Quiet for a moment.
“So, Loretto’s guys just turned up and ripped out the cameras? When? Bastard! Right, Brian … listen. I want you to go back to Chester Street tonight … Yes, tonight … I’ll pay you extra … yeah … come on!… Don’t worry about that … I want those cameras reinstalled.”
Quiet again.
“It’s got nothing to do with you, Brian. Don’t worry about Loretto … he won’t touch you … Yeah … I’ll take the responsibility … Of course I will … Good. Right, you got it then? Tonight … Right away. I’ll show that fucker …”
Chapter 85
THERE WAS A bad atmosphere in the briefing room at Police HQ.
Five of us in the room, Mark Talbot, Brett Thorogood, a senior detective called Matt Yender who was in command of the police assault force, Ho and me. The Deputy Commissioner was commanding proceedings from the head of a large table.
“Mr. Ho,” Thorogood said, looking directly at the man. “You know these people better than any of us. Do you have any idea of the identity of the men behind these crimes?”
Ho sat still as a statue. In one sense he seemed to have diminished but in another way, he’d grown. He now possessed some sort of Zen-like calm that to my eyes covered a seething anger and horrible pain.
“As you are aware, the lead operatives in Sydney are the Lin brothers, Sung and Jing,” Ho said stiffly. “They are 426s.”
“Which means?”
“The Triads have clear distinctions between ranks and positions in the gang. They are each given numbers based upon the I Ching numerological system. The leader of the Triad is 489. His name would be ‘The Mountain’ or ‘The Dragon’. I believe the gang in Sydney is a fragment of the Noonan, perhaps the most powerful of the Triads. The Dragon, the 489, is a man named Fong Sum. I met him once in Hong Kong. He’s there now.”
“So he’d be like a Don in the Mafia?” Talbot asked.
Ho nodded slowly. “There are many differences, but very broadly speaking, yes, he would. He controls a global network. The Sydney gangs are just a small part of it.”
“And the Lin brothers … how many people work for them?” Yender asked.
“That I do not know for certain.”
“Ballpark?”
“I would estimate perhaps forty to fifty foot soldiers in the city,” he responded.
“Foot soldiers are the rank and file, right?” Thorogood queried.
Ho nodded again. “They are known as 49s. I would suggest the men who abducted Chang and later Dai would have been their best 49s, men who are working their way up the pecking order. This would have been a big job for them.”
“As this whole heroin project is for the Lin brothers too,” I remarked.
“Indeed.”
“Okay,” the Deputy Commissioner said. “So do we have a consensus as to what to do next?”
I watched Ho, waiting for him to respond.
“I have come to the conclusion that the only chance we have of saving my son is to convince the gang that I will do what they want.”
“And that will provide us with a platform for a sting operation,” I added.
Mark looked at me with contempt. “Us?”
“We are happy to provide any assistance you wish,” I said directly to Thorogood, giving my cousin nothing. “But we’re not going to be part of this unless we’re armed – like the rest of you. My assistant, Mary Clarke and I are licensed to carry firearms.”
“I appreciate your contribution,” the Deputy Commissioner responded, looking directly at me. “I think we can work together on this.”
Chapter 86