Death Trip. Lee Weeks

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       19

      Mann waited whilst Ng ticked off his preferences from the dim sum menu. Bamboo baskets full of steamed dumplings were already arriving before he’d 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 СКАЧАТЬ