The Shadow Of Weng-Chiang Part 1

THE SHADOW OF WENG-CHIANG.

by David A. McIntee.

Prologue.

London, 1937.

Before setting out for revenge, first dig two graves Chinese proverb he pale but cheery face of the moon hung proudly am T ongst its accompanying stars, beaming through the clear skies.

The man who was driving through the East End of London was happier with the cooling breeze than with the sticky heat of the August day. The open top of his blood-red Mercedes 500K afforded him a very refreshing flow of wind through his hair. He was quite lean and had a firm but slightly fleshy face, like a cherub fallen on hard times. He was half-tempted to whistle out loud, but resisted the urge.

The buildings which enclosed the roads had tall walls of Georgian brickwork and sandstone, and were separated from each other by the narrowest of sidestreets. A throaty rumbling heralded the arrival of one of the familiar red Routemaster buses. It was behind the Mercedes, and the driver slowed his pace slightly to allow it to catch up with him. In a matter of moments the empty bus overtook him, briefly shielding the Mercedes from the view of anyone on the far side of the street.

He slipped quietly into a shadowed sidestreet with a fluid twist of the wheel.

He remained seated for a few moments after the engine died, listening for any sound. There should be no one around under the purpling sky at this time of the evening, but one could never be too careful: burglary was a profession that demanded close attention to safety.

Not that he considered himself a burglar, of course; no one would ever think of Lucas Seyton as a common thief. He preferred to view himself as an unofficial sequestrator of other people's ill-gotten gains. As vigilantism went, there were more direct methods, but his family had seen too many cold-blooded killers already. Besides, it was more fun this way, even though Errol Flynn had stolen his thunder and made this occupation something of a cliche.

Seyton eased himself out of the driving seat, pressed himself into the arch that sheltered a narrow side door and reached for the key. At least the most difficult part of the operation was past he had had to pick the caretaker's pocket twice in one evening in a local pub. The first time was to get a key to make an impression of it for later copying, and the second to replace it before the man noticed it had gone.

The side door clicked open, and Seyton slipped quietly inside and blinked until his eyes acclimatized to the sudden darkness inside. A narrow staircase led away to the right, while a drab corridor with cracks in the plaster stretched off ahead. The row of doors along the corridor at the top of the stairs all had faded tin stars on them, betraying the fact that this property was once a theatre. The current owner had bought it after its fall from grace in some scandal half a century earlier.

Seyton ignored the steps up to the dressing-rooms, and trod carefully along to the backstage area, aware of the risk of creaky boards. The backstage area was larger than most, and Seyton felt that he might almost be in some cavern, with hanging sandbags for stalact.i.tes. The original floor had been removed and now formed a wide catwalk around the wall, from which a wide staircase descended into a pit that opened up before him.

At some point in time, the cellar had been used as the props store. Nowadays it had been converted into a private viewing gallery for valuable theatre memorabilia from all over the world. Descending, Seyton switched on a torch, and played it over the silent cases. The gla.s.s all around shimmered with multiple reflections, while the mannequins that were interred within wearing the finest costumes cast distorted shadows over the distant walls.

Seyton had to admit that the collection was impressive.

Raymond Huntley's Dracula costume from the first stage version in 1925 rubbed shoulders with one of Edith Piaf's dresses. A cannon used in an eighteenth-century performance of Macbeth Macbeth the cannon's blast had burned the original theatre to the ground was pointed directly at what might well have been the first ever Wurlitzer organ. the cannon's blast had burned the original theatre to the ground was pointed directly at what might well have been the first ever Wurlitzer organ.

The fact that the collection was all memorabilia related to the theatre was perhaps unsurprising, given that the owner had been an impresario until his recent and lucrative retirement.

That retirement had been funded by the insurance payouts on damages to three of his theatres which were losing money.

Unfortunately, the arsonist whom he had hired to burn the third theatre had been a little careless, and the conflagration broke out during a performance of The Mikado The Mikado. Three people had died there four, if one counted the careless arsonist for a false insurance claim.

The exhibit Seyton sought was locked in a flat, slightly tilted, case at the end of the cellar. Its leather bindings so worn that it had to be held together with silken knots, a bundle of yellowed papers lay under the light from Seyton's torch. The case was locked, but a few moments with a penknife jammed into the gap between case and lid remedied that.

The bundle emitted a faintly musty scent, but Seyton thought that was just part of its charm. It was four hundred years old, after all; a handwritten first draft of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet. The families of the three theatregoers who had died in that fire would soon be enjoying a change in their luck, Seyton thought with a smile as he slipped a card onto the cushion in place of the folio. The card bore the design of a robed and winged angel with a forked tail and a grin.

