and kicked up onto the back of coats and trousers.
The city streets were unnaturally crowded for the time of day as Daniel and Valerie made their way through Covent Garden en route to Chinatown. Despite the late hour the night sky was lit a crimson hue and it was not as dark as a night on which it did not snow. They made their way finally to the ever familiar Gerard Street, the centre if Chinatown and to a restaurant at the end of the Street where it met Brewer Street. The China Jade. The warmth of heating was a welcome comfort as Valerie and Daniel doffed their coats in the lobby of the restaurant. They made their way upstairs where they were greeted by their friends were seated around two tables. The scene before her brought back fond memories of her first stint in London and for a while it seemed that little had changed. Back then they had also held these welcome gatherings to bring a little warmth to the spirit in a time of cold. Daniel introduced her around the tables and then they took their seats.
It may have been the allure of an older woman or the temptation of forbidden love that Daniel found himself drawn to Valerie, but he was not as blinded by his emotions to see that she did not feel as he did about her. It was only their second meeting but there was something about sharing a cold British winter’s night that drew people together and Daniel allowed himself to enjoy the illusion even if for the night. It was probably the smile, Daniel thought for she had a winning smile and a personality to match. There was something irrepressibly joyful about her and it was infectious. It also made her irresistible. When dinner was done and the group of friends dispersed there was no shortage of potential chaperones and there were a few logical ones as well as International Hall and the London House were within a stone’s throw of each other. Daniel was quite glad when she decided to walk with him. That Passfield was some distance from London House was a small inconvenience to Daniel and they walked off into the red lit night.
“It snowed the second year I was here.” She said as they walked up Charing Cross Road. The pavements were white with snow and the roads grey with melting slush.
“This must bring back some memories.” Daniel said looking at Valerie. Snow was falling and peppering their heads and shoulders and he could not help but look upon her delicate face and the snow that melted in her hair. He noticed that her jacket had a hood and so stopped her to help her put the hood over her head.
“Thanks.” She whispered hoarsely as he adjusted her hood for her then wiped some of the snow off her face.
“You’re welcome he said. The eyes that looked back were angelic and yet spoke of loneliness and silence. He so wanted to just lean forward and kiss her but his courage failed him and he stood awkwardly in her way. At some point he must have realised how silly he looked for he turned and they resumed their promenade North.
“You know Richard well.” Daniel said after a silence.
“Yes. We were very good friends.” Valerie replied and then became conscious of her use of the past tense. Daniel noticed it as well and gathered that they must have at some point been more than friends. Only thus do friendships end. She felt it best not to correct herself.
“I have only known him for a two years. You were reading economics together.”
“I was his senior by year. He was a genius by any standards. A bit misguided at times but a genius.”
There was regret in her voice as though Richard were some disciple lost, lost to some cult of ideology or to a false god.
“How does it feel to be back in London after all this time?”
“Lonely. We always want to go back to our fond memories but that’s not possible.”
“No.” Daniel said gravely.
“I had so many memories of London I thought I would find again but they are gone.”
“What kind of memories.”
“The snow, the cold, the smells and sights. They exist in our memories in very exact combinations that elicit very specific emotions. I guess I’m getting sentimental in my old age.” She laughed.
“You’re not old.” Daniel assured.
“I feel old sometimes. When I saw the Serpentine frozen over the other day and all the people skating on the ice. I stood on the ice once but this time I felt empty.”
Valerie was surprised at how much she was sharing with Daniel. Perhaps it was his sensitivity that made him accessible. They walked across from Tottenham Court Road towards the University Union and by the British Museum. Russell Square was a garden of ice and the shrubs and trees were coated in snow. The park was locked up by the time and they had to go around it.
“You needn’t feel lonely Valerie. You have friends. Like Richard. And me.”
“I know. I just need some time at work to make more friends and I’ll be fine.” Valerie said with a laugh.
“And I’m lucky to have friends like you.”
“You were an MAS scholar. You must be pretty smart then.”
“Not as smart as you Daniel. Academic achievements are a small part of a career. On the job it meant so little because the real world was so different. When I first started work at the MAS I realised how little I knew.”
