‘Sit down, Ms Donahoe,’ Six said amiably. ‘We won’t hurt the kid, we just want to talk. We thought you’d need convincing.’
‘Tell me what you want,’ I said.
‘Don’t do anything for them, ma’am,’ Billy said. ‘Just kill me and then run.’
‘Have they harmed you in any way whatsoever?’ I said.
‘No, ma’am.’
‘Not at all?’
‘Not at all, ma’am,’ he said. ‘They did something to me that meant I couldn’t use energy, I couldn’t change form. I fought back in human form and they took me down without harming me. This guy,’ he gestured with his chin towards the big driver, Chang, ‘must have trained at Shaolin. Real Shaolin. Has to be ex-monk. He’s like rock.’ His voice dropped with shame. ‘He took me down without even hurting me. I thought I was better than that.’
Chang smiled slightly and nodded.
‘These demons control stones somehow, Billy,’ I said. ‘Besides, you’ve only been learning a few weeks. In a year you’ll be able to take down anyone who’s learned from any other school on Earth. But right now there’s no shame in losing to someone like him.’
Chang frowned.
‘I think we should do the deal.’ Six leaned back on the couch, relaxed. ‘Miss Donahoe, your students make our lives miserable. They catch our…’ He hesitated, looking for the word. ‘Operatives—’
‘Gangsters,’ I said.
He ignored me. ‘—who are working their livelihoods and the students use their talents to shut them down. We’re losing at least a million dollars a week because of your kids. The copy DVD and software sales where a group of people will go past and all of the disks are suddenly ruined. The illegal fuel stations where the fuel goes bad. The drug deals where the drugs simply disappear. Frankly, Emma, we’ve had enough, and we’d like your help.’
‘I don’t think I can give you any help,’ I said.
‘We just want you to ease up on our members only, please. Since Three and I left Hell, our activities here have kept us in an extremely comfortable lifestyle, one we could not otherwise afford. One Two Two was stupid and went after more than he could handle. All we want is to be left alone.’ He gestured towards Billy. ‘As a show of good faith you can have this one. Lay off us for a week, promise to continue to do so for good, and you can have your retainer, Mr Alexander, back.’
‘Remember, Miss Donahoe,’ Three said, ‘your students are trained to defend themselves against demons. Our Little Brothers are humans, they have guns, and there is no Art that can defeat someone with a firearm.’ She smiled like a kindly socialite. ‘We have no desire to make trouble, ma’am, we just want to be left alone to make a small living doing what we do best.’
‘Were you two together with One Two Two?’ I said.
Their smiles widened slightly but neither of them replied.
‘I don’t remember seeing either of you in the meetings with him.’
Six spread his hands. ‘We may take many forms, ma’am.’
‘So, Miss Emma, do we have a deal?’ Three said. ‘Lay off our Little Brothers, and you will have your Leo back, and your students will not be in danger.’
‘What happens in a week?’ I said.
‘We make a final pact for both our benefits,’ Six said, his wide grin not moving. ‘Your students gain the protection of one of the most powerful demons outside Hell; no other demon will challenge them. And you will gain the return of the Lion.’
I grimaced when he said protection. I was being drawn into one of the oldest Triad games in the book—protection money. Wonderful. I needed to stall them for the week and use the time to find out where their nest was, because if I hadn’t taken them down in a week I would have to renege on the deal, my students would be targeted by humans with guns, and Leo would die.
‘Why wait a week?’ I said. ‘Why not just do the deal now?’
‘Two reasons,’ Six said. ‘First, the real Leo is so deeply hidden it will take that long to get him out. Second, we want to see a show of good faith from you so we’d like to see our activities untouched for a full week.’
‘I want a way to identify your gangsters so my students can still practise on other Triads,’ I said.
Six and Three visibly relaxed. ‘That we will provide as early as tomorrow, ma’am. Does this mean that we have a deal?’
In two days the Demon King was going to provide me with the location of these demons’ centre of operations. Doing the deal would give me some breathing space to gather the resources I needed to take them down. And, more than anything, I needed to protect my students, who had no defence if someone came after them with a gun.
