Lights Out (16 page)

Lily sat in her car in the stuffy basement of the Chai Wan warehouse.
She had the car running to allow for the cool air conditioning to circulate.

She was feeling very uncomfortable with the current situation. She
had heard about some of the murders and missing people, but she had never
directly been involved in a planned abduction. What unnerved her the most was
Ghost Face and how unpredictable he could be. She feared for Rob’s life, and
she was worried now that she would be putting Ryan’s life at risk too.

Her Grandmother had never discussed deaths that happened within the
society and Lily never thought that it was appropriate to ask. Her Grandmother
appeared on the outside to deal with it all effortlessly and without remorse.
Maybe by now she had just seen too much, or maybe she just didn’t know.

Lily thought back to her time in Boston, the day that she received
the fateful phone call. Her Grandmother was not able to make the call herself,
she had been too upset, so she had one of her ‘Uncles’ call her. Lily had so
many ‘Uncles’ she recalled wryly, knowing that her parents had no real
siblings of their own.

She remembered being in her hall of residence. In her room, busy
working on one of her papers and not wanting to be disturbed. She’d ignored the
phone calls coming in on her mobile until eventually she had switched off her
phone altogether. Less than ten minutes later there had been a short firm knock
on her door.

With an irritated sigh, Lily had walked to the door expecting one of
her fellow students, probably there to invite her to one of the student
functions. Instead she opened the door to find the University Dean standing on
her threshold, looking somber and oddly formal in his tweed jacket and tie. He
shifted uncomfortably on each foot and asked Lily to accompany him immediately
to the office. Lily new instinctively that something was horribly wrong. Why
else would the Dean come and fetch someone in person, if it was not to deliver
bad news.

She remembered the long walk down the narrow corridor, walking
between the double doors every six rooms or so. She remembered walking down
three flights of stairs and into the Hall of residence entrance. She remembered
the short walk across the courtyard into the main building where the offices
were situated, and she remembered being asked to sit down in the chair next to
the Dean’s desk, whilst he maneuvered his phone across the dark wooden desk and
held out the receiver to Lily.

The Dean nodded for Lily to take the phone, and he said very gently
to her, “it’s your Uncle”.

Lily took the phone and placed it close to her ear. “Hello?” she
asked quietly.

“Lily”, her Uncle Edward’s familiar voice sounded both strained and
relieved at the same time.

“Lily” he said again, this time his voice tailed off. Lily could hear
some shifting in the background and whispers. This time a different voice came
on the line.

“Lily, it’s Aunt
Julianna
, I’m sorry, your
Uncle is quite upset.” She spoke more matter of fact, with less emotion in her
voice.

“Lily, there is no easy way to tell you this, but I have some bad
news.”

Lily’s stomach was knotted tightly. She suddenly felt heavy and
weighed her down in her chair.

“Your Mother and Father were killed last night. It was an accident.
They were driving back home after supper in the City. They were driving along
the Eastern Corridor, when one of their
tyres
blew
out. It was sudden Lily, they lost control and their car went through the
barrier and into the
harbour
. I’m so very sorry.” Her
Aunt finished.

When there was no response she said; “Lily, honey are you there?”

Lily couldn’t listen any longer, she held the phone out to the Dean,
who took it before she let it go and he politely continued a conversation with
her Aunt that Lily didn’t hear.

In fact Lily didn’t hear much after that. She didn’t remember being
escorted back to her room, or when the Doctor came into her dorm to give her a
sedative.

When Lily awoke the next morning, everything had been arranged. Her
Grandmother had paid for a plane ticket back to Hong Kong. The funeral would be
in five days time and she would to go home to help the family prepare.

Lily went through the motions of packing her things. Everything was
slow and sludgy to her, like walking through thick soup, she felt like her head
was filled with it too.

She’d had been given extensions on all of her course work, and
everything had been arranged by the Dean’s secretary, her tutors were notified
and allowances had been put into place.

It was confirmed that she would be away for at least a month.

The drive to the airport and the flight to Hong Kong was all a blur.
She wasn’t sure if she slept, and she couldn’t remember being awake either.
Food had become a thing of the past as her appetite disappeared overnight.

The first thing that she remembered about the trip was the humidity.
The air was so wet, that it almost took Lily’s breath away when she stepped off
the plane. It was an effort for her to breathe. She waked through immigration
effortlessly and swiftly to a waiting black Mercedes-Benz.

Lily was driven directly to her old family home. It was on the South
side of the Island, a Mansion of a house that hugged the mountainside and was
surrounded by a tropical jungle, with a direct view of the Ocean that seemed to
just drop off in front of the house.

As the car drew close Lily watched through the drivers window as the
familiar black security gates opened and the car swung easily into the
sprawling drive way.

Lily climbed out of the car, whilst the driver collected her bags from
the boot. She went straight into the house and yelled for her Grandmother.

“Granny, where are you?” Lily shouted as she started to walk toward
the drawing room. At the sound of Lily’s voice,
Mrs
Lui
, their old family housekeeper hurried through from the
kitchen to greet her. She gave Lily a tight squeeze and gently stroked the back
of her hair like she used to when Lily was a child.

“Lillian, welcome back”, the old lady sniffed sadly. “I’m so sorry
that we have to see you again under such circumstances. Your Grandmother is
upstairs in bed. She asked for you to go right up when you arrive. She’s
desperate to see you. Now go.” She gave Lily a gentle shove in the right
direction.

“Thank you, I’ll go up now.”