“They saw fit to send you here for a Masters. I guess you must be doing well.”
“I guess everyone left for a better job so I was the only choice.” Valerie joked.
They reached London House at last and Valerie suggested that Daniel come in for a warm drink before making for Passfield. It was breathtakingly cold so he accepted and was amazed by the size and relative luxury of the London House rooms.
“The rooms here are much better than Passfield.” Daniel noted as Valerie made the tea.
“Yeah. They’re only for us old hags.” She said as she handed him a mug of hot tea.
“You ever been to Passfield?”
Valerie shook her head.
“I was International the whole time.”
“International is good compared with Passfield. Passfield’s a real dump.”
“It’s kind of late.”
“Yes it is. I suppose I should be going.” Daniel said. The prospect of a long walk in the snow did not appeal to him but it was almost half one.
“I don’t think you should be walking in the cold at this time of night. You can sleep on the floor, I have a spare mattress.” Valerie offered.
Daniel was a bit unsure but one look out the window was all it took.
“I hope you don’t mind a strange man in your room.”
“You’re hardly strange.” Valerie said with a yawn. It had been a long day and they prepared to go to bed. Valerie dragged the spare mattress out from under her bed and got him a duvet from her cupboard. He couldn’t do much except watch her go about making his makeshift bed for him and it.
“Here we are.” Valerie said after fluffing up a pillow for Daniel. “I’ll turn up the heating as far as it’ll go but if it gets too cold just give me a shout and I’ll throw some of my coats over you.”
“You are a life saver. And an angel.”
“The one thing I am not is an angel.” She replied darkly to his surprise. It was as though she remembered something dark from her past that stole the lightness that she had carried with her all this time.
He climbed into his makeshift bed as she turned out the lights and went to bed as well. They both lay in their respective beds, faces to the ceiling, thoughts in the past.
“I can’t sleep.” Daniel said, aware that Valerie too was awake.
“I can’t sleep either. Must be the tea.”
“Tea has no caffeine in it?”
“Doesn’t it?” Valerie was surprised at the fact.
“No.” Daniel sat up still wrapped in his duvet.
“You were on a scholarship weren’t you?” Valerie inquired. She remembered the email she had received asking her for information regarding a friend of Daniel’s.
“I was. The Public Service Commission gave me a study loan when I first got here.”
“To study economics.”
“Yes. I was dropped from the scholarship program just last year. I guess their appraisal of my abilities was less optimistic than yours.” Daniel chuckled.
“How did it happen?” Valerie asked.
Daniel remembered exactly how it happened, how the scholarship had come with an attached job that no one had told him about.
“You’re on an MAS scholarship aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I was dropped because of insubordination. Six months into my course here I just decided I didn’t want to write their stupid reports and attend their stupid meetings anymore. I never thought they’d go as far as to revoke the scholarship.”
“The reports aren’t all that frequent are they?”
“No. They’re just a nuisance. I was lucky Richard was generous enough to arrange a new scholarship for me.”
“I didn’t know he had pull with the PSC.” Valerie expressed some surprise.
“Not the PSC. Richard got me a Sheerluck scholarship.”
“Well that’s not bad. Better than a PSC.”
“Everything has its price Valerie.”
“The Sheerluck scholarship is free from any bond right?”
That was what she had heard from Richard.
“Yes. Perhaps he helped me out of guilt.”
“What?”
Valerie’s interest was aroused now. She had suspected that Richard was influential within Sheerluck but did not know the extent of that influence. Daniel’s suggestion seemed to be that his influence was extensive.
“You were more than friends weren’t you? You and Richard.” Daniel asked. Valerie was sitting up in bed now and he turned to face her.
“No.” was the quick reply from Valerie and she believed it to be true as well. “We were just friends. What makes you think we were anything more.”
“Your friendship ended abruptly. He never spoke off you, only in passing. You always seemed to …. I don’t know. When he did speak off you he seemed strange.”
“We were never more than friends, I assure you. He was quite annoying at times.”
“You never felt for him?”
“Never. Not anything more than what one feels for a friend. You’re beginning to sound ridiculous.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t say I blame him though. You’re very beautiful.” He knew he was risking a walk in the cold night.
