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Date Posted: 06:58:03 06/09/07 Sat
Author: taurus2124
Author Host/IP: WNPP-p-203-54-24-216.prem.tmns.net.au / 203.54.24.216
Subject: Chapter 114
In reply to: taurus2124 's message, "The Rising Dragons ... continued ..." on 06:47:34 06/09/07 Sat

Chapter 114

Karen Ho returned to her apartment across the hall after leaving Michael and Nikita alone. She’d had her neighbour under surveillance for some time and had been developing her friendship with the blonde woman over the last couple of weeks on orders from her superiors. She’d also been watching Nikita’s movements each day and knew that her “friend” was anything but what she had said. There was something about Nikita that set her to thinking. Karen had been relaying Intel about Nikita’s movements ever since she’d returned to her apartment. Just who was she and who was she working for? Karen knew she was associated with the Hong Kong Police but there was more to Nikita Wirth than met the eye. She was an enigma. She’d kept to herself ... and except for the two friends Jimmy Lau and Mei Ling from the Hong Kong water police who had visited Nikita from time to time to take her out to dinner, since transferring to the OCTB she was never seen with anyone.

Except for tonight.

Reaching for her phone Karen needed to report on the man who had now shown up at Nikita’s apartment. Karen hadn’t seen him around before, and wondered if he too, was a member of the Hong Kong police like her other two visitors had been. Perhaps he was just an old friend or acquaintance of Nikita’s as she had said, although her womanly intuition told her there was more to Michael and his relationship with Nikita than met the eye.

The man unnerved her.

She couldn’t put her finger on why. It may have been the way he was dressed ... all in black ... or perhaps it was his demeanour and commanding presence. Michael seemed friendly enough but his sharp eyes had seemed to analyse her and they had followed her suspiciously as if summing her up, trying to figure her out. Nikita’s friend had made her feel uncomfortable. Her sixth sense told her that this man was dangerous. Michael’s seemingly off-the-cuff, inquisitive question also belied what she thought he really wanted to know about her. Who was she and why was she here with Nikita? Unfortunately she had foolishly and nervously stumbled over her answer to him taken a back by his question. Then to add more fodder for his suspicions, she had mumbled her excuses as if she couldn’t wait to get away. Hopefully Nikita would think that three was a crowd and that was why she had made a hasty retreat. As far as Michael was concerned, she was positive he would think differently.

Collecting her thoughts as to what she should say, Karen waited nervously for the connection to the recipient of her call. Should she air her reservations about Nikita’s friend? How much was it just her imagination playing tricks on her or was there more substance to her misgivings? Should she err on the side of caution or go with her gut feeling?

She was faced with a problem and inner demons ate away at her troubled mind.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


A weathered hand pushed a blue button on his intercom system. “Yes?”

“Sir ... I have some new information ...”


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Sun Yee Lok sat back in his chair overlooking the lights of Stanley Bay from his office and replaced the receiver in its cradle. The Intel from Karen Ho had been most enlightening ... but also puzzling at the same time. He was in a quandary as to knowing what to do about Nikita Wirth and her male friend.

Karen had been ordered to befriend Nikita Wirth because she was a person of great interest to the Rising Dragons. Jiang had informed him of the Australian undercover officer that had been transferred to the Water Police under the supervision of Superintendent Xiao Zheng. He had also alerted him to her sudden disappearance from Police Headquarters. First she was working for the Water Police and then she went AWOL for some months until her subsequent return a few weeks ago. Jiang had suspected that she was on some covert assignment but all his attempts to find out any information on her had met with a reply that Nikita Wirth was on holiday. Jiang had said that this was highly suspicious given her credentials. The woman was a conundrum, but putting two and two together they had come to the conclusion that she may have knowledge of Tony Wong. Hence they had stepped up their observation of her movements since her transfer from the Hong Kong Water Police to the OCTB.

