Alfie got outside and called his friend in surveillance—he would need a concealed camera. He smiled to himself. Now Alfie was about to uncover a lot more about Katrien than she would willingly show him. He might not fancy her but the Bitch performing sex acts on the webcam, that was too good to miss; and now he knew she had deep dark dirty secrets she really didn’t want anyone finding out.

That night katcream69 signed in again.Yes…Show me.‘What do I get, Big Man?’You know what you get. You get my undivided attention. You get my devotion.Katrien laughed. ‘What else? Say it. It makes me excited to hear it.’You will be richer than you’ve ever imagined.‘I have a rich imagination.’ She giggled. ‘But you’re right. I can’t wait to be able to cut out the middle men and grow my own opium, and then we’ll all be rich. But, for now, we’re still reliant on those greedy drug baron friends of yours. Is the next shipment ready to come over?’They want to wait. They’re getting nervous.‘No waiting, this is the time to act. We need all the funds we can get hold of if we are. Are they ready for him in the hills?’Everything is in place, as long as he doesn’t fuck it up.‘He won’t. This means everything to him.’

The only thing that means anything to him is revenge.‘And I have seen to that. We will all have what we want from this. Each one of us will come out a winner.’Show me.She slipped the bra straps off her shoulders and rolled her hard nipples between her fingers.

17

Hong Kong

Mann came off the night flight from Amsterdam, took the first high speed train of the morning into Hong Kong, followed by the MTR link to Central, and then went on to his flat in Tai Koo Shing. He was glad to be back. He was always glad to return; Hong Kong was always in Mann’s heart, she always drew him back home. But he didn’t like getting back to his empty flat. It held nothing but memories for him.

He punched in his door code, said hello to the doorman and took the lift up to his floor. Stepping out onto his landing should have felt good but it didn’t. Every time he came back he realised he should sell the place, but the same memories that made it hard to live there made it impossible to leave.

He opened the door and the smell of floor cleaner and window polish greeted him. His cleaner had to work overtime to find something to clean. He looked around: same plasma TV, same two chairs and same rattan elephant table with a glass top. Same everything, except him.

He took his bag into the bedroom and unpacked it on the bed. He tried to ignore the look of the crisp white cotton and the thought of the last woman to have slept in this bed. Two years after Helen had left in the taxi, Georgina showed up. He remembered the first time he’d seen her in Club Mercedes. His eyes had started at the feet and worked their way up. And his heart had stopped more than once. She had made him feel alive again, but that was when Helen’s body had turned up and all hell broke loose. He took his eyes away from the sheets and the memory of Georgina wrapped in them and knew he had to acclimatise and to think things over. His head was in turmoil. The gym helped him think. His body was designed to be used. If he didn’t, it got tetchy. He saw his body as his tool, his weapon and his protection—it was vital to keep it strong and supple. He stood six foot and two inches and weighed fourteen stone. Mann worked out most days. His body was firm and lithe, naturally muscled without being bulky. He had studied weight training schedules and alternated high reps and light weights days with maximum power days and he ran ten kilometres every other day. He liked being powerful but he didn’t like it showing. He liked to be light on his feet—he needed to be. He went to the gym on the top floor and spent an hour running through everything in his head. Magda had opened up new roads to emotions he had either buried or didn’t even recognise. The feelings he had towards Jake had unlocked his memories of his father. Jake was the same age Mann had been when Deming was murdered. At the time when Mann was pinned down and made to watch his father’s execution, Magda must have been nursing a newborn, Jake. That summer had changed Mann forever. And this one would change Jake. If he survived this he would never be the same. He would be strong, resilient but also vulnerable. He would always have an Achilles’ heel, just like Mann. Mann hadn’t got the answers to his questions about his father’s death and that was one of the reasons he had accepted Magda’s invitation. He wouldn’t rest until he knew everything he could about his father. Maybe Magda held one big piece of the puzzle over his execution. There were few coincidences in life: Deming died at the same time as he had a secret family on the other side of the world. If there was a connection, Mann would find it.

18

Saw ran past, distracted, and stopped to talk to Toad. He was agitated and preoccupied.

‘Shit! Lucas, get up, quick.’ Thomas and Jake looked at one another and both knew that the moment had gone. Toad had looked up just as Lucas fell at his feet and called ahead to Weasel.

‘Watch it, Lucas, Weasel is coming,’ Jake said as Weasel’s tall, lanky frame trotted back, his pin head swivelling round to watch them and his small shifty eyes always looking for someone to inflict pain on.

Lucas didn’t answer. His hands were tied and he struggled to lift himself from the ground.

Weasel was over him in a flash. He grinned and tilted his head from side to side as he looked at Lucas struggling. He picked up a stick and jabbed Lucas with the point of it. Lucas flinched and groaned as the stick found its mark. Weasel giggled manically. He jabbed at Lucas like a cat toying with a mouse. Jake stepped forward between them and knelt down to help Lucas. He managed to get his hand under Lucas’s shoulder and started to help him to his feet but Weasel put his foot against Jake’s back and pushed him down on top of Lucas. He held his foot against Jake’s back as he kept him squashed on top of him. Lucas groaned in pain. Toad appeared beside them. At first the tone of his voice was jokey, then it became serious and Weasel reluctantly released his foot. Jake got another hold of Lucas and helped him up.

‘You okay?’ He examined Lucas’s face. It looked grey. The blood had left his face and he had messed himself. There was a foul sulphuric smell. ‘Lucas?’ Lucas stood but his legs were buckling. He looked in a lot of pain as he clutched his stomach and turned away to vomit. It was bright with blood.

Weasel picked up another stick and started poking Lucas in his back as he was bent double. When he finished there was blood smeared across his hand as he wiped his mouth. Jake grabbed the end of the stick and wrenched it out of Weasel’s hand. Weasel’s face contorted in anger as he took one long stride to reach Jake and he began to shout, his words a torrent of rage. He spat into Jake’s face as he took hold of his throat and squeezed it, and began whimpering softly like an excited puppy. The expression on his face turned to desire as, with his left hand, he reached down and cradled Jake’s testicles before he began to twist and squeeze and pant like a rabid dog.

Toad finished talking to Saw, then he pushed Weasel away from Jake and stepped between them as he looked down at Lucas. He stared at him and then he said something that made Weasel laugh as he pointed to Lucas. He shouted something to one of the men and the bags were pulled off the mule’s back and it was led forward, its back shining with sweat.