“Oh, no, I’m starting to feel the jet lag,” he explained. “I just arrived today.”
When Thackeray reached across the table to draw from the wall, Bond noticed that the man palmed another tile. It was now just a matter of time before one of them went out. Bond gave Woo the signals for a 6 of Sticks and the 3 of Circles, which might complete his third Pong.
Woo did a great job of pretending to agonize over what tile to discard. He threw a Red Dragon and Bond called “Pong!” Now if he could get the White one …”
Play continued around the table until Sinclair discarded a White Dragon. Thackeray immediately said, “Pong!” Damn! Thackeray had the other three White Dragons and now there was no way to make a Pair with his single tile. Bond threw the useless tile when it was his turn to discard. There was still hope—he had two Dragon Pongs, worth a point each.
Thackeray Ponged again, this time with a 2 of Characters. Come on, Woo, Bond willed. Throw something good! It didn’t happen. From the look on Woo’s face, he was troubled by the lack of help he could give Bond.
Bond drew the 4 Blue Flower from the wall, adding another point to his possible score. On his next turn, he drew the badly needed 3 of Circles. Now all he lacked was to make a Pair out of the two single tiles he had—the 4 of Characters or the 6 of Sticks. Bond gave the signals for the two tiles and Woo took a sip from his drink. On Bond’s discard, though, Thackeray called “Pong!” again. He was ready to go out as well.
Woo drew from the wall and discarded the 4 of Characters. Bond called “Out!” and displayed his hand of four points—two Dragon Pongs (one point each) and two Flowers matching his seat. Woo had to pay $3200, the others $1600.
Woo became the dealer and Bond got a terrible hand. Amazingly, Woo went out very quickly for two points on Thackeray’s discard. He had a chicken hand, but he also had no Flower tiles, and a Pong of East Winds (matching his seat). Thackeray paid the $800 as if it was charity, and the others paid $400.
Sinclair got the deal next and the hand ended in a draw. It was redealt and Bond got another terrible hand. If he was going to beat Thackeray, he had only three more hands in which to do so. It wasn’t to be this time, for Sinclair went out with Woo’s discard. He got three points for holding four Pongs. Woo paid $1600, the others $800.
Bond got the deal. Bond couldn’t believe the hand he drew. Of the thirteen tiles, ten of them were Circles which could easily be turned into sets. He signalled to Woo that he needed Circles. The problem was that he was only allowed to Chow from the player on his left, and that was Sinclair. Nevertheless, a chicken hand would be all right if the entire hand was made up of Circles. That would be a Pure Hand, which was worth six points.
Thackeray discarded one of the needed Circles. “Pong!” said Bond. A little later, Sinclair threw a tile Bond needed. “Chow!” he called. Thackeray looked at him. Now everyone knew Bond had a chicken hand. Thackeray’s eyes were burning with curiosity. Bond was holding no Flowers, so he had at least one point. What else could he be holding?
Thackeray eventually discarded a Circle tile that Bond needed and he triumphantly called, “Out!” Thackeray raised his eyebrows when he saw Bond’s Pure Hand.
Including the point for no Flowers, Bond had a total of seven points—a Double Full House. It was biggest win of the game so far. This time, Thackeray wasn’t so pleased about turning over $6400 to Bond. The others had to pay $3200 each.
Since he’d won the hand, Bond kept the deal for the last hand of the game. It started off poorly, for he had a mixture of Sticks and Circles, and one Green Dragon. He wasn’t sure what to go for. When he drew another Green Dragon from the wall, he wondered how possible it would be to get a special winning hand known as a “Jade Dragon.” To do this he would need a Pong of the Green Dragons, with the remainder of his hand made up entirely of Pongs of Sticks.
Bond gave Woo the signal for Sticks and coughed twice for the Green Dragon. Woo smiled when he threw the tile and Bond called “Pong!” Now all he needed was three Pongs of Sticks. He already had Pairs of 2s and 7s. He slowly got rid of the Circles, and eventually drew another Pair of the 8 of Sticks. Woo discarded a 2 of Sticks and Bond Ponged.