It was highly probable that Nikita could provide the much needed answers to questions they had been unable to find answers for. They’d checked their sources and a woman of her description had been seen in Aberdeen and Lamma Island with a man hiring a motor bike. It was possible that she was the piece of the puzzle that he needed to solve the mystery of his murdered Hung Kwan ... Tony Wong. Not only was he killed by unknown assassins and his headquarters blown into obliteration, but the destruction of Tony Wong’s operations in Aberdeen had severely handicapped the triad. Business was in a tenuous transition. The Black Panthers and the 14K triads had seen an opportunity to muscle in on the Rising Dragons’ territory. There was a gaping need there that he’d had difficulty in finding a replacement for. Not only that, but tensions had risen with the return of Samuel Li. There was every possibility that he would seek to take over the lucrative market in Aberdeen especially given his expertise. He was also hell-bent on seeking retribution for the alleged death of his father, thinking that it was the Rising Dragons that was indeed responsible.

His inner circle was beginning to diminish rapidly too, either by murder or disappearance and he needed to find the cause of this before there was more damage done to the triad. It was troubling too that an informant had told him that a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Nikita Wirth, was the last person seen with Madame Cheung who had somehow disappeared without a trace in Thailand while on business. This news had been of great distress to him as Madame Cheung had been a woman in a man’s world. Her tenacity and fortitude was inspirational and the money she raised for the Rising Dragons capital was in the millions which made her an invaluable asset to the triad. Her disappearance had been very puzzling and as yet there had been no trace of her or her whereabouts.

If Nikita Wirth was in anyway connected to these events, then who was providing her with Intel about the Rising Dragons and their members particularly their hierarchy? He also needed to know where she was getting her information from. It was obviously not the police ... or more importantly the OCTB. Inspector Jiang Ng, their Bureau chief was in their pocket already and he would suppress any information if it was in anyway incisive. Was she an undercover mole for the Black Panthers or 14K? That was a possibility ... there was bad blood between each triad group. Was it the government? Surely Jiang would know if that was feasible. No, it had to be something covert and secretive. Worst still. Was there a mole within the Rising Dragons itself that had turned rogue against the triad? The more he thought the deeper became his anger. Sun Yee Lok wanted answers to these questions. He needed to know who this woman was working for and the sooner the better.

He’d also been told by Karen that Nikita was very interested in meeting Andy Koo. She had asked her questions about him and his night club, The Triangle, that could be construed as eliciting information. Did she know more about him than she should as well? He decided to contact Andy to inform him of their findings about this woman so he could keep a close eye on Nikita Wirth at his birthday party on Saturday. Andy would do what had to be done. He would find out who she was working for and what she was really doing in Hong Kong.

But first he would inform Jiang and tell him to stay away from the nightclub on Saturday. It would not bode well if Nikita found out that he may be associated with the triad in any way. His position at the OCTB was too valuable to be put in jeopardy if there was more to this woman than met the eye. Sheer consequence didn’t wash well with him ... Nikita Wirth was working for someone. Who it was ... was the question. He knew exactly who could get that information from her, but they would play this out and see if she implicated others ... this mystery man perhaps?

In the far fetched recesses of his mind Sun Yee Lok had a flashback to events in Aberdeen and the two black assailants who had rescued Charlie Yin from Tony Wong at the dock. He had called in to see Tony with his displeasure at events. Could this be the couple who had been in Aberdeen all those months ago? Sometimes from small seeds, trees grew, and he had planted the seed of enquiry in his mind. This was a couple that should be kept under surveillance. The disappearance of Madame Cheung was another conundrum they had yet to solve. He was not a happy man ... far from happy. The triad needed to get to the bottom of things before any other members mysteriously disappeared or were killed A.S.A.P.

Firming his jaw, Sun Yee Lok pressed the numbers on the call set with a heavy hand as he dialled a silent number on the intercom-telephone machine that was on the desk. It was almost as though he'd wanted to drive his finger straight through the buttons on the instrument in his anger at these latest happenings ... and all because this one woman may in some way be connected to them. In his impatience Sun Yee Lok drummed his fingers down onto the hard oak desk for a while, then shoved back from his immaculately organized desk clutching the receiver to his ear waiting for a response from the other end. His face was twisted in thought ... there were too many coincidences for his liking ... something would need to be done and the sooner the better. He’d told Karen that they would make a move when the time was right. Perhaps that time was drawing nearer.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Once he heard a reply, Sun Yee Lok didn’t bother with any preamble. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. The person at the other end of the line just listened, “Jiang ... tell me about Nikita Wirth ...”


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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