beneath Mann’s. Mann gave a cry of pain, a roar of anger as he turned, rolled away from Ng and reached inside his shirt with his left hand. There, between the cloth and the bandages, pressed around his chest, was Delilah. And on her hilt she bore something precious. The bodyguards reached for their weapons at the same time as Mann dropped to one knee, rolled and fired Delilah over their heads. She turned direction in the air, almost hovered and then dropped blade first as CK looked up to see what it was. A flash of steel, a plume of black. It sunk deep into his left eye, so far that Delilah was pushing to come out the other side of his skull. CK was driven back by the force and smashed against the mahogany book shelf and slid down to the floor.
Victoria screamed. There was a pause as if the room stood still and then she laughed. Mann thought at first it was shock but it gathered momentum and the bodyguards joined in. She went over to her father and stared down at him and giggled at the kite eagle’s long black tail feathers that were a perfect manoeuvring tool in the air. They were still vibrating as they protruded from his eye socket. She went over to CK, put her foot on his face, her Jimmy Choo heel dug into his chin and she pulled on the eagle feathers, wiggled them to dislodge them and then slid Delilah out, brain matter and eye attached.
‘You know, Father, you disappointed me too.’
She came over to Mann, who was knelt beside Ng, feeling no triumph now, only a bitter loss. She put Delilah in his lap. It was as if Mann had stuck to the script when he hadn’t realized there was a whole different play going on.
She leant over to kiss his lips softly. ‘I intend leaving the country for a while. I will be going to the Philippines. But, don’t think it’s the end for us, Mann, think of it as the beginning.’ She stood up, picked up her bag. ‘And, by the way,’ she tore up the contract and handed it back to Mann, ‘you don’t get out of it that easily. I prefer to be partners, lovers even, who knows, Mann? I never wanted my shares in the Mansions. You own it all, baby.’ Then, she moved towards the door. ‘We have a plane to catch. Don’t hurt him. Drop him back at the Mansions,’ she said to her hovering bodyguards who were still waiting for the satisfaction of kicking the shit out of Mann.
By the time the bodyguards had thrown Mann’s body out of the car and it had rolled to a stop in front of David, he had only three of the hundred and thirty stitches remaining. And three of the four bodyguards would never make it on the plane. Victoria had already left.
Chapter 111
Shrimp floated in and out of the dark world of pain. He heard someone singing, a haunting wailing song like he had heard on the stairs in the Mansions. He heard the soft giggles of a child and felt something cold and plastic brush his face. He heard the cries of a baby and a mother soothing it. His pain came in searing stabs, in long excruciating waves that felt as if someone was twisting his gut inside out. Sometimes it was accompanied by crying, sometimes laughter. He felt his tongue swelling. He tried to keep his pulse slow and stem the loss of blood. He tried to talk but as if in a dream the words went unheard. Help me. Help me. The woman muttered to him, he couldn’t make it out. She sat beside him in the dark. She held his hand and sometimes she stroked him tenderly. Shrimp felt her body on his. He felt the sting of a knife. The deep pain that was working its way into his heart.
Chapter 112
‘Fuck. Am I dead?’ Mann awoke to find himself being sewn up by Kin Tak. In the background he could hear an angel singing. He tried to sit up but he couldn’t; he was restrained.
‘We couldn’t stop you moving. Very hard to sew neatly when you keep moving. I am not used to that.’ Kin Tak was sewing him up and Lilly was hovering over him.
Mann grabbed at her wrist as she hovered over his face with a wad of cotton wool. She shrieked in fright. ‘Where am I?’
‘In my bedroom.’
‘Oh God…’ Mann moaned as he pulled against the strap.
‘No, it’s all right. The Africans brought you up here.’
Mann stared at Kin Tak not understanding. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Lilly asked me to sew you up.’
‘Yeah…that reassures me.’
‘I had no idea men bleed so much. No one usually bleeds when I stitch them up.’
‘You didn’t want to go back to hospital,’ said Lilly.
The singing stopped. Michelle came to stand and watch. ‘You were really beaten up. Blood everywhere,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I wonder why that was.’ Mann touched the swellings on his face. The stitches were back.
‘Very clean. The wound was very clean. Made by the same instrument that took that young girl’s hands off. I recognized it.’ Kin Tak beamed proudly as he carried on sewing up the gash across Mann’s stomach.
‘Yeah. Sorry about that. I got scared. I didn’t know what to do,’ said Lilly.
‘Save it, Lilly. I could see it was just a lucky hit.’
‘Thanks. You never touched me, you know.’
‘Yeah. I know.’
‘I put Rohypnol in your drink. Victoria Chan gave it to me.’
‘And, you know one another?’ Mann asked Kin Tak.
Kin Tak nodded, and looked away guiltily.
‘He’s been teaching me to read and write Mandarin,’ said Lilly whilst dabbing at Mann’s wounds.
‘She’s an excellent student.’ Kin Tak covered his mouth and giggled into his hand. ‘There you are – finished.’ Kin Tak stood back to admire his handiwork.
There was a knock at the door. Michelle went to answer it.
‘I need to speak to Mann. Is he here?’ Daniel Lu stood in the doorway.
‘I haven’t seen him,’ Michelle lied.
‘He was seen being helped in here.’
‘He doesn’t want to talk to you.’
‘I’ll speak to him. Come in, Daniel,’ Mann shouted from the bedroom. Daniel walked in and stood next to the bed. They were left alone to talk.
‘Mia is mad with you. She says there’s a warrant out for your arrest for the murder of CK Leung. I went there to clean up. I’m sorry about Ng. Now, I have to tell you something, I know you’d want to know but looking at you, I’m not sure how much help you can be Shrimp’s missing.’
Chapter 113
Roses are red. Rubies are too. My heart was broken. Now yours is too.
Shrimp heard how far the echo of the woman’s voice went to the wall and then stopped. He realized it was a voice he knew. ‘Nina?’
‘You betrayed me, Shrimp. I gave you my heart and you betrayed me.’
‘Nina…please, where am I? What’s happened? Put a light on; let me see you.’
‘You were going to be different. I gave you the chance to be the one. I saw you at that bar. I saw you playing with your wedding ring. You didn’t notice me. I was tucked behind you, out of sight. I had a long caramel-coloured wig. For a second I thought you had recognized me but you didn’t. That evening I watched you taking girls to your room, one after the other. You make me sick. You’re no better than all the rest. I thought you were the love of my life. But you lied, cheated on me. You are just like he was…how could you, Shrimp? I loved you.’
‘I was working undercover. If you saw me pick up girls it was because I’ve been working on a case, that’s all.
