Necropolis (31 page)

and it had obviously been cooked by a world-class chef. Matt was glad to see that he had been provided with a spoon and fork. Han Shan-tung ate with chopsticks.

"I must apologize to you," he began. There was no small talk. He didn't ask them about their journey or what they thought of their rooms. "Urgent business took me to America. It was badly timed because it delayed your arrival here. And I'm afraid I have bad news. I had hoped that the object of your journey would have been sitting here with us tonight. I am referring to the girl, Lin Mo." He continued quickly, before Richard could interrupt. "You call her Scarlett Adams. But I refer to her by the name she was given before she was adopted and taken to the West."

"How do you know about Scarlett?" Richard asked.

Shan-tung leaned forward and plucked a prawn off one of the dishes. Despite his large hands, he used the chopsticks very delicately, like a scientist handling a specimen. "I know a great deal about the girl,"

he replied. "The fact of the matter is that she was with my agents in Hong Kong only yesterday. I have spent a great deal of time and money — not to mention human life — trying to remove her from the city."

Matt played back what Shan-tung had just said and realized that it confirmed exactly what he had thought. "The Old Ones are in Hong Kong," he said.

"The Old Ones have taken over

Hong Kong," Shan-tung replied. "They control almost every aspect of the city. From the government and the police to the street cleaners. I do not know how many people they have killed, but the number must run into thousands. My people have been fighting them on your behalf. We are the only remaining resistance."

"Who are your people?" Richard asked.

Shan-tung sighed. "It is unnecessary to keep asking me these things. I am about to tell you anyway."

"I'm sorry." Richard realized his error. "I suppose it's a habit. I used to be a journalist."

"I do not like journalists. It is nothing personal — but they have caused me trouble in the past. I suggest you continue eating. I will tell you everything you need to know."

Han Shan-tung had barely eaten anything. But he laid down his chopsticks and continued to speak.

"I have the very considerable honor to be a member of an organization called the Pah Lien.

This translates as the White Lotus Society. You might have remarked upon a clue that I sent you at the airport. The man who met you was carrying a bunch of lilies. The lily is part of the lotus family. My society is a very old one. It was founded in the fourth century to resist the foreign invaders known as the Mongols who then ruled over China. The aim of White Lotus remained the same over the next four centuries: to help the Chinese people fight against tyranny and oppression.

"But over the years, something very interesting happened. The White Lotus Society changed. It will be difficult for you to understand the nature of this change, so let me explain it to you by referring to a character from your own history. You will, I am sure, know Robin Hood. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He was a hero to the peasants in Sherwood Forest. But to the authorities, he was an outlaw, a criminal. They would have hanged him if they could.

"In the early days, the White Lotus Society operated in much the same way. Indeed, it might interest you to know that the society had a motto:

Ta fu — chih p'in.

This translates as 'strike the rich and help the poor.' But here was the crucial difference: As the years passed, White Lotus found that it was enjoying and benefiting from the criminal nature of its activities.

It was also remarkably successful in the world of organized crime. It continued to steal from the rich but, as its members became richer themselves, it found itself giving rather less to the poor. It also changed its name. It became known as the Three United Society. There was a reason for this. White Lotus believed that the world was made up of three different parts: heaven, earth, and mankind. Its members therefore had a triangle tattooed onto their body. The triangle also appeared on their flags. And in the end, they became known simply as the Triads."

There was a long silence. Matt had heard of the Triads, the criminal gangs that were active all over Asia.

They were drug dealers. They were involved in people-smuggling, extortion, and murder. They would torture or kill anyone who got in their way. They were as brutal as they were powerful. And this man was calmly admitting that he was one of them! He glanced at Jamie. The American boy was listening politely. He didn't seem shocked by what he had just heard. Richard, on the other hand, was staring openmouthed.

