James Swallow - Jade Dragon

“Try the little crab things, man, they’re preem.”

Frankie turned to see the lead vocalist from Charlie Fish, an indie band who were big with the ghettobomber crowd in SoCal. He blinked.

“What?” drawled the singer.

“Nothing… I’m just, well, surprised to see you here. Your music, its all that anti-corporate stuff…”

Frankie received a weak smile. “Oh yeah. Well. We all gotta change some time, right?”

The man wandered away and Frankie found himself at the window. He dropped onto a comfortable sofa, and his hand drifted to the PDA in his pocket. He popped it open and studied the files Alice had reluctantly given up when he pressed her about Alan’s death. Yuk Lung had used contacts with the metropolitan police division to unlock the incident report, and here it was in brutal colour on the palm-sized screen of the handheld. The cops said Alan had been walking along a Mongkok side street when a car had hopped the curb and slammed him into a shuttered storefront. He died on impact, so the coroner’s report had it. The car and driver hadn’t been found, but eyewitness testimony suggested that the attack had been gang-related. The conclusion was a triad hit gone wrong, most likely a case of mistaken identity. Not that this made dealing with it any simpler. YLHI had already dealt with Alan’s remains, cremating him and placing the compacted ashes in a bullet-sized capsule, to be buried in the company memorial park overlooking Clear Water Bay. Frankie paged through the data again. It was all blurring into one long string of dispassionate scrawl.

“Francis,” said Mr Tze, his reflection appearing in the window like a waking phantom.

Frankie snapped the PDA shut. “Hello, uh, sir.”

Tze gave him a paternal smile, and Frankie absently rubbed his hand, tracing the lines of the knife cuts. The strange little ritual had unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. Tze guided him off the sofa and back towards the party. “I want you to enjoy this evening, Francis. Put behind you the pain of things past and look ahead. Will you do that?”

He managed a nod.

“That is good,” Tze took a capsule from a passing waiter and swallowed it down in one gulp. “We’re on the verge of a new acquisition. Something that is going to alter the landscape we move through on every level. Yuk Lung’s reach will truly be global, and we will need men like you to take us there.”

“Me?” Frankie let out a laugh. “Honestly, sir, I’m flattered you think so much of me, but I’m only a minor echelon executive. I’m not sure I have the right stuff-”

“You do,” said Tze firmly. “I don’t want men who look good on paper. I want men who have spirit.” He prodded him in the sternum. “Courage, Francis. You’re not some milksop choirboy with an MBA. You came from the street. You have an edge that none of these men raised on the corporate teat can even grasp at. I want you to make that available to me. I want you to understand that your participation in Yuk Lung’s future plans is, in a very real way, of universal importance. I know that you can fill the terrible void left by Alan’s passing. I know it. He knew it too, Francis. He told me so.”

“Really?” Something rang a wrong note in Frankie’s mind. Not since they were teenagers had Alan been one for brotherly love.

“Oh yes. And there will be rewards the like of which you have not dreamed.” He leaned closer. “Men crave power, Francis, all of us. I can give it to you, if you have the will to claim it.”

Something deep inside Frankie was forcing its way up, and it manifested in a feral smile. He thought of Alan’s dismissive emails, of Burt Tiplady and a hundred overlooked promotion opportunities, of a lifetime of second place. It all came together in a hot rush. “Yeah,” he said quietly, “I’d like that.”

Tze guided him over to the elevator stack as the doors parted, and the crowd burst into a round of rapturous applause. A cluster of men emerged and parted to let the executive make a gesture of presentation. “Francis,” he smiled, “may I introduce you to Miss Juno Qwan?”

Her perfect eyes met his as she stepped from the lift and Frankie’s heart skipped a beat. “Hello.” He felt a spark of attraction flash between them.

“Francis,” she said, smiling like a supernova, extending her hand. “Dance with me?”

Tze left Lam and the singer to fall into one another and passed Hi with a curt nod. The woman had done well, once again turning a problem into an advantage. He would have to keep Hi on a tighter leash, less she begin to entertain thoughts above her station. The three girls he had chosen for his comfort tonight smiled at him from the shaded table where he had left them.

Deer Child approached. The Mask had a woman in his grip, half-guiding, half-dragging her. “Sir.”

“Is there a problem?” He turned an appraising eye on the girl. She had a lean, wolfish look in her eyes, and he saw immediately that all her clothes were cheap street copies of current trendsetters. He smelt greed and fear on her, and there in her eyes was the telltale glint of blue.

Deer Child handed him a silver smartcard. “There appears to be an anomaly with this young lady’s invite, sir.”

Tze turned the card over in his hand. The code was well past expiry. “What is your name?” he asked the girl.

She flashed him a sultry look, cool and practised. “Nikita.”

He smiled slightly. “I once knew an assassin with that name. Are you here to hurt me, Nikita?”

“Only if you want me to,” she whispered.

Tze’s smile broadened. The girl was putting everything she had into it. He handed the card back to the guardian. “I see no problem here. Bring the young lady a drink at my table.” He offered her his arm. “Join me?”

“I’d love to,” said Nikita, and followed him into the shadows. http://junofans.rwb.vnet/r584923921/chatroom_enable

Halo_kisser Has Entered The Chat Room.

Junqfanl4342: hi halo

Rusty: hlo

Halo_kisser: hi yall

Goth*Lolita: it was preem

Goth*Lolita: I was nr teh guy who got her hat grrr. Missed it.

Goth*Lolita: Juno looked sooooo good. I [heart] her!

Halo_kisser: u were there? OMG OMG sooo jealous!

Rusty: G*L lives in Honk Kong

Rusty: sorry Hong Kong [grin]

Goth*Lolita: number 1 fangirl!

Junofanl4342: how did JQ look? She not on ZBC Pulse.

Goth*Lolita: beautiful!

Rusty: did u see pix from airport? She was v. moody

Halo_kisser: not. How would u feel after NO crazeeness?

Rusty: seem weird 2 me.

Goth*Lolita: everything weird 2 you rusty!

Junofanl4342: yeh rusty sez secret messages on junos discs!

Rusty: TRUE

Halo_kisser: is not, you R looped, rusty!

Goth*Lolita: I posted pictures from my eyecam on my site-[link]

Junofan14342: cool. Swipe 4 my wallscreen!

Rusty: did ne1 read netfeeds about NO concert? Mad reports off samizdata grids

Junofan14342: [frown] that stuff is jagged, rusty! Illegal u should not read!

Rusty: just want to know about juno

I_Witness Has Entered The Chat Room.

Goth*Lolita: was ne1 at NO concert?

I_Witness: me. I was there w my sister

Junofanl4342: bet it was good

I_Witness: r u high? Concert was psycho! They freaked us out!!!

Rusty: I heard it was AAAA screw w lasers

Goth*Lolita: yeh they h8 all j-pop

I_Witness: not AAAA. Thatz bull[censored]! I saw monsters in there!!! My sister is coma’ed!!!

I_Witness: corp cops told us to be quiet!! It was insan@\~}{*%?$?… .

I_Witness Has Been Suspended.

RWB_Moderator Has Entered The Chat Room.

RWB_Moderator: Hello, friends! Please don’t be alarmed, but our records have flagged the user identity [chatname-I_Witness] as a known alias for a convicted sexcriminal.