‘Agreed,’ I said. ‘We’ll lay off for a week. After that, we’ll see.’
‘We’d rather die than see you make a deal with them, you know that,’ Billy said.
‘And you know that I’d do anything to keep you safe, Billy,’ I replied.
‘An excellent result all around, I think,’ Six said. ‘Chang will take you and your student home, and we will provide you with an identification method first thing tomorrow, delivered by demon to your Academy. We will contact you in seven days to arrange the final agreement and handover.’
‘I want the Leo copy too,’ I said.
Six and Three both stiffened with shock, then shared a concerned look.
Six turned back to me and smiled patronisingly. ‘Emma, dear, why do you want that around you? It’s completely controlled by us. It’s just a demon.’
‘Sentimentality,’ I said.
They shared another look, and this time appeared to be communicating.
‘How about this?’ Six said. ‘The Leo copy will be the one to deliver the identification tomorrow.’
‘I want it to come home with me now,’ I said.
‘Very well,’ Six said. ‘Either the Leo copy or the student. Or wait until tomorrow and you can have both—the student now, and the demon then.’
‘While we have your student I don’t think there’s much you can do about anything,’ Three said.
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. ‘Okay, have the Leo copy deliver the identification tomorrow. Make it something simple, large and obvious, like having all your gangsters wear those goofy women’s golfing hats—the fold-up ones with flowers. Something the other gangsters won’t even think about copying.’
‘Good idea,’ Six said.
‘I like those hats,’ Three said. ‘They keep my skin white and beautiful, and they fold up to a fan that’s very handy when the weather is hot.’
‘I think we’re done here,’ Six said. ‘Chang will take you home, ma’am, and we’ll see you in a week.’
They rose from the couch and I rose as well.
‘The tea never arrived,’ Three said sadly. ‘Sometimes service in these places is so slow.’
‘Chang,’ Six said, and the huge driver nodded. ‘Take Miss Emma and young Billy here home, please.’
The driver surprised me by speaking in lightly accented perfect English as he opened the door to the suite. ‘Please, ma’am, come this way.’
‘Oh,’ Six said. ‘The little gift just outside the door is an example of what we can do. Nobody heard anything, nobody saw anything, and that could very easily have been one of your students.’
I went to the door of the suite and stopped. The room service tea trolley was just outside, and the bellboy who had been pushing it was lying next to it on his stomach, with a huge bleeding hole in his back. He’d been shot from the front at close range and we’d never heard it.
‘Holy shit,’ Billy said softly when he saw it. ‘They killed him.’
‘Just as we might have killed you,’ Chang said. He gestured towards the lifts. ‘This way, please, sir, ma’am.’
‘Release Billy,’ I said.
Chang pulled a knife from his pocket, flipped it open and cut Billy free. Billy lunged for his head with a basic attack and Chang grabbed his hand, wrenched it down with an audible snap, then took Billy??
?s feet out from under him with a quick swipe. Billy fell heavily and yelled in pain.
‘His technique is very good,’ Chang said, looking down at the writhing student. ‘With more training he could be good enough for Shaolin.’
I crouched to check Billy. Chang had broken his wrist. ‘That wasn’t necessary,’ I said, ‘we’re coming with you.’
‘He attacked me, ma’am,’ Chang said. ‘I merely defended myself.’ He reached down, grabbed Billy by the collar and pulled him to his feet. ‘Stop crying, I’m taking you home.’
Billy went quiet, pulled his injured wrist into his chest and held it.
I patted him on the uninjured arm. ‘Are you okay to make it home?’
He took a few deep breaths and nodded.
‘As soon as we’re home, take True Form and fix yourself up,’ I said softly.
He nodded silently.
Chang bowed slightly and gestured with one hand towards the lifts. ‘I suggest we go.’
‘Your English is very good, Chang, where did you learn?’ I asked as he drove us back up to the Peak.
Chang hesitated, obviously deciding whether to answer me, then said, ‘At the monastery, ma’am. They wanted to send me overseas, as part of the show.’
