business card from her purse. “Tell him to contact me directly. My personal number is there, and my email address.”
The first wave of dim sum arrived — chicken feet, har gow, and fried octopus.
“Now, Zhao tells me that you ladies have a small problem you need some help with,” Feng said as he held a slippery chicken foot an inch from his mouth.
“I’d like Ava to explain,” May said.
Ava sipped tea, watching Feng suck the skin and meat from one foot and then another, a small pile of bones growing on his plate. When she thought he was done, she said, “There’s a house in Coloane owned by a man named Kao Lok. We’re in the middle of a commercial dispute with him.” She paused. “Just how candid can I be?”
“Zhao told me the basics. I need to know the specifics.”
Ava passed a slip of paper to Feng. He looked at it and then slid it to Chao. “That is the address of the house. It has an alarm system that’s connected to the police force. I need the police to either ignore any alarm or disarm the alarm at their end for a few days.”
“When?”
“Say, starting tomorrow until Saturday night.”
Feng said to Chao, “A lot of the hotels, bigger businesses, and influential people on that side get the same service from the police. I find it offensive that they should get such preferential treatment.”
“Yes, sir,” Chao said.
“Is that all you want?” Feng said.
“Yes, General,” said Ava. “But it’s really important that this be kept confidential. We don’t want the resident informed that this has happened.”
“Call Chu,” Feng said to his assistant, and then turned to May. “How do you find the food?”
“Excellent, really excellent.”
Chao called from the table. He asked for Chu and then waited for several minutes, his impatience becoming increasingly apparent. These men are used to getting what they want when they want it, Ava thought. Finally he said into the phone, “Just a moment, General Feng wants to speak to you.”
Feng took the phone. “Excuse me, ladies, I need to go outside.”
He was gone for no more than five minutes. When he returned, he gave the phone to Chao and said to May Ling, “The alarm will be disconnected at the police end today. You have until Sunday.”
“Thank you.”
“If there is any problem, you call me. And if you can’t get me, call Chao. He’ll find me.”
“Thank you again.”
“Any friend of Zhao is my friend.”
May finally bit into her har gow. “Tell me about your wife, General. Zhao has so many nice things to say about her.”
For the next twenty minutes Ava watched as two masters of small talk kept each other occupied. Chao just listened as well, once in a while stealing a glance at Ava, his attention on her chest.
Five minutes after the last of the food had been consumed, Feng looked at his watch. “You have to excuse me now, ladies. I have to head back to the garrison. Kuo is waiting outside to drive you back to Macau.”
“Excuse me, General, but is it possible he could make a short stop on the way? There’s a company in Zhuhai we’d like to visit,” Ava said.
“Of course, we’ll let him know.”
They all stood and exchanged bows, but this time the General and May Ling also shook hands. Ava and May left the room first, walking side by side through the restaurant.
“That was wonderful. Thank you,” Ava said.
May Ling smiled.
“That Stanford program is really progressive on your part.”
“We don’t have a Stanford program. Or at least, we didn’t until now,” May said. “I spoke to Feng last night. He has one child, the son, and he loves him madly. The son wants to go to Stanford, and even on a general’s salary Feng can’t afford that. We’ll make it possible. I just hope the boy isn’t an idiot.”
“But then why — ?”
“Why come here?”
“Yes.”
“That little bit of theatre was for the benefit of the General’s assistant. Changxing and I have always been careful, and the more successful we are, the more careful we become. We take the time to learn the needs of our friends, and we try to meet them in a way that never compromises them or us. We can’t be too circumspect these days, especially when the government in Beijing seems to launch an anti-corruption campaign every six months or so. None of us wants to end up on our knees with a gun to the back of our head.”