“You are silly.” Valerie blushed unseen in the darkness. “I think we should just go to bed.”
She could see his silhouette rise from his bed and sit on the edge of hers. He seemed to hunch over her and she could see in the pale light Daniel’s face above her own.
“Richard Chang is a manipulative man.” He said. “I came to London with nothing. Only hopes of becoming something. I only wish I could be like that again.”
“You can.” Valerie said reaching out to touch his cheek which she found was warm and flush. “You’re still young. Just a student. There’s plenty of time yet. And Richard gave you a second chance.”
“I suppose he did. But I have seen things I would rather not have seen. I’ve done things too a person should never have to.”
“What are you talking about? Are you talking about Richard?”
“No. Richard is just a part of the whole game. Our leaders at home. Everyone.” He felt his heart turn within him. “I’m sorry Val. I really shouldn’t be using you as therapy.”
“I’m intrigued. One day if you find it in yourself to tell me your story.” Valerie said quietly to the young man.
“Why don’t you tell me your story. Tell me about Richard.”
“What’s there to tell?”
“How did you meet him?” Daniel probed.
“He was my junior. In school. He’s older. I was in my 2nd year when he came to LSE. I think we met at an orientation party but he didn’t really stand out then. He was quiet. And he was pretty broke too. But even then when I first got to know him it was evident he was someone really special. I don’t think I’ve met anyone so… intelligent. He taught me a lot. Taught me that intelligence and wisdom were independent. I guess he taught me that because for all his intelligence, he was not wise.”
“Why do you say that he was not wise?”
“We disagreed on a lot of things and one of those things was religion. I think he thought too much and some things cannot be reasoned. I could never convince him and he always thought that I was weak.”
“You were very good friends.”
“Yes. He was really good with the mathematics and logic and LSE always had this horrible habit of casting everything in a mathematical framework. It was a nightmare for me but thank goodness Rick was always available as a consultant.”
“When you went back after your course, you never contacted him?”
“That’s a long story.” Valerie sighed as she recalled those days of youth.
“In my final year, Rick’s 2nd, he had problems. Financial problems. Couldn’t finance his course to the end due to some trouble at home and he was really at the point where he had to just pack up and go home. It was that bad but I knew that someone with his talent could not just stop. It would have been so sad. I gave him my savings, not much , about 5000 pounds, not enough for fees even but it was all I had. He took it as a loan and I never expected to get anything back but I told him that if he ever repaid me more than what I had lent him it would mean our friendship had come to an end.”
Valerie paused and looked out at the misty red air outside her window and Daniel could see the beginning of tears in her eyes that she held back as best as she could.
“I went back to Singapore and I forgot about Richard Chang. And he never called or wrote and I didn’t even know where he was, in London or if he’d gone back. A couple of months later I got a letter from Rick and a draft for 10,000 pounds. I still wonder if he remembered what I told him or if he forgot but I’d like to think he forgot.”
“You lent him 5000 quid and you didn’t expect to get it back. Can I be your best friend too?”
“I’d do it again for him. That was a talent that could not be wasted.”
“And you were never romantically involved with him?” Daniel asked in disbelief.
“I guess I was young and idealistic then. That was my entire savings. Money I inherited, money I saved up when I had a temp job, money I deprived myself the use of.”
“You may not have loved him Val but he sure loved you.”
“I made it clear when we first met that we could only be friends and not more.”
“Did he know you changed your mind?” Daniel was begging the question but he felt he knew her.
“I didn’t change my mind.” Valerie said defiantly. “We were not suited for one another. Too many things we could never agree on, never find a common ground. I met someone in my final year whom I love very much and we have been together since.”
“And you never thought of Rick?”
“Never in the way you think.”
“He thought of you Valerie.”
“He never showed it then.” The bitterness was quite apparent but it gripped her and she could not hide it.
“Long after you left he still spoke about you. Indirectly sometimes but his closest friends, myself, we knew there was that special girl. We just never knew who it was but I know now. And he said nothing to me. All he had to do was introduce you. You see the pride with which he introduced you to me. Even now. I’m not asking you to confront him with anything. I just think you should admit it to yourself and move on.”