‘Did you go?’
‘Yes. I performed in the show, and acted as interpreter for the media. I saw people who took riches beyond my imagination for granted. People who lived in huge luxurious houses with gardens, who owned their own cars, who always had more than enough food to eat. They considered this normal! Even the poor had houses to live in! I wanted to live like that too. So when Master Six approached me and offered me similar wealth, I took it.’
‘You come from a poor family?’
‘No family at all,’ he said. ‘Nobody. That’s why I was in the monastery. I was taken in when I was a year old. My parents died of AIDS, nearly everybody in the village died. Nobody could care for me; they didn’t even have the strength to sell me. So they just abandoned me, and a wandering monk found me and took me to Shaolin.’
The AIDS problem was well known in China. Blood buyers had travelled from village to village preying on desperately poor peasants. They only wanted the platelets; they returned the plasma to the donors. But the plasma was stored in a single large holding vat, which meant everybody who gave blood received plasma from everybody else. The blood buyers had travelled all over the countryside, spreading AIDS from a single infected donor. And without the correct drugs cocktail, most of the villagers died very quickly. Whole villages had been decimated.
‘Six is a demon, Chang.’
He nodded. ‘I know.’
‘I care for Zhen Wu’s daughter.’
That silenced him for a moment, then he said, ‘Zhen Wu? Xuan Tian Shang Di?’
‘Xuan Tian.’
‘You do not look like a Shen.’
‘I’m not. I’m an ordinary human. Xuan Tian hired me to mind his little girl. I help look after Wudangshan as well now, as he’s out of the picture for a few years.’
‘Wudangshan?’
‘Yes. We have a Shaolin-style school within Wudangshan as well. The head is Liu Guang Rong.’
‘He died six hundred years ago.’
‘No, Chang, he attained Immortality six hundred years ago.’
He let his breath out in a long gasp.
‘I think you’re fighting on the wrong side, my friend,’ I said.
‘I am sworn, ma’am.’
Billy piped up. ‘Vows to a demon are worth nothing.’
‘Vows are vows, son,’ Chang said. ‘It does not matter who you give your word to, because it is your word you are giving.’
‘Chang is correct,’ I said.
‘You have given me much to think about, ma’am,’ Chang said.
‘I am glad, Chang. Pass me your mobile, I’ll give you the Academy’s number.’
He hesitated again, then reached inside his jacket and passed me a garishly gold-plated designer mobile phone in a crocodile-skin case. I entered my secretary’s direct phone number into the phone book and handed it back.
He pulled up at the end of Black Road, in front of the apartment building.
‘Will you do something for me, Chang?’ I said.
He nodded slightly without looking at me.
‘Don’t decide you’ve wasted your life and kill yourself, please. I think there is hope for you. You have my number. If something goes wrong, call me and I will help you.’
He didn’t reply, just nodded again.
‘Come on, Billy, let’s get that wrist fixed,’ I said.
As we opened the car doors, Chang turned. ‘Billy.’
Billy hesitated with the door still open.
‘I am sorry I hurt you,’ Chang said. ‘I hope one day to make it up to you.’
Billy leaned into the car to reply. ‘I hope one day to spar against you and win, my friend. Trust Lady Emma.’
Chang nodded and turned back. We closed the car doors and he drove down the hill.
‘What would happen if we went back and tried to take out Six?’ Billy asked.
‘He’ll serve Six faithfully until either he or Six dies,’ I said. I gestured for him to follow me. ‘I hope we can free him.’
Simone ran out of the lift lobby. ‘Emma! Where have you been? Denis is dead!’ She saw Billy. ‘What happened to you? I can feel your pain from here.’ She looked around. ‘Where’s Leo?’
‘Round up Michael, any of the Winds you can, Generals Ma and Li Number Two, and either of the two Lius,’ I said. ‘I have very bad news.’
‘Wow, this sounds serious,’ Simone said.
‘It is. Let’s go upstairs, so Billy can take True Form and fix himself up.’