Underneath, in wiry gothic script, was the message Vengeance Vengeance has been visited upon you by the Fallen Angel. has been visited upon you by the Fallen Angel. Seyton slipped the folio into a small bag, then turned to retrace his steps, and froze. Seyton slipped the folio into a small bag, then turned to retrace his steps, and froze.

The large trunk-sized case which had been directly behind him was the only empty one in the museum. This was suspicious enough, but the beam from his torch reflected a mouthful of gla.s.s fangs around the hole that had been smashed through one side of the gla.s.s. n.o.body would break into an empty case, so something must have been removed from it. He shut off the torch instantly, in case the thief was still around.

He couldn't hear anything, but that could just mean that someone else was being as stealthy as he. Remaining where he was was a sure way to be caught, so he silently stepped to the right. He didn't want to risk retracing his entry route in case he was being followed. There was no placard to indicate what exhibit had been removed, from the smashed case, and Seyton didn't really care. What knick-knacks should be lying around here were not his business. On the other hand, the presence of other thieves was his business. Not only would they not adhere to his principles, but their work might be falsely attributed to him.

There was a faint dragging sound from above, in the backstage area. He brushed against a weighted rope that hung from the scenery gantry, and grabbed hold of it. The stairs might be watched by whoever else was around, so climbing up the rope would be a more discreet alternative. He slithered up the rope with ease, and swung gently onto the open area backstage. He couldn't see anyone, but there were so many shadows around that half of Scotland Yard could be waiting for him.

There was something glistening on the floor, however; a stain which was too dark to identify at first. Kneeling briefly, Seyton touched his finger to the wet smear. It came away red against his skin, with the oiled copper tang of fresh blood. He straightened slowly, and his eyes fell upon a pair of legs poking out from under the thick main curtain. The smears of blood led straight to it. He stepped towards the curtain and pulled it aside. The grey-whiskered bald caretaker from whom he had acquired his stage door key was sprawled there, a trickle of blood stretching down from the corner of his slack mouth. Seyton's good humour vanished instantly. Stealing was one thing, but murder was quite another. A life wasn't a mere possession to take. There was no blood on the caretaker's shirt front, so Seyton a.s.sumed he had been shot or stabbed. But who had dragged him over here?

The answer came accompanied by a lightning kick to the side of the head, as a lithe figure in loose dark clothing leapt out of the shadows. Seyton went sprawling across the boards, his head ringing from the blow. Whoever it was certainly wasn't playing by the Marquess of Queensberry rules; most unsporting. Still, what was good for the goose was good for the gander. He recovered his balance as his a.s.sailant ran at him, and took advantage of his longer legs to deliver a straight kick in the crotch before his opponent could strike again. The man went down with a howl.

Before Seyton could examine his attacker, another body slammed into him, and they went down struggling. The other pressed a knee into Seyton's back, and quickly wrapped a silk sash around his throat. Seyton tried elbowing his opponent in the stomach, but to no avail. He still had his penknife, however, and managed to slip it between throat and sash. The sash parted under the blade, and his opponent fell back. Seyton turned with a fist already swinging, but the other man blocked it with a forearm and punched Seyton twice in the stomach.

Seyton headb.u.t.ted him, and hurled him over the edge of the floor. The attacker grabbed one of the weighted ropes as he fell, and arrested his drop.

Seyton ignored him, as there were more footsteps converging on his position from all around.

Something gleamed silver in the limited light, and Seyton acted purely on instinct. He leapt behind a compere's mahogany lectern, heaving his Webley from his pack even as a whirring hatchet thudded into the wood. There was a rush of scurrying footsteps from the darkness, and Seyton fired two shots in their general direction. Some people gave thieves a bad name, he told himself A strange metallic multiple-click came from the shadows at the top of the stairs down into the viewing gallery. The only time he had heard anything like that before was in Chicago, Seyton recalled, but what had it been? He remembered with a sudden chill, and broke from behind the lectern, dashing across the darkened stage just ahead of a sudden spray of bullets from the Thompson which had been so noisily c.o.c.ked.

The orchestra pit opened up before him like a welcoming trench at the fringes of no-man's-land, and he gratefully allowed himself to drop into it. The Thompson's muzzle flashed brightly again as more shots stuttered over his head.

The muzzle flashes provided a splendid target, however, and Seyton fired twice. There was a cry and a tremendous crash of breaking gla.s.s and shattering mannequins from the backstage darkness.

