White Tiger

CHAPTER TWO

It took me more than an hour on crowded MTR and KCR trains to make it home to Sha Tin. I stopped at the shopping mall under our apartment block to grab some takeout, and when I was home I sat at our tiny four-seater table and pulled the foam box out of the plastic bag. ‘Louise, come and sit down,’ I called. ‘I have news.’ Louise poked her head around the doorway from our minuscule kitchen. ‘Wait till the water boils.’

‘Okay.’ I used the plastic cutlery provided by the fast-food place to attack the baked pork chop on its bed of rice.

Louise came out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee and sat across from me. Her blue eyes sparkled under her short, spiky blonde hair. She was about the same height as me, and Australian like me, but the resemblance ended there. She was thin, blonde, bony and covered in freckles; I was soft and round and not nearly as good-looking. People noticed her and ignored me, and that suited me just fine.

She gestured towards the takeaway box. ‘Where’s mine?’

‘You starve,’ I said. ‘Where’s my tea?’

‘You die of thirst,’ she said. ‘What’s up?’

‘I’m moving in with Mr Chen,’ I said. ‘I’ll be full-time—’

I didn’t have a chance to finish because she flew to her feet and yelled with delight. ‘Way to go, Emma!’ I stared at her.

‘That hunky guy on the Peak? The Chinese widower? The really rich one? What a catch!’

I sighed with exasperation. ‘Full-time, live-in nanny.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said suggestively. ‘I know what you mean.’

‘That’s all it is, Louise. Nanny. That’s all.’

She sat down again. ‘Geez, Emma, can’t you do better than that? You have a freaking degree, girl. Go out and work for a bank or something.’

‘What, like you?’

‘Yeah, like me. I meet heaps of guys in the bank. Lots of traders from Europe. Really cute. What about Miss Kwok?’

‘I already resigned from the kindergarten.’

‘You could do a lot better than being a nanny, Emma. I’m on nearly twenty thousand a month.’

‘I’ll be on five thousand US a month. That’s nearly forty thousand Hong Kong.’

Her mouth dropped open.

‘I’ll be moving out tomorrow,’ I went on.

She shook her head. ‘Okay. Tell me all about it. Will it be just you and him? There is some hope for you, isn’t there?’

‘Me, the bodyguard, Monica the domestic helper, and of course Simone, his daughter.’

‘Bodyguard? Is he cute?’

‘God, Louise, is that all you think about? Leo’s a big black American, lovely guy. But I don’t think he’s into chicks.’

Her eyebrows creased. ‘Wait a minute. Leo, you said? Big American guy? Black?’

‘You know him?’

‘Not personally, but I’ve seen him at the Last Hurrah. Really popular. Knows everybody.’

‘What the hell were you doing at the Hurrah?’ I demanded. ‘You won’t find a date there, none of them are into chicks.’

She shrugged. ‘Sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet drink in a place you won’t be hit on. Scenery’s always good, too.’

‘That sounds like fun. Let me know next time you’re going.’

‘We’ll still go out on the town together, right?’ She was sounding concerned. ‘I mean, we’re going for that Thai meal with April tomorrow night. We can still go out, can’t we?’

‘I don’t think Mr Chen will stop me,’ I said. ‘If he tries to he’ll get a piece of my mind.’

‘I believe it.’ She leaned back. ‘You’ll need to keep paying your half of the rent until I find a new flatmate. But on your salary that won’t be a problem.’

‘I’ll make sure you don’t lose out,’ I said. ‘He said he’ll look after you anyway.’

‘He’d better,’ she growled. Then her face lit up. ‘Way to go, Emma. What a catch.’

‘Nothing there.’

‘Yeah, right. You haven’t stopped talking about this gorgeous man with the long hair since you started working for him.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah, I know, but he’s the employer. Not going to happen. I’m more professional than that.’

‘Geez, you’re cold-blooded.’

‘I wish you people would stop saying that.’

The next morning I sat in the front of the car alongside Leo, who drove me and my stuff up to the Peak in Mr Chen’s monstrous black Mercedes.

‘How long have you worked for Mr Chen?’ I said, making conversation.

‘About six years,’ Leo said, ‘but I worked for Mrs Chen before that.’

‘You always been a bodyguard?’

He glanced at me, then turned back to the road. ‘Done some other things.’

‘Like what?’

He sighed. Then he obviously decided to tell me. ‘In the Navy for a while. Bouncer for a while, but that was really tough, I didn’t like it. Sorta fell into the bodyguard business by accident.’

