Kiss and Die

Chapter 93

‘Tom?’ Mia stood in her office calling Sheng’s mobile. It went straight to answer phone again.

There was a knock at her door. Ng walked in with Shrimp behind.

‘Has Michelle been released?’ asked Mia. Ng nodded. She sighed and sat back down, exasperated. ‘With Mahmud cleared as well, we’re back to square one. I had them as our team. I thought they would turn out to be working it together. I keep coming back to Victoria Chan and

‘Mann’s going to try and take them on alone. He can’t do it at the moment. It takes someone with all his wits about him to take on one member of the family, let alone two. I know CK too.’ Ng was aware of Shrimp staring at him with a new respect. Ng glanced his way.‘Yes, you aren’t the only person to have gone undercover, Shrimp. I was a rookie then. I spent a time in the Triad ranks as a 49 and then a Red Pole. It was the most difficult thing I ever did. You have to be able to separate your mind from what is going on around you. You have to immerse yourself completely and still be aware it’s not really you. It’s a very hard thing to do.’

Shrimp patted Ng on the back. ‘Big respect, old man.’

‘It was a long time ago but that kind of experience stays in the mind and CK hasn’t changed at all. Mann is no match for him at the moment. Mann’s father’s estate is a curse. It is attracting trouble to him like an open wound in a shark-infested ocean.’

‘I know, and the trouble is that conflict of interests is going to be a permanent problem unless Mann can resolve it,’ said Mia.

‘Given time, he will make the right decisions,’ said Ng. ‘He needs the pressure taken off him to do that. They are forcing him out of the job he was born to do and back into a world he was born into. It will break him. He will snap if he is forced to bend against his will.’

‘So, we carry on without him and hope that we can clear his name,’ said Mia, sounding as upbeat as she could but feeling anything but.

Shrimp and Ng agreed. It was the only thing they could do. They walked back to their office. Ng reached over to turn on his PC and hung his jacket over the back of his chair. He turned to look at Shrimp whose face was frozen in a puzzled expression. He was staring across at Mann’s desk: papers, files, messages in his in-tray, memos stacking up on his desk.

‘What do you think he’s doing right now?’

‘He’s probably drinking himself into a stupor.’

‘What’s he going to do, Ng?’

‘I don’t know, Shrimp.’

Shrimp looked lost. Mann had been his mentor and his friend. He couldn’t imagine him leaving the force. Mann lived for it more than any of them.

‘I’ve seen him go through some bleak times. I’ve seen him be self-destructive but I’ve never seen him as bad as this. He’s always had his work but it’s not enough at the moment. I think it’s almost like he feels he doesn’t belong here any more.’

‘What can we do?’

‘We have to leave him alone, wait until he comes out of it one way or another and then we have to clear his name.’

‘I’m on it.’ Shrimp picked up his jacket.

‘Where are you going?’

‘I need to get them to leave Mann alone. I’m going to go and see CK. I’m going to face him and tell him we’ll have him in for questioning about the murder charges. We’ll bring his daughter in for inciting racial hatred, for being an accessory to the murder of a police officer.’ Shrimp stood and picked up his vintage denim Gaultier jacket.

‘No. You’ll blow your cover. Anyway, we mustn’t be hasty. We must think it through. He is not a man to be easily outsmarted.’

Shrimp wasn’t happy about it but he shrugged and left, throwing his jacket over his shoulders.

Ng waited until Shrimp was out of the office and then he dialled CK’s number.

‘I need to see you.’