Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [71]
‘Yeah, sure. But…does she live around here?’ Tammy knew the area well. It was not a prestigious address. It was a sprawling low rise of old tenement blocks and a place where jade was sold, where old men bartered their bright canaries in the bird market.
‘No, but we just have to meet the others first.’
Tammy followed Lilly as they slipped past the tourists and onto Saigon Street, a side road that led to the night market. It was ten thirty and the market was in full swing. Bubbling tanks offish and crustaceans blocked the pavement as they stepped into the road and Lilly led Tammy into the side entrance of the Seafood Grill.
They passed the owner who scowled at them, looked like he was about to object but was in too much of a flap, his once-white apron covered in fish entrails, his face bright red from working in the heat of the kitchen.
‘Come on,’ said Lilly as she led Tammy through to a basement stacked high with boxes of defrosting prawns.
Tammy looked around her as they left the road behind. One way out, one way in. If Lilly planned to kill her then this was the ideal place to trap her. She looked at Lilly’s demeanour, the tension in her upper back, the way she walked purposefully as if she only had to get somewhere as fast as possible. Lilly sensed her hesitation, caught her glances over her shoulder at the diminishing exit and she moved quicker down the corridor. Lilly looked at the kitchen porter as he stood back to let them pass, his pale face pocked with volcanic acne. He glanced first at Lilly and then at Tammy. She slowed, levelled with him and looked into his eyes. They flicked towards Lilly’s back as she carried on down the corridor and then he gave a small, almost twitch-like shake of the head as he looked back to Tammy.
Tammy turned and ran. Lilly was a second behind. Tammy pulled the boxes of prawns over behind her as she bolted past. The waiting staff, their arms laden with dishes, yelled at her to stop, but she didn’t. She ran through to the street outside. She knew it would take Lilly just a minute to catch her. She heard the telltale whistles calling for back-up. She knew it wouldn’t take long before they found her. She ducked into an alleyway and phoned Mann.
‘I need you, Boss.’ She hadn’t hesitated. Mann was the one she trusted to help her now.
‘Where are you, Tammy?’ Mann was stood in Mia’s office.
‘I’m in the night market, Boss. They’re coming after me, the Outcasts. I need help. I thought I was meeting Victoria Chan. I’m sorry, Boss.’
‘Stay out of sight. I’m coming.’
Chapter 50
Tammy slipped back out of the alley and took a round-about route that led her back to the middle of the night market. It was only just getting going, stalls were still being set up. She picked up a black peak cap from a stall with Iron Maiden written on the front and threw the stallholder some money. He looked at her, looked at the note, shrugged and put it into his money pouch as he turned away without a word of thanks. Pulling the cap down over her eyes, she headed towards the busiest part of the market, between the road junctions. The plastic canopies that met above the busy street trapped the heat and the din of toys and music and shouted Cantonese.
She pulled on the cap, kept her head down and attached herself to other groups of people. Tourists were out early with their kids. The market was full of foreign voices. But, above it all, Tammy heard the whistles. She lifted her eyes enough to look either side, to the back of the stalls where they met the pavement, and sensed movement alongside her. They were looking for her. She was being closed in on. She stopped, ducked down beneath a stall and crawled on her hands and knees over the boxes of merchandise, the discarded food cartons and the scavenging rats. She only had to wait a few more minutes. It wouldn’t take Mann longer than that to get a unit