Blue Dragon Part 6

'Say h.e.l.lo to Rob for me,' I said, and Leo grinned.

'I'm meeting somebody,' Michael said.

'Cynthia?'

Michael's grin matched Leo's. 'Maybe.'

'Okay, see you guys later.' I turned to Roland. 'Want to join us?'

'Yes! Sure!' Roland said, delighted. 'But only if you let me buy.'

John opened his mouth to do the polite Chinese thing of arguing backwards and forwards about who would pay but I was too hungry to mess around. 'Shut up. Roland can pay. Let's go.'

Roland stiffened, then grinned broadly.

John slapped Roland on the back and guided him out. 'You see what I have to put up with? Typical barbarian Foreign Devil. Manners of a peasant.'

'At least I'll get fed some time today,' I said loudly as I linked my arm in my mother's and held my hand out for Simone. 'Come on, guys, let's go find something to eat.'

We went to a noodle bar not far from Roland's building. It was a typical small Hong Kong restaurant, about five metres wide, with a gla.s.sed-in area at the front where the noodles were prepared and a small kitchen at the back for the rest of the dishes. It was nearly full; usual lunchtime crowd, mostly people sitting in the booths at the side, but some larger groups at the round tables in the middle.

A waiter guided us to a large round table that seated six, its plain green laminate top worn through with use. A few menus and cards with daily specials were jammed into a plastic stand next to the bottles of soy and chilli sauce and the big steel chopstick holder.

The walls on both sides were covered with cracked and tarnished mirrors, an attempt to make the restaurant appear larger. Large sheets of cardboard with specials were stuck to the mirrors, the dishes written vertically in black marker with the prices underneath. The floor was well-worn green mosaic tiles, slippery with oil; the walls were matching pale green bathroom tiles. The ceiling was black with grease and a huge, ancient air conditioner throbbed painfully in the centre.

The owner of the restaurant greeted Roland in Cantonese, and plonked gla.s.ses of black tea in front of each of us.

'Are you sure this place is healthy? It's awfully...' My mother searched for the right word.

'Don't worry, you can't get sick while you're with him,' I said, gesturing towards John. 'Besides, being old and tatty doesn't mean anything. The food is still good.'

'Old and tatty?' John said, eyeing me with amus.e.m.e.nt.

'Exactly,' I said. 'But still good.'

Roland was speechless.

'Can I have some beef brisket ho fan ho fan?' Simone said.

'Do you want tendon in it?' I said.

'Tendon?' my mother said.

'Yes, please,' Simone said. 'Tendon's good.'

'Tendon?' my mother said. 'Like, gristle tendon?'

'When it's been boiled for a few hours it turns to jelly,' I said. 'It's actually very good. You should try some.'

'Could you choose something suitable for us, Emma?' my father said. 'You know what we like. Something...something normal normal.'

'Beef stir fry ho fan ho fan,' John said. 'Gw.a.n.g chau ngau ho.'

'Good idea,' I said. 'Vegetarian for us?'

'Of course. Roland?'

'Fis.h.i.+ng boat congee,' Roland said. He pulled out the video camera and turned it on with a musical ping. 'I have to see this again.'

'Don't show it to anybody, please, Roland,' I said.

He nodded as he flipped open the LCD screen to view the video. The sound of us talking came through the speakers on the camera as he played it back. Then he went completely rigid and his mouth dropped open. 'Wah!'

I bent around to see, then quickly put my hand over the screen to hide it from the people at the next table. 'Turn it off! For G.o.d's sake, Roland, turn it off!' I grabbed the camera and pressed the b.u.t.ton to turn off the playback. 'Really don't let anybody see that!' don't let anybody see that!'

Roland stared at John with his mouth still open.

I placed the camera on the table.

'Was it me?' John said.

I nodded silently.

'What?' my father said.

'It was him,' I said. 'Really him. What he really looks like. I thought you were taping us us, Roland.'

'You should show your parents,' John said. 'I think they should see.'

I leaned over the table to speak softly to him. 'Yeah, let's just rub it in for the poor people that their daughter is engaged to a G.o.dd.a.m.n animal animal.'

'Shen,' John said.

'I want to see. Can I see?' Simone said. 'I want to see, Daddy.'

I looked around. n.o.body else in the restaurant had noticed, and if Simone was next to me I could hide the screen. Roland picked up the camera and handed it back to me. 'Show her.'

'Okay,' I said. 'Just don't say anything too loud, okay?' I gestured. 'Next to me.'

Simone moved next to me, leaning over my shoulder. My mother bent around to see as well. I turned on the video camera and pressed the playback b.u.t.ton.

There we were. Leo and Michael readied themselves. I had my back to the camera, preparing as well. The camera panned to the side wall and my parents appeared. Next to them was the Turtle. It appeared about a metre and a half long, with a ma.s.sive, gleaming black sh.e.l.l. Its face had the wise expression of a natural turtle, but its eyes were John's and full of amus.e.m.e.nt as it watched us. John's human form was there as well, a transparent image over the top of the Turtle, holding Simone in his lap.

I froze the image so that Simone could look properly.

'I look really weird like that,' she said.

'What do you see?' John said.