“I have moved on. Richard and I were great friends once but things change and people change and circumstances are different now. We’re not as close anymore but don’t read so much into it Daniel. We just went our own ways that’s all. It happens.”
“I know. I’ve lost too much myself that I know.”
“Doesn’t Richard have a girlfriend? I always see him with that girl.”
“Nick? Nicole Liu. She is his best friend. I don’t know if they are a couple. All I know is that they are very good friends. She is homosexual in any case and I don’t think she’s interested in men.”
“She is very pretty.”
“And has broken many hearts by her homosexuality. Nick is Nick. Everyone knows she likes girls.”
“And you Daniel. Who is your love?”
Daniel smiled at Valerie and leaned back away from her against the wall. He had almost forgotten Mickey. She was not even his girl but he wanted to remember her as such. Sometimes the fabrication was easier to live with than the truth.
“I loved someone once but I lost her to her faith.”
“You lost her to God?”
“No. Her ideals were less celestial. She was a fighter for free speech and that got her into loads of trouble with the authorities back home.”
That story was easier to explain and would raise far less questions.
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Her name was Michelle. She worked for a network known as FreeSpeech, a group born and bred on the Internet that spoke against the restriction of freedom of expression wherever it arose. They were very outspoken against Malaysia and Singapore. Indonesia and Philippines were prime targets as well of course but they had not the infrastructure to track these Cyber Dissidents. She overstepped the boundaries by actively obstructing an investigation run by our ISD against a potentially dangerous man. They stopped her.”
“How do you mean stopped her?”
“Killed her.”
“Ridiculous.”
“I saw her body. I saw the proof and the motive. I suppose you won’t believe me anyhow.”
Daniel was resigned to that fact. He was well aware that he was talking to an employee of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and one to whom had been granted a second scholarship. It would take more than words to convince her and then he remembered something that Richard had said about Valerie. That she was not wise and that she saw what she chose to see and she chose expediency.
“You are an MAS scholar yes?” Daniel asked by way of clarification.
“Yes.” Valerie answered, puzzled.
“Maybe someday you will find out.” Daniel said then retreated down to his makeshift bed.
“I like you Val. I care about you. Sometimes our ideals disappoint us and we look for an explanation. Don’t ever relax your criteria to fit the evidence. Please.”
The dark of sleep came over them and they remembered the words they had exchanged.
It didn’t matter that the car belonged to Sheerluck, Colin opened up the throttle on the Maranello Spyder and sped past the offending Porsche on his way to the National University of Singapore. It was a warm and windy day and his sunglasses could barely shut the glare out and on the sound system he had Jan hammer of the mid eighties filling the cabin with electronic music. It took him a mere fifteen minutes to get from the East Coast to the NUS Raffles Hall where Sheerluck maintained a few rooms reserved for their scholars. Colin particularly cavalier with the car as he swung it to a halt untidily into the parking lot. He got out in a hurry and walked briskly to the rear block. He arrived at a second floor room and helped himself in with a the key that had been given him by the chaps at Metamagica, an IT company that Sheerluck owned and funded. It was a technology research company that specialised in doing seemingly very little while working on projects sometimes noncommercial. The room he entered was cool from the air conditioning, one of the few rooms to have that luxury, and it was empty but for two beds a wardrobe and a table with a bank of computers by the side. He had come here a few days ago with a bag of his clothes and toiletries. The room would serve as a temporary safe house, a second location away from the East Cast apartment. Colin took his place in front of the keyboard and monitor and powered up the machine.
His email was to Richard via a secure and scrambled line:
Rick,
Word in the newspapers is that the new governments in ASEAN are more open and democratic and that such will help economies. Load of bull. Word on street is that nothing has changed and that ISD are even more active though they are only watching at this time. Unclear who is in drivers seat. UMNO chief Abdullah Azmi has emerged as a voice of strength and he’s throwing behind the ex-DPM Abdullah Zain. All was quiet for a few months but now it appears Zain is making his move with the elections due in a fortnight. Current DPM the acting PM Karim Aziz looks like he’ll lose his seat. This man Azmi is powerful and whoever he puts his money on will go a long way.
