On Woo’s discard of a 2 of Characters, Thackeray said “Kong” again and took it. The man certainly had extraordinary luck.
After each player had drawn and discarded two more times, Bond was no better off than he had been before. He discarded an 8 of Circles he had drawn, and Thackeray immediately said, “Out!” and picked up the tile.
All the players displayed their hands. Thackeray had a Full House, a term given to any hand worth four, five, or six points. Thackeray had six. He got three points for having all Kongs or Pongs in his hand (plus the required Pair), two points for the East Winds matching his seat and the Prevailing Wind, and one point for the Flower. He won a total of $6400—Sinclair and Woo each paid $1600; Bond had to pay $3200 because Thackeray won with Bond’s discard. Thackeray would have received a seventh point if he had picked the winning tile from the wall.
After each hand, the players’ Wind assignment and the deal rotated counter-clockwise, unless the East Wind player won the hand or the hand was a “dead hand,” or draw. Once all four players had had a turn at being the East Wind, then a new Round, the South Wind Round, would begin. Thackeray had the privilege of dealing again. During the deal, Thackeray asked, “Mr. Woo, what was it you said you do? I can’t for the life of me remember what business you are in.”
“I run antiques shop on Cat Street,” Woo said, smiling.
“And how do you two know each other?” Thackeray asked, gesturing to both Bond and Woo.
“T.Y. and I knew each other in London before I moved to Jamaica,” Bond said casually.
Bond’s new hand started off promisingly. He had three pairs. It was possible to build a hand of Pongs or Kongs, or he could try for seven Pairs—a special hand worth four points.
It was about five minutes before Sinclair declared “Out” on a selfpicked tile from the wall. He revealed a hand worth three points—one point for the self-pick, one point for a Pong of Red Dragons, and one point for a 3 Flower, which matched his seat. Everyone had to pay him $1600.
This time the seat/Wind assignments rotated. Woo was now East and Bond was West. Woo rolled the dice and started the deal. During this hand, Bond lit one of the cigarettes he kept in a wide gunmetal case. There was a time when Bond smoked sixty to seventy cigarettes a day. Around the time of the Thunderball case, he reduced his intake to twenty or twenty-five. Morlands of Grosvenor Street had been the recipient of Bond’s custom for many years. They had made a special blend of Balkan and Turkish tobacco for Bond and decorated each cigarette with three gold bands. Recently, Bond had switched to another tobacconist and commissioned H. Simmons of Burlington Arcade to create a low-tar cigarette for him. These still retained the distinctive gold bands, along with Simmons’s trademark. With this switch, he had managed to reduce his intake of tobacco even further, down to five or six cigarettes a day. He’d onced joked to Bill Tanner that it was easy to give up—he had done it at least twelve times.
The play of the third hand went very quickly. Once, when Thackeray reached across the table to draw a tile from the wall, Bond thought he saw something strange. Was there the flash of the back of a tile in the man’s hand? He couldn’t be sure. He would watch the table a little more closely and pay less attention to his own hand from now on.
Thackeray won the third hand with a total of three points—one point for a self-picked winning tile, one point for having no Flowers, and one point for having a hand of all Chows and a Pair. Everyone paid him $1600.
Seat/Wind assignments rotated again. Sinclair was East and dealer, and Bond was South. He was dealt what amounted to very close to a winning hand, even though it was a chicken hand containing a mixture of possible Chows and Pongs. Luckily, he drew no Flowers, which was worth one point. He had a chance of winning small. Play progressed five times around the table when Bond drew a tile from the wall that completed his hand. He declared “Out” and displayed his miserable hand. The self-picked tile saved him, as that was worth one point. His two points garnered him a measly $800 from each player.
While the men played, several people came and went through the red curtains. Some of the Chinese spectators were apparently winning a great deal of money. At one point, Bond was struck by a bizarre sight. Two Chinese men with pinkish-white skin and white hair came into the room, stood together against a wall, and watched. They were both wearing sunglasses and looked alike. Not only were they obviously siblings, but they were both albino! That was very unusual in this part of the world, Bond thought. In the past, Asian families would have considered such children to be “unnatural” and would have found a way to get rid of them.
The seat/Wind assignments rotated for the last time of this Round. Bond was now East and the dealer. He got a promising hand containing a complete Pong of the 6 of Circles, and two Pairs. As they played, Bond thought he noticed something unusual again when Thackeray reached across the discarded tiles to draw one from the wall. Thackeray had Ponged with the 4 of Characters early in the hand. Bond decided to throw down Characters to see if Thackeray might be collecting them for a big hand. When it was his turn, Bond discarded a 6 of Characters near his side of the table. Sure enough, he noticed that the tile had mysteriously disappeared a few minutes later!
Thackeray went out for three points. He had a Semi-Pure hand, which meant that it was made up entirely of one suit with the exception of a Pong of Winds or Dragons—in this case a Pong of West Winds. Woo had thrown the winning discard, so he owed Thackeray $1800, and the others paid him $900. Bond saw that Thackeray’s revealed hand contained a Pong of the 6 of Characters.
It was agreed that they should stand, stretch, and refill their drinks in-between the Rounds. Thackeray had polished off a third of the bottle of vodka. Bond and Woo stepped up to the bar and ordered doubles. Bond took a moment to look around the room. The albino brothers were gone.
“I told you he wins a lot,” Woo whispered. “I think I will lose more money than usual, uh huh?”
“T.Y., there are two things I don’t like about that man,” whispered Bond.
“What?”
“He’s a lousy drunk, and I believe the bastard’s cheating.”
SEVEN
JADE DRAGON
THE GAME RESUMED WITH THE SOUTH WIND ROUND. THACKERAY, AS THE East Wind seat, was dealer. Bond was determined to verify his suspicion that the man was a cheat. He recalled what he knew about Thackeray. The man had been a stage magician when he was younger. He might very well be adept at sleight-of-hand and parlour tricks. He was probably palming discarded tiles from the table as he reached over them to draw a tile from the wall. The big question was, why would he cheat? He was very wealthy. He didn’t need the money. Or did he? Could the obliteration of his Board of Directors have left his company in a bad state? Did the impending mainland takeover of Hong Kong have something to do with it? The alcohol, the cheating, and his belligerent manner all added up to something inherently reckless about him.
Bond drew a very good hand. His first discard was a lone East Wind tile. He had two Pongs and the possibility of one more. He was determined to find a way to beat Thackeray at his own game. To come out and accuse him of cheating would be unacceptable. Bond needed to gain Thackeray’s confidence, not alienate him! If Bond caused a scene here in the casino, he might blow his cover and permanently botch the mission. He would have to find a way to cheat, too. As play progressed, he examined every angle. He didn’t have the sleight-of-hand ability that Thackeray had, so that was out of the question. Perhaps at the next break he could enlist Woo’s help.