The Traitor's Gold, page 7
‘We should get to Kai Tak city,’ Quaid said.
‘Agreed, but hold your horses. As I said, we don’t know which casino Aoki’s going to visit tonight.’
‘You’re saying we have to surveil all of them?’ Mason asked.
‘All three,’ Sally said with a nod.
‘Not a problem if we’re going through with this,’ Quaid said brightly. ‘There are six of us.’
‘I don’t like the team being split up,’ Mason said. ‘You know that.’
‘Don’t worry, Babyface.’ Roxy put a hand on his arm. ‘We’ll survive.’
And immediately she knew she’d said the wrong thing. Mason’s face dropped, his lips tightening. His major demons came from a moment in Mosul, during the war. Mason felt a bond and a responsibility for his friends, for the people he considered family, and thus for his army buddies. When two had died during a routine building check – a building that Mason had already cleared – he had taken it in the worst possible way, losing his army career and everything else that was good in his life.
Mason knew that sometimes good people, friends, didn’t survive.
Roxy believed that Mason had overcome most of those demons by now, by being a part of this team and throwing himself into their missions. But he still carried, and always would, the burdens of his darkest memory.
As did she. Roxy cast her mind back over her own problems. They were profound, like Mason’s. But at least she knew exactly what she was trying to do with her life now. Before, it had all been drifting under a haze of rum-soaked indifference. Now, it was a quantifiable goal. Recruited at eighteen by a three-letter agency that officially didn’t exist, Roxy had lost twelve years of her life – her young life – to duty and orders and death around the world and was now trying to find at least a small piece of the woman she might have become. It was deep, she knew, but she was getting there.
Mason recovered quickly. He smiled at her and she nodded back at him, an apology in her eyes. It was sometimes hard finding the right word to say, so she said nothing.
‘We should grab a hotel and get some rest,’ Quaid said. ‘It’s gonna be a long night.’
‘The flight wasn’t exactly relaxing,’ Roxy grumbled.
‘Exactly.’
They found a hotel in Kai Tak city, paid for early rooms and split up. Roxy didn’t need to unpack; her rucksack contained just underwear and a few other bits and pieces. She showered, closed the blinds and got her head down, determined to catch a few winks before their agreed meeting time around mid-afternoon. When she couldn’t sleep right away, she drank water, snacked on a bag of crisps and a small rum from the minibar and then tried again. Soon, her mind was wandering and her eyes closing. Sleep came fitfully. Visions fuelled by terrible memories ran around her head, vying for prominence. She saw old kills, poor decisions, crazy moments. She saw how the agency had corrupted her, taken her youth, her dreams away, tooled her into a machine.
She woke bathed in sweat, glad to be rid of the visions. She never looked forward to sleep. It was always the same.
It could have been any hotel room, anywhere in the world. The walls were beige, the prints old and generic, nothing more than drone shots of Hong Kong. The bed was too hard; the shower smelled, and the bathroom contained those little shampoo and conditioner bottles and several freshly laundered towels. Roxy sat for a while on the edge of the bed. She brewed a coffee, tried not to think too deeply. When the memories resurfaced, they dragged her deep, like a demon rising out of swirling hellfire, grabbing her ankle and pulling her down to nefarious depths. And the memories always resurfaced. They were as much a part of her as her new life, as Joe Mason and the ragtag crew. As her considerable efforts to move forward.
Roxy showered again and then joined the others downstairs for an early dinner. They knew the night would be spent aboard the cruise ships and wanted to be ready for anything. They sat around the table, ordered and ate, and said very little until the coffees were served near the end.
‘We all have phones,’ Sally said. ‘The idea is to stay in contact. When someone sees Aoki, call the others, try to get everyone on the same boat.’
‘Do we know what kind of man he is?’ Hassell asked. ‘How he’ll react to us?’
‘Not really,’ Quaid said. ‘My contacts call him ruthless at the table, a career gambler. Of course, he loses more than he wins, which is why he splashed the ancient coins around in the first place. But that doesn’t stop him returning night after night.’
‘We’ll need to have our wits about us for this guy,’ Roxy said.
‘And don’t forget the SED,’ Luciane said with a shudder. ‘They know exactly what we know, thanks to me.’
Quaid leaned towards her. ‘I’m just glad you’re safe. I agree with you that sending the SED killers to find the casino was a terrible move. It shows the Shadow Kings consider loss of life insignificant.’
‘This is a chat, essentially, not an extraction,’ Mason said. ‘We can’t force him to tell us anything. We’re not working for any government and we’re not even here officially. Unfortunately, we’re relying on goodwill.’
They’d worked it so they had time to spare. Their current clothes weren’t going to cut it. They went out, found a department store and bought suits and dresses. For his part, Mason chose the cheapest he could find and determined to leave the tags on for one night only so that he could return the items tomorrow. Roxy called him a cheap Englishman and bought something black that clung to her curves. Sally spared no expense. Luciane, awkward at spending someone else’s money, eventually bought a relatively inexpensive flowing dress with a high neckline. Quaid and Hassell went very conservative, the former sharing Mason’s view, the latter just wanting to get the entire process over with. In the end, they were back inside their rooms in just over an hour, getting ready.
