Fiction: Group 4
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Shung Tak Catholic English College, Yeung, Michael - 17, Fiction: Group 4
he small boat slid across the surface of the river, the bow cutting through the water like a knife. The
vibrant lights of the city of Canton, or Guangzhou as the locals called it, were within sight and
getting closer by the minute.
‘We should be there in about fifteen minutes,’ the skipper said loudly over the rattle of the engine.
There was no reply from the passenger.
The skipper couldn’t help but turn and glance at the strange man, who was wearing a trench coat
with the collar turned up against his cheeks.
His only passenger for the night inclined his head at him and gave a brief nod. The single
fluorescent light bulb that he used as a lamp gave the man’s face an unnatural paleness, and his grey eyes
appeared a ghostly silver.
Eyes of a dead fish
, the boatman thought with a small shudder
.
The skipper had always considered himself cautious and observant. He’d given the man the
onceover when he approached him at the pier in Shenzhen. Tall and wiry, with close-cropped brown hair,
the build of an athlete and a smooth, emotionless face that could have been carved out of marble. A cruel
slash of a mouth and a tell-tale bulge under his coat. A small compact, by the looks of it, probably already
loaded.
He had no doubt the man was dangerous. An American mobster, here to make connections with
the local gangs? What a small world it was indeed. The transaction was quick and almost completely silent.
The man spoke a single word in a rasping voice that resembled a sword being drawn out of its scabbard.
‘Guangzhou.’
From that moment forth, he wanted nothing more but to get the job over with and have the man
out of his boat. He could swear that he felt him staring at his back, as if contemplating how best to kill him
without arousing suspicion.
Then, of course, the engine let out a whine like a dying elephant and coughed out a very
unpleasant cloud of black smoke. The boat sputtered to a halt.
‘Uh…’ The boatman’s voice cracked from disuse. ‘Give me a moment, I have a pair of oars. In case
of emergencies.’
Apart from a slight tightening at the corners of the mouth to show his displeasure, the man said
nothing.
Forty-five minutes later, the little boat stopped at a small dock a quarter of a kilometre away from
the Guangzhou Pearl River Cruise harbour. The man hopped off and nodded at the skipper, who looked
extremely relieved as he rowed away into the night.
The stench of the river was revolting. Even the stoic man wrinkled his nose slightly. Then he
turned and walked into the main streets of the city, flagging down a taxi.
‘Where to?’ The cabman said in a thick Chinese accent, seeing that his client was a Westerner.
‘Zhuji Police Station.’
The driver looked at him, his clothes, his menacing face, and said incredulously, ‘Po…pow-lease
stay-shun?’
The man merely stared at him with a slight frown, and the taxi driver suddenly felt a little stupid.
Been watching too many Hollywood movies.
The taxi stopped right in front of the station. The man paid the driver one hundred yuan and
didn’t ask for the change.
Not bothered at all by the cold wintry air, he strode straight into the police station. Every
gong an
inside immediately stopped what they were doing and fingered their firearms. Unfazed, he spoke to the
receptionist at her table.
‘Detective Richard West, Interpol, here to see Detective Winston Lee.’
Everyone in the station seemed to relax instantly.
‘Ah, Mr. West. Detective Lee was expecting you half an hour ago. I’ll show you to his office.’
T
