A Game of Deceit: a Richard Knox Spy Thriller by Tim Glister

Author:Tim Glister
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780861541706
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

CHAPTER 30

The pageantry was farcical. But, as far as Knox understood it, that was the point.

The Jardine Noonday Gun was fired at midday, every day. It was a tradition and a punishment. In the 1860s Jardine Matheson’s private militia had taken to firing it whenever one of their executives sailed up to their offices on the Hong Kong Island harbourfront. The navy took exception to the company’s co-option of a practice usually reserved for military officers and high-ranking government officials. So, as a bizarre penalty, it was ordered to fire the gun daily at 12 p.m. forever. When land reclamation had shifted the northern edge of the island, the gun was moved to its current location next to the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. The Japanese had disassembled it during their occupation of the colony, but it had been replaced once they’d surrendered.

‘So very British,’ Bennett had said at the end of her explanation of its curious history.

The gun was also a tourist attraction and, being close to the Star Ferry terminal, it usually drew a crowd. Which was why Bennett had chosen it for their rendezvous.

Knox had expected her to want to return to Kowloon Walled City first thing – like he did after his short morning shower had been filled with more visions of frozen grimaces and cloudy eyes – but he saw the logic in her suggestion that they wait until the middle of the day. It was Saturday now, a day when a couple of Westerners snooping round the walled city early in the morning would draw attention. By waiting a few hours, they were less likely to be noticed.

The atmosphere of the city seemed lighter to Knox today. Maybe it was just that it was the weekend, or maybe people were already starting to embrace a more celebratory, relaxed spirit ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival. Knox hadn’t heard any Mandarin slogans or top ten singles blaring over the rooftops on the way down to the harbour, and the rows of high-speed police interceptors he could see next to the sampans and smaller junks that called the typhoon shelter seemed overly aggressive, serious, and out of place.

The water in the bay was calmer too. No typhoon signal had been hoisted, and the only waves sloshing against the reclaimed promenade were caused by the wakes of criss-crossing boats. At least the meteorological threat to the city had evaporated for the time being.

Knox and Bennett mingled among the tourists who had come out to watch the Jardine guard pull the lanyard that fired the light blue Hotchkiss three-pounder. Then, once a few of them had given a muted round of applause and the guard had marched off, they strolled over to the Star Ferry terminal. Where they found Zhou waiting for them, next to her Mercedes.

Knox had assumed she wasn’t the type of police officer who would take the weekend off in the middle of an investigation, but she didn’t know about his and Bennett’s conversation the previous night.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.