Ian Hamilton - The wild beast of Wuhan

“They told you all this?”

“Wong called me so he could gloat. He was very pleased with himself, and he thought that I would be pleased too. Remember, I am from Wuhan. I know how they think, I know how they act,” Uncle said. “In Hubei province, killing or seriously injuring a person who owes you money is considered to be stupid. If they are dead, how can they pay? So you always pick someone close to them as a way of delivering a message that cannot be ignored. That is the way it was when I was a young man. That is the way it still is with some people. He thought I would appreciate the fact that some of the old ways survive.”

Ava thought of Glen Hughes, oblivious to the subtleties of messages from Wuhan.

“May said you weren’t pleased with them,” she said.

“I knew what it would mean to you.”

“They lied to me.”

“They did.”

“I gave my word to Edwin Hughes that if he helped, he would be safe.”

“They knew that. I told them.”

“So they made a liar out of me as well.”

“I know,” Uncle said.

Ava struggled to keep her emotions in check. “They played me for a fool.”

“You are never a fool.”

“So what am I supposed to do now?”

“Let us finish the contract, collect our money, and move on.”

“I wish it were that easy for me,” she said.

“There are times when you have to — ”

“And there are times,” Ava interrupted, “when I can’t roll over and close my eyes and pretend nothing happened.”

“What are you saying?”

“I may not want to finish the job.”

He paused. “I thought it was done,” Uncle said, “that the money is secured, that we are waiting for some transactions to conclude.”

“The money isn’t secure at all. With one phone call I can make it disappear.”

Ava waited for Uncle to reply. Please, don’t disappointment me, she thought.

“That is your decision. You do what you think is best.”

“And you’ll support me?”

“That is a question you know you never have to ask,” he said quietly.

She felt her face flush. His reprimand stung. “I’m sorry, Uncle, I meant no disrespect. This job has affected my emotions.”

“I prefer it when you are thinking with your head.”

“My head is still working,” she said. “And what it’s telling me is that we need to go back to the Wongs and remind them who they’re doing business with.”

“You have something in mind, don’t you.”

“Uncle,” she said, avoiding his question, “are you prepared to walk away from our commission?”

“Money I never had is money I cannot lose.”

“I may make enemies of the Wongs.”

“Ava, for what it is worth, I do not think that is possible. Changxing sees things in me that even I do not see in myself anymore. He will do what he can to avoid conflict with me.”

“It is May Ling who is my worry.”

“You have too much malice for her. She is formidable, that is true, but when I separate her in my mind from her husband, all I see is a practical woman whose love for her husband has pushed her to do things she would not have done by her own choosing.”

Ava thought of the woman who had sat on her bed in Wuhan, of the strange conversation they’d had, of the tears. And then she thought of Edwin, Lisa, Bonnie Knox.

“Uncle, I have to save Glen Hughes’ life.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“We need to renegotiate our agreement with the Wongs.”

“That would be difficult for me to do over the phone. I believe I would have to go to Wuhan.”

Ava drew a deep breath. “I don’t want you to do that,” she said quietly. “I want to do it.”

“You do not know the man,” he said.

“No, but I know the woman, and I think she can persuade the man.”

“You are so sure of that?”

“I am.”

The line went quiet and she heard Sonny yelling in the background. She realized they were still on the street outside the massage parlour. “A drunk just bumped into the car. Sonny is sending him on his way,” Uncle said.

“I’ll talk to the woman,” Ava said.

“Yes, I think that might be best.”

“Thank you.”

He sighed. “We men pretend we control things.”

“Uncle, if you don’t want me to do this — ”

“No, you have assessed the situation properly. May Ling is the one who can be reasoned with. If there is any chance to renegotiate the agreement, then it has to be between you and her.”

“I’m going to call her now.”

“Let me know when she succumbs.”

Ava went to the window and looked out on Kensington Gardens. She thought of Wuhan, of the cranes that formed its skyline, of air so foul that streetlights filtered through construction debris. She thought of May Ling and Changxing sitting on the top floor of their eight-storey mansion with the entire world living below, looking up at them.

Westerners couldn’t understand power as it was exerted in China. As men like Changxing accumulated wealth and contacts and influence, they correspondingly became increasingly immune to the everyday nuisances of life, and from the laws and constraints that applied to most citizens. As long as they were careful not to flaunt their status, stayed within the broad guidelines of the law, and didn’t cause any public embarrassment or become a threat to their political and military allies, there was hardly anything they couldn’t do, and there was virtually no one who would risk raising a hand against them. It gave men such as Changxing an overblown sense of security, a sense of invulnerability to the vagaries of the outside world. It had taken an Englishman to prick the bubble he lived in, the bubble that Ava had been hired to patch. Now all she wanted to do was take that small tear and turn it into a gaping hole.

She picked up her phone.

“ Wei,” May Ling said.

“Auntie, it’s Ava.”

The line went silent. “I did not expect to hear from you so soon,” May Ling said finally.

“I spoke to Uncle.”

“What did he say?”

“Auntie, he said I should do what I think is right.”

“I’ve asked you not to call me Auntie.”

“I can’t call you anything else.”

“Why?”

“You know or you don’t know — what does it matter? The thing is, we need to renegotiate our agreement.”

“We finalized it with Uncle.”

“Auntie, the ground has shifted. This is now between you and me.”

“My husband — ”

“Fuck your husband.”

She could hear May Ling breathing deeply. “Shall I have Changxing call Uncle?” she asked coldly.

“Yes, do that, Auntie. Have the two men talk. And then say goodbye to your money and watch Wong Changxing become the biggest fool the new China has ever seen.”

The line was quiet. “Why are you doing this?” May Ling whispered.

“You lied to me.”

“And no one has done that to you before?”

“You took the lives of three innocent people.”

“I’ve explained that.”

“Auntie, your explanation does not excuse the fact that you betrayed me.”

“Don’t call me Auntie anymore,” May Ling snapped, and then went quiet, composing herself. “Tell me,” she said calmly, “what is it that you want?”

Ava looked up Church Street and thought she could see the barriers that surrounded the Hughes Art Gallery. “I want our fee to be its regular thirty percent.”

“Uncle and I agreed on twenty.”

“It’s now thirty, which is what it should have been in the first place.”

“And if I agree, are there more demands?”

“Yes.”

“So why should I agree?”

“Because the demands are joined. It isn’t one or the other.”