Opium

Opium by Colin Falconer Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Opium by Colin Falconer Read Free Book Online
Authors: Colin Falconer
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Romance, Historical, Action & Adventure, 20th Century
everyone else. A wise man did not want to look like the sort of person people would remember.
    The two landing strips at Kai Tak looked like two tiny chopsticks in the folds of the Kowloon hills. There was a press of sampans and junks in the harbour. That was the key to the future, right there, the trail that started in the mountains of Northern Laos ended here among the maze of islands where chiu chao fisherman smuggled his opium to his triad friends in Aberdeen and Mongkok. From there it disappeared into the maze of alleys around Kowloon, for the opium divans or factories where they cooked it into low grade heroin.
    It was just a simple import and export business, and for years it had been a steady, if unspectacular, part of his interests. But two separate events had changed everything; first, Sammy's brother had become Incense Master and deputy chief of the Fei Leung in Hong Kong; and second, President Diem had finally abandoned his hard-line stance against opium, making the trade easier and far more profitable.
    Like any good businessman, he knew an opportunity when he saw one.
    Sammy Chen's only concern was the instability in Laos, where most of the opium was grown. If the communists took over, his business would be ruined. The Americans only had to keep them out for a few more years, and Sammy Chen and the Fei Leung would make a fortune.
    Just needed was a little joss - good luck.
    The 707 dropped alarmingly over the city, then the engines roared as the pilot groped for the concrete apron. The road crossed the end of the runway and Sammy Chen saw some coolies, backs bent under their loads, risk their lives to duck under the red and white striped barriers and race the aircraft across the tarmac as it taxied to the terminal.
    They could not wait for it to pass, not even for a few seconds. There was a living to be made. Every minute was precious.
    It was a philosophy he understood only too well.
     
    ***
     
    That afternoon Sammy Chen thought his destiny was in the hands of a few Pathet Lao rebels in the hills of northern Laos. But he was wrong. His nemesis was actually about to enter the cold waters of Mirs Bay, just a few miles to the north.
     
    ***
     
    At the narrowest point of the Bay the People's Republic of China is just fourteen hundred metres from the New Territories of Hong Kong, just north of Starling Inlet. Ho Kuan-ling was confident of his ability to swim far greater distances than that. But when he had originally planned his escape, he had not counted on the strength of the current that day. Freedom was not as close as he had imagined.
    He had set off just before sunset, but the current soon carried him away from the far shore, and as night fell he was still struggling in the water, a few hundred metres from land. He had by now drifted south of Robinson Island into Crooked Harbour, almost four and a half kilometres from where he had set off. He was a strong swimmer, but cold and fatigue had sapped his reserves.
    For the first time, he realized that he might not make it.
    Several times he passed tantalisingly close to the land. But each time he got within a few hundred yards of the beach, the currents swept him on again.
    By now there was no direction to his strokes. It was all he could do to keep his head above the water. His leg and arm muscles were cramping. He could make out few lights in the gathering gloom and those he could see were so far away they might just as well have been stars.
    He tried floating on his back, conserving his strength for one last effort. He prayed to Kuan Yi, Goddess of Mercy, Goddess of the Sea. Save me, he promised. Save me and I will build a thousand incense in your honour. I will build a whole temple ...
    Just save me ...
    Then he heard it; the rumble of boat engines, carried to him on the still night. It grew louder. Where was it coming from?
    He flapped at the water, searching the darkness. He did not see the fin in the water, heard only a splash close by as the great fish

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