'Both of you,' I said. 'Haven't you seen it before?'

'Nope,' John said. 'Never played it back to watch it.'

We shared a look. He'd made tapes for me, and I'd done the same for him, but we never looked at ourselves, we only watched each other.

His eyes crinkled up when he saw my face. 'Often wondered what I'd look like. In still photos you only see the human form, and I thought it'd be the same in videos as well. I was wrong.'

'It depends how drained you are,' I said. 'You must be running on empty right now. Usually it's just a very faint shadow, almost invisible. This is the clearest I've ever seen it.' He didn't make tapes for me when he was very drained, as well, but neither of us mentioned it. 'How long before you need to see the Lady again?'

'I still have a while. Let me see,' he said.

I pa.s.sed the video camera to him and he studied it with the same amus.e.m.e.nt that was visible in the Turtle's eyes. 'd.a.m.n, but I'm ugly.' He pa.s.sed the camera to my father who viewed the image, his face rigid with control.

'The Turtle's not pretty either,' I said, and Simone giggled.

'You really are a turtle,' Roland said with awe.

My father pa.s.sed the camera to my mother. She stared at it with her eyes wide. She glanced up at John, then back at the image. She didn't say anything.

I took the camera from her and pa.s.sed it back to Roland. 'Could you do me a favour, Roland?'

'Of course, anything, Lady Emma,' he said, without looking away from the image on the camera.

'Could you make a copy of this for me, my friend?'

Roland glanced up at me, then at John. 'Of course.'

CHAPTER FOUR.

Oh, good, you're out. After breakfast, come into my office.

I didn't wait; I made myself a cup of tea and went straight into the study. Gold and John sat on either side of the desk.

'Your parents are still asleep,' John said.

'Probably the time difference s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g them up,' I said. 'They've never been overseas before.'

'It's only two hours,' Gold said.

'They're worn out,' John said. 'You've been dragging them around too much. Take them for a drive today, rest their feet.'

'Okay,' I said. 'I'll take them out to the New Territories, away from the concrete and pollution for a day. We might go to the riding stables-the Country Club's gardens would probably be a nice change for them.'

'Good idea,' John said. 'I thought you should know about this-Gold just told me. He's been cultivating a senior police officer and heard some interesting information about the investigation into Kitty Kwok.'

'That's not a very honourable thing to do,' I said. 'I'm surprised at both of you.'

'I didn't know he was involved in the investigation until we'd been going out for a while,' Gold said. 'Purely a happy coincidence.'

'Yeah, right, a coincidence,' I said. 'Wait a second, he he? Oh for G.o.d's sake, John, are any any of your staff straight?' of your staff straight?'

Gold chuckled. 'I thought you knew.'

'Gold's a stone,' John said. 'Gender neutral.'

'I think the term is bi, but it doesn't really apply to us,' Gold said. 'We can take either gender, but in essence we are neutral. If we like someone, we mould ourselves to fit their preference.'

'And you're my staff too, technically, Emma,' John said. He grinned broadly. 'I thought thought you and Louise were very close.' you and Louise were very close.'

'Oh my G.o.d, you are such a guy guy sometimes,' I said. 'Louise and I were sometimes,' I said. 'Louise and I were friends friends.' I leaned over the desk and looked him right in the eye. 'Is the Turtle female? It's yin.'

He avoided the question and gestured towards Gold, his grin not s.h.i.+fting. 'Kitty Kwok investigation.'

'I do not understand the animal preoccupation with gender,' the stone in my ring said. 'It's more of a nuisance than anything else. And Gold, I am extremely disappointed that you would become involved with one of these...' It hesitated, then said with emphasis, 'Fles.h.i.+es.'

Gold's eyes widened.

'Ignore it,' John said. 'It is being offensive because it craves attention.'

'Yeah, it's a troll,' I said.

Gold's mouth flopped open. John grinned broadly. The stone made a weird squeaking sound, like someone rubbing gla.s.s with a damp cloth, but didn't say anything.

Gold shook himself out of it. 'The police are bewildered by the nature of the laboratories producing the hybrids. Police in Europe, Australia and the US are investigating the other business interests, but at this stage it's just the kindergartens that seem to be involved in the underworld activity. Tautech, the biotech company, hasn't been doing anything that they can nail it on. Only the kindergartens have been used to generate funds and launder money for One Two Two's network.'

'So they won't stop the biotech labs,' I said.

'No,' John said. 'And it appears that the Demon King is letting it go too.'

'd.a.m.n,' I said. 'What about the thefts from the stone circles in Europe? Have they put that together?'

'No,' Gold said, his face rigid. 'But every single stone Shen, both Eastern and Western, is out for demon blood on this.'

'The Grandmother of All the Rocks herself has put a price on One Two Two's head,' the stone in my ring said. 'That demon will pay.'

'Do you think Wong has more stone elementals than those he threw at us the other night?' I said.

'Hard to tell, my Lady,' Gold said.

'He probably threw everything he had at us,' John said. 'That was his big final thrust. And he failed.'

'One thing I forgot to mention,' Gold said. 'The police are keeping this very quiet-if it gets out there will be ma.s.s panic.'