‘That was nice, what Mr Chen did for Louise. He didn’t need to pay her out for the rest of the year like that.’

‘It was the least we could do, hiring you and having you move out so quickly.’

‘We? You and Mr Chen?’

He glanced away from the road to me. Then grinned as he looked back at the road. ‘Absolutely not.’

I stared incredulously at him and his grin widened.

‘Absolutely not,’ he emphasised, without looking away from the road. ‘Not Mr Chen.’ He glanced at me again, then turned back to the road. ‘Not Mr Chen.’

‘Okay, okay.’ All right, not Mr Chen.

He was still grinning as he shook his head. He deliberately changed the subject. ‘How long have you been an English teacher?’

‘About four years. I just sorta fell into it when I arrived in Hong Kong,’ I said, intentionally echoing him. ‘Very lucrative, easy work, hours aren’t very long.’

He nodded. ‘Seems to be the way with most people here. Just find themselves doing something after they arrive. Where you from originally?’

‘Australia.’

‘Oh. I hear it’s nice there.’

‘Nice does not begin to describe it,’ I said with feeling. ‘You have no idea. You’ve obviously never been there.’

‘Nope.’

‘What does Mr Chen do for a living?’

Leo watched the road silently.

‘Leo, what does Mr Chen do for a living?’

He grinned at the road. ‘You’ll have to ask him that. I’m just the driver.’

‘Yeah, and I’m the Queen of Sheba.’

The minute I had Mr Chen pinned down I would ask him. I spent a few quiet moments enjoying the delightful concept of having Mr John Chen pinned down. And then I pulled myself together. Keep it professional, Emma.

Leo froze and his eyes glazed over. He continued to drive, but appeared not to be paying any attention to the road.

‘Are you okay, Leo?’

He raised one hand to stop me, still with his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back and quickly poked the hands-free earpiece for his mobile phone into his ear.

The phone rang and he pressed the button and spoke without hesitation. ‘We’ll be coming into the tunnel very soon, we’re in Kowloon City. I think it’ll be about another thirty, forty minutes, then you can have it, sir. Is that all right? Should I hurry?’

He nodded, listening, then said ‘Sir,’ and hung up.

‘Mr Chen wants the car?’ I said.

Leo glanced at me. ‘Yes. But he’ll wait, no great rush.’

‘So he only has one car?’

‘Yeah, we only need one. There’s only four of us: him, me, Simone and Monica. Most of his staff make their own way. I drive Simone out for her lessons and I take Monica to the market.’ He glanced away from the road and became more serious. ‘After you’ve moved your stuff up there, we’ll go through Simone’s routine. She has lessons outside, and quite a few at home as well, and you’ll be in charge of making sure she gets to them on time.’

‘You’ll need to show me where everything is, as well,’ I said. ‘And make sure you give me a set of keys.’

Leo nodded. ‘Sure. Forgot about that. Tell me if I miss anything, okay?’

‘Okay, Leo.’

Mr Chen’s apartment building was very high on the Peak, much higher than the Peak Tower. When Leo reached the gates at the end of the overgrown drive they swung open and the security guards waved him in.

The building was eleven floors, with two enormous flats to a floor. It wasn’t new, and pollution had turned the light brown tiles dingy grey with patches of mould from the damp. Hong Kong’s clouds come down very low sometimes, swathing the Peak in moisture that makes everything dripping wet both summer and winter.

The view from the building was spectacular. One side overlooked Hong Kong Harbour, which was packed with highrises on both the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon sides. The other side of the building faced south, with a view over the crammed boats in Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter to the ocean stretching beyond.

An open car park surrounded the entrance lobby on the ground floor. Parked cars covered most of the land around the building. Every second one was a huge Mercedes; there were a couple of monstrous Rolls-Royce and a few exotic, extremely expensive European sports cars.

Leo parked the car, and helped me carry my boxes up in the lift to Mr Chen’s apartment.

‘How many square feet is this apartment, anyway?’ I said when we reached the front door. ‘Big enough.’

The front door was a standard wooden one, but as usual in Hong Kong it had a large steel gate in front of it. Leo entered the code for the security gate into the pad next to the wall and opened it outwards. He unlocked the deadbolt on the wooden door and held it open for me.

We kicked off our shoes at the entrance, then Leo led me down the main hall and turned right. He passed the first door and opened the second on the left. ‘This is your room.’

I went in and stopped dead. It wasn’t a room, it was a suite. The huge rectangular space had been divided in two: the first part was a living room with a comfortable leather couch, a small television and a desk with a computer. Further in, the bedroom had a trim modern double bed and a door on each side.

