were overturned, papers were scattered all over the floor, and the furniture had been ripped up. Bond recognized a thoroughly professional job.
“T.Y.?” Bond shouted. “Sunni?” He searched all the rooms and floors, but no one was there. The British Intelligence station in Hong Kong had been completely destroyed.
TWELVE
What had happened to the safe house? How was their security breached? Where were T.Y. Woo, his brother, and his son? Where was Sunni? Maybe they were all safe somewhere. Bond hadn’t seen the company taxi cab parked near the building.
Then he noticed his briefcase sitting undisturbed on the coffee table. It was still locked. Had someone tried to open it and left it there, or had T.Y. placed it on the table as some kind of message to Bond? Bond opened it, making sure it still contained the new transmitter and other important documents. The number “22” was displayed on the transmitter, which worked much like a telephone beeper with unlimited range. It was a command to call London. He didn’t dare do it from the safe house. He quickly changed into a nondescript black polo shirt and black trousers, then left the safe house.
Bond wandered the streets, turning over the events of the past few days in his mind. He needed to clear his head. The bright neon of Hong Kong was beginning to shine around him. Sticking to the narrow side streets, he walked past street vendors packing up their stalls for the evening. He strolled through the beautifully landscaped Hong Kong Park, which was only a few years old. A spectacular walk-in aviary within the park contained 150 species of Asian birds, and this is where Bond chose to collect his thoughts.
How did the pieces of the puzzle fit together? What about himself? Were the police looking for him? Had his actions at the Hongkong Bank been documented by photographers or hidden video cameras? Was his face known? Would the Dragon Wing Society be looking for him too, even though Sunni was the real object of their hunt? Would they recognize him if they saw him? The unfortunate stereotypical racist comment “All Chinese look alike” was also often made by the Chinese in reference to
What about Guy Thackeray and his corporation? What the hell happened at that press conference? One minute the man was alive, delivering a bombshell to the world, and the next minute a bombshell was delivered to him. Who was responsible? Was it the Triad? Was it China? Thackeray had referred to other attempts on his life. Was he referring to the incident in Macau? If so, how did he know about the secret exit and when to leave by it? Bond wanted to know if the police had identified Thackeray’s killer yet. If only Woo was around—he could talk to his contact with the Royal Hong Kong Police.
Bond decided to take a risk by going back to the Mandarin Oriental. A room there would provide some privacy for a phone call to London. When he left the aviary, he noticed nearly a hundred people, most of them Chinese, walking through the park carrying signs. Written in Chinese and English, they were pro-democracy slogans. One read “Stay out of our hair, China.” Another read, “One country, two systems—remember your promise, China.” Yet another read, “No troops at the border.” It reminded Bond that Chinese troops had massed north of the New Territories. That alone would make any citizen of Hong Kong nervous.
Bond walked to the hotel, stopping only to eat a quick dinner in a fast-food Chinese restaurant. Woo had checked him out of the hotel as promised, and Bond quickly learned that there were no other rooms available. Bond asked the attractive girl at the reception desk to locate the manager. There really were no rooms available, but the manager allowed 007 to use a private office for a phone call since he knew Bond personally.
He dialled the access number to get a secure line. When the duty officer answered, Bond said, “Predator,” the code name which had been his for the last several years. The duty officer asked him to hold the line. After a few clicks, he heard the voice of Bill Tanner.
“James? Where the hell are you? M’s beside herself!”
“I’m fine, Bill. I’m at the hotel at the moment, but I’ve really no place to stay. The safe house …”
“We know all about the safe house, James. Woo contacted us.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s all right, and so is his son. They are in hiding. I’m afraid the brother was killed.”
“Christ. What about the girl?”
“Girl?”
“There was a girl at the safe house who helped me. We were going to try and get her to England.”
“Oh, yes, we got that request. You should have heard M’s comments on that one! I won’t repeat them here. I don’t know about the girl. Maybe she’s with Woo. As far as a passport is concerned, M is thinking about it.”
Bond hoped so. “What happened? Do we know who was responsible?”
“Woo was out of the shop when it happened. He returned with his son to find his brother slashed to bits and the place in a shambles. He called a clean-up crew to dispose of the body and he and his son got out fast. We’re not sure where he is at the moment, but I imagine we will hear from him soon. Woo thought it was Triad.”
Then it was possible Sunni wasn’t with him after all.
“Do you know what happened to Thackeray?” Bond asked.
“Yes, it’s all over the news already. Our morning television news programmes have covered it. EurAsia Enterprises is the hot topic. There’s a lot of speculation, and the PM is trying to contact China regarding the so- called sale of the company. It’s all extremely bizarre.”
“It doesn’t make any sense to me, either. I’ve been unable to find out a thing, I’m afraid. Do we know who the killer was?”
“It’s still too early. According to the Royal Hong Kong Police, the man had no identification on him. No one knows who the hell he was. Anyway, M still wants you on the case. Just because Thackeray’s no longer with us doesn’t mean you can’t still get to the bottom of it. Keep digging. If you can establish and prove the link between EurAsia and that Triad, you’ll have done your job.”
“All right, I know where to go next. What’s happening in Australia?”
“Nothing new there,” Tanner said with a sigh. “It’s as if it never happened. If anyone knows anything about it, they’re not talking. No one has come forward claiming responsibility. It’s a big mystery.”
“Great.”
“The worry now is the transition. The number of Chinese troops at the border is increasing. Beijing is complaining about all the prodemocracy demonstrations that are taking place. They’ve asked the Hong Kong Governor to put a stop to them, but he’s refused. He’s standing up for their rights. We all want the transition to be peaceful and dignified. Right now the air is full of distrust and near panic. I should probably tell you that we’ve sent a couple of warships your way.”
“The Royal Navy?” Bond groaned. This was serious.
“Let’s hope their presence will act as a deterrent.”
“Right. Anything else?”
“No. How’s your arm? I heard you got cut.”
“Hurts like hell, but I’ll live.”
“You always do. Keep in touch. We’ll get you and Woo back together.”
Tanner signed off and Bond suddenly felt very much alone, sitting in the middle of a powder keg just waiting to explode.
The Container Port at Kwai Chung was Bond’s next stop. Woo had given him directions to EurAsia Enterprises’ warehouse located within the huge complex. The only problem was that he would have to get over a barbed-wire fence, but he had encountered worse obstacles in his life …
Bond took a taxi to Kowloon and then further north into the western New Territories. He told the driver to let him off in front of the fenced Container Terminal on Kwai Chung Road. It was night now, and Bond’s dark clothing should disappear into the shadows.
Hong Kong is one of the busiest shipping ports in the world. The Kwai Chung Container Port is one of many such terminals in the colony, but it is the largest and serves as a transhipment centre for Chinese export goods
