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By Root 586 0

was obviously used to the best. One didn't usually leave hotel bills unpaid for three weeks when one had a cheque-book. He began to wonder just how much was left in that bank account. He even wondered whether the cheque she had just written would bounce right back into the Russian receptionist's face. It was a pleasant thought. The girl moved on to a stool beside him. She had fixed her face so that only an unnatural brightness in the eyes indicated that she had been crying. 'Could I have a drink, please?'

'Surely! A gin-sling?' She nodded and he ordered the drink. He didn't speak until the barman had placed the drink before her and retired to the other end of the bar to polish glasses. 'Can you meet that cheque?'

She smiled wanly and sipped her drink. 'Only just. A few dollars left and then ...' She shrugged her shoulders; a hopeless gesture that seemed to say she was at the end of her tether. This was the moment for the gallant gesture, Hagen thought. It suddenly occurred to him how ironic it was that of all the people in Macao she should have met him and he laughed aloud. She flushed angrily. 'What's so funny?' she demanded.

He hastened to reassure her. 'I'm not laughing at you, angel. It's just that I'm in a pretty poor state myself at the moment. We make a nice pair.' She began to laugh herself and Hagen remembered that he still had a little money left. Suddenly he felt reckless and past caring. He grabbed her arm and propelled her firmly out of the bar. 'There's one thing we can do,' he said. 'And that's to have lunch. Things always look brighter after a decent meal.'

He kept up a running flow of conversation on the way to the dining-room and by the time they were seated at a table there was a smile on her face again. During the meal they talked little. She had a healthy appetite and he found himself covertly watching her at every opportunity. Once or twice she noticed his eyes and blushed. 'That was lovely,' she said at length. 'I couldn't eat another bite.'

Hagen suggested a drink on the terrace and ordered a couple of brandies before following her out there. She was seated at a table on the very edge of the terrace. Below them was Macao and the view stretched across the blue water to Kowloon and the Chinese mainland. 'It's beautiful,' he said, and offered her a cigarette.

She nodded and refused the cigarette. 'It's a lovely city. Very lovely.' She paused as the waiter brought the drinks and Hagen suddenly sensed that she was on the verge of telling him about herself.

She still hesitated and he said, quickly, 'Have you been here long?'

She shook her head. 'Only the three weeks that I've been staying at the hotel.' She gazed out over the harbour. 'I should have found somewhere cheaper I suppose, but a girl on her own! It's very difficult.'

Hagen reached across the table and placed his hand gently over hers. 'Why don't you tell me about it?' he said softly. 'I know it's something to do with our Red friends across the water.'

She straightened up, fear on her face. 'How do you know?'

He explained briefly. 'So you see,' he concluded, 'I'm mixed up in this thing enough to get shot at. The least you can do is tell me what it's all about.'

For a little while she stared at the table, her fingers nervously interlacing, and then she began to speak. 'I'm from Indo-China - the North. My father was a Scot. Mother was Indo-Chinese. I went to school in India, spent the war there. Afterwards I returned to my father's plantation. He'd been on some special service during the war, in Malaya. Things were just beginning to settle down again when the trouble started between the French and the Viet Minh.'

Hagen nodded. 'That must have messed things up pretty badly. Especially as you were living in the North.'

'Yes, things couldn't have been worse. It wasn't long before we were completely surrounded by Communist territory. At first they didn't bother us, but then one day ...'

For a moment she seemed to have difficulty in finding words. She turned her head away a little and Hagen reached across again and took her hand firmly.