Leo lowered the box he was carrying. He opened one of the doors. ‘This connects with Simone’s room.’ He closed the door and went to the other one. ‘Your bathroom.’

‘I get my own bathroom?’

‘Yep. Anything you need, tell me.’

I looked around. ‘This is terrific. I wasn’t expecting anything as good as this.’ The large picture window overlooked Hong Kong Harbour and the highrises of Kowloon beyond. ‘What a view.’

‘Let me show you around,’ Leo said, ‘and then we’ll get the rest of the boxes.’

‘Thanks.’

He took me out to the hallway, which ran the full width of the apartment, and pointed to the doors on the same side as my room. ‘Mr Chen’s bedroom. Mine. Simone’s. You.’

I nodded.

‘All of ours are the same size; Mr Chen’s is slightly larger,’ he said. He opened the door opposite. ‘This is the music room.’ The room had a piano, a table holding a Chinese musical instrument called a guzheng, which was something like a zither, and a black electric guitar in one corner. ‘Next to the music room, the TV room. The surround sound is really good. You can use it if nobody else is.’

He stopped at the door next to my bedroom and hesitated.

‘What’s in there?’ I said.

‘You might as well know, you’ll be living here. Here goes.’ He opened the door.

At first I thought it was a dance studio. Soft white mats completely covered the floor. One wall was mirrors from the floor to the ceiling.

And then I saw the other wall. A fearsome array of martial arts weapons sat on racks on the floor and hung off hooks on the wall. Swords, staves, chucks, knives, axes, everything.

‘Holy shit,’ I said softly.

Leo crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘Use language like that in front of Mr Chen and you’ll be out the door before you know it.’

I wandered closer to the weapons. I bent to lift a sword from the rack but Leo put his hand on my wrist to stop me. ‘Don’t touch anything. All of these are extremely sharp and you could easily get hurt. Don’t come in here if the door is closed, or you could be seriously injured,’ he said. ‘Stay out. Okay?’

I nodded. ‘Whatever you say.’

He took my elbow and gently led me out, closing the door behind us. He gestured towards the end of the hall. ‘Mr Chen sometimes has…’ He hesitated, searching for the right word. ‘…people come here to learn from him. They stay in two rooms at the end of the hall there. Don’t try to talk to them, they are here to…ah, learn and not socialise. So don’t talk to them, okay?’

I shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

He glowered down at me. ‘I mean it.’

‘I won’t talk to them.’

‘Good.’

He led me back up the hall to the main corridor. ‘Linen closet and powder room on the corner.’ He gestured to the doors on the left, across the hall from the large living room with its twin cream couches and picture windows overlooking the spectacular South side of Hong Kong Island. ‘Mr Chen’s…’ He hesitated again. ‘Study.’

‘Disaster area,’ I said, looking through the open door. He made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I’ve seen some messy offices, Leo, but his absolutely has to win first prize.’

‘I’ll tell him you said that. Dining room next, then the kitchen.’ He took me into the kitchen, past Monica who was cutting up some vegetables on the counter. He led me to the back. ‘Monica’s room’s in the back here. Next to it, the storeroom.’

I went into the storeroom and looked around. Most of the stuff seemed to be poles covered in cloth. An enormous glass jar, easily up to my waist, sat in the corner. It appeared to be full of large black beads, like olives, and had a complicated metal seal. I bent to study it, curious.

‘Don’t touch that!’ Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me away. ‘Don’t ever go near that. If you open it, it could kill you.’ He released my arm. ‘Don’t ever go anywhere near that.’

‘What the hell’s it doing here if it’s toxic?’ I said. ‘Simone could get into it.’

‘She knows better, and now so do you,’ he said. ‘Stay away.’

‘What is it? It looks like preserved fruit.’

‘I think you’ve seen enough.’ He closed the door behind us after we went out of the storeroom. ‘We’ll bring up the rest of your boxes, and then, if you don’t mind, we’ll go through Simone’s schedule. She’s a very busy little girl.’

‘Sure.’

After dropping the boxes in my room, Leo led me into the dining room. It had a round rosewood twelve-seater table and a rosewood side table. A couple of fluid ink paintings adorned the walls.

He went out and came back with a large folder bulging with coloured paper. He thumped it onto the table between us. ‘Thank God you’re handling this now—this schedule is enough to drive anybody crazy.’