Thackeray clumsily knocked over some tiles from the wall when he reached across the table. Bond knew the man had dropped a tile he had palmed, but Thackeray quickly covered it and rebuilt the wall without anyone seeing the tiles. He was getting careless. The alcohol was finally getting to him. What made him so desperate to win? Was it the feeling of power he desired? Bond had certainly seen it before in men like Hugo Drax, who had cheated at cards for no reason except to satisfy his own need to prove to himself he could do it.
Sinclair discarded an 8 of Sticks and Bond Ponged again. He needed a 7 and either a 9 or 1 of Sticks to complete the hand.
Woo discarded the 7 of Sticks and Bond Ponged. He had four Pongs revealed. Everyone knew all he needed was a Pair to go out. It was Thackeray’s turn, and for the first time he hesitated. Spectators around the room looked on in anticipation. Bond could very well have a Maximum Hand. Thackeray drew from the wall and looked at the tile. He considered it, unsure whether to keep or discard it. He finally threw it down on the table. It was a 1 of Sticks.
Bond picked it up and coolly said, “Out.” He revealed his hand and said, “Jade Dragon. Maximum Hand.”
Thackeray’s own hand trembled when he handed Bond chips totalling $19,200. Sinclair’s face had gone white as well—he had to pay $9600. Woo gladly handed over his $9600. Bond thought the man’s smile would split his face.
Thackeray stood up slowly. He turned to Bond and said with a thicker slur to his voice than usual, “You have luck on your side, Mr. Bond.” He glanced at Woo. “Or … something.” He then turned and walked towards the archway leading to the washroom. Bond collected his chips and turned them in to the cashier who was standing eagerly near the table. He and Woo combined their cash and put it in a brown bag, which Woo stuffed into his jacket. They were ready to leave, but Bond wanted to speak with Thackeray one more time and confirm that he would see him at the EurAsia press conference on the 24th. The man was taking an awfully long time.
Three young Chinese men in business suits stepped into the room through the red curtains. They had a look in their eyes that Bond recognized only from years of experience. He thought later that a younger, greener agent would have been killed immediately.
Bond leaped at Woo, pulling him down behind the bar as the men revealed large butcher-knives and meat cleavers they had concealed in their jackets. With lightning speed, they began to attack everyone in the room. They swung their blades like swords, slashing and chopping whatever piece of flesh got in their way. The room filled with the screams of their victims, and there was blood everywhere. Sinclair went down, as did the spectators and bartender. It was over as quickly as it had begun. The men turned and ran from the room.
“Are you all right?” Bond shouted to Woo.
“Yes!” Woo sounded stunned.
Bond jumped up. “Find Thackeray!” he ordered, then ran from the room. The crowded casino had become a scene of frenzied panic. People were screaming and running for the doors. Bond scanned the crowd, looking for the three thugs in suits. They had slipped out. What was that all about? Were they after Thackeray? Was it an assassination attempt? Whatever it was, they had succeeded in killing or maiming at least a dozen people.
Bond returned to the gambling room. Woo was standing in the archway leading to the washroom. It was a gruesome mess. Bodies were strewn about, drenched in blood. Sinclair had been killed. Not everyone was dead— two or three men were crawling about crying for help. There were a few fingers and hands lying in puddles of blood. The killers had dropped the weapons in the room before fleeing.
“Thackeray gone,” Woo said, bewildered.
“What?”
“No one in washroom!”
Bond went into it. The two cubicles were empty, and there was no window. How the hell did he get out? Bond examined the back wall of one of the cubicles. He knocked on it and determined that it was hollow.
“It’s a trap door,” he said to Woo. He carefully felt the seams of the wall and finally found a minute depression. There was a tiny toggle switch there which, when flipped, activated a sliding door in the wall.
“Come on!” Bond commanded. He and Woo entered the dark corridor and ran twenty metres to another door. It opened easily—to the outside. They were behind the hotel, looking at a dark alleyway. Thackeray was nowhere in