"I can see that you are dismayed," Shan-tung remarked. "And before you ask me one of your inane questions, Mr. Cole, I will answer you. Yes. I am a criminal. More than that, I am what is known as Shan Chu, the Master of the Mountain. This means that I am the supreme leader of my own Triad. I cannot tell you how many people I have murdered to get to where I am today, but a conservative guess would be about twenty-five. I do know that I am wanted in exactly nine countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States — and I would have been arrested a long time ago if I hadn't paid the right people a great deal of money to leave me alone.

'You are now wondering if you should be sitting at my table, eating my food. You are asking yourself why I should wish to help you in your struggle against the Old Ones. You are thinking, perhaps, that it would be more natural for me to be on their side. But you would be wrong.

"Until very recently, I controlled all the crime in Hong Kong. I have, for example, drug laboratories in Kowloon and the New Territories. I have illegal casinos and betting shops throughout the island.

Immigrants from China were paying five thousand dollars a time for me to help them cross the border illegally. The arrival of the Old Ones has changed everything. They have no interest in profit. They do not want to do business. They want only to destroy everything around them — and that includes the Triads. They are as much my enemy as anyone's, the only difference being that I have the means to fight back. And that is what I have been doing. There is a certain irony, don't you think? I am undoubtedly a bad man. But a greater evil has come my way, and now I am forced to do good.

"And so I have used all my resources within Hong Kong to set up a resistance. I have buildings. I have people. I have weapons — not that they are of much use against creatures that can form themselves out of flies. Above all, I have determination. I will not be defeated by the Old Ones. They can destroy the world — but they will not destroy me."

"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to work for them," Richard said.

"As it happens, they did indeed ask me to serve them. The Nightrise Corporation approached me exactly a year ago. But the Master of the Mountain does not serve anyone. I mentioned twenty-five victims. The man who put that question to me was the twenty-fifth."

"May I ask a question?" Matt asked.

"You have my permission," Han Shan-tung replied. "But I should warn you that soon I have a question to put to you, and I very much hope you will be able to provide me with the right answer."

Matt didn't like the sound of that, but he went on anyway. "How do you know about Scarlett?" he asked.

"And why did you call her Lin Mo?"

"The White Lotus Society has always known about the Gatekeepers. You must remember that in our early days, almost two thousand years ago, we were to all intents and purposes a religious order. We still are. That means we are the keepers of many secrets…sacred texts and ancient beliefs. Even when we began to devote ourselves exclusively to crime, we stayed true to ourselves. The secrets were passed on from generation to generation. And I think we always knew that one day we would be called upon to return to our origins, to take up the sword once again.

"As to the second part of your question, regarding Lin Mo, that I am not yet prepared to tell you. I need to be persuaded that I can trust you, and that is still not the case.

"However, I can say that she was born in a place called Meizhou. We always knew that the Old Ones would return and look for her…that she was one of the Gatekeepers. We therefore arranged for her to be adopted and taken to the West. We wanted her to be as far away from here as possible. We hoped that she would be safe."

"It didn't work."

Shan-tung shrugged. "We did everything we could to protect her. It was not our fault that the Old Ones found her. In fact, if anyone is to blame, it is her. Nonetheless, you are right. The Old Ones found her and brought her back."

"You tried to get her out of Hong Kong," Jamie said. He hadn't eaten very much, absorbed in what he was being told.

"Scarlett was kept under guard from the moment she arrived," Shan-tung explained. "With great difficulty, we managed to get a message to her. My most trusted agent in Hong Kong, a man called Lohan, contacted her and arranged for the shape-changer who had been guarding her to be killed. He took her to a safe place where we hoped to keep her hidden, but unfortunately — and again through no fault of our own — she was found again. As I mentioned to you, several of my people died. However, Lohan managed to move her to one of our warehouses and had planned to smuggle her out on a cruise liner. That was yesterday. The plan failed for reasons that are not yet clear. She is now their prisoner."

"So what do we do now?" Jamie asked. "How do we get her back again?"

The Master of the Mountain poured himself a glass of water from a crystal jug and drank it.

