“I don’t know what we’d do without you, Peik Lin!”
“Just get to Hong Kong.”
“I will. Listen, I’m going to call my uncle Malcolm, who is a heart surgeon in Hong Kong. He might be of help.”
6:48 p.m.
When Peik Lin’s Gulfstream V landed in Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport, there was already a medical helicopter waiting on the tarmac to airlift Rachel to the hospital. Peik Lin emerged from the aircraft to find a man in mustard yellow jeans and a cobalt blue Rubinacci blazer awaiting her.
“I’m Nick’s cousin Edison Cheng! There’s no room in the chopper for you, so come in my Bentley,” he said over the roar of the helicopter’s propellers. Peik Lin followed Eddie to his car numbly, and as they began making their way to the hospital, Eddie said, “My father is in Houston getting an
award at the DeBakey Medical Foundation, but he’s already put in a call to Queen Mary Hospital—that’s our top emergency care center. I’m told the whole kidney team is waiting for her arrival.”
“I’m so glad,” Peik Lin said.
“Now, Leo Ming happens to be my best friend, so his father, Ming Kah-Ching, who I’m sure you’ve heard of, has already put in a call to the hospital’s chief executive to add even more pressure. The emergency medical ward, by the way, is in the Ming Kah-Ching wing. So Rachel will be treated like a VVIP from the moment she arrives,” Eddie boasted.
Like Rachel cares about that right now! Peik Lin thought. “As long as they treat her EFFECTIVELY, that’s all I care about.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes, and then Eddie asked, “So was that your GV, or did you charter the plane?”
“It’s my family’s,” Peik Lin answered. I bet he’s going to ask who my family is.
“Very nice. And if I might ask, what line of business is your family in?” She looks Hokkien, so I’d guess either banking or real estate.
“Construction and property development.” Now he’ll want to know which company. I’m going to make him work for it!
Eddie smiled at her cordially. Damn Singaporeans! If she was from Hong Kong or China, I would have known everything about her family the moment she stepped off the plane. “Commercial or residential?”
Okay, let’s put him out of his misery. “My family started the Near West Organization.”
Eddie’s face lit up. Ding ding ding! The Gohs are ranked number 178 on The Heron Wealth Report. “Oh, you guys built that new condo in Singapore with the sky garages, didn’t you?” he said nonchalantly.
“That was us.” Now he’s going to tell me what he does. Based on the outfit, I’m guessing either weatherman or hairdresser.
“I’m the managing director of Leichtenburg Group Asia.”
“Ah, yes.” Another banker. Yawn.
Eddie flashed Peik Lin his Cheshire cat grin. “Tell me, are you satisfied with your private wealth management team?”
“Very much so.” I don’t believe this fucker! Rachel’s being rushed to the hospital in critical condition and he’s trying to land a new client!
7:45 p.m.
Peik Lin and Eddie ran up to the reception counter at the emergency medical ward. “Yes, can you tell us where Rachel Young has been taken? She would have been admitted in the past hour. She came in by air ambulance.”
“Are you relatives of the patient?” the woman at the counter asked.
“Yes, we are.”
“Let me see…” The woman began typing into her computer terminal. “What is the name again?”
“Rachel Young. Or maybe she was admitted as Rachel Chu,” Peik Lin said.
The woman scanned her computer screen. “I’m not finding anything here. You should go to the main reception hall at—”
Eddie banged on the counter in frustration. “Stop wasting our time! Do you know who I am? I’m Edison Cheng! My father is Dr. Malcolm Cheng—he used to be head of cardiology! The cafeteria is named after him! I demand to know where they’ve taken Rachel Young right now or you will be out of a job by tomorrow!”