occupied by a sleek Alfa Romeo and a couple of working vehicles, a ute and a panel van.
We got out and Freddy ushered us towards an elevator. The driver came along as well-three of them and two of us. May Ling's hands were held together in front of her by plastic restraints. She wore the skirt of her suit and a blouse and looked cold.
I could feel, rather than see, Lester's knife close to my back. We went up three levels and came out in a short passage that led to what looked like a laboratory. Freddy guided May Ling into a chair by a bench and Lester shoved me towards a stool in a corner. The driver stood with his back to a wall.
'We used to knock up a bit of speed here,' Freddy said. 'It was good business for a time but the bikies made it tough after a while, especially the Lebos. A Lebo bikie is a mean bastard.'
'You'd know one,' I said.
Lester stepped forward and whacked me with a backhander. I saw it coming and eased back to reduce some of the force. It hurt, but delivering a solid backhander can throw you a bit off-balance and leave you open. It did, and I came at him with a heavy right to his ribs that sent him skittering. He raised the knife and the driver moved forward with his hands in a martial arts position.
'That's enough!' Freddy snapped. 'Settle down, Hardy. There's no need for this. We're talking and dealing here, I hope.'
He opened a cabinet over the bench and took out a couple of bottles and a beaker. He unscrewed the tops from the bottles and poured a little from one and a little from the other into the beaker. The mixture fizzed and gave off a wisp of smoke with an acrid smell.
'Now, this won't kill her. It won't even cause her to faint if I know May Ling, but it'll eat away at her skin and tissue beyond repair by any plastic surgeon.'
May Ling screamed. The sound went through me like a dentist's drill hitting a nerve. I jerked up and Lester flicked the knife across inches from my face.
'Good reactions,' Freddy said, 'very satisfactory. Now, I want to know everything, down to the last detail.'
There was nothing else to do. I told Freddy absolutely everything I knew about Richard Malouf and his involvement and Houli's. My phone call from Malouf was news to May Ling but she didn't react. Her eyes were focused on the beaker of acid. I left out where Rosemary and Gretchen were but nothing else. He listened carefully, stopping me only a couple of times with questions. Freddy was a very intelligent man, and one with long experience of applying pressure and assessing the results.
When I'd finished he spoke in Chinese to Lester and the driver and then turned his attention back to me. He moved the beaker away on the bench. 'One phone call only?'
'That's right.'
'Did he say when he'd call again?'
'No.'
'It seems we'll have to keep you alive.'
'For now,' Lester said.
Freddy smiled. 'It depends on how it all works out. D'you know what Chou En-Lai said when he was asked what he thought were the results of the French Revolution?'
I shook my head. I moved on the stool to get more comfortable and winced as my shirt came away from where it had been stuck by congealed blood to the cut.
'He said it was too soon to tell. That's how things stand now. It's too soon to tell, but you have certain things in your favour.'
'You'll let May Ling go?'
He laughed. 'That's another thing it's too soon to tell about. Now, what did you plan to do next, after you'd finished your cheap little dinner?'
I hadn't told him any more than that Malouf wanted to do a deal with the police, nothing about Sabatini. 'I was thinking about it when Lester stuck his knife into me,' I said. 'I was going to get in touch with Inspector Chang and try to set something up, act as a go-between, I guess.'
'You'd be happy to see Malouf get clear in return for destroying me and Selim Houli?'
I shrugged. 'I doubt it'd work out quite like that, but it's too soon to tell.'
I heard an angry grunt from Lester and got ready for another blow but Freddy laughed and raised his hand placatingly. 'Touche. Well, we'll just have to play along with you and Malouf, but I think we'll keep the police out of it. That's not to say you won't tell Malouf that you've contacted them. You're going to have to do a bit of acting.'
'You'll have to let me tap Malouf for some information as to what it's all about. He'd expect I'd need something more to get Chang interested.'
'You're right. I almost like you, Hardy; you're not completely dumb. You still want to understand things. I respect that. I'll have to try to make sure you don't learn so much that we have to kill you.'
'Try to make sure Lester understands that.'
An angry burst of Chinese from Lester made May Ling raise her head and shoot him a look of loathing.
Freddy lit a cigarette. 'Lester and I don't quite see eye to eye on this. I try not to kill people. It's bad for business.'
For the first time, May Ling spoke. 'You're killing Sunny, you creep.'
'Business,' Freddy said.
I said, 'What about Houli?'
'What about him?'
'Whatever this is, you're in it together.'
Freddy reached out for an empty beaker on the bench and drew it towards him. He dropped ash into it. 'So far,' he said, 'so far.'
23
I'd left Freddy with the impression that Malouf was on his boat which I didn't think was necessarily the case. He barked instructions to the driver who left in a hurry. At a guess he was going to try to find the boat, and as no one had had any luck at that so far, it didn't seem likely he would. Freddy picked his butt out of the beaker and dropped it in the acid. At the smoke and smell May Ling shrank back in her chair.
'Little reminder,' Freddy said. 'Lester, get his phone.'
I know less than nothing about satellites and electronic tracking, but I could see what was in Freddy's mind. He'd have someone try to track the source of Malouf's call when it came and be able to take the initiative. May Ling and I would be expendable. I thought Malouf would have found a way to prevent a trace but Freddy didn't know that. Maybe Freddy was reluctant to kill but Lester wasn't. Just at that moment, the phone was an asset. I took it from my pocket and juggled it as Lester moved towards me with his knife.
'No phone, no trace,' I said. I tossed it up and caught it.
Lester glanced at Freddy and that was my chance. I kicked Lester as hard as I could in the crotch. He yelled, dropped the knife and both his hands went down protectively. I headbutted him; he went down and I kept moving. Freddy had the brains but not the moves. He was frozen for just a little too long. I pinned him back against the bench and grabbed the beaker of acid. Blood was streaming from Lester's forehead, but he recovered and crawled towards the knife.
'No!' I held the beaker at Freddy's shoulder.
Lester stopped. 'You wouldn't.'
I jiggled the beaker. The acid hissed. 'Try me.'
The blood was running into his eyes, blinding him. He rubbed at his face with his sleeve and swore in English and then in Chinese.
'May Ling,' I said, 'get the knife.'
She didn't move.
'Get the fucking knife!'
She pushed up from the chair and strode across the floor. She bent in one fluid motion for the knife and glided
