Operation Barracuda (2005)

I shrug. "Sure."

"I'm having scotch. What will you have?"

"Just fruit juice if you have it."

He goes straight to the bar on the opposite side of the room from the Buddha and fixes a couple of glasses. I take the moment to browse his bookshelf, which is full of historical military reference books and suspense novels. When he brings my glass of juice--apricot--he clicks it and says, "Cheers."

"Thank you. Cheers."

Hendricks leads the way through a sliding glass door to a terrace that overlooks the skyline. "I wish I were higher up. I bought this place twenty-five years ago for a song. I could probably make a fortune if I sold it. Or if it accidentally burned down, the insurance would make me a rich man." He laughs. "Then maybe I could buy a place farther up the Peak. The view's much better. That's where all the hoity-toity live."

"I think it's a very nice place, Mr. Hendricks."

"Oh, please, call me Mason."

"All right."

We sit on deck chairs and enjoy a slight breeze. In serious contrast to the weather in Maryland, it's quite warm on the island. I don't think I've ever been to Hong Kong when it wasn't.

"Did my equipment arrive safely?" I ask.

"It did indeed. I have it in one of the bedrooms. But please, let's relax and talk out here a while. Where are you staying?"

"I don't know."

"I'd offer you my spare bedroom but I tend to have female company at night. I hope you understand."

I smile at him. "Whatever rocks your boat. I'll find a place. I'm not picky. I may stay in Kowloon. There are inexpensive hotels I know there."

"Suit yourself."

We sit for a moment in silence. Finally I bring up the mission at hand. "Mason, what can you tell me about this Professor Jeinsen?" Hendricks relates what I already know--that Jeinsen was shot in the head, wrapped in burlap, tied to the Promenade in Kowloon, and left to float in the water until he was found. An Interpol bulletin on the missing physicist was what did the trick in helping the police to identify him. Once the corpse was ID'd, the U.S. government was notified.

"The interesting thing here is that Professor Jeinsen wasn't murdered," Hendricks says. "He was executed."

"By whom?"

"I'd say it was a Triad killing."

I nod with understanding. The Triads are the Chinese equivalent of our Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Russian Mafiya, and other organized crime outfits. They've been around for centuries, originally formed to help oust the Ch'ing dynasty and reinstate the Ming. It was during the twentieth century that they became criminally oriented. As secret societies, they pride themselves on being patriotic and nationalist. Violently opposed to the Communists, the Triads primarily settled in British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau. Eventually they spread around the globe to other Chinese communities. I know for a fact that Triads operate in the Chinatowns of big American cities. They traffic in drugs, weapons, prostitution, and slavery, as well as operate protection rackets and gambling parlors. The Triads are fiercely anti-Western and their rites and meetings are sacred, usually never witnessed by non-Asians.

"I believe we're also dealing with a very specific Triad," Hendricks continues. "Most Triads use knives, hatchets, machetes--blades--to do their killing. Jeinsen was shot in the back of the head, gangland style. Like the Mafia does it. There's one Triad known to use that particular method of execution in Hong Kong. They're called the Lucky Dragons."

"I don't know them."

"They're not the biggest Triad by any means. The Dragons are awfully small when you compare them to, say, the 14K or Bamboo Union. But they've been around as long as I can remember. They're based in Hong Kong but I know they have extensive branches reaching into mainland China."

"But Triads are notoriously anti-Communist," I say.

"They are. And so are the Lucky Dragons. But I'm fairly confident they have some pull with certain government officials. Ever since the handover, it was expected that the Chinese government would crack down hard on Triads because of their widespread ideology against Communism. It hasn't happened. The Triads are just as powerful now as they were under British rule. Sure, it's still illegal to be a member of a Triad and all that, and the police make arrests all the time. It's just one of those things, like the Yakuza in Japan. They'll always be with us."

"What's the leadership like?"

"A fellow named Jon Ming is the leader. The Cho Kun, the Dragon Head. He's, I don't know, forty-eight or so. About your age I think. He became Cho Kun about fifteen years ago after a bloody coup within their organization. Ming is a wealthy gangster that lives on a plantation-style estate in northern Kowloon, just below the border of the New Territories. Actually, he acts more like a Yakuza than a Triad. He flaunts his wealth and power in public the way the Japanese gangsters do. That's not the norm for Chinese Triads. Here you can be arrested for just actinglike a Triad, yet he seems to steer clear of legal trouble. That's why I think he's got some politicians in his pocket."

"Where can I find this Jon Ming?"

"He runs a fancy nightclub in Kowloon. The Purple Queen. It's one of those hostess clubs, the kind that cost you a fortune to sit and talk with a beautiful girl. Sometimes you can get her to go home with you, which will cost you even more." Hendricks rattles the ice in his glass. "I guess you can say that's how I came to know some of my girlfriends. I do frequent the hostess clubs a lot. The Purple Queen, too. I can't take you there, though. You'll have to go alone. They know me. I wouldn't want you seen with me."

"I agree."

"Ming also owns a couple of restaurants and has his hand in some of the industries around here. He controls some of the container port so he has unbelievable access to shipping stuff in and out of the country. I left you a photo of the guy in the room with your equipment so you'll recognize him when you see him."

"So what's Jeinsen's co

Hendricks looks at me and wiggles his eyebrows. "That's what you're here to find out, isn't it?"

"Any ideas?"

"None. If you ask me, the guy must have betrayed his second country. After all, he betrayed the first one by defecting to the U.S."

I sigh and say, "That's just what we're hoping he didn'tdo. Do you think Ming keeps anything at the nightclub I might be interested in?"

"I don't know," Hendricks says. "It's doubtful. I imagine all Triad-related business is conducted at one of their Lodges, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Your best bet is to get a good look at Ming and follow him. Maybe he'll lead you to the goods."

"What I'd really like to do is establish a co

Hendricks nods. "They get their arms from somewhere. I've heard rumblings that the Shop is operating again in the Far East. I'll make some inquiries this evening and see what I can find out."

We go back inside the house and Hendricks takes me to the bedroom where my equipment lies on the bed. It's the usual stuff--my uniform, headset and goggles, the Five-seveN and several twenty-round magazines of 5.7x28mm ss190 ammunition, and my pride and joy, the SC-20K modular assault weapon system. This rifle uses thirty rounds of 5.56x45mm ss109 ammunition in semi and full automatic modes. There's a flash/sound suppressor combined with a multipurpose launcher that shoots airfoil projectiles, sticky cameras, shockers, and smoke grenades. Other tools of the trade include an optic cable for looking into tight holes, a camera jammer, a couple of wall mines, frag grenades, flares, and a medical kit.