Any plans?
Colin.
He was not pleased at all. For the past few weeks he had sent email from cybercafes and via his subnote PC. Of late he had been warned by the someone at Metamagica that the firewalls at the ASEAN ISPs had been modified to intrude into email content and return as much user information as possible. It had become unsafe to use the usual mode of email. That was when he remembered the special line at Raffles Hall. That line had originally been designed for Colin to surf pornography safely and privately. It had been a while since he had used the room which he had commandeered from the Sheerluck Scholarships arm of the charity. Colin considered going back to the apartment but it was already half three and the ASEAN forum was taking place at Lecture Theatre Thirteen at six. Perhaps a round of squash and a dip in the pool would be nice. He might even get to meet some girls, Colin thought. Too lazy to walk the distance he decided to drive the Ferrari that mere 200 metres or so.
It was round midnight as Colin drove along the Airport expressway that ran parallel to the main runway. The White Maranello sped along steadily its blue/white lights shining into the orange haze created by the street lamps. He remembered a time when the car was black and he had been in the passenger’s seat. Richard was driving it then. They had travelled this very route before but then it had been a coastal road. Reclamation of land had rendered the sea further from the road but it was still accessible. Colin slowed the Ferrari down to look for the break in the curb to get to the beach. He found it easily and slowed to make his turn. The rest of the way would be a dirt track but Colin had no qualms about taking the Ferrari off the road. He didn’t slow very much anyway kicking up a trail of dust behind him. The drive to the sea took a little longer now with the reclamation of land from the sea but the Ferrari covered the distance easily. It was deserted on the beach and Colin took the car as far as he dared without getting caught in the soft sand. He knew that in the trees behind him were many cars, as he had passed a few on his way, each filled with lovers illicit or otherwise but mostly secret lovers. He lamented that the once deserted beach had now come to be crowded by all those lovers. Nobody cared to venture into the open beach so he took the car there and drove parallel to the water for some distance before stopping. From where he was Colin could see the lights of the city in the distance. He turned off the engine and got out, feeling the warm breeze against his face. A glance at the chronograph showed him that it was 12 minutes past midnight. There had been many a night in many a strange location that he and Richard had waited as some desperate plan of theirs unfolded beyond their control. Colin took a subnote PC out of the car and placed it on the roof. He then took out his passport and a bunch of other documents from his jacket pocket and tossed it onto the driver’s seat. Next he reached across to a briefcase in the passenger seat and pulled it across and opened it. Inside were new papers of Malaysian origin which he took and put in his jacket pocket. The briefcase was empty but for a flat contraption that looked like a box of chocolates in a chrome box with some knobs and switches. He flipped a switch on the box and lit up a bank of lights then he extended a cord from the box and plugged it into the cigarette lighter of the Ferrari, tossing the lighter end away. Another glance at the Zenith chronograph showed that it was 15 past midnight. After checking that he had all that he wanted on him, Colin closed the car door and locked it with his electronic key. When he looked up at the inky ocean he noticed a light coming from the dark silhouette of a dinghy. The little boat approached quite quickly and soon was on the beach. Two men manned the boat and they steadied the little craft as Colin made his way towards them with subnote under arm. The men beckoned to him as they held the boat to the shore.
“Hi guys. Just on time.”
“Yes. Sir.” One of the men said with an Aussie accent. “The water’s calm and it’s a fairly clear night so we should have no problems. Prospero is just half an hour out in Indonesian waters.”
“Indon waters?” Colin asked skeptically. “Piracy problems?”
“None sir. We had one attempt but they’re crispy fried. Commandeered a US military defense satellite and fired a laser directly onto the pirate ship. No remains, very neat. We have to go now sir.”
“One moment.” Colin said turning back to the Ferrari on the beach. He held out the key in the direction of the car and pressed a button on it. The indicator lights flashed twice and then a ball of light was seen inside the cabin.
