LITMIR.BIZ

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finished his order in the small side street café in Western District.

      ‘Thanks for meeting me, Ng.’

      ‘What is it you need, Genghis?’ Ng and Mann had known one another for so many years that Mann had come to regard Ng as his friend, not just his colleague. Ng named him Genghis because in his youth he had looked like a wild man. Nowadays Mann was more groomed but inside he was the same lost soul. Ng was full of wisdom, both street and ancient. He knew the world and its failings. Ng saw the broad picture. He didn’t have Mann’s hot-headed temper. Ng was calm—a deliberator and negotiator. They had seen one another through difficult times. When Mann’s world collapsed after Helen was murdered, Ng was the one who Mann leant on, and when Ng needed back-up Mann was the first to risk his life for his friend. Mann trusted his opinion. Ng looked at him now with his puppy dog eyes. ‘It looks like you haven’t slept recently. You should cut down on the gym and eat more.’

      ‘I’m all right. I went away for a couple of days. I’ve got jetlag, that’s all.’

      ‘No, it isn’t. You haven’t been all right for a long time now, Genghis. It is five years since I saw you happy. You need to get yourself a woman. Did you ever get back in contact with that Eurasian girl?’

      ‘Georgina?’

      ‘Yes! That’s the girl. She was just right for you.’

      ‘She went back to England, as you know. She wanted to go home; she’d been through a lot.’

      ‘You could have stopped her.’

      ‘Wrong time, wrong place, Ng. Anyway…’ Mann shook his head. ‘That’s what it always comes down to for you—food and females. The last thing I need is someone who needs me, Ng. I can’t give it the time or the dedication. I’m strictly a single man, in love with his work.’ Mann smiled.

      ‘Huh…I thought being single was supposed to be fun. You don’t look like you’re having fun. You haven’t taken any time off since that investigation in the Philippines, that’s over a year now. Take some time off, go lie in the sun, go wave riding—what’s it called, surfing?’

      ‘Yeah, maybe you’re right…’ Mann smiled and rolled his eyes in defeat. ‘I’ve had a lot on my mind. Actually, I have put in for some leave starting tomorrow, but it’s unpaid.’

      Ng lifted the tops from the dim sum baskets and began piling dumplings onto Mann’s plate. Mann put his hand up to stop him.

      ‘Eat,’ Ng said, as he filled his own plate. ‘Where are you going? Back to the Philippines?’

      ‘Thailand.’

      Ng looked at him and almost choked. ‘You mad? No one is going to Thailand at the moment. Those kids were kidnapped, they haven’t been released. It’s not safe.’

      ‘Those kids are why I’m going. I found out something about my father. I got an email from a Dutch woman, Magda. She told me she and my father were…lovers. Not just lovers, they had kids together. One of them is one of the kids who’s been kidnapped. I am telling you this, Ng, because I trust you to keep it to yourself. Mum would hate the whole world knowing.’

      Ng looked confused. ‘Did your mother know all this?’

      Mann nodded. ‘She found out after my father was murdered, when Deming’s will was read.’

      Ng stopped eating, placed his chopsticks on their holder and thought for a few minutes.

      ‘That’s very sad, Genghis. Sad for everyone. But what does the Dutch woman expect you to do, exactly? Things are kicking off in Thailand and Burma. It’s not a safe place to go right now.’

      ‘If I go soon, I will be okay. I will always be able to get out overland and by boat.’

      ‘I read the latest on the kids—they say they are almost certain to have crossed into Laos. It’s a mess out there.’

      ‘I can at least investigate what actually happened. The parents are being told nothing. I am going to take a day here to get all I need and then I fly to Chiang Mai tomorrow and follow their footsteps until I get to the jungle and then we’ll see.’

      ‘What do you know about tracking kids through jungles?’ Ng stuffed a dumpling into his mouth.

      ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ng.’ Mann grinned at his old friend. ‘Don’t hold back.’

      Ng gulped down some water.

      ‘I am just concerned, that’s all.’

      ‘I know, and you’re right; it’s new territory for me—all of it—but I am hoping to buy myself some help along the way.’ Mann looked across at Ng. He knew by the look on Ng’s face that, although he would always support Mann, he didn’t think Mann should go. ‘In reality, I have no choice. The fact that he is my brother makes this a situation I cannot ignore. I am glad she came to me. It makes me feel somehow good. I can’t explain it—I feel as if I have some purpose to my life again. I might be able to uncover more about my father and I might fill up some of the emptiness I feel inside.’ He smiled, embarrassed. Although he was close to Ng, he wasn’t one for sharing confidences or pouring out his heart. ‘Anyway, I can go out there and talk to people, suss out what happened. I might not be an expert at trekking through jungles but I am sure I can find someone who is.’

      ‘This is totally out of your depth, Genghis, but okay. You will need help and you will have it. I will get Shrimp working on it.’

      ‘Thanks, Ng. I knew I could count on you. I need you to do something else for me…I need you to investigate my father. I need to know what he was doing in Amsterdam. I need some closure on all of this, Ng. This has made me realise that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life searching for answers. I want to move on.’

      ‘You may never know the truth, Mann. Sometimes we have to accept and leave it there.’ Ng shook his head. ‘Life isn’t that black or white. People are not just parents, they are flesh and blood. Men are built to sow their seed.’

      ‘Maybe, or maybe it was love. The last summer I spent with my father was great. It was the happiest I had ever seen him. He seemed different, quick to laugh. He seemed like he wanted to get close to me. The night when I came back to the house and found him being tortured, when I saw him executed, I accepted that he was a brave man who had died because he wouldn’t pay money to triads. But, do you know what, Ng? I don’t even know who he was. Everything I believed in is gone.’

       20

      Magda had gone to bed ages before and Alfie was still waiting for Katrien to sign on to her messenger account. He was getting stir crazy staring at the screen. The camera wasn’t a tracker. He only got to see her when she was sitting at the monitor; he was hoping that would be enough. He had sound, he had visual; now all he needed was for her to log on.

      At midnight katcream69 was online and typing. She was sitting in her bra and pants. The webcam box was too small for him to see who she was looking at. He couldn’t log in at the same time as her. It would cut her off if he did that. She seemed to be waiting and then she leant forward and looked into the webcam.

      ‘Have you missed me?’ Her voice was childlike, soft. There was no audible reply. Someone was typing. ‘I know, it won’t be long now, my love, and we will be together, just you and me and everything we have ever dreamed of…nothing will separate us then. No, there isn’t enough money. We need to do this. It has to be this way, believe me, it will be worth it. We all have our part to play in it. You know what yours is, my love. He is coming out to you soon. Watch him, stay with him. Keep in touch. I need to know where he is all the time.’

      ‘If you have to, yes. You’ve killed before and you can do it again. I was right then, wasn’t I? I am right now too. Remember, you can’t trust anyone but me. I’ve always been there for you. Of course I

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