“That’s not what I saw the other day,” Gong said.
Bingo paused. “At the production office? Tell me what you saw.”
Gong nodded.
“There was a man and a woman working there. The woman had been there before, with the two Americans. This guy was new. American, but older than the others.”
“There are several businesses in that building. It doesn’t mean that they were doing anything with the movie.”
“They weren’t just at the office. They went back to the pawnshop where the other two Americans did their filming. The one you wouldn’t let me go to.”
“Arrow Donaldson said not to attack the pawnshop. It’s important to his business.”
“I don’t care about that. I just want to know if there’s going to be more work now that people are back at the movie office.”
Gong seemed genuinely excited to get back to work harassing the film sets. Bingo wasn’t sure if it was because he hated the American movie people as much as Sonny Ma did, or if he just liked beating people up, and all the better to be paid for it. Either way, Bingo hated to have to tell the imposing man there was no more work on that front.
“That’s just a money guy coming in to close things down,” Bingo said. “The two men you saw earlier have already gone back to the U.S. I am sorry.”
“I can swing a bat at a moneyman, too.”
“There will be more work in the future. Don’t worry. You did a good job, and that will be remembered.”
Gong pushed his way into the house, closed the door behind him, and moved closer toward Bingo.
“I don’t need to be remembered. I need to be paid.”
Bingo nodded and put his hand on Gong’s enormous chest, showing that he wasn’t afraid of the man’s size or threats. He wasn’t afraid, but he also didn’t want to make an enemy of the giant man if he didn’t have to. He thought back to why he’d originally brought in Gong, who was not a part of his regular crew.
“Sonny Ma really hates the American movie people, doesn’t he?” Bingo asked, echoing what he’d told Billy Barnett.
“It’s not just Sonny Ma. A lot of us in the streets hate those monsters and what they’ve done to our city.”
“More than what the casinos have done to the city?”
“They are one and the same to me.”
“You’re part of Sonny Ma’s crew, right? Does he even have a crew anymore?”
“It’s not an organization. But there are those of us on the street still loyal to him.”
“And people know you and Sonny Ma are connected to each other?”
“Yes.”
“Come to think of it, I might need you to take one more ride.”
If an associate of Sonny Ma’s killed Billy Barnett, it would bolster the claim that he was behind the recent crime spree. It would do enough damage to his reputation that Sonny Ma would never be able to show his face in Macau again.
“Do you have any problem killing a man?” Bingo asked.
“I have a harder time not killing them.”
30
Teddy woke up the next morning in Stone Barrington’s suite at the Grand Desert and decided to act more like Stone without the disguise. He brewed a cup of coffee from the above-average machine in the suite to hold him over until the room service tray arrived with even better coffee, scrambled eggs, fruit, assorted breakfast meats, and a truly decadent French toast and Belgian waffle blend. He ate it all, saving the waffle for the end, then took his English language newspaper out on the balcony with another cup of coffee.
The newspaper was mostly bland and geared toward those in Macau on business rather than pleasure. Teddy wasn’t in town for either, so he sipped his coffee and watched the city come to life below him. When he found himself contemplating a life of travel and luxury with little responsibility, he called Dale Gai and told her to meet him at the production office.
Dale was already there when Teddy arrived, and he was surprised to find himself irritated that she always seemed to be one step ahead of him. Teddy never considered himself particularly petty, but these days he rarely found himself in the presence of anyone whose skills approached his.
Teddy had been spending too much time in L.A., where everyone analyzed everything to death. It seemed like that was creeping into his own mind as well.
“You look refreshed, like a tourist,” Dale said when she saw Teddy.
“It’s the hotel coffee and waffles.”
“It looks good on you.”
“It wouldn’t if I ate like this every day. I’d be so large you’d have to roll me around town.”
“I heard you had quite the adventure the other night with our friend Bing-Wen Jo.”
“Were you spying on me?”
“I work in security for one of the biggest casinos in Macau. I’d be angry if I didn’t hear about the American movie producer drunkenly playing baccarat with one of the town’s most notorious criminals.”
“You better never let Arrow Donaldson hear you refer to his casino as one of the biggest in the city.”
“If I’m lucky, Arrow Donaldson won’t hear me refer to anything. Ever. Tell me what you two talked about during your card game.”
“We didn’t talk much. He just zoned out and didn’t give me anything useful.”
“You ordered lemon tea for him,” Dale said.
“Just because it’s a casino doesn’t mean people need to drink alcohol all of the time.”
Teddy didn’t bother asking how or why she knew what he had ordered for Bingo. It was obvious that Teddy had piqued her interest; even when he wasn’t around her, she was paying attention to what he was doing. He’d need to remember that.
“You’re right. It’s probably just a coincidence that lemon tea also happens to be one of the best natural antidotes to tranquilizers.”
“I’ll pretend not to find it odd that you know that as long as you pretend not to be interested in how I know that.”
“I’m more interested in why someone would be using tranquilizers to get information from a dangerous criminal in the first place.”
“Believe it or not, there are people who don’t see violence as the answer to every problem,” Teddy said.
“Regardless of the tools or the reasoning, what were the results?”
“As I said, nothing during the card game. But he came back to my room in the middle of the night.”
“He had himself a change of heart?”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s being directed by someone higher up behind the scenes, and for some reason he decided telling me the truth provided him a strategic advantage. He told me a very interesting story about Sonny Ma.”
Teddy gave her the full report of what Bingo had told him. She nodded approvingly as he spoke.
“That does make sense,” she said.
Teddy unlocked the office and led Dale inside. She took a seat in front of the desk, but before Teddy could join her, he heard motorcycles approaching and looked out the window. By the time he noticed that two motorcycles were headed straight for the window, he was already prepping for an attack. His first instinct was to get Dale out of harm’s way, but she was already out of her seat and headed for the door. Teddy looked around, yet again, for a weapon and noticed Dale wasn’t having the same issue. She pulled an attack baton from a pocket in her jumpsuit and ran toward the motorcycles.
Each motorcycle had two riders. The driver of the one closest to Dale was the largest man Teddy had ever seen. Dale snapped the baton out to its full length, then expertly launched it into the spokes of the motorcycle next to her.
The bike came to an abrupt and violent stop, tossing off the passenger in the back. The big driver showed surprising grace and agility, tucking himself into a landing and rolling back onto his feet in a few compact moves.