"Jamie and I can go into Hong Kong," Matt said. "We can find her…"

"If you go into Hong Kong, you will be doing exactly what they want you to do. They will be waiting for you, and although they will not kill you — that is not part of their plan — they will keep you in so much pain that you will wish constantly for death."

"We can't just leave her."

'You may have no choice."

"No, Mr. Shan-tung," Matt said. 'You don't believe that. Otherwise, why would you have invited us here?" Matt looked him straight in the eyes. 'You're going to help us get into Hong Kong. You've already told us. You've got people over there. You can smuggle us in. We can find Scarlett. And we can be out of there before the Old Ones know what's happened."

Han Shan-tung set his glass down. "I might help you," he said. "But as I mentioned to you earlier, there is still a question you have to answer for me."

"And what is that?"

"I am, by nature, a very careful man. I have told you that I have killed twenty-five times. What I should have added is that there have been as many attempts on my own life. You are here in my house on the recommendation of my friend, Mr. Lee. I trust him. He has been useful to me in the past, and he definitely believes that you and the American boy are who you say you are."

"Is that your question?"

"It is exactly that. How can I be sure that you are one of the Five?"

Matt thought for a moment. Then he pointed at the crystal jug. He didn't even need to think about it any more. The jug was swept, instantly, off the table. It fell to the floor and smashed. Shan-tung blinked. It was his only reaction. But then he slowly smiled. "An amusing conjuring trick. But it is still not enough.

I do not question your abilities. It is your identity I wish to know."

"I'll read your mind," Jamie said. "You say you know everything about us. In ten seconds I can tell you even more about you."

"I would recommend that you stay out of my mind," Han Shan-tung said. He turned to Matt. "There is a test, a trial you might say, that will prove to me beyond any doubt that you are who you say you are.

Only one of you needs to take part in it. But I should warn you, though, that to fail will cause you great pain and perhaps even death. What do you say?"

Matt shrugged. "We need your help," he said. "We've flown a long way to get it. If there is no other way

—"

"There isn't."

"Matt…" Richard muttered.

"Then let's go ahead," Matt said. "What test do you have in mind?"

Han Shan-tung got to his feet. "It is called the sword ladder," he said. He gestured toward a door at the back of the room. "Please…will you come this way?"

TWENTY-FIVE

The Sword Ladder

Matt stood up and followed Han Shan-tung. Richard and Jamie came behind. They went through the door into a long corridor, all polished wood but otherwise undecorated. There was a second door at the far end.

It opened into a large, square room that didn't seem to belong to the rest of the house. It reminded Matt of a chapel, or perhaps a concert hall that might comfortably seat fifty or sixty people. The walls were plain and wood-paneled, matching the corridor outside, and there were pews arranged around three of the sides. The fourth was concealed by a dark red curtain that had been pulled across, perhaps concealing a stage. There was a gallery above the curtain, but it was high up, arranged in such a way that it was impossible to tell from floor level what it might contain.

'You are inside a Triad lodge," Mr. Shan-tung explained. "And you should consider yourselves very privileged. Only Triad members and initiates are allowed in here — normally any outsiders would be instantly killed. We meet in this place on the twenty-fifth day of each Chinese month. There is a separate entrance from the street. You might be interested to know that an initiation ceremony lasts six hours. A new recruit is expected to answer three hundred and thirty-three questions about the society. He learns secret handshakes and recognition signals. A lock of his hair is taken, and he signs his name in blood."

"Actually, I wasn't thinking of joining," Richard muttered.

Fortunately, Shan-tung didn't appear to have heard. "I speak of our rituals to remind you that the White Lotus Society is very old," he went on. "Things have, of course, changed with modern times. Nine hundred years ago, initiates would have drunk each other's blood, mixed with wine. And there is another part of the ceremony that has fallen out of use. When China was enslaved by Kublai Khan, it is said, the society searched for a leader, the one man who might liberate them. That man would be known as the Buddhist Messiah, and he would show himself by a sign…"