' Wo shoushang Wo shoushang,' someone groaned. It came from the direction of the first man who had attacked him. If the one with the Thompson had as Seyton suspected fallen onto the display cases in the lower level after being shot twice, he would be in no condition to call out anything.

' Mei shi Mei shi,' a woman's voice hissed from somewhere. What the h.e.l.l was a woman doing in all this? Plucky, but hardly civilized, Seyton thought.

' Zenme ban? Zenme ban? ' another voice put in. ' another voice put in.

' You ta. Wo yao qu matou xianzai! You ta. Wo yao qu matou xianzai! ' A dragging sound, accompanied by the muted groaning of the shot man, shifted across the stage. Seyton quickly scampered out of the orchestra pit, hoping that the sounds his erstwhile opponents were making would mask his own footsteps. ' A dragging sound, accompanied by the muted groaning of the shot man, shifted across the stage. Seyton quickly scampered out of the orchestra pit, hoping that the sounds his erstwhile opponents were making would mask his own footsteps.

There was a hollow rumbling from somewhere, and the enemy's footsteps became progressively more m.u.f.fled. They must be heading down into the viewing gallery in the cellar, Seyton realized. He hurried across the stage to where the caretaker's body had been. It was gone, though a smeared blood trail remained on the floor, leading towards the steps down to the cellar. A couple of b.l.o.o.d.y footprints had been left on the floor as well. Curiously, one was no more than four inches long. He looked down into the cellar next, and saw that a couple of display cases near the foot of the stairs had been smashed into b.l.o.o.d.y fragments. There was no sign of a body there either, but a section of the cellar floor had been raised to leave a gap with bloodstains around the edges.

Acutely aware that the murderers were getting away, Seyton dismissed his sense of caution, and slid down the nearest rope. The floor was covered in gla.s.s fragments and pieces of mannequins' limbs, but something else caught Seyton's eye amongst the wreckage. A small pale square of card was leaning against a broken piece of wood, and Seyton picked it up. It was a matchbook of some kind, though the cellar was too dark to make out any details. He dropped it into his pocket, before finding a ladder affixed to the side of the shaft under the floor section. He clambered down, descending only a few feet, and stepped out into a claustrophobic but empty room with a curved ceiling. On the far side, a sour stink of rot and decay wafted in through a large circular opening that was pitch black inside. It didn't take much effort for Seyton to deduce that it was an opening to the sewers. Just where such rats belonged, he told himself.

Steeling himself against the smell, he hurried in. He decided to risk switching on the torch, but was careful to hold it as far to the side of his body as possible, lest any ambushers use it as a target. The rancid water through which he ran wouldn't be doing his patent leather pumps any good either, he realized.

Something clattered against his foot, and he stopped to shine the torch on it. It was a skull of some sort of animal, perhaps eighteen inches long. He couldn't help thinking that its pointed nose looked like that of a mouse or rat. The pause was unexpectedly useful, however, as without the splashing of his own feet, he could hear faint voices ahead. Letting the skull slip from his mind, he continued onwards.

Before long, the tunnel began to brighten, as the light from distant streetlamps crept in from an opening ahead. Now that he could watch for obstructions in his path, Seyton switched off the torch and ran faster. Unfortunately, just as he came to the last stretch before the outflow opening, he heard the roar of an engine. He pushed himself faster, and skidded to a halt at an algae-rimmed opening overlooking the churning waters of the Thames.

Stooping cranes and squat warehouses were spread across the far bank, but between them and Seyton, a powerful motorboat with several black-clad figures aboard was accelerating away from the outflow opening in which he stood.

Seyton leaned against the wall of the outflow, and recalled the matchbook he had found. There was enough light to read by now, and he fished it from his pocket. The cover had some sort of Chinese ideogram on it, along with the legend, Club Do-San. Seyton's eyebrows shot up. 'Well, well...'

Despite having had no warning that his employer was returning, Monk opened the door for him as Seyton ascended the steps of his Kensington house. Monk's square face and crooked nose were legacies of his earlier days as a boxer, but these days he had a more peaceful profession as a valet.

'Run a bath for me, old boy,' Seyton told him. 'I seem to have picked up the most d.a.m.nable stink from somewhere.'

'It's already waiting, sir.'

'Oh. In that case, while I get freshened up, I'd like you to send a telegram for me. I have some news that might greatly interest a friend in Shanghai.'

One.

Shanghai.

Though the night was still young when Seyton returned ho me to Kensington, it was well into the small hours when Shek Yeung applied the brakes to a rusty old Opel truck. He had stolen it a few hours earlier, and now drew up beside the North Railway's freight loading area not far from the banks of Suzhou Creek.

