Zero Minus Ten

“Hello, Guy,” Sinclair said. “You remember Mr. Woo?”

Woo held out his hand. “Hello, Mr. Thackeray, I have come to lose my money again, uh huh?”

Thackeray shook his hand but didn’t smile. “A pleasure to take it, Mr. Woo.” There was a slight slur to his speech.

Woo turned to Bond. “And this is my friend from Jamaica, Mr. James Bond. He is a journalist covering the Hong Kong handover.”

Thackeray looked at Bond, sizing him up. Bond held out his hand and said, “How do you do?”

There was a slight pause before Thackeray took his hand, almost as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to do so. But his grip was firm and dry.

“Welcome to the Far East, Mr. Bond,” Thackeray said. “I hope you’re a better mahjong player than your friend Mr. Woo.” Bond smelled alcohol. The man was very drunk.

“I’m afraid I’m mostly accustomed to western rules, but I shall do my best,” Bond said.

The man looked like his photograph. He was very handsome, even if his face was severe. Bond did note that Thackeray appeared tired, with the look of a man under a great deal of stress. After what happened to EurAsia’s Board of Directors, he must be dealing with a massive amount of red tape.

“What can I get you to drink?” he asked.

“Vodka martini, shaken, please. Not stirred.”

For the first time since he’d entered the room, Thackeray displayed the hint of a smile. “I like a man who’s particular,” he said, then walked over to the bartender.

Over the next few minutes, the two bodyguards turned away other prospective mahjong players who had enquired about the game. Although the room was private, the bodyguards didn’t prevent spectators from coming and going. By the time the men were ready to play, six or seven other Chinese men were standing around the edges, chattering quietly among themselves.

“Don’t let my sycophants disturb your concentration, Mr. Bond,” Thackeray said. “They like to bet on the various hands during the game.”

“The more the merrier,” Bond said.

Thackeray had brought Bond his martini and placed an entire bottle of vodka on the table for himself. He sat down, poured a glass, then took a gulp.

“Shall we begin?” Thackeray said, standing next to the table. “Do you know the rules for our game?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued. “Two-point minimum, ten-point maximum, 100 Hong Kong dollars a point, standard doubling, Maximum Hand is 38,400 dollars. No chicken hands allowed. Agreed?”

“Chicken hand?” Bond asked.

T.Y. explained. “Ah, in Hong Kong version of game, that is what we call a winning hand that has both types of sets—Chows and Pongs or Kongs. It is easiest type of winning hand to get. But remember, a chicken hand is okay if you have points from other things, like Flowers or Winds.”

Bond knew what Woo meant. A winning hand in mahjong consisted of fourteen tiles in a combination of “sets.” A Chow was a set of three consecutively numbered tiles from any suit, such as a 1–2–3 or a 6–7–8. A Pong was a set of three of the same numbered tiles from any given suit, such as three 6s in the Circles suit. A Kong was a set of four of the same numbered tiles from any given suit. To “go out,” a player’s hand must contain three or four Chows, Pongs, and/or Kongs, plus one Pair of the same tiles in any suit. Special hands consisting of a combination of specific tiles were worth more points.

“So, are we agreed?” Thackeray asked again.

“Certainly,” Bond said, feeling as if he was signing a pact with the devil.

Each player was required to hand over 50,000 Hong Kong dollars for a cache of chips. A Chinese man working for the casino acted as moderator and banker. He stacked up four tiles face down in the centre of the table.

Thackeray handed Bond the dice. “I’ll let you have the honour of rolling for the pick of Winds.”

Bond quickly went over in his mind the game’s procedure. Mahjong was divided into four Rounds, each named after the four Winds. The Round’s name was known as the “Prevailing Wind” for all the hands played within the Round. Each player’s seating position was also named after one of the four Winds. Players picked Wind tiles in turn to determine which seat, or Wind, they were to play at the beginning. Whoever chose the East Wind was the dealer for the first hand in the East Round. A Round consisted of a minimum of four hands with the deal being passed around the table. The game would end once each of the four Winds had been the “Prevailing Wind.” There was a minimum of sixteen hands, usually more, in a complete game of mahjong. Fast players could complete a game in less than an hour.

