“Gets distracting, doesn’t it?”
Cape nodded, temporarily mute.
“So you’re Cape, then?”
Cape nodded, pulling his gaze toward the one working eye.
“And you must be the white rabbit.”
The man behind the desk laughed. “I knew I’d like you,” he said amiably. “One-eyed Dong, at your service.”
“Guess I don’t have to ask how you got your name,” said Cape.
“Fondue accident,” replied Dong. “Least that’s what I told me mum. But your name-can’t say I’ve ever met anyone named Cape before.”
“It’s short for capricious.”
Dong laughed again.
“So you obviously know all about me,” said Cape, pulling out one of the desk chairs. “How ’bout I ask some questions?”
Dong bowed his head. “By all means.”
“Where are you from?” asked Cape. “Your English…?”
“It’s the Queen’s English, not mine.”
“That’s what I was wondering.”
“Wonderful schools in Hong Kong,” said Dong. “Used to be a British colony, you know.”
Cape nodded, thinking of the red triangle. “The Heaven and Earth Society?”
Dong smiled, his right eye glittering. “The Black Society, Heaven and Earth, White Lotus. There are so many names.”
“But all Triads.”
“Just so.” Dong nodded.
“Where do you fit in?”
“I don’t,” replied Dong, his tone suddenly flat. “Not anymore.”
Cape waited.
“I was heung chu,” said Dong, pride in his voice. “Incense Master for one of the most powerful Triads in Hong Kong. And I was going to be elevated to fu shan chu-deputy to the Dragon Head.”
“What happened?”
“I was betrayed,” replied Dong. “Along with the entire clan. The Dragon Head I served was murdered, his position usurped.” Dong took a deep breath as if trying to control his temper. “I could either flee or be murdered in my sleep-I chose to live underground.”
“Literally,” said Cape, looking around.
“Indeed.” Dong followed Cape’s gaze, his good eye drifting out of focus as he contemplated his surroundings. “After the 1906 earthquake, they built tunnels connecting many of the basements in Chinatown so residents could escape even if their buildings collapsed.” He turned his gaze back to Cape. “I’ve only been in San Francisco a short while but studied the city before I came. One of the disadvantages of my current existence is the need to keep moving.”
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” said Cape. “But why did you invite me here?”
“And here I was beginning to think you were so bright.” Dong shook his head sadly. “My dear boy, I just wanted to see if I could trust you,” he said. “But I didn’t invite you anywhere.”
Cape shifted in his chair and fingered the card in his pocket. “Then who did?”
Before Dong could answer Cape saw movement in the back of the chamber. As he stood, he saw the boy with the orange hair come out of the side tunnel, the one who had given Cape the card. A sullen expression was on his face, eyes narrowed, crooked teeth making his mouth seem too small for his face, his narrow shoulders lost inside a loose jacket covered with pockets and zippers. Cape squinted in the dim light as he approached.
The boy stood behind Dong and smiled, incisors and cuspids jutting out at crazy angles. Then he stepped to the side, took a deep breath, and spit his teeth onto the floor at Cape’s feet. Before Cape could react, the boy reached up and tore off his nose, flinging it across the room.
The wig came off last, dark hair falling around the shoulders, obscuring the face as it shook back and forth. When the head came up, green eyes met Cape’s stare, framing a perfect nose dotted with freckles.
Sally smiled broadly as his jaw hit the floor.
“Miss me?”
Chapter Forty-three
Hong Kong, 10 years ago
Xan returned to his quarters and sat heavily in his chair, not bothering to turn on the lights. He’d had harder days, perhaps, but none longer. He wanted to drink but lacked the energy to make one, inertia winning out, at least for the moment.
You are getting old.
The thought occurred to him just as he felt the edge of the knife against his Adam’s apple.
“Welcome back, little dragon,” he sighed, sounding more resigned than afraid.
Sally removed the knife and stepped from the shadows to stand a few feet in front of the chair, just beyond striking distance. She nodded once in greeting.
“I thought you left,” said Xan.
“I came back.”
“To kill me?”
Sally shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Xan almost smiled. “You think you could?”
Sally did smile. “Without a doubt, Master Xan.”
Xan gestured toward the low couch against the wall behind Sally. “Please.”
Sally took a step backward and sat without looking over her shoulder. “Did you know my parents were murdered?”
Xan studied her. “You went to see Li Mei.” His tone even, not accusing, more curious than anything.
“Was that a yes?”
“No,” replied Xan, “I suspected it-we all did. Was it coincidence a yakuza was driving the truck that killed them?” Xan shrugged. “But does it matter now, little dragon? You killed the man that murdered your parents.”
“No.” Sally shook her head. “Jun did.”
Xan nodded. “I only knew for certain when I saw the pictures you took. Wen had covered his tracks well.”
“But you didn’t tell me.”
“Why?” Xan sat up in his chair, his tone suddenly angry. “So you could run to your death?” Xan looked away, the dim light casting shadows across his ruined face. “Did you never wonder how I got this?” he asked, tracing the jagged scar with his index finger.
Sally said nothing.
“I had a wife,” said Xan, looking again toward Sally. “And a daughter. They were murdered in front of me.” Xan smiled bitterly. “So I went in search of revenge-by myself.”
Xan leaned forward, moonlight igniting the scar as he spoke.
“I wasn’t trained then, and there were five of them,” he continued. “But I managed to kill three with my bare hands before I was hit from behind and knocked unconscious. When I came to, I realized they had tied me to a large piece of driftwood. There are sharks in the harbor, you know, especially in the winter months. One of the men leaned over me, wanting to make sure I was conscious-I can still see his smile-that’s when I saw the knife.”
Xan touched his face again, remembering. “I was in the water for three days before a junk pulled me onboard in a fishing net.”
Sally leaned forward. “But you survived.”
Xan nodded. “And came here,” he said. “To study.”
“And serve.”
Xan didn’t answer.
“And the two men?”
“One was killed in a gunfight in a bar a few years later,” replied Xan.
“And the other?”
“It took me five years,” said Xan. “But I found him.” He paused, and for a moment Sally thought he was finished, but then he added, “I cut off his arms and legs and threw him in the harbor. After what I’d lived through, I didn’t trust the sharks.”