The freight terminal lacked the neocla.s.sical architecture of the more well-off areas of Shanghai. It was mostly built of timber, with iron supports and brick outbuildings. The actual railway tracks and sidings were mostly just laid across a dark field, with grey planking between them to allow engineers to fuel or water the trains. Reflected moonlight picked out the rails themselves as pale veins threading across the ground.

Beyond them, the city's lights flickered in the breeze, since a fair amount of the streetlights were naked flames in paper shades.

The station was in a more utilitarian and cosmopolitan area than the freight terminal. The western edge of the j.a.panese Concession sat like a watching tiger on the eastern side of the street, and Europeans of various persuasions had land on the other side. Yeung wasn't afraid of any of them; the authorities of all the concessions were so wary of stepping on each other's toes that the freight terminal was not as well guarded as it might have been. No government wanted to risk jurisdictional disputes by showing too much of a presence here.

The Concessions of America, j.a.pan and Germany were all guarded by their own troops. It was an odd arrangement for the prime trading city of Nationalist China, but it seemed to work. Technically, though, the British-run Settlement Police had jurisdiction here, so Yeung kept a wary eye out for any sign of their diligent Sikhs.

He rubbed idly at the scar that branched across his swollen-looking cheek, and lowered his burly frame to the ground. He slapped the side of the truck to rouse his confederates to business. The ten men were scruffy dock rats in mismatched items of clothing that were either hand-me-downs or simply stolen from washing lines.

Yeung wasn't impressed; his shabby black garb might be of low quality, but he had paid for it new, with the proceeds of rolling a drunk or two. Unlike his partners in crime, Yeung at least had some standards.

The men reached back into the truck to pull out a trolley with some cutting equipment and a.s.sociated gas cylinders.

Their arms were all covered with scratches and bruises from mishandling it, but Yeung didn't care; all that mattered was that he could see that none of them had a Tong or Triad tattoo.

It was not that he disapproved of the Tongs; but the Great Circle in particular didn't like unauthorized crimes, so they would certainly disapprove of him. While his men struggled with the cutting gear, Yeung lifted a fire axe down from the cab of the truck and moved towards a side door. The freight warehouse had huge doors at either end so that trains could be shunted from the main line to inside the building, but someone would notice if he opened them.

Yeung used to work here, until he was sacked for pilfering the petty cash, and so he knew that the night watchmen were lazy and only watched those main doors across the tracks. This side door, therefore, was fair game.

Hefting the axe in his ma.s.sive arms, he swung it down onto the solid padlock. It took only a few blows to shatter the lock, which dropped to the ground. Unfortunately, the noise had not gone unnoticed, and he opened the door to find three watchmen skidding to a halt.

Yeung slammed the haft of the axe into the nearest watchman's face with a wet splintering sound. The others tried to run, but Yeung's dock rats swarmed over them before they got ten paces, and beat them to the ground.

Leaving the unconscious men, Yeung moved inside the warehouse. The others followed, dragging the cutting gear on its little trolley. Yeung searched for the fuse box to turn the lights on. Two wide trenches ran through the stone floor, with a pair of tracks in each, leaving room for four trains to be loaded or unloaded at one time. Thick iron pillars supported the distant roof, and the floor had its own landscape of dirty and smudged crates.

One set of rolling stock was in residence; half a dozen boxcars, the last of which was constructed of steel rather than wood. Taking a satisfied deep breath of air, which was tinted with the scent of oil, rust and wood shavings, Yeung directed his men towards the steel boxcar.

The door of the boxcar was emblazoned with the logo of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank. That, and the unusual st.u.r.diness of its construction, meant that even the most opium-fuzzed mind among Yeung's band could work out what sort of cargo it contained. Waving the others to spread out and keep watch three guards was so little that it was suspicious Yeung watched as his cracksman, Liu, ignited the cutting flame.

'Be careful with that,' Yeung warned. 'There are KMT wages inside, both banknotes and bonds; we don't want them burnt.'

'I know what I'm doing,' the weaselly Liu a.s.sured him. He lowered a pair of black goggles over his greasy face, and played the flame across the thick latch in order to soften it generally.

Yeung had never been patient, and all this waiting was making him jumpy. Every vehicle that pa.s.sed in the distance made him reach for his gun. After a few minutes, and an increase in the metallic smell of the air, Liu shut off the cutting flame, and started to prise open the door with a crowbar. Yeung s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him as the others hurried over, breathless with excitement.