He opened the folder and handed me the papers one at a time. ‘Chinese lessons. Violin. Piano.’ He put one paper aside. ‘Not singing any more. You’re here full-time, so no English either.’ He raised a pink piece of paper and studied it, expressionless. ‘Ballet. Damn.’

‘What?’

He put the paper on the table, then ran his hand over his bald head, finally dropping his hand onto the table with a slap. ‘Please don’t be too freaked out by this, Emma.’

‘Freaked out?’

‘Ballet is in Central. You’ve worked out that I’m a bodyguard. Okay. I’ll take you down in the car and wait. You are not to take her anywhere without either me or Mr Chen along. It’s because of who her dad is.’

‘Who is he?’

Leo smiled slightly. ‘Don’t take her on public transport. She must be driven by me or Mr Chen, and one of us must be with her at all times to guard her. I know it sounds strange, but her safety is paramount.’

‘Who’s after her?’

Leo pushed the papers over to me. ‘And that’s all. Oh,’ he said, suddenly remembering, ‘she goes out to Lo Wu on Saturday mornings to ride a pony. Any questions?’

I studied the huge stack of papers on the table. ‘I thought he was paying me well. Now I think he’s not paying me enough.’

‘Don’t worry, as long as one of us is with you, you’ll be perfectly safe.’

‘Tell me, Leo.’

‘Right now, just settle in, get the feel for the job. I’ll tell you more later.’

‘Promise?’

He smiled. ‘Promise. Mr Chen teaches her Wu shu as well—he’ll tell you when they have a session. Drop her off in the training room, come back half an hour later…easy.’

‘What’s Wu shu?’

‘Martial arts. Kung fu. Ask her to show you; she’s really cute.’

‘It’s normal for children to learn off their parents, isn’t it?’

‘If there’s a family tradition, then it’s absolutely expected. He teaches me too.’

‘Mr Chen learnt from his father?’

‘What an interesting idea,’ he said. ‘But I don’t think so.’

‘Leo?’ I tapped on his bedroom door. ‘Come on in, Emma.’

Leo sat at his desk reading a website on his computer. I raised the pile of books. ‘Someone left these on the desk in my room.’

‘Oh.’ He spun in his chair to face me. ‘The last nanny must have left them there. You can have them if you want.’

‘This one looks valuable,’ I said, indicating the large illustrated compendium of Chinese gods. He shrugged. ‘Keep ‘em.’

I shrugged as well. ‘Okay. I’m interested in Chinese mythology, anyway. I go with my friend April when she has festival stuff to do, it’s really interesting.’

That caught his attention. ‘You’re interested in the Chinese gods?’

‘Yeah.’ I raised the books again. ‘This is a good collection. I borrowed some of these from the library before.’

He turned back to his computer. ‘Definitely keep them then. They’ll be useful.’

‘How come all the furniture’s new? Even though there was someone there before?’

‘Just is,’ Leo said.

I shrugged again. ‘Whatever.’

When I returned to my room I put the books on the desk and did an internet search on John Chen. It was a very common name and produced more than a million hits. When I narrowed it with his address, ‘One Black Road, Peak’, I found a news story in the English newspaper, a translation of an article in one of the Chinese tabloids. Apparently Mr Chen’s building was widely considered to be haunted because many people had seen dragons flying around the top floor. The reporter had asked the opinion of a number of local experts in the supernatural. Three said it was because the building was cursed; two said it was because the building had exceptionally good luck; and one said it was the spirit of a dragon that had died when the building was constructed.

I shrugged, and opened the large compendium of Chinese gods. It was a good one; the introduction explained how Chinese mythology was a mishmash of Confucian precepts, Taoist alchemy and Buddhist philosophy. All three religions existed side by side in Chinese society (although Confucianism was widely regarded as a set of social rules rather than a true religion). Confucianism had sets of gods that were rather like saints: deified humans. Buddhism taught reincarnation and karma, and the eternal search for freedom of the soul and attainment of Nirvana; but there were also Buddhist gods who returned to Earth to help people attain Nirvana themselves.

I found Taoism the most interesting. Taoism’s basic principle was similar to Buddhism, in the search for the Tao, or the Way, and attainment of Immortality, something similar to Nirvana. But Taoism also taught a variety of ways to gain Immortality, including physical and elemental alchemy and magic.

I put the book down and returned to unpacking the last of my stuff from the boxes. I didn’t really have much to show for my four years in Hong Kong; I’d never had space to store very much in any of the places I’d lived. But it looked as though my life had taken a turn for the better: a tremendously attractive employer and his daughter, who was a delight to be with.