The Red Pole of Macau

( 29 )

She woke in a fog, intravenous in her arm, a dull pain in her thigh, needing to pee, alone in a small room that contained only her bed. It took several minutes before she began to make sense of things. She raised her head and looked around. “Hello,” she shouted.

She expected to see a nurse, but instead a small, wiry man with a thick moustache, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, came into the room. “I’m Doctor Hop,” he said.

“Where am I?”

“Macau.”

“Which hospital?”

“The Hop Ling private medical clinic.”

“I need to pee.”

“The washroom is right over there. Let me help you up,” he said, leaning forward so she could use his shoulders for support.

She sat on the toilet for what seemed an eternity, peeing in fits and starts. Her leg ached like hell, worse than when she’d been shot, and she wondered what they had done to it.

“What day is it?” she asked Hop when she came out of the washroom.

“Friday.”

“What time?”

“Two in the afternoon.”

She could hardly believe time had moved that slowly. “Where are my people?”

“They’re close by. I’ll call them when I think you are ready to see them.”

“When will that be?”

“Later today, maybe. You need to get a bit more rest and some more fluids into you.”

“What did you do to my leg?”

“The bullet was embedded in muscle, quite deep — and you have lots of muscle. I had to make a large incision to get at it.”

After the doctor left the room, Ava slept again. No dreams, no sense of time or place, her body and mind floating in abstraction.

It was dark when she woke again, the room still strange but her mind quickly registering the name Hop Ling. She was in Macau, in a clinic, and they had taken the bullet out of her leg. “Hello,” she shouted.

No one came, no one answered.

She jiggled her leg and felt nerve endings burn. She wouldn’t be jogging for a while, she knew. She swung her good leg over the side of the bed, put both hands down, and forced herself to sit up. The pain made her yelp. “Hello,” she cried.

Her head was surprisingly clear. She knew exactly where she was and remembered exactly what had happened up until the moment May got into the SUV. But where was everyone?

She lifted the corner of her hospital gown to look at her leg. All she could see was a bandage that seemed too big for the wound, and what looked like a full roll of tape holding it down.

The door to her room opened and Hop walked in with a short, middle-aged woman in a nurse’s uniform. He looked at his watch. “You slept really well — it’s nearly nine o’clock.”

“Still Friday?”

“Yes.”

“Where are my people?”

Hop said, “He is nearby; let me phone him. Now I think you should lie down again.”

She lay on her back, memories of that morning dancing in and out of her head. It hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but then, when did it? “Thank you, Saint Jude, for Sonny,” she muttered, and then wondered if Saint Jude would appreciate being thanked for the deeds they had done. “And thank you for May Ling.”

Hop swung the door open and held it back for Uncle. In the dim light he looked older than she could ever remember seeing him. He came to the bed, reached for her hand, and then bent over and kissed her on the forehead. “I have never seen you like this before,” he said. “Quite the day.”

“I don’t remember anything after we left the house.”

“Sonny called me from the car and told me what happened. He did not think he could get you past Immigration in Macau or Hong Kong. I told him to bring you here. Hop is a friend, a good man in an emergency and someone who knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

“How long does he think I’ll have to stay here?”

“Up to you and how you are feeling. You lost a lot of blood, but he tells me he has replaced it and it is now just pain management on your part.”

“I want to get out of here as soon as I can.”

Uncle said, “I have a bag in the outer room with clothes in it. May talked the Mandarin into letting her into your room.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and she felt a surge of uncontrolled emotion. She closed her eyes, trying to shut it out. “I shot Lok.”

“I know. Sonny told me.”

“I executed him. I put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.”

“Ava, there was no other choice,” Uncle said, gripping her hand tighter. “I spoke to Sonny yesterday before he left and reminded him what kind of men Wu and Lok were.”

“I have never killed anyone in cold blood. Before it was always —”

“You or them? Well, let me tell you, I do not think this was any different in reality.”

“I’m supposed to be an accountant,” she said, her voice cracking.

Uncle grinned at her, and despite herself she found a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Then she began to cry in earnest.

He held her hand, wiping her tears with a tissue.

“Could you get my clothes, please? And I’ll need someone to help me get dressed.”

“There is a nurse outside. I will get her,” he said.

The same nurse who had come into the room with Hop returned, bringing the bag with her. She emptied the contents on the bed.

Ava sat on the edge of the bed, gathering the willpower to stand. Finally she put her hands on the nurse’s shoulders and slid to the ground. Pain burst along the entire length of her leg. She winced and groaned.

“You need to move,” the nurse said. “The pain will ease the more you use the leg.”

Ava nodded. She put on the black T-shirt herself, forgoing a bra, and then handed her panties to the woman. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to help me with these.”

The nurse knelt down, put Ava’s feet into the panties, and then slid them gently up her legs. She repeated the process with her track pants.

Ava leaned back against the bed. “Do you have crutches?”

“I’ll get them,” the nurse said.

A few minutes later, Ava hobbled out to a small waiting room, where Hop was chatting with Uncle. “Take me home, please,” she said.

Hop handed her an envelope. “Tylenol 3 — take one whenever you need it. There is no virtue to being in pain when it isn’t necessary.”

“I have a car waiting outside,” Uncle said to Ava, and then turned to Hop. “I was pleased to find that you are still here after all these years.”

“I provide a service that always seems to be in demand in Macau.”