Yeung's bulging muscles were a better match for the weight of the door than Liu's, and at least Yeung felt that his irritation was being put to good use in pulling the door open.

Yeung relaxed with a sigh as the door finally swung wide, and he discarded the crowbar without a second thought. He suddenly felt a very unseasonable chill as he saw the tiny piece of card that was the sole occupant of the boxcar's dusty floor.

Feeling as dissociated from himself as if he had been bewitched by a ghost, Yeung picked up the card. In Chinese ideograms, it read 'Crime does not pay'. On the reverse side was 'I know'.

There was a faint footfall from above. Yeung looked up, having been in Shanghai's underworld long enough to know in advance what he would see. A lean figure in boots and a leather coat was watching them from atop a hill of crates, his face obscured by motorcycle goggles. 'All the money has been re-routed to a different warehouse. Drop your weapons, and wait quietly.' The voice was perfunctory and clearly used to command. Yeung hadn't noticed his approach, since the black leathers blended in so well with the moonless night. 'The Settlement Police will be here in moments; we will all wait quite comfortably.'

He had heard of the man, though. The petty criminals who frequented Yeung's favourite waterfront bars spoke of a nuisance they had nicknamed Yan Cheh Man of Endurance.

They were a superst.i.tious bunch of dock rats, who got so drunk before a job that they could scarcely stand. Whether Yan Cheh was a police officer, or just some young fool who had listened to too much of the American forces' vigilante radio dramas, he would cease operations tonight. First, though, Yeung would find out how he came to be waiting here for them. He decided he would only maim this Yan Cheh to start with.

'Yan Cheh,' he called out, 'endure this!' He swept open the blade of a b.u.t.terfly knife. Yan Cheh shifted slightly, a Colt.45 appearing in one hand and firing instantly. Yeung ducked instinctively, then cursed himself as the lights went out, the fuse box shattered by the bullet. His hand had already released the knife on its curving path through the air, and he hurled himself to the side just in case.

There was a soft swishing sound a few yards away; and a high-pitched scream. The boom of a shotgun immediately followed, the blaze of sparks from the muzzle jetting briefly in the direction of the cry. Yeung was puzzled and unnerved.

Somehow he had lost the initiative, and he didn't dare ask what was going on in case the noise alerted Yan Cheh to his position. His companions were not so careful, however; the fools were chattering to each other and b.u.mping into crates as noisily as pregnant pandas.

Moving as silently as he could, Yeung drew out the Nambu pistol he had looted from a j.a.panese bluejacket back in the troubles of '32, and padded towards the source of the scream.

His foot slipped in something wet, but he didn't need to see to be able to identify the source of the warm coppery smell that haunted the area.

'Put down your weapons and wait for the police.' The voice drifted around the warehouse. Yeung clenched his ma.s.sive fist around the Nambu as he glared into the darkness. If Yan Cheh would just keep that up and give him time to determine his position...It seemed to be coming from the right, and Yeung quickly adopted a firing stance and fired several shots in the direction of the sound.

There was the clang of bullets. .h.i.tting metal and a ball of yellow fire erupted with a soft whoosh as Yeung's shots. .h.i.t the oxyacetylene equipment. Yeung was slammed off the platform and onto the neighbouring tracks by a blast of heat, while Liu was blown clear across the loading area, his body a ma.s.s of flames. When Yeung's vision cleared, he saw that the blast had cut down another two men as well.

A number of the warped and dusty crates around were on fire, as was the nearest boxcar. At least, Yeung thought, there was now some light to see by. The remaining five visible members of Yeung's gang picked themselves up from the sawdust-strewn floor and looked around fearfully.

The survivors turned as running footsteps approached the far side of the stack of crates. Since it was from the opposite direction to the last sound from Yan Cheh, perhaps it was one of Yeung's men coming to see what had happened. Yeung signalled for the others to hold their fire for now, and looked around for his fallen Nambu.

The running stopped an instant before Yan Cheh vaulted over the stacked crates, two Colt.45 automatics firing in turn.

Two more thieves slammed to the ground under multiple impacts, and the others bolted, as Yan Cheh landed on the raised loading platform and the guns jammed empty. Yeung saw his chance, and sprang up onto the platform, tugging a nunchaku nunchaku from a deep pocket. Yan Cheh spun at the sound of the footfall, drawing a from a deep pocket. Yan Cheh spun at the sound of the footfall, drawing a katana katana from under his leather coat. from under his leather coat.

Yeung leapt back to avoid a vicious slash, and snapped the nunchaku forward so that the chain between the staves wrapped itself around the sword's blade.