Kiss and Die

Chapter 59

Mahmud looked every inch a frightened little boy – he also looked like he’d been passed over a cheese grater, his face and arms cut from when he was thrown headfirst into the police van the night before. Mann sat across from Mahmud in the interview room and stared at him. Shrimp leant on the wall and watched. Mia was watching from the monitoring room.

‘Mahmud Khan, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of a police officer.’ Mahmud stared at his lap. He was shaking. ‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’

Mahmud shook his head.

‘Let me tell you then. You were caught by one of my officers in the act of escaping. You were found in possession of the assault weapon used to attack police officer Tammy Wang. Is that correct?’

Mahmud nodded.

‘Is this yours?’ Mann picked up the knife; a two-bladed traditional martial arts knife now wrapped in polythene. He turned it over in his hands.

Mahmud nodded again.

Mann turned to Ng. ‘What do you think of this, Sergeant Ng?’ Mann and Ng were doing the ‘hard cop, soft cop’ routine. Mann rested his hands on the table and leaned over Mahmud. ‘Sergeant Ng is an expert in weapons and in martial arts,’ Mann lied. ‘He says this is a hard weapon to use, difficult. Don’t you, Sergeant?’

‘It takes some skill: double-bladed, serrated edges; it needs a strong arm to wield it. It needs a vicious mind. He doesn’t look the kind to me. He looks like a peaceful type.’

Mahmud didn’t speak. He stared at the table. Mann slammed the knife down in front of Mahmud. He jumped. It rocked on the table. Mann leaned across and punched his fist, his fingers extended, into Mahmud’s lower abdomen and held it there and pressed into him. Mahmud doubled as the wind was knocked out of him. He tried to stand but Mann held him down.

‘Two entry points right here. Her stomach was punctured and her liver is perforated.’ Mann pushed Mahmud’s shoulders back into the chair and lifted his head by his hair. He held him there and looked into his eyes. ‘If she survives, she’ll be on a machine; she’ll need a liver transplant. That’s no life for a twenty-year-old, is it?’

Mahmud didn’t answer. Mann let him go. ‘But neither is belonging to a Triad organization. They use people like you. Use them to do their dirty work and then they throw them away and get another one – as easy as that.’

Mahmud sat staring at the knife in front of him as if it terrified him. Mann sat back down opposite him again.

‘Why didn’t you run with the rest of them?’ Mahmud didn’t answer. ‘You don’t have to worry, you know.’ Mahmud looked up. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t understand what Mann was getting at. ‘About your gang, the Outcasts. You don’t have to worry about the other members of your gang or the Wo Shing Shing. You don’t have to worry about them or the Sun Yee On either. Shall I tell you why?’ Mahmud’s eyes flicked up towards Mann’s. ‘Because you are never going to see any of them again. You’re not going to see your family either. That wasn’t just a Triad you knifed. That was one of my officers.’

Mann got up and paced about the room, then came to stand behind Mahmud, just out of his range of vision. ‘Your dad is really proud of you. He says you can read and write Mandarin. He says you will be a doctor someday. What do think of that, Sergeant?’ Mann addressed Ng.

‘I think he’s going to break his old man’s heart,’ Ng answered.

‘Yes, that’s true. You know why?’ Mahmud didn’t answer but his eyes darted around the room. ‘Because the only medical career you’ll be pursuing is stitching up your own arse when it gets split from having too many hard cocks up it. But don’t worry, you’ll get used to taking it – you’re going to be in there for the rest of your life.’

Mahmud shifted uneasily in his chair.

‘So what made you take the oath? Why become a Triad? Or is your brother Hafiz the one I should be talking to? He was with you that night, wasn’t he?’

Mahmud shook his head but he looked down at the table.

‘What about your girlfriend, Lilly Mendoza? Did she tell you to target the girl? Are you protecting Lilly?’

Mahmud looked up at Mann, hopelessness in his eyes. ‘I don’t know anything. Lilly’s a friend, that’s all. She’s not my girlfriend. Hafiz wasn’t there. I don’t know how I came to have the knife in my hand. Someone handed it to me, that’s all.’ Mahmud looked close to tears. ‘I hope she’s okay, the young woman, the officer. I’m sorry.’

Mann turned as Mia stood in the doorway. Her face said it all. Tammy was dead.