Understand? Mine, you fat brute!'
The man stared back at him with a cold insolence that seemed almost dignified. His massive head shook slightly, the long queue quivering down his back.
'Hear what he said?' Mason swaggered forward. 'Go on, push off! Come round here again, you'll land in prison. Get it?'
The fat man's eyes flickered in his moonlike, immobile face as he glanced swiftly from Mason to Su-mei to Denton.
Denton dragged out his Chinese at last - he seemed to have lost it all at first, as though it didn't belong to this savage, elemental layer of his self. 'Go away or I will have you arrested,' he said distinctly, trying to control his heaving breath.
The man moved his eyes again, without turning his head, to watch his companion draw closer to him, then let them swivel back to Denton. 'This woman works for me,' he answered in Chinese, staring coolly into Denton's eyes. 'It is nothing to do with you.' He nodded faintly to the other man, who seized Su-mei's arm. She gave a shocked little yell, then stiffened, pursed her lips and spat deliberately into his face.
'Let her go or I kill you,' Denton said. His voice was under control now, low and level. He knew with the same elation as before that he would hit the smaller man if he didn't let go. He felt the violence throbbing up behind that broken barrier.
The man let go after a moment and slowly wiped the spit off his face.
'Good for you, Denton,' someone muttered behind him.
Su-mei was trembling and white-faced, though no longer whimpering. She touched the blood with her finger again and looked down at it with the same detached wonder.
'Proper little spitfire, isn't she?' Mason said admiringly. The others laughed.
'She owes me money,' the gross Chinese went on stolidly, as if nothing had happened since he last spoke. 'One hundred dollars.'
'You working for the Red Triangle?' Mason interrupted belligerently, first in English, then in broken Chinese.
The fat man's eyes shifted slowly to Mason then back again. He didn't answer, except for a faint, scornful lowering of his lids.
'Because you'd better watch out if you're not. This is Red Triangle territory.' Mason said, again first in English then in Chinese. 'This town belong Red Triangle.'
Again the fat man's eyes shifted to Mason while his face remained motionless, still turned towards Denton. He looked back again, as though a fly had momentarily disturbed his concentration. 'One hun-dred dollars,' he repeated in his husky, even voice. 'She owes me one hundred dollars.'
Su-mei was winding up her hair, breathing heavily and unsteadily. 'I don't owe him anything,' she said sullenly. 'He's lying.'
Denton took a handful of change from his pocket and counted out ten silver dollars.
'Hey, don't give him anything!' Mason protested. 'He's just a pimp trying to make a bit out of the girl. Give him a kick and send him packing.'
But Denton held out the coins. The fat man's eyes moved a fraction, then he shook his head. 'One hundred dollars,' he said.
'Liar!' Su-mei muttered. The man's muscles hardened under his cheeks, but there was no other sign that he'd heard her. His eyes remained, flat and demanding, on Denton's. Denton recalled Mason's dropping the money in front of the peasant outside Soochow. He tilted his palm and let the coins slide off one by one. He was standing so close that several of them landed on the fat man's cloth slippers. But the man didn't flinch. His rigid baleful expression didn't change. The other man stooped, though, and rapidly gathered them up.
'Now leave her alone,' Denton warned the fat man. 'I know you, I'll send the police to get you if you touch her again. Or the French police. I know where you come from.'
For the first time the man's eyes changed. A different, darker light glimmered in them for a second, then they were flat and still again.
'And if the police do not have you, the Red Triangle will,' Mason sneered.
'Not enough,' the fat man said, ignoring Mason, 'She owes me one hundred dollars,' but then he turned suddenly with surprising speed for so ponderous a body, and walked swiftly away, gross in his swaying, waddling gait. The small man trotted after him.
'Christ, what a fatty!' Mason shouted. 'Be far quicker if he lay down and rolled!'
Denton led Su-mei back to the mess. A crowd of Chinese onlookers had collected and now, as they slowly dispersed, they followed them with their eyes, gawping silently.
'Nice-looking piece, though, isn't she?' Mason nudged Denton and leered. 'Where'd you find her? Didn't think you'd got it in you, frankly.'
Suddenly Denton's limbs were trembling. He felt he must be wobbling as he walked. 'What ... what was that about the Red Triangle?' he asked in an unsteady voice, passing over Mason's dig.
'Red Triangle? One of the big triad gangs.' Mason brushed up the ends of his moustache, eyeing Su-mei frankly across Denton's front. 'Anyone operates in the International Concession without their say so, he's likely to end up in the river in no time. I expect that's what scared old fatty off,' he added complacently. 'Not the police bit. They always reckon they can buy off the mashers. But the Red Triangle's different. Shouldn't think she'll have any more trouble from him.' He leant forward, eyeing Su-mei again. 'What's your name, dearie?'
Su-mei didn't answer, dabbing her mouth with her hand. Her eyes stiffened faintly as though she disliked the assuming familiarity of his tone.
'She doesn't speak English,' Denton said curtly.
Mason shrugged and nudged him again. 'You know old Ching's supposed to be something big in the Red Triangle. He didn't like the way you handled that business with the Alexander the First, so I've heard. I'd watch my step there if I were you.'
Denton recalled Lolly Kwai's enigmatic remark as they left the Alexander the First after discovering the contraband. Mr Ching big friend Mr Mason. 'I suppose you didn't like it either?' he asked pointedly.
'Me?' Mason glanced quickly away, his voice growing slightly hollow. 'Why should I care? It's no skin off my nose.'
They were climbing the steps now. The waiters and desk clerks who had been watching from the lobby whispered to each other and grinned.
'I'd better take her up to have a wash,' Denton murmured self- consciously.
Mason had recovered. He smirked round at the other. 'Oh yes, give her a wash,' he winked. 'And then it'll be bed-time, eh? Time to put her to bed.'
Denton led her up the stairs while the rest sauntered back to the bar, laughing and joking, ostentatiously calling out, 'Goodnight! Sleep well.'
He leant against the bathroom door, watching Su-mei wash her face and dab her swollen eyes. She explained what had happened in short emotionless sentences, examining her face in the mirror while she spoke. The fat man was Pock-mark Chen, one of the leaders of the Green Triangle triad in the French Settlement. The Green Triangle were challenging the Red Triangle on the borders of what had always been their territory - the International Settlement. She used to pay protection money to the Green Triangle when she lived in the French Settlement, but since she'd moved into the International Settlement, she'd been paying the Red Triangle. Now Pock-mark Chen was trying to make her pay the Green Triangle as well. How could she pay both? At first he'd just demanded money and she'd kept putting him off. Recently he'd threatened to disfigure her if she didn't pay. She touched the cut on her lip gingerly and felt the bruise on her cheekbone.
He took her into the living room and sat her down opposite him.
'Why don't you go to the police?' he asked.
She pouted and smiled simultaneously. 'What good would that do? They'd only laugh.'
'Well, what are you going to do, then?' He felt elated and pleased with himself. He had saved her from being disfigured, he would protect and advise her. His sleeping with her - that was done with. He was atoning for it now. And yet his nerves tingled when he looked at her. The