Lily ran up the staircase two steps at a time, reminding her of her
childhood. She reached the landing and quickly went to her Grandmothers door.
Turning the handle she pushed the door gently and peered into the room.

The room was dark, the curtains shut tight.

“Lillian, come in my dear. I’m not sleeping.” Lily’s Grandmother
spoke quietly.

Lily duly walked over to the bed and perched herself on the edge
depressing the mattress slightly. Her Grandmother had always impressed Lily. She
had always been so energetic and young looking and wise and knowledgeable, but
today she looked pale and old. Today she actually looked her age.

Lily leaned in to her Grandmother and wrapped her arms around her
slim body tightly. She could feel every bone across her slight frame, and she
suddenly seemed so fragile.

Lily pulled back gently and looked at her Grandmother.

“I don’t know what to do.” Lily said, almost in a whisper. “I don’t
even know how I should feel.” Lily could feel a tear starting to escape and she
quickly rubbed her sleeve across her tired pretty face.

Her Grandmother leaned forward and with her gnarled old hand, gently
wiped the tears away until they were gone.

“My dear Lillian, I know how you feel right now and that will never
really leave you. If we are lucky it will dull in time, but we will never
forget, and you will find that at the most inappropriate time, thoughts and
memories, both happy and sad, will creep up and surprise you.” Her Grandmother
said soothingly as she stroked Lily’s hand.

“But, first we need to talk, and we have a lot to discuss. I think it’s
time for the truth”.

Lily held onto her Grandmothers hands and nodded unknowingly.

Her Grandmother got herself comfortable in the bed, as Lily helped to
plump pillows and straighten the bedding. She was instructed to switch on just
one side lamp. It was already getting dark outside and there was no more
natural light that could be let into the room, so she kept the curtains closed.

Lily pulled up a chair and sat facing her Grandmother, waiting for
her to begin.

“You won’t really remember your Grandfather” She started, “you were
so small when he died, but he was a great man. You remind me a little of him.”
She brushed Lily’s cheek.

“It was your Grandfather that provided all of this”. She waved one of
her arms sweeping the room to indicate the family home.

“He had his own business. It was a clothing factory, back when we
could still have factories in Hong Kong. We made formalwear, cotton shirts for
men and dresses for women. It was a good business. Then suddenly things started
to change. China began opening up and people started to move their business
over the border, customers started to work directly or through trading
companies, and suddenly Hong Kong became an expensive place to manufacture. We
watched as so many of our
neighbours
were forced to
close down their factories, some of which had been in their family for over
sixty years. They simply closed the factory doors and disappeared overnight. We
were heading in the same direction, and started to worry about surviving the
changes, when someone came to discuss a business proposition with your father.

During that time gangs in China were rife, businessmen were being
bullied and businesses blackmailed, factories were being burnt down, people
started paying for protection to certain gangs to stop being harassed, but it
still continued. Nobody could be trusted. Some of the gangs became so big with
so many members, that they no longer called themselves gangs. They formed
societies. Some societies had so much money coming in illegally that they
needed a way to move the money without coming under suspicion. With so many
businesses closing down in Hong Kong, it seemed the perfect opportunity to use
a failing company to move the money through undetected and then legitimately
put it through a Hong Kong bank, when the time was right it would be transferred
back to China.

Your Grandfather could see the writing on the wall with our factory,
and like all good businessmen, thought through the pros and cons, and then he
finally agreed.

That decision helped to keep the factory workers in employment, and
kept his factory open. It worked well for many, many years and over time your
Grandfather became a trusted member of the society, slowly working his way up
the ladder and taking on more and more responsibilities. By the time your
Mother was getting married to your Father, your Grandfather was working in so
many sectors of industry for the society across both borders. Always using his
old business to legitimize everything. He had Hotels and restaurants in Hong
Kong and China paying protection money. A group of over one hundred security
men and bodyguards worked for him. He was personally instrumental in
co-coordinating the introduction of fake goods between borders, taking his cut
and ensuring that both parties had police protection, or the kind that could
turn a blind eye. He paid handsomely to those people that helped and supported
him. Then as we reached the 1980’s things became more technical slowly moving
out of his realm of expertise. He realized that he needed someone young and
trustworthy to work with him. This is where your Mother and Father came in.
Your Father worked in computers and was dynamic and always looking for a
challenge. Most importantly, he was family. It was easy to convince him to join
the society and he proved to be a great asset. Next came pirated software,
videos, and then mobile phones. Suddenly the business exploded and we had money
coming in from every angle, and your Grandfather was controlling all of it. He
knew everyone and everything. We went to parties at the Hong Kong Governors
residence; we dined with the Commissioner of Police and his wife and all the
other high-ranking officials. People started asking him to invest in legitimate
business projects, which he started to do.

It was going well, but then something shifted. Seeing the success of
the society, a rival society began to stake a claim of some of our territories,
and soon a war erupted.

You may not remember this as you were still so young, but about ten
years ago in
Tsim
Sha
Tsui
, there were gangs on the streets fighting. Using their
hands and fists, throwing acid. It lasted for five days and the police just turned
a blind eye.

We won. Even though they had tried to destroy everything that he had
worked forty years to build. Your Grandfather was never aggressive, not once,
he never had to be, he had thugs and other people to do that for him, but he
was tough and respected, and that’s what they needed to break. Your Grandfather
was killed crossing the road from the Grand Hyatt Hotel. We had just had supper
with your Mother and Father. Out of nowhere a car ran him down and he died
there and then. I was holding his hand.”