Bond rolled the dice and counted the players around the table counter-clockwise, ending on Woo. He drew one of the tiles on the table. It was the South Wind. Thackeray was next, drawing the East Wind. Sinclair drew the West, and Bond was left with North. Thackeray pulled up a chair. Bond sat to Thackeray’s left. Sinclair sat facing Thackeray, and T.Y. was across from Bond. Thus, for the East Wind Round, Thackeray was the number 1 seat, East, and dealer for the first hand. T.Y. was number 2, South; Sinclair was number 3, West; and Bond was number 4, North.

All four men began mixing the 144 tiles face down on the table. This was done with a tremendous clatter. Then, each player proceeded to build their side of the “the wall,” consisting of 36 tiles stacked two-deep.

Bond decided this was a good time to try and get his target to open up. “Mr. Thackeray,” he said, “I would welcome the opportunity to interview you regarding the Hong Kong handover. I understand your company is successful and well-regarded. You’re an important man in the colony and I’d like to know what you think about living under Chinese rule.”

“You’re lucky, Mr. Bond,” Thackeray said, building the second layer of his wall. “I’m giving a press conference the day after tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. It’ll be at the corporate headquarters in Central. You’re welcome to attend. I’ll make sure your name gets on the list.”

“Thank you, I appreciate the invitation,” Bond said. He thought he would try to get some kind of reaction out of the man. “Terrible thing that happened at that restaurant. I imagine it left you and your company devastated?”

Thackeray’s wall was finished. He looked up at Bond and stared at him. “Yes,” was all he said.

Bond pushed the man further. “I’ve always thought luck comes in waves, both good and bad. Didn’t something happen to your solicitor, too? I heard something … ?”

“Mr. Bond, did you come here to discuss my personal affairs or to play mahjong?” Thackeray growled. What little humour the man possessed was now totally gone. Bond was convinced he was a perpetually cantankerous alcoholic.

“Oh, I came to play mahjong,” Bond said. “Forgive me.”

When the four completed walls formed a perfect square on the table, Thackeray took three small dice and rolled them in the centre. He got a 10. Starting with himself, he counted the sides of the wall counter-clockwise, ending up on the South Wall, in front of Woo. Then, after counting ten tiles from the right end of the South wall, Thackeray “broke” the wall by separating the tiles at that point. He took the four tiles to the left of the break. Woo picked up the next four tiles, followed by Sinclair, and then Bond. This was repeated until each player had twelve tiles. Then, Thackeray took two more tiles to make fourteen, and the other players each took one tile. East always began a hand by discarding his fourteenth tile.

Bond arranged his tiles in front of him. It was a terrible hand. He had two useless blue Flowers. The blue and red Flower tiles gave points to a player if the Flower’s number matched his seat or the name of the Round. Flowers were immediately exposed for all to see, and the vacant spots in the hand were replaced by new tiles. Thackeray had one Flower—a Red 1, which luckily matched his seat. This automatically gave him one point. He drew a tile from the dead wall and kept it. The other two players had no Flowers, which was worth a point if either of them won the hand and could avoid drawing any Flowers during its play. Bond drew two new tiles—they were both North Winds, which were helpful. His hand contained a 1 of Sticks (designated by the picture of a sparrow holding a stick), a 5 of Sticks, a 6 of Sticks, another 6 of Sticks, a 2 of Circles, a 3 of Circles, a 9 of Circles, a 3 of Characters, an 8 of Characters, a White Dragon, a South Wind, two North Winds, and the useless blue 2 and 3 Flowers.

The most difficult thing about mahjong was deciding what kind of hand to go for and sticking with the objective. Good hands usually consisted entirely of Pongs and/or Kongs and the one Pair, or entirely of Chows and a Pair. Bond’s hand was almost impossible to predict. He had a Pair of 6 of Sticks, and a