Intoxifresh

Chapter Nine

Shenzhen Port

Guangdong Province

ChinaTwo months ago...

Constant warning lights and sounds of varying frequencies were signalled as lorries and tugs quickly drove around the warm, damp concrete. Cranes lowered over the huge bulk of the Maersk Kyrenia as she docked with the weight of over 4,500 containers on board. A constant hiss filled the air as waves rhythmically attacked the side of the neatly lined up vessel and those behind her. This was a typical afternoon for the busy Chinese port as the dockworkers methodically went about their tasks. It was business as usual.

A few miles north of the port at Shangmeilin, a fashionable place close to Zhongkang Park with spacious shopping malls and trendy upmarket hotels, a small group of people were totally focused on a single aim that had taken months to prepare. The rain and wind did nothing to discourage the actions of the four as they loaded a family sized car with all sorts of weapons: cleavers, throwing stars, handguns, broad swords, hook swords, assault rifles and other destructive metal objects. Everything was thrown into the boot before they got in and sped south towards the port.

Lanying Lu grazed her head as she got into the passenger side. She had to lever the seat back as far as it would go to make space for her ample legs. On the back seat sat their newest recruit, Guang Xiao, the youngest at twenty-four years of age. Guang was finding it increasingly difficult to keep still with the adrenalin rush. His first real job was only minutes away from happening and he couldn't wait any longer. 'Stop your fidgeting, Guang. You train hard for this, so just calm down.' Huojin Liang said as he nudged the youngster in the side. This was Huojin's seventh job with the group who called themselves the super triads. He knew they had enough ammo not to worry about anything and he also knew they always succeeded.

'This car is real fucking piece of shit,' the voice exclaimed from the driver's seat. The hands that tightly gripped the steering wheel belonged to Ming-Tun Cheng. He was always angry about something and furiously thumped the dashboard with his fist as he tried to overtake another car but failed to gain enough speed.

'Silence...' Lanying Lu raised her hand and turned to speak to everyone. 'Listen to me carefully. This will be simple job. I've been told where container is.' She glanced at the silver combat knife in her hand and grinned. 'The shipping broker more than happy to give ships manifest.' She read out the container number and confirmed that it was light green in colour.

The inside of the car was hot and Guang was sweating profusely with the anticipation of what would happen in just a few moments. He felt like a born fighter and couldn't wait to get stuck in. Lanying angrily turned around again. 'Guang, you calm down right now. You making me very nervous,' she said with a wicked smile. 'Perhaps you want dropped off right now?' Guang shook his head and tried to calm down. Lanying squinted in his direction. 'Good,' she said before turning back to face the road. 'We don't want violence, not today. All we want is get container.' She turned to Ming-Tun. 'Can't you make this piece of shit go faster?'

The magnificent steel cranes clamped onto each container as if they were weightless before strategically dropping them onto tugs or lorries. A company in Brazil had invoiced the cargo inside the light green container as animal food but the super triads knew the actual cargo as they had done the deal with their Brazilian contacts months ago. Inside the thick steel container were boxes stacked with over 15,000 litres of alcohol, 200,000 cigarettes and nearly two hundred kilos of cocaine. Each box had labels featuring smiling cats or dogs and fake logos of animal food brands.

The car pulled up just outside the port and Lanying called the broker to find out if the container had cleared customs. Lanying was going to drive the lorry back to their lock up herself. 'Well clear right away... that's what I pay you for. Call me when it cleared!' Angrily, she scrunched her fists and looked at the others. 'It no cleared yet, they said would be within hour.'