throat—he ached from the neck up. But he knew what Batman was saying was of paramount importance.
The idea behind his bargain-basement facial surgery was to transform him into an Asian tough guy, someone who, by his repulsive looks alone, would deter people from messing with him—and by extension, with Twitch. The faux suturing around his neck, mimicking a grisly wound, was done simply to obviate the need for him to talk, as Far Eastern languages weren’t exactly his strong suit. The ironic thing was that Twitch, though very Asian-looking due to his Hawaiian ancestry, rarely said more than two words to anyone, friend or foe. Yet he’d be doing all the talking for the mission.
Batman started up again, now addressing both Twitch and Nolan.
“OK, just to review, here’s what we know thanks to Bebe and the SAS. At midnight on the first day of every month, Sunny Hi attends an event that everyone calls the Ba Xi, or ‘the Game.’ He never misses this thing, as it’s a real bonding session with his original pirate gang. But it’s also the only time he accepts new recruits into his organization. Anyone wanting to join up has to pay some kind of tribute to him, just to be considered worthy. And because it also happens to be his son’s birthday, he’ll be in a more responsive mood, and possibly lower his guard a bit.”
“Now, we think the Ba Xi is a high-stakes poker game, or whatever passes for poker over here, but we’re not entirely sure. But as midnight is now just four hours away and that starts the first day of May, we’re sure it’s being held somewhere tonight.”
He checked the last page of his notes.
“It’s important that you link up with your contact as soon as possible. From what the SAS intelligence guys were able to tell us, he will know more about the Ba Xi and how you can get close to it, and therefore get close to the target. Obviously, the nearer you can get to Sunny Hi, the better the chances of success. But it’s not going to be easy. He’s always heavily guarded. We’ll need a whole lot of luck on our side.”
Batman looked at his watch.
“As of this moment, the clock is ticking,” he said. “It’s now 8 P.M. on the dot, and we figure that bribe to the harbor patrol has a life of about a half-day. So this thing has got to be done before sunup tomorrow so we can get the hell out of here. And that means you’ve got exactly ten hours to get in and get out. So, set your watches—and get back here by 0600 hours at the very latest. If you don’t, we’ll all be toast.”
A grim murmur of agreement went around the galley.
Lastly, they went down their equipment checklist: Twitch was wearing his trusty transponder wristwatch; it would emit a radio pulse every few seconds, telling the team where he and Nolan were at any given moment. The Senegals reported that the tiny radio in Nolan’s tooth was coming in loud and clear. Both Nolan and Twitch had a diagram of Old Shanghai’s confusing street grid drawn in ink on their shirtsleeves, this because even Google Earth had a hard time getting a clear image of the area’s urban confusion. Twitch was also carrying five thousand dollars in cash, for bribes and to buy into the Ba Xi if it was a poker game. Most important, though, the pinhead containing the ricin super poison was jammed up under the nail of Nolan’s right index finger.
Batman concluded the briefing with one last comment to Nolan.
“And, whatever you do,” he said, “don’t bite your nails.”
* * *
NOLAN AND TWITCH got off the ship by riding atop a large crate being lowered to the dock by the Senegals. Hooked up to the forward cargo winch, the crate was marked: USE ONLY IN EMERGENCY.
Once down, Twitch checked his transponder watch. It was now 2010 hours. They had less than four hours to somehow crash the Ba Xi.
They were both wearing heavy crew jackets and black stocking hats, as the fog was cold and wet. They had no weapons other than the pinhead of poison; even the knife that Twitch usually kept inside his prosthetic leg had been left behind. They’d have to depend on their wits, their street smarts and their intuition.
They had one last glance up at Batman, Gunner and Crash standing on the rail.