Cuts

Untitled Part 12

 

John and I go to the table and sit on the stools on the opposite side of the table as the woman is. Sherlock stands at the end of the table. “Who is she?” I ask John softly.

“Soo Lin.” He explains.

I nods, even though that meant nothing to me.

“You say the cipher. Then you know he is coming for me.” Soo Lin says.

“You’ve been clever to avoid him so far.” Sherlock comments.

“I had to finish… to finish this work. It’s only a matter of time. I know he will find me.” Soo Lin tells us.

“Who is he? Have you met him before?” Sherlock ask.

Soo Lin nods. “When I was a girl, living in China. I recognize his…’signature’.” She says.

“The cipher.” Sherlock says.

“Only he would do this. Zhi Zhu.” She says.

“Zhi Zhu?” John asks.

“The spider.” Sherlock translates.

Soo Lin puts her right foot up on her opposite knee and unlaces her shoe and takes it off. On the underside of her heel is a black tattoo of a lotus flower inside a circle. “Do you know this mark?” She asks us.

“Yes. It’s the mark of a Tong.” Sherlock says.

“Hmm?” John asks.

“Ancient crime syndicate based in China.” Sherlock explains.

John and I nod in understand and turn back to Soo Lin. “Every foot solider bears the mark; everyone who hauls for them.

“’Hauls’?” John asks. Soo Lin looks up at John and his eyes widen. “Y-You mean you were a smuggler?”

Soo Lin looks down and puts her shoe back on. “I was fifteen. My parents were dead. I had no livelihood; no way of surviving day to day except to work for the bosses.” She explains to us. I understood her predicament. I get up and walk over to her and take her hand. She smiles softly at me and I do the same.

“Who are they?” Sherlock asks.

“They are called the Black Lotus. By the time I was sixteen, I was taking thousands of pounds’ worth of drugs across the border into Hong Kong. But I managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England.” She says and smiles a little. “They gave me a job here. Everything was good; a new life.”

“Then he came looking for you.” Sherlock says.

“Yes.” She swallows and continues tearfully. I rub her arm and frown. “I had hoped after five years maybe they would have forgotten me, but they never really let you leave. A small community like ours – they are never very far away.” She wipes tears from her face. “He came to my flat. He asked me to help him to track down something that was stolen.”

“And you’ve no idea what it was?” John asks.

“I refuse to help.” Soo Lin tells us.

John leans forward. “So you knew him well when you were living back in China?” He asks.

“Oh yes.” She says and looks up at Sherlock. “He’s my brother. Two orphans. We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus, or starve on the streets like beggars. My brother has become their puppet, in the power of the one they call Shan – the Black Lotus general. I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. Next day I came to work and the cipher was waiting.” Soo Lin explains to us.