Add a bit of glamour. Roxy snapped a shiny bracelet over her left wrist and hung a sparkling necklace around her neck. Neither were truly expensive, but to her mind, this stuff was stock. They might use it all again in the future. Her only concession was flat shoes. She wasn’t about to go into action wearing high heels.
She was ready. She rose and checked herself in the mirror. She would pass muster, she thought. After all, the casino they were headed for wasn’t exactly a real floating palace. She met the others in the lobby below.
‘This is different,’ Sally said awkwardly.
‘We’ve done it before,’ Quaid said. ‘Remember Monaco?’
‘Yeah, but we fell into that casino by accident,’ Sally said, smoothing down the front of her dress.
‘By necessity,’ Mason said, clearly remembering how they had run for their lives through the streets of Monte Carlo.
Roxy preferred not to dwell on it. She needed to move forward, to keep raising those barriers and build a new life. She looked at the door.
‘Shall we?’
‘It’s time,’ Sally said.
They exited the hotel, split up into three groups and walked the few blocks to their various casinos. Roxy, tasked with the Silversea, eventually saw a small cruise ship, maybe five decks high, with an atrium and several lounges and restaurants. There was a wide gangplank leading to the ship and a queue of people spread out along the dock. At her side was Quaid. Together, they perused the queue, studying all the faces and trying to find the one they were looking for. They’d been given a description of the man through Luciane’s network of contacts. Luckily, Aoki dressed rather extravagantly and had distinguishing characteristics so shouldn’t be too hard to spot. He usually wore a white suit with a red tie and thick gold bracelets that dangled off his wrists. He wore shiny black shoes and had his long hair tied up in a bun. And there was a scar too, a scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to his nose and travelled quite deep.
Roxy and Quaid concentrated mostly on the scar, not the suit, not even the fact that they knew Aoki always visited these casinos alone. They couldn’t afford to miss him tonight. They did not know how close the SED was.
Roxy walked to the front of the queue with Quaid, linking arms, pretending to study the ship more closely, and then walked slowly back down the length of the queue. She examined everyone. She clutched a small purse, large enough to carry a small gun but unfortunately empty tonight. They had no weapons with them. Hopefully, they wouldn’t regret their absence.
They walked along the queue again, seeing men in dark suits waiting impatiently, thumbing their mobile phones, women staring into space and at their closest counterparts, maybe picking up a few tips for next time. There was muted conversation and some bursts of laughter and more than a few stares from men and women alike.
Roxy held on to Quaid tighter. There was no sign of Aoki.
They reached the end of the queue and took their place in line. The dock area was quiet apart from the cruise ship areas. Roxy knew that Mason and Luciane were just a few berths down, checking out another floating casino, whereas Hassell and Sally had gone a few blocks into town to investigate a static establishment. The one hope was that someone would spot Aoki and allow them all to get back together. After all, Aoki would have to show up soon if he wanted to play in one of these floating gambling houses. Cast-off time was approaching.
Roxy saw the rope drop ahead. People started filing along the gangplank into the casino. She feigned an issue with her shoe and motioned dozens past her, as she bent over to sort it out. Quaid studied all of them.
Finally, he tapped her on the shoulder.
‘Got him.’
It was an electrifying moment. Roxy didn’t look up. Instead, she quickly snatched her phone out of her purse and rang the other two groups.
‘We’re on,’ she said. ‘Get here quickly. We’ve almost finished boarding.’
Cast-off was in twenty minutes. The teams would have to double-time it if they were to make it.
Roxy looked up as Aoki passed and then slipped into the queue behind him. Sure enough, he wore his trademark white suit and there were three golden bangles dangling from his wrist. He was staring at the Silversea eagerly, craning his neck, as if desperate to get aboard and start gambling. Roxy stayed close. She wasn’t about to let him out of her sight.
Chapter 10
Kei Aoki went straight to the gaming tables on the fifth deck.
Roxy and Quaid went with him, trailing along behind another couple. Aoki walked purposefully, as if reaching the tables was all that mattered, and he was first through the door. He nodded to the doormen, to the guy behind the room’s bar, to some of the blackjack dealers clustered in a corner. They weren’t ready yet. The ship had yet to set sail and reach international waters before it was allowed to operate.
And he didn’t have a great deal of time to play. The voyage was four hours, so it wasn’t as if Aoki could linger until daybreak as you could in some casinos. He would have to live his obsession at a rapid pace. Roxy spent a few minutes texting the other couples to tell them exactly where they were.
Soon, they were together again.
Mason, breathless, nodded at Roxy. ‘Where is he?’
‘Getting a drink at the bar. He’s itching to start. Can’t wait to get behind a table. You know one of us is going to have to join him to make all this look believable.’
Mason starred blankly. ‘I’m no gambler.’
‘You think I am?’
The others all voiced similar concerns.
Sally bit her lip. ‘Roxy is right, though. We need to get close to Aoki and he’s gonna be stuck behind one table or another. This needs to be done right.’