“OK let’s go.” Colin said at last and the men pushed the dinghy into the water and jumped in. Once afloat the man at the tiller powered up the OMC outboard and the little craft shot off into the dark. On shore the Ferrari was lighting up from the inside. The blinding light grew larger and larger but there was no explosion or commotion. The briefcase that was left inside the car was the latest ‘burnbox’ available on the market and was capable of reducing the contents of a room or in this case a car to a mass of molten slag with relatively little damage to the surroundings. Colin had used such burnboxes to incinerate the contents of a room in other circumstances with satisfactory results. In the case of the Maranello, the only commotion would be when the tyres burst. The fuel had been drained and would burn for a while but there would be no explosion. Within ten minutes the molten mass was hardly recognizable as a car. Even if the police investigated the fire the following day the only evidence would be that the car was a Ferrari and even that would take considerable effort and research. The model would be even more difficult to discern let alone the exact chassis number.
Prospero was a custom built 90 meter sleek and fast yacht with all the amenities of a luxury mansion. The boat loomed as the dinghy approached the berthing bay aft. This was the first time Colin had seen the Prospero and it was quite a sight. The docking bay was partially submerged to accept the incoming dinghy which rocked unsteadily as it was lifted partially out of the water. The man at the tiller raised the outboard out of the water to avoid the rising platform. Once they were stable on the platform Colin climbed out of the dinghy with subnote tucked safely underarm. He made his way up a flight of stairs and was greeted by two uniformed men one of whom introduced himself as Captain Faulkner. He saluted and addressed Colin as sir. He suggested Colin take a shower and a rest before he show Colin around the new boat.
“Thank you captain. Please call me Colin. We are expected in Sydney in a day or two. Is that a problem?”
“None whatsoever. We have a helicopter on board which you can use once we get within shooting distance. In the meantime Mister Charles here is at your service. He will show you to your cabin and explain how some of the things work. When you are free I’d be honoured to show you the rest of the ship.”
Colin followed Charles who took him down another flight of stairs through a carpeted corridor with doors on either side. Charles stopped at one of the doors and opened it for Colin.
“Better than the Grand Hyatt, and this one’s afloat.” Colin commented.
Charles showed Colin in and indicated first the comms system.
“You’ll find these hand sets throughout the boat sir. Instructions are in the drawer but you can call me at number zero eight. Zero zero is the operator. We have your clothes in the wardrobe sir, as arranged by your office in London.”
“Thanks. Very much. I’ll have a shower and turn in. Do you have an alarm clock?”
“We can give you a wake up call if you like, otherwise the PC is also an alarm clock.” Charles indicated to a PC sitting in idle on the desk.
It was a well appointed cabin, not tremendously large but comfortable and well equipped.
“Wake me at six.”
Mr. Charles bade good night and left Colin to sit on the bed, wondering if the burnbox had done the job. It had but one piece had fallen out, thankfully an insignificant piece, the cigarette lighter which Colin had carelessly tossed out and was not in the car when it had been melted down. The police would find it and it would take a fortnight before ISD got on the case. By then the trail was cold.
Dawn broke over port side as the Prospero steamed ahead due south having cleared the Indonesian islands the night before. Colin woke early at about 0700hrs and headed up to the flybridge which was about the largest he had ever seen. In fact it was large enough to be ineffective as a bridge and the flybridge controls were further raised in a separate platform. There was a member of the crew he had not yet been introduced to and he informed Colin that Captain Faulkner was below at the main bridge.
The main bridge was immediately below the flybridge and was a 24 by 12 foot room full of electronics and navigational systems. Colin found the Captain seated in front of a bank of computers studying some weather charts.
“Good morning Captain.” Colin greeted him with a smile.
“Morning sir. Did you rest well?”
“Yes. It’s a beautiful boat isn’t it?”
“Built in the US but you’d never believe it. Looks Italian just like a Riva doesn’t it?”
“Too big for a Riva but you’re right.”
The Captain got up and it was only in the light that Colin noticed how tall the man was. He was a powerfully built man of over 6 feet and Colin wondered how he ever managed to make his way through all those tiny alleyways so common on boats.
“Would you like a tour of the boat sir?”