We headed back inside and she pressed the button for the lift.
‘What happened to Denis?’ I said.
‘Shot,’ Simone said. ‘They wouldn’t let me see him, he was a mess apparently.’
‘The Tiger must be monumentally pissed,’ I said. ‘Poor Denis.’
‘Actually the Tiger just said, “Damn, I need to find you a better one.”’
‘Where’s my stone?’ I said.
‘Right here,’ the stone said, and I looked down. It was back in its setting. ‘I went to help them.’
‘And left Emma by herself,’ Simone said with scorn.
The stone didn’t reply.
We entered the lift and went up to the top floor. Ah Yat was waiting for us in the living room.
‘You okay, Ah Yat?’ I said.
‘I’m fine, ma’am. I was at the market doing the afternoon shopping when this happened.’
Billy took True Form. ‘If you don’t mind, ma’am, I’d like to let Lok know I’m okay. A few people were worried about me.’
‘That’s fine, you go.’
Simone and I went to the dining room. The Tiger and Michael were already there.
‘Meredith and Liu are still in the Heavens, they can’t make it,’ Simone said. ‘General Ma is the only one that’s free at the moment—he’s on his way. None of the Winds are free; there seems to be some sort of attack happening at the Eastern Palace.’
‘Just pass the information along then,’ I said. ‘They don’t really have to be here; we have at least twelve hours before things start to go stupid.’
I sat at the dining table and told them all that had happened.
‘And they kept the Leo copy,’ Michael said. ‘Just before Dad was going to take it and look at it.’
Ma appeared, saluted me, and sat at the table. He and the Tiger shared a look, obviously transferring information, then he grimaced. ‘Letting demons have the upper hand over you is not a preferable state of affairs, ma’am.’
‘As soon as I find out where these two have their nest, I am gathering every senior Disciple I can and we will put all of our training and practice to good use,’ I said. ‘I will not do deals with demons.’
They all stared at me for a moment, then Simone grimaced. ‘Please don’t do that, Emma
.’
‘What?’
‘You sounded exactly like Ah Wu,’ the Tiger said. ‘You haven’t been playing with your serpent lately, have you?’
‘Meredith said that it might help control the demon nature,’ I said.
‘Does it?’
‘Yes. I can transform and heal any injuries that I’ve sustained.’
Ma leaned back and put his hands on the table. ‘That is good news, ma’am. If you can control your demon nature, we do not need to be concerned about you running out of control. You may even be able to clear it.’
‘The downside is that I don’t remember anything that happens when I’m a snake,’ I said.
‘Yeah, well, I’m not surprised—snakes have extremely small brains,’ the Tiger said.
‘At least their brains aren’t in their gonads,’ Michael said quietly.
The Tiger glared at him, then opened his mouth to let loose.
I cut him off. ‘We have more important things to worry about than you two bickering.’
The Tiger subsided, glowering at Michael. Michael ignored him.
‘Tomorrow morning they will drop the Leo copy off with information on how to identify their gangsters,’ I said. ‘Can you pick it up then?’
‘My pleasure,’ the Tiger said. ‘Shame I didn’t get the stone; we couldn’t find where it went to ground.’
‘Bet you anything you like, the King gives us the location of Six and Three in Shantou,’ Michael said.
‘On Monday, day after tomorrow, the King will return Rhonda and give us the information,’ I said. ‘We’ll see if you’re right, Michael. Until then, I’m going to lock down the Academy and keep the students safe.’
‘I’ll give you another driver—that one sucked,’ the Tiger said.
‘He was your son, Uncle Bai,’ Simone said.
The Tiger waved one hand dismissively. ‘Bah. Got plenty of them. One less, one more, who cares.’
Michael rose and saluted me. ‘If you please, ma’am, this worthless son of the Devil Tiger of the West was originally chosen by the Dark Lord as a replacement for the Black Lion, to be your bodyguard. He would be honoured if you would let him take up this duty. Of course, it makes no matter whether this worthless son dies, because one more or less makes no difference at all to the Devil Tiger, his father.’