They all felt the boat start to rock a little right then. They shared a look. The ship had cast off. It wouldn’t be long until they reached international waters now. The staff situated around the room started drifting towards their various stations, getting ready. Roxy stood aside to let several other people into the room. All the women wore flowing dresses with pearls and diamonds at their throats. The men wore tuxes and expensive watches and carried their wives’ coats over to the cloakroom. Roxy waited as the room filled up.
A bell sounded. The tables were open for business. Roxy also counted twenty gaming machines about the large room, all of which were suddenly in use. Men and women slid into seats with practised familiarity, leaving Roxy and her friends standing alone.
‘Well, that didn’t go so well,’ Hassell said.
‘Hey, I’m a gambling virgin,’ Roxy said. ‘But I can do this.’ She waited for Aoki to choose his poison and then drifted towards the table.
‘Roulette,’ she heard Mason say.
Truth be told, Roxy had gambled frequently in several of her past personas. The three-letter agency that ran her life for twelve years had sent her into dozens of hotspots where her targets loved to throw down at poker or roulette or one of a dozen different games played in various high-class gambling houses across Europe and the Far East. She was no stranger to gambling, but that wasn’t something she wanted to share right now. Doing so would just bring back nasty old memories.
As if it wasn’t doing so already.
Roxy watched Aoki play a few rounds, saw him gather the multicoloured chips before him and spread some of them out across the roulette table. From the crowd gathered around, she saw him start cleverly wagering on outside bets, groups of numbers instead of single digits, since they were cheaper and had a higher likelihood of winning. Aoki was content to do this for a few rounds. Time passed. People came and went from the table. Aoki stayed, his golden bracelets jangling, his face totally absorbed, a fancy, colourful cocktail loaded with ice and umbrella sticks sitting before him. Roxy looked up several times and saw Mason and the others place themselves around the room, some looking out for the SED, others watching for any unexpected interference.
By stepping forward, Roxy had become the one most likely to make contact with Kei Aoki.
She continued to watch him, squeezing forward through the crowd that surrounded the gaming table. Aoki appeared to be avoiding a grandiose strategy; he was keeping it simple. A good approach, something Roxy would have done. Roulette was mostly a game of luck. It was always best to know when to walk away.
But that part was where Aoki failed. He didn’t walk away. He won some, lost a bit more, and stayed at the table. He finished his fancy cocktail and ordered another. Time slipped by. Roxy knew they’d been on the water for the best part of two hours. It was probably time to make her move before Aoki got too drunk to care.
She watched him some more. Was this really the guy who had flashed the ancient coins to all and sundry, the guy who’d raised so many international concerns? Was this the man who had started a manhunt, a quest for the mysterious Shadow Kings, a crazy pursuit? Aoki looked normal enough. He didn’t stand out apart from his gaudy suit, didn’t act differently. In fact, he appeared to be a typical gambler, used to losing money. Maybe it was the alcohol that undid him.
Roxy ordered a double rum and Pepsi Max from the bar. She watched the black wheel spin, the thirty-seven numbers flashing by, the small white ball speeding around and around. She saw the ball land on red zero. Aoki smiled widely and added some chips to his dwindling pile. Next, he placed an inside bet, something she knew as split betting, because he bet on two numbers rather than one. She sipped her drink as he sat back and watched the wheel spin. When he lost, he switched again to the outside bet.
Next, Aoki bet on all red.
Roxy waited for someone to vacate the table. Her chance came five minutes later when a rail-thin woman with a plunging neckline got up and stalked away with her nose in the air. Clearly, she’d lost everything, and was headed for the bar. Roxy slipped into the hastily discarded seat and arranged a couple of sets of chips before her. She watched the next game unfold without betting. She watched the dealer, aware of the so-called ‘house edge’, which revolved around the extra number ‘0’ and gave the house an additional 2.7% chance of winning. She knew that if she’d been playing in France, she could have taken advantage of the En Prison or La Partage rules and only lose half her bet, but this wasn’t France. This was as near as dammit to Hong Kong.
She played. She won, and she lost. Mason appeared at her shoulder, watching, and then Quaid on the other side. She was opposite Aoki and met his eyes once or twice, smiling. She was in entirely the wrong position to start up a conversation. Not that Aoki looked in the mood for a chat. His entire focus was on the game.
More time passed. Roxy took an opportunity to move from her seat and slid into the one beside Aoki. The man barely noticed. He switched from inside to outside betting and then back again. His chip pile diminished, then enlarged, and then faded away again. He didn’t know when to stop. That was his problem. Roxy made the easy, safe bets. She caught Mason’s eye from across the table.
He nodded, urging her on.
She needed to hurry. The ship was already making its way back to the international waters line and the dock.
As Aoki waited for the outcome of a wheel spin, Roxy leaned over towards him.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m Roxy Banks.’
She wanted him to look at her, wanted his attention, and she got it.
‘Hello,’ he said in a peculiar singsong voice that was rather off-putting. ‘The numbers are going better for you than for me.’ He took another sip of his umbrella-heavy drink.
How did she broach this? Roxy took a deep breath and did what she always did. She came right out with it.
‘Listen,’ she said, drilling to the point. ‘I know your name is Kei Aoki. I’m here because I need your help.’