“Yes but before that I have a document to scan and send to Richard in London. Oh and please stop calling me sir all the time makes me feel old. Colin please.”
“Yes sir. Colin.” The Captain laughed.
Colin handed the Captain a company annual report which the Captain passed on to one of the crew. It was an annual report for a company with a Chinese sounding name, Song Ching Haw Plumbing Co. Pte. Ltd.
“When did you come back?” Nick asked Colin who was looking nice and tanned.
“Two days back. When did all this damn snow fall?” He replied.
“Two days back.” Richard replied as he poured the wine.
The three had decided to usher in the New Year in the privacy of the Chelsea House. Outside it was white with snow and the dark had lent a bloody hue to the air.
“Our dear friend here toasted a Ferrari just a couple of weeks ago.” Richard complained.
“You shouldn’t have let him drive then. What happened?”
“I needed to leave Singapore without a trace. The Ferrari was a trace. Had to toast it. You ever heard of burnboxes?” Colin asked as he sat down and sipped the ‘93 Latour. “Rick, I think your prize Grand Crus just became vinegar.”
“Don’t listen to him.” Nick sampled hers. “It’s excellent. Burnbox? Spy stuff, cooks the books.”
“Better. These new ones come in all shapes and sizes. Just leave one in the car, detonate and the whole damn thing melts. No fire, no smoke, no smell, no noise, no car.” Colin explained.
“’93 was the last good year.” Richard said quietly almost to himself. “I suppose we should drink to the next year.”
“To a better year and a better world.” Nick said raising her glass.
“To kicking the shit out of it by February.” Said Colin much to her annoyance.
“Is the heating sufficient?” Richard noticed Nick shivering a bit.
“It’s the first taste of wine.” Nick explained. It was nice that he cared even if he had been seen with Valerie quite a bit.
“What kept you in Singapore for so long Colin. I thought your business was done in a matter of weeks? Its been almost one academic year, right? Yeah. More than half a year.” Nick mused aloud.
“Not really. Actually its been just shy of 6 months.” Richard clarified. “I’m sure you don’t believe that the political reshuffling in ASEAN is resulting in any real change.”
“I stayed on to watch how things shaped up and it’s been interesting. The usual suspects were rounded up and nailed but the replacements were far too young and inexperienced. More than that they lacked the political support to form a credible or sustainable government and yet the new governments in ASEAN are at this time stable and enjoying good majority support from all quarters. I think we ought to start dinner don’t you?”
Nick got up and headed for the kitchen followed by Richard who mumbled that he ought to give her a hand. In the kitchen Nick went directly for the prepackaged food that had been delivered by the Bibendum restaurant earlier that evening. As she did Richard came around behind her and put his arms around her much to her surprise.
“I’m not seeing Valerie.” He whispered in her ear then kissed her gently on the cheek. Nick responded by turning to return the kiss.
“I was hoping she would join us.”
“Not on your life Nick. She’s here on a scholarship and decided to look me up.”
“Of course. No problems Rick. You always liked her and that was from a long time back.”
The reasoning hid some jealousy and hurt and Richard picked it up instantly.
“Two things. One, I love you and two she’s engaged to be married. One is paramount making two immaterial.”
They kissed again and outside in the dining room Colin wondered if he would have to help himself to dinner. Fortunately Richard and Nick emerged with the trays of food which they set carefully in the centre of the table.
“Turkey? Ugh.” Colin groaned.
“Pheasant. And foie gras. And Beluga.” Nick laid out the food.
“We have lamb as well. Or if you don’t mind I have some left over pizza from yesterday.” Richard offered.
“Do we know who’s pulling the strings this time?” Nick returned to the ASEAN issue as they sat down to eat.
“We have a couple of suspects. One of them is an old hand. You should know him, Abdullah Azmi. Used to be UMNO youth then went on to greater things. He’s a moderate and pro-business.”
“You’re really hitting my vinegar aren’t you Colin?”
Richard refilled his glass.
“How’s Daniel?” Colin asked retrieving his now full glass.
“He’s been pretty quiet lately. Really diving into his books.” Nick answered.
“Couldn’t he join us?”
