Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [128]
By the time the bodyguards had thrown Mann’s body out of the car and it had rolled to a stop in front of David, he had only three of the hundred and thirty stitches remaining. And three of the four bodyguards would never make it on the plane. Victoria had already left.
Chapter 111
Shrimp floated in and out of the dark world of pain. He heard someone singing, a haunting wailing song like he had heard on the stairs in the Mansions. He heard the soft giggles of a child and felt something cold and plastic brush his face. He heard the cries of a baby and a mother soothing it. His pain came in searing stabs, in long excruciating waves that felt as if someone was twisting his gut inside out. Sometimes it was accompanied by crying, sometimes laughter. He felt his tongue swelling. He tried to keep his pulse slow and stem the loss of blood. He tried to talk but as if in a dream the words went unheard. Help me. Help me. The woman muttered to him, he couldn’t make it out. She sat beside him in the dark. She held his hand and sometimes she stroked him tenderly. Shrimp felt her body on his. He felt the sting of a knife. The deep pain that was working its way into his heart.
Chapter 112
‘Fuck. Am I dead?’ Mann awoke to find himself being sewn up by Kin Tak. In the background he could hear an angel singing. He tried to sit up but he couldn’t; he was restrained.
‘We couldn’t stop you moving. Very hard to sew neatly when you keep moving. I am not used to that.’ Kin Tak was sewing him up and Lilly was hovering over him.
Mann grabbed at her wrist as she hovered over his face with a wad of cotton wool. She shrieked in fright. ‘Where am I?’
‘In my bedroom.’
‘Oh God…’ Mann moaned as he pulled against the strap.
‘No, it’s all right. The Africans brought you up here.’
Mann stared at Kin Tak not understanding. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Lilly asked me to sew you up.’
‘Yeah…that reassures me.’
‘I had no idea men bleed so much. No one usually bleeds when I stitch them up.’
‘You didn’t want to go back to hospital,’ said Lilly.
The singing stopped. Michelle came to stand and watch. ‘You were really beaten up. Blood everywhere,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I wonder why that was.’ Mann touched the swellings on his face. The stitches were back.
‘Very clean. The wound was very clean. Made by the same instrument that took that young girl’s hands off. I recognized it.’ Kin Tak beamed proudly as he carried on sewing up the gash across Mann’s stomach.
‘Yeah. Sorry about that. I got scared. I didn’t know what to do,’ said Lilly.
‘Save it, Lilly. I could see it was just a lucky hit.’
‘Thanks. You never touched me, you know.’
‘Yeah. I know.’
‘I put Rohypnol in your drink. Victoria Chan gave it to me.’
‘And, you know one another?’ Mann asked Kin Tak.
Kin Tak nodded, and looked away guiltily.
‘He’s been teaching me to read and write Mandarin,’ said Lilly whilst dabbing at Mann’s wounds.
‘She’s an excellent student.’ Kin Tak covered his mouth and giggled into his hand. ‘There you are – finished.’ Kin Tak stood back to admire his handiwork.
There was a knock at the door. Michelle went to answer it.
‘I need to speak to Mann. Is he here?’ Daniel Lu stood in the doorway.
‘I haven’t seen him,’ Michelle lied.
‘He was seen being helped in here.’
‘He doesn’t want to talk to you.’
‘I’ll speak to him. Come in, Daniel,’ Mann shouted from the bedroom. Daniel walked in and stood next to the bed. They were left alone to talk.
‘Mia is mad with you. She says there’s a warrant out for your arrest for the murder of CK Leung. I went there to clean up. I’m sorry about Ng. Now, I have to tell you something, I know you’d want to know but looking at you, I’m not sure how much help you can be Shrimp’s missing.’
Chapter 113
Roses are red. Rubies are too. My heart was broken.