“He had to join Kevin and company, the International Hall people. They’re in Leicester Square tonight.”
Again it was Nick who answered. “Why don’t we join them?”
“I don’t enjoy Christmas blizzards.” Said Richard. “Besides I have plenty of work to do. If you two want to go, take the Range but remember to pick me up tomorrow morning.”
“You’re antisocial. You know how they talk.” Colin warned. He himself was a social animal and was well aware of how Richard’s low profile had been interpreted in the worst way by the brood.
“His old flame is there.” Nick remarked casually.
“Valerie Choo? Really?” Colin seemed overjoyed at the news. “One day I shall have to tell Nick all about Valerie and you.”
“She knows the highlights thank you.” Richard said dryly.
“What’s she doing in London?”
“She’s done well in the MAS. They sent her here for her Masters.”
“LSE?”
“Where else?”
“How was Sydney?” Nick changed the subject.
“Same as usual. Blistering heat, beautiful Sheilas. Hey, the Prospero is a beautiful boat. Why don’t you use it more often?”
“I never have the time. Perhaps we should. I can have her in Monte Carlo in February. Or Hong Kong. Where would you prefer your Chinese New Year?” Richard was thankful for the escape.
“What were you doing in Sydney anyway?”
“Setting up shop. North Shore. Sheerluck has new premises apart from the George Street office at Asiabanc building. We’ll go there sometime to check it out but I warn you, you won’t want to come back here.”
“And how have you been spending company funds my friend?”
“The works. Indoor heated and air conditioned tennis courts, swimming pool, a courtyard, underground car park.” Colin bragged.
“Colin, do you do any productive work at all apart from spending?” asked Nick. She had never seen Colin do an honest days work and even in his academic endeavors he seemed to live on a bit of good fortune and a lot of scrambling around for the charity of others. Colin just laughed it off.
“There’s a company we need to check out. Song Ching Haw Pte. Ltd. Incorporated in Singapore with subs in Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. They were bankrolling the network out here and in the US as well. You could say they were Chan Boon Yang’s ultimate employers. Colin managed to get us a copy of their annual report before he got the hell out of there.” Said Richard.
“We’re trying to find out if the network has been replaced or refitted. It probably has so we’ll need to be on our toes again.” Colin added.
“Doesn’t it ever end?” Nick complained. “Seems pointless taking them down if all they do is restructure. Why don’t we just leave them alone?”
“We will leave them alone. This time we just want to know what they’re doing. And who they are. Just so we know.”
“Its almost midnight.” Colin noted.
“So it is. I suppose we should at least have a perpetual calendar here to mark the occasion.” Richard got up and went to his room. He later emerged with a wristwatch which he set on the table before them.
“Other quantiem perpetualles could take hours to change over but this Patek Philippe is instantaneous. I’ve had it on the winder for ages and now it’s about time I got what I paid for.”
“Probably jam considering its age.” Colin scoffed.
“It’s quite new actually. I had it built for me two years ago but somehow never wore it.”
Nick checked her Rolex Submariner and noted that it was but two minutes from the New Year. She turned to look at the perpetual calendar on the table and saw that their times agreed.
“Any minute now.” Nick said.
In the Chinatown restaurant their quartz watches had indicated midnight and a rousing cheer could be heard throughout the street. Daniel gave Valerie a hug and a peck on the cheek.
“For luck.” He explained but she was screaming her welcome to the New Year along with the others and didn’t notice.
In one movement, the day, date, month, week, and four digit year indicators on the Patek switched as the minute hand and second hand swept past the twelve and Nick got up to hug Colin and Richard in turn.
“Can I stay in your arms forever Nick?” Colin asked jokingly. She was quite attractive for an allegedly butch lesbian. Her hug with Richard lasted longer as they kissed and for Colin, the thought that Richard and Nick might actually like each other ceased to be an alien one. He was happy for them too as they had been friends for a long time and it was always an unexpected fortune to find love in the midst of friendship. He only wished he had the same fortune but too many women had come and gone from his life. For Colin, women had become like prey to be hunted and his much envied lifestyle had at some point become empty. He longed for some of the permanence and